Please join ACEP in congratulating the 2014 recipients of the College’s most prestigious awards, who were recognized this October at ACEP14 in Chicago.

Leadership Award Recipients

Outstanding Contribution in Research Award
Lance B. Becker, MD, FACEP
Dr. Becker has pioneered life-saving innovations in resuscitation for more than 25 years. He is professor of emergency medicine and founder and director of the Center for Resuscitation Science in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He is a powerful advocate for resuscitation studies, securing funding and encouraging international collaboration. One of the field’s most productive and highly cited researchers, Dr. Becker shares his findings in countless lectures and peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Becker founded the center in 2006 to translate basic science into real-world improvements in care. His team’s work on the use of automated external defibrillators in public settings led to placement of the devices in airports nationwide.

Honorary Membership Award
Phyllis L. Edans, CPA, CAE
As chief financial officer, Ms. Edans kept ACEP’s fiscal house in order for more than 27 years. Dedicated to excellence and committed to the mission of emergency medicine, she helped ACEP experience tremendous growth in areas dependent on stellar financial performance. From membership, the annual budget, members’ equity, and the investment portfolio to NEMPAC, the Emergency Medicine Foundation, and more, she was a trusted manager and advisor on significant decisions that shaped the College’s future. One of her first successes was creating a comprehensive financial compendium that still guides the Board of Director’s annual review of fiscal policy.

Outstanding Contribution in EMS Award
Marianne Gausche-Hill, MD, FACEP
Dr. Gausche-Hill has labored tirelessly for nearly three decades to improve prehospital care for children and adults both at home and around the world. She is professor of clinical medicine and pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and vice chair and chief of the division of pediatric emergency medicine and director of pediatric emergency medicine and EMS fellowships in the department of emergency medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. She is the cocreator of numerous influential courses, director of research projects, and author of hundreds of publications. She is an active champion for EMS delivery and development locally, nationally, and internationally.

John G. Wiegenstein Leadership Award
J. Brian Hancock, MD, FACEP
Dr. Hancock has served his patients and ACEP with excellence for decades. Dr. Hancock is chief medical officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Veterans Integrated Service Network 11 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, caring for veterans in central Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and northwest Ohio. Born in Evanston, Illinois, and raised in Chicago, Dr. Hancock was a talented classical pianist, but he knew at age 16 that he wanted to be a physician. He completed undergraduate studies at Northwestern University and medical school at Rush Medical College, both in Chicago. Dr. Hancock became a Councillor for the Michigan College of Emergency Physicians early in his career. He went on to hold every national College office, culminating in a dynamic and productive term as President from 2003 to 2004.

Outstanding Contribution in Education Award
William K. Mallon, MD, FACEP
Smart, funny, engaging, and informative, Dr. Mallon is one of the most respected and sought-after speakers in emergency medicine. He has delivered more than 1,000 hours of ACEP continuing medical education and taught in 18 countries on six continents. He is professor of clinical emergency medicine in the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and former director of the fellowship of international emergency medicine at Los Angeles County USC Medical Center. Dr. Mallon has educated a generation of residents at Los Angeles County Hospital and played an instrumental role in the growth and development of emergency medicine in Chile. He has also helped educate the public about emergency medicine as an executive producer of the award-winning documentary Code Black.

Council Meritorious Service Award
Catherine Anna Marco, MD, FACEP
Dr. Marco has been a dynamic, committed member of the ACEP Council since 2004. She is a professor in the department of emergency medicine at Wright State University and active in clinical practice at Miami Valley Hospital, both in Dayton, Ohio. At home and on the ACEP Council, Dr. Marco has served Ohio Chapter ACEP with excellence, holding important chapter leadership positions, including President and Chair of the Government Affairs Committee. Dr. Marco has been an active leader and participant on several Council committees and strives to bring forward the perspective of Ohio and all members of ACEP. As chair of the national ACEP Ethics Committee, Dr. Marco shared her commitment and insight as she helped the College address vital ethical issues, including best practices for care at the end of life.

Colin C. Rorrie Jr. Award for Excellence in Health Policy
Lynne D. Richardson, MD, FACEP
Dr. Richardson has dedicated her career to ending health disparities and improving emergency care for all Americans. She is a professor and vice chair of emergency medicine and professor of health evidence and policy in the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Dr. Richardson began her commitment to better, fairer health care in the 1980s, doing landmark work in EMS policy at the regional and state levels. Since then, she has excelled as a leader and advocate in every capacity, from clinical care, education, and research to municipal, state, and federal policy. She is Past Chair of ACEP’s Public Health and Injury Prevention Committee, ACEP’s current liaison to the Commission to End Health Care Disparities, and on the Advisory Committee to the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

James D. Mills Outstanding Contribution to Emergency Medicine Award
David P. Sklar, MD, FACEP
Dr. Sklar has led emergency medicine with excellence for more than three decades. He is distinguished professor emeritus and retired associate dean for graduate medical education at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in Albuquerque. Retired in name only, he continues to care for patients, teach, conduct research, and provide guidance on health policy. He is also editor-in-chief for Academic Medicine, the journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges. Dr. Sklar’s contributions to emergency medicine and health care span every sphere. As residency director, Dr. Sklar helped design an innovative program that emphasizes public health and injury prevention as fundamentals. A prolific researcher whose interests include quality improvement and injury prevention, Dr. Sklar’s work on migraine headache treatment has also contributed to emergency medicine clinical care.

