EM Research Fellowship

The University of Rochester’s Department of Emergency Medicine offers a SAEM-Approved Research Fellowship Program. 

Aims of the Fellowship

Aim 1: Develop and refine the fellow’s focused area of research expertise

Aim 2: Develop the fellow’s proficiency with the critical knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop into a successful, independently funded emergency care researcher

Aim 3: Develop the fellow’s skills necessary to transition from fellow to faculty 

The core curricular areas of the fellowship include: ethics / professional integrity,  biostatistics, epidemiology, hypothesis generation, research design, design of clinical trials, data collection methods, data management and monitoring, research presentation, manuscript preparation, practical skills in grant writing, project management, informatics, teaching skills, and career development.

​ The Fellowship

• Two years
• Master of Science in Clinical Investigation (MS-CI) earned at no cost to fellow
• 47 weeks/year clinical with 12 hours/week in ED
• 4 weeks/year vacation
• 1 week/year CME

The Research Fellow

• Will conduct a research project during fellowship
• Will establish a mentorial committee with the assistance of the fellowship director
• Will develop an individualized learning plan
• Is expected to submit at least 2 original manuscripts during fellowship period
• Is expected to submit a significant grant application prior to completion of fellowship
• Will participate in EM Research Division meetings
• Will participate in institutional/CTSI workshops

Please contact fellowship director, Dr. David Adler, if you are interested in learning more about this fellowship opportunity. 

Our Current Emergency Medicine Research Fellow

Joely Wilder Merriman, M.D., M.S., is interested in addressing health disparities through the application of geospatial technology in environmental epidemiology and health services research. Her fellowship research focuses on the identification of environmental modifiers of acutely decompensated chronic disease by combining spatial analysis and clinical outcomes data.

Joely completed her Emergency Medicine residency at the University of Rochester Medical Center in 2023. She holds an MD from the University of Rochester, an MS in Health Technologies from the Bahiana School of Medicine and Public Health in Salvador, Brazil, and a BA in Sociology and Anthropology from Swarthmore College. Prior to a career in medicine, she worked at a healthcare design firm in San Francisco and completed graduate coursework in architecture and design at University of California, Berkeley and the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Our 2020 Fellowship Graduate

Layne Dylla, MD, PhD, moved to Rochester after graduating from the University of Colorado, Medical Scientist Training program to pursue her Emergency Medicine Residency training. Upon, completion of residency, she stayed on as clinical faculty and a fellow in the SAEM-approved URMC Research Fellowship and the URMC Experimental Therapeutics Program. Her research aims to better understand the acute pathophysiology of ischemic stroke and identify potential interventions that can be employed in the prehospital and emergency department setting, such as brief early hyperoxia. Layne conducted a clinical trial to evaluate the role of hyperoxia in acute ischemic stroke, supported by an American Heart Association Career Development Award.

After completing our fellowship in June 2020, Dr. Dylla began a position as an EM Research Faculty Member at the University of Colorado.