News from
Family & Preventive Medicine
September 2021
Just 55 Words:
Ted Johnson, MD, MPH
Please be a part of our shared journey! Below, you’ll find highlights of our department research, education, advocacy, and service. Be sure to see the important updates from our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council and Faculty Development Committee. There are also Upcoming Events at the bottom of the page that you won’t want to miss!
Welcome New PA Program Faculty and Staff!
Jeremy Amayo, PA-C
Jeremy transitioned from part time to full-time PA faculty member in August. His clinical background is in critical care and he will apply his passion for education by directing FMS, and the Pulmonology/HEENT and Endocrine modules. In addition, he will teach basic sciences and ultrasound skills and will serve as a society leader for the Hudson Society.
Joe Borrillo, PA-C
Joe is scheduled to join our program in October as a part-time faculty member and is planning to increase his time with us next year. He brings clinical experience in orthopedics and emergency medicine. He will apply his broad background ranging from EMT/Fire Rescue to theater
to the Medical Communications course (formerly known as BPA1) and will teach in the cardiology module and geriatrics. He will serve as a leader of the Himelick Society starting with the class of 2023. Joe is also excited to contribute to our community outreach projects.
Corey Smith, MBA
In June, Corey joined our admission team with Kaye and Allan. He brings admissions experience from various institutions in Louisiana, Texas, and Georgia. A native of California, he is a huge 49ers fan…Any other 49er’s fans in the program? Corey has already made a significant, positive impact on our program through planning Orientation week.
Veketa Smith, MPH, PA-C
In June, Veketa Smith joined the clinical team following Catherine Dragon’s retirement. She comes to us with experience in infectious disease and for ten years has served as a preceptor for many of our students. She has quickly become a key member of the clinal team and shared that she especially loves working directly with our students. Veketa is serving as a society leader of the Petersen Society.
Erin Weinisch, PA-C
Erin comes to us with a clinical background in Neurosurgery, critical care, and Student Health. She will teach in the Neurology, Heme/Onc, and Dermatology modules and will serve as a society leader for the Stead Society starting with the class of 2023. She loved admissions and will help with interviews this fall. Erin will graduate with her Doctor of Health Sciences in September.
Wellness Corner
Exercise without the gym!
Worried about going back into the gym? Need some new ideas for staying active?
1. Blomeyer Health and Fitness Center has a youtube channel with Boot camps, Low-Intensity Interval Training, Tabata, and more.
2. The CDC has a new(ish) comprehensive video resource guide for integrating physical activity into your day via dance, tai chi, yoga, workplace group exercises, and more.
3. The New York Times 7 Minute Workout: All you need is a wall, a chair for balance, and sturdy shoes for this workout from Chris Jordan, director of exercise physiology at the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute.
4. Embarrass the kids… I mean… get the whole family involved with a dance workout.
******
Transformative Research
Guest Joins the MilliPub Club
Congratulations to Dr. Jodie Guest for joining the MilliPub Club with her publication, Life expectancy of individuals on combination antiretroviral therapy in high-income countries: a collaborative analysis of 14 cohort studies, published in Lancet, 2008 Jul 26;372(9635):293-9. 1125 citations and counting!
PMID: 18657708. PMCID: PMC3130543 DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61113-7
Recent Awards
Congratulations to Dr. Megha Shah whose grant application titled CHW-delivered virtual education and financial incentives to promote COVID-19 testing among at-risk South Asian immigrants in Atlanta has been selected for funding recommendation under RADx‐UP CDCC Rapid Research Pilot Program grant.
Dr. Megha Shah is also the Co-Principal Investigator for a newly funded proposal titled, A community-engaged health needs assessment of South Asians in Atlanta: The CENSAA Study. Funding for this work is made possible through The Emory SVPR AT THE INTERSECTION Fund.
******
In the News
******
Featured Researcher
Every month, we highlight faculty research, so you can stay up to date on your colleagues and their interests.
September Featured Researcher:
Ali John Zarrabi, MD
What is your professional background?
