DEM Academic Department DEM Training Sites DEM Academic Divisions Information about Indianapolis
Emergency Medicine Residency EM / Pediactric Residency DEM Fellowships Senior Medical Student Clerkship


On July 1, 1999 the Indiana University School of Medicine established an academic Department of Emergency Medicine. The reasons to do so were:

  1. Establish an academic home for the Emergency Medicine residency training program. With the creation of Clarian Health Partners in 1997 (consolidation of Methodist, Indiana University, and Riley Children's Hospitals) oversight of all graduate medical education training programs was transferred to the Indiana School of Medicine.
  2. The EM residency, having no counterpart at that time on the IU campus, needed an organizational home. 2. Provide a mechanism to effect the transition of the Wishard Memorial Hospital (public hospital on the IU campus) Emergency Department from its prior specialty based triage to an emergency medicine paradigm. This mandated the growth of the emergency medicine clinical faculty and permitted the expansion of the EM residency training program.
  3. Permit liaison between the Emergency Medicine community and the School of Medicine. This will allow EM input into the School of Medicine curriculum. It also carries the obligation of facilitating research programs and faculty development.

The Department has other traditional academic obligations including facilitation of education, research, informatics and clinical practices. All of these benefit the residency both directly and indirectly, and allow ongoing evolution and unlimited potential. The academic department serves as the focal point from which our 2 equal partnered training sites (Methodist and Wishard ED's) provide their educational and patient care service missions. The department has created divisions tasked with the oversight and administration of the department missions in patient care, research and education. This includes the out of hospital medical care division with operational oversight of medical care provided by Wishard EMT-P's, the major ALS transporting service for Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Fire Department (first responders), and multiple suburban and rural EMS agencies. The education division assumes responsibility for medical student education, the EM residency and fellowship/faculty development. The medical toxicology division provides administrative control for the Indiana Poison Control Center, the inpatient service at Methodist hospital, and the consultation service for Methodist and Wishard hospitals. The research division provides grants support, experimental design assistance and oversight of the department's research efforts.  The informatics division has oversight for departmental web sites particularly as the serve the department and its missions.
Now, after its inception in 1999 and through the investments and talents of many, the department is proud to list the following accomplishments:

  • Assumption of the direction of the Evidence Based Medicine course for first year medical students and appointment of the course director as the State Wide Director for Evidence Based Medicine and Biostatistics
  • Creation of the nation’s largest mandatory senior medical student clerkship in Emergency Medicine--incidentally chosen by the graduating classes of 2005 and 2006 as the best clinical rotation in the School of Medicine
  • Expansion and enhancement of the emergency medicine residency to be the largest three year training program in the US and by many measures one of the finest
  • Recognition of the assistant program director as the Council of Residency Directors Faculty Teaching Award Recipient
  • Continued  residency program co-director board of directors membership for American Academy of Emergency Medicine
  • Both the Program Director and Co-Director have been honored by the American Academy of Emergency Medicine as recipients of the Program Director of the Year Award
  • Recognition of the program director as a recipient of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Palmer J. Parker “Courage to Teach” Award.  He has also recently served  the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine as a prior President and an Associate Editor for the Society’s journal, Academic Emergency Medicine.
  • Appointment of the Vice Chair for Academic Affairs as an American Board of Emergency Medicine board member while three faculty serve as oral board examiners
  • Membership on at least 8 School of Medicine committees (chairing two of these) to include presence on four of its competency committees
  • Realization of National Institutes of Health research funding--only 18% of academic departments of Emergency Medicine have distinguished themselves thusly
  • Appointment of faculty as the medical directors of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis Racing League
  • Creation of an advocacy project “The Doctor is In” mentoring middle school students who are especially challenged
  • Integration of Research Day into the Indiana Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians annual Post Graduate Course
  • Realization of a vision to unify the academic emergency medicine faculties of Methodist, Riley, University, and Wishard.  This makes the academic department the 6th largest clinical department within the School of Medicine

© 2003, Department of Emergency Medicine
Indiana University School of Medicine
Indianapolis, Indiana