Introducing the 2024 EMSC Scholars

The EMSC Innovation and Improvement Center has announced five new scholars from across disciplines and across the country as part of the second cohort of the EMSC Scholars Program. The EMSC Scholars Program is designed to engage and support early and late career clinicians and health systems professionals to become future leaders in the EMSC space. During the one- to two-year program, scholars work alongside experts in the field to develop and implement a research project in an area of interest.

Learn about the scholars’ backgrounds and interest areas.

Anne Adema, MD

Associate Professor, University of Colorado

"I worked as a pediatric hospitalist at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, Alaska. This experience shaped my perspective on providing pediatric care in resource limited settings, and it was a privilege to serve the Alaska Native community. I want to create easy and effective ways for teams to feel prepared to take care of critically ill and injured kids

Through participation in the EMSC Scholars Program, I hope to identify innovative methods and strategies to study and improve a suite of tools that I have created to improve pediatric readiness. My goal is to be able to provide free, easy-to-disseminate, high-quality tools for medical teams to implement and apply to their environment."

William Cebulskie II, MSMEd, NRP

EMS Service Manager, Pleasant Gap Fire Company

"I am interested in the improvement of prehospital pediatric emergency care by means of increasing preparedness for pediatric emergencies in EMS. I am extremely interested in enhancing pediatric education in initial EMS education/certification programs. I believe that having childhood cancer built a foundational interest in pediatric care. That, coupled with my passion for prehospital emergency care/EMS, led me to my interest in improving prehospital pediatric emergency care.

In this program I hope to accomplish a project that will lead to a stronger EMS system and allow us to enhance prehospital pediatric emergency care. I also hope to learn more about EMS for Children across the country and expand my knowledge base on many aspects of pediatric emergency care."

Vishal Naik, MD, MEd

Pediatric Emergency Medicine Physician, Lurie Children's Hospital / Northwestern University

"My academic pursuits focus on enhancing pediatric care in the prehospital setting through systems- and education-based interventions at the local and national levels. As both a medical educator and pediatric emergency medicine physician, I have grown close to the prehospital professionals that serve my community and understand both their importance to the continuum of pediatric care and their needs when it comes to upholding high standards of pediatric care.

The EMSC Scholars Program will allow me to connect with mentors and organizations from around the country to help me develop my interests in the prehospital setting. These invaluable experiences and connections will significantly enrich my career path as an academic pediatric emergency medicine physician."

Kelly Pretorius, PhD, MPH, MSN, PNP, RN

Nurse, Indiana University

"My long-term goal is to develop tailored interventions to support parenting practices that prevent childhood injuries in the context of the pediatric emergency space. I am specifically interested in preventing some of the leading causes of preventable death in pediatrics: SUID, firearms, drowning, poisoning, and motor vehicle safety. I believe families and mothers need more support in order to make positive parenting choices in order to prevent pediatric injuries and ultimately, death.

Through the EMSC Scholars Program, I hope to obtain mentorship and additional training on pediatric injury prevention in the context of the pediatric emergency space. I hope I can leverage partnerships to develop an intervention study, first focused on SUID/safe sleep, with hopes of expanding to other leading causes of pediatric injuries and death."

Emily Sentman, MD

Pediatric Emergency Medicine Physician, Nationwide Children's Hospital

"I hope to further develop my project management skills through the EMSC Scholars Program, and I envision that I will continue to use these skills throughout my career. I hope to gain a better understanding of the connections between academic pediatric institutions and other pediatric care settings through my project. I am passionate about improving pediatric care through improvement of the pediatric-specific tools available in the electronic health record (EHR). These tools not only improve the quality and safety of the care that our patients receive, but they also improve provider efficiency and satisfaction.

I am interested in pursuing projects that aim to expand the availability of pediatric EHR tools. At present, there is not comprehensive pediatric clinical decision support content from EHR vendors. There is a need to make these tools available beyond academic pediatric institutions to improve pediatric readiness."