I am an internist and palliative medicine physician working in both the inpatient and outpatient settings at Emory. I have a bachelor's in studio art and medical degree from Brown through the Program in Liberal Medical Education. Between medical school and residency, I was an instructor at the Rhode Island School of Design. I did my internal and palliative medicine training at Mount Sinai in New York, and I did a Sarnoff Research Fellowship at Harvard.
In what division do you work and who is your mentor?
I’m in the Division of Palliative Medicine and my mentors are Dio Kavalierators, Kimberly Curseen, and Tammie Quest.
Briefly describe your research. Why is it important?
I am studying trauma – both its prevalence and sequelae – in specialty palliative care. My clinical and research pursuits are dedicated to understanding and promoting healthy coping of adults who live with psychological trauma from a serious life-threatening illness. I hope to characterize the needs of this population to eventually adapt recent breakthroughs in psychiatry – primarily drug-assisted psychotherapies using psychedelics – to seriously ill populations.
What do you like most about Emory?
It’s very easy to get to know people outside your division and department and cross-pollinate ideas and projects across campus. I find people here are enthusiastic, approachable, and generous to junior faculty.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to cook, travel, nap, hike, garden, and spend as much time with family and friends as I can.
What is a fun fact about you?
The violin was a big part of my life from childhood through medical school. Though I let the instrument collect dust over the past decade, I recently started lessons and I’m preparing for upcoming auditions for regional orchestras. This whole process has been very therapeutic for me during the pandemic.
******
Highlighted Opportunities:
Primary Care Consortium
Grants Program Relaunches
The Emory Primary Care Consortium (PCC) has redesigned its small grant program, streamlining the application process and increasing the amount of funding. The PCC grant funding line provides $12,000 each fiscal year in grants of up to $3000 to support any Emory-affiliated project that involves research, quality improvement, advocacy, or education in support of advancements in primary care.
Project topics may center around patient safety, innovations in healthcare delivery, addressing disparities in healthcare, etc. Determination of funding will assess the degree by which the proposed program can broadly advance primary care advancement in the future. Any Emory student, resident physician, or faculty member (including VA faculty with an Emory appointment) may apply.
The PCC accepts grant applications year-round, with the following deadlines:
September 30, to be reviewed and announced by November 15th
January 31, to be reviewed and announced by March 15
May 30, to be reviewed and announced by July 15
Criteria for Evaluation:
- Project need is clearly defined and supported by data
- Well-defined Goals/Aims that are specific, feasible, achievable, and measurable
- Approach and outcomes or activities and deliverables are well described
- Project impact is clearly articulated and provides a meaningful benefit for the target participants/audience
******
Highlighted Research Resources
Emory SOM FAALI Lecture Series:
New digital tools to aid collaboration
Wednesday, September 8 ǀ noon – 1 p.m. ǀ Zoom
Presented by:
Nancy DeSousa, PhD, MPH. Assistant Director, Office of Multicultural Affairs, Learner Diversity Programs for Graduate Medical Education.
Nate Spell, MD. Professor of Medicine, Associate Dean for Education and Professional Development
Megan Turk. IT Project Manager, Informatics Analyst, Office of Information Technology
Different programs such as Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Zoom can be overwhelming. Join this session to learn how faculty can use these programs to effectively collaborate in real life situations and to learn tips to make these programs more useful in both education and research settings.
******
Recent Publications
AEM Special Issue on (In)Equity in EM. Chisolm-Straker M, Quest, Tammie, Kline JA. Acad Emerg Med. 2021 Aug 7. doi: 10.1111/acem.14364. Online ahead of print. PMID: 34363646
Low risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission via fomite, even in cold-chain. Sobolik JS, Sajewski ET, Jaykus LA, Cooper DK, Lopman BA, Kraay AN, Ryan PB, Guest, Jodie, Webb-Girard A, Leon JS. medRxiv. 2021 Aug 26:2021.08.23.21262477. doi: 10.1101/2021.08.23.21262477. Preprint. PMID: 34462753 Free PMC article.
Management of Acute Coronary Syndrome Following Blunt Chest Trauma: A Case Report. Chan EL, Malik, Jimi, Gomez C. Bull Emerg Trauma. 2021 Jul;9(3):151-154. doi: 10.30476/BEAT.2021.87689.1192. PMID: 34307706 Free PMC article.
