Shari Welch, MD, Course Director

Shari served as the ED Quality Improvement Director at LDS Hospital for ten years. She has been on the faculty at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and  is a regular speaker  at ACEP’s Scientific Assembly. She is currently a practicing emergency physician and a researcher at Intermountain Healthcare, focusing on ED operations research. She has written two books, numerous journal articles and a monthly column for the widely read Emergency Medicine News.

Suzanne Stone Griffith, RN

Suzanne is currently the Assistant Vice President of Emergency Services, EMA and Trauma for the Continental division of the Hospital Corporation of America. In this role she leads organizational change for the system's 180 emergency departments in 19 states. Her focus is metric development, process standardization and system-wide operational performance improvement impacting the emergency setting.

Todd Taylor, MD

Todd has over 20 years experience in ED operations and developed an expertise in the role of automation in emergency care.  Currently a physician executive with Microsoft, he is internationally recognized as an advocate of healthcare information technology and as a content expert in the field. He has chaired the ACEP Medical Informatics Section and served as the editor of its newsletter.

W. Richard Bukata, MD

Rick has been the director of a community ED for 25 years and is the founder of The Center for Medical Education, Inc. He is the publisher of Emergency Medical Abstracts, Risk Management Monthly/Emergency Medicine and ED Leadership Monthly. Rick has a broad background in both the clinical and operational aspects of emergency departments.

James Augustine, MD

Jim is the Director of Clinical Operations for Emergency Medicine Physicians in Canton, Ohio, a group that manages over 50 emergency departments and urgent care centers.  Jim regularly consults with EDs on design and operational issues and, in addition, is the principal analyst of the Benchmarking Alliance’s annual data set.  Jim is also the Executive Editor of the monthly publication, ED Management.

Brent Asplin, MD

Brent is the chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He has an MPH in Health Management and Policy and has served as a member of the National Quality Forum's Emergency Consensus Standards Commitee and the Institute of Medicine's Committee on the Future of Emergency Care in the U.S. Health System. He is recognized as a leading researcher on ED crowding, hospital operations and health care policy.

Kevin Klauer, DO

Kevin is the Chief Medical Officer for Emergency Medicine Physicians in Canton, Ohio, where he is responsible for the development of clinical practice guidelines, peer review, education and oversight of all medical care activities for their 500+ providers. As a member of the organization's senior team he is involved in formulation of operational and policy decisions and, as such, has a broad and detailed knowledge concerning ED best practices.

Mike Williams,

As President and Founder of the Abaris Group, Mike has provided hospital and ED flow related consulting services to over 350 healthcare organizations. He is on the Editorial Board of the publication, ED Management and is a senior faculty member for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s “Urgent Matters” project and provides consultation services for the Healthcare Advisory Board.