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55 Words from the Chair
February may be the shortest month, but it’s full of opportunities for our faculty, staff, and learners including lectures, CME, and our department book club! Read on for the latest news about our research, education, and service achievements and don’t forget to nominate yourself or your primary care hero for a Primary Care Consortium Award!
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Welcome to the DFPM!
Please welcome Dr. Young-Rock Hong, Assistant Professor in the Division of Family Medicine. Dr. Hong is a health services researcher and population health scientist and his research focuses on evaluating health services effectiveness and outcomes, with an emphasis on how social determinants of health influence obesity-related chronic conditions, digestive diseases, and cancer risk.
Dr. Hong has an impressive scholarly record with over 135 peer-reviewed publications in prestigious journals such as Diabetes Care, Annals of Family Medicine, Medical Care, JAMA Network Open, and JCO Oncology Practice. His research has advanced understanding of healthcare delivery models and their impact on population health outcomes. He leverages advanced analytics including structural equation modeling, hierarchical modeling, and machine learning to optimize treatment strategies and improve clinical decision-making. His current research focuses on the intersection between metabolic diseases and gastrointestinal cancer burden, with a particular interest in early-onset colorectal cancer.
Through interdisciplinary collaborations, Dr. Hong is committed to translating research findings into actionable strategies that promote health equity and improve population health outcomes. In his free time, Dr. Hong enjoys hiking, playing video games, and watching sports. He is an avid fan of Liverpool in the English Premier League.
Opportunities and Events
21st Annual Hamilton E. Holmes Memorial Lecture: AI for Equity
Feb. 19 | 5-6:30 pm | Zoom
Register.
This year’s program will focus on the opportunities and obstacles in utilizing artificial intelligence to foster equitable health outcomes.
DFPM Book Club
Feb. 23 |4 pm | Dr. Tina-Ann Thompson's home
Book Club RSVP.
How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith. Check out a copy from the lending library at Emory Family Medicine at Dunwoody. Also available at your local independent bookstore or library!
The Only Doctor Screening and Discussion
Feb. 28 | 5:00 pm | Emory Center for Ethics
Registration required.
The Only Doctor examines the troubling health equity issues faced by rural communities by following Dr. Karen Kinsell’s practice in Clay County, Georgia.
The panel following the screening will explore broader questions of health access and invite further reflections by Dr. Kinsell and the filmmaker Matthew Hashiguchi, MFA on healthcare availability in rural areas.
Doors will open at 5:00 pm for a brief reception including non-alcoholic beverages and heavy hors d'oeuvres. The program will begin at 5:30 pm.
Nominations for the Primary Care Consortium Awards are now open! Nominate yourself or your Emory Primary Care hero.
Deadline for submissions: March 7, 2025 at 11:59 pm.
Faculty Education, Enrichment, and Development (FEED) Conference
March 28 | 8 a.m.–noon | Zoom
Register today
Open to all DFPM faculty. This year's theme will again focus on the exciting topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Save the Date!
Health Equity Day
May 20 | 9 am – 2 pm, | Hybrid (Zoom and Grady)
Dr. Jada Bussey-Jones will be the keynote speaker.
Abstract deadline: March 14 at 11:59 pm
Celebrating our Successes
Emory Student Health Clinic celebrated Wear Red Day on Feb 7, 2025 to help raise awareness of women’s heart health in the US.
Dr. Puneet Chehal was accepted into the Portal x Emory Innovation Certificate Program. This program is designed for clinicians to develop and enrich entrepreneurial skills and business knowledge for those interested in learning how to bring technologies to market. Successful applicants must stand out among a competitive pool of applicants from across Emory School of Medicine. The program is 8-sessions and will last through November.
Dr. Leslie Johnson will deliver the keynote lecture at the upcoming Consortium for Universities for Global Health (CUGH 2025) that will be hosted in Atlanta later this month. should anyone be attending and interested. Dr. Johnson's talk is titled "Navigating a Career in Global Mental Health: Pathways to Impact."
Dr. Ted Johnson (pictured above, front left) was awarded the prestigious 2025 Trailblazer Award by the Atlanta Medical Association, one of the organization’s highest honors. This award recognizes individuals who have introduced innovative changes that elevate their practice and benefit their community, while demonstrating exceptional leadership in medicine. Johnson was specifically honored for his longstanding collaboration with the Atlanta Medical Association, working to improve senior care in the community through Health Services Research Support.