Methods for Authenticating Participants in Fully Web-Based Mobile App Trials from the iReach Project: Cross-sectional Study. Guest, Jodie, Adam E, Lucas IL, Chandler CJ, Filipowicz R, Luisi N, Gravens L, Leung K, Chavanduka T, Bonar EE, Bauermeister JA, Stephenson R, Sullivan PS. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2021 Aug 31;9(8):e28232. doi: 10.2196/28232. PMID: 34463631.
National estimates of mental health service use and unmet needs among adult cancer survivors. Ji X, Marchak JG, Mertens AC, Curseen, Kim, Zarrabi, Ali John, Cummings JR. Cancer. 2021 Aug 11. doi: 10.1002/cncr.33827. Online ahead of print. PMID: 34378803
Postacute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Impact on Quality of Life 1-6 Months After Illness and Association With Initial Symptom Severity. O'Keefe JB, Minton HC, Morrow M, Johnson C, Moore, Miranda, O'Keefe GAD, Benameur K, Higdon J, Fairley JK. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2021 Jul 27;8(8):ofab352. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofab352. eCollection 2021 Aug. PMID: 34395709 Free PMC article.
Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes. Weber MB, Hassan S, Quarells R, Shah, Megha. Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am. 2021 Sep;50(3):387-400. doi: 10.1016/j.ecl.2021.05.003. Epub 2021 Jul 12. PMID: 34399952 Free PMC article. Review.
Educational Investments for our future
Highlighted Opportunities:
Dr. Atsusi “2c” Hirumi is a Professor of Instructional Design and Technology and currently holds a joint appointment with the Department of Learning Sciences and Educational Research in the College of Community Innovation and Education and the Department of Medical Education in the College of Medicine at the University of Central Florida.
******
Update from the Museum-Based Education Initiative I3 Award
Dr. Paul DeSandre will be Faculty this year (2021-2022) for the Harvard Macy Institute, Art Museum-based Health Professions Education Fellowship.
Establishing a Museum-Based Education Initiative at Emory School of Medicine, led by Drs. Paul DeSandre, Ali John Zarrabi, and Holly Gooding and funded by an Emory I3 award, will work with the Emory Center for Digital Scholarship to design a website showcasing art-based education in the health professions. Specifically, they will catalog their past work and provide tools for other staff/faculty to design their own courses using the arts. This website is a step towards developing a more comprehensive arts and humanities presence in the health professions at Emory. It will be a living website that continues to highlight ongoing activities at Emory and serve as a model for other institutions that need more guidance on how to get these programs off the ground.
******
Preventive Medicine Residency Offers
Innovative Curriculum
Ever wonder what goes on in the Preventive Medicine Residency? A HRSA-funded training grant awarded in Spring 2018 enabled the program to create a well-defined and enriched curriculum that emphasizes increased inter-professional collaboration and delivery of preventive services to medically underserved and other communities while taking full advantage of the public health resources available locally and regionally.
Emory Preventive Medicine residents provide direct patient care for an annual minimum of two months, primarily through rotations in areas including infectious/tropical diseases and travel medicine; internal medicine and preventive medicine, primary care and preventive medicine, telemedicine primary care, women's health, preventive cardiology, occupational medicine, cancer treatment/management, and long-term care.
Emory Preventive Medicine residents participate in core public/community health programs and activities (e.g., surveillance, outbreak detection, disease prevention, and control, and emergency preparedness /response) in governmental public health agencies in different jurisdictional settings, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Georgia Department of Health, and local public health agencies such as the DeKalb Co. Board of Health, led by Emory PM residency graduate Sandra J. Valenciano, MD, MPH.
Emory Preventive Medicine residents also participate in focal and longitudinal prevention/control research, policy development, program evaluation, and quality improvement initiatives in a variety of settings, including Emory Healthcare, Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta VA, Grady, Georgia Dept. of Public Health, and CDC.
