I’ll never again accidentally order “Fall is Upon Us”, because Winter is Coming.  Here’s wishing you and yours a rich and enjoyable season.

Education news

The PA Program's South Georgia Farmworker Health Project was featured in a recent Emory News story and highlighted on Emory social media. Read the whole story here.

The Department of Family & Preventive Medicine, in conjunction with Emory Student Health and Campus Life, offered an exciting new interdisciplinary M2 elective this past fall. From Clinic to Kitchen: An Introduction to Culinary Medicine teaches students not only nutrition education and counseling but also gives them skills to purchase, cook and prepare healthy meals. Led by Emily Herndon, MD (Family Medicine), Javier Valle, MD, MPH (Preventive Medicine), Carol Kelly (a nutritionist from Emory Student Health), Dave Furhman (a culinary diplomat from Emory Campus Life) and Jill Welkley (Center for Study of Human Health, Emory College), 10 M2 students met weekly at the Few Hall Teaching Kitchen on Emory’s main campus. 

Each week, the students were given a patient case whose medical conditions could be improved with dietary changes. Over the next week, they researched the appropriate nutritional needs for that patient, based not only on the patient’s disease, but also their eating habits and socioeconomic status. Each student would then propose a healthy meal with specific recipes for that patient as well as a cost breakdown. Recipes were compared/critiqued by the entire group. Afterwards, the nutritionist and culinary expert gave their recommendation for a healthy meal, which the group then prepared together.

So far, the pilot project has had positive reactions from the students who not only feel more comfortable counseling patients about their diet, but are also learning hands-on culinary skills and practicing what they preach by trying healthy new foods. This course is causing a buzz around campus - it's been highlighted in the Daily Pulse, on Emory social media channels, and in the Dean's December newsletter.

Family Medicine Residency

Team Building – n.  The process of cause a group of people to work together effectively as a team, especially by means of activities and events designed to increase motivation and promote cooperation. 

How do you accomplish this task in a single event that would make 30 residents, faculty and staff all work together to accomplish a goal?  You hire a producer, take them to the High Museum of Arts in Midtown and turn them loose!

On October 3, 2018, six teams were tasked to roam the streets of Midtown in 90 degree weather to find the answers to a set of pre-determined clues, i.e., take a picture under a “Peachtree Street sign” and had to work together (yes, work together) to accomplish the goal.  It was a huge success and yes – we all survived!  Can’t wait to see what 2019’s Retreat will look like!

Pictured below: top row, l to r: Green Team, Orange Team, Red Team. Bottom row: l to r: white team, Blue team, and the winners, the Black Team!

Preventive Medicine Residency

This is a busy time of year for the Preventive Medicine residents, but that didn't stop them from snapping a group selfie with Stan Sonu, MD, MPH.  

Pictured below: Caileigh McKenna, MD; Major Kimberly McKinney, MD; Stan Sonu, Farah Kudrath, MD, MPH; Amelia Muñiz Hernandez, MD.

Clinical News

Susana Alfonso, MD, MHCM is featured in a recent WABE series on immigrant doctors helping immigrant patients in Georgia. You can read the entire article here. 

News from Student Health: 

Emory University Student Health Services (EUSHS) is in the initial stages of exploring ways to offer "enhanced sexual assault services" on campus. As part of this exploration, one Student Health nurse is being trained to become a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE).  This nurse will be better equipped to treat a patient who has experienced sexual assault. Read more about this program in this Emory Wheel article, which quotes Sharon Rabinovitz, MD. 

Research

Conferences / Presentations

Our Department was well-represented at the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians Annual Scientific Assembly (November 7-10, 2018). Congratulations to the following presenters:

• Ted Johnson, MD, MPH. Georgia Memory Net: A statewide partner for GA Family Physicians in Dementia Care. Workshop.
• Hunter Davis, Ambar Kulshreshtha, MD, PhD. A Rare Case of Male Hypogonadism. Poster.
• Ryan Smith, Chalani Ellepola, Megha Shah MD, Sara Varghese. A Rare Complication of Influenza. Poster.
• Mohammed K. Ali, Kai McKeever Bullard, Giussepina Imperatore, Stephen R. Benoit, Deborah B. Rolka, Elizabeth Ely, Ann Albright, Edward W. Gregg. Gaps in Diabetes Preventive Services in the US: the National Health Interview Survey 2016-2017. Poster.
• Lin Mel, MD, Max Adelman, MD; Igho Ofotokun, MD, MSc. Disseminated Coccidiomycosis in the Southeast. Poster.
• Jeremy Neuman, MD, Matthew McKenna, MD, MPH; Shreyas Krishapura, BS; Ambar Kulshreshtha, MD, PhD What do Patients Want out of a Lifestyle Clinic? Evaluation Survey of Emory Lifestyle Clinic. Poster.
• Daniel Ralston, MD, Lina Elliot, Belinda Stewart, Miranda Moore, PhD. Implementation of a Colon Cancer Screening Outreach In an Academic Medical Practice. Poster.
• Blair Funk, MD; Ebonee Harris, Susana A. Alfonso, MD, Oluyinka Ajirotutu, Belinda Stewart, MBA, BSN-RN, Miranda A. Moore, PhD. An Evaluation of Diabetic Patient Preferences for Communications, Recommendations, and Resources at a Residency Continuity Clinic. Poster.
• Afua Akhi-Gbade, MD; Miranda Moore, PhD; Susana A. Alfonso, MD, MHCM; Yawen Wang, MPH. Implementation of Multi-Disciplinary Teams to Provide Comprehensive Care for Type 2 Diabetes Population in a Primary Care Clinic Setting. Poster.
• Aparna Mark, MD; Susana A. Alfonso, MD, MHCM; Miranda Moore, PhD; Ashley Owen, PhD. Implementation of an Interdisciplinary Care Management Clinic In an Academic Medical Practice. Poster.

