About The Geriatric Emergency Department Collaborative

We are committed to making change through the education of individuals, and hospital-wide initiatives that create sustainable improvements in practice at all levels.

The Geriatric Emergency Department Collaborative (GEDC) is a nation-wide collaborative dedicated to improving the quality of care for older people in Emergency Departments with the goal of reducing harm and improving healthcare outcomes.

GEDC is generously supported by the John A. Hartford Foundation and the Gary & Mary West Health Institute.

Vision & Mission

Our vision is a world where all emergency departments are equipped and able to provide the highest quality of care for their older patients.

Our mission is to bring best practice into action.

We transform and evaluate interdisciplinary best practice in geriatric emergency medicine. Then we build and distribute practical, evidence-based resources, tools, and learning materials that support sustainable, quality care for older adults.

Values

  • Share knowledge enthusiastically
  • Work openly and collaboratively
  • Be curious and innovative
  • Be open-minded, creative problem solvers
  • Be dedicated advocates for the improved emergency care of older adults

These values support us in our mission. They help ensure the highest quality collaborations in the pursuit of better ED care for older adults.

We are a collaboration of ED Sites

GEDC is a collaboration between GEDC Partner emergency departments dedicated to accomplishing these goals together and sharing best practices. Together, we are working to accelerate the evolutions in care models needed to improve emergency care for older adults.

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Our Faculty

Kevin Biese

MD, MAT ( Co-PI )
Bio

Dr. Kevin Biese serves as an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine (EM) and Internal Medicine, Vice-Chair of Academic Affairs, and Co-Director of the Division of Geriatrics Emergency Medicine at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill School of Medicine as well as a consultant with West Health. With the support of the John A. Hartford and West Health Foundations, and alongside Dr. Ula Hwang, he serves as Co-PI of the national Geriatric Emergency Department Collaborative. He is grateful to chair the first Board of Governors for the ACEP Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation Program. His passion is for improved education and systems of care for older adults, and he has published multiple materials in both these areas.

Chris Carpenter

MD, MSC, FACEP, FAAEM
Bio

Dr. Chris Carpenter is dual-board certified in Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine and is Professor in Emergency Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. His funded research interests include diagnostics, dementia, falls prevention, and implementation science. He is on the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine Board of Directors as well as the American College of Emergency Physicians Clinical Policy Committee. He is also Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Academic Emergency Medicine, Associate Editor of both Annals of Internal Medicine’s ACP Journal Club and the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. He co-led the collaboration to develop the American College of Emergency Physician/American Geriatrics Society Geriatric Emergency Department Guidelines As well as the International Standards for Reporting of Implementation Research (StaRI) reporting guidelines. He is also faculty for Emergency Medical Abstracts and Best Evidence in Emergency Medicine courses, as well as a contributor to Skeptics Guide to Emergency Medicine and Sketchy EBM.

Teresita Hogan

MD, FACEP
Bio

Dr. Teresita Hogan is a Professor of Medicine and Director of Geriatric Emergency Medicine at the University of Chicago Medicine. Her clinical research interest are Geriatric EM, Quality Improvement, Emergency Pain Management, Emergency Management of Falls in Older Adults, and Models of Care. Dr. Hogan is the ACEP representative to the AGS and serves on the executive committee Section for Enhancing Geriatric Understanding and Expertise among Surgical and Medical Specialists. She is an expert in graduate medical education and led the expert consensus process to establish The Geriatric Competencies for Emergency Medicine Residents.

She has also worked on identifying the number and characteristics of geriatric emergency departments across the United States and is a member of the GEDA Board of Governors.

Ula Hwang

MD, MPH, FACEP ( GEDC Co-PI )
Bio

Dr. Ula Hwang is the Medical Director for Geriatric Emergency Medicine at New York University and a core investigator at the GRECC (Geriatrics Research, Education and Clinical Center) at the James J. Peters Bronx VAMC. Her research focuses on improving the quality of care older adults receive in the ED setting that ranges from observational studies of analgesic safety and effectiveness in older patients to multi-center implementation science studies of geriatric emergency care interventions. Hwang currently co-PIs the Geriatric Emergency Department Collaborative and is the PI on the Geriatric Emergency care Applied Research (GEAR) network.

