News from
Family & Preventive Medicine

July 2021

Just 55 Words: 

Wellness Corner

Check out the
Mindful Healthcare Collective

The Mindful Healthcare Collective was developed BY and FOR healthcare professionals in response to the pandemic. The Mindful Healthcare Collective offers

(1)   Online mindfulness-based sessions that are tailored to the needs of healthcare workers on topics from basic breath awareness meditations, to anti-racism work, to mindful eating.

(2)   Online community membership

(3)   The Mindful Healers Podcast

(4)   The Mindful Healers Program: “fully integrate mindfulness into your life and work in medicine while earning CME in this small-group program”

Transformative Research

Research News

Recent Awards

Dr. Jennifer Mascaro and her team received a Justice, Compassion, Perseverance (JCP) Initiative Award for their proposal entitled: Comprehensive Compassion Curriculum: a curriculum to train sustainable, systems-level, and engaged compassion among student learners.

The Mascaro team was also one of 11 inaugural awardees in the Templeton World Charity Grand Challenges for Human Flourishing: https://www.templetonworldcharity.org/rfi/ideas

Welcome Dr. Sarah Cross! 

Sarah Cross, PhD is joining us as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Division of Palliative Medicine. Dr. Cross recently received her PhD in Public Policy from Duke, and her dissertation examined how the Medicare Hospice Benefit contributes to end-of-life inequities. Her future work will focus on social determinants of health and their impact on end-of-life care, namely poverty. She is also an alumni of RSPH. Her position is funded through the Fraser Parker Foundation gift that Palliative Medicine received back in Nov 2020. Welcome back to Emory, Dr. Cross! 

Featured Researcher

What is your professional background?

I did my residency in Internal medicine and pediatrics and a combined fellowship for internal medicine and pediatrics in hospice and palliative medicine.  I work primarily at Emory Midtown on the adult palliative consult service and hospice unit, but have been working towards bringing perinatal palliative care to the antenatal setting in Maternal-Fetal-Medicine clinic and the Neonatal ICU.

In what division do you work and who is your mentor?

I work in the Division of  Palliative Medicine.  With my current research, my mentors are Tammie Quest, MD, Jane Lowers, Ph.D., and Dio Kavalieratos, Ph.D.

Briefly describe your research. Why is it important?

Given the specialty nature of palliative care in the pediatric population, most neonatal palliative programs are at large academic institutions, for which it is hypothesized that there is a large population of neonates who would benefit from palliative services, but don’t have access.  In light of Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship, including training across the age spectrum, my hope is to assess the unmet need for palliative in large NICU’s without academic affiliation and improve access by bridging existing adult palliative care teams to this vulnerable population.  My hope is to improve comprehensive support of the family unit in the setting of life-limiting or significantly life-altering illnesses in the fetal and neonatal population.

What do you like most about Emory?

I love the collegial atmosphere and community roots despite it being such a vast and resource-rich place.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Anything outdoors---hiking, camping, tennis, yoga, or just long walks around the neighborhood listening to audiobooks or podcasts.

What is a fun fact about you?

I have a cadre of rescue animals including a dog and four cats….would love to get a pair of goats someday!

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Highlighted Opportunities

Family Medicine Residency
Health Services Research Track

OVERVIEW: The Health Services Research Track is a residency track within the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine that aims to support Family Medicine residents who have an interest in scholarly research.
The program offers a structured approach to facilitate skills development through practical application

BENEFITS

• 12 weeks of protected time to engage in research activities during PGY2 and PGY3 under the guidance of a faculty mentor and other research advisors.
• Networking opportunities: monthly research meetings with fellow physician-researchers, and career development activities.
• Financial support to present at a national conference.

ELIGIBILITY
Applications are open to residents at the PGY1 level who will be PGY2 level by the program track start date. Candidates must be in good standing with the Family Medicine Residency Program in terms of clinical and academic progress.

This track is not formally limited to candidates with formal research training (e.g., MPH, MS, MSc), however, priority is generally given to those who have participated in some research activities prior to residency.
We have one opening available for the 2021 application cycle.

TRACK REQUIREMENTS

• Prepare a manuscript for submission to a peer-reviewed journal by the end of PGY3.
• Attend and present research findings at a national conference which will be selected in agreement with their project mentor.

