About us - areas of focus for ALiEM

We are a virtually-based, social enterprise, medical education startup.


Who are we?

What started out as an educational blog in 2009 for Dr. Michelle Lin to store Tricks of the Trade notes, has now evolved into an umbrella organization, housing online educational platforms and virtual communities. Our dynamic, globally distributed team continues to grow now with over 100 volunteer members, comprised of physicians, residents, students, pharmacists, nurses, and paramedics. We value dedication and creativity over experience and welcome all like-minded torchbearers in healthcare.

What is our vision?

To lead as a respected institution in advancing education, career development, and community building globally using digital technologies in emergency medicine and other health professions.

What is our 10-year goal?

To be the virtual Silicon Valley for health professions education.

Where is our org chart?

We don’t have one! We have a constantly changing and evolving, flat organization, where everyone is trusted to do the right thing for the right reason. We are a team of leaders, trying to make a positive impact on education and healthcare.

This growth occurs despite that the fact that all of our team members are released from their ALiEM responsibilities in order to avoid any unnecessary feelings of guilt or obligation. They are always welcome to return, but we understand that their time is valuable. To our surprise, we have lost very few members and have exponentially grown our team.

What is it like to be part of the ALiEM team?

We are incredibly proud of our team culture of trust, respect, collaboration, serious creativity, and torchbearer spirit. Because we realize that our accomplished team members can work with any organization they want, we don’t take them for granted. We focus on their professional development and use any extra funds we have to provide them with special experiences, such as unique swag gifts, group meals, and even team mansions at national conferences. Check out our ALiEM Experience Culture Book, modeled after the Zappos Culture Book. Get to know some of our core team leaders on our Meet The Team page.

1.8 million

The ALiEM blog garners 1.8 million page views annually from 14,000+ cities in 200+ countries to access our educational material on clinical and professional development content from at the patient bedside and from home.

100

There are over 100 U.S. Emergency Medicine residency programs represented in our custom learning management platform ALiEMU. Most are enrolled to obtain official Individualized Interactive Instruction (III) credit for asynchronous residency conference learning.

200

In 2015, we created the year-long, virtual Chief Resident Incubator. In this community of Emergency Medicine Chief Residents throughout North America, we annually mentor and accelerate the careers of 200 future physician-leaders in Emergency Medicine.

70

The ALiEM team has published over 70 peer reviewed journal publications on the topics of social media, health professions education, and digital scholarship [Google Scholar list]. We also have a growing publication wing which has produced print and electronic books.

Our Core Values

Innovativeness

We love creative solutions. We strive to improve the learning and teaching experience in health professions education using technologies.

Inclusivity

We value talent. We value the diversity of our team and readership equally, regardless of age, seniority, title, and background.

Nimbleness

We love adaptive doers. We are agile at operationalizing and executing our ideas, assessing our progress, and quickly adjusting our plans.

Excellence

We have high expectations. We aim to produce quality products, exemplify the highest standards in professionalism, and represent a trusted brand in medicine.

Strategic Alignment, Goals, and Impact

Our ultimate impact goal is to improve the quality and safety of patient care in the Emergency Department. Our 3-prong approach focuses on clinicians and clinicians-in-training, specifically with regards to:

  1. Publishing high-quality, open-access educational information
  2. Improving individualized professional development through ALiEMU courses
  3. Growing effective virtual communities of practice using Slack (Chief Resident IncubatorFellowship IncubatorFaculty IncubatorWellness Think Tank)

These 3 priority outcomes are made possible because of our established dissemination platforms (ALiEM blog@ALiEMteam Twitter account, and Soundcloud podcast account), learning management system ALiEMU, and the Slack-based communities. To ensure that we are aligned in our efforts, we longitudinally track critical performance measures involving traffic analytics and community engagement. Read more in our “Demonstrating Impact” Plan.

Plans and Reports

Interested in collaborating with us?

Please contact us!

Collaborative Sponsors and Partners

AgileMDAnnals of Emergency MedicineEBSCO Health / DynaMed PlusJournal of Graduate Medical Education
American Academy of Emergency MedicineCall9Emergency Medicine Residents AssociationU.S. Acute Care Solutions
American College of Emergency PhysiciansCouncil of Residency Directors (EM)HippoEM / Essentials of Emergency Medicine Western Journal of Emergency Medicine
Michelle Lin, MD
ALiEM Founder and CEO
Professor and Digital Innovation Lab Director
Department of Emergency Medicine
University of California, San Francisco
Michelle Lin, MD

@M_Lin

Professor of Emerg Med at UCSF-Zuckerberg SF General. ALiEM Founder @aliemteam #PostitPearls at https://t.co/50EapJORCa Bio: https://t.co/7v7cgJqNEn
Michelle Lin, MD