Department Blog

Gentry Wilkerson, MD, Emergency Medicine physician at the University of Maryland Medical Center and Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the UM School of Medicine, is quoted in this Los Angeles Times story about a mysterious death related to a dental surgery.  The death was due to a rare blood disorder called methemoglobinemia.

Dr. David Gatz, MD was recently interviewed on Fox45 News about how to protect yourself from heat illness during Preakness events.  You can see his interview here.

Amal Mattu, MD, FAAEM, FACEP, Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, and Vice Chair of Academic Affairs, UMSOM has been recognized with the designation of Distinguished University Professor. This title is the highest appointment bestowed upon a faculty member at UMB. It is a recognition not just of excellence, but also of impact and significant contribution to the nominee’s field, knowledge, profession, and/or practice. He will be celebrated and receive his Distinguished University Professor medals at UMB’s Faculty Convocation on Sept. 11. Congratulations to Dr. Mattu!

In the latest CCPEM podcast, Dr. Winters, MD, MBA and colleagues discuss the recent PRIM-ER trial, which evaluated a primary palliative care education intervention for ED providers (MDs, NPs, RNs).  They concluded that a multicomponent primary palliative care intervention did not reduce hospital admissions, subsequent health care use, or short-term mortality for older ED patients with life-limiting illness. The podcast is now available at https://ccpem.blog/podcast/palliative-care-in-the-ed/.

The new episode of the Critical Care Perspectives in EM podcast features Professor and Vice Chair Mike Winters, MD, MBA and three EM specialists from academic medical centers in New Orleans, Philadelphia, and San Francisco discussing a recent publication in JAMA that evaluated a machine learning tool to determine the optimal timing of vasopressin initiation (as a second pressor) in patients with septic shock.

Associate Professors Laura J. Bontempo, MD, MEd, and Quincy Tran, MD, PhD, are among the authors of “Is antibiotic prophylaxis necessary for anterior epistaxis with packing? Insights from a large database,” published ahead of print March 19 in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine. The study analyzed 20 years of patient data from almost 100 large healthcare organizations and found "very little benefit of prophylactic antibiotics to most patients [who got nasal packing for epistaxis], while posing a potential risk to the overall population. Therefore, we recommend against the routine use of prophylactic antibiotics in clinical practice." The article will appear in the July 2025 issue of AJEM.

Assistant Professors Bennett Myers, MD and Alexis Salerno, MD authored “Mycotic aneurysm with abscess ?A pulsatile chest wall mass,” a case discussion with ultrasound videos, published in April in the Visual Journal of Emergency Medicine. 2025 Apr;39:102240. doi.org/10.1016/j.visj.2025.102240.

Assistant Professors Jessica Downing MD, Daniel Haase MD, and Kevin Jones MD, Associate Professor Quincy Tran, MD, PhD, and colleagues from Shock Trauma authored “No Echo, no problem? Predictors of right heart strain among patients with pulmonary embolism,” published ahead of print on March 17 by the American Journal of Emergency Medicine. The article analyzes the vital signs and lab test values that, in combination, can help identify RHS in pulmonary embolism patients when a transthoracic echocardiogram cannot be obtained without delay. (Am J Emerg Med. 2025 July;93:37-47. Epub ahead of print.)

A lab test finding of Bandemia is a potential marker for severe infection. EM resident Matthew Jackson, MD, Assistant Professor Alexis Salerno, MD, and Professor Stephen Schenkel, MD, MPP, reported on a retrospective quality improvement study in “What happens to reporting when Bandemia becomes a critical alert?” in the January issue of The American Journal of Emergency Medicine. Their chart review examined the incidence of bandemia in two cohorts of ED patients, before and after the UMMC ED instituted its critical alert. (Am J Emerg Med. 2025 Jan;87:105-107. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2024.10.045. Epub 2024 Oct 28. PMID: 39541756.)

Instructor Rohit Menon, MD, and colleagues in the UMSOM Division of Cardiovascular Medicine authored “Skyrocketing troponin after a motor vehicle crash: a traumatic dilemma,” a case report illustrated with angiograms and intravascular ultrasound images and videos, published February 4 in the Journal of Invasive Cardiology.