News from
Family & Preventive Medicine

May 2020

Just 55 Words: 

COVID-19 Information Sources

Free and Helpful Wellness Resources 

Emory's summer nutrition challenge, Operation: Eat Right, starts June 1. Participation is through Healthy Emory Connect, Emory's health and wellness platform and mobile app. Throughout the challenge period (June 1-July 12, 2020), you can earn extra points on the platform by completing multiple Eating Healthy Journeys, such as:

• More Veggies in No Time
• Smart Portions
• Eat Like a Mediterranean
• Go Mediterranean
• Fit in More Fruit

The video below shows you how to start your Eating Healthy Journey.

COVID-19 Updates for Emory University Employees

Emory University has created a COVID-19 website that includes all FAQs, logistical information, and email communications related to COVID-19. The Emory University Office of Human Resources has developed a website with helpful information for working through COVID-19. The School of Medicine has also created a webpage to house SOM-specific updates and past communications.

Transformative Research

Congratulations on New Funding Awards! 

Dr. Mo Ali was awarded a 3-year CDC grant to support the Natural Experiments for Translation in Diabetes network. 
 

Dr. Ted Johnson and his GA-GWEP (Geriatircs Workforce Enhancement Program) have been awarded $90,000 in FY 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act supplemental funding to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, including through telehealth access and infrastructure. 

Dr. Ashima Lal and team were selected to participate in the NCI-sponsored Interprofessional Education Exchange (iPEX) Project for 2020-2021 with the goal of developing, implementing and evaluating interprofessional education in palliative care at Emory. The team includes: Ashima Lal, MD; Krisha Arvin, MDiv, BCC; Lisa Ko, RN, AGPRN; Rebecca Chester, LCSW; and Shella Chawda, RN, MSN, ANP-BC, ACHPN.

Dr. Megha Shah received a $25,000 Phase 1  Bidirectional Global Health Disparities Research Pilot Grant for her proposal titled The CENSAA Study: a Community Engaged health Needs assessment of South Asians in Atlanta. The selection process was extremely competitive, but the committee felt that Dr. Shah's proposal captured the essence of this pilot opportunity to leverage Emory’s strength in global research and facilitate collaborations among the health sciences and arts, humanities and the professional schools. 

Recent Presentations

Rao BR,* Dickert NW, Morris AA, Speight CD, Smith GH, Shore S, Moore MA. Heart failure and shared decision-making: Patients’ perspectives regarding medication-related cost discussions. 2020 Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions, virtual conference, May 15-16, 2020 (oral presentation)

Recent Publications

Wei J, Galaviz KI, Kowalski AJ, Magee MJ, Haw JS, Narayan KM, Ali, MK. Comparison of Cardiovascular Events Among Users of Different Classes of Antihypertension Medications: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(2):e1921618. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.21618

Guest JL, del Rio C, Sanchez T. The Three Steps Needed to End the COVID-19 Pandemic: Bold Public Health Leadership, Rapid Innovations, and Courageous Political Will. JMIR Public Health and Surveillance. 2020;6(2):e19043. PMID: 32240972, PMCID: PMC7171587, DOI: 10.2196/19043

Sullivan P, Sailey C, Guest JL, Guarner J, Siegler AJ, Valentine-Graves M, Gravens L, del Rio C, Sanchez TH.  Detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA and antibodies in diverse samples: Protocol to validate the sufficiency of provider-observed home-collected blood, saliva and oropharyngeal samples.  JMIR Preprints. 02/04/2020:19054  Available at: JMIR Public Health Surveill 2020;6(2):e19054, DOI: 10.2196/19054, PMID: 32310815, PMCID: 7184968

McKinney KL, Wu HM, Tan KR, Gutman JR. Malaria in the Pregnant Traveler. Journal of Travel Medicine. taaa074, 
https://doi.org/10.1093/jtm/taaa074

Bowman JK, Aaronson EL, Quest TE. A Call to Include Death Disclosure Training Alongside Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Training: After the Code. JAMA Cardiol. Published online May 27, 2020. doi:10.1001/jamacardio.2020.1279

Zarrabi AJ, Frediani JK, Levy JM. The State of Cannabis Research Legislation in 2020. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(20):1876‐1877. doi:10.1056/NEJMp2003095

Please welcome Robert Durr, MPH!

Research Resources

Boilerplate language library

Writing a grant? Emory School of Medicine has a new Boilerplate language library containing descriptions of the schools and centers within Emory. Take a look at https://boilerplate.emory.edu.

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Subscribe to the Department of Medicine's weekly newsletter "What's Up in DOM Research" for the latest on NIH funding opportunities and notices, federal funding opportunities, and more. Email domresearch@emory.edu to subscribe.

Educational Investments for our future

Incoming Preventive Medicine resident Dr. Ronak Ghiya (completing his IM residency at Baylor Scott & White) has been accepted into the second class for the Emory School of Medicine Health Equity, Advocacy, and Policy (HEAP) track! He joins current Preventive Medicine resident Chioma Erondu who was accepted into the inaugural class. The HEAP track is a two-year program supporting residents and fellows as they gain the knowledge, skills, and methods necessary to effectively address the social determinants of health and advocate for health policies that address them systematically to further health equity.

