On February 4, Assistant Professor Megan Cobb, MD, DPT, was interviewed by Baltimore’s ABC affiliate, WMAR 2, on the dangers of frostbite.
“The smaller you are, the faster it can happen,” Dr. Cobb shared with audiences, adding that for a normal-size adult, frostbite can happen within 20-30 minutes in certain conditions.
Dr. Cobb shared a similar message with The Baltimore Sun, which published an accompanying article on February 3.
Today, February 9, 2026, Baltimore VA Medical Center Emergency Department received its first patient by ambulance. This marks the first ambulance transport in the Center’s 73 year history.
The development was made possible through months of collaboration with Baltimore County’s Emergency Medical Services and The VA Capitol Health Care Network (VISN 5)—a network of VA medical centers that serves Veterans from economically and demographically diverse areas within Maryland, the District of Columbia, and West Virginia, along with portions of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky.
“It’s wonderful to be able to better serve our veterans in this way,” Professor Jon Mark Hirshon, MD, PhD, MPH Medical Director of the University of Maryland Baltimore VA Medical Center Emergency Department said. “This is where Veterans trust their care. Now Veterans experiencing emergencies can trust local ambulances to transport them here when they need it the most.”
On December 30, Assistant Professor Megan Cobb, MD, DPT, was interviewed by Baltimore’s ABC affiliate, WMAR 2, on the rapidly spreading flu strain.
Noting that the current strain is highly contagious and can cause fever spikes in children, Dr. Cobb referenced the increasing number of Maryland children who have visited the State’s emergency departments due to influenza-like viruses.
Associate Professor Gentry Wilkerson, MD, was quoted in a January 6 Baltimore Sun article on medotomindine, a new additive to fentanyl. Medotomindine is a veterinary sedative and painkiller that has recently been noted as an additive in fentanyl in the Philadelphia area.
The article notes how public health leaders—including Dr. Wilkerson and his Emergency Medicine colleagues at the University of Maryland School of Medicine—have expressed concerns that the additive may soon spike in Baltimore too.
On December 19, Assistant Professor Anthony Roggio, MD, participated in a webinar hosted by HealthLeaders. In the webinar, Dr. Roggio joined Emergency Medicine colleagues from Yale and the University of Illinois to discuss how technologies like artificial intelligence, virtual consults, and secure text messaging have impacted Emergency Medicine operations.
Assistant Professor Megan Cobb, MD, DPT, recently advised Maryland families on the safest toys to gift children during the holiday season. On Baltimore’s Fox affiliate, Fox 45 Morning News, Dr. Cobb joined a colleague to discuss toys that pose a risk to children, including recalled toys sold off-market, technology-based toys that violate children’s privacy, and small toys that children could inadvertently confuse with candy.
“Things that are fun can also be dangerous,” Dr. Cobb warned watchers in the segment, encouraging parents to closely observe children in day-to-day play.
Assistant Professor Cheyenne Falat, MD, recently provided winter safety advice to three local Baltimore media outlets.
Associate Professor Gentry Wilkerson, MD, was featured in an article, “Analgesia for sickle cell vaso-occlusive crises often delayed due to improper ED triage,” in the November issue of HemOnc Today, published by Helio.
The article reviews a 2025 study, “Use of Emergency Severity Index 2 Reduces Time to First Analgesia in Sickle Cell Disease Vaso-occlusive Crisis,” published in Blood Advances, in which Dr. Wilkerson and Associate Professor Benoit Stryckman, MA, among others, performed a retrospective analysis of 66 visits by 41 sickle cell patients admitted to the Emergency Department for pain management.
The potential impacts of the study are profound: according to the study, by giving nurses and hospital staff high-quality, consistent training and resources to properly triage sickle cell patients, patients can receive the timely treatment they need in times of crisis.
On November 1, Assistant Professor Rohit Menon, MD, along with EM residents Heather Groves, MD, Kyle Glose, MD, and Robert Dunn, MD, participated in EPLEX, a large-scale emergency preparedness exercise held at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.
Drs. Menon, Groves, Glose, and Dunn worked alongside fire and rescue departments, law enforcement, airport operations, and other local agencies to strengthen partnership and enhance coordination advance of a real-world emergency event.
According to Dr. Menon, “it was remarkable to witness an incredible level of coordination across multiple EMS agencies, the engagement of so many volunteers, and the professionalism and attention to detail demonstrated by everyone involved.”
In its November issue, Baltimore Magazine recognized its annual selection of Top Docs—a list of physicians nominated by their peers for delivering exceptional patient care.
The UMSOM Emergency Medicine Department is proud to share that six of our faculty were nominated for this honor in the Emergency Medicine category, including:
Additionally, Associate Professor Kinjal Sethuraman, MD, was also nominated for this honor in the Hyperbaric Medicine category.
Please join us in congratulating our colleagues on this impressive achievement!