James J. Augustine, MD, Course Co-Director

Jim Augustine is the Director of Clinical Operations for Emergency Medicine Physicians in Canton, Ohio. He has been active in the leadership of multicontract ED groups for the last 20 years and, as such, has literally visited hundreds of emergency departments. Having seen the good, the bad and the ugly, Jim has developed a passion for identifying processes and systems for optimizing the performance of emergency departments. ED design has become a special interest and has resulted in him consulting with hospitals that are about to undertake updates, expansions or total ED rebuilds. Jim is the principal driver of the annual collection of throughput data that is performed by the Emergency Department Benchmarking Alliance for its members. He serves as Executive Editor of the publication, ED Management

Shari Welch, MD, Course Co-Director

Shari has served as the Quality Improvement Director for the emergency department of the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City and has been a quality improvement consultant for Utah Emergency Physicians, Intermountain Healthcare and VHA. She has served on the faculty of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and is currently a Fellow of the Brent James’ Intermountain Institute for Healthcare Delivery Quality. She has published in The Annals of Emergency Medicine, Academic Emergency Medicine, The Journal of Emergency Medicine and The Joint Commission Journal of Quality and Patient Safety. She co-authored a book for Health Administration Press on patient flow and has authored a book for Joint Commission Resources on ED quality improvement solutions. Shari also writes a monthly column in the widely read publication, Emergency Medicine News.

Frank Zilm, D. Arch, FAIA, FACHA

Frank Zilm is an architect specializing in the planning and design of emergency facilities. He has participated in over fifty ED projects throughout the United States, authored numerous articles on emergency planning, and co-directs an annual seminar on emergency facility design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Frank is a lecturer in the health architecture program at the University of Kansas School of Architecture and has also served as President of the American Institute of Architects Academy on Architecture for Health. For the past five years he has served as a Board Member of the Coalition for Health Environments Research.

Michael Williams, MPA/HSA

With over 35 years of experience in emergency service, and as President of the Abaris Group, Mike has provided consulting services to more than 350 health care organizations advising them on performance improvement, productivity and capacity strategies and increasing market share. Mike serves on the Editorial Board for the publication, ED Management, is a senior faculty member for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s “Urgent Matters” project and provides consultation services with the Health Care Advisory Board. He has given many national presentations on topics related to Emergency Department design, operation, and financing.

James Lennon, AIA, ACHA

A leading architect in the design of high performance Emergency Departments, Jim serves as the President of Lennon Associates, Inc., of Delmar, California. He is a Founding Member of the American College of Healthcare Architects and has been a recipient of the AIA/Modern Healthcare Design Award. His firm has been involved in the design/ redesign of numerous emergency departments throughout the United States and, in the process, he has developed a keen sense of the importance of functionality in ED design. In seeking ways to improve ED design, he is the creator of a unique computer simulation program for assessing ED patient flow.

Michael Uhl, MSN, MBA, RN, CEN

Mike is a manager within the healthcare provider practice of Deloitte Consulting LLP where he concentrates his efforts in the areas of healthcare system operations and corporate strategy. Mike routinely works with senior level executives, midlevel managers and staff on improving operating and financial performance in the clinical and non-clinical processes. As a former emergency department director and ED nurse, Mike has had extensive, first-hand experience in the many challenges faced by EDs and their patients. His areas of particular expertise include ED operational improvement, clinical process redesign, revenue enhancement and Lean/Six Sigma applications in the emergency care setting. Mike has been a featured national speaker at numerous nursing and prehospital conferences addressing the topic of improving the overall effectiveness and performance of EDs.