Being of Service

Tackling the Pandemic
in North Georgia 

Epidemiology Professor and Physician Assistant Program Associate DIrector Dr. Jodie Guest (pictured above) and a team of eight students from the Rollins School of Public Health are working in Gainesville, Georgia, to address COVID-19 in a pandemic hotspot. The state Department of Public Health identified a high rate of infection among the workers in North Georgia’s poultry plants, and the Rollins team has been traveling to the Hall County seat for the past couple of weeks, conducting virus tests, distributing masks and demonstrating how and when to wear them, delivering brochures, and talking with families—both in Spanish and English.

The goals are to determine the extent of infection in this high-risk community, gauge awareness of the need to take precautions, and explain to families how they can remain safe and well during the pandemic. The Rollins team has encountered several challenges along the way, all of which are inspiring new solutions that can be rolled out in communities worldwide. Many people have been unaware of the severity of COVID-19, for example, or what steps they should take to avoid infection. The adult literacy rate is low, and children often serve as translators, which makes public health education difficult. And small, single-family homes may house more than a dozen people, making it impossible to isolate a family member who is infected.

To overcome these challenges, Guest and her team are creating brochures that communicate life-saving information with illustrations rather than words, and they will use meal delivery programs run by the county and city public school districts to distribute them. These programs are delivering meals to children while schools are closed to safeguard nutrition; many of the children they serve have parents or other family members who work in the poultry plants.

Guest and her team also are developing an isolation strategy allowing infected members of the community to isolate within their own neighborhoods. This program would use a system of RVs staffed by trained community volunteers and cleaned according to pandemic protocol.

The Rollins outreach and research projects in Hall County are part of two major initiatives. The first, an outbreak response effort in collaboration with local health systems, business owners, school districts, and a local task force, will continue until the pandemic in Hall County is under control. The second, a study known as iCollect, has tested more than 500 people for SARS-CoV-2 so far. Guest and her research team are working to determine whether saliva samples collected at home and mailed to a laboratory will be sufficient for diagnostic and serology tests. They also are gathering data for FDA approval of the use of saliva to test for SARS-Cov-2 and approval of the collection process itself.

Dr. Guest and her team have been featured on NPR both nationally and locally and in a video on Emory Health Science's Twitter page. They were also highlighted on local media and social media for their take on the Blinding Lights Challenge. Dressed in scrubs, facemasks and gloves, they dance along to The Weeknd's hit for their own take on the Tik Tok challenge. See WSB's coverage and the Tik Tok video here.

Shout out to our fantastic
Palliative Care Team at Grady!

Evidence of our Awesomeness!

Congratulations to Preventive Medicine resident Dr. Kimberly McKinney who is now officially a Lieutenant Colonel in the USAF – that promotion coincided with her time here in Atlanta, and she’s just now “pinning on” to that rank!

Kelsey Dudek, palliative medicine social worker at Grady, got a special surprise from local news station 11Alive. Former Georgia placekicker Rodrigo Blankenship joined Kelsey's Zoom interview with an 11Alive reporter to thank Kelsey for her work. 

Allan Platt recently interviewed Charles Bearden, PA, a member of Emory's very first PA class. You can watch the interview here and read his bio. The Physician Assistant History Society also has some great resources on the history of the PA profession on their website.

Congratulations to Dr. Katharine Brock of the Pediatric Advanced Care Team at CHOA who was just announced as one of the winners of this year's Cunniff-Dixon Physician Awards.  These awards, presented by the Hastings Center and honoring physicians who specialize in care of patients near the end of life, recognize contributions in one or more of four areas: medical practice, teaching, research, and community. Dr. Brock is assistant professor of pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, director of the Supportive Care Clinic at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, and an attending physician on the interdisciplinary Pediatric Advanced Care Team, PACT. Dr. Brock has devoted her efforts primarily to pediatric palliative oncology.  A dedicated researcher, teacher, and mentor, she is co-director of the Pediatric Communication Series, using simulation-based training to teach pediatric residents and fellows best-practice communication techniques. Her nominator wrote, “Her ability to bridge the gap between doctor and patient is so fluid that patients and families feel safe and comforted by her.”

Don't miss events and opportunities!

Call for Abstracts -
GA ACP Virtual Conference

The Georgia Chapter ACP is pleased to announce that abstract submissions are now being accepted for the virtual academic competition for the Georgia Chapter ACP Meeting October 23-25, 2020. All members to include Faculty and subspecialty Fellow members are invited to submit an abstract for the competition. If a colleague is not yet an ACP member, please encourage him/ her to join online and then submit their abstract entry for consideration.

The abstract competition is open for 2020 for all Georgia Chapter American College of Physicians members. Abstracts will be accepted into one of four categories: Clinical Vignette, Clinical Research, Basic Research, and Quality Improvement/ Patient Safety, or High Value Cost Conscious Care.

Abstract Submission Guidelines

Georgia Chapter Fellows and Faculty Abstract Form

The abstract submission deadline is September 20, 2020 at midnight. NOTE:This abstract timeline varies from the resident/ student abstract timeline of which that deadline is July 19, 2020.

Zoom Tips Class

Emory’s Organizational Development is offering a FREE 1-hour Zoom Tips class.  If you are interested in learning how to make your Zoom meeting more interactive by utilizing some of the advanced tools that Zoom has to offer, then this class is for you. Participants will learn how to use breakout rooms, annotate, chat, polls and more. The class is open to everyone at Emory University. To register, log into the Emory Learning Management System.  The class is called Zoom Tips. Course # 200829-17029. Date: Thursday, June 4, 2020, 12 p.m.

Got news? Please send your announcements and photos to leigh.partington@emory.edu. The DFPM newsletter is published monthly.