Program Director
Matthew Carlisle, MD, MAS
Matthew Carlisle joined our faculty in 2013 and before becoming Program Director in 2019, he served as Associate Program Director, the Director of Point of Care Simulation for LSUHSC, and Co-Director of Simulation for the Section of Emergency Medicine. Matt graduated from Emory University School of Medicine, completed his residency at Palmetto Health Richland in South Carolina, and obtained a fellowship in Simulation Education at the University of California, Davis. His personal interests include preparing smoked meats, crafting cocktails and fitness. He lives in New Orleans with his wife and four children.
Associate Program Director
Pierre Detiege, MD
Pierre Detiege is a native of New Orleans and a graduate of the Medical College of Pennsylvania. He completed his residency at Temple University in Philadelphia and has worked at safety-net hospitals in both Philadelphia and Tampa before joining our faculty in 2007. In addition to serving as APD, Pierre is an active educator in the medical school and serves on several committees including Diversity & Inclusion, Quality, Ethics and Admission. He has a special interest in health equity, social determinants of health, under-represented minority mentoring and simulation education. In his free time, he enjoys the many festivals and outdoor activities throughout the city, and enjoys staying active through playing basketball, running and swimming. He lives in New Orleans with his wife and two children.
ASSOCIATE PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Elizabeth Clement, MD
Elizabeth Clement is a graduate of LSU School of Medicine and completed both her residency and fellowship training at LSU as well. She is dual fellowship trained in both EMS and Emergency Ultrasound. She is the former Associate Medical Director of New Orleans EMS, and currently serves as both the Associate Program Director for our residency and the Clerkship Director for student rotations. She is very involved in medical education and runs several procedural, cadaver, ultrasound and simulation labs for both residents and students. Outside of medicine, she enjoys the wonderful restaurants and the music scene in New Orleans, as her prior career was in music education.
Associate Program Director
Nicole Kaban, MD
Nicole Kaban graduated from New York University School of Medicine, completed residency at the Bellevue/NYU Emergency Medicine program, and fellowship in Emergency Ultrasound at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital in NYC. She joined our faculty in 2018 with leadership roles in both the Emergency Ultrasound and International Emergency Medicine divisions, and currently serves as the Director of Emergency Ultrasound in addition to her APD duties. She is interested in the intersection of ultrasound and global health, particularly clinical uses in low resource settings, as well as ultrasound as a tool for capacity building and medical education. You can find her around New Orleans with her best friend, Juniper (AKA Juni, Junebug, best pup in the entire world).
Associate Program Director
Mary Ann Difranco, MD
Mary Ann Difranco comes to us from rural north Louisiana. She is a graduate of LSU School of Medicine and completed residency at our own LSU residency where she was chief resident. After spending a year and a half out in the wild (community and rural ED’s), she joined our faculty in 2020. During her time in residency and now as faculty she has had an interest in Women in EM, first starting the group and now serving as faculty advisor for our own WIEM group. As APD her responsibilities include serving as intern advisor and working with leadership on conference and curriculum development. Her hobbies include fighting the ravages of time with exercise, drinking nice scotch, and generally spending as much time with her awesome family (wife Cami, son Ripley, and the Shaggy Dog) as possible either around New Orleans or at their camp.
Residency Coordinator
Kathy Whittington
Kathy is from North Carolina and joined our department in 2001. She has served as our department’s Residency Coordinator and de facto matriach since 2005. Kathy takes care of all issues big & small to ensure that our department runs smoothly. Her office door is always open and faculty and residents often take a seat to check-in, talk shop, dish gossip and steal coffee and candy. Kathy’s hobbies include enjoying bloody mary’s, chardonnay and travel. She lives in New Orleans with her husband.
People
Chief Residents
Medical Student Education, Wellness, Discipline, This Charity Life
Joshua DeBlieux
Joshua was born and raised in New Orleans and graduated from LSU Medical School. He is the Medical Student Education, Wellness, and Discipline chief. Joshua’s interests in medicine are critical care medicine, palliative medicine, social EM, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Apart from medicine, he has many hobbies and passions including creative writing, playing and watching most sports (diehard saints and pelicans fan), traveling, eating, seeing live music, diving, film, and spending time with his wife, Emily. There’s always some fun adventure on the horizon.
Off-Site Scheduling, Social EM, DEI
Apre Dixon-Gleaves
Apre (like appreciate) is a regular smegular proud HBCU alum from the Bronx. She attended undergraduate and medical school at Howard University. She is the Off-Service Scheduling, Social EM and DEI chief. Apre’s interests in medicine are social EM, DEI, and critical care. She enjoys cooking, traveling and attending the many festivals New Orleans has to offer. Her goal is to ride in a Mardi Gras parade before graduation and attend at least one Mardi Gras Ball. Apre also aspires to learn how to make crawfish etouffee and seafood gumbo (doesn’t eat pork). She also enjoys reading when she gets the chance to do so.
Research & Academics
Michelle Huber
Michelle is from Loveland, Ohio, and graduated from Tulane University School of Medicine. She is the research and academics chief interested in community emergency medicine, Women in EM, EMS, quality improvement, and teaching. Outside of the ED Michelle enjoys cooking new recipes, taking care of her flowers, going on long walks with her dog, Luka, and finding fun cocktail bars around New Orleans.
Conference & Curriculum
Sara Muramoto
Sara is from Denver, CO and graduated from University of Colorado. She is the conference/curriculum chief and has interests in critical care medicine, quality improvement, ultrasound and social EM. Sara is an avid sports fan, both playing them and watching them. While her professional basketball team has been and always will be the Nuggets, she has adopted the Pelicans (when not playing against said Nuggets) since being in New Orleans. She is still working on it, but has yet to adopt the Saints. Outside of sports, she enjoys spending time with her partner and two dogs, doing puzzles, reading, diving, skating, snowboarding and paddle boarding the bayou.
Scheduling, Recruitment
Alex Woodbridge
Alex is originally from Petaluma, CA, but arrived in New Orleans in 2017 to attend medical school at Tulane University and hasn’t looked back since. At Tulane, she fell in love with New Orleans, its culture and people, and her now husband. At the end of med school, she couples matched into her dream EM program–LSU! This year, she is serving as the scheduling and recruitment chief. She is interested in disaster medicine, social EM, community and rural medicine, and teaching. Outside of work, she loves exploring the city (especially all of its food offerings), Mardi Gras and festival season, cooking, watching horror movies, and spending time with her dog.