Look for additional updates on the clinical, education, and research fronts from all of our staff and faculty.  I'm tremendously proud of all that is happening in the Department. 

Wow!  Just wow! 

News from Divisions & Programs

Cheers to 16 Years!  Dr. Michael Huey Retires 

Pictured above: Department Chair Ted Johnson, MD, MPH and Michael Huey, MD

After 16 years of hard work and dedication to the health of Emory students, honorary Emory Eagle Michael Huey MD will rest his wings. He announced his retirement as Assistant Vice President and Executive Director of Emory University Student Health Services and Head Team Physician and Medical Director of Emory Athletics. On June 20, 2018, we honored Dr. Huey at a retirement celebration held at Woodruff Health Sciences Building. The lobby was filled with faculty, staff, students, and special friends. Speakers included John Dunham, MS, ATC, CES, Head Athletic Trainer; Bill Eley, MD, MPH, Executive Associate Dean for Medical Education and Student Affairs, Graduate Medical Education, and Continuing Medical Education; Bridget Guernsey Riordan, PhD, Assistant Vice President of Campus Life, Alumni Relations, and Parent & Family Programs; and Ted Johnson, MD, MPH, Chair of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine. Everyone in attendance took the opportunity to write Dr. Huey a personal message thanking him for his dedication and support throughout the years. We are extremely grateful for his outstanding leadership. Dr. Huey plans to continue as an Emory team physician for the next several years. 

Pictured above: Sharon Rabinovitz, MD, the new Director of Clinical Services at Student Health Services, and Michael Huey, MD.

Teaching Physician now available

The Department of Family and Preventive Medicine has been selected to pilot a program that offers American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) Performance Improvement Credit (MOC Part IV) for the teaching of medical students, residents, and fellows. The focus of the performance improvement project is on giving feedback to learners. As part of this pilot, we have purchased a subscription for Emory's Primary Care Physicians to an innovative web resource, Teaching Physician (available at TeachingPhysician.org). The site offers videos, audio interviews, tips, answers to frequently asked questions, and links to in-depth information on precepting topics, such as: preparation, residents as teachers, orienting a learner, precepting principles, what to teach, teaching strategies, EHR and health informatics, giving feedback, evaluating learners, learners in difficulty, and after the rotation.

We’ve purchased this subscription to provide you with quick answers to questions that arise during your daily interaction with learners. You can earn up to 40 CME credits by reviewing the information on the site and new content is added on a regular basis. If you have not received an email communication from Porsha Clayton, MSM with the username and password, then please contact her at porsha.clayton@emory.edu.

Family Medicine

Congratulations to Susana Alfonso, MD, MHCM on her promotion to Associate Professor of Medicine!

Family Medicine - Residency Program

Family Medicine Residency Graduation 2018

The Family Medicine Residency program celebrated graduation at The Emory Conference Center Hotel on June 30th at 5:30 pm. Graduates and their families enjoyed dinner, conversation, and an awards ceremony. Afterwards, the graduates headed to Wisteria Lanes for bowling and a final evening of camaraderie. Huge thanks to the Graduation Planning Committee (Pat Woodard, Porsha Clayton, Chariss Smith, Tammi Teeters-McDade, and Yan Zhang) for all the time and thought that went into planning this lovely evening!

Pictured below: Family Medicine Residency graduates and faculty. Left to right, front row: Drs. Maliha Beg, Daniel Feckoury, Priya Gulati, Torrance Laury, Gayle Wong. Middle row: Drs. Timothy Boone, Michael Ly, Maame Otabil-Nelson, Elena Morgan, Miranda Moore, Hitesh Patel, Tony Bullon. Back row: Drs. Kyle Wilson, Larry Lutz, Ambar Kulshreshtha, José Villalón-Gómez, James Jo, Lianne Beck, Megha Shah, Oguchi Nwosu, Susana Alfonso, Matthew McKenna, Julie Johnson, Ted Johnson

