In late January, the ACEP Board of Directors met and considered several issues related to practice trends and clinical topics. Among their decisions, they voted in favor of:

• Donating $20,000 to the American Foundation for Firearm Injury Reduction in Medicine (AFFIRM). ACEP has been an inaugural supporter for AFFIRM, a not-for-profit organization founded and led by emergency physicians, and the Emergency Medicine Foundation is offering two grants with AFFIRM this year on firearm injury prevention research.
• Approving two policy statements, “Reporting of Vaccine-Related Adverse Events” and “Autonomous Self-Driving Vehicles,” which will be available online soon.
• Approving the joint policy statement “Pediatric Readiness in EMS System,” a collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Association of EMS Physicians, the Emergency Nurses Association, the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Committee, the EMS Committee, and other stakeholders. It will be available after all groups approve the final draft.
• Accepting a final report from the Leadership Diversity Task Force that outlines many steps taken to increase diversity in ACEP leadership positions, including:
  • Tracking and reporting diversity data pertaining to ACEP leadership.
  • Recommending that the Council Steering Committee eliminate campaign-related travel, which is seen as an economic- and time-related hardship and deterrent for some candidates.
  • Recommending that the Nominating Committee expand the Council Standing Rules to include additional facets of diversity as considerations when reviewing potential candidates.
  • Codifying the Leadership Development Advisory Committee.
  • Naming two College awards after pioneering female emergency physicians: the Judith E. Tintinalli Award for Outstanding Contribution in Education and the Pamela P. Benson Trailblazer Award.