Washington, DC — The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) recently elected three new officers at a meeting of its board of directors in New Orleans, Louisiana. In addition, Dr. Brian Keaton of Munroe Falls, OH, assumed the presidency, and Dr. Frederick Blum assumed the office of immediate past president, as previously announced. All will serve a 1-year term. The following are the new officers:
Cherri D. Hobgood, MD, FACEP, Chair
Dr. Hobgood was elected chair of the Board of Directors. She has been a member of the Board since 2004.
Dr. Hobgood is an associate professor of emergency medicine and the Associate Dean for Curriculum and Educational Development at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Dr Hobgood has published extensively on a variety of medical education topics. She is also the recipient of numerous teaching awards, including the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine award, the ACEP National Faculty Teaching award, and in 2003 the Emergency Medicine Residents Association Excellence in Teaching Award for her commitment to resident education. Her educational intervention GRIEV_ING, designed to teach emergency physicians how to better deliver death notifications in the emergency department, is being nationally disseminated through a grant to ACEP and MADD from the Office of Violent Crime.
Dr Hobgood is also a national leader in quality improvement and patient safety. She serves as ACEP’s representative to the AMA Physicians Consortium on Performance Improvement, is a member of the US Pharmopecia, and is a founding member of ACEP’s Section on Quality Improvement and Patient Safety.
As president of the North Carolina College of Emergency Physicians, Dr. Hobgood led the efforts in her state to ensure that health plans comply with the prudent layperson standard, which requires health plans to pay for services based on a patient’s symptoms, not the final diagnosis. As a result of her efforts, the North Carolina Department of Insurance issued the single largest fine in the state’s history to a health plan that had systematically had ignored the standard and denied payment for thousands of emergency patients. The state chapter named her North Carolina’s Emergency Physician of the Year in 2004.
“I worked for five years as a general practitioner in an indigent rural North Carolina emergency department,” said Dr. Hobgood. “That experience convinced me to return for additional training and complete a residency in emergency medicine, as I felt I could best serve my community as an emergency physician. I bring a personal commitment to ACEP’s organizational goal of increasing access for medically underserved communities, especially in rural areas.”
A graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, in 1989 Dr. Hobgood completed her residency in emergency medicine at UNC in 1998. She is certified as a Diplomat of the American Board of Emergency Medicine.
Nicholas J. Jouriles, MD, FACEP, vice president
Dr. Jouriles, of Akron, Ohio was elected vice-president of the organization’s Board of Directors. He formerly held the position of secretary-treasurer of the board. Dr. Jouriles is an attending physician and core faculty at Akron General Medical Center’s department of emergency medicine and emergency medicine residency program. He also is professor of emergency medicine at Northeast Ohio Universities College of Medicine and a partner in General Emergency Medical Specialists, Inc.
“ACEP this year has done an incredible job of raising public awareness of the critical issues in emergency medicine and motivating our members to get involved,” said Dr. Jouriles. “Now we must work for passage of the Access to Emergency Medical Services Act and to increase our contributions to ACEP’s political action committee so that it becomes the number one PAC in the house of medicine. “
Dr. Jouriles received the ACEP Council’s Meritorious Service Award in 2002 for his outstanding contributions to the specialty of emergency medicine. He also has served in various ACEP leadership roles, including chairman of the Educational Meetings and Bylaws Committees. In addition, he chaired ACEP’s 2003 Scientific Assembly program, the world’s largest emergency medicine meeting. Dr. Jouriles also was appointed International Federation of Emergency Medicine education committee chair. Dr. Jouriles also served as president of Ohio ACEP in 1997 and a recipient of the Bill Hall Award. He received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University and completed his residency in emergency medicine at Denver General Hospital and internal medicine at Dartmouth.
nt-Elect: J. Brian Hancock, MD, FACEP Angela F. Gardner, MD, FACEP, secretary-treasurer
Dr. Gardner, of Galveston, Texas, was elected secretary-treasurer of the organization’s Board of Directors. She is an assistant professor for emergency medicine at the University of Texas medical branch and has served in various ACEP leadership positions, including chairman of ACEP’s task force that developed a National Report Card on the State of Emergency Medicine, released earlier this year.
An accomplished national speaker, educator and published author, Dr. Gardner has served as a national spokesperson for Doctors’ for Medical Liability Reform and as a member of ACEP’s Professional Liability Task Force. In addition, she served as president of ACEP’s Texas Chapter from 2003 to 2004.
“The medical liability crisis, overcrowding, the on-call specialist shortage - these problems, which affect our ability to provide high-quality emergency care, are daunting, and we must work together tirelessly to apply our skills and knowledge to solving them for our patients and for our specialty,” said Dr. Gardner. “We must continue until we know the resources are there to make sure everyone facing a medical emergency has the best access to high-quality emergency care and every chance for recovery.”
Dr. Gardner is active in the American Association of Women Emergency Physicians and in issues involving emergency medicine practice management and health policy. She received her medical degree from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and completed her residency in emergency medicine at Texas Tech Regional Academic Health Center in El Paso.