 |
| Advisory Board |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
EMERGENCY
MEDICINE |
|
Dan Sullivan, MD, JD, FACEP
Dr. Sullivan is the President and CEO of The Sullivan Group, a medical risk management and patient safety organization. Dr. Sullivan is a board certified Emergency Medicine physician and a Fellow in the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). Dr. Sullivan is a Past President of the Illinois College of Emergency Physicians and is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Rush Medical College.
Dr. Sullivan obtained a legal degree in 1989, and has used his dual background to study patient safety issues and create programs, services, and solutions to reduce medical errors and reduce risk in the practice of medicine.
Dr. Sullivan has authored cutting edge research that defines the risk and safety issues in the practice of Emergency and Acute Care Medicine. He teaches risk and safety nationally to emergency physicians, including regular presentations at the American College of Emergency Physicians' Scientific Assembly and the Emergency Department Directors Academy. Over the last 15 years,
Dr. Sullivan's risk and safety tools and training have touched tens of thousands of emergency physicians and nurses, and currently impacts over 15,000,000 Emergency Department patient
visits each year. |
|
| |
|
| |
| STROKE |
|
Fred Callahan, MD
Dr. Callahan is a pioneer in the fields of stroke treatment and integrated vascular care. Following postgraduate training in Internal Medicine
at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Dr. Callahan served a residency in Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and a fellowship in Neurology at Harvard Medical School. He currently
has a private practice in Neurology in Nashville, TN, has served on
the clinical faculty at Vanderbilt, and is Past President of the Nashville Chapter of the American Heart Association. Dr. Callahan has written many medical publications, holds three patents, and has authored
The Next Medical Revolution: Angiology.
Dr. Callahan has certifications from the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Society of Neuroimaging (neurosonology-physics and cerebrovascular disease). Publishing under
the name A.S.Callahan III, Dr. Callahan has an extensive list of writings related to neurological topics dating from 1975 to the present. He has participated in PROACT II, a phase 3 clinical trial
of intra-arterial thrombolysis, and is a member of the Steering Committee for SPARCL (Stroke Prevention by Aggressive Reduction in Cholesterol Levels), a worldwide trial of atorvastatin for secondary stroke prevention in patients with no history of coronary heart disease.
Dr. Callahan has assisted many hospitals and physicians in the implementation of Acute Stroke Treatment Teams. He joined The Sullivan Group in 2005 to continue the effort of bringing acute stroke treatment to every community in America. |
|
| |
|
| |
| PSYCHIATRY |
|
John Carbone, MD, JD, FCLM
Dr. John Carbone has over 21 years of experience as a practicing mental health provider, specializing in General and Forensic Psychiatry. In addition to his leadership role as Chief of Psychiatry
and Mental Health Services for the North Carolina Department of Correction in Raleigh, he was recently appointed by Governor Beverly Perdue to serve on the Commission for Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services.
Before affiliating with the Department of Corrections, Dr. Carbone practiced widely in direct patient care and in psychiatric consultation-liaison capacities in both public and private settings, including mental health clinics, state and community hospitals, multi-specialty offices, and forensic facilities in Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Having earned MD, JD, and MBA degrees, Dr. Carbone has extensive experience in medicine as well as expertise in both law and business. He
is admitted to practice law before the State Bar of New Mexico, the U.S. District Court of New Mexico, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; he is also certified to conduct mediated settlement conferences pursuant to North Carolina superior court civil actions. One of
his medico-legal publications has been cited in a United States Supreme Court amicus brief.
Dr. Carbone has been a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology since 1995 and a Fellow of the American College of Legal Medicine since 2007. |
|
| |
|
| |
| TRIAGE |
|
Shelley Cohen, RN, MSN, CEN
Shelley Cohen is the educator and consultant for Health Resources Unlimited (HRU), a company she founded in 1997. She is committed
to engaging nurses in improving patient care practices and outcomes through her passion for triage education and triage improvement processes. Her experience in emergency nursing spans more than thirty-five years, and she continues to practice as an emergency nurse PRN at Williamson Medical Center in Tennessee.
As an author/co-author of 15 books and numerous articles, Shelley is a nationally recognized speaker on topics related to emergency nursing and nurse leadership development. Her live comprehensive triage course has been presented internationally to thousands of ED nurses, and her monthly Triage Tips can be found posted in EDs from coast to coast.
