ACADEMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Dr. K. Scott Whitlow Promoted to Sr. Assoc. Dean at Touro University Calif. College of Osteopathic Medicine

K. Scott Whitlow, DO, has been promoted to senior associate dean at Touro University California College of Osteopathic Medicine (TUCOM) in Vallejo, CA. This role includes direct oversight of clinical education, clinical service line development, clinical contracting, strategic planning, faculty development, continuing medical education, graduate medical education, project/revenue development, and any other aspects of TUCOM leadership as determined by the dean. Dr. Whitlow served TUCOM previously as the associate dean of clinical education and continues to serve as professor of emergency medicine. His appointment officially began on August 1, 2022.

Dr. Arjun Venkatesh Selected to Lead EM at Yale

Arjun Venkatesh, MD, MBA, MHS, is the new chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Yale School of Medicine and chief of emergency medicine at Yale New Haven Hospital.

Dr. Venkatesh was previously an associate professor in the department and chief of its section of administration, and a scientist at the Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation. Dr. Venkatesh earned an MBA in finance from The Ohio State University and an MD from Northwestern University. He completed an emergency medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by earning a Master’s in Health Science from Yale, which he attained while a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar.

Dr. Venkatesh serves as the principal investigator of the American College of Emergency Physicians Emergency Quality Network. His scholarship has informed numerous emergency and acute care quality measurement standards in federal programs, including the Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings. He has published approximately 200 peer-reviewed studies and federal technical reports focused on the quality and value of health care delivery.

Dr. Megan Ranney Named Dean, Yale School of Public Health

Megan Ranney, MD, MPH, deputy dean at Brown’s School of Public Health and a regular commentator on national television, has been named as the new dean of Yale

University’s School of Public Health. Dr. Ranney will step down from her current role at Brown effective July 1, 2023.

In 2004 Dr. Ranney completed a medical residency in emergency medicine and a fellowship in injury prevention research at Brown. She has served as an attending physician at the Miriam Hospital and Rhode Island Hospital in Providence since 2008, the year she joined Brown’s Warren Alpert Medical School faculty in the Department of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Ranney earned a Master’s in Public Health from Brown in 2010, and in 2013, became an assistant professor in the Department of Health Services, Policy and Practice in the School of Public Health. She has since held academic appointments in both schools.

In 2019, Ranney became the founding director of the Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health, a center where creative minds from Brown and its affiliated hospital partners collaboratively design, test and deploy digital solutions to challenges that affect the health of patients and populations.

Dr. Ranney is known for her work on gun violence and for cofounding GetUsPPE.org, which helped collect badly needed personal protective gear for medical personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic. She will arrive at Yale as its School of Public Health is being formally established as a separate institution from the medical school there.

Richard Nowak, MD, December 27, 1947 - January 26, 2023

Richard Nowak, MD, one of the visionary individuals who helped shape the emergency medicine specialty and lay the groundwork for what would become the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM), passed away January 26, 2023.

Dr. Nowak was internationally recognized in emergency medicine for his expertise in cardiac emergencies, resuscitation, asthma, and cardiac biomarker research. In the 1970s and early 1980s, he studied the use of spirometry in the assessment of acute asthma. His work led to the popularity of hand-held peak flow meters that have become a standard in assessing the severity of acute bronchospasm. Dr. Nowak was a pioneer in CPR and cardiopulmonary bypass research, both in the lab and the emergency department. He did “bench to bedside” research decades before the term was even coined.

Dr. Nowak joined the Henry Ford Medical Group in 1975 and in 1976 was a founding senior staff member of the Henry Ford Hospital Department of Emergency Medicine and its residency program. He served as chair of the department from 1988-1992.

Over the course of his long and storied career, Dr. Nowak was published in every high impact journal pertinent to his expertise and served on numerous international editorial boards in cardiology and academic emergency, including Academic Emergency Medicine journal. In addition, his academic work has been recognized across the globe with several honors and awards.

Dr. Nowak served on the executive council, and in 1987 as president, of the University Association for Emergency Medicine, which in 1989 merged with the Society of Teachers of Emergency Medicine (STEM) to become SAEM. Along the way, he participated on several UAEM committees — including long range planning, research, nominating, and international affairs. In addition, Dr. Nowak served as an abstract reviewer and presenter/speaker at several SAEM annual meetings

Dr. Nowak was a mentor to many learners over the years, and his passion for scientific discovery has influenced countless peers the world over. His contributions to SAEM and to academic emergency medicine is immense and will long be remembered.