Margarita E. Pena, MD, FACEP, has focused her career on advancing observation medicine and medical education. She is Associate Program Director for the Emergency Medicine Residency at St. John Hospital in Detroit and Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at both Wayne State University School of Medicine and Central Michigan University College of Medicine. For more than 16 years, Dr. Pena served as Medical Director of the Clinical Decision Unit at St. John Hospital, where she was physician champion for the hospital's Chest Pain Center, Heart Failure, and Geriatric Emergency Department accreditations.
Dr. Pena has published peer-reviewed research focusing on observation unit management strategies, diagnostic process improvements, and the development of educational frameworks. Her academic contributions include authoring chapters in Observation Medicine: Principles and Protocols and serving as editor of Short Stay Management of Chest Pain, 2nd Edition.
An ACEP member for more than 30 years, Dr. Pena has been active in the ACEP Observation Medicine Section for more than 15 years, serving as Chair and currently as its Past Chair. She also serves on the Board of Governors for the ACEP Observation Unit Accreditation Program and has directed the Observation Medicine Science and Solutions Conference for more than a decade. At the chapter level, she served as Chair of the Michigan College of Emergency Physicians Observation Medicine Committee. She is also a past Chair of the SAEM Observation Medicine Interest Group.
Dr. Pena received the 2012 MCEP Emergency Physician of the Year and the 2020 TeamHealth Women in Leadership Award. She is honored to receive the 2026 ACEP Lou Graff Award for Excellence in Observation Medicine.
