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A dynamic team dedicated to a single MISSION: to advance the practice of pediatric emergency medicine across North Georgia and Southeastern Tennessee.
WE
ARE
PEMA
About
About Us
While most pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) practices are based within academic affiliated hospitals, PEMA is a physician-owned private practice that has been providing excellent care to children for 40 years.
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"At PEMA, we believe in collaboration and exceeding expectations. Our team of 100+ clinicians and clinical scientists share a passion for patient care. We reward that through a culture of cooperation, flexibility and accountability."
Jim Beiter, MD
Chief Executive Officer at PEMA
(Joined PEMA 1999)
Our VISION
​
net for one of the fastest growing regions in the United States.
Our vision is to be a unique PEM practice: One that plays a central role in strengthening the integrity of the pediatric healthcare safety
Our values and
formula for success:
Founded in 1984, PEMA has grown exponentially since its inception. Now, in 2024, we find ourselves partnering with three exceptional healthcare systems.
Clinical Care & Collaboration
PEMA (2024):
over 220,000 ED visits
"As PEMA physicians, we believe it is important to take an active leadership role in the hospitals and healthcare systems in which we serve. Being engaged with every level of the hospital administrative process allows us to participate in system-wide quality improvement for our patients while also ensuring that our team members have the support and infrastructure to create a sustainable and fulfilling work-life balance."
Thuy Bui, MD
Medical Director, Emergency Department
Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite
(Joined PEMA 2003)
Services
Career Support
As a physician-owned and operated group, we are committed to supporting each of our physicians based on their individual career goals whether that means being actively involved in hospital-leadership, research, education, or focusing solely on patient care. We have also created a model that allows us to compensate our physicians among the top 10th percentile for our subspecialty.
"When I was about to finish PEM fellowship, I felt that I was destined for academia. However, I also hoped I could find the flexibility to control how I would balance my passion for patient care, research, teaching, and child advocacy with the reality of starting a family. Fortunately, PEMA has been amazing and has supported my vision for my career and family. I sit down at each shift and know that I can lean on my colleagues for support...I cannot imagine a better place to work!"
Sarah Lazarus, DO
(Joined PEMA 2015)
Research & Education
Expanding the practice of pediatric emergency medicine within the region we serve makes research and education a core part of our formula for success.
"Rather than be an expectation, at PEMA we foster an atmosphere where research is supported for those who have a passion for it. Our practice environment creates incredible opportunities for clinical scientists to explore interesting questions and ideas, even if this interest starts 5-10 years after they leave training. This approach has worked well for us. In addition to recent peer-reviewed publications we've participated in, we are an official "PECARN research node", within Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite Emergency Department."
Carlos Delgado, MD
Research director at PEMA
(Joined PEMA 2008)
"Expanding the practice of high-quality, evidenced-based emergency medical care for children does not just apply to the patients we see. By providing education and guidance to tomorrow's pediatricians and emergency medicine clinicians, we are achieving our mission to expand the practice of high-quality care throughout the communities we serve and beyond. We are proud to say we have grown a remarkable education division within PEMA and now provide education, clinical experiences, and research opportunities to residents from 5 ACGME programs."
Mona Kulkarni, MD
Education director at PEMA
(Joined PEMA 2005)
Big problems often require innovative solutions. We have a track record of success in this arena, with our eyes set on innovation for the future as well.
Innovation
Pediatric sedation services
​Just two decades ago, the high demand for safe, effective pediatric sedation services outside of the operative environment created a challenge for our hospital partners. Seeing an opportunity to collaborate with pediatric anesthesiologists, critical care physicians, and our PEM community at the local and national level, we launched PSS (Pediatric Sedations Services, LLC).
Paul Johnson, MD
Director, Pediatric Sedation Service Line
​Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
(Joined PEMA 1992)
"In addition to becoming founding members of the Society for Pediatric Sedation, we developed a state-of-the-art data collection model that has helped to evolve and disseminate a higher, evidenced-based, standard for the practice of pediatric sedation for children everywhere. With over 6,000 sedations per year, we're proud to say that not only has PSS, LLC grown into one of the busiest non-anesthesiologist based pediatric sedation services in the U.S., our experience and data has helped colleagues at pediatric tertiary care centers around the country safely expand access to sedation services for children in their own communities."
In the aftermath of the COVID pandemic, seasonal fluctuations in non-SARS-CoV-2 respiratory viruses have been associated with unprecedented surges in the demand for outpatient and inpatient pediatric hospital resources. This leads us to ask: Is there a way for us to better understand and predict how our volumes are affected by the transmission of respiratory viruses in our communities?
Viral impact volumes and surveillance
"For almost a decade, we’ve been analyzing longitudinal fluctuations in viral-associated respiratory illnesses that drive pediatric ED visits and subsequent hospitalizations. Emerging research shows these fluctuations follow a cyclical pattern that is less random than previously believed. Our novel approach to integrated longitudinal modeling is already helping our hospital partners enhance how we identify the impact of viral outbreaks in near real-time, while also improving our ability to predict and prepare for huge shifts in hospital-level volumes."
Sujit Sharma, MD
(Joined PEMA 2001)
Are you interested in staying up to date on how respiratory viruses are impacting hospital volumes, with a little slice of humor? Sign up here for the weekly newsletter!
Real Seasonal Viruses of Atlanta (RSVOA)
(Coming soon...)
Join our team
PEMA is focused on recruiting, retaining, and rewarding motivated, skilled physicians and advanced practice providers (APPs) who are dedicated to pursuing excellence in our specialty.
To connect with our directors of recruitment, please email recruiter@pemaweb.com.
David Bakken, MD
Recruiting director
(Joined PEMA 1996)
David Weinkle, MD
Director, APP recruiting
(Joined PEMA 1996)
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