Name: Brian Dilcher, MD, FACEP
Board Certification: Emergency Medicine, Clinical Informatics
Medical School: West Virginia University School of Medicine (MD, 2016)
Residency: Emergency Medicine, West Virginia University School of Medicine (2016–2019)
Faculty Rank: Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, West Virginia University School of Medicine
Special Clinical/Research Interests: Clinical informatics and AI in emergency medicine; point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS); opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment initiation in the ED; clinical decision support systems; EHR optimization and reduction of physician burnout; large language model applications in clinical documentation.
I am happy to advise any student interested in Emergency Medicine or Clinical Informatics. I have a particular interest in mentoring students drawn to the intersection of technology and medicine — an underserved niche that will only grow in importance.
No two shifts are the same — that’s what makes Emergency Medicine so compelling. A typical clinical shift at our Level 1 Trauma Center involves managing a broad spectrum of undifferentiated patients, from minor complaints to life-threatening emergencies, while simultaneously supervising residents and medical students, providing online medical command to EMS crews, and navigating the EHR. Outside of clinical shifts, my days often involve committee meetings, informatics projects, curriculum development, and teaching — balancing patient care with academic and administrative responsibilities.
Cognitive and emotional load. Emergency Medicine demands that you hold uncertainty well — you must make high-stakes decisions quickly, often with incomplete information, for patients you’ve never met, across every age group and organ system. Add to that the administrative burden of modern EHR documentation, and burnout is a real and persistent threat. I’ve focused much of my scholarly work on reducing that burden through clinical informatics so that physicians can focus their energy on patients, not clicks.
AI and clinical decision support will fundamentally reshape how we practice. I expect ambient documentation tools to dramatically reduce EHR burden, predictive algorithms to improve triage and resource allocation, and large language models to assist with everything from coding to diagnostic reasoning. At the same time, the human elements of emergency care — empathy, communication, procedural skill, and real-time clinical judgment — will remain irreplaceable. Emergency physicians who understand and can critically evaluate these technologies will be well-positioned to lead. The field will also continue to grapple with issues of access, rural health equity, and the growing behavioral health and substance use crises.
Get in the department early and often — there is no substitute for clinical exposure. Seek out a mentor. Be honest with yourself about whether you thrive under uncertainty and can sustain equanimity in high-pressure environments; those traits matter more than board scores. If you have an interest in informatics, technology, or health systems, Emergency Medicine is a remarkable platform because we sit at the convergence of nearly every hospital service line. And whatever you do, don’t count yourself out of a competitive program without trying — show your passion, curiosity, and grit in your application and interviews.