Meet Our Editors

Critical Decisions is led and guided by a group of outstanding physician educators who offer their time, talents, energy, and resources to make a difference in the clinical practice of emergency medicine. Their diverse backgrounds and experience infuse CDEM’s content with notable expertise.

Danya Khoujah

Danya Khoujah, MBBS, MEHP, FACEP

Editor-in-Chief, Podcast Host

Dr. Khoujah has been a CDEM editorial board member since 2017. She is an attending physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at AdventHealth Tampa in Florida. She earned her medical degree from King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and completed her emergency medicine residency and faculty development fellowship at the University of Maryland Medical Center, where she currently serves as a volunteer adjunct assistant professor. She also completed a master of education in the health professions from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Khoujah is a nationally known speaker, having spoken at conferences for ACEP, Council of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine, and the Mediterranean Emergency Medicine Congress. She is also an author, with specific interests in geriatric emergencies, emergency neurology, and medical education. In 2020 she received EMRA’s 25 Under 45 Award for her efforts in global education of emergency physicians. She loves to cook, travel, eat, read, and learn new skills (including finding time for all her existing hobbies).

Josh Broder

Joshua S. Broder, MD, FACEP

Section Editor, Critical Image

Dr. Broder has been on the CDEM editorial board since 2007. He is a professor, the residency director, and the vice chair of education in the Duke University Medical Center Department of Emergency Medicine, where he has served since 2005. After graduating from the Yale School of Medicine, he completed his emergency medicine residency at the University of Maryland. Recognized nationally for his teaching excellence, he has received numerous honors including the ACEP National Faculty Teaching Award, Council of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine National Faculty Teaching Award, and ACGME Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award. He has been an invited speaker at more than 90 international, national, and regional events. Dr. Broder is a reviewer for several scientific journals, including Annals of Emergency Medicine, where he was recognized as a top reviewer in 2021. He has served on ACEP clinical policy committees and on the American College of Radiology Appropriateness Criteria subcommittees for imaging. He is the author and editor of the award-winning book Diagnostic Imaging for the Emergency Physician that reflects his primary research focus on the efficient use of diagnostic imaging and improved modalities to balance radiation exposure against the imperative of diagnostic accuracy.

Ann M. Dietrich

Ann M. Dietrich, MD, FAAP, FACEP

Section Editor, Clinical Pediatrics

Dr. Dietrich is the division chief of pediatric emergency medicine at Prisma Health and a professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at the University of South Carolina College of Medicine in Greenville. She received her medical degree from Northeast Ohio Medical University and completed her residency and fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Previously, she was a professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine for more than 25 years at Ohio State University College of Medicine. She is a past chair of ACEP’s Pediatric Emergency Medicine Committee. Her area of expertise is pediatric head trauma.

Andrew J. Eyre

Andrew J. Eyre, MD, MS-HPEd

Section Editor, The Literature Review

Dr. Eyre has been on the CDEM editorial board since 2016. He currently serves as the medical director for the STRATUS Center for Medical Simulation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, where he is also a practicing emergency physician. Throughout his career, Dr. Eyre has held a variety of leadership roles in medical education at both Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, including serving as the assistant program director for the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency (HAEMR). He attended medical school at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, where he developed interests in simulation and medical education. After completing his residency at the HAEMR based out of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Eyre completed a fellowship in medical simulation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He also earned a master of science in health professions education from the MGH Institute for Health. He is currently on ACEP’s Education Committee and has spoken at the International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare (IMSH), the Special Deliveries Obstetric Emergencies Course, and conferences for ACEP, the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine, and Native American Emergency Care and Rural Medicine. From 2020 to 2023, Dr. Eyre served as the course director for the annual Department of State continuing medical and nursing education conferences. He has received the Bernard Lown Award for Education and Teaching and awards from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, including the Emergency Medicine Teaching Award and the Simulation Medical Educator of the Year Award. He also placed third for Technology and Innovation at IMSH. Dr. Eyre has also received awards from two other publications he edits, the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine’s “Gold Standard” Award and MedEdPORTAL’s Outstanding Peer Reviewer. In addition to medical simulation, Dr. Eyre’s academic interests include international medical education, curriculum design, and procedure education.

