Nathan Roberts, MD, PhD, Chair of the EMRA Research Committee, 2023-2024

Program: University of Michigan

Your goal as an EMRA leader: : Research is a vital part of EM training and practice, but one that is often underutilized and underdeveloped. An understanding of research allows us to interpret better and perfect the practice of Emergency Medicine. Research is how we shape, refine, and advance our field. However, research interest varies widely amongst EM trainees. Some hope to have an active research career, while others limit their research involvement only to what is required. Research skills are a critical tool in our armamentarium that is often underdeveloped. We should develop our research skills just as we seek to hone other crucial skills, such as our clinical reasoning or airway management. This is true regardless of whether the trainee intends to work in the community or an academic department with significant research productivity. Too often, research is conducted as a requirement that must be checked off or delivered to trainees at a level beyond their current understanding, which hampers interest and dissuades the trainee from pursuing further research endeavors. As an EMRA leader and chair of the Research Committee, my goal is to foster research interest and facilitate the development of research skills amongst EM trainees. Trainees are the future of our field, and understanding research will help them shape that future. My goal is to help equip EM trainees with the interest, skills, and knowledge to investigate aspects of our field that they are passionate about, critically appraise the literature, and help guide the future of our field.

If I weren't an emergency physician, I would be: Underwater archeologist!

What's the last non-textbook you read? The Emergency Mind: Wiring Your Brain for Performance Under Pressure - Dworkis

Charles Sanky, MD, MPH, Chair-Elect of the EMRA Research Committee, 2023-2024

Program: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Your goal as an EMRA leader: Bringing people together to reflect on our experiences as emergency medicine trainees and reimagine how we can better care for our patients.

Favorite life hack for night shifts: Snacks. Lots of snacks.

What's the last non-textbook you read? Thanks for the Feedback - Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen

Anna Heffron, MD, PhD, Vice Chair of the EMRA Research Committee, 2023-2024

Program: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Your goal as an EMRA leader: My goals specifically for my role in the Research Committee include better training on how to find and rectify how your own research might harbor or worsen discrimination, disparities, and biases. I found that kind of training to be a huge gap in my PhD training and did a lot of work to get it instituted as part of my graduate program's training. I'm very excited to jump into this area in EM research and to be part of pushing the field to make our research more just and better able to advance health equity. Generally as a leader, I'm thrilled to be part of EMRA leadership and to get to start working more closely with and learning from other passionate EM residents around the country.

What is something people don't know about you? Probably most people don't know I was a boxer in undergrad. (The question that usually follows when learning this is "did you get punched in the face?"--yes I did, many times.)

If I weren't an emergency physician, I would be: I liked every acute specialty in medical school--which was part of what led me to EM--but I particularly liked PICU, SICU, trauma surgery, inpatient peds. If I wasn't a physician at all I'd probably be a researcher and/or an activist, though my childhood self definitely planned to be a teacher/veterinarian/firefighter/astronaut.

January Moore, DO, Asst. Vice Chair of the EMRA Research Committee, 2023-2024

Program: Broward Health

Your goal as an EMRA leader: To support and provide resources for residents interested in pursuing research, and to highlight the importance of research in Emergency Medicine

What is something people don't know about you? Philosophy major, and a brief stint in art school