Shelley and her husband operate a non-profit for children at risk (DoubleCreek) with a focus on foster children, many of whom have complex medical and psycho-social needs. As a foster parent and child advocate, she is actively engaged in local child task force programs. |
|
| |
|
| |
HOSPITAL
MEDICINE |
|
Cynthia Fenton, MD
Dr. Cynthia Fenton is a practicing hospitalist and Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, in the Division of Hospital Medicine.
Dr. Fenton received her undergraduate degree from University of California, Los Angeles, in Mathematics/Computer Science in 1985 and her MD from University of California, San Diego, in 1989.
She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at UCSF in 1992 and served as Chief Medical Resident in 1992-1993.
Throughout her career, Dr. Fenton has applied her passion for analytics and improving systems to her work in hospital-based clinical care and medical education. She joined the faculty of the Department of Medicine in 1993. While on the faculty at UCSF, she has been an esteemed teacher in the inpatient setting, the clinic, small groups and lectures. She received an honorary AOA award from the medical school for excellence in teaching and patient care, and has held many positions of leadership in education and clinical care. She has served as Director of Medical Consultation, Assistant Chief
of the Medical Service, and the first Associate Chair for Education in the UCSF Department of Medicine.
In 2003, Dr. Fenton directed and co-created Intersessions, a required UCSF third-year medical student course covering evidence-based medicine, ethics, quality improvement and healthcare systems. More recently, she has continued her work as a hospitalist at UCSF, and serves as CEO
and President of Strategic Health Partners, a consulting firm that focuses on developing analytic-based solutions to healthcare industry clients. Dr. Fenton is board-certified in Internal Medicine. |
|
| |
|
| |
PATIENT
SATISFACTION |
|
Doug Finefrock, DO
Dr. Doug Finefrock is an Emergency Medicine physician who has dedicated his career to educating physicians and finding effective methods of teaching patient satisfaction. He started his academic career as faculty instructor of medical students at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, NY. He then became the Assistant Program Director
of 36 Emergency Medicine residents at Beth Israel Medical Center
in Manhattan, NY, where the residents voted him "Faculty Teacher
of the Year" in his first year. Dr. Finefrock currently serves as the
Vice Chairman of an Emergency Department in the NYC area as
well as the Program Director of a new Emergency Medicine residency that he is originating. Additionally, he has been appointed Associate Professor at Georgetown University School of Medicine.
Dr. Finefrock passionately educates healthcare personnel on patient satisfaction strategies that improve patient safety, reduce malpractice risk, and establish a trusting, interactive relationship
with patients. |
|
| |
|
| |
EMERGENCY
ULTRASOUND |
|
Andrew French, MD
Dr. Andrew French is a board certified Emergency Medicine physician who serves as the Associate Director of Emergency Ultrasound for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Denver Health Medical Center; he is also a clinical instructor at the University of Colorado School
of Medicine. He completed residency training and an Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship at Denver Health.
Academic interests include bedside ultrasound as it relates to standard of care and risk reduction as well as musculoskeletal and critical care ultrasound. Dr. French has also been involved in the curriculum
design for the University of Colorado School of Medicine correlative ultrasound anatomy component of the Clinical Foundations course. He also serves as course co-director for the medical student bedside ultrasonography elective and co-director for the month-long ultrasound "mini-fellowship" for The Children's Hospital of Colorado Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship. |
|
| |
|
| |
| TOXICOLOGY |
|
Leon Gussow, MD, FACMT, RDMS
Dr. Gussow is a board certified Emergency Medicine physician and
a Fellow in the American College of Medical Toxicology. He also holds board certification in Internal Medicine. He is currently a Voluntary Attending Physician at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of
Cook County, and has academic positions at Rush Medical College
and the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago. He has served on the hospital-wide credentials committee of Stroger / Cook County Hospital and on the oversight committee of the Department
of Emergency Medicine.
Dr. Gussow has authored many chapters and articles on the subject of medical toxicology, and writes the monthly "Toxicology Rounds" column in Emergency Medicine News. He is a medical consultant to the Illinois Poison Center. In addition, he has lectured nationally on the subject of medical response to disasters involving patients exposed to chemical, biological, and radiological weapons. |
|
| |
|
| |
EMERGENCY
ULTRASOUND |
|
John Kendall, MD
John Kendall, MD has been practicing and teaching bedside ultrasound for over 15 years. This journey began when he helped develop and implement the ultrasound curriculum at the University of Southern California Emergency Medicine program. He has been the Director
of Emergency Ultrasound at Denver Health Medical Center since 1996. Along the way, Dr. Kendall created and authored the CD-ROM entitled "Ultrasound in Emergency Medicine and Trauma," and he was co-editor of the textbook Practical Guide to Emergency Ultrasound.
