KK: You should start a Section. ACEP staff can help you get started.
HA: Interest is growing. Last year’s SAEM was such a gratifying experience, and now the Stanford Department of Emergency Medicine actually offers a fellowship in social emergency medicine. This is really starting to grow, and it’s been very gratifying.

KK: Regarding the Stanford fellowship, how long is it, and how many do they take per year?
HA: They take one per year, and they prefer a stint of two years. However, with the right advanced training, they’ll take you for one.

KK: I’m sure you’re a little lonely right now, but that means you’re a trailblazer, which must be exciting.
HA: I want to reinforce, this isn’t anything I’ve invented. I may have coined the term, but when I started the Levitt Center, I reached out to the six or eight people who were publishing the papers I wished I’d written. This kind of work has been going on for generations in emergency medicine. You need only to put Bob Lowe, Rob Rodriguez, Jim Gordon, or Karin Rhodes into your Google Scholar, and you’ll see the work being done.

KK: So, maybe this is the time to truly distinguish social emergency medicine for what it is and recognize its distinct, specific, and narrow focus that can help our patients differently than the broad stroke that public health programs generally use. Can you tell us about Andrew Levitt?
HA: Andy was the research director at Highland when I was a resident. From the early 1980s through the early 2000s, he was the stalwart research director for this venerable department, and he was one of the early engines behind the development of emergency medicine research. Also, through his work at Highland and other places, he was extremely committed to community well-being and worked for the under-served for his entire career. When Andy died, his family wanted to recognize that dual role: his contributions to emergency medicine research and his commitment to society at large. We proposed social emergency medicine as a vehicle to recognize Andy’s contributions and commitment.
They went for it right away. In 2009, they used a portion of his estate to endow the Levitt Center and give us an inception grant to get things started. We’ve grown into a million-dollar organization—at this point, I think we have approximately $1.4 million. It was an act of faith on their part, and it was an act of devotion on ours. It turned out much better than we could have expected.