Pictured below, Emory at GAFP. Top row:  Drs. Hunter Davis, Ryan Smith, Mohammed Ali, Daniel Ralston, Jeremy Neuman. Bottom Row:  Drs. Miranda Moore, Afua Ahki-Gbade, Blair Funk, Aparna Mark, Lin Mel

Drs. Ali, Moore, and Shah also presented at the 46th North American Primary Care Research Group Annual Meeting, Chicago IL, November 9-13 2018:

• Gaglioti A,* Li C, She Z, Baltrus P, Moore M, Immergluck L, Rao A, Ayer T. Interpersonal primary care continuity among Medicaid enrollees with ambulatory care sensitive conditions varies widely among racial subgroups and by place and is associated with lower health care costs. (oral presentation)
• Coffman M,* Liaw W, Jetty A, Sridhar G, Moore M, Stephenson J, Adamson W, Gordon A, Levin Z, Bazemore A. Live video visit attitudes and integration with primary care: A survey of users and non-users. (oral presentation)
• 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. (poster presentation)

Saini J, Owen A, Hammer A, Brown W, Kulshreshtha A. Zooming Towards Better Health: Participant Experience in a Web-Based Group Cognitive Behavioral Intervention; (presented at Connected Health Conference, Boston, MA from 10/17 to 10/19). 

Pictured below: Jannat Saini, PharmD.

Neuman J, McKenna M, Krishapura S, Kulshreshtha A. What do patients want out of a Lifestyle Clinic? Evaluation Survey of Emory Lifestyle Clinic;  (presented at Lifestyle Medicine Conference 2018, Indianapolis, Indiana, 10/21/18-10/23/18).

Dr. Neuman is pictured below.

Publications

Meheret Endeshaw, MPH*; Benjamin D. Hallowell, PhD*; Hilda Razzaghi, PhD, MSPH ;
Virginia Senkomago, PhD, MPH; Matthew T. McKenna, MD, MPH; and Mona Saraiya, MD, MPH. Trends in Liver Cancer Mortality in the United States: Dual Burden Among Foreign- and US-Born Persons. Cancer. 27 November 2018.

Moore M. November is Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month. Realtime Medicare Data Spotlight on Health, November 2018.

Research News

Miranda Moore, PhD (Family and Preventive Medicine) – Appointed Co-Chair, Health Care, Research, & Data Collection Work Group, Georgia Alzheimer’s Disease & Related Dementias

PA Program news

Jodie Guest, PhD, MPH Emory PA Associate Program Director, is now serving as an ARC-PA accreditation site visitor. Erin Lepp, PA-C, MMSc. Assistant Professor, Emory PA Program, was awarded the Community Service Leader of the Year by the Roswell Rotary Club.

All students in the PA Class of 2019 passed their summative exams and began rotations in November.

Pictured above: 3rd year PA student, Stephen Benton, presents about Point of Care Ultrasound as a PAEA 2017/2018 Future Educator Fellow 

Pictured above: Faculty Jonie Fawley, sponsor for the POCUS Club, Program Director Dr. Maha Lund, PA student Stephen Benton, and Associate Program Director Dr. Jodie Guest at the 2018 PAEA Education Forum.

Congratulations to Allan Platt PA-C, MMSc, DFAAPA, research collaborator on a $500,000 grant from the National Institute on minority health and Health Disparities to help develop and bring to market PINPOINT, a tablet and smartphone app for teens afflicted with Sickle Cell Disease.

The goal of PINPOINT is to improve self-care for teens by providing information about SCD including causes, treatments, and self-care options. Pinpoint can be utilized in care-setting to reduce barriers in obtaining information from adolescents by using a tech-medium with which they are comfortable and enjoy, while also providing important pain data to healthcare teams and family that affect treatment options. In addition, by empowering teens with knowledge and enhanced communication skills, Pinpoint can reduce emergency room visits and assist them to transition more successfully to adulthood with independence and awareness.