John A. Rupke Legacy Award
Arlo F. Weltge, MD, MPH, FACEP
Dr. Weltge is an exemplary leader whose contributions have strengthened emergency medicine and ACEP in Texas and across the nation. Dr. Weltge is clinical professor of emergency medicine at UTHealth, the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He also serves as medical director for AMR’s Houston EMS operations and the EMS program at Houston Community College. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, Dr. Weltge spent his childhood in Waco, Texas. After undergraduate studies at MIT in life sciences, he headed to Houston for medical school at the University of Texas and a rotating internship at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Three months before the specialty was recognized, he launched his career in emergency medicine. He joined Houston Emergency Physicians and went on to be a cofounder of Southeast Texas Emergency Physicians.

Disaster Medical Sciences Award
Frederick “Skip” M. Burkle, Jr., MD, MPH, DTM, PhD (Hon.), FAAP, FACEP
Dr. Burkle is a senior fellow and scientist at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and senior international public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. He is a former senior scholar and now senior associate faculty in the department of international health and the Center for Refugee and Disaster Response at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. Dr. Burkle has supported and represented ACEP for years at federal meetings and in the Disaster Medicine Section. He is the recipient of the prestigious William Crawford Gorgas Medal for distinguished work in preventive medicine, groundbreaking work in disaster management and humanitarian assistance, and the training of an entire generation of U.S. and international personnel. Dr. Burkle has published more than 200 scientific articles, 53 book chapters, and four books—three on disaster management, including the sentinel text Disaster Medicine.

Disaster Medical Sciences Award
Joseph F. Waeckerle, MD, FACEP
Dr. Waeckerle is clinical professor of emergency medicine at the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Medicine and editor emeritus of Annals of Emergency Medicine. He is residency trained and board certified in emergency medicine and sports medicine, with postgraduate work in exercise physiology. He has served emergency medicine organizations since the mid-1970s in many capacities and helped found the Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association. A former member of the Board of Directors for ACEP and the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, Dr. Waeckerle chaired the task force on Domestic Preparedness Against Weapons of Mass Destruction for the Office of Emergency Preparedness in the Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Waeckerle was invited by the Department of Defense to participate in the Defense Science Board’s Task Force on Defense Against Biological Weapons and by the Veterans Hospital Administration to serve on the Technical Advisory Committee on Domestic Preparedness.

Research Forum Award Recipients

Best Paper
Jody Vogel, MD
Denver Health Medical Center and University of Colorado School of Medicine
“Validation of the Denver Emergency Department Trauma Organ Failure Score to Predict Post-Injury Multiple Organ Failure”

Young Investigator
Faheem Guirgis, MD, FACEP
University of Florida
“Rapid Discharge of Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department with Cocaine Chest Pain: Application of an Abbreviated Cardiac Enzyme Protocol in the Clinical Decision Unit”

Best Resident Paper
Shareen Ismail, MD
University of Florida College of Medicine
“Impact of Video Discharge Instructions from the Emergency Department in Regard to Caregiver Understanding of Their Child’s Fever and Closed Head Injury”

Best Medical Student Paper
Nathan Itoga
University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics
“Factors Affecting Nebulized Albuterol Aerosol Particle Sizes”

Section Awards

Outstanding Section Web Page
Emergency Ultrasound Section
Quality Improvement & Patient
Safety Section

Service to Section
Wilderness Medicine Section

Service to College
Young Physicians Section

Awards of Distinction, Service to College
Emergency Medicine Informatics Section
Geriatric Emergency Medicine Section
Quality Improvement & Patient
Safety Section

Promoting Section Membership
American Association of
Women Emergency Physicians

Outstanding Section Newsletter
Toxicology Section

Awards of Distinction, Outstanding Section Newsletter
Critical Care Medicine Section
Emergency Ultrasound Section
Pediatric Emergency Medicine Section

2013–14 Faculty Speaker Awards

From left to right: Drs. Granovsky, Bavolek, Bonomo, Gausche-Hill, and Klauer.

Outstanding Speaker of the Year
Marianne Gausche-Hill, MD, FACEP

Outstanding Speaker of the Year Honorable Mention
Kevin M. Klauer, DO, EJD, FACEP

“Over The Top” Faculty Award
Michael A. Granovsky, MD, CPC, FACEP

Scientific Assembly Rookie Speaker of the Year
Jordan Bonomo, MD

2013 New Speaker Forum Winner
Rebecca Bavolek, MD