AHN doctor elected to board of directors for American College of Emergency Physicians

An Allegheny Health Network emergency medicine doctor was elected to the national board of directors of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), AHN officials announced Thursday.

Dr. Arvind Venkat serves as AHN’s vice chair for research and faculty academic affairs in the Department of Emergency Medicine and has practiced emergency medicine since 2007.

“I am truly honored to be elected to the ACEP Board of Directors,” Venkat said. “In these extraordinary times, when our nearly 40,000-member emergency physicians are on the frontlines of the pandemic, I will try to be worthy of their everyday heroism and an effective voice for our members and patients.”

ACEP is a national medical society that represents emergency medicine and works to advance emergency care through education, research and public advocacy.

Venkat was previously president of the Pennsylvania chapter of ACEP and chair of the ACEP Ethics Committee.

Venkat, who earned his medical degree from Yale, has held numerous leadership positions at AHN, including ethics consultant and director of research in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Allegheny General Hospital. He’s also the national director of research for US Acute Care Solutions and a professor of medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine.

While serving as president of the Pennsylvania College of Emergency Physicians, Venkat discussed the potential for covid-19 to create a “nightmare” situation in America in March. He also spoke in support of early stay-at-home orders and discussed potential treatments for the virus during the early stages of the pandemic in the area.