June 2019                                                                                                

Transformative Research

Lifestyle Intervention Guidance for a Healthier Tomorrow (LIGHT)

LIGHT study program health fairs at Dunwoody were very well received and we had a great turnout! The health fairs offered diabetes screening and education. Plans to hold another health fair are in the preliminary planning stage.

Pictured below: LIGHT health fair teams

New ALZ funding for Dr. Kulshreshtha

Ambar Kulshreshtha MD, MPH, PhD recently received a grant from Emory Goizueta Alzheimer's Disease Research Center on " Association of Perceived Stress and Cognition." 

Conference Presentations

Moore M, Spraitzar C, Johnson T. Opportunities for increased specificity in diagnosing dementia: Georgia’s experience with the Medicare fee-for-service population. Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Annual Spring Conference, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, April 26-May 1 2019 (oral presentation, session CRJ1)

Harris E, Funk B, Alfonso SA, Ajirotutu O, Stewart B, Moore M. "An evaluation of diabetic patient preferences for communications, recommendations, and resources at a residency continuity clinic." 2019 Georgia Clinical & Translational Science Alliance Health Services Research Day. Atlanta GA, May 2019 (poster presentation). Pictured below: Ebonee Harris.

Mascaro JS, Palmer PK, Florian M, Ash M, Mahajan M, Wehrmeyer K, Negi LT, Shelton M, Grant G, Raison C. "Development and evaluation of a compassion-informed spiritual consultation to improve hospital inpatient and provider outcomes."  2019 Georgia Clinical & Translational Science Alliance Health Services Research Day. Atlanta GA, May 2019 (poster presentation). Pictured below: Jennifer Mascaro, PhD.

Alexis Halyard, MSIV, Nithin Kurra, Yunbo Xie, Ebonee Harris, Madhuri Prayaga, Sukyi Naing, MPH; Gabi Williams MD, Mohammed K. Ali MD, MBA, MSc, K.M. Venkat Narayan, MD, MBA, MSc. "Developing a culturally-tailored social network-based group visit model for South Asians with Type II diabetes and prediabetes in Atlanta. 2019 Georgia Clinical & Translational Science Alliance Health Services Research Day. Atlanta GA, May 2019 (poster presentation). Pictured below: Megha Shah, PhD.

Publications

 Berg, C. J. & Mascaro, J. (In press). Addressing goal pursuit disruption among adolescent and young adult cancer survivors. Cancer Nursing Practice.

Mascaro, J. S., Waller, A. V; Wright L.; Leonard, T.; Haack, C.; Waller, E. K. Individualized, single-session yoga therapy to reduce physical and emotional symptoms in hospitalized haematological cancer patients. (Accepted: Integrative Cancer Therapies)

Research Resources

Small grants for primary care research

Emory Primary Care Consortium provides grants up to $2,500 to support any project that involves research, quality improvement, advocacy, development of clinical decision support tools, or educational activities in support of advancements in primary care (as it relates to patient safety, innovations in healthcare delivery, addressing disparities in healthcare, etc.). The next deadline for application submission is August 15. Awardees will be announced by September 15. More information available here.

Department of Medicine publishes a weekly newsletter called What's UP in DOM Research. Subscribe HERE.

Educational investments for our future 

Adult Primary Care Clerkship Spring Bash

The Adult Primary Care (APC) Clerkship held their annual Spring Bash at Six Flags Over Georgia on Saturday, May 18th. Spring Bash is held each year as a thank you to all the primary care physicians and clinical staff for their voluntary contributions to medical student education. The Clerkship Directors (Eva Rimler, MD and Emily Herndon, MD) and Clerkship Coordinator (Porsha Clayton) work tirelessly to plan a fun filled family day for all the attendees. This year they hosted over 100 guests in a private pavilion that included a fiesta taco buffet and ice cream dessert. A faculty development session was also give on the topic of “Preceptor Tip Sheet: Providing Formative Feedback to your Student.” Although the day was hot, everyone enjoyed a fun filled day of roller coasters and definitely exceeded their 10k steps per day goal! The APC Clerkship team would like to thank those who attended and hope to see more faces at next year’s event.

