About SAUCM™ — Society for Academic Urgent Care Medicine

Who we are

Mission & Vision

Our Mission

The Society for Academic Urgent Care Medicine (SAUCM™) was established to advance the field of urgent care medicine through rigorous academic inquiry, evidence-based practice, and the development of the next generation of urgent care professionals.

Our mission is to elevate urgent care medicine as a distinct academic discipline by fostering research, promoting educational excellence, and establishing professional standards that ensure the highest quality of patient care.

Why Now

Urgent care now serves over 160 million patient visits annually in the United States. Yet unlike emergency medicine — which built its academic infrastructure over the past four decades — urgent care has operated without a dedicated academic society, peer-reviewed journal, or structured competency-based fellowship curriculum.

SAUCM exists to change that. Founded in 2025, we are the society focused on advancing the academic development of urgent care medicine in collaboration with existing like minded organizations with robust research infrastructure, standardized training, and evidence-based clinical guidelines.

Our Vision

We envision a future where urgent care medicine is a vital academic specialty with:

Robust research infrastructure and a growing body of peer-reviewed evidence
structured fellowship-style educational programs accessible to physicians and APPs
Evidence-based clinical practice guidelines specific to urgent care settings
A thriving community of scholars, educators, and clinician-researchers
broader academic recognition within ambulatory care education with its own academic identity
Improved patient outcomes across diverse ambulatory care settings

By the numbers

SAUCM at a glance

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500

Member Goal 2026

$2.5M

Research Funding Goal

Q2 2026

Annals Journal Launch

Strategic pillars

What we do

SAUCM operates across four interdependent pillars — each reinforcing the others to build a durable academic home for urgent care medicine.

Advance Research

Promote and fund high-quality research through competitive grants, collaborative networks, and the Annals of Urgent Care Medicine™.

Enhance Education

Develop comprehensive fellowship programs, standardized curricula, and CME opportunities for urgent care professionals at every career stage.

Establish Standards

Create evidence-based clinical practice guidelines, competency frameworks, and quality standards specific to urgent care settings.

Foster Community

Build a vibrant network of urgent care scholars, researchers, and educators through annual meetings, working groups, and digital collaboration.

Leadership

Founding Leadership Team

SAUCM is led by clinician-researchers with deep experience in urgent care practice, medical education, and health systems leadership.

IH

Izhar Hasan, MD, PhD

Founder & Founding Member

Board certified in family medicine. Rutgers University / Hackensack Meridian Health.

DE

Dina Elnaggar

Founding Member

MD, Urgent Care Medicine

JL

John Lopez

Founding Member

MD, MS, Academic Urgent Care Medicine

RS

Richard Schaller

Founding Member

MD, Urgent Care Medicine

Research & grants

Research Program

SAUCM™ is actively pursiuing research fudning opportunities to promote Urgent care related endevorus for the below proposed progams in collaboration with our academic and private urgent care organization partners. Our proposed funding plans are as below

$150K

Max Award

Investigator-Initiated Research Grant

Competitive grants of $25,000–$150,000 for original research addressing critical questions in urgent care medicine. Priority areas include diagnostic accuracy, treatment efficacy, patient safety, and healthcare access. Open to all member institutions.

$50K

Max Award

Quality Improvement & Implementation Grant

Grants of $10,000–$50,000 supporting QI projects, implementation science, and practice improvement initiatives at SAUCM member institutions. PDSA methodology preferred.

$25K

Max Award

Early-Career Investigator Award

Grants of up to $25,000 for early-career urgent care clinicians and researchers within 5 years of completing training. Includes mentorship pairing with senior SAUCM investigators.

Collaborative research network

Our multi-center research network connects investigators across founding member institutions, enabling large-scale studies that would be impossible for individual sites to conduct alone. The network facilitates shared IRB protocols, data collection frameworks, and publication pipelines through the Annals of Urgent Care Medicine™.

Education

Educational Programs

SAUCM™ provides comprehensive educational resources for urgent care professionals at every stage of their careers — from new graduates to seasoned medical directors.

Fellowship Development

Three-track Certified Urgent Care Practitioner program — 3, 6, and 12 months — Three structured pathways grounded in competency-based medical education principles such as ECG competency. Designed for licensed clinicians including physicians and advanced practice clinicians.

Continuing Medical Education

Monthly webinars, workshops, and the annual scientific meeting providing 24–72+ CME credits per year. Topics span clinical updates, quality improvement, and research methodology.

Faculty Development

Mentorship programs, teaching workshops, and career development resources to support academic urgent care faculty — including publication coaching through the Annals editorial team.