During the Awards Ceremony, the following awards were announced:

• PGY-1 Resident Award – Jeremy Neuman, MD
• PGY-2 Resident Award – Aparna Mark, MD
• PGY-3 Resident Award – Gayle Wong, MD
• Program Staff Award – Tammi Teeters-McDade
• Inpatient Faculty Teaching Award – James Jo, MD
• Outpatient Faculty Teaching Award – James Jo, MD
• Rotation Teaching Award – Lee Kneer, MD
• Didactics Teaching Award – Michael Ly, MD
• Clinical Staff Outstanding Service Award – Ebonee Harris
• Nursing Staff Award for Outstanding Facilitation of Patient Care – Ayres Ford RN
• Community Engagement Faculty Award – Oguchi Nwosu MD
• Community Engagement Resident Award – Daniel Feckoury, MD
• Community Engagement Resident Award – Torrance Laury, MD
• Scholarly Project Award – Maame Efua S. Otabil, MD
• Scholarly Project Award – Gayle Wong, MD

The Family Medicine Residency graduates are pursuing a wide variety of next steps in their careers - testament to the excellent preparation they received at Emory. ​Congratulations to all - and please keep in touch!

• Beg, Maliha; CareNow Urgent Care; Locums Tenens
• Boone, Timothy; University of Maryland; Sport Medicine Fellowship
• Bullon, Tony; University of Tennessee; Emergency Medicine Fellowship
• Feckoury, Daniel; Piedmont Primary Care 
• Gulati, Priya; Eagles Landing Family Practice; Private Practice
• Laury, Torrance; Emory Sports Medicine Fellowship; Private Practice, Urgent care
• Morgan, Elena: Peachtree Immediate Care
• Otabil-Nelson, Maame: uncommitted at this time
• Patel, Hitesh; Kaiser Permanente; Primary Care
• Wong, Gayle; The University of Alabama; Hospital Medicine Fellowship 

PA Program 

Congratulations to the PA Program on the publication of the 2018 issue of Emory Physician Assistant Magazine! You can pick up a copy in any magazine stand in the School of Medicine. Inside, you'll find in-depth articles on the 20th Anniversary of the South Georgia Farmworker Health Project, a celebration of Marquitha Mayfield on the occasion of her retirement, a spotlight on the PA/MPH dual degree, and much more. Contact Jodie Guest, PhD, MPH at jodie.guest@emory.edu if you'd like to be added to the mailing list. 

Jodie Guest, PhD, MPH has been selected to be a site visitor with the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA). in this capacity she will perform site visits of PA programs across the country.

National AAPA Conference News

The Emory PA Program was well represented at the American Academy of Physician Assistants national conference in New Orleans.  The Emory Challenge Bowl team was the only one of the top 5 programs to make it onto the stage and they won their second round, but were overtaken in the third round. The Emory PA Program Alumni reception was also well-attended. But the most exciting news from the conference? A trio of Emory's clinical year students won the inaugural "Yes, I Scan Ultrasound Workshop and Competition!" Under the direction of PA Program Faculty member and Class of 2016 alum, Jeremy Amayo, MMSC, PA-C, Senior PA students Jake Almand, Stephen Benton and Julie Jablonski took home the inaugural title and will now go on to compete in the 6th World Congress Ultrasound in Medical Education Competition which will be held September 13-16th at Wake Forest School of Medicine.  

Below left to right: Patrick Bafuma, PA-C, Chair / Organizer of the AAPA's ultrasound competition with Emory PA Program "Yes, I Scan!" National Champions: PA student Stephen Benton, faculty member Jeremy Amayo, MMSC, PA-C, PA students Julie Jablonski and Jake Almand. 

