Department Blog

Amal Mattu, MD, was the Grand Rounds lecturer at the University of South Florida on August 28. He presented "Everyday Leadership: Secrets of Great Minds Through the Ages" for the emergency medicine program and: "Low Risk Chest Pain: Mythology, Mortality, and Malpractice" for the internal medicine program.

Bryan Hayes, PharmD, has been named a fellow of the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology. This highest level of peer recognition within the organization acknowledges longstanding commitment to the field of toxicology and to the Academy.

Laura Pimentel, MD, is a co-author of a commentary titled "The Maryland Medicare Waiver and Emergency Care: Mixed Experiences Deserve Close Scrutiny." The article was published in the American Journal of Medical Qualiity. Dr. Pimentel collaborated with Drs. Jesse Pines and Steven Farmer, from George Washington University, on this publication.

The 2015 LLSA Reading List includes an article by Dr. Sarah Sommerkamp and Dr. Alisa Gibson, titled "Cardiovascular Disasters in Pregnancy." It was published in the November 2012 issue of Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America. The reading list has been posted on our intranet.

Dr. Brian Browne was one of seven speakers at a press conference held in the medical center on August 11 to announce government and corporate donations to The Bridge Project, which provides counseling and other assistance to domestic violence victims treated in the emergency department and Shock Trauma. The medical center received gifts of $50,000 from the Governor's Office of Crime Control & Prevention (through the federal Victims of Crime Act) and $25,000 from Verizon, which will be used to make the Bridge Project's services available around the clock. Also on the panel that announced these awards were Lt. Governor Anthony Brown, Senator Barbara Mikulski, Senator Ben Cardin, Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger, Dr. Carnell Cooper (founder of Shock Trauma's Violence Intervention Program), and Dr. Deb Stein (Chief of Trauma, University of Maryland School of Medicine).

The August issue of Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America, on the topic of hematology/oncology emergencies, contains an article by Dr. Mike McCurdy and his colleagues Dr. Umar Kahn and Dr. Carl Shanholtz from the Division of Pumonary and Critical Care Medicine. The title of their article is "Oncologic Mechanical Emergencies." The issue was guest edited by Dr. Jack Perkins, a 2007 graduate of our residency and now an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Virginia Tech Carillon School of Medicine. Dr. Amal Mattu is the consulting editor for the EMCNA series.

Terry Mulligan, DO, MPH, was a faculty member for the 12th Middle East Emergency Medicine Congress, held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in early June. He presented two lectures: “Building a Geriatric Emergency Department” and “Literature Review for Pediatrics.” He also traveled to Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman to present 3 hours of Grand Rounds lectures on clinical emergency medicine topics at Sultan Qaboos University.

Recent residency graduate Zachary Dezman, MD, MS, received a 2014 T. David Sisk Award for Research Excellence from the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine for his article titled "Neck Strength Imbalance Correlates with Increased Head Acceleration in Soccer Heading," published in the July/August 2013 issue of Sports Health. The award, presented during the society's annual conference in Seattle in July, recognizes its "best original research paper" for the preceding year.

In a collaboration among our Department of Emergency Medicine, the UM School of Medicine, the Baltimore City Fire Department, and the Baltimore City Office of the Mayor. Dr. Ben Lawner led a demonstration of hands-only CPR at City Hall. You can watch a report from the event at www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0DXFBaCr1s.

Emilie Calvello, MD, MPH, received one of the 14 interprofessional faculty grants that were awarded this spring by the UMB Center for Global Education Initiatives. Dr. Calvello used the $10,000 award to cover the cost of travel to Africa for herself, a pharmacy student, and a medical student as they launched their study titled “Community-Based Perceptions of Emergency Care in Kenya.”