UM School of Medicine Appoints Laura Pimentel, MD, New Head of Maryland Emergency Medicine Network

Department of Emergency Medicine Chair Dr. Brian Browne Continues in Role as Physician-in-Chief for the Statewide Emergency Medicine Services

Brian Browne, MD, Professor and Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine, at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), along with UMSOM Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, announced today that Laura Pimentel, MD, who is currently Clinical Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for the Maryland Emergency Medicine Network (MEMN), has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer of the Network.  She succeeds Dr. Browne, who launched this program in 1998 and has held that role along with his positions as UMSOM Physician-in-Chief for the Statewide Emergency Medicine Services, and Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine. He will continue in his roles as Department Chair as well as Physician-in-Chief, providing strategic guidance and coordination of services across the state and University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS).

MEMN was established in response to the emergency services and management needs of community hospitals throughout the State of Maryland. Since its inception, the network has grown to serve six Maryland counties and the city of Baltimore in twelve emergency departments, and continues to be sought after for its practical and efficient approach to emergency services management.

In her new role, Dr. Pimentel will provide operational management of the community-based hospital network. She will work collaboratively with the UM Faculty Practices, Inc. (FPI), to manage the financial, business development, human sources and compliance functions of the Network.

“We look forward to continuing the close partnership between MEMN and FPI,” said William E. Tucker, MBA, CPA Associate Dean for Practice Plan Affairs, UM School of Medicine Chief Corporate Officer, Faculty Physicians, Inc. (FPI). “The FPI Team will work to support Dr. Pimentel and the important mission of the MEMN.”

Added Dr. Browne: “Dr. Pimentel and I have worked together for more than 25 years. She is most deserving of this appointment. I look forward to our continued collaboration on matters pertaining to the Department of Emergency Medicine and MEMN. I congratulate her on this well-deserved promotion.”

Dr. Pimentel, whose primary research interests are emergency medicine operations, administration, and health policy, has served as Department Chair of three medical faculties in the Network – namely Bon Secours Hospital, Mercy Medical Center and Upper Chesapeake Health System. She is the past President of the Maryland chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). In 2009, she was named the Emergency Medicine Physician of the Year by the chapter for her work as Chair of its Public Policy Committee. Dr. Pimentel is a lifelong member of the American Association for Physician Leadership (AAPL) and is a certified Physician Executive. She received a teaching award by the Department of Emergency Medicine for the design and implementation of a Leadership Curriculum. Dr. Pimentel frequently lectures on professional development and emergency department administration.

She is a graduate of Georgetown University School of Medicine and the Madigan Army Medical Center Emergency Medicine Residency. Dr. Pimentel holds a Master’s Degree in Medical Management from Carnegie Mellon University and a Certificate from the Johns Hopkins Business of Medicine program.

“Dr. Pimentel is ideally suited to assume this critical leadership position,” said Dean Reece, who is also Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, UM Baltimore, and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor. “Her extensive involvement in emergency medicine at UMSOM and her strong management experience and ability will help build on the long-term success of the MEMN, created under Dr. Browne’s stewardship.”

“I am delighted that Dr. Browne will continue to provide unwavering leadership of emergency medicine across the State. For many years, he has developed vital clinical partnerships for the clinical faculty,” said Dean Reece. “His vision and experience in emergency medicine are extraordinary, and thus we will benefit from his continued oversight of the Statewide Emergency Medicine Services.”

Dr. Browne is internationally recognized as one of the pioneers of emergency medicine. In 1984, after becoming one of the first physicians in the United States to complete residency training in emergency medicine, Dr. Browne came to the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he was instrumental in turning a small emergency room operation into a clinical and educational program that has been modeled around the world. The Department of Emergency Medicine now has 75 faculty members, including many of the top educators and clinicians in the specialty. The emergency medicine residency has more than 50 residents on its three tracks.

Dr. Browne received a Bachelor’s Degree in biology from Syracuse University and did Master’s level coursework at Niagara University and Roswell Park Memorial Institute.  His medical degree is from SUNY, Downstate Medical Center, College of Medicine, in Brooklyn. He completed residency training in internal medicine at St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center in New York, and one of the first fellowships in emergency medicine, at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, in Boston, MA.

About the University of Maryland School of Medicine

Commemorating its 210^th Anniversary, the University of Maryland School of Medicine was chartered in 1807 as the first public medical school in the United States. It continues today as one of the fastest growing, top-tier biomedical research enterprises in the world -- with 43 academic departments, centers, institutes, and programs; and a faculty of more than 3,000 physicians, scientists, and allied health professionals, including members of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and a distinguished recipient of the Albert E. Lasker Award in Medical Research.  With an operating budget of more than $1 billion, the School of Medicine works closely in partnership with the University of Maryland Medical Center and Medical System to provide research-intensive, academic and clinically-based care for more than 1.2 million patients each year. The School has over 2,500 students, residents, and fellows, and nearly $450 million in extramural funding, with most of its academic departments highly ranked among all medical schools in the nation in research funding. As one of the seven professional schools that make up the University of Maryland Baltimore campus, the School of Medicine has a total workforce of nearly 7,000 individuals. The combined School and Medical System (“University of Maryland Medicine”) has an annual budget of nearly $6 billion and an economic impact in excess of $15 billion on the state and local community. The School of Medicine faculty, which ranks 8^th in research productivity among all public medical schools, is an innovator in translational medicine, with 600 active patents and 24 start-up companies. The School works locally, nationally, and globally, with research and treatment facilities in 36 countries around the world. Visit medschool.umaryland.edu/