Summer 2018 South Georgia Farmworker Health Project

The South Georgia Farmworkers Health Project took place June 9th-21st outside of Bainbridge and Valdosta, home to the largest migrant farmworker populations in Georgia. The 100% volunteer faculty includes members of the Physician Assistant Program, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Department of Internal Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine/Toxicology and Rollins School of Public Health. In addition, medical interpreters, a cardiologist, an infectious disease physician, limited dental services, and a basic pharmacy are available. Patient care packages, clothing, and food are provided by faith communities. The team provides daily open-air morning clinics at farms and field-side and evening clinics at farmworker housing camps, at the edge of fields, packing sheds, country stores, places of worship, and local farmworker clinics. A typical day includes a four hour clinic in the morning, a three hour break, dinner provided by a local church and then a seven hour evening clinic going well past midnight. Clinics end when the last patients have been seen. Most conditions seen are related to repetitive and demanding physical labor in a difficult environment. Musculoskeletal, dermatologic, and eye conditions are the most prevalent. This year,  a record 2186 patients were treated!

The SGFHP has brought national recognition to Emory's PA Program. Our matriculating students have indicated that the SGFHP and our community outreach are consistently the strongest influence in their decision to attend the Emory PA Program. For more information, to support the SGFHP, or to volunteer, please contact Erin Lepp PA-C, MMSc at elepp@emory.edu.

Above: Emory PA students and faculty as well as Emory SOM residents, clinicians, and medical interpreters in Bainbridge, GA where they provided free health care for migrant pickers. Below: An evening clinic site outside of Bainbridge, GA,  June 2018.

Certification/Re-certification Board Review Conference for Physician Assistants

The Emory Physician Assistant Program has provided quality board review courses for twenty seven years. Tuition includes: 

• 38 hours of live lectures in stadium seating with ergonomic chairs and power outlets. 38 Cat 1 AAPA CME hours credit, 10 hours pharmacology credit
• The Home study version of the Fall 2017 Board Review conference with MP3 audio files, and speaker video.
• Digital and printed syllabus with notes, slides and study pearls
• Four weeks of  PANCE/PANRE practice tests using Exam Master Online
• Online access to the live speaker videos, power point slides, and PDF handouts

Tuition is $650 prior to 9/1/2018, $675 after 9/1/2018, and $700 on-site (Pre-registration closes on 9/26/18; on-site registration is limited and payment on-site is by cash or certified check only). Emory employees and active military attending the conference will receive a $75 discount. More details, online brochure, and online registration available here. 

Preventive Medicine Residency Program

Graduation

The Preventive Medicine Residency graduation was held on June 29th at Cafe Lily.  After celebrating with friends and family, Graduates Daniel Graciaa, MD, MPH began his Infectious Diseases fellowship at Emory and Elizabeth Rabold, MD, MPH joined CDC as an officer in the Epidemic Intelligence Service.

Pictured below: Graduates Daniel Graciaa, MD, MPH and Elizabeth Rabold, MD, MPH with PM Residency Director Richard Goodman, MD, JD, MPH

Meet the New Preventive Medicine Residents

• Amelia Muñiz-Hernandez, MD – Magna cum laude graduate of Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra in Santiago, Dominican Republic.  Board-certified in Pediatrics, Dr. Muñiz-Hernandez completed a Pediatrics Residency at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (Elmhurst) in 2017 and served as Chief Resident of that program (2017-2018).
• Farah Kudrath, MD, MPH – Graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, the Baylor College of Medicine, and the University of Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health.  Dr. Kudrath just completed a Preliminary Year internship in Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
• Caileigh McKenna, MD – Graduate of the University of Michigan, where she earned the academic honor of high distinction, and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Dr. McKenna has completed an internship in Internal Medicine at the University of Chicago.
•  Major Kimberly McKinney, MD – Graduate of Cornell University and the Uniformed Services University of Health Science.  An active duty officer in the U.S. Air Force and board certified in pediatrics, Dr. McKinney holds the rank of Major and has served as a staff pediatrician since 2011, and recently served as Outpatient Medical Director and Deputy Flight Commander of Travis Pediatric Clinic, Travis AFB, California.

