Lee E. Payne, MD, FACEP

  Col, USAF, MC                                              

     I have had the privilege of serving as one of your GSACEP Councillors over the past two years; that has been a very interesting and rewarding experience.  I would like to build on that experience and continue to support the chapter as your President Elect.

      I began my emergency medicine career over 20 years ago by teaching emergency medicine at two of our military residency programs--Madigan and Wilford Hall Medical Center (WHMC).  I spent five years as a faculty member at Madigan where I won the F.M Burkle Teaching Award in 1990.  During my three years at WHMC, I served as the Chief, Division of Acute Car,e which included oversight of the emergency department and the residency training program. I had the opportunity to train many emergency physicians from all three services, and that remains one of the highlights of my career.  Also during that period, I was an active member of GSACEP, serving on the board in 1994-95, and as Alternate Councillor. 

     As often happens in the military, my career took me out of the emergency department into a variety of leadership roles.  I have served in several command positions including three tours as a hospital commander.  As the Command Surgeon for USCENTAF, I served as medical advisor to the Commander, USCENTAF.  I had medical oversight responsibilities for all the Air Force medical assets in the Central Command Area of Responsibility (AOR).  I have seen the impact of all services emergency physicians throughout the AOR where their professional expertise is highly sought after and utilized.  Emergency physicians are highly-respected and valued clinicians to the war-fighter!  I recently completed my tour as the commander of David Grant Medical Center at Travis AFB and have moved on to become the Command Surgeon for Air Force Space Command at Peterson AFB in Colorado Springs.  I oversee the five bases in Air Force Space Command and the care of nearly 20,000 Air Force Space Command Airmen and their families stationed worldwide.  I haven't forgotten all my clinical skills-at least I hope not-as I am completing the credentials package to continue working clinically at Evans Army Community Hospital here in the Springs.

    . While serving as your Councillor, I was on the council floor as Col Linda Lawrence assumed her ACEP presidency-a personal milestone for her, our chapter, and military emergency medicine!  More recently, I was a Councillor as Col Marco Coppola was elected Council Vice-Speaker.  Military emergency medicine has had a very significant role on the national scene recently and I have enjoyed playing a small part in that success.  We need to continue that involvement.  As a result of Linda Lawrence's advocacy, I have also had the privilege of serving on ACEP's Quality and Performance Committee for the past two years where we are evaluating the many performance measurements that face emergency medicine today.  This has been a very exciting and challenging committee, and one that I think will help emergency medicine shape its future instead of simply reacting to the many forces affecting healthcare today.  We continue to explore Value-Based Emergency Care and other Pay-For-Performance concepts and their potential impact on emergency physicians nationwide.

     My vision as a candidate for President Elect is based on my past experience with the chapter, as well as what I see as the future of military emergency medicine.  I believe our strength lies in our membership, our academic training programs-from all services--and our annual Government Services Joint Services Symposium (JSS).  There is strength in our numbers and I would work to continue to build on the success of past presidents by keeping our membership strong.  I also believe that finding ways to include other Government Service emergency physicians from the Veterans Administration can strengthen our chapter, give us greater power within national ACEP, and broaden the perspective and diversity of our chapter and JSS.  Finally, I would like to increase member participation in the chapter's committee structures where we will develop the next generation of chapter leaders.

     I believe that my past experience as an academic emergency physician, service in the chapter, combined with my years of experience as a leader in military medicine, make me uniquely qualified to serve as your GSACEP President Elect. I thank you for your consideration and I look forward to working with you in the GSACEP chapter in the future.