Premedicated, Spring Edition
BCM Internal Medicine Residency Newsletter
Happy Spring!
The sun is out, the weather is warm, the birds are chirping, new interns have been selected...you know what that means...Spring is here and summer is around the corner! We hope you had a fantastic winter and a fantastic start to 2015. A lot has happened in the last three months. We had a very, very successful match and are VERY excited to welcome our new intern class which we will be introducing in this newsletter. We had a very successful Research Symposium, an impressive showing at regional and national conferences and many new "mini" additions to our Baylor family in the form of adorable babies, and much more. We have enjoyed putting these newsletters together and hope you enjoy this edition of the newsletter which will highlight the new interns, changes in our residency, new faculty, research accomplishments and research opportunities as well as tons of photos!
XOXOXO all around,
Team MRSA
Minal Shah
Rehman Sheikh
Salman Ahmed
Ameera Ahmed
A warm welcome from our Program Director, Dr. Hamill
I hope you all enjoy this edition of Premedicated. Despite the fact that the interview season finished several months ago, capped by one of the most successful matches in recent years, there is a very busy time for the residency program and the Department of Medicine.
With Dr. Todd’s approaching retirement at the end of June (ask him about his new 37’ toy), the College is actively pursuing 2 excellent candidates for his replacement. We are optimistic that a new chairman will be in place by July 1 or soon after.
The Department held its annual Housestaff Research Symposium on April 9. We had close to 100 posters exhibited in 3 categories, but chose this year to award a 4th category in Quality Improvement Research. Going forward in future years, we will have a separate category at the Symposium. Winners of the poster competition gave excellent oral presentations at the Department of Medicine Grand Rounds on May 14. A day later, several of the resident firms presented their posters at the 2nd Annual BCM Quality Improvement & Patient Safety CME Conference: “Strategies for All Learners.”
The Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine held their Spring Conference in Houston from April 26 – 29. Several of us from the residency office and 2 of next year’s Chief Medical Residents (Ameera Ahmed & Rehman Sheikh) attended various interactive seminars, in hopes of bringing some of that knowledge to improve our training program. On May 16, we had a nice contingent of residents and faculty travel to Galveston for the Regional ACP Associates Meeting and competition and we were represented well by our trainees.
We are particularly pleased that this year’s Chief Medical Residents’ Visiting Professor will be Dr. Richard Goodgame, who will be interacting with our housestaff from May 26-28. Dr. Goodgame is a former BCM faculty member and was the Program Director for the Gastroenterology & Hepatology Fellowship, before moving to his present position as the Internal Medicine Program Director at UTMB in Galveston. Before leaving Baylor, Dr. Goodgame was the recipient of a number of prestigious teaching awards, so we look forward to a very entertaining and educational experience.
The graduation party for the senior residents will be held on June 10 at the Rice Faculty Club. I would like to see all of the seniors attend this special event, so hopefully, everyone will help with coverage that evening. Finally, the new interns will be coming next month; Bootcamp is scheduled for June 17 (I think we can still use volunteers) and they officially start on June 24. As you can see, there is a lot happening. Thanks for all of your hard work!
welcome to the Baylor Family!