Welcome New PA Faculty member, Alex Kendall, MMSc, PA-C!

Dr. Kendall currently serves as Associate Program Director and Assistant Professor for Emory University’s Physician Assistant program. He holds a Bachelors of Arts in sociocultural anthropology from Tufts University and a Bachelors of Fine Arts in portraiture from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In 2010, he received a Master’s in Physician Assistant Studies from Rosalind Franklin University. 

Dr. Kendall has clinically worked in outpatient and inpatient internal medicine as the lead PA Hospitalist for Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital. He has held a position as Director of Curriculum and Assessment and Instructor and for Rosalind Franklin University’s Physician Assistant program, where he grew program quality Initiatives, a culture of active classroom learning and co-developed a student-faculty run interprofessional community clinic for the underserved. He also served as Instructor and researcher for the Health Administration department at RFU where he assisted in building a new Population Health Master’s degree, advised in a collaborative county-based opioid research, and worked interdepartmentally to promote population health education. His clinical and academic interests include acute care and preventative medicine, patient empowerment, health disparities and the impact of the social determinants of health of patient populations.  

Student Programs

FMIG Women’s Health Workshop

The Family Medicine Interest Group hosted a Women’s Health Procedures workshop on Wednesday, October 3rd during National Primary Care Week. The workshop was facilitated by Angeline Ti, MD, Dr. Marissa Lapedis, MD, and Emily Herndon, MD. Medical students of all years came to learn about women’s health procedures such as intrauterine device placement, endometrial biopsy, and uterine aspiration. Students were given papayas to practice their skills!

Pictured below: Rabia Zia, Esther Miah, Amy Scheel, and Mackenzie Bennett.

2018 FMIG Leadership Retreat

The Family Medicine Interest Group completed our 2nd Annual Leadership Retreat on Monday, October 29th. We started off with a team building exercise at Mission Escape Atlanta where we successfully escaped The Hotel! The event ended with dinner where we thanked our retiring leadership for their contributions and pass along leadership advice to our rising leaders. Thank you to Elizabeth Mensah, Mark Jedrzejczak, and Sherman Jones for their leadership during the 2017 – 2018 FMIG year. We look forward to our new student leaders, Larry Nguyen, Esther Miah, and Namita Mathew, future events.

Pictured below: Elizabeth Mensah, Esther Miah, Larry Nguyen, Mark Jedrzejczak, Porsha Clayton, Dr. Adam Wilson, and Namita Matthew

FMIG New Amsterdam Screening

NBC invited the Family Medicine Interest Group to an advanced screening of their new Fall show New Amsterdam. We had a great time getting the VIP treatment and the show is quite good!

2018 Preceptor of the Year Award

The Adult Primary Care Clerkship’s Preceptor of the Year for the 2017 – 2018 academic year is Goga Vukotic, MD! Below are some of the comments her students have written about her:

“She has a clear dedication to practicing evidence based medicine. She stated that my learning was a priority to her on multiple occasions and she wanted me to utilize all the resources available at her practice to learn.”

 “Even on slow days at clinic, she made time to go over important primary care topics and find helpful videos for me to learn from.”

 “She demonstrated model behavior multiple times with difficult patients. She was confident, yet humble. She taught me a great deal about owning a private practice and the future of medicine.”

 Dr. Vukotic currently practices at North Roswell Internal Medicine in Roswell, GA.

Don’t forget to follow FMIG on Instagram @emory_fmig!

Staff news

The Department of Family and Preventive Medicine Staff had an educational and fun retreat on October 25th in the serene and lovely setting of the Michael C. Carlos Museum.  Presentations were offered on career planning, wellness, business communication, and individual CliftonStrengths. Kudos to Pat Woodard and Jason Freiji for planning an excellent and thoughtful program!

The Family Medicine at Dunwoody Clinic hosted an International Potluck Luncheon on Wednesday, November 14th. A big thank you to Ashley, Dionne, Joy and Carlos for planning the event. Also, there were many others who helped with set up and clean up, thank you to you as well.

Pictured below: FM at Dunwoody colleagues sharing delicious food.

Upcoming Conferences

2nd Annual Georgia Clinical & Translational Science Conference. February 28 - March 1, 2019. Callaway Gardens. 

Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) Conference on Medical Student Ed, Thursday 1/31/19-Sunday 2/3/19, Jacksonville, FL.

HIV and Aging: From Mitochondria to the Metropolis. April 11-12, 2019. Emory University.

Georgia CTSA's Community Engagement 4th Biennial Forum
One Georgia: Building Bridges to Improve Quality Access for Optimal Health. April 25-26, 2019
Atlanta Technical College - Dennard Conference Center. 1560 Metropolitan Parkway, SW Atlanta. Contact kerwin@msm.edu for more information.

Got news? Please send your news, announcements, and photos to leigh.partington@emory.edu