I was born in New York City and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. When growing up, my parents modeled a love for learning and a strong work ethic. I recall my dad saying, “Erik, I don’t care if you are a garbage collector or a doctor, but one thing is for sure – you will work really hard at it and be excellent.” After attending college in Wheaton, Illinois and graduating Magna Cum Laude with a major in philosophy, I subsequently obtained a Medical Doctorate at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and completed residency training in Emergency Medicine and fellowship training in Critical Care Medicine at the Mayo Clinic. Through these training experiences and relationships with key mentors – Dr. Roger White and Dr. Annie Sadosty – I developed a passion for academic scholarship and subsequently completed a clinical research fellowship and Master of Science in Epidemiology in Ottawa, Canada under the mentorship of Dr. Ian Stiell, one of the top 5 researchers in Emergency Medicine. While leading the “Chest Pain Choice” trial, a PCORI-funded trial testing the impact of shared decision-making in ED patients with chest pain, I observed participating physicians adapt their patient communication style from directive to inclusive, modifying their phraseology from “this is what we are going to do” to “here are our treatment options,” often altering their position from standing at the head of the bed to sitting by the patient’s side. These experiences surprised and deeply impacted me, fueling a passion for patient centered leadership. I was subsequently recruited to the UAB Department of Emergency Medicine as Vice Chair for Research, where my patient-centered focus was galvanized by the need to mitigate healthcare disparities, so each patient is treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their personal characteristics. It is these values – patient centeredness and human dignity – that infuse my leadership with purpose, along with a love for scholarship and a desire to pay forward the investment others have made in my development. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with family and friends, staying fit, smoking and grilling meat, and trying out new restaurants in Nashville.