Categorical
Beenish Ahmed
Undergrad: University of Missouri-Kansas City
Medical School: University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine
Eric Altneu
Undergrad: Wesleyan University,New York University
Medical School: Ohio State University College of Medicine
Gilad Birnbaum
Undergrad: University of Texas at Austin
Medical School: Baylor College of Medicine
Nan Chen
Undergrad: Wellesley College,Georgetown University
Medical School: New York Medical College
Maygen del Castillo
Undergrad: New York University
Medical School: University at Buffalo State University of New York School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
Waldo Dittmar
Undergrad: Michigan State University
Medical School: Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
Drew Emge
Undergrad: Alma College
Medical School: Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
Luke Fletcher
Undergrad: George Fox University
Medical School: Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
Rollin George
Undergrad: University of Illinois Urbana Champaigne
Medical School: University of Illinois College of Medicine
Matthew Glover
Undergrad: University of Texas at Austin
Medical School: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Southwestern Medical School
Benjamin Gold
Undergrad: Amherst College
Medical School: Baylor College of Medicine
Harkaran Guryan
Undergrad: Baylor University
Medical School: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine
Adina Haramati
Undergrad: New York University
Medical School: Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University
Austin Hu
Undergrad: The University of Texas at Austin
Medical School: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Southwestern Medical School
Rachael Jacobson
Undergrad: Texas A&M University
Medical School: University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine
Xiaoming Jia
Undergrad: Stanford University
Medical School: University of Florida College of Medicine
Kainat Khalid
Undergrad: Northwestern University
Medical School: Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center
Evan Kudron
Undergrad: Emory University
Medical School: University of Virginia School of Medicine
Shradha Kulkarni
Undergrad: Rice University
Medical School: University of Texas Medical School at Houston
Aswathi Kumar
Undergrad: Drexel University
Medical School: University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine
Betty La
Undergrad: University of Houston
Medical School: University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine
Rachel Lantz
Undergrad: Liberty University
Medical School: Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine
Jonathan Lim
Undergrad: Boston University
Medical School: Boston University School of Medicine
Jing Liu
Undergrad: Stanford University
Medical School: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Southwestern Medical School
Robert Lorch
Undergrad: University of Central Florida
Medical School: USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Taher Mandviwala
Undergrad: The University of Texas at Austin
Medical School: Baylor College of Medicine
Tiffany Mao
Undergrad: University of Missouri-Kansas City
Medical School: University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine
Paras Mehta
Undergrad: University of Texas at Austin
Medical School: Baylor College of Medicine
Valentine Millien
Undergrad: Seton Hall University
Doctorate: Baylor College of Medicine
Medical School: Baylor College of Medicine
Nida Momin
Undergrad: Texas A&M University
Medical School: Baylor College of Medicine
Theresa Nguyen
Undergrad: University of Notre Dame
Medical School: Baylor College of Medicine
Nathan Nowalk
Undergrad: Florida State University
Medical School: Florida State University College of Medicine
Orhue Odaro
Undergrad: Baylor University
Medical School: Baylor College of Medicine
Temitope Orenuga
Undergrad: Drury University
Medical School: Northwestern University The Feinberg School of Medicine
Robert Paisley
Undergrad: Texas A&M University
Medical School: University of Texas Medical School at Houston
Haren Patel
Undergrad: The University of Texas at Austin
Medical School: University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine
Stephen Pickett
Undergrad: Baylor University
Medical School: Baylor College of Medicine
Vani Potluri
Undergrad: University of Houston
Medical School: Baylor College of Medicine
Ryle Przybylowicz
Undergrad: Ohio State University
Medical School: Ohio State University College of Medicine
Krishna Sajja
Undergrad: Rice University
Medical School: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Southwestern Medical School
Michael Shieh
Undergrad: University of Texas at Dallas
Medical School: University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine
Mahveen Sohail
Undergrad: Baylor University
Medical School: Baylor College of Medicine
Eric Wu
Undergrad: Northwestern University
Medical School: Baylor College of Medicine
Sudha Yarlagadda
Undergrad: Saint Louis University
Medical School: Saint Louis University School of Medicine
Categorical - Research
Khaled Sanber
Doctorate: University College London (UCL)
Medical School: University of Jordan Faculty of Medicine
Categorical - MD Anderson Cancer Center
William Brasher
Undergrad: The University of Virginia
Medical School: Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
Mikel Etchegaray
Undergrad: Hamilton College
Medical School: Tufts University School of Medicine
Rida Laeeq
Undergrad: University of Florida
Medical School: Florida State University College of Medicine
Shalini Makawita
Undergrad: University of Toronto
Medical School: Wayne State University School of Medicine
Victoria Serpas
Undergrad: Louisiana State University
Medical School: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Southwestern Medical School
Medicine-Pediatrics
Christine Bui