Dr. Kendall is a former Chair of the ACEP Ultrasound Section, and he started the ultrasound fellowship at Denver Health Medical Center in 2005. He currently holds the academic rank of Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. |
|
| |
|
| |
| OBSTETRICS |
|
Henry Lerner, MD
Dr. Lerner is the founder of Newton-Wellesley Obstetrics & Gynecology. A graduate of Princeton University and Harvard
Medical School, he completed his residency training in Obstetrics
and Gynecology at the University of California, San Francisco. He is Board Certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and an Assistant Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Lerner has been in practice for 30 years and has delivered over 9,000 babies. He is the author of the standard book for the general reader on miscarriage entitled, Miscarriage: Why It Happens and How Best to Reduce Your Risks.
He has been a national spokesperson on obstetrical issues, having appeared on Nightline, Firing Line, Larry King Live, and numerous other television and radio programs. He has often been quoted by the national media on obstetrical topics, including Time, Newsweek, and US News and World Report.
Dr. Lerner has a special interest in the phenomenon of shoulder dystocia and has researched, written and lectured widely on the topic. His web site, www.shoulderdystociainfo.com, is the world's leading source of information on this important area. In addition, Dr. Lerner has extensive experience with obstetric medical liability. He has served as the Director of ProMutual, a major medical liability carrier, for 14 years, and he has spoken and published on problems confronting America’s medical liability system. Additionally, he has served as a defense expert witness in hundreds of medical-legal cases (90% defense). |
|
| |
|
| |
PATIENT SAFETY &
RISK MANAGEMENT |
Arnold Mackles, MD, MBA, LHRM
Dr. Mackles is a nationally recognized authority on risk management, patient safety, and performance improvement strategies to reduce medical errors. His qualifications include a Pediatric Residency at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, a Neonatal Fellowship at Cornell University Medical Center, an MBA from Nova Southeastern University, a Licensed Healthcare Risk Management designation
from The State of Florida (Risk Management Licensure Program
from the University of South Florida) and a Bachelor's degree from Syracuse University.
Dr. Mackles, a former hospital-based physician with 20+ years
of successful experience, has served on the Board of Directors of The Florida Society of Healthcare Risk Management and Patient Safety; for the past six years, he has been a sought-after national CME speaker and trainer. Dr. Mackles is an advocate for patient safety and regulatory compliance leading to increased standards of quality care and decreased exposure to risk. Dr. Mackles is currently an instructor with The University of Florida Risk Management and Patient Safety Program. |
|
| |
|
| |
EMERGENCY
MEDICINE |
|
Saif Nazir, MD, FACEP
As President of Emergency Services for the MEA Division of TeamHealth, Dr. Nazir works closely with our clients to ensure healthy business relationships.
He is responsible for all aspects of the division's business, including financial solvency, physician relations, revenue generation, marketing, corporate development, and shareholder and client relations.
Dr. Nazir is a board certified Emergency Medicine physician and a Fellow in the American College of Emergency Medicine. Having
received his training at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, he
has maintained an academic position there since 1990. As an emergency physician for 20+ years, Dr. Nazir has been the Medical Director of Ingalls Emergency Services for 12 years and the Chairman of the Department for the past 10 years. He is on several hospital committees and is the Chairman of the Patient Safety and PI Sub-Committee and the
Co-Chairman of the Credentials Committee. He has been a strong advocate for the Stroke Program
at Ingalls Hospital and was the Champion for the start-up of the Program.
Dr. Nazir is the Past President of the Illinois College of Emergency Physicians (ICEP). His previous roles at ICEP have included Secretary/Treasurer, Member at Large and Chair of the Education Committee. He has been on the Board of Directors for 6 years and has been a Councilor for the College for 10 years.
Dr. Nazir is also an expert on Observation Centers. He has been the Medical Director of the Short Stay Unit at Ingalls Hospital, which he started in 1995, and has lectured nationally on observation medicine and cost-effective practice of Emergency Medicine. |
|
| |
|
| |
HOSPITAL
MEDICINE |
Steven Pantilat, MD
Steven Pantilat, MD, is a Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco; the Alan M. Kates and John M. Burnard Endowed Chair in Palliative Care; and the founding Director of the UCSF Palliative Care Program. Dr. Pantilat is also the Director of the UCSF Palliative Care Leadership Center that trains teams from hospitals across the country on how to establish Palliative Care services. Dr. Pantilat is Board Certified in Palliative Medicine and Internal Medicine; he is a Soros Foundation Project
on Death in America Faculty Scholar; he is a recipient of a K-23, Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award from the National Institute on Aging; and he was a Fulbright Senior Scholar in 2007, studying palliative care at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, University of Sydney, and Curtin University in Sydney, Australia.
