The Andrew Levitt Academic Resident of the Year

During Dr. Levitt’s illustrious days as the Research Director, Highland’s EM program developed an international reputation as a source of reliable, practice-changing research in emergency medicine.  Highland helped usher in the era of professional EM, generating specialty-specific findings and practice standards. In recognition of this contribution, in 2007, the Levitt family joined with the Department of Emergency Medicine at Highland to bestow an annual award to the Highland EM resident with the greatest accomplishments in research.  

To be eligible for the award, a resident must have submitted for publication as first author of an original paper. Beyond this minimum – an extremely high bar in itself – the resident must demonstrate contributions to the research program in general, through participation in our monthly Research in Progress meetings, providing help and counsel to others engaged in research, and by the active use of up-to-date published findings at the bedside.

2022 Recipient: Amy Liang, MD

Amy grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee, gradually making her way to Oakland, California for Highland Hospital's emergency medicine residency by way of a brief teaching career in Busan, Korea, and medical school at Columbia University in New York. 

At Highland, she delved into projects that advocated for equitable health care for her community. She started a program to provide same-day contraceptive counseling and initiation for emergency department patients who are not currently desiring pregnancy to promote increased access to reproductive health. Her program involves training emergency clinicians on placing long-acting reversible contraception during an ED visit and training community health advocates to screen ED patients for pregnancy and contraceptive readiness. Also under the umbrella of equitable access to care, Amy dove into the prolific research on the treatment of substance use disorders through Highland Hospital, the wider Alameda Health System, and the California Bridge Program. She has published on the identification of patients with unhealthy alcohol use in the emergency department and on improving care for patients with precipitated opioid withdrawal. She continues to research ways to improve treatment for substance use disorders, particularly for populations often marginalized in emergency medicine research, including pregnant patients. 

Currently, Amy is an Addiction Medicine fellow at the University of California at San Francisco. She continues to explore new ways to improve health equity for patients with substance use disorders through research and interdisciplinary collaboration on both sides of the Bay -- at Highland Hospital's Bridge Clinic and at San Francisco General Hospital. During her time off, Amy enjoys spending time outdoors -- birding, biking, hiking, and climbing.  

Previous Winners:

2021: Sally Mahmoud-Werthmann, MD Currently Clinical Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine, Stanford Medicine; former Fellow in Social Emergency Medicine at Stanford Medicine

2020: Amelia Breyre, MD Currently Yale School of Medicine's EM faculty in the EMS section

2019: Kevin Gardner, MD Currently an emergency medicine physician in the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) and EM Departments at Yale New Haven Health System

2018: Eben Clattenburg, MD, MPH Currently an attending emergency medicine physician at Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation

2017: Tarak Trivedi, MD Currently Emergency Medicine Physician at County of Santa Clara Health System and UCLA Health; former Fellow at RAND-UCLA’s National Clinician Scholars program, focusing on behavioral emergencies

2016: Lia Losonczy, MD, MPH Currently Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Anesthesia and Critical Care ,The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences

2015: Terry Ahern, MD Currently staff physician at Rogue Regional Medical Center, Medford, OR

and

Erik Anderson, MD Currently on faculty at Highland Emergency; former Fellow in Social Emergency Medicine at Stanford Medicine

2014: Brian Johnston, MD, MPH Currently staff physician at Valley Medical Center, Renton, WA; former Ultrasound Fellow at Highland Hospital

2013: Oron Frenkel, MD, MS Currently on faculty at University of British Columbia; former Ultrasound Fellow at Highland Hospital

2012: Matthew Rehrer, MD  Currently staff physician at Kaiser Oakland

2011: Andrew Herring, MD  Currently on faculty at Highland Emergency: former Ultrasound Fellow at Highland Hospital

2010: Jonathan Rosenson, MD   Currently staff physician at Kaiser Oakland

2009: Brita Zaia, MD  Currently staff physician at Kaiser San Francisco

2008: Samantha Honner, MD Currently staff physician at Alta Bates/Summit Medical Center

2007: Nate Teismann, MD  Currently on faculty at University of California, San Francisco; former Ultrasound Fellow at Highland Hospital