Undergrad: Yale University
Medical School: Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Abhishek Dhar
Undergrad: Northwestern University
Medical School: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Erin Finn
Undergrad: Rice University
Medical School: University of Colorado School of Medicine
Sung Kim
Undergrad: Vanderbilt University
Medical School: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
David McCormick
Undergrad: Pomona College
Medical School: University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine
Nicole Oakman
Undergrad: Yale University
Medical School: Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Carolyn Payne
Undergrad: Bellarmine University
Medical School: Indiana University School of Medicine
Kristen Webber
Undergrad: Wayne State University
Medical School: Wayne State University School of Medicine
Preliminary:
Whitley Aamodt
Undergrad: The College of William and Mary,University of Texas School of Public Health
Medical School: The University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio
Prince Adotama
Undergrad: Baylor University
Medical School: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Southwestern Medical School
Sara Bahouth
Undergrad: American University of Beirut Faculty of Medicine
Medical School: American University of Beirut Faculty of Medicine
Soham Banerjee
Undergrad: Duke University
Medical School: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Southwestern Medical School
Dianne Barrett
Undergrad: Florida International University
Medical School:Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Emily Behrens
Undergrad: Arkansas State University
Medical School: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine
Andrew Davis
Undergrad: Colorado State University
Medical School: Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine
Sergio Jaramillo
Undergrad: Rice University
Medical School: Baylor College of Medicine
Lai Jiang
Undergrad: Texas A&M University
Medical School: Baylor College of Medicine
Roger Jordan
Undergrad: Texas A&M University
Medical School: University of Texas Medical School at Houston
Aaditya Nagaraj
Undergrad: University of Texas at Austin
Medical School: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Southwestern Medical School
Quynh-Giao Nguyen
Undergrad: Brown University
Medical School: Baylor College of Medicine
Bonny Wong
Undergrad: The University of Texas at Austin
Medical School: University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine
Megan Xue
Undergrad: Cornell University
Medical School: Baylor College of Medicine
Betty Yang
Undergrad: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Medical School: University of Texas Medical School at Houston
Alex Young
Undergrad: Rice University
Medical School: Baylor College of Medicine
Updates from the Chief Medical Residents!
News from the Taub!
Ben Taub Hospital continues to deliver excellent care to the most vulnerable members of our community. The hospital has been awarded the Stroke Honor Roll Elite-Plus Award by the American Heart Association & American Stroke Association and was ranked by the Global Health Exchange as one of the 50 best healthcare providers in the U.S. and Canada.
The ACGME performed its first Clinical Learning Environment Review (CLER) for Baylor College of Medicine at Ben Taub Hospital earlier this year (February 2015). We are awaiting their official report and recommendations.
Despite steep financial barriers we continue to provide outstanding care for our patients. Efforts are being made from all angles in order to increase revenues and decrease costs. Mr. Masi (CEO of Ben Taub Hospital), Dr. Chu (General Director of AMS), Dr. Cotton (post-doctorate fellow in liver transplantation), and myself spoke before the Board of Trustees of Baylor College of Medicine to underscored the impact of Harris Health System as a learning institution for all of BCM’s trainees. The presidents of Baylor College of Medicine and University of Texas, Houston are working with the CEOs of Ben Taub, LBJ, and our neighboring institutions to find alternative solutions where our politicians are failing. Harris Health System will have to tighten its belt while better solutions are found, an unfortunately necessary event that will reverberate throughout our community.
From behalf of all of our patients and colleagues at Ben Taub I thank each and everyone of you for the care you provide within these walls and the selflessness with which you do it.
Sergio
(And all the girls swooned together)
The scoop from St. Luke's
Baylor St. Luke's hospital continues to go through changes. Starting July 1st, UT residents will no longer rotate at Baylor St. Luke's. In order to ease call burden, we will be switching to an intern night float system. Furthermore, based on feedback from house staff and faculty, there will be some rearrangement of house staff coverage for subspecialty services. We value a balance between education and service and efforts and rotations will continue to be evaluated for these.
As for chief updates: with the help of Andy, ambulatory rotations with themes have been developed (see Andy's blurb). In-house or intern NF call has been built into these 2-4 week rotations with 1 weekend call and 1 golden week per 2 weeks. There are some 2 week rotations that have 2 weekday calls with 2 golden weekends. I have been programming an excel macro that will distribute intern night float and resident in-house (BT, VA, BSL Red/Gold/Blue) for the whole year. Requests for call free will be sent out and considered for this schedule.
I enjoyed serving as your Ambulatory/Baylor St Luke's chief this year and I hope these changes allow house staff to keep the benefits of +1 week with this new system by allowing you to know your schedule in advance. I look forward to working with many of you in the coming years as a Nephrology fellow.
