55 Words from the Chair
Ted Johnson, MD, MPH
As the calendar year draws to a close, the academic year is in full swing. We’re striving for real impact! New opportunities, new initiatives, and new connections are on the horizon. The PA Program is featured in this month’s Emory Medicine magazine. Take a few minutes to read all about it in this FPM newsletter.
FPM DEI Grand Rounds - Mark your Calendars!
Welcome to the Department!
Joanna Boyles joins the palliative research team as manager of research projects. She studied sociology, global health, cultures and society at Emory, then maternal and child health and biostatistics in Boston. She combines her passion for social justice issues with a tenacious commitment to technical process improvement and hopes to help define the growing research team.
She serves on the Emory SOM committee on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. She lives in Decatur with her spunky toddler and chill pittie mix.
Dr. Hillary Fitzgerald (above, left) was born and raised in the Southeast. She majored in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University, later completing medical school at Wake Forest School of Medicine and a family medicine residency at Cone Health in Greensboro, NC. She then worked as a primary care physician in Rochester, MN, for two years and had the opportunity to take care of patients with chronic pain and those living in the nursing home setting. She completed her hospice and palliative medicine fellowship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2022. She is excited to join the inpatient palliative medicine team at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her husband (an interventional gastroenterologist), their son, and their two dogs. Her academic interests include caregiver support, proactive identification of surrogates, and different approaches to code status discussions.
Dr. Emily Pinto Taylor (above, right) grew up in Erie, PA. She lived in Atlanta, Chicago, and New Haven, CT on her journey through college, medical school, and combined internal medicine and pediatrics residency at Yale. Her residency was followed by a year as a chief resident in internal medicine, and a return to Emory for fellowships in geriatrics and palliative care. She will be joining the faculty as an assistant professor in the divisions of general internal medicine and palliative medicine at Emory University SOM and practicing at Grady Memorial Hospital. Her clinical and teaching interests center around communication skill building and debriefing with internal medicine residents, as well as provision of palliative care to limited English proficiency patients. From a research perspective, she has a background in qualitative research and is interested in questions around physician thriving and barriers to advance care planning in underserved populations. Dr. Pinto Taylor lives in Atlanta with her husband and 2 kids and enjoys distance running, bike commuting, and chocolate chip cookies.
Dr. Lauren Sigler (above, left) is a Pennsylvania native who moved around her home state before migrating south. She majored in biology at Bucknell University and then attended Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. She completed her internal medicine residency at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center before moving to Emory for her hospice and palliative medicine fellowship. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, dancing, watching Pittsburgh sports, and exploring Atlanta’s food scene. Dr. Sigler will be practicing inpatient palliative medicine at both the Atlanta VA Medical Center and Emory University Hospital – Midtown.
Dr. Anita Sundaramoorthy (above, right) is an Oklahoma native who majored in Psychology and minored in German at the University of Oklahoma before completing her medical studies at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. She moved to Atlanta for residency in order to complete her internal medicine residency here at Emory followed by a year as a VA Quality Scholar. Dr. Sundaramoorthy was a member of the 2022 Emory Hospice & Palliative Medicine fellowship class and was recruited to remain at Emory where she will be practicing inpatient palliative medicine at Grady Memorial Hospital. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling and exploring Atlanta with her fiancé. Her academic interests are in quality improvement and patient safety as well as palliative care education to all learners.
Correction: Last month's newsletter incorrectly listed Preventive Medicine graduate Kimberly McKinney, MD, MPH's military rank as Major. Dr. McKinney is a Lieutenant Colonel.
Wellness Corner
TM Course Opportunity
Transcendental Meditation (TM) is an effective strategy to engage in self-care/wellness. Emory faculty and staff can attend a TM course that offers CEs to nurses and social workers.
The course will be 4 consecutive days (approximately 75 minutes each day at times that are flexible with your schedule). The first day of the course is in person; however, the remaining three days can be in-person, virtual, or a combination of in-person and virtual. The courses will be offered Thursday, 12/1 through Tuesday 12/6, with virtual courses ending on Friday 12/9/2022.
