Tatsuya Norii, MD, FACEP
It is my pleasure to write my first “chapter president corner”. I probably should start by introducing myself. I am Tatsuya Norii, the new president of the NM chapter of ACEP.
I graduated medical school in Japan and did emergency medicine and critical care trainings before coming to the US. One of the senior faculty members at the University of New Mexico (UNM), Dr. France Doyle, visited my hospital in Japan in 2008 and suggested I come to UNM to get further experience (if “you want to see some crazy stuff”). So, I came to NM in 2011 to complete my emergency medicine residency training at UNM. I am still here and am currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at UNM. My son was born here and speaks Spanish and English at school and loves looking at hot air balloons and also chasing roadrunners. New Mexico is our home.
I have a few stories to share. I recently attended the ACEP leadership and advocacy conference (LAC) in DC. At the conference, I met leadership groups from other “small chapter” states including Wyoming, Hawaii, Alaska, and Nevada. I was surprised to hear that we all face similar challenges. Our states are so geographically large, and members live and practice across the state, separately and somewhat isolated. I have been attending almost every New Mexico ACEP meeting for the last few years, and I still haven’t met many of the members. I don’t think this is a good thing and have been thinking about ways to connect members.
For the next few months, I am planning to visit EDs outside of the metropolitan area. Also, starting at the next summer meeting (6/29/19, Sat), we will be using Zoom Meetings (a tele-conference tool) for our educational sessions and business meetings, so that members can participate in the meetings remotely and share your stories with other members. Dr. Weiss (UNM) will review LLSA articles at the June meeting. You will regret it if you miss his talk.
Talking about the LAC conference, I would like to thank Peter Dailey, our former student member. Peter, Dr. Eric Ketcham and I attended the conference this year. On the last day of the conference, we all went to Capitol Hill and visited New Mexico senators and representatives. ACEP choose two topics to discuss with policy makers this year “1. Improving Mental Health Access from the Emergency Department and 2. Protecting Emergency Patients from Surprise Bills”. I was very impressed with how familiar Peter was with these topics. The staff at both the senate and house offices listened to what Peter said, and they were very impressed by him. Peter graduated from UNM medical school this month and will start his EM residency this summer in Virginia.
Last but not least, I would like to introduce our new board members. At the annual meeting held on April 27, 2019, the chapter elected Dr. Margaret Greenwood-Erickson and Dr. Heather Marshall as the Secretary and Treasurer, respectively. Dr. Rachel Tuuri and Dr. Eric Ketcham were elected to Board of Director seats. Dr. Tony Salazar will stay on the board of directors as the immediate past-president. Dr. Eric Ketcham and I were elected to Councilor seats for the 2019 ACEP Council in Denver.
This is all for now. I look forward to seeing you at the summer meeting that will be held on June 29th in Santa Fe.