Dr. Pantilat is also a hospitalist, and is a nationally recognized expert in Hospital Medicine and Palliative Medicine. He is the Past President, a past member of the Board of Directors, and the
former Chair of the Ethics committee for the Society of Hospital Medicine; he is also a member
of the inaugural class of Fellows in Hospital Medicine. Dr. Pantilat is a full-time faculty member
in the Program in Medical Ethics at UCSF, and serves on the UCSF Medical Center Ethics Committee.
The UCSF Palliative Care Program that Dr. Pantilat directs encompasses clinical, educational, training, and research programs in palliative care.
The clinical program includes an interdisciplinary palliative care consultation service; a 2-bed inpatient palliative care unit at the UCSF Medical Center called the Comfort Care Suites;
and the Symptom Management Service, an outpatient palliative care service based at the UCSF Cancer Center. Educational programs include courses for undergraduate medical and pharmacy students and graduate nursing students, electives in palliative care for medical and nurse practitioner students and medical residents, and training for physicians in practice.
Dr. Pantilat has published widely in the areas of physician communication, palliative care,
and Hospital Medicine. He is currently involved in several research projects focused on palliative care, including leading a quality improvement collaborative for hospital-based palliative care services, surveying interpreters on their experience with and needs regarding working with patients receiving palliative care, and understanding the palliative care needs of people with heart failure. |
|
| |
|
| |
EMERGENCY
MEDICINE |
Ingrid Pautz, RN, MAOM
Ingrid Pautz is a Registered Nurse and holds a Masters Degree
in Organizational Management. Ingrid is President of Ingreva Consulting, LLC, an independent risk management and emergency services consulting firm. She has recently been appointed as the Executive Director of the Emergency Physician Insurance Program
in Phoenix, Arizona. Ingrid facilitates and provides educational and clinical support for the Emergency Physician Insurance Program as well as for Banner Health.
Ingrid was previously an emergency nursing director for a 95,000 volume (pediatric and adult) Emergency Department at Banner Desert Medical Center, and served as an interim director at Banner Estrella Medical Center. She has served in leadership roles for over 25 years of her nursing career. Ingrid actively serves as a nursing leader mentor and coach. Ingrid has helped dozens of Emergency Departments across the country to successfully improve their operational, service, quality, and clinical performance. |
|
| |
|
| |
| PLACENTAL PATHOLOGY |
 Drucilla Roberts, MD Drucilla Jane Roberts, MD, received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Health Science and Technology in 1985. She went on to do two years of an OB/GYN residency at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), then finished her training in Anatomic Pathology in 1990 at the same institution. She followed this with a fellowship in Women’s and Perinatal Pathology, also at the BWH. She pursued her interest in developmental biology with an NICHD-funded post-doctoral fellowship in Genetics at the laboratory of Clifford Tabin at Harvard Medical School. She joined the faculty at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1994 when Obstetrics returned after a 50-year absence, and has remained there since.
Dr. Roberts has published in both developmental biology and perinatal pathology. Her interest in global health began with her work in the Women and Infants Transmission study in the early days of the HIV epidemic. She is currently working with others on autopsy studies, malaria in pregnancy, and stillbirth studies in Africa as well as teaching perinatal pathology wherever she can. |
|
| |
|
| |
CHILD ABUSE
& NEGLECT |
 Lynn Sheets, MD Dr. Sheets is a board-certified child abuse pediatrician who has over twenty years of experience in evaluating children who are suspected
to be maltreated. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) and section chief of the Child Advocacy and Protection division and the Medical Director of Children's Hospital and Health System's Child Advocacy and Protection Services (CAPS).
Community partnerships have played a major role in her professional activities and accomplishments. Before January 2006, Dr. Sheets was the medical director of a hospital-based child abuse program in Kansas City, Kansas, for 17 years.
There she worked with community partners to found the first Child Advocacy Center in Kansas, and was active in many community boards and committees. Since moving to Wisconsin, Dr. Sheets has participated in many community projects including, the Child Abuse Response Team, Wisconsin Child Death Review Team, Fostering Hope and Project Respect, the community-based dating violence prevention initiative.
