GECI LEAD:
FACULTY:
Corey bills, MD, MPH, FACEP
Dr. Corey B. Bills is an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado in the Department of Emergency Medicine and a core member of the Global Emergency Care Initiative. Previously, he was Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Affiliate Faculty member of the Institute for Global Health Sciences (IGHS, UCSF). Dr. Bills graduated medical school and attended residency in emergency medicine at the University of Chicago where he served as chief resident in his final year. He subsequently completed a Global Health Fellowship and was a Clinical Instructor at Stanford University before joining the faculty of UCSF. He obtained a Master’s in Public Health from Columbia University as a Peter J. Sharp Scholar, and worked for several years with the International Rescue Committee on refugee youth and adolescent programming. Dr. Bills has previously partnered with multiple government and other non-governmental organizations including, WHO-PAHO, Human Rights Watch, the Clinton Foundation, CARE International, United Nations Special Representative for Refugee Youth, and Amnesty International. Dr. Bills’ current global health work focuses on methods of assessing quality in the development of acute care referral and prehospital systems in resource-limited settings, with particular focus in Liberia, Uganda, and India.
Julia Dixon, MD, MPH
Dr. Julia Dixon is an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado, School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine and serves as education lead for the Global Emergency Care Initiative (GECI). She completed a Global Health Fellowship and Masters in Public Health at the University of Colorado in 2018 and did her residency in Emergency Medicine at Denver Health. Her academic interests include emergency system development and education and training of both international emergency care providers and US healthcare professionals interested in volunteering or working abroad. Dr. Dixon is part of the C3 Global Trauma Network, conducting research within the Western Cape South Africa health system to improve trauma care. She also has active work in Zambia, collaborating with the Emergency Medicine Society of Zambia and the Ministry of Health to implement Emergency Care Tools. Her projects apply methodology from dissemination and implementation science to positively impact emergency system development. She has collaborated with the World Health Organization, the African Federation for Emergency Medicine and various Ministries of Health in sub-Saharan Africa focusing on sustainable and high-impact development and training programs.
Nee-Kofi Mould-Millman, MD, PHD, MSCS, FACEP
Dr. Nee-Kofi Mould-Millman is an emergency medicine physician-investigator with fellowship training in global health and prehospital medicine. He currently holds the appointment of Associate Professor within the University of Colorado Department of Emergency Medicine, and is an Investigator in Global Health at the Center for Global Health, University of Colorado. He conducts pragmatic research in resource-constrained settings in sub-Saharan Africa, where he collaborates closely with Ministries of Health, academic institutions, and government prehospital agencies to improve trauma care outcomes. His research is funded by US federal agencies (National Institutes of Heath and US Department of Defense), and non-federal US and international foundations. His current grant-funded clinical research is based in the Western Cape Province of South Africa and seeks to improve prehospital clinical outcomes in traumatic shock by leveraging bundles of care. In general, his research assesses strategies to optimize trauma system performance, deliver effective prehospital education, and improve clinical outcomes in trauma. Dr. Mould-Millman applies contemporary techniques in pragmatic and adaptive trials, implementation science, and innovative medical education. He also works in multiple other African countries, including Ghana, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Awards include: K12 Implementation Science Scholar (2018-2020), John Marx Scholar in Medical Education (2018-2019), Emergency Medicine Foundation research fellow (2017-2018), and Carnegie Corporation African diaspora fellow (2014, 2016).
David Richards, MD, FACEP
Dr. David Richards is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Denver Health Medical Center and a core faculty member of the Global Emergency Care Initiative. He graduated from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in 2002 and completed an internship in General Surgery at the University of Colorado followed by a residency in Emergency Medicine at Denver Health Medical Center where he was chief resident in 2006. Urban health in resource-limited settings became an interest of Dr. Richards while working in South African hospitals serving the poorest urban communities created under apartheid. These communities continue to suffer from one of the world’s highest prevalence of HIV and TB coupled with population densities seen in few other places. In these settings a unique combination of medical, social, political, and economic factors afford rich opportunities for the development of sustainable medical research and education projects.
Maddie Ross, MD, MPH
Dr. Maddie Ross is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and a core faculty member of the Global Emergency Care Initiative. She received her Bachelor’s of Science in Public Health from Tulane University prior to returning to her hometown to pursue medical school at Georgetown University. She then completed residency training in emergency medicine at LAC+USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA, serving as chief resident in her final year. She completed her fellowship in Global Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado, simultaneously earning a Master of Public Health degree in “Humanitarian Research and Program Design”. With a background in migrant, asylee, and refugee health, her research has sought to investigate and improve access to healthcare for persons in immigration detention. Dr. Ross has also collaborated with the World Health Organization, the African Federation for Emergency Medicine, and multiple Ministries of Health to strengthen emergency care delivery in various contexts, using pragmatic, innovative, and evidence-based tools. She currently resides on the WHO’s roster of consultants and serves as “Medical Quality and Sustainability Lead” for the disaster response organization Team Rubicon. She remains committed to the realization of universal access to high-quality emergency care through sustained scholarship in education, training, and systems development.
Branden Skarpiak, MD, DTM&H, FACEP, FAAEM
Dr. Branden Skarpiak Dr. Branden Skarpiak is an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine Department of Emergency Medicine and a core faculty of the Global Emergency Care Initiative. Dr. Skarpiak completed medical school at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine with Service and Global Health Distinctions, and then completed EM residency at the University of Texas Health San Antonio, where he served as chief resident. He subsequently completed Global Health Fellowship at University of Texas: earning a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene with Honors, certificates in austere/tropical ultrasound and humanitarian response, and completed the ACEP Teaching Fellowship in medical education. He has also completed further certificate training in Advanced Tropical Medicine from the Gorgas Institute of Tropical Medicine in Peru. Prior to joining the University of Colorado, Dr. Skarpiak was Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Health San Antonio where he served as Director of Global Health, Director of the Global Health Fellowship, Co-Director of the combined Global Health and Ultrasound Fellowship, Medical Director for the San Antonio Refugee Health Clinic, and Faculty of the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics. He has collaborated with the World Health Organization, the African Federation for Emergency Medicine, and multiple governmental and non-governmental organizations, and has experience in clinical, educational, and developmental projects in South and Central America, Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Armenia, Moldova, Nepal, and Haiti. His interests include: emergency medicine education and curricula development, sustainable development and capacity-building in resource-limited settings, ultrasound in austere/tropical contexts, care for displaced and marginalized populations, Infectious disease and tropical medicine.
Jennifer WhitField, MD, MPH
Dr. Jen Whitfield completed undergraduate and medical school at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. She did an EM residency at The George Washington University in Washington, DC and completed a fellowship in International Emergency Medicine there as well. This included a Masters in Public Health concentrated in Global Health Policy as well as consulting with the Institute of Medicine Global Violence Prevention Initiative. She has done clinical work in Guatemala as well as education and capacity-building projects in India, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, El Salvador, and Peru. Her interests include ethics of global health volunteerism and education, violence and general injury prevention, and evidence-based emergency care capacity-building in austere settings. Recently she has shifted focus to health equity and social emergency medicine, with a particular focus on refugee, immigrant and non-English speaking patients' access and quality of care. She is also currently working with the EM faculty at both at Denver Health and the U of Colorado sites to develop the Colorado Social Emergency Medicine Collaborative.