Michael Malone

MD
Bio

Dr. Michael Malone is the Medical Director of Aurora Health Care - Senior Services and the Aurora at Home. He is a Clinical Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He also serves as the Director of the Geriatrics Fellowship Program at Aurora Health Care. Dr. Malone received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas; he completed his internal medicine residency and geriatric fellowship training at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in Milwaukee. His Aurora Health Care practice is to home-bound older persons in inner-city Milwaukee.

Aaron Malsch

RN, MSN, GCNS-BC
Bio

Aaron Malsch is the Senior Services Program Manager at AdvocateAuroraHealth (AAH) in Wisconsin & Illinois. He supports several geriatric models of care (NICHE, Geri ED, HELP, ACE Tracker, Geriatric Scholars). His focus is on nursing and interprofessional practice as it relates to the elder population throughout the AAH system of clinics, hospitals, emergency departments, home care services, and long term setting partners. In support of these models of care, Aaron has developed expertise in developing EHR workflow tools and reports to facilitate front line staff’s efforts and demonstrate outcomes. He leads the Geriatric ED implementation and achieved ACEP Geri ED accreditation at all AAH EDs. Aaron contributes nationally to the improvement of care for older adults, highlighted by being Chair of the geriatric committee at the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA), co-planner of GEDC symposium at the ENA conference, and reviewer of Geriatric ED Accreditation program at ACEP.

Pamela Martin

FNP-BC, APRN GS-C
Bio

Pamela Martin is an Emergency Department based geriatric provider at Yale New Haven Health. She supports the Department of Geriatrics and the Emergency Department with initiatives to improve the care and satisfaction of older adults across the continuum of care. Her role includes developing an accredited geriatric emergency department, facilitating communication between partner agencies and the emergency department, providing education related to older adults to staff, community partners, and national organizations. Pamela was selected to be a participant in the Expert Workgroup convened for the development of the Delirium ED-toolkit by Dr. Sharon Inouye and West Health. Pamela’s healthcare passion is for creating systems that provide person centered care to older adults and their caregivers. She is board certified as a family nurse practitioner and a geriatric advanced practice registered nurse.

Don Melady

MD
Bio

Dr. Don Melady is an emergency physician at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada and a founding member of the Geriatric Emergency Department Collaborative. He is the author of the website www.geri-EM.com – a CME accredited program for geriatric emergency medicine education – and the chair of the Geriatric EM committee of the International Federation of Emergency Medicine.

Laura Stabler

Program Director
Bio

Laura Stabler is the Program Director of the Geriatric Emergency Department Collaborative. She received her MPH in Health Policy and Management from the University of North Carolina and her BS in Health Education from North Carolina State University. Before joining the Geriatric Emergency Department Collaborative, Laura was Director of OP Services for UNC Health Care Systems in Psychiatry for seven years and Radiation Oncology for 20 years.

Conor Sullivan

Research Associate
Bio

Conor is a research associate and medical student working for the GEDC. He is very excited to be part of a collaborative effort endeavoring to find innovative and evidence-based strategies to improve the delivery of healthcare to our nation’s elder population. He looks forward to expanding his skill set and knowledge base as part of the GEDC team.

Heather Wojtarowicz

BA, BS
Bio

Heather Wojtarowicz is the Communications Manager of the Geriatric Emergency Department Collaborative. She received her BA in Strategic Communications and BS in Sociology from Arkansas State University. Before joining the Geriatric Emergency Department Collaborative, Heather has worked with multiple nonprofits such as Girl Scouts and Habitat for Humanity as a communications professional.

Alex Ostberg

MPH
Bio

Alex Ostberg is a Program Manager for the GEDC. He received his MPH from the UNC Gillings School of Public Health in 2022, while concurrently working in the UNC Emergency Department as the chief medical scribe. Prior to this, Alex received his BS in Human Biology from Stanford University. Alex was a certified EMT in Connecticut for 4 years where he was an active volunteer for Darien EMS - Post 53. He is excited to combine his clinical skillset and academic knowledge with the GEDC platform to improve care in older adults.

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