IMPORTANT DATES
11/01/2021 Application Cycle Opens
12/01/2021 LOI Deadline
01/31/2022 Application Deadline
02/28/2022 Selection Notification
07/01/2022 Program Start Date

Questions? Contact:
José M. Villalón-Gómez, MD, MPH
FM Residency Program Director
jose.villalon-gomez@emory.edu
or
Miranda Moore, PhD
Research Track Coordinator
miranda.moore@emory.edu
 

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Highlighted Research Resources

Starting a Literature Review?

Here are some tools you might find helpful:

Research Rabbit

Open Knowledge Maps

VOSviewer

Inciteful

JSTOR Text Analyzer

Connected Papers

Litmaps

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Spread the Word about Your Research

Emory’s Office of Communications and Public Affairs recently created an intake form for Emory researchers to share new papers or grants. Please use this form so that Emory's research communications team can appropriately publicize your work and fuel Research Roundup, a monthly feature that offers a sample of recent grants and publications for Emory faculty and staff. Questions?

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Recent & Upcoming Presentations

Dr. Paul DeSandre will be presenting on the intersection of Palliative Care and Organ Donation at the Georgia Hospice and Palliative Care Organization conference on August 23 in Savannah, GA.

Dr. Miranda Moore will be presenting Variation in state laws regulating insurance coverage for substance use disorder treatment at a roundtable session at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting & Expo in October.

Dr. Miranda Moore presented Switching between fee-for-service and managed care associated with increased ED and hospital utilization in Texas Medicaid at the 2021 Georgia Clinical & Translational Science Alliance Health Services Research Day in May.

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Recent Publications

Abdominal Aortic Calcification and Cognitive Function among Older Adults: Cross-sectional analysis of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2013-2014. Wei J, Ali MK, Wang T, Xu H. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2021 Jul 5. doi: 10.1002/gps.5599. Online ahead of print. PMID: 34227162

Allocating Scarce Health Care Resources During Pandemics: Making the Case for Patients with Advanced and Metastatic Cancer. Langston AA, Quest TE, Abernethy ER, Campbell GP, Owonikoko TK, Pentz RD. Oncologist. 2020 Oct;25(10):e1586-e1588. doi: 10.1634/theoncologist.2020-0442. Epub 2020 Aug 27. PMID: 32744382 Free PMC article.

Cardiovascular disease risk and pathophysiology in South Asians: can longitudinal multi-omics shed light? Sun YV, Liu C, Staimez L, Ali MK, Chang H, Kondal D, Patel S, Jones D, Mohan V, Tandon N, Prabhakaran D, Quyyumi AA, Narayan KMV, Agrawal A. Wellcome Open Res. 2021 May 20;5:255. doi: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16336.2. eCollection 2020. PMID: 34136649 Free PMC article. Review.

Correction: Disparities in Care Outcomes in Atlanta Between Black and White Men Who Have Sex With Men Living With HIV: Protocol for a Prospective Cohort Study (Engage[men]t). Sullivan PS, Taussig J, Valentine-Graves M, Luisi N, Del Rio C, Guest JL, Jones J, Millett G, Rosenberg ES, Stephenson R, Kelley C. JMIR Res Protoc. 2021 Jun 3;10(6):e30020. doi: 10.2196/30020. PMID: 34081613

Differences in U.S. Rural-Urban Trends in Diabetes ABCS, 1999-2018. Mercado CI, McKeever Bullard K, Gregg EW, Ali MK, Saydah SH, Imperatore G. Diabetes Care. 2021 Jun 14:dc200097. doi: 10.2337/dc20-0097. Online ahead of print. PMID: 34127495

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Effectiveness of a Compassion-Centered Team Intervention to Improve Clinical Research Coordinator Resilience and Well-Being. Mascaro JS, Palmer PK, Ash MJ, Peacock C, Sharma A, Escoffery C, Raison C.   JCO Oncol Pract. 2021 Jun 21:OP2100120. doi: 10.1200/OP.21.00120. Online ahead of print. PMID: 34152835

"I'd Have to Basically Be on My Deathbed": Heart Failure Patients' Perceptions of and Preferences for Palliative Care. Hadler RA, Curtis BR, Ikejiani DZ, Bekelman DB, Harinstein M, Bakitas MA, Hess R, Arnold RM, Kavalieratos D. J Palliat Med. 2020 Jul;23(7):915-921. doi: 10.1089/jpm.2019.0451. Epub 2020 Jan 9. PMID: 31916910 Free PMC article.

Lifestyle Interventions for Diabetes Prevention in South Asians: Current Evidence and Opportunities. Weber MB, Gujral UP, Jagannathan R, Shah M. Curr Diab Rep. 2021 Jun 7;21(8):23. doi: 10.1007/s11892-021-01393-5. PMID: 34097137 Review.