The Course Fee is on a sliding scale beginning at $480. The payment can be made all at once before you learn or broken down in 4 monthly payments with the 1st payment due before you learn. If you are a nurse or social worker you qualify for 29 CEs (nurses) and 13 CEs for (social workers). Please note, for CEs there is a $100 separate fee.
Please connect with TM Instructor, Meg Shaver to learn more about TM, ask questions, and/or schedule your course. Meg may be reached by mobile phone (412-972-0970) or at mshaver@tm.org.
For more information about TM, please visit: https://www.tm.org/videos/
Transformative Research
New Research Funding
Dr. Leslie Johnson is a scholar in the inaugural NIH Underrepresented Biomedical Research Scholars Program, through which she works on a transdisciplinary group project with other program scholars using the NIH All of Us database. Her scholars' team recently received a Collaboration Sustainability Seed Award for $3000 from the All of Us Evenings with Genetics Research Program to use the Researcher Workbench to identify risk factors for IBD as a part of their identified group project.
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Dr. Deanna Kaplan
Dr. Jennifer Mascaro
Dr. Deanna Kaplan received a Notice of Award from the Georgia CTSA PASC (Long Covid) Pilot Grants Program. Her funded project is entitled “What to wear: Investigating the clinical validity and implementation determinants of consumer health wearables for self-monitoring cardiovascular symptoms of Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC)” and her co-investigators include Drs. Jennifer Mascaro, Rachel Patzer, Wilbur Lam, and Amit Shah.
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Highlighted Resource
Qualtrics is available to current SOM faculty, staff, and students (at no additional cost) to build and distribute online surveys, analyze and report on results, and collaborate with colleagues in real-time, through an easy-to-navigate web-based interface.
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Recent and Upcoming Presentations
Translating Clinical Work into Scholarship
Dr. Rosette Chakkalakal
Dr. Anne Dunlop
Grady Professional & Leadership Development Program presents
"Translating Clinical Work into Scholarship"
Friday, November 18
Noon - 1 via Zoom
Panelists:
Dr. Rosette Chakkalakal (Director, Division of Preventive Medicine and Associate Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine)
Dr. Anne Dunlop (Professor & Director of Clinical Research, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics and Faculty Physician in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine)
Lesley Miller (Medical Director of the Grady Liver Clinic and Professor of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine)
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Using Combined Antigen and RT-PCR tests for COVID-19 Diagnosis
Preventive Medicine Resident Dr. Siri Chirumamilla will present "Experience Using Combined Antigen and RT-PCR tests for COVID-19 Diagnosis at a Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care System During the Omicron surge" at the HRSA Preventive Medicine Annual Stakeholder Meeting on Nov. 16
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The Impact of EMR and Portal Messages
on Physician Burnout
Dr. Miranda Moore (Family Medicine) and FM resident Dr. So Mang Sarah Chang presented a poster on physician burnout at GAFP. They surveyed primary care physicians at Emory and their poster is reproduced below as a png image, so you should be able to zoom in to read the details. You can also find this poster on the Primary Care Consortium website.
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Ted Johnson Featured Speaker
at DOM Research Day
Dr. Ted Johnson presented “Nocturia study participants differ from those with nocturia: Why it matters” at the Department of Medicine's Research Day.
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Research Opportunities
2023-24 President's Humanities Fellows Program Open to School of Medicine Faculty
Deadline: Jan. 19, 2023
Hosted by the Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry (FCHI), the President's Humanities Fellows Program stimulates and supports humanistic research by providing faculty with the necessary time, space, and other resources. FCHI President's Humanities Fellows will be released from their University teaching and service commitments for the academic year.
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Deadline: Wednesday, February 1, 2023 by 5 p.m.
The goal of this program is to support and enhance career development for junior faculty (MD, PhD, MD/PhD, or PharmD) interested in a career that encompasses clinical and translational science (CTS) and clinical and translational research (CTR). This award protects 75% of clinical time and provides additional mentorship, training, and resources for development as a clinician investigator.
