Mary Mercer, MD, MPH
Professor
Emergency Medicine
School of Medicine
Mary Mercer, MD, MPH is an associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of California San Francisco. She works clinically at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG), the only level-one trauma center in San Francisco and the acute care hospital of the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH).
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She currently serves as the program director of the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Disaster Medicine Fellowship, the EMS Base Hospital Medical Director at ZSFG, the Medical Director of Alameda City Fire Department EMS. Additionally, since early 2020 Dr. Mercer has served in various roles for the SFDPH Covid-19 Response, including early coordination of scarce resources, medical surge preparedness and response across San Francisco hospitals, clinics and EMS system and later as the Covid-19 Vaccine Section Chief, leading the city-wide vaccine distribution strategy.
Dr. Mercer’s experience lays at the intersection of EMS, public health and quality improvement. She previously served as the Director or Performance Improvement and Patient Safety for the Department of Emergency Medicine at ZSFG, leading a number of interdisciplinary improvement efforts for patient access, ED flow, cardiac and neurologic emergencies, substance use disorder, and other conditions. She is also the Co-Principal Investigator for Project FRIEND (First Responder Increased Education and Naloxone), California’s first prehospital naloxone distribution program, now replicated in multiple counties across the state and supported by a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency (SAMHSA). In addition to exploring systems’ change and improvement efforts in emergency medicine clinical care, Dr Mercer has national experience in relationship-centered communication education and coaching, lecturing and leading interdisciplinary team workshops on communication and conflict resolution as a facilitator for the Academy of Communication in Healthcare. Additionally, Dr. Mercer evaluates national workforce and patient-centered efforts towards diversity, equity and inclusion in prehospital care and serves as the Chair of the Women in EMS Committee of the National Association of EMS Physicians.
Dr. Mercer completed undergraduate training at Harvard University in the history of science, followed by medical education at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She completed emergency medicine residency at Stanford University and EMS/Disaster Medicine fellowship at UCSF/SFGH and received a masters in public health with a focus on epidemiology at University of California Berkeley.
Awards
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- California ACEP EMS Achievement Award, California Chapter of American College of Emergency Physicians, 2021
- Mayoral Proclamation - Mary Mercer Day, City and County of San Francisco, 2021
- Healthcare Hero Award, San Francisco Department of Public Health, 2021
- Community Service Award, San Francisco Japanese American Society, 2021
- Excellence in Teaching Award, UCSF Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators, 2017
- Values in Action Award, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, 2016
- EMS Hospital Provider of the Year, San Francisco EMS System, 2014
- Outstanding Residency Teaching Award, UCSF OB-GYN Residency Program, 2014
Education & Training
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- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training University of California 2018
- EMS and Disaster Medicine Fellowship University of California 2012
- MPH Epidemiology, Masters in Public Health University of California 2012
- Emergency Medicine Residency Stanford University 2010
- MD Doctor of Medicine Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons 2007
- BA History of Science, Bachelors of Arts Harvard University 2001
Publications (31)
Top publication keywords:
Physicians, WomenDrug OverdosePersonnel, HospitalNaloxoneAmbulancesDyspneaFamily CharacteristicsEmergency Medical ServicesEmergency MedicineDisastersCardiopulmonary ResuscitationEmergency Service, HospitalOut-of-Hospital Cardiac ArrestAbsenteeismCarbon Dioxide
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San Francisco's Citywide COVID-19 Response: Strategies to Reduce COVID-19 Severity and Health Disparities, March 2020 Through May 2022.
Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974) 2023 Sachdev DD, Petersen M, Havlir DV, Schwab J, Enanoria WTA, Nguyen TQ, Mercer MP, Scheer S, Bennett A, Tenner AG, Marks JD, Bobba N, Philip S, Colfax G -
Implementation of a Leave-behind Naloxone Program in San Francisco: A One-year Experience.
The western journal of emergency medicine 2022 LeSaint KT, Montoy JCC, Silverman EC, Raven MC, Schow SL, Coffin PO, Brown JF, Mercer MP -
357 Implementation of a Behavioral Health Paramedic Program for Crisis Navigation.
Annals of Emergency Medicine 2022 M. Mercer, R. Tsolinas, T. Hong, K. Sporer -
Characteristics and Experiences of Women Physicians and Professionals in NAEMSP.
Prehospital emergency care 2022 Staats K, Counts CR, Dyer KS, Stemerman R, Braithwaite S, Luke A, Mercer MP -
Quality Management of Prehospital Airway Programs: An NAEMSP Position Statement and Resource Document.
Prehospital emergency care 2022 Vithalani V, Sondheim S, Cornelius A, Gonzales J, Mercer MP, Burton B, Redlener M
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Centralized Ambulance Destination Determination: A Retrospective Data Analysis to Determine Impact on EMS System Distribution, Surge Events, and Diversion Status.
The western journal of emergency medicine 2021 Bains G, Breyre A, Seymour R, Montoy JC, Brown J, Mercer M, Colwell C -
Emergency medicine services providers' attitudes toward naloxone distribution and training programs.
The American journal of emergency medicine 2021 Montoy JCC, Mercer MP, Silverman EC, Raven MC, LeSaint KT -
Financial Incentives to Enhance Participation of Resident Physicians in Hospital-Based Quality Improvement Projects.
Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety 2021 Chen EH, Losak MJ, Hernandez A, Addo N, Huen W, Mercer MP -
Prehospital Disposition and Patient Outcomes in Cardiac Arrest AFTER Resuscitation Termination Protocol Change in an Urban Setting.
Prehospital and disaster medicine 2020 Cheung BH, Mercer MP -
Variations in the California Emergency Medical Services Response to Opioid Use Disorder.
The western journal of emergency medicine 2020 Glober NK, Hern G, McBride O, Mercer MP -
Reducing Emergency Department Length of Stay.
JAMA 2019 Mercer MP, Singh MK, Kanzaria HK -
A survey of risk tolerance to multiple sclerosis therapies.
Neurology 2019 Fox RJ, Cosenza C, Cripps L, Ford P, Mercer M, Natarajan S, Salter A, Tyry T, Cofield SS -
The Digital EMS California Academy of Learning: One State's Innovative Approach to EMS Fellow Education.
AEM education and training 2018 Staats K, Mercer MP, Bosson N, Joelle Donofrio J, Schlesinger S, Sanko S, Kazan C, Brown J, Loza-Gomez A, Eckstein M, Gausche-Hill M -
A US National Study of the Association Between Income and Ambulance Response Time in Cardiac Arrest.
JAMA network open 2018 Hsia RY, Huang D, Mann NC, Colwell C, Mercer MP, Dai M, Niedzwiecki MJ -
Variations in Cardiac Arrest Regionalization in California.
The western journal of emergency medicine 2018 Chang BL, Mercer MP, Bosson N, Sporer KA -
67 Variations in Cardiac Arrest Regionalization in California.
Annals of Emergency Medicine 2017 B. Chang, M. Mercer, N. Bosson, K. Sporer -
In Reply: Comparing Direct and Video Laryngoscopy for Prehospital Intubation: Can Meta-analysis Provide an Exact Solution?
Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine 2017 Brian Savino P, Reichelderfer S, Mercer MP, Sporer KA, Wang RC -
Direct Versus Video Laryngoscopy for Prehospital Intubation: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine 2017 Savino PB, Reichelderfer S, Mercer MP, Wang RC, Sporer KA -
Koenig and schultz's disaster medicine: comprehensive principles and practices 2nd ed. Edited by Kristi L. Koenig, Carl H. Schultz. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016; 736 pp + index; $205.00 (hardcover).
Academic Emergency Medicine 2017 Eric C. Silverman, Mary P. Mercer -
A Novel Survey Tool to Quantify the Degree and Duration of STEMI Regionalization Across California.
Critical pathways in cardiology 2016 Rokos IC, Sporer K, Savino PB, Mercer MP, Shontz SS, Sabbagh S, Hsia RY -
Cooney's EMS Medicine By Derek R. Cooney. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2016; 603 pp + index; $179.00 (hard cover).
Academic Emergency Medicine 2016 Eric C. Silverman, Mary P. Mercer -
How to design a study that everyone will believe.
Doing Research in Emergency and Acute Care 2015 Katie L. Tataris, Mary Mercer, Prasanthi Govindarajan -
Epidemiology of Shortness of Breath in Prehospital Patients in Andhra Pradesh, India.
The Journal of emergency medicine 2015 Mercer MP, Mahadevan SV, Pirrotta E, Ramana Rao GV, Sistla S, Nampelly B, Danthala R, Strehlow AN, Strehlow MC -
Prehospital aspirin administration for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in the USA: an EMS quality assessment using the NEMSIS 2011 database.
Emergency medicine journal : EMJ 2015 Tataris KL, Mercer MP, Govindarajan P -
Physician identification and patient satisfaction in the emergency department: are they related?
The Journal of emergency medicine 2014 Mercer MP, Hernandez-Boussard T, Mahadevan SV, Strehlow MC -
Ready or not: does household preparedness prevent absenteeism among emergency department staff during a disaster?
American journal of disaster medicine 2014 Mercer MP, Ancock B, Levis JT, Reyes V -
Out-of-Hospital Aspirin Administration for Acute Coronary Syndrome in the United States: An EMS Quality Assessment Using the NEMSIS (National EMS Information System) Database.
Annals of Emergency Medicine 2013 K. Tataris, P. Govindarajan, M. Mercer, C. Yeh, K. Sporer -
Reducing ambulance diversion at hospital and regional levels: systemic review of insights from simulation models.
The western journal of emergency medicine 2013 Delgado MK, Meng LJ, Mercer MP, Pines JM, Owens DK, Zaric GS -
398 Personal Disaster Preparedness of Emergency Department Staff.
Annals of Emergency Medicine 2011 M.P. Mercer, J.T. Levis, V. Reyes -
Factors Contributing to Door-to-Balloon Times of 90 Minutes in 97% of Patients with ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction: Our One-Year Experience with a Heart Alert Protocol.
The Permanente Journal 2010 Joel T Levis, Mary P Mercer, Mark Thanassi, James Lin -
Factors Contributing to Door-to-Balloon Times of ≤90 Minutes in 97% of Patients with ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction: Our One-Year Experience with a Heart Alert Protocol.
The Permanente journal 2010 Levis JT, Mercer MP, Thanassi M, Lin J