Lung Transplant Pulmonologists' Views of Specialty Palliative Care for Lung Transplant Recipients. Nolley E, Fleck J, Kavalieratos D, Dew MA, Dilling D, Colman R, Crespo MM, Goldberg H, Hays S, Hachem R, Lease E, Lee J, Reynolds J, Morrell M, Schenker Y. J Palliat Med. 2020 May;23(5):619-626. doi: 10.1089/jpm.2019.0222. Epub 2020 Jan 2. PMID: 31895634 Free PMC article.

National Trends in Hospice Facility Deaths in the United States, 2003-2017. Cross SH, Kaufman BG, Quest TE, Warraich HJ. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2021 Feb;61(2):350-357. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2020.08.026. Epub 2020 Aug 25. PMID: 32858165

Overcoming the Digital Divide in the post-COVID "Reset": Enhancing Group Virtual Visits with Community Health Workers. Shah MK, Gibbs AC, Ali MK, Narayan KMV, Islam N.  J Med Internet Res. 2021 Jun 14. doi: 10.2196/27682. Online ahead of print. PMID: 34152995

Palliative Care Needs of Individuals with Cystic Fibrosis: Perspectives of Multiple Stakeholders. Dellon EP, Basile M, Hobler MR, Georgiopoulos AM, Chen E, Goggin J, Goss CH, Hempstead SE, Faro A, Kavalieratos D. J Palliat Med. 2020 Jul;23(7):957-963. doi: 10.1089/jpm.2019.0464. Epub 2020 Feb 5. PMID: 32023421

Palliative Care in Heart Transplantation. Owen MI, Braun LT, Hamilton RJ, Grady KL, Gary RA, Quest TE. Prog Transplant. 2020 Jun;30(2):144-146. doi: 10.1177/1526924820913521. Epub 2020 Apr 2. PMID: 32238046

Patient experiences and perceptions of chronic disease care during the COVID-19 pandemic in India: a qualitative study. Singh K, Kaushik A, Johnson L, Jaganathan S, Jarhyan P, Deepa M, Kong S, Venkateshmurthy NS, Kondal D, Mohan S, Anjana RM, Ali MK, Tandon N, Narayan KMV, Mohan V, Eggleston K, Prabhakaran D.  BMJ Open. 2021 Jun 18;11(6):e048926. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-048926. PMID: 34145019 Free PMC article.

Prevalence and Predictors of Burnout Among Hospice and Palliative Care Clinicians in the U.S. Prevalence and Predictors of Burnout Among Hospice and Palliative Care Clinicians in the U.S. Kamal AH, Bull JH, Wolf SP, Swetz KM, Shanafelt TD, Ast K, Kavalieratos D, Sinclair CT. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2020 May;59(5):e6-e13. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2019.11.017. Epub 2019 Nov 26. PMID: 31778784

The National Postdoctoral Palliative Care Research Training Collaborative: History, Activities, Challenges, and Future Goals. Schenker Y, Ellington L, Bell L, Kross EK, Rosenberg AR, Kutner JS, Bickel KE, Ritchie C, Kavalieratos D, Bekelman DB, Mooney KB, Fischer SM. J Palliat Med. 2021 Apr;24(4):545-553. doi: 10.1089/jpm.2020.0411. Epub 2020 Sep 21. PMID: 32955969

Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Cognitive Impairment and Institutional Care. Schlögl M, Riese F, Little MO, Blum D, Jox RJ, O'Neill L, Pautex S, Piers R, Way D, Jones CA. J Palliat Med. 2020 Nov;23(11):1525-1531. doi: 10.1089/jpm.2020.0552. Epub 2020 Sep 21. PMID: 32955961

Drs. Shah, Ghose, Moore, and Ali's Nurse burnout article continues to attract attention. MedCityNews is the latest to use the article as a basis to discuss solutions. 

Educational Investments for our future

July 1, 2021 - Welcome to our new Family Medicine Residents!
We're so happy you're here!

Family Medicine Residency Awards

The Family Medicine Residency Program celebrated the Class of 2021 and announced its award winners for the 2020-2021 academic year. Congratulations to Dr. José Villalón-Gómez for being recognized for Excellence in Teaching. The full list of award winners appears below.

