Emergency Medicine

Welcome to the Department of Emergency Medicine

The Department of Emergency Medicine is the first new department at the Sanford School of Medicine since 1991. Started in May 2026, the Department is in its infancy, but is highly engaged with students and looks forward to welcoming the first class of residents at the USD Sanford Emergency Medicine residency in June of 2026.

The Department offers a required Emergency Medicine Clerkship in addition to other Pillar 3 electives. As time passes we look forward to getting department faculty involved with students across the undergraduate medical curriculum and the residency. Emergency medicine intersects with all of medicine and the Department looks forward to working collaboratively with all the other medical school clinical departments on shared goals to advance scholarship and clinical care for all of South Dakota.

Educational Goals

1. Introduce medical students to the specialty of emergency medicine and physicians who practice it in our state.
2. Provide high quality emergency medicine training to residents of the Emergency Medicine program and other USD programs that require experience in emergency departments.
3. Foster an environment for faculty to ensure excellent teachers, mentors, advisors and scholarship partners are available to students and residents.
4. Give broad scope exposure to students and residents on the differences and challenges of both urban and rural emergency departments.
5. Expose students to the importance and function of emergency medical services (EMS).
6. Teach students and residents on the role of emergency medicine in the larger health care system. 
7. Emphasize the impact social determinants of health can have on emergency care.
8. Provide a resource for the advancement of emergency medicine in the state of South Dakota through partnerships with hospital systems, state government agencies, and other programming at the state, local, and federal levels.