Dr. Deanna Kaplan has recently agreed to join the Emory CIDMATH team as a consultant. This CDC-funded project will use Dr. Kaplan’s Fabla app to test a novel approach to social contact tracing using ecological momentary assessment methodology.
Dr. Susana Alfonso (pictured above left) shared a picture of herself and Naina Murthy who is an M1 and daughter of DFPM colleague Dr. Anu Murthy in Student Health. Naina was one of the M1 volunteers at Jornada de Salud, an interprofessional community outreach done by Med and PA students at Mision de las Americas.
- Jornada de Salud was founded in founded in 2013 and developed a weekly Wellness/Prevention program based on academic-community partnerships that taught future providers about health disparities through service learning.
- Misíon de las Americas draws 10,000 visitors every weekend, most of whom are working class Latino immigrants with limited-to-zero health insurance and access to care.
Research News
Dr. Leslie Johnson gave a talk featuring examples from her on-going portfolio of implementation research in Africa for a seminar hosted by the Government of Mexico (IMSS) entitled, "An introduction to implementation science and its importance." The online event held January 29th was attended by 500+ primary care clinicians across Mexico who are interested in integrating implementation science into their clinical practice.
Collaborative Publications
Dr. Deanna Kaplan
Dr. Jennifer Mascaro
Dr. Ashima Lal
Dr. Emily Pinto Taylor
Dr. Tammie Quest
"Psilocybin for Depression and Anxiety in Cancer Patients," in 50 Pharmacotherapy Studies Every Palliative Practitioner Should Know
Dr. Ali John Zarrabi
Individual Faculty, Staff, and Learner Publications
Dr. Ali John Zarrabi
Media and Public Appearances
CBS News 📺 | As bird flu ravages poultry industry, the damage spreads (Dr. Jodie Guest interviewed)
WABE-FM | Improv artists, health experts team up to help caregivers assisting people with memory loss (Dr. Ted Johnson interviewed)
Get Your Research in the Headlines
Emory’s Media Relations team can help amplify your research and innovation in the news.
FPM Emory media contact:
Jacob Gnieski
Associate Director, Media Relations and Health Sciences Communications
jacob.gnieski@emory.edu
Education and Service Updates
Family Medicine Residency residents and staff (pictured above) started the new year with community engagement at Dunwoody HS where they provided local students with over 70 athletic screenings to help promote physical activity and wellness.
Dr. Susana Alfonso and the Family Medicine residents (pictured above) participated in Advocacy Day at the Capitol on February 13.
Dr. Neena Ghose, Dr. Allison Choi, and Dr. Ryan Smith (pictured top left) attended the STFM (Society of Teachers of Family Medicine) conference in San Antonio. They were joined by Ms. Pat Woodard and Ms. Porsha Clayton. The whole group (pictured bottom) enjoyed some Texas BBQ!
Congratulations to the new Family Medicine Chief Residents for 2025-2026!
Dr. Mira Itani
Dr. Shelby Rozanski
Family Medicine resident Dr. Alanna Meadows spent a month in Ethiopia for the Global Health Residency Scholars Program (GHRSP). Dr. Oguchi Nwosu also joined her for the first week. They spent time learning about the Ethiopian health system and working with the family medicine residency. They also hosted a women's health workshop where they taught IUDs, nexplanons, endometrial biopsies, and Pap smears. (Dr. Meadows and Dr. Nwosu are pictured above.)
Congratulations to Dr. Jodie Guest and her IPE-ACTS Health Challenge winning team! (pictured above).
IPE-ACTS (Interprofessional Education-Achieving Collaborative Team Solutions) Day was 1/31/25. This program was created by Dr. Guest and the Office of Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice to meet the accreditation requirements for all three WHSC schools. This was the second year of this program. This year, 1300 first-year students (MPH, MD, PA, DPT, AA, GC, and nursing) came together for a full-day hackathon to work in interprofessional teams to create interventions, community projects, or other concepts to improve the health of our communities based on 10 Health Challenges led by Faculty Champions from across Emory. Each Faculty Champion led Health Challenges with 12 teams competing for the best concept. The WHSC Office of Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice is hugely grateful for the more than 70 volunteers who helped the day run seamlessly.
