History

The History of UCLA Emergency Medicine

History of UCLA Emergency Medicine 

In 1974, Dean Sherman Mellinkoff appointed a committee, chaired by Dr. William Longmire, that created the UCLA Emergency Medicine Center (EMC) in 1975. After a national search, Charles McElroy was selected as the first Director of the new EMC. The original seven full-time EM faculty included Charles R McElroy (Chief), Harvey Meislin (First Residency Director), Larry J Baraff, James T LeMay, Marie Kuhn, Ronald Busuttil, and F. Kristian Storm. 

Marshall T. Morgan became the Chief of the Division of EM (Medicine) in 1981 and served in that role for over 30 years.  In 2016, the UCLA Department of Emergency Medicine was officially formed, and Gregory W. Hendey became its inaugural Chair and continues today.    

The UCLA Emergency Medicine Residency Program accepted its first two classes in 1978 in a PGY 2-3 format. The residency program transitioned to a PGY 2-4 program in 1989 and PGY 1-4 in 2008.  Over our 40+ year program history, our EM Residency Directors include: Harvey Meislin, David Orban, Jerome Hoffman, Sidney Starkman, Robert Galli, Pamela Dyne, Scott Votey, Rebecca Bavolek, and currently, Steven Lai. 

Important Milestones: 

  • 1975 Dean Mellinkoff establishes the Emergency Medicine Center 
  • 1978 UCLA Emergency Medicine Residency begins 
  • 1981 Marshall Morgan, MD became Chief of the Division of EM (Medicine) 
  • 1982 Pediatric Emergency Department (EDAP) designation 
  • 1984 Level 1 Trauma Center designation 
  • 1985 Olive View-UCLA joined the EM Residency Program 
  • 1988 Center for Prehospital Care founded 
  • 2005 Stroke Center designation 
  • 2007 STEMI Receiving Center designation 
  • 2008 Ronald Regan UCLA Medical Center opened 
  • 2016 UCLA Department of Emergency Medicine (DEM) established  
  • 2016 Gregory W. Hendey, MD became the Inaugural Chair of the DEM 
  • 2020 Santa Monica UCLA joined the UCLA DEM 

The DEM today includes over 200 emergency medicine faculty at seven sites: Ronald Reagan-UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield, West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, and Antelope Valley Medical Center in Lancaster. 
 

The faculty includes experts in a variety of fields including Toxicology, Sports Medicine, Ultrasound, Critical Care, Space Medicine, Medical Education, and Research.  There are numerous fellowships, encouraging collaboration across the affiliated sites. 

Center for Prehospital Care

The Center for Prehospital Care (CPC) is one of the world’s leading institutions for EMS education and research. With 20 full-time faculty and staff and more than 100 part-time instructors, the CPC educates over 15,000 students annually in over 600 courses including Basic and Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Pediatric Advanced Life Support, and Paramedic and EMT continuing medical education. These programs are provided to some of the largest and most innovative fire departments, hospitals, EMS and law enforcement agencies in the country. 

National Leadership

A number of UCLA faculty members have served on the editorial board of the Annals of Emergency Medicine, the major emergency medicine peer-reviewed journal in world. Larry Baraff was the Pediatrics section editor for many years, David Schriger and Richelle Cooper are Deputy Editors, Bill Mower, Greg Hendey, and David Talan are Associate Editors. David Talan and Greg Moran founded EMERGency ID NET.  Bill Mower and Jerome Hoffman founded the NEXUS (National Emergency Xray Utilization Study) network.  Pam Dyne was President of the Emergency Medicine Council of Residency Directors. Larry Baraff served on the Board of Directors of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), and is a past President of the California Chapter. The UCLA EM faculty are responsible for several important lines of research including innovative approaches to acute cerebrovascular disease, medical education, clinical decision rules, acute infectious disease surveillance, pediatric fever guidelines, and social determinants of health.  

The first UCLA Emergency Medicine Physicians

UCLA EM Residency Photo 1979, faculty (F) and residents (R)
Back row L to R: Charles McElroy (F), Steven Pohl (R), Richard Schwab (R), Jerome Hoffman (R), Marie Kuhn (F), Larry Baraff (F), David Kalmanson (F). Front row L to R: Gar LaSalle (R), Mark Jergans (F), Jay Kahn (R), Larry Jellinek (R), Jill Ferguson (R), Steven Dresnick (R), Charlotte Yeh (R), Harvey Meislin (F)