Maulin
(Just wait Maulin, we'll be paging you at 3 am for emergent HD real soon:p)
Ambulatory updates
Next year we plan on changing the ambulatory rotation (2-4 weeks) to give each one a separate theme, like "Rheum/Derm", "Rheum/Injection", "Cards/Vascular" or "GI/Hepatology", "HIV/ID", "Pulm, Endo"Renal" in addition to existing rotations like Kelsey GI, Transition Clinic, BT Core C, BT procedures. Repeating the same clinics each week will allow you to focus more and synthesize materials better. Going to random clinics each day is confusing. Wednesday School will also routinely have EKG Challenge, NEJM Interactive Cases in addition to Morning Report, Journal Club, and Clinic Lecture. The tradition of having a Firm Lunch will also continue. Lastly, SIMS have really taken off and people are giving rave reviews. Efforts are underway to involve upper levels as teachers and potentially expand the SIM curriculum itself.
Andy
(Life is good on ambulatory. Plus Baby Tau should be making an appearance soon!)
VA Updates!
The VA is moving on up...in STARS that is! Thanks to all the hard work and amazing care the housestaff provide our veterans, we are moving up in the rankings! Since my time and the VA, length of stay as well as appropriate discharge planning have imporved and we are being recognized for such.
In addition, we have honored a man we have all come to know and love, Danny Hemphill, with our quarterly Resident Appreciation Award (1st ever recipient). We had a ceremony at the end of morning report where Mr. Hemphill was surprised in front of his supervisors and colleagues with this honor, as well as kind words from the residents. Please let the VA chief know in writing of any other non-physician VA employees who you think are deserving of our next award. Just as you are special, so are those around us and we would like to honor them!
We also took our first Field Trip of Awesomeness to Dr. Musher’s synagogue where he walked us through some amazing historical artwork, after which we had dinner together at Fadi’s Mediterranean restaurant. Thank you to all of those who came out; we had a wonderful time and plan to organize more Field Trips of Awesomeness with exceptional faculty who are involved in the community. May we all be inspired!
In local news, each team will be receiving a second ASCOM phone as well as a COW (not the kind you eat; the kind you use to make your work easier) this coming week (thank Andy Tau for all his hard work in this matter). All the team rooms have been revisited, and we are working on new chairs and faster computers where needed (75% complete).
Thank you all for a wonderful year and taking such great care of our veterans. They deserve it!
Natalia
Thank you so much for such a wonderful year!
We love you!
Upcoming Events!
At least now we have more time to practice for the residents vs. faculty baseball game!
Graduation dinner for the PGY-IIIs is scheduled for June 10th.
You'll be getting official invitations soon!
Look out for emails for intern orientation social events and our end of the year bar night!
Dates TBA
And don't forget...
Around the way: Baylor doing it big outside the hospital
National Pride
The full package
Firm C fun
Renaissance man
Always teaching
Too sexy too sexy
Doin it big at National SGIM!
Birthday Jefecita!
Staying healthy in the unit
Veteran Appreciate Day!
What a wonderful welcome
Showing their love!
Congrats Jing and family!
Congrats to Jason Hoff!
Congrats to David Reynoso!
Megan's bundle of joy!
Adil Zahiruddin's new addition!
Toug on a TUG!
Congratulations to our Jeopardy Team for making it to the National Semis!
Congratulations to Minal Shah for winning the National ACP vignette competition!
ACP Associates' Day Success!
Congrats to all those that participated, especially:
Min Ji Kim, PGY-2: 1st place clinical vignette
Peter Nguyen, PGY-2: 2nd place clinical vignette
Jan Kemnade, PGY-2: 3rd place clinical vignette
Tasneam Shagroni, PGY-1: 2nd place oral vignette
Ozlem Bilen, PGY-3 and Anisha Gupta, PGY-2: (tie) 2nd place research poster
Baylor Housestaff Symposium 2015
The winners of the judged poster competition in each category are as follows:
Clinical Medicine
1. Kamran H, Dobaczewski M, Ram N. Accumulation of 5-oxoproline due to chronic acetaminophen ingestion is an uncommon and under-diagnosed cause of high anion gap metabolic acidosis.
2. Smith E, Huang Q, Kees J, Raghavan R, Mandayam S. Renal failure run a-FUOwl: disseminated histoplasmosis.
T3. Arasaratnam R, Patel SM. Ritonavir ramps up the steroids - cautionary tale of iatrogenic Cushing’s syndrome secondary to co-administration of ritonavir and inhaled budesonide.
