Mission Accomplished!

$10 MILLION $10 Million Raised to Fund Future Leaders in EM Research and Education!

SAEM PULSE | SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017

The SAEM Foundation is pleased to announce that it has achieved its goal of raising $10 million to fund promising young researchers and educators in academic emergency medicine. This major investment in the future of emergency care could not have been possible without the support of the Foundation’s many loyal donors and volunteers.

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The SAEM Foundation was created out of a need identified by the SAEM leadership—including the Board of Directors, and many other emergency medicine leaders—that federal and other grant sources were not providing enough support for emergency medicine investigators. This was particularly the case for research training grants which became the focus of the initial “SAEM Research Fund.”  SAEM then backed this up in a very significant way by infusing the first large bolus of money into the Research Fund – $1 million out of SAEM operating reserves to make it possible to fund the first grants. SAEM continued to put a significant portion of its operating surplus into its Research Fund, while at the same time soliciting its members for additional funds.  Our goal was to get to $6 million and have the Research Fund function like an endowment. The fact that what started as the SAEM Research Fund and then became the SAEM Foundation is now at $10 million was beyond our most ambitious hopes at the time it was started.  Funding provided by the SAEM Foundation (SAEMF) springboards the careers of future leaders in Research and Education. Since its implementation, the SAEM Foundation, in partnership with SAEM, has awarded a total of $6.5 million in grants to national and international universities and medical schools to help fund more than 300 young investigators with their innovative research and education initiatives in the field of emergency medicine.  None of this would be possible without your support. Gratefully,

Andra Blomkalns, MD, President SAEM Foundation Board of Trustees

"Reaching the goal of $10M for support of Foundation efforts in 10 years has been nothing short of remarkable. Over the years, the Foundation has played a critical role in supporting the development of young researchers and educators in Emergency Medicine. In this era of shrinking budgets for academic medical centers and research funding, support from organizations like the SAEM Foundation are even more critical than in past years. It’s important that we don’t rest on our laurels. We must continue to find ways to expandour support for academic emergency medicine by helping to develop the careers of young investigators and educators in our specialty.” —William Barsan, MD, SAEM Foundation Development Committee Chair