A two-part KL2 Application Workshop was held on October 20 and 27th, 2022. These sessions were recorded and are now posted on the Georgia CTSA KL2 website.
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Recent Publications
Collaborative department publications
Palliative medicine faculty Dr. Dio Kavalieratos and Dr. Jane Lowers published Primary palliative care for heart failure provided within ambulatory cardiology: A randomized pilot trial in Heart Lung (2022 Nov-Dec;56:125-132. doi: 10.1016/j.hrtlng.2022.07.002) and Solo but Not Alone: An Examination of Social and Help Networks among Community-Dwelling Older Adults without Close Family in J Appl Gerontol (2022 Oct 31:7334648221135588. doi: 10.1177/07334648221135588).
Family medicine faculty Dr. Leslie Johnson and Dr. Mo Ali Ali published Stakeholder Perspectives regarding the Acceptability and Sustainability of a Multi-component Diabetes Care Strategy in South Asia: a longitudinal qualitative analysis in Global Implementation Research and Applications (Oct. 2022. doi:10.1007/s43477-022-00060-5).
Preventive medicine faculty Dr. Deanna Kaplan and Dr. Jennifer Mascaro published Do worldviews matter for implementation-relevant responses to mindfulness-based interventions? An empirical investigation of existential and religious perspectives in Mindfulness (October 2022. doi: 10.1007/s12671-022-02010-6).
Georgia Academy of Family Physicians is publishing contributions from 2 of our current Preventive Medicine residents, Dr. Radhika Agarwal and Dr. Siri Chirumamilla. Family Medicine faculty and former Preventive Medicine resident Dr. Sarah Dupont had reached out to see if anyone was interested in collaborating on a piece for the GAFP newsletter about social determinants of health as part of an effort from the public health committee to promote awareness among primary care doctors about screening for and addressing social determinants of health. Dr. Agarwal wrote "Education and Health Literacy as Social Determinants of Health" and Dr. Chirumamilla wrote "Food Access in Georgia."
Faculty publications
Dr. Mo Ali:
Economic Evaluation of the $35 Insulin Copay Cap Policy in Medicare and Its Implication for Future Interventions. Diabetes Care. 2022 Nov 1;45(11):e161-e162. doi: 10.2337/dc22-1230.
Dr. Ted Johnson:
Mirabegron and antimuscarinic use in frail overactive bladder patients in the United States Medicare population. Neurourol Urodyn. 2022 Nov;41(8):1872-1889. doi: 10.1002/nau.25040. Epub 2022 Sep 13.
Dr. Deanna Kaplan:
Religious and existential determinants of affective response to a brief mindfulness intervention. Affective Science. (October 2022 doi:10.1007/s42761-022-00139-0).
Dr. Ambar Kulshreshtha:
Wellness in the Time of COVID: A CERA Follow-up Survey of Program Directors. Fam Med. 2022 Oct;54(9):708-712. doi: 10.22454/FamMed.2022.394088.
Differences in diabetes control in telemedicine vs. in-person only visits in ambulatory care setting. Prev Med Rep. 2022 Oct 3;30:102009. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2022.102009. eCollection 2022 Dec.
Associations of Atrial Fibrillation with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia: An Investigation Using SPRINT Research Materials. J Clin Med. 2022 Sep 30;11(19):5800. doi: 10.3390/jcm11195800.
Dr. Miranda Moore
Financial Considerations After a Fully-Virtual Interview Season: A CERA Study of Family Medicine Residency Program Directors
—While family medicine residency program directors who recouped interview expenses during fully-virtual recruiting seasons are more likely to support ongoing, fully-virtual models, financial incentivization did not overall impact support for virtual interviewing among program directors with statistical significance.
Dr. Ali John Zarrabi
Palliative Care Fellowship Training: Are We Training Fellows for Where the Field Is Going? (with Apologies to Wayne Gretzy). J Palliat Med. 2022 Nov;25(11):1619-1621. doi: 10.1089/jpm.2022.0388.
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Being of Service
Smith named 2022 FPM Hidden Gem!