Emory Preventive Medicine Residents participate in a curriculum of didactics, scholarly research, and other learning imperatives in Preventive Medicine, featuring Emory faculty and a wide range of guest speakers. The schedule of didactic lectures will be posted soon on the department website, so keep an eye out!
Want to know more? Drs. Richard Goodman and Sara Turbow would love to hear from you! You can also read about recent activities by PM residents below.
******
Preventive Medicine Resident Presentations
Dr. Alexander Paras, Maj, USAFR, MC, FS and Preventive Medicine Resident, PGY-3 recently presented at IDWeek on "Using Active Surveillance to Identify Monoclonal Antibody Candidates Among COVID-19 Positive Veterans at Atlanta VA Healthcare System." The infectious disease clinical team at the Atlanta VA Healthcare system proactively screened and identified eligible COVID-19 positive outpatients for monoclonal antibody (Mab) treatment. The approach of combining laboratory surveillance and active screening minimized delay in symptoms onset to Mab infusion, thereby optimizing outpatient treatment of COVID-19 disease. The time to treatment of 6 days was between the 4 days (BLAZE-1) and 7 days (Regeneron) in the clinical trials. Mab infusions overall were well tolerated in this more diverse cohort (64%, non-Caucasian compared to 12% and 26% in the clinical trials respectively) with few hospitalizations and no deaths.
******
As part of her recent rotation at the DeKalb Co. Board of Health, Dr. Sarah Dupont presented a fun and in-depth look at how mobile units are performing and ways to maximize their benefits in the future.
Being of Service
Alfonso Meets with White House
COVID-19 Vaccination Coordinator
In her role as President-Elect of the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians, Dr. Susy Alfonso (below, 3rd from right) participated with the Executive Committee of the GAFP and other leaders in a roundtable with Dr. Bechara Choucair, the new White House Covid 19 Vaccination Coordinator who is also a family physician. Also, Colyn Steele, MD, owner of the Eagles Landing Family Practice, one of the largest private family medicine practices in the state, (the woman to Dr. Alfonso's left) was a previous student!
******
Dr. Guest and PA Team Work Overtime to Offer Vaccines
PA faculty Jeremy Amayo and PA clinical students Chawntile Rasheed, Sara Cork, and Shawn Khan joined Dr. Jodie Guest’s Outbreak Response Team to administer COVID-19 vaccines at the Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ Black Pride Reception.
Dr. Guest and the team were also out at Piedmont Park over Labor Day weekend and set a record for Atlanta festival/park events!
******
New Kern Fellows Owen and Weinisch
Dr. Ashley Owen and Ms. Erin Weinisch have been selected for the first cohort of Emory's Kern Fellows in Interprofessional Leadership. This fellowship, co-sponsored by the Woodruff Health Educators Academy and the Kern Foundation, is a 9-month program for health sciences educators and practitioners who want to be effective change agents in the post COVID era. The program focuses on developing the high-level professional and relational abilities necessary to create interprofessional leadership and professionalism at the individual and organizational level.
******
News from the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council
DEI Council Spotlights:
Each month, the FPM DEI Council will spotlight a different staff member of the department. This month, the council spotlights Ms. Tammi Teeters-McDade.
Ms. Tammi Teeters-McDade, TAGME
Residency Coordinator, Family Medicine
1. What do you like to do in your spare time, outside of work?
Spending time with and helping my family, working in the yard and with plants, thrifting
2. Birthdate: November
3. Home town (please tell us a few interesting items about your birthplace): Pittsburgh, PA
Home of the Steelers, Penguins, & Pirates (we do not have a pro basketball team), Heinz ketchup and condiments, Klondike bars, Clark bars, Ferris wheels, Arnold Palmer tea & Big Macs were created there.
Fries are put on everything, especially at Primanti’s “sammichs and salads;” sometimes they use pierogis instead. The city is called Steel City, 3 Rivers City, or City of Bridges.
