Why Our Clinical Directors Are Emergency Medicine Physicians

Every detail of our care model is intentional, from the way we welcome patients to how our clinicians guide treatment. Through each of these choices, we are setting the gold standard for IV ketamine treatment for depression, along with concomitant bipolar disorder, OCD, PTSD, suicidal ideation, and anxiety.

One question we’re often asked is why our Clinical Directors are all Emergency Medicine physicians. The answer comes down to safety and specialized expertise.

Why Emergency Medicine Physicians Lead Our Care

Intravenous (IV) ketamine therapy is a transformative medical treatment for people struggling with depression, bipolar disorder, and sometimes co-occurring obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suicidal thoughts, and anxiety. Having physicians who are highly trained in IV ketamine administration allows us to provide the safest possible experience.

Emergency medicine physicians spend years becoming experts in:

• Administering IV ketamine in both psychiatric and medical contexts
• Placing IVs and monitoring vital signs with precision
• Caring for patients with acute mental health struggles, including suicidal ideation and severe depression
• Collaborating with healthcare specialists in a range of disciplines, including psychiatrists, social workers, and therapists

This expertise ensures that if something rare and unusual happens during an infusion, our team can keep patients safe and supported. Emergency medicine physicians are also uniquely positioned to help individuals navigating psychological distress, and engage in collaborative care.

Deep familiarity with safe ketamine administration

Emergency medicine physicians are highly familiar with administering intravenous ketamine, as it has long been a standard tool for conscious sedation and anesthesia in emergency departments. Ketamine is widely valued for its rapid onset, reliable safety profile, and ability to preserve breathing and cardiovascular stability, making it especially useful for procedures such as fracture reductions, laceration repairs, and abscess drainages. In fact, studies suggest ketamine is one of the most frequently used agents for procedural sedation in both adults and children, and emergency physicians across the country are routinely trained in its use as part of standard emergency medicine practice. This extensive clinical experience with ketamine provides a strong foundation for understanding its safe administration in other therapeutic contexts.

At Ember Health, our doctors are additionally trained experts in IV ketamine administration for the treatment of depression. This additional ketamine administration expertise includes:

• An understanding of how different dosage windows of IV ketamine address depression
• An understanding of the biological, psychological and neuroplastic impacts of ketamine on a brain experiencing depression, based on the physiological response of the brain to exposure of IV ketamine
• The safety and side-effect profile of IV ketamine for depression

Extensive experience administering IVs and monitoring vitals

Ketamine when administered intravenously (IV) is the gold standard of ketamine care for depression. The efficacy of IV ketamine for depression is 75%, whereas other routes of administration for ketamine including oral, intranasal, and intramuscular are only 20-50% effective in treating depression. This means that IV administration is a critical component of delivering the best outcomes for patients with depression.

Most mental health professionals – psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists – are not proficient in administering IVs and intervening when there are medical complications, and are therefore not able to safely administer IV ketamine. Emergency medicine physicians are deeply experienced in intravenous (IV) administration and the careful monitoring of patients under sedation. In the emergency department, IV access and medication delivery are routine, often performed in urgent or complex situations. These physicians are also trained to closely monitor patients’ vital signs, breathing, and cardiovascular status throughout sedation, ensuring interventions can be made immediately if needed. Their expertise combines technical proficiency in administering IV medications with the vigilance required to manage sedated patients safely, making them uniquely qualified to provide both effective and secure care in high-stakes settings.

Professionals with these credentials are therefore a unique fit for the safe, effective administration of IV ketamine for depression.

The first line for patients in acute mental distress

Emergency medicine physicians are often the first line of defense for individuals arriving at the hospital in acute mental distress. In these urgent moments, they must not only act quickly to ensure the patient’s immediate safety, but also establish a foundation of trust and rapport that allows for meaningful assessment and care. Patients in crisis are often frightened, disoriented, or mistrustful, and an emergency physician’s ability to approach them with calm, empathy, and clear communication can make a critical difference. By combining medical expertise with compassionate connection, emergency physicians help stabilize both the physical and emotional aspects of a crisis, creating a pathway for effective collaboration with mental health specialists and ongoing care.

Our Clinical Directors’ emergency medicine training is an excellent match for administering IV ketamine treatment. Their dispositions and emotional intelligence are also often praised by patients; it takes an empathetic, welcoming, and mentally strong clinician to survive the intensity of an ER. Our Clinical Directors do a fantastic job of making patients feel both held and heard. By combining emergency medicine expertise with compassionate, patient-centered care, Ember Health clinicians ensures that:

• Patients with depression, bipolar disorder, OCD, PTSD, anxiety, and suicidal ideation are treated with the highest safety standards
• The proper safety standards are upheld to ensure patients in mental distress are given the compassionate, high quality care they deserve
• Trust and security remain at the center of the healing process

A collaborative approach to mental health care

Emergency medicine physicians in hospital settings play a vital role in the first response to patients experiencing acute mental health crises. Within the hospital system, they work in close partnership with psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health specialists to ensure patients receive timely and appropriate care. In the emergency department, physicians rapidly assess safety, stabilize immediate medical needs, and initiate psychiatric evaluations, often collaborating directly with on-call psychiatric teams. This partnership is essential for developing safe care plans, determining the need for hospitalization, and connecting patients with ongoing mental health support. Together, emergency and mental health professionals provide an integrated approach that prioritizes both immediate stabilization and longer-term wellbeing.

While our Clinical Directors and team of nurses are skilled in therapeutic communication and holding space for patients, Ember does not provide psychotherapy directly. Instead, we work closely with partner psychiatrists, therapists, and other mental health professionals—over 5,000 of them across the city. This team-based approach enables us to provide the best care in ketamine infusions, and trust our patients’ mental health clinicians to provide the best care in their own domains.

Our role is to focus on the medical aspects of IV ketamine treatment, from dosing to monitoring to safety planning. Therapists and psychiatrists can then concentrate fully on the psychological and emotional dimensions of healing. Ember also therefore takes on the medical risk of ensuring safety, which we take very seriously and have built established expertise around since our founding.  Our team’s readiness to manage complex medical scenarios complements our partnership with therapists and psychiatrists, making ketamine safe and effective. Together, our collaboration and care coordination ensure that patients receive the best, most cohesive holistic care across their treatment journey.

Ember’s Commitment to Safe, Transformative Care

Ultimately, our decision to staff emergency medicine doctors as Clinical Directors reflects Ember Health’s commitment to safety, comfort, and patient-centeredness. It’s also a model we’ve proven works over seven years. We believe transformative care begins with a foundation of:

• Trust that the unlikely emergencies or difficulties will be managed safely
• Trust that your psychiatrist or therapist remains an integral part of your care team
• Trust that you remain at the center of every decision

We’re proud to provide safe, effective IV ketamine treatment for patients living with depression, bipolar disorder, SUD, and concurrent OCD, PTSD, eating disorders, suicidal ideation, and anxiety. Our Clinical Directors bring unparalleled training, readiness, and compassion, helping our patients feel ready to focus on healing.