Led by faculty in NYU Langone’s Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine, the Kenneth and JoAnn G. Wellner Fellowship in Emergency Department Safety and Quality promotes the next generation of physician leaders as effective agents for change.

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the Association of American Medical Colleges recognize that there is a nationwide deficit of trained and proficient faculty capable of engaging, modeling, and leading educational efforts in patient quality and safety.

The goal of our program, offered by the Division of Emergency Medicine Quality, Safety, and Practice Innovation, is to train physicians in the administrative and academic aspects of medical quality, patient safety, and practice innovation, preparing them for leadership roles in administration, education, patient care, and quality assurance.

Fellowship Curriculum

Our comprehensive curriculum focuses on the following:

• cognitive error and human factors
• quality and safety improvement metrics and analytics
• program development and management
• quality and safety financial implications
• safety culture and promotion
• medication safety
• teamwork and communication
• handoffs and transitions
• observational medicine
• special populations (such as pediatrics and geriatrics)
• patient satisfaction and complaints
• simulation tools

Fellowship Clinical Training

Fellows gain hands-on experience at clinical sites across NYU Langone, including Tisch Hospital, NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital, NYU Langone Health—Cobble Hill, and NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn, as well as at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue.

Fellows are expected to spend an average of 16 clinical hours per week in the emergency department or pediatric emergency department at our clinical sites. The academic title of clinical instructor in the Department of Emergency Medicine will be awarded to eligible fellows.

Research Activities for Fellows

Fellows conduct ongoing scholarly projects and research in the area of emergency medicine safety and quality. They are also expected to conduct a peer-reviewed research project in quality, safety, or practice improvement. A dedicated data analyst supports research conducted by members of the division.

Teaching Opportunities for Fellows

All fellows participate in quality and safety simulation, as well as in the planning, revision, execution, and assessment of the patient safety–related emergency medicine curriculum, to ensure it is in accordance with the milestones defined in the ACGME Next Accreditation System.

Fellows also teach and train medical students in quality and safety and are expected to attend fellowship-specific didactic sessions and journal clubs.

Attendance and participation in the monthly intradepartmental fellowship curriculum is required.

Administrative Expectations for Fellows

Fellows are responsible for the conception, design, or execution of departmental safety and quality programs or initiatives.

Fellows participate in departmental and institutional quality, safety, and practice improvement committees and peer review.

Fellows conduct root cause and adverse event analyses, as well as periodic reviews of departmental and institutional patient safety event repositories.

Fellowship Salary and Benefits

All fellows receive a competitive salary with benefits. They receive continuing medical education funding for national quality and safety meetings. We also offer training in simulation as a teaching tool for quality and safety efforts.

In addition, support for earning an advanced degree tailored to a fellow’s educational and career goals in administration and operations, clinical care, education, or research is considered on a case by case basis. Fellows may pursue the following degrees or certificates: a master’s degree or certificate in comparative effectiveness research training; a master’s degree in public health; a master’s degree in public administration: health policy and management; a master’s degree in health professions education; or a master’s degree in biomedical informatics.

Length of Fellowship Training

Appointments are for 12 or 24 months, from July 1 to June 30. Our fellowship is not accredited by the ACGME.

Fellowship Eligibility Requirements

Our fellowship is open to physicians who have completed a three- or four-year emergency medicine residency or pediatric emergency medicine program.

Applicants must be American Board of Emergency Medicine board-eligible or board-certified in emergency medicine or pediatric emergency medicine on the starting date of the fellowship (July 1 of each year). Candidates are required to have a license to practice medicine in the state of New York before beginning the fellowship.

We are unable to accept applications from candidates who cannot meet these criteria.

How to Apply

This one- or two-year fellowship is awarded to one or two fellows per year. We accept applications each fall for fellowships beginning on July 1. We strongly recommend submitting all materials by December 20 of the year before the start of the fellowship.

A completed application comprises the following materials:

• a letter of intent
• a personal statement (no more than two single-spaced pages, in 12-point font or larger, with 1-inch margins, including your name on each page) that describes your interests and any relevant experience in quality and safety, and indicates your goals
• your current CV
• three letters of recommendation, including one letter from your current program director

Please email all application materials to Silas W. Smith, MD, fellowship director, at silas.smith@nyulangone.org.

Selected candidates will be invited to interview on a rolling basis.

Contact Us

Interested applicants can email Lily Liang, program coordinator, at lily.liang@nyulangone.org with inquiries about the program or how to apply.

Emergency Department Safety and Quality Fellowship Faculty

Silas W. Smith, MD
Director, Division of Emergency Medicine Quality, Safety, and Practice Innovation
Clinical Associate Professor, Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine

Elizabeth J. Haines, DO
Patient Safety Officer, Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone
Director, Center for Quality and Safety, Sala Institute for Child and Family Centered Care
Clinical Associate Professor, Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine and Department of Pediatrics

Emergency Department Safety and Quality Fellow

Aya Itani, MD, MPH, Class of 2023

Emergency Department Safety and Quality Fellowship Recent Alumni

Our fellows are often offered prestigious positions after completing their fellowship at NYU Langone. Our recent alumni and their immediate postgraduate positions are listed below.

Zoe Grabinski, MD, Class of 2022
Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Justin Lawrence Berkowitz, DO, MS, Class of 2021
SBH Health System

Matthew McCarty, MD, Class of 2019
New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center

Liliya Abrukin, MD, MPH, Class of 2017
New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center

Tonatiuh Rios-Alba, MD, Class of 2015
Cleveland Clinic