She is a co-founder of the Wisconsin Child Abuse Network (WI CAN) to improve access to high-quality medical information in child abuse investigations.
In addition to her clinical experience and community activities, Dr. Sheets is an educator on child maltreatment. She is active in the Education Core of the Injury Research Center at MCW and teaches medical students, residents and fellows about violence, intentional and unintentional injuries, child maltreatment, and child abuse medical mimics.
She was instrumental in developing the accredited child abuse pediatrics fellowship at MCW, which is one of only a few nationally. Her research interests include child abuse prevention, early detection of abuse, and abusive head trauma. In her clinical role, she provides child abuse consultations and expert court testimony for maltreated children.
She has a strong commitment to child maltreatment and violence prevention efforts in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. |
|
| |
|
| |
EMERGENCY
MEDICINE |
 Thomas E. Syzek, MD, FACEP Dr. Syzek completed his MD degree and residency training in Ohio. He is a board certified Emergency Medicine physician, a member of the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management, and a Fellow in the American College of Emergency Physicians.
After seven years as a family and emergency physician in the mountains of Colorado, he returned to Ohio where he has practiced Emergency Medicine since 1989.
Dr. Syzek is VP of e-Learning Services at The Sullivan Group, a leading provider of patient safety, risk management, and performance improvement solutions for healthcare professionals. Dr. Syzek serves as Chief Clinical Risk Officer for Premier Physician Services, a regional emergency physician group practice with over 400 physicians. He also serves as President of Pinnacle Medical Protective, SPC,
a physician liability insurance company in Georgetown, Grand Cayman.
Dr. Syzek is a frequent author and speaker on the topics of patient safety, risk reduction, litigation support, physician group risk management, and physician liability insurance. |
|
| |
|
| |
| OBSTETRICS |
 Anne C. Urmanski, RN-C Anne Urmanski, RN-C, is an accomplished healthcare professional with over 14 years of nursing experience, including work as a clinical analyst, consultant, and registered nurse.
Anne is a Cum Laude graduate of the Medical College of Georgia, holding a Bachelor of Nursing with an advanced certification in In-Patient Obstetrics. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in Education (Health Promotion and Behavior) from the University of Georgia.
In the early part of her career, Anne gained exceptional clinical experience as a labor and delivery nurse at the largest private birthing center in the United States, boasting more than 18,000 deliveries per year.
Anne has dedicated the past 7 years to working as a successful clinical analyst, with focused strengths in sales support, IT design, implementation and client management.
Committed to improving the quality of perinatal healthcare, Anne has focused her interest on the efforts of software and workflow to enhance efficiency and safety. Her specialties include both enterprise and niche obstetrical clinical information systems as well as decision support and risk management tools designed to improve outcomes and patient care for mothers and their infants during childbirth. Anne is an active member of the Association of Woman's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), regularly attending both local and national meetings. |
|
| |
|
| |
PEDIATRIC EMERGENCY
MEDICINE |
 Todd Zimmerman, DO Dr. Zimmerman is the medical director for EmergiKidsSM, the Pediatric
Emergency Medicine program of Alexian Brothers Health System, and was the CMO and co-founder of PIRRGA/MDMC, a single specialty risk retention group.
Dr. Zimmerman is board certified in Pediatrics and in Pediatric Emergency Medicine, and he is an expert witness in the fields of Pediatrics and Pediatric Emergency Medicine. As an independent medical consultant, he has developed content and architecture for
both paper and electronic pediatric medical record charts. |
|
| |
|
| |
| PSYCHIATRY |
 Leslie S. Zun, MD, MBA Dr. Zun is the Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, and Chairman & Professor of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science / Chicago Medical School in North Chicago, Illinois. His background includes a medical degree (MD) from Rush Medical College and a business degree (MBA) from Northwestern University's JL Kellogg School of Management. He is board certified in Emergency Medicine by the American Board of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Zun was a chief operating officer and
acting chief executive officer for a 200-bed hospital in Chicago.
Dr. Zun's research interests include healthcare administration, violence prevention and behavioral emergencies. His publications have addressed the administration of the hospitals and Emergency Departments, physicians' bonus and incentive plans, and quality improvement topics. He has presented his research and lectured on these topics both nationally and internationally. He is a
board member of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine and is active in many specialty organizations. Dr. Zun is medical review officer and is responsible for employee health. |
|
|
| |
|
|
 |
