Medical Staff
Skip Freedman, M.D., Medical Director
A longtime emergency room physician, Dr. Skip, as his clients and physician specialists know him, joined AllMed in the spring of 2000 as Associate Medical Director. Most recently, Dr. Freedman headed Tuality Hospital's Emergency Department and he continues to practice Emergency Medicine.
Dr. Freedman remembers as a youngster sitting on locker room benches while his father tended the scrapes and cuts of the high school athletes he treated. As a surgical resident handling badly-wounded trauma patients in a West Philadelphia hospital, he realized his calling.
"I loved the opportunity to figure out what was wrong and intervene while trying to keep my wits about me to save a life," says Dr. Freedman.
After leaving Philadelphia in 1975, Dr. Freedman drove to Oregon and became a staff physician at Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg where he often shared shifts in the Emergency Department with future Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber. Dr. Freedman was also medical director for six local ambulance companies when he met Karen, who later became his wife and is now AllMed's Director of Professional Standards.
In 1987, Dr. Freedman became Regional Medical Director for EmCare, Inc., an emergency medicine company in Dallas, Texas. But the couple's hearts were still in Oregon and they moved back to the Pacific Northwest in 1989. Dr. Freedman began practicing Emergency Medicine.
Looking to utilize his team-building and mediation skills in helping people make the right medical care decisions, Dr. Freedman joined Dr. Robert Smith at AllMed in the spring of 2000.
"Using AllMed is a win-win situation for everybody," says Dr. Freedman. "The companies who hire us benefit because they get an informed, expert, articulate opinion in a brief period of time. Patients and physicians benefit by speaking with a physician peer in a way that treatment isn't unnecessarily delayed."
Dr. Freedman received his Bachelor of Science from Yale University and his medical degree from Thomas Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.
He and Karen have one son, Ellis. Skip's hobbies include reading and golf. A longtime champion of science-based conservation, Dr. Freedman is a trustee of the Nature Conservancy.
Dr. James L. Hedtke, Associate Medical Director
Jim Hedtke is a board-certified Emergency Physician with a diverse background as a research scientist and professor. In addition to his staff duties at AllMed, Jim is a staff ER physician at two prominent medical centers in the metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon.
Jim was born and raised in Wisconsin, and received his BS from the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh. He went on to earn a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Minnesota. From there, he traveled to Corvallis, Oregon, where he took a Postdoctoral research position at Oregon State University with combined appointments in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, and the Department of Pharmacology. He did research in the areas of toxicology and water pollution biology, and the effects of toxicants on fish, both behavioral and physiological. He mentored both masters and doctoral students in the Fisheries Department.
Jim moved to Portland and taught in the Department of Pharmacology in the Dental School at the Oregon Health and Sciences University while continuing his aquatic research at the OSU Marine Science Center. He was also a Consultant to the Oregon State Board of Dental Examiners and served one year as the acting chairman of his Dept. of Pharmacology.
After five years in academics, Dr. Hedtke then went back to Medical School at the OHSU. He graduated in 1986, receiving the prestigious Gold Headed Cane Award, and completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at OHSU in 1989. He is Board Certified in Emergency Medicine and is working currently at Providence St Vincent Medical Center, the Tanasbourne Immediate Care Center, and at AllMed Healthcare Management. He has functioned as the Physician Supervisor for Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue and served on many committees for the Providence system, including the Regional Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee.
"I thoroughly enjoy my work at AllMed, and find it very stimulating and constantly challenging."
Outside of work, he also finds time to do competitive running (including marathons), as well as golf, fly-fishing, and lots of reading. He is married for 40 years to his high school sweetheart, and has one daughter who is an actress and singer, living in Manhattan. Both have been coerced into becoming runners and Jim and his daughter recently ran her first marathon together, the Disneyworld Marathon in Orlando.
Dr. Mary Engrav, Medical Review Physician
Mary Engrav is an accomplished emergency room physician, with a passion for medical quality management. She has a long list of academic, research and teaching credentials. She is deeply involved in the Portland medical community, serving in a number of leadership roles.
In addition to being a member of the AllMed team, Mary practices emergency medicine at St. Vincent Hospital, where she has been on staff since 1993. She serves on St. Vincents Inter-Hospital Liaison Committee, which focuses on improving Quality Assurance processes. She has been Director of Nurse Practitioner Oversight, and served on several other committees related to QA improvement.
Mary serves as EMS liaison to Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, the Financial Review Board of Oregon Emergency Physicians, and as a Physician Supervisor for Premier Jets aero medical transport team. She also has served as Adjunct Instructor at Oregon Health Sciences Universitys Department of Emergency Medicine.
Mary graduated Magna Cum Laude in Biology from the University of Wyoming. She received her medical degree from Creighton University in 1990, where she graduated Cum Laude, and received honors in Surgery, Obstetrics, Pediatrics, and Internal Medicine. She went on to do her Emergency Medicine Residency at Oregon Health Sciences University, and was Chief Resident in 1992/93.
In her free time, Mary actively volunteers at her children's school, and is involved in their local soccer club. She also enjoys reading, running and gardening.
Dr. Kim Crihfield, Medical Review Physician
Dr. Crihfield is board-certified in Internal Medicine and completed her residency in Internal Medicine with a subspecialty in Women's Health at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Kim grew up near Cleveland Ohio and got her BS in Biology and her Medical Degree from Ohio State University.
Kim's clinical experience is well rounded and well traveled. After Medical school Kim worked temporarily (called "Locum Tenens" in the medical world) for 3 years all over the country and in a variety of practice settings. More specifically, she worked in private practice in Juneau Alaska, large HMOs in Minneapolis and Denver, Indian Health Service in Tuba City Arizona (the Navajo Reservation), Occupational Medicine in Pennsylvania, multi-specialty groups in Alamosa Colorado and Urgent Care in Cleveland Ohio.
Kim moved to Portland in 2000 and started working for Providence Medical Group, specializing in both inpatient and outpatient medicine in primary and urgent care settings. In addition to the great work she does for AllMed, she continues to practice Urgent Care for Providence and spends time volunteering for the YMCA's Cardiac Therapy program to provide a safe exercise prescription, teaching people about their disease and providing individual counseling.
"I began working for AllMed in October. I enjoy the variety of cases that we review and I am constantly learning new information from all our fantastic peer reviewers."
In her free time, Kim's passions extend beyond the medical world. She is avid outdoor enthusiast and enjoys rock climbing, mountaineering and backpacking. She also participates in Wilderness Volunteers doing public land rehabilitation projects.