Pictured below: (top left) Catherine Christie, MD and Gabriel Onofre, MD. (top right)  Mary Dailey-Smith MD, (bottom) Porsha Clayton and Emily Herndon, MD

Global Health Scholar Akhi-Gbade presentation

Afua Beatrice Akhi-Gbade, MD, the 2018/2019 Emory Global Health Scholars Program award recipient for Family Medicine, presented her work at the Global Health Residency Scholars Program (GHRSP). Dr. Akhi-Gbade is pictured below with Oguchi Nwosu, MD. 

Muñiz-Hernandez presents at Annual Meeting of American College of Preventive Medicine

Amelia Muñiz-Hernandez, MD presented her poster "Addressing Community Health through Measures Targeting Health Risk Factors and Social Determinants: Update and Characterization of the Database of Interventions in the CDC Community Health Improvement Navigator" at the Annual Meeting of the American College of Preventive Medicine in Pittsburgh, May 21-23. Dr. Muñiz-Hernandez is pictured below with Stephanie Zaza, MD, MPH, FACPM,  the President of the American College of Preventive Medicine.  Dr. Zaza previously worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for over 25 years in senior staff and leadership positions. 

News from the Laboratory for Lifestyle Medicine

Jennifer Mascaro, PhD shared that her Rollins School of Public Health graduate student, Marcia Ash, won 1st place for best student poster at the Georgia Public Health meetings. Ms. Ash (pictured below) presented the Laboratory for Lifestyle Medicine's work with compassion-centered spiritual health among Emory chaplain residents.

Being of Service

PM Resident Elected HSO Editor-in-Chief
for 2019-2020

Farah Kudrath MD, MPH, Preventive Medicine Resident, has been elected House Staff Organization Editor-in-Chief for 2019-2020. Dr. Kudrath has an undergraduate degree in Magazine Journalism and she has plans to take HSO communications to the next level: "As Editor-in-Chief for HSO, I'd like to create a newsletter that includes upcoming events at Emory, ongoing wellness resources for residents and fellows, restaurant and movie reviews, and trainee and faculty profiles." Congratulations, Dr. Kudrath!

Evidence of our Awesomeness!

Highlights from the National
LGBTQ Health Conference

Jodie Guest, PhD, MPH was the national chair of LGBTQ Health Conference which she brought to Emory for the first time May 30-June 1, 2019. Dr. Guest was thrilled to welcome Chasten Buttigieg as the Opening Speaker (photo below). Chasten is the husband of presidential nominee Pete Buttigieg. The Atlanta Mayor’s office and Emory’s Provost Dr. McBride helped Dr. Guest welcome the 330 attendees from 44 states and 5 countries.  For more information about the conference and to see highlights, follow Dr. Guest on Twitter at @jlguest. Read the Emory Report article on the conference here.
 

Pictured below: Jonie Fawley MPAS, PA-C gave an excellent presentation about the now defunct gender clinic at Dunwoody Family Medicine. Her presentation was very well received.
 

Pictured below: PA students Heather Perona and Danhill Virgo, pictured with Dr. Guest, volunteer at the National LGBTQ Health Conference.
 

Kulshreshtha honored by
Society of Teachers of Family Medicine

Congratulations to Ambar Kulshreshtha, MD, MPH, PhD for being honored with the New Faculty Scholar Award at the STFM (Society of Teacher's of Family Medicine) annual conference in Toronto. This award recognizes junior faculty who exhibit outstanding leadership potential.

Herndon honored on School of Medicine
Educator Appreciation Day

Congratulations to Emily Herndon, MD for being recognized by the School of Medicine as an outstanding faculty educators. Dr. Herndon was nominated by Sharon Rabinovitz, MD, Director of Emory's Student Health Services, who said "Dr. Herndon is a tremendous asset to our office for both our students and for her colleagues. Join me in congratulating her on this well-deserved honor.  We are so fortunate to work with her and are thankful for the positive impact she has at EUSHS!"  The comments below are excerpts from the nominations. 

AAPA Conference in Denver, May 2019 

The Emory Physician Assistant Program was well-represented at the national American Academy of Physician Assistants Conference, held in Denver May 18-20. 28 students and 4 faculty (all pictured below) attended.
 

Below: Here we are cheering on our team at the Student Challenge Bowl.
 

The Emory Alumni event attracted over 60 attendees. Our students loved meeting Charles Bearden, PA-C, Emory class of 1973. He is still practicing as a PA in transplant medicine. Charles was in Denver as the recipient of this year’s Veterans Caucus Civilian Service Award.