Each year, the department nominates a faculty member who goes above and beyond to be honored as a Hidden Gem during Faculty Recognitions Week. Congratulations to our 2022 Hidden Gem, Ms. Veketa Smith, faculty member in the PA Program! A few sentences from her nomination are included below:
Veketa Smith, MMSc, MPH, PA-C
"She quickly recognizes and understands challenges, creates a vision for change, then leads and partners with her colleagues to implement programs without fanfare. She is an excellent communicator. She cares deeply for students, especially those struggling with academic or personal challenges. Her creative, and proactive leadership style is evidenced in her many accomplishments since joining our program faculty."
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Congratulations to our Department Diamond Providers!
Dr. Kim Curseen
Palliative Medicine
Dr. Jose Villalon-Gomez Family Medicine
Dr. Ali John Zarrabi
Palliative Medicine
Emory Healthcare has recognized the Top 1% FY22. The Patient Experience Team would like to congratulate the following Emory Physician Group Practice Providers for achieving the 99th percentile within their respective specialty, for the survey question “Likelihood of Recommending Care Provider”, in FY22.
Kimberly Curseen, MD
Jose Villalon-Gomez, MD
Ali John Zarrabi, MD
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Congratulations to our Department Platinum Providers and Service Hero!
Dr. James Jo
Family Medicine
Dr. Thien-Kim Le
Family Medicine
Dr. Susan Kunihiro
Palliative Medicine
The Patient Experience Team would like to congratulate the following Emory PGP Providers for achieving the 90th percentile within their respective specialty, for survey question “Likelihood of Recommending Care Provider”, in FY22.
James Jo, MD
Thien-Kim Le, MD
Service Heroes are nominated by their leaders in recognition of their hard work, perseverance, and astounding performance. With this superb recognition, they gain the eligibility to be selected for the Adam Bailey award stipend.
Susan Kunihiro, MD
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Rabinovitz installed as President of GAFP
Sharon R. Rabinovitz, M.D., was installed as the president of the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians (GAFP) during the organization’s annual meeting on November 10-12. Dr. Rabinovitz is pictured above right with former GAFP President Dr. Susana Alfonso (pictured above left) and FPM Chair Dr. Ted Johnson (pictured above center).
“The opportunity to serve my profession and our patients in this capacity is a great honor,” says Dr. Rabinovitz, a board-certified family physician who is the executive director of Emory University Student Health Services and an assistant professor with the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. “I genuinely value and welcome every perspective, so I will make a conscious effort to be accessible and responsive and listen to my fellow GAFP members.”
Dr. Rabinovitz stresses that “I am going to do everything in my power to protect the individual physician’s right to care for their patients as they see fit, to ensure their patients have access to the care they need and deserve, and to ensure that family physicians have a strong and effective voice in the legislative and regulatory arenas.”
During her one-year term as GAFP president, Dr. Rabinovitz will focus on
- Developing and promoting health screening processes that account for social determinants to “identify the state’s most vulnerable patients to ensure they have access to resources that can change the trajectory of their lives.”
- Ensuring that the ‘Mental Health Parity Bill’ (H.B. 1013) that state lawmakers passed in 2022 is implemented in a way that “actually translates into increased support and access for patients who need mental health treatment.”
- Continuing GAFP’s efforts to “forge a path for students from diverse backgrounds, especially those from historically marginalized communities, to get into medical school.”
- Creating a “sustainable foundation of family physicians in the state to serve as preceptors.”
Dr. Rabinovitz adds that “GAFP will also continue to be a leader in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion across the medical profession because it will result in a stronger health care system and better outcomes.”
She also says GAFP will remain at the forefront of efforts to address key issues like physician burnout, expanding Medicaid in Georgia (e.g., reducing the program’s administrative burden and increasing physician payment to cover the cost associated with providing the care), and ensuring patients have access to mental health care, reproductive health resources, and prescription medications at affordable prices.
Dr. Rabinovitz believes, “It is imperative to expand and protect Georgians’ access to contraceptive health care to improve maternal outcomes and decrease mortality.”
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Dr. Thompson presents at
Inaugural Women's Health Symposium
The Inaugural Women’s Health symposium hosted by the members of the Stone Mountain-Lithonia Alumnae Chapter (SM-LAC) of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. was a huge success! Over 225 people registered and had a dynamic turnout. Dr. Tina Ann Thompson, Division Director of Family Medicine (pictured above, third from left), was an active participant. There were also several community organizations and other providers in various specialties in attendance. The day began at 9 am with a brief keynote talk about women’s health which then transitioned into a Town Hall panel. Following the panel discussion, participants had an opportunity to attend two other sessions. Each presenter conducted two one-hour sessions, with a maximum of twenty-five participants each. There were also two mental health breakout sessions.
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Guest Honored with Rollins Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award
The Rollins School of Public Health Alumni Association presents two annual awards to recognize the outstanding contributions they have made in preventing disease, promoting and protecting public health.
The 2021-2022 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award Recipient is Dr. Jodie L. Guest.
You can watch the ceremony here, which includes Dr. Guest's remarks.
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Boyles Chosen for SOM Diversity Week Planning Committee
Joanna Boyles has been selected to serve as a committee member on the SOM's Diversity Week Planning Committee. Diversity Week is scheduled for May 15 - May 19, 2023. Serving on this committee will involve actively participating in the planning and implementation of the Diversity Week theme, calendar of events, identifying speakers, and the format for the week.
Educational Investments for our future
Post-Accreditation Visit Celebration
for PA Program!
The Physician Assistant Program recently celebrated their staff and faculty following a successful ARC-PA accreditation site visit. They joined together during a luncheon with food, fun, and team building activities for all. Below are some highlights from the photo booth!
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Preventive Medicine Resident
Accepted into EIS
Preventive Medicine resident Dr. Alex Molinari has been accepted into the CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service. EIS officers serve on the front lines of public health, protecting Americans and the global community while training under the guidance of seasoned mentors. When disease outbreaks or other public health threats emerge, EIS officers investigate, identify the cause, rapidly implement control measures, and collect evidence to recommend preventive actions.
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Education Transformation Community Council seeks input by Nov. 18,
will share vision on Nov. 29
Since March 2022, we have been on a journey to transform education in the School of Medicine. The goal of this initiative is to redesign the educational experience across all SOM programs (the health professions programs, MD program, and GME) by developing recommendations for proposed mechanisms to support learner experiences and the attainment of learner goals. This transformational process is intended to be highly interdisciplinary and includes a diverse group of stakeholders from across the institution. As such, we welcome all faculty, staff, and students to provide input, ask questions, and offer suggestions.
Please join the Community Council Session on Nov. 29 from 1-2 p.m. In this session, we plan to share the overarching vision of Education Transformation, introduce the working group structure, provide an update on the broad direction of the process, and close with a Q&A session to address any questions or suggestions from the SOM community.
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News from the DEI Council
Community Forum on Engagement, Equity, and Inclusion
Dr. Sherita Hill Golden is the Hugh P. McCormick Family Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism and Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer for Johns Hopkins Medicine. She holds joint appointments in the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology, and Clinical Research, in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and in the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality.
The first FPM DEI Grand Rounds was held on Monday, August 1, at 6 pm. Speaker Ildemaro J. González, MBA presented “Disparities in Patients with Limited English Proficiencies.”
In case you missed it, you can watch the recording here.
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News from the Faculty Development Committee
Navigating SOM Promotions
January 12, 2023, Noon-1pm via Zoom.
Dr. Kathy Griendling explains the process for attaining a promotion at Emory School of Medicine.
Register HERE.
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Required Workplace Violence Training
Emory University is requiring all faculty and staff take a new training course on violence in the workplace. This course will help you better understand the threat of workplace violence in our community, recognize the warning signs, and learn what to do if you find yourself confronting a potentially threatening situation. To access the course, log in to ELMS and look for the course titled Violence in the Workplace for Staff and Faculty. The training lasts approximately 20 minutes and should be completed no later than December 31, 2022.
Got news? Please send your announcements and photos to leigh.partington@emory.edu.
The DFPM newsletter is published monthly.
