Each October at ACEP’s annual Council meeting, the ACEP Council elects new leaders for the College. The Council, which represents all 53 chapters, 37 sections of membership, the Association of Academic Chairs in Emergency Medicine, the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors, the Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association, and the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, will elect the College’s President-Elect, four members to the ACEP Board of Directors, and the Council Vice Speaker. This month, we’ll meet the President-Elect candidates. In September, we’ll meet the Board of Directors candidates, and in October, we’ll meet the Council Officer candidates.

Vidor Friedman, MD, FACEP (Florida)

Current Professional Positions: Florida Emergency Physicians (FEP) of TeamHealth, Maitland
Internships and Residency: Emergency medicine residency, Michigan State University, East Lansing
Medical Degree: MD, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine (1986)

Candidate Response

Over the past five years, the President’s activities have focused on being the Chief Advocacy Officer for the College. This advocacy can be seen both in the political realm and in increased collaborative efforts with other entities in the health care space. Alliances with other specialties within the house of medicine led to the recent American Medical Association resolutions regarding out-of-network care and the opioid crises. Partnerships with organizations, including the West Health Foundation and the John A. Hartford Foundation, have supported our engagement in geriatric emergency medicine. In all of these efforts, the President of the College has been both content expert and public spokesperson for the College.

I have been a staunch advocate for emergency medicine for over 15 years, this is not new territory for me. As Governmental Affairs Chair for the Florida College of Emergency Physicians, and as President of the chapter, I led our advocacy efforts in Florida for almost a decade. I was the Federal Governmental Affairs Committee Chair during the Affordable Care Act deliberations, and was one of the architects behind the creation of the Emergency Medicine Action Fund (EMAF).

“I would work to improve the feedback loop from our chapter leadership and the Council by engaging our social media platforms and enhancing our survey feedback tools. This will help to align ACEP’s initiatives with our members’ priorities.” —Vidor Friedman, MD, FACEP

EMAF was created to increase resources for regulatory lobbying in response to the passage of the ACA and is essential as we face current and future health care reform initiatives. The increased collaboration from having diverse elements from within our community all sitting at the table and discussing our collective needs was as important a win to me as the success that EMAF has become.