T3. Kemnade J, Lu LB, Kolpakchi A. Chest pain with a twist.
Clinical Research
1. Bilen O, Deswal A. Heart rate as a prognostic marker in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.
2. Khalid U, Wruck LM, Quibrera PM, Bozkurt B, Nambi V, Virani SS, Jneid H, Agarwal S, Chang PP, Loehr L, Basra SS, Rosamond W, Ballantyne C, Deswal A. BNP and obesity in acute decompensated heart failure with preserved vs. reduced ejection fraction: the atherosclerosis risk in communities surveillance study.
3. Nguyen T, Duan Z, Naik A, Kramer JR, El-Serag HB. Statin use may decrease the risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma: a nested case-control study of US Veterans.
Basic Research
T1. Liu R, Lee J, Wang Q, Zhang A, Kim B, Gupte A, Hamilton D, Wehrens X, Yechoor V, Moulik M. Tead 1 ablation in adult mouse heart leads to dilated cardiomyopathy.
T1. Lulla P, Gerdemann U, Tzannou I, Koottiyaniyil N, Ryan K, Vera JF, Heslop HE, Leen AM. Generation of multi antigen-specific T cells for the adoptive immunotherapy of acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes.
2. Abdel Fattah E, Bhattarcharya A, Herron A, Safdar Z, Eissa NT. Critical role of IL-18 in spontaneous lung inflammation caused by autophagy deficiency.
3. Hesse S, Neill F, Shankar S, Atmar R. Sera antibody responses to non-structured norovirus protein post-infection and post-vaccination.
For the first time, this year, we are also recognizing an exemplary Quality Improvement Project:
Chavarria N, Maini R, Cortes-Penfield N, Kees J, Khan A, Kohli A, Nguyen P, Moolani Y, Soleja M, Zeisig N, Hubenthal E, Kusnoor A. A quality
improvement project to increase the rate of age-appropriate DEXA screening for female patients in a Harris Health Internal Medicine Clinic.
Research Corner
We had several residents present or publish in nationally recognized journals and presentations. Here's a sampling of the good work being done by BCM IM Residents!
Maen Abdelrahim, PGY-3, is author of the book chapter: "Targeted Therapy in Solid Tumors: Colorectal Cancer" in Targeted Therapy in Translational Cancer Research, First Edition.
Ozlem Bilen, PGY-3, is author of the book chapter in Cardiology Clinics entitled "Genetic Testing in Hereditary Dyslipidemias," with mentor: Christie Ballantyne. She also published a review article in the World Journal of Cardiology entitled "Dyslipidemia in South Asians" with mentor Salim Virani.
Jonathan Hilal, PGY-3 is the author of two publications:
Thrift, A. P., Hilal, J. and El-Serag, H. B. (2015), Metabolic syndrome and the risk of Barrett's oesophagus in white males. Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 41: 1182–1189. doi: 10.1111/apt.13176
Hilal, J., El-Serag H.B., Ramsey D., Nguyen T., Kramer J.R. (2015), Physical Activity and the risk of Barrett’s Esophagus. Diseases of the Esophagus. doi 10.1111/dote.12336
Preliminary Intern Onita Bhattasali is author of two publications and an oral presentation:
Variability in the reported management of pulmonary metastases in osteosarcoma. Bhattasali O, Vo AT, Roth M, Geller D, Randall RL, Gorlick R, Gill J.
Cancer Med. 4(4):523-31. 2015 Apr.
Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer: What is the Appropriate Patient-Reported Outcome for Clinical Trial Design? Woo JA, Chen LN, Wang H, Cyr RA, Bhattasali O, Kim JS, Moures R, Yung TM1, Lei S, Collins BT, Suy S, Dritschilo A, Lynch JH, Collins SP. Front Oncol. 5:77. 2015 Mar.
Oral presentation:
Intensity-Modulated Proton Therapy is a safe, effective and robust solution to delivering adjuvant treatment following surgery for head and neck adenoid cystic carcinoma in areas of tissue heterogeneity. Onita Bhattasali, Emma Holliday, Merrill S. Kies, Ehab Hanna, Adam S. Garden, David I. Rosenthal, William H. Morrison, G. Brandon Gunn, