M EM BER HIGHLIGHT SAADIA AKHTAR, MD “I truly feel blessed and privileged to be a Program Director…” Dr. Saadia Akhtar is currently the Program Director for the Emergency Medicine Residency at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. She has dedicated her career to emergency medicine education and is very passionate about teaching residents. She enjoys being a mentor to various individuals at different stages of their professional career. Dr. Akhtar has had the good fortune to live and grow up in several countries around the world including Bahrain, Jamaica, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States. After completing high school in New York City, Dr. Akhtar moved back to her native country of Pakistan. She obtained her medical degree from the Aga Khan University Medical College in Karachi. During her elective rotations in her last year of medical school, she was fortunate to gain clinical experience in emergency medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.
After graduation from medical school, Dr. Akhtar acquired clinical research experience in the field of emergency medicine as a Research Associate in New York. In July 1996, Dr. Akhtar was successful in matching at the competitive combined residency program in Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center, the Manhattan Campus of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Upon beginning the five year residency program, Dr. Akhtar developed a very keen interest in residency education. During her first year of residency, Dr. Akhtar made a career goal to one day become a residency program director in emergency medicine. In her last year of training, Dr. Akhtar was chosen to be a chief resident in emergency medicine. In addition to many new initiatives made in this academic leadership role, Dr. Akhtar implemented a journal club during the weekly resident conference which focused on teaching evidence-based medicine principles. Her excellent residency experience solidified her plan to remain in an academic setting as her future career goal. In July 2001, upon graduating from residency, Dr. Akhtar became a core faculty member in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center. At this time, Dr. Akhtar developed a great interest in emergency ultrasonography. She subsequently became the Ultrasound Director for the emergency medicine residency and remained in this role for the next seven years. In her desire to be intricately involved with residency leadership, Dr. Akhtar at the same time became the Assistant Program Director in 2004 for the emergency medicine residency program at Beth Israel Medical Center. She subsequently became the Associate Program Director and in November 2006, she was asked to become the Program Director for the residency program. Over this time, Dr. Akhtar has also received awards recognizing her dedication to residency education and her compassionate manner in delivering patient care in the emergency department. In addition to her role as a Program Director, Dr. Akhtar continues to participate in various activities at the local, regional
6
and national levels. She is currently the Chair of the National Emergency Medicine CPC Task Force, a competition sponsored by CORD, SAEM, ACEP and EMRA. She is honored to be a member-at-large of the Board of Directors for CORD. As part of this leadership role, she is also the CORD Board of Directors liaison to EMRA. Dr. Akhtar is also the Co-Track Chair for the Program Leadership Development Track and member of the planning committee for the CORD Academic Assembly. She is honored to be an ABEM oral board examiner. Dr. Akhtar is also an active member of SAEM Academies- the Academy of Emergency Ultrasound and Academy for Women in Academic Emergency Medicine Regional Advisory Committee. In addition, Dr. Akhtar is a fellow of The New York Academy of Medicine and a key member of the Section on Evidence Based Health Care and the TEACH conference. She also enjoys her role as a Medical Team Captain for the ING New York City Marathon. Throughout her career, Dr. Akhtar has had several mentors and continues to strive to be a role model and mentor for the future of emergency medicine. She is very passionate about emergency medicine and residency education. “I truly feel blessed and privileged to be a Program Director. I am very proud of our residency program and residents. I thank the members of the emergency medicine community for all their continued guidance, mentorship and support.”. ◗