Famous People from Pittsburgh include: Mr. Rogers, Gene Kelley, Andy Warhol, Jeff Goldblum, Joe Namath, Joe Montana, Mark Cuban, Michael Keaton, Dan Marino, Johnny Unitas, Jim Kelly, Arnold Palmer, Dr. Jonas Salk, Jimmy Stewart, Lou Christie, August Wilson, Christina Aguilera, Shirley Jones, Mike Ditka, Sharon Stone, Perry Como, George Benson, Art Blakey, and Abby Lee Miller
4. A fun fact about yourself: I am an only child. I graduated with Abby Lee Miller from Dance Moms.
******
News from the
Faculty Development
Committee
The SOM New Faculty Orientation on Wednesday, September 29, 2021 will include presentations from senior leadership and breakout sessions hosted by leaders in education and research.
This event is mandatory for all SOM faculty members hired on or after September 1, 2020 with the exception of temporary faculty members, non-ACGME fellows, post-docs, and those faculty with acting titles. Faculty hired prior to this date who have not attended an SOM orientation session are strongly encouraged to attend.
The Welcome Reception and Resource Fair on Tuesday, November 2, 2021 will be hosted on campus and will allow you to network with other new SOM faculty and learn more about university-wide resources.
Register for New Faculty Orientation
New Faculty Orientation Schedule
******
"Conscious Communication" Clinical Skills Workshop
Wednesday, November 17 | 8 a.m. to noon
The Office of Faculty Development is pleased to offer a virtual interactive training program on “Conscious Communication.” This workshop is intended for clinical faculty at all levels who want to learn how to effectively communicate within one's own social/professional network. The fundamental skill taught in this workshop is how to be an effective listener and speaker, especially in emotionally charged situations. Register by Monday, September 20 to claim your spot!
******
Don't Miss Opportunities!
Bettye Rose Connell Memorial Lecture
Dr. Vincent Mor
"COVID-19 and U.S. Nursing Homes: Implications for the Future"
Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021: 6-7:30 pm, via Zoom
VINCENT MOR, Ph.D., is the Florence Pirce Grant Professor of Community Health in the Brown University School of Public Health and a Research Health Scientist in the health services research service at the Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Dr. Mor has been Principal Investigator of over 40 NIH funded grants focusing on the use of health services and the outcomes that frail and chronically ill persons experience. He has evaluated the impact of programs and policies in aging and long-term care including Medicare funding of hospice, changes in Medicare nursing home payment and the introduction of quality measures. He was one of the authors of the Congressionally mandated Minimum Data Set (MDS) for Nursing Home Resident Assessment and the architect of an integrated Medicare claims and clinical assessment data base used for policy analysis, pharmaco-epidemiology and population outcome measurement. Building upon this work, most recently, he and colleagues around the country were awarded a large grant from the National Institute on Aging to solicit, fund and support multi-site pilot non-pharmacologic intervention projects embedded in health care systems designed to improve the lives of persons living with dementia and their caregivers. Dr. Mor has been an active VA HSR&D investigator for the past decade and helped establish the Providence VAMC Center of Innovation (COIN) where he is now directing a number of independent investigator initiated research projects focused on the VA Geriatrics and Extended Care service.
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed innumerable challenges to healthcare professions. We find ourselves struggling to be resilient while maintaining our humanism and professionalism. Dr. Novack will describe how focusing on professional identity formation is critical for the personal growth of healthcare professionals and trainees particularly in times of healthcare crisis. He will also share best practices for achieving the personal growth that supports professional identity formation and sustains us as professional, humanistic leaders.
Dennis H. Novack, M.D. is Professor of Medicine and Associate Dean of Medical Education at Drexel University College of Medicine, where he directs clinical skills teaching and assessment. For almost 30 years he directed first-year medical student courses on medical interviewing, biopsychosocial aspects of care, self-awareness, and professionalism at both Brown and Drexel Universities Schools of Medicine. He was one of the founders and leaders of the Academy of Communication in Healthcare, is a past president of the American Psychosomatic Society, and is President-Elect of the Academy of Professionalism in Healthcare. He is Chief Editor of DocCom and ProfessionalFormation.org, online resources for learning communication skills and professionalism in healthcare education.
Did you miss an issue?
Links to previous department newsletters can be found on
the department website HERE.
Got news? Please send your announcements and photos to leigh.partington@emory.edu. The DFPM newsletter is published monthly.