PGY-1 Resident Award: Jasmine Shackelford, MD

PGY-2 Resident Award: David Neuberger, MD

PGY-3 Resident Award: Sarah Dupont, MD, MPH

LaHouse Scholar: Kimberly Eide, MD

Scholarly Project Award: Zazi Nylander, MD

STFM Resident Teaching Award: Sarah Dupont, MD, MPH

Ruthanne Ramsey Humanitarian Award: Natalia Pineda, MD

Faculty of the Year: José M. Villalón-Gómez, MD, MPH

Rotation Teaching Award: Jenelle Foote, MD

Clinic Staff Award: Pearl Jacob

Nursing Staff Award: Keiko Aziz, RN

Family Medicine Graduates
- What's Next?

Seven out of the ten Class of 2021 graduates will be staying in Georgia as primary care providers and Dr. Sarah Dupont has joined the Preventive Medicine Residency Program. Best wishes and keep in touch!

PMR Alum Valenciano named CEO of
DeKalb Co. Board of Health

 Dr. Valenciano oversees clinical and population-based services for over 750,000 residents where more than 130 languages are spoken. She has oversight of programs such as Community Health & Prevention Services, Emergency Preparedness, and Environmental Health. Under her leadership, DeKalb County Board of Health (DCBOH) is poised to excel by creating innovative ways of caring for our clients using telehealth and mobile medical units. Dr. Valenciano directs 25 million dollars in grant funding to address obesity, diabetes, physical activity, nutrition, asthma, and smoking cessation programs among other health promotion and prevention programs.

Dr. Valenciano has led the way for DeKalb County’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She implemented standard operating procedures to help streamline efficacy and maximize productivity for SPOC (Specimen Point of Collection) testing and vaccine operations. Prior to her time at DCBOH, she served as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and as a Preventive Medicine resident provided clinical care at Emory Healthcare and the Atlanta Veterans Administration, and completed public health work at the Georgia Department of Public Health and CDC. Dr. V., as she is affectionately called, is a Gates Millennium Scholar and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine where she shapes young minds to reach their full potential within the medical and public health field. Dr. Valenciano is a board-certified physician in Internal Medicine and board-eligible in Preventive Medicine. She received a bachelor’s degree in Community Health from Brown University, a master’s degree in Public Health with a focus on Global Maternal and Child Health from Tulane University, and a medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine. She completed her medical training in the Yale Internal Medicine-Primary Care Program and Emory University Preventive Medicine Residency Program. Dr. Valenciano is fluent in Spanish and French and she is proficient in Italian. Dr. V. has been published in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, Clinical Infectious Diseases, and the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Dr. Valenciano is a member of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Preventive Medicine, and the American Public Health Association. Dr. Valenciano is passionate about cultivating the health and wellness of the citizens of DeKalb County and she stands by the motto “To promote, protect and improve the health of those that live, work and play in DeKalb County.”

4th Annual Southeast Review and Update on Medical Care of Older Adults

Friday, August 20, 12:45 - 4:30 pm.

Saturday, August 21, 9 am - 1:30 pm

Keynote Session: "Transformation of Care for Older Adults during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond." Richard Goodman, MD, MPH and Camille Vaughan, MD, MS

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

Credits Offered:
AMA PRA Category 1 Credit - 7.50
Hours of Instruction - 7.50

News from the
Faculty Development
Committee

The Kern Fellowship in Interprofessional Leadership, co-sponsored by the Woodruff Health Educators Academy and the Kern Foundation, is a 9-month program for health sciences educators and practitioners who want to be effective change agents in the post COVID era. The program focuses on developing the high-level professional and relational abilities necessary to create interprofessional leadership and professionalism at the individual and organizational level, along with joyful practice, resilience, team functioning, and collaboration. The program targets high-level professional development in faculty leaders as a vital component of addressing a wide range of challenges including educational and practice reforms related to community norms and standards, interprofessional collaboration, and organizational leadership.

This longitudinal certificate program uses a small group approach for learning in community. The educational method facilitates growth in moral character and identity through guided critical reflection coupled with immersion in challenging scenarios. This pedagogical approach develops and sustains meaningful relationships over time as a model that can be exported to other organizational contexts. Example sessions topics include the following:

• Character formation, professional development, and leadership.
• Achieving a just and humane culture.
• Effectively addressing equity, inclusion, and structural racism in healthcare.
• Addressing burnout and moral injury and achieving joy and balance using peer support.
• Restoring trust with patients, colleagues, and staff.

