Michael Callaham
Michael Callaham, MD, has been named the first chair of the new Department of Emergency Medicine.
UCSF School of Medicine Dean David Kessler, MD, announced the appointment on Monday. "Dr. Callaham was one of the driving forces behind the establishment of this new department and is well qualified to lead it," Kessler said.
The school's Division of Emergency Medicine is expected to be elevated to its new status as an academic department effective Jan, 1, 2008, pending Academic Senate approval.
The formation of this new academic department is an important and exciting step that unifies UCSF's research and training programs at the UCSF Medical Center on the Parnassus campus and at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH), and the well-established department and emergency residency at UCSF-Fresno. Among other benefits, this has enabled UCSF to establish an emergency medicine residency program that will welcome its first trainees in summer 2008. Emergency medicine is one of the top residency choices for UCSF medical school graduates, but until now, these trainees have had to go elsewhere.
Clinical Research
One of the first physicians to pursue a career specializing in emergency medicine, Callaham has conducted research leading to considerable improvements in pre-hospital and emergency medical care and helping to set the standard for rigorous research in emergency medicine. Much of his clinical research has examined popular and widely used methods that were supported by weak evidence. His findings have led to the withdrawal of ineffective treatments used by emergency personnel and to significant changes to advanced life support protocols, the guidelines used by medical professionals to treat cardiac arrest victims.
In addition to pursuing his own clinical research, Callaham has led efforts to promote scholarly work in the field of emergency medicine. He joined the editorial board of the
Annals of Emergency Medicine, the leading peer-reviewed journal in emergency medicine, in 1985, and has served as editor-in-chief since 2002. Callaham also conducts research into the effectiveness of scientific peer review, and has helped organize several international peer review congresses on that topic. He is currently president of the World Association of Medical Editors.
Last month, Callaham was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors in medicine. Among his many other awards, he was recognized for his service to the City and County of San Francisco in 2004, when he was awarded the San Francisco Department of Public Health Raymond Lim Excellence in EMS Award for his "outstanding performance and leadership throughout a distinguished career as a pioneer and visionary for the EMS system in San Francisco."
Callaham joined the faculty at UCSF in 1976 after completing his residency in emergency medicine at the University of Southern California and an internship at Highland Hospital in Oakland. Callaham received his MD degree from UCSF in 1970. He graduated from Cornell University with a BA degree in 1965.
Established Specialty
In recent years, emergency medicine has become firmly established as its own specialty, with unique training programs and research opportunities, 13 peer-reviewed scientific journals and numerous emergency medicine-specific textbooks. Two-thirds of medical schools already have their own departments of emergency medicine, including UC Davis and UC Irvine.
The clinical and educational impact of emergency medicine includes:
* One-fourth of all hospital admissions at the UCSF Medical Center and two-thirds at SFGH are first evaluated and treated in the Emergency Department, providing a great opportunity for integrated training for medical students and residents in the care of the undifferentiated patient.
* Emergency medicine has been one of the top residency choices for UCSF medical students since 1996, hitting a new high in 2005 (13 percent of the class, second only to internal medicine).
* Combined, the SFGH and UCSF emergency departments care for approximately 93,000 patients a year.
* Emergency medicine plays a major role in providing disaster and routine out-of-hospital care, and provides medical supervision of all emergency medical services, bioterrorism and hazardous materials events, and disaster care in San Francisco.
Callaham will lead the department as it establishes its operational and administrative structure. A national search for a chair will begin in 2011.
