We are excited to announce four new leadership appointments within the Department of Emergency Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM), effective May 1, 2025.
Elisa Aponte, M.D.
Dr. Aponte is an assistant professor of clinical emergency medicine and the assistant director of clinical services for the NYP-Weill Cornell Medical Center Emergency Department.
As assistant director of clinical services she is actively involved in managing the daily operations of the department and has worked on various interdepartmental initiatives alongside gastroenterology, oncology, OB, cardiology and radiology. She also serves as the assistant director of emergency ultrasound and plays a key role in ultrasound education and training for the Department of Emergency Medicine. As associate director of clinical services, Dr. Aponte will expand her role in clinical operations for the department and work with ED physicians and nursing leadership to ensure and enhance operational efficiencies, workflows, patient experience, and inter-departmental and institutional relationships and initiatives. She will also transition her responsibilities for the Adult EM faculty schedule to Dr. Christopher Hennessey.
Dr. Aponte received her medical degree from NYU School of Medicine and completed her residency in Emergency Medicine at NYU School of Medicine/Bellevue Hospital Center. She then completed a fellowship in Emergency Ultrasound at SUNY Downstate/Kings County Hospital Center.
Curt Dill, M.D.
Dr. Dill currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer for the Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN-2). In this role, he oversees a comprehensive healthcare system that includes 10 acute care hospitals, 76 community-based outpatient clinics, 12 community nursing homes, and a full range of residential rehabilitation programs serving over 500,000 Veterans.
Dr. Dill is also a Clinical Associate Professor in the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College.
With more than three decades of leadership experience, Dr. Dill served as regional faculty for the American Heart Association and the American College of Surgeons Advanced Trauma Life Support program before joining the VA system. During his time with the VA, he established one of the organization's first residency programs in Emergency Medicine. In addition to serving as Chief of Emergency Medicine for the Manhattan VA, he served as the chair of the national VA Emergency Medicine Field Advisory Committee, where he introduced the first Emergency Medicine directive, standardizing the practice of Emergency Medicine across the VA system. Following this, Dr. Dill held increasingly responsible positions within the VA, leading regional and national initiatives beyond Emergency Medicine. Dr. Dill has been working clinically on a per diem basis in the Emergency Departments at NYP-Weill Cornell Medical Center and NYP-Lower Manhattan Hospital since 2020.
His research interests include integrating mental health services into routine care and addressing issues such as veterans' suicide and food insecurity among homeless veterans.
He earned his medical degree from the State University of New York Downstate College of Medicine and completed his residency in emergency medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and Bellevue Hospital Center.
Deborah Levine, M.D.
Dr. Levine is an associate professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine and Clinical Pediatrics. Since joining the Department of Emergency Medicine, she has been actively involved in a variety of projects, including a new program to foster abstracts into manuscripts.
Her academic research interests include infectious diseases in neonates and children, concussion, and injury prevention. Most recently, Dr. Levine successfully published studies on COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus, and concussion. She has led a 21-center research consortium in the metropolitan NYC area to study multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children and now is a co-investigator on grant-funded projects studying salivary biomarkers and concussion as well as mental health emergencies.
In her new role, Dr. Levine will be responsible for overseeing and fostering research in emergency care of children at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine Pediatric Emergency Medicine (WCM-PEM). In this role, she will oversee and support the end-to-end process for all research related to children’s health in the Department of Emergency Medicine.
Dr. Levine earned her medical degree at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. She completed her pediatric residency at New York Hospital – Weill Cornell Medical Center and her pediatric emergency medicine fellowship at New York University / Bellevue Hospital Center.
Matthew McCarty, M.D.
Dr. McCarty is currently an assistant professor of clinical emergency medicine and the Director of Quality and Patient Safety for the Department of Emergency Medicine.
He has served as the NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell enterprise lead for ED sepsis care and has led a multidisciplinary team improving ED sepsis care. By developing a cross-campus dashboard, implementing direct frontline provider feedback, improving the electronic medical record to streamline care, and driving culture change, he has improved compliance with evidence-based sepsis care bundles and driven down risk adjusted sepsis mortality across the hospital.
He is also the medical director for the ED follow up center and collaborates closely with our Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) and ED leadership to enhance the department's post discharges workflows, ensuring a standardized process for communication of critical and post discharge laboratory and radiology results. Furthermore, in collaboration with operational leaders in our department, Dr. McCarty has worked to standardize documentation and reassessment of ED patients.
He was also named a future leader in the High Value Practice Academic Alliance and is involved in several quality improvement projects aimed at enhancing the delivery of safe, efficient and effective care to our patients. Dr. McCarty has led several MCIC-funded projects in collaboration with leaders across the NYP campuses and at other major academic institutions including Johns Hopkins, Yale, and University of Rochester. Dr. McCarty serves on the national ACEP Quality and Patient Safety Committee and mentors monthly ED resident morbidity and mortality presentations at weekly residency education conferences.
In his new role, Dr. McCarty will oversee all quality assurance and patient safety initiatives for the NYP-Weill Cornell Department of Emergency Medicine. He will continue to work closely with departmental and hospital leadership at all our Weill Cornell affiliated Emergency Departments, Nursing, Patient Services and others to ensure the Department continues its mission of providing the highest quality care to our patients
He will continue to work closely with departmental and hospital leadership at all our Weill Cornell affiliated Emergency Departments, Nursing, Patient Services and others to ensure the Department continues its mission of providing the highest quality care to our patients.
