news from Emory's Primary Care Consortium
Primary Care Consortium News
Summer 2021
Primary Care Faculty News
Fluker named Primary Care Track Residency Program Director
Shelly-Ann Fluker, MD, FACP has been named program director for the J. Willis Hurst Internal Medicine Residency Program’s primary care track. Fluker is an associate professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine. She has served as the assistant director for the primary care program since 2010. Congratulations, Dr. Fluker!
Rimler named Primary Care Track Residency Assistant Program Director
Eva Rimler, MD, FACP has been named assistant program director for the J. Willis Hurst Internal Medicine Residency Program’s primary care track. Rimler, associate professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine, joined the Emory faculty in 2010 and has served as the director of the Adult Primary Care Clerkship since 2014. Congratulations, Dr. Rimler!
Thank you, Dr. Higgins!
The Primary Care Consortium thanks Stacy Higgins, MD, FACP for her incredible leadership during 15 years in the primary care program director role.
During her tenure, she has helped hundreds of program graduates go on to practice general internal medicine at Emory and across the country.
She secured three Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grants for primary care training and education in support of innovative educational initiatives. Most recently, she successfully ushered the program through its major transition to the X+Y schedule format. Under Higgins’ leadership, the program’s national reputation has grown thanks to its focus on health equity and advocacy, dissemination of scholarly activity, and wellness and resilience.
Masi named DOM Vice Chair of Quality & Clinical Effectiveness
Christoper Masi, MD, PhD, Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Medical Director of Primary Care, has been selected as the new DOM Vice Chair of Quality and Clinical Effectiveness.
Masi will work closely with DOM leadership to organize and support the department’s mission to provide high-quality clinical care and vision and leadership for quality initiatives across the department’s clinical sites. This includes establishing quality strategic goals that align with Emory Healthcare, Grady Health System, and VA priorities and identifying metrics that will evaluate goal achievement. He will lead the DOM Quality Council and ensure that the council’s initiatives/recommendations are prioritized and operationalized, and he will mentor department faculty on quality improvement projects. Congratulations, Dr. Masi!
Proulx completes Woodruff Leadership Academy
Congratulations to Bonnie Proulx, DNP, APRN, PNP-BC, MSN, Director of Advanced Practice Providers, EHC, Adjunct Faculty, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing who has completed her 2020-2021 Woodruff Leadership Academy Fellowship.
The mission of the WLA is to develop tomorrow's leaders so they are prepared to create, articulate, and achieve organizational vision for the benefit of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center.
PCC Steering Committee members Calli Cook, NP, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, Assistant Professor, SON and Emory Brain Health Center; Joel Shu, MD, MBA, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Quality Officer, Emory Healthcare network; and LeShea Turner, Vice President, Primary Care & Emory Specialty Associates, Emory Clinic are WLA Fellows for 2021-2022.
Primary Care Clinical News
Welcome to our New Emory Primary Care Physicians!
News from Emory Healthcare &
Emory Specialty Associates
APPs on the move
Ms. Jodi Roberts, NP moved from Coke and ARC to Belmont.
Ms. Jyothsna Challa, PA-C moved from Tucker Geriatrics to Downtown Decatur.
Ms. Milajurine Lindsay, MPAS, PA-C started at Eagles Landing.
New Behavioral Health Program Launches
Under the direction of Dr. Brandon Kitay, MD, PhD, Director of Behavioral Health Integration for Emory Healthcare, the new Integrative Behavioral Health Program has started at MOT and Emory at Rockbridge.
Primary Care Research
New Study on Nurse Burn Out
by team from RSPH, SOM, and SON
Megha K. Shah, MD, MSc
Nikhila Gandrakota, MBBS, MPH
Jeannie P. Cimiotti, PhD, RN
Neena Ghose, MD, MS
Miranda Moore, PhD
Mohammed K. Ali, MD, MSc, MBA
A new study, “Prevalence and Factors Associated with Nurse Burnout in the United States,” was published in JAMA Network Open. The study’s authorship team includes faculty from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, School of Medicine, and Nell Hodgson School of Nursing. Studies like this underline the importance of the work being done by the Primary Care Consortium's Pipeline Committee.