Pictured below: Kenneth P. Moritsugu, MD, MPH, FACPM, Acting Surgeon General of the United States in 2002 and from 2006 until his retirement in 2007 and a leader in the PA profession;  Maha Lund DHSC, PA-C, Emory PA Program Director; Charles Bearden, PA-C, Emory PA Class of 1973; and Catherine Dragon, MMSc, PA-C, Emory PA program director of clinical education.

Ted Ruback, MS, PA-C, and former Emory Clinical Coordinator and Associate Program Director of the Emory PA program, received the 2019 Eugene A. Stead Lifetime Achievement Award. Read more about Ruback, his career, and the award here. 

Serving up Wellness

Badminton after hours at the Dunwoody Family Medicine Clinic. Pictured below in action: Michael Ly, MD, his wife Audrey Copeland, Carlos Flores, and James Jo, MD.

Don't miss events!

The Department of Family Medicine is proud to present the 3rd Annual Southeast Review and Update on Medical Care of Older Adults

July 12-14, 2019

Callaway Gardens

Early registration discount still available
for PA Board Review

The Emory Physician Assistant Program has provided quality board review courses for twenty eight years. The review is a great refresher course, providing 38 hours of high quality CME. The course will take place on September 17-20, Tuesday through Friday 7:00 am to 6:00 pm. Lunch and snacks are provided. The course is limited to 250 participants.

Location: The Completely Renovated Atlanta Marriott Century Center, near the intersection of I-85 and Clairmont Road - 2000 Century Boulevard NE, Atlanta GA 30345, Phone 404-325-0000. Room rate $119 per night

Tuition is $650 prior to 8/1/2019, $675 after 8/1/2019, and $700 on-site (Pre-registration closes on 9/10/19; 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 for the full conference. Please indicate your status on the registration form.

Tuition includes:

• 38 hours of live lectures with power outlets. 38 Cat 1 AAPA CME hours credit, 10 hours pharmacology credit
• Free Parking
• Continental breakfasts, snacks, and lunches daily
• Free WiFi access in the conference area, online speaker videos, and power point files. You can take e-notes with your laptop or tablet
• The Home study version of the Fall 2018 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 daily speaker videos, power point slides, and PDF handouts

For more details , online brochure and online registration, click here. 

Save the Date - Diabetes Day Symposium

Saturday, September 14 | 8 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Emory University School of Medicine, Room 130

Save the Date - Cardiology in Primary Care 2019

October 17 - 19
Atlanta Marriott Buckhead Hotel and Conference Center

Featured Sessions:
Carotid Artery Disease
Management of Systolic Heart Failure
Aortic Valve Disorders

More information, including registration, here

Save the Date - 12th Annual Department of Medicine Research Day

Friday, November 1 | 7:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Cox Hall Ballroom

Save the Date - Geriatrician Louise Walter, MD, 
2019 Paul W. Seavey Distinguished Lecture 

November 12, 2019, Louise Walter, MD, will deliver the 5th annual Paul W. Seavey Distinguished Lecture during Medicine Grand Rounds at noon in Emory University Hospital. Professor of Medicine at University of California San Francisco and clinician-researcher at the San Francisco VA Medical Center,  Dr. Walter is a national leader in evaluating the real-world risks and benefits of cancer screening in older patients.  She has developed novel methodology demonstrating the fundamental importance of life expectancy rather than age in determining benefits and risks of screening. Virtually every cancer screening guideline cites her research. Further, her studies of older adults in poor health documented the extent to which screening can lead to clinical harm. Her approach also forms the basis for the management of other chronic diseases (e.g., diabetes) in older adults.

In addition, Dr. Walter led a series of seminal studies demonstrating decisions to screen older adults for cancer are often dictated more by age than health such that many patients in poor health continue to undergo screening while many healthy older patients fail to get screened. Also, she discovered that cancer screening frequently leads to significant harms without benefit in patients in poor health and developed a taxonomy and quantification of screening harms. This research changed national VA quality indicators and convinced California state auditors to abandon their mandatory mammography policy for health plans that care for frail elders. 

Staff Recognition

Our staff is fantastic! Give a shout-out to DFPM Emory University or Healthcare staff who have gone above and beyond by clicking below and filling out the form. Kudos will be passed on to the staff member and published in the monthly department newsletter.

Got news? Please send your announcements and photos to leigh.partington@emory.edu. The DFPM newsletter is published on the first Friday of each month.