John Kiel

John Kiel, DO, MPH

Section Editor, Critical Cases in Orthopedics and Trauma

Dr. Kiel is an associate professor of emergency medicine and sports medicine at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa, Florida. After earning his doctor of osteopathic medicine from the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, he completed his residency in emergency medicine at the University of Buffalo and his fellowship in sports medicine at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Kiel also serves as the chair-elect of the ACEP Sports Medicine Section. He is a recipient of multiple community service and teaching awards, and he frequently lectures at the local, regional, and national levels. In addition to sports medicine, his areas of interest are orthopedics, trauma, musculoskeletal ultrasound, regional anesthesia, and resident education. He is also an officer in the Florida Army National Guard. When he isn’t working, Dr. Kiel enjoys spending time with his wife, daughter, and three dogs and participating in sports and Crossfit.

Frank Lovecchio

Frank Lovecchio, DO, MPH, FACEP

Section Editor, Drug Box

Dr. LoVecchio has been an emergency physician, medical toxicologist, and an addiction specialist for over 2 decades. He is the medical director of clinical research at the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University. He also works as the principal investigator for studies of the Infectious Disease Network (IDNet), a group of emergency departments funded by the CDC to conduct infectious disease trials. He has served as vice-chair and director of research for the Maricopa Integrated Health System and University of Arizona Department of Emergency Medicine. He is board-certified in four specialties and received his master of public health from The Harvard School of Public Health. He has received more than a dozen research and teaching awards and, in 2022, was recognized as one of the world’s top 2% most-cited scientists. Dr. LoVecchio has organized and participated in multiple international medical missions and has been honored locally and nationally as a health care hero. Currently, he is performing research about drug development, drugs of abuse, COVID-19, infectious diseases, wellness, and environmental illness; he has received more than $10 million in research funding as a group.

Sharon Mace

Sharon Mace, MD, FACEP, FAAP

Section Editor, Clinical Pediatrics

Dr. Mace brings more than 30 years of full-time clinical, administrative, and academic emergency medicine experience to the CDEM editorial board. She is a professor in the Department of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She is the author and editor of the textbook Emergency Department Procedural Sedation and Pain Management and is a nationally renowned leader in pediatric emergency medicine, observation medicine, pain management and procedural sedation, and emergency airway and respiratory diseases. Dr. Mace serves as reviewer for several medical journals, including Academic Emergency Medicine.

Amal Mattu

Amal Mattu, MD, FACEP

Section Editor, Critical ECG

Dr. Mattu is a tenured professor, vice chair of education, and director of the Faculty Development Fellowship and codirector of the Emergency Cardiology Fellowship in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. A renowned international CME speaker, Dr. Mattu has received more than 20 national teaching commendations, including the Outstanding Contributions to Education Award in 2013 — ACEP’s highest teaching honor. Dr. Mattu’s academic interests include emergency cardiology, geriatric emergency medicine, faculty development, and risk management. He has authored the bestselling text ECGs for the Emergency Physician, Volumes 1 and 2 and has served as an editor for 18 additional emergency medicine texts. He is the first emergency physician to serve as the primary guest editor for Cardiology Clinics and Clinics in Geriatric Medicine and serves as the consulting editor for Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America.

Christian A. Tomaszewski

Christian A. Tomaszewski, MD, MS, MBA, FACEP

Section Editor, Tox Box

Dr. Tomaszewski is a professor of clinical emergency medicine and director of the two emergency departments at the University of California in San Diego (UCSD). A trained marine biologist, he maintains his love of the ocean through diving and surfing while serving as a clinical attending physician in the Department of Hyperbaric Medicine at UCSD. He was named the UCSD Health Sciences Attending Physician of the Year in 2012. For 17 years Dr. Tomaszewski taught emergency medicine while medical director of the Hyperbaric Oxygen Division and director of the Medical Toxicology Fellowship at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. His research interests include novel treatments for carbon monoxide poisoning and cardiotoxicity from calcium channel and beta-blockers.

Steve Warrington

Steve J. Warrington, PhD

Section Editor, The Critical Procedure

Dr. Warrington has served on the CDEM editorial board since 2011. He is the chair of emergency medicine at MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center in Sioux City, Iowa. Previously, he served as a residency program director at Orange Park Medical Center in Florida, and Simulation Director at Kaweah Delta Medical Center in Visalia, California. He graduated from Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine and completed his residency and fellowship in emergency medicine at Akron General Medical Center in Ohio. Dr. Warrington also completed a master of education in the health professions from Johns Hopkins University and a doctor of philosophy in higher education from Liberty University. He is board certified in emergency medicine and clinical informatics. His research interests include simulation and medical education, MRSA, and skin cancer diagnoses in the emergency department. Awards he has received include the Nova Southeastern Biomedical Informatics Chancellor’s Award and the CEP America Hero Award. In addition to presenting and publishing at numerous conferences and holding multiple research grants, he has served in various roles at national and international conferences, including co-chairing tracks and judging presentations. In his spare time, Dr. Warrington enjoys skiing, reading a good book, and spending time with his wife and daughter.