Alumni News

Congratulations to Preventive Medicine Residency recent graduate Daniel Graciaa, MD, MPH on his first-author lead report in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), “Outbreaks Associated with Untreated Recreational Water – United States, 2000-2014."  MMWR is CDC’s and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ premier vehicle for conveying reports on outbreaks and other cutting edge public health issues to a broad spectrum of tens of thousands of persons in medical, public health, and other target audiences worldwide.

 For those who don’t know Dr. Graciaa, he’s the product of other medical training programs at Emory, including the School of Medicine’s MD/MPH Program, where he earned an MPH in the concentration of Epidemiology, and Emory’s Internal Medicine Residency Program. Dr. Graciaa also has a recent publication in Annals of Internal Medicine, "Zika in 2018: Advising Travelers Amid Changing Incidence."  Both of these publications are based on work completed while Dr. Graciaa was a resident in the Emory Preventive Medicine Residency Program and both list Dr. Graciaa as first author and Emory Department of Family and Preventive Medicine as his affiliation.

2017 Preventive Medicine Residency graduate Javier Valle MD, MPH is lead author on a manuscript recently accepted for Ppblication by Southern Medical Journal. The paper, titled  "Evaluation of Patients for Zika Virus Infection in a Travel Clinic in the Southeast United States, 2016" was based largely on work Dr. Valle completed in the clinic of Henry Wu, MD, DTM&H (Infectious Diseases). 

Student Programs

Primary Care Progress

The Emory Primary Care Progress Team is happy to welcome Elizabeth Holve (BSN+MSN student), Emma Neish (M2), Christopher Arthur (M2), Vilija Bishop (PA-S), and Christina Durcan (PA-S) as student leaders for the upcoming school year.  With student leads spanning three programs, Emory’s PCP Team is eager to continue bringing a wide array of students together to learn about emerging trends in primary care from interdisciplinary faculty and one another.  The students will begin the academic year by attending the National Primary Care Progress' Annual Gregg Stracks Leadership Summit, where they will have the chance to brainstorm with interprofessional students from PCP teams at universities throughout the United States.  This coming year, the Emory PCP Team will organize events for National Primary Care Week October 1-7, and is excited to plan a number of speaker sessions, social gatherings, and trainings for students of varied backgrounds interested in primary care.  If you would like to contact the Emory Primary Care Progress Team, please email emory.primarycareprogress@gmail.com.  

Research

The Department Research Core Committee is creating a calendar of conferences and their abstract deadlines as well as a catalog detailing the research of our faculty and current research projects that are looking for collaborators. These documents and several “How to” guides are available in the “Research” Box folder maintained by Miranda Moore, PhD (please send requests for access to the folder to miranda.moore@emory.edu). The members of the Research Core Committee are Susana Alfonso, MD, MHCM; Richard Goodman, MD, JD, MPH; Maha Lund, DHSC, PA-C;  Jennifer Mascaro, PhD; Matthew McKenna MD, MPH; Miranda Moore PhD; Megha Shah, MD, MSc;  José Villalón-Gómez, MD, MPH; and Kyle Wilson, MD, MPH.

Recent Publications

Congratulations to Richard A. Goodman, MD, JD, MPH and his co-author Sonja A. Rasmussen MD, MS on the pending publication of The CDC Field Epidemiology Manual - a definitive guide to investigating acute public health events on the ground and in real time. Assembled and written by experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as other leading public health agencies, it offers current and field-tested guidance for every stage of an outbreak investigation -- from identification to intervention and other core considerations along the way. Available in December from Amazon, Oxford University Press, and Barnes & Noble.

Mascaro, JS, Rentscher KE, Hackett PD, Lori A, Darcher A, Rilling JK, Mehl MR. Preliminary evidence that androgen signaling is correlated with men's everyday language. American Journal of Human Biology.