Eligibility

Participants will be early to mid-career educators from any of the Emory health sciences schools, centers, programs, or practice sites who are dedicated to and passionate about educating students, trainees, faculty, or others, and who would like to enhance their leadership skills. At least two years of educational experience preferred with positional authority to influence instruction, curricular programs, and/or interprofessional collaborative practice; support of administrative unit is required.

Important Dates:

• Click here to listen to a recording of the information session held via Zoom on June 21.
• Applications due July 15th
• Participants notified by July 22nd
• Workshops and sessions: Bi-Weekly Beginning the first week of September through May 22 (at a time and place convenient for the group members)

Requirements:

Fellows are expected to:

• Commit to participate fully in all 18 scheduled group sessions (exception: major scheduling conflict)
• Complete all pre/post program surveys
• Identify tangible strategies for leading change in IPE/IPCP
• Complete 6-month follow-up survey

Cost:

No cost to participate.

Application: 

We will select 10-12 promising interprofessional leaders who commit to attend bi-monthly sessions for 9 months, and who are likely to contribute to the education of students, trainees, and others within their institutions. Complete the application here.

Being of Service

Congratulations to Dr. Kim Curseen, Master Physician!

Congratulations to Dr. Oguchi Nwosu, Distinguished Physician!

Congratulations to Dr. Paul DeSandre!

Congratulations to Dr. Miranda Moore!

Congratulations to the Palliative Outpatient Team!

Shout-out to Sebastian Foster!

Speaking of excellent service, here's just one example of the excellent technical support DFPM receives – in this case, Sebastian Foster traveling to meet an important IT (laptop) need to ensure PM residency program coordinator Mary Davis can continue work supporting residents and the program.

photo credit: Dr. Richard Goodman

News from the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council

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DEI Council Spotlights:

Each month, the FPM DEI Council will spotlight a different staff member of the department.  This month, the council spotlights Mr. Robert Durr.

What do you like about your job?

I enjoy the fact that I can use math and numbers to help make a healthier community. I also really enjoy the individual work I get to do with the people from those communities. It allows me to better understand the obstacles that arise in their lives, and things to consider when directing research.

Did you know this the job you wanted?

At one time I wanted to become a physician. While I was in a graduate school program before applying to medical school, I decided to shift my focus from treating and curing people to preventing them from ending up in the hospital to begin with. Working in public health allows me to do that and so much more. 

What do you want people unfamiliar with the Division of Palliative Care to know?

I want people to know we exist. I want them to know the great work and talented people doing the science, research, interventions, and providing care for patients who have a serious illness. I want people to know that there are people working very hard to find the good in the most difficult of situations.

Favorite food:

Food is food. I like everything…except for avocados. It’s a texture thing. I’m not a fan.

Favorite place:

A little, red brick house in Marietta, GA. It was my grandmother’s house and I loved visiting her there. For the longest time, that was the place I considered home.

Parting thought:

People and raw data are like a box full of puzzle pieces. You arrange and try to assemble the pieces together to create a picture. Sometimes, the picture is clear, and sometimes it’s not, but at the end of the day, the picture comes together.

Don't Miss Opportunities!

Save the Date:
Bettye Rose Connell Memorial Lecture

Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021 6-7:30 pm

VINCENT MOR, Ph.D., is the Florence Pirce Grant Professor of Community Health in the Brown University School of Public Health and a Research Health Scientist in the health services research service at the Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Dr. Mor has been Principal Investigator of over 40 NIH funded grants focusing on the use of health services and the outcomes that frail and chronically ill persons experience. He has evaluated the impact of programs and policies in aging and long-term care including Medicare funding of hospice, changes in Medicare nursing home payment and the introduction of quality measures. He was one of the authors of the Congressionally mandated Minimum Data Set (MDS) for Nursing Home Resident Assessment and the architect of an integrated Medicare claims and clinical assessment data base used for policy analysis, pharmaco-epidemiology and population outcome measurement. Building upon this work, most recently, he and colleagues around the country were awarded a large grant from the National Institute on Aging to solicit, fund and support multi-site pilot non-pharmacologic intervention projects embedded in health care systems designed to improve the lives of persons living with dementia and their caregivers. Dr. Mor has been an active VA HSR&D investigator for the past decade and helped establish the Providence VAMC Center of Innovation (COIN) where he is now directing a number of independent investigator initiated research projects focused on the VA Geriatrics and Extended Care service. 

Save the Date: DOM Research Day 2021

Did you miss an issue?

Links to previous department newsletters can be found on
the department website HERE.

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