Tareq Al-Salamah

Tareq Al-Salamah, MBBS, MPH, FACEP

Associate Editor

Dr. Al-Salamah started his role as associate editor at CDEM in 2022. He is an assistant professor of emergency medicine at King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and an adjunct clinical instructor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, where he completed his residency and administrative fellowship. He also currently works on Saudi Arabia’s Health Sector Transformation Program to restructure its health care system. Dr. Al-Salamah has a master of public health from the University of Miami and previously worked as an attending physician at the University of Maryland Prince George’s Hospital. He has spoken at conferences for the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, Red Sea Emergency Medicine, and Saudi Arabian Society of Emergency Medicine. His special interests include administrative work related to hospital throughput and cardiac and hematologic emergencies. In his spare time, Dr. Al-Salamah enjoys fitness, calisthenics, rock climbing, and reading.

Wendy Chang

Wan-Tsu Wendy Chang, MD

Associate Editor, Podcast Host

Dr. Chang is an associate professor in the Departments of Emergency Medicine, Neurology, and Program in Trauma at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She is also the director of Neurocritical Care at the University of Maryland Capital Region Health. She completed her emergency medicine residency at the University of Cincinnati and a fellowship in neurocritical care at Johns Hopkins University. Her academic interests include neurological emergencies, neuroresuscitation, interprofessional education, and medical simulation. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling and dreaming about owning a dog.

Kelsey Drake

Kelsey Drake, MD, MPH, FACEP

Associate Editor

Dr. Drake has been on CDEM’s editorial board since 2021. She is the medical director at CommonSpirit Arvada Emergency and Urgency Center, affiliated with St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood, Colorado. She received her medical degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and completed her residency training at Parkland Hospital and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, where she afterward served as faculty. Dr. Drake’s areas of expertise include climate change, wilderness medicine, and global health. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two children. She also keeps busy with the many outdoor activities Colorado has to offer, including skiing, hiking, running, biking, and camping, as well as the indoor activities of cake decorating and learning guitar.

Walter Green

Walter L. Green, MD, FACEP

Associate Editor

Dr. Green completed his residency in emergency medicine back when it was a brand new specialty. He began his career at the University of Mississippi in 1984 and relocated to Dallas in 2011, where he now serves as a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. His research interests include infectious diseases, medical education, global health, and billing and coding in emergency medicine. When not at the hospital, he is at his tree farm with his wife Kathy or spending time with his three grown children.

John Greenwood

John C. Greenwood, MD

Associate Editor

Dr. Greenwood is an assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He completed his emergency medicine and critical care medicine fellowship at the University of Maryland, with a focus in cardiovascular critical care and mechanical circulatory support. He is the editor-in-chief of the EMRA PressorDex critical care handbook and a cohost of the podcast Critical Care Perspectives in Emergency Medicine.

Nathaniel Mann

Nathaniel Mann, MD

Associate Editor

Dr. Mann has been editing for CDEM since 2015. After earning his medical degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2012, he completed his residency training at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he garnered several honors. He served as secretary of the EMRA Board of Directors from 2012 to 2014 and was editor-in-chief of the organization’s popular EM Resident magazine. He graduated from residency in 2016 and relocated to Boston, where he completed a wilderness medicine fellowship through the Department of Emergency Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University. He is currently faculty at Prisma Health Upstate and the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Greenville, where he is the director of wilderness medicine. An avid outdoorsman, he currently serves on local search and rescue and disaster response teams and volunteers in prehospital care with the United States Forest Service. He has been a SWAT physician and has practiced medicine on six continents.

George Sternbach

George Sternbach, MD, FACEP

Associate Editor

Dr. Sternbach is a clinical professor of emergency medicine and surgery at Stanford University and a staff physician at Seton Medical Center in Daly City, California. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Emergency Medicine and is the coauthor of the Manual of Emergency Medicine and the Atlas of Emergency Procedures.