Grants 

The Primary Care Consortium awarded the following grants during the 2018 Quarter 1 Call for Proposals:        Ebonee Harris and Miranda Moore PhD, An Evaluation of Patient Communication Content and Format, $1,245

Conferences and Presentations

The Division of Hospital Medicine would like to share information about the 2018 Southern Hospital Medicine Conference (October 3-5 in Atlanta) as well as a deep discount on registration with faculty and clinical staff in Family and Preventive Medicine. The conference brochure is available here and the Discount Registration form is available here.

Georgia CTSA and Emory’s 5th Annual Health Services Research Day

The Department of Family and Preventive Medicine was well represented at the Georgia CTSA and Emory’s 5th Annual Health Services Research Day  in May. The following were presented.

·       Shah M, Moore M, Ali M: “Trends in diet and physical activity counseling for patients with diabetes during ambulatory care visits in the United States” (oral presentation)

·       Gaglioti A, Li C, Moore M, She Z, Baltrus P, Immergluck L, Ayer T: “Interpersonal primary care continuity among Medicaid enrollees with ambulatory care sensitive conditions varies among racial subgroups and by place and is associated with lower health care costs”

Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Annual Spring Conference

The Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Annual Spring Conference occurred this year in Washington DC in May and Department faculty presented:

·       Miranda Moore, PhD, and Theodore Johnson, MD, MPH: “Opportunities for systematic cognitive screening limited by wide variations in penetration of Medicare-funded preventive visits”

·       Miranda Moore, PhD: “Almost half of family medicine residency program directors report use of telehealth services”

Family Medicine Residency Research Symposium, May 17, 2018

The graduating Family Medicine Residents presented on their scholarly projects to the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine and invited guests. Gayle Wong, MD won the award for Research Project Reflecting the Highest Academic Rigor and Sompa Otabil, MD won the award for Research Project Most Contributory to the Field of Family Medicine.

35th AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting

Miranda Moore, PhD represented the Department at the 35th AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting in Seattle in June. She presented three posters titled "Opportunities for systematic cognitive screening limited by wide variations in penetration of Medicare-funded preventive visits;" "Discussing out-of-pocket costs with patients: Shared decision-making for Sacubitril-Valsartan in congestive heart failure;" and "Live video visit attitudes and integration with primary care: A survey of users and non-users."

Clinical News

Congratulations to Ebonee Harris on her acceptance into the Rollins School of Public Health MPH Program!

Currently enrolling! The Interventional Cardiology Research team at Emory Midtown is currently enrolling hypertensive patients in clinical trials of novel device therapies to possibly lower blood pressure independent of medications. The following patients may be eligible:

1) Resistant hypertensives on ≥ 3 medications

2) Patients newly diagnosed or on ≤2 medications

Interested participants or referring providers may contact the Interventional Cardiology Research Department, (404) 686-7468.   

Administrative Staff News

Pat Woodard, MBA, MS, Business Manager for Programs, was featured in a recent Emory News article about smoking cessation. In addition to Emory's tobacco-free environment, Emory offers resources for employees who want help quitting. Read about Ms. Pat's triumph over tobacco here.

Upcoming Conferences, Meetings, and Events

The 2018 American Academy of Family Physicians FMX (Family Medicine Experience) will be held in New Orleans October 9-13, 2018.

The 2018 Physician Assistant Education Association Education Forum & Fall Workshops will be held in Anaheim CA October 22-24, 2018.

The North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG) 46th Annual Meeting at the Chicago Hilton will be held Friday, November 9–Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Save the date - the next Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Conference will be held February 28 - March 1, 2019 at Callaway Resort and Gardens. Researchers from across the state will come together to present the best new clinical and translational research and build collaborative partnerships. Additional information, registration, and call for abstracts will be announced in the coming months.

Emory Medical Education Day 2019 will be held on March 25th at the School of Medicine from 12 - 5 pm.