Upon examining a cross-sectional national survey of registered nurses in 2018, the researchers found that almost 10% of nurses reported leaving their current employment in the past year. Of them, almost a third of nurses reported leaving due to burnout. What’s more, around 15-20% of nurses were considering leaving their current place of employment, and over a third of these nurses ranked burnout as the reason for their discontent.
“Yoga and resiliency programs are not going to cut it. You really have to go to the heart of the issues, which are often system-wide, and focus on aspects like leadership, staffing, how nurses are treated and incentivized in the workplace, and defining their roles and responsibilities." - Mohammed K. Ali, MD, MSc, MBA, associate professor of Global Health, Epidemiology, and Family and Preventive Medicine at Emory University.
Kulshreshtha and team funded for Telehealth Toolkit
Ambar Kulshreshtha, MD, PhD, Asst. Professor of Family Medicine will serve as faculty advisor for a new Emory-Georgia Tech (in partnership with the Georgia Clinical & Translational Science Alliance (Georgia CTSA), and the Emory Synergy Award Program) Healthcare Innovation Progam project seed grant: "Developing a Novel Toolkit (Empower-Connect) to Improve Telemedicine Experience for Patients and Primary Care Providers."
The Student Seed Grant program funds multi-disciplinary teams proposing innovative research and education projects that address issues of healthcare quality, costs, and/or access. The funding priority for this round was to address issues dealing with pandemics.
Primary Care Education
Congratulations to Dr. Phillip Rogers on his retirement!
Phillip Rogers, MD has been precepting for Emory School of Medicine since 1998 and has won multiple teaching awards over the years. Dr. Rogers was loved by his students for his empathetic and effective teaching. He also created a highly effective model of interprofessional education that has benefitted hundreds of learners at Emory. The “Rogers Teaching Model” allowed Dr. Rogers to precept groups of up to 10 students, including PA, medical, nursing, and nurse practitioner students. He will be missed by his colleagues and his students. Enjoy your retirement, Dr. Rogers!
The pandemic precluded us from celebrating Dr. Rogers in person, but he was presented with a book is full of testimonies and memories from students that he’s precepted throughout his career.
Over the years, Dr. Rogers collected many glowing evaluations from his students. Below are just a few of the tributes from former learners, all attesting to the powerful influence of a skilled and compassionate preceptor.
Opportunities for
Teaching and Service
Primary Care Preceptors Needed!
Emory Primary Care is looking for high quality educational experiences for our learners. If you'd like to know more about precepting for Emory, check out the resources below and contact Emily Herndon, MD or Eva Rimler, MD.
Pictured, left: Emory Preceptor Candace White, MD and her learners in clinic
- Guidelines for Faculty Appointments for EHC-employed Allied Health Professionals
- Adjunct Faculty Appointments and Promotions School of Medicine policy can be found on pages 20-21 of the Guidelines for Appointment, Promotion and Tenure.
- Policy on Use of Adjunct Faculty Titles
- Student Programs in Family Medicine has great information on their website, including information about the Georgia Preceptor Tax Incentive Program.
Upcoming Opportunities for
Continuing Education and Research
This course is designed to give medical providers and other members of the multidisciplinary health care team basic and cutting-edge knowledge for optimizing the delivery of services to the expanding older adult population.
The target audience is physicians, including Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Hospital Medicine, and others – as well as for pharmacists, nurses, physician assistants, physical therapists, and other allied healthcare professionals who provide care for older adults.
Registration fee: $45
AMA PRA Category 1 Credit - 7.50
Full program available HERE.
Sponsored by the Emory School of Medicine, Department of Medicine and the Emory Primary Care Consortium
Keep an eye on our website and this newsletter for news and events.
If you have primary care-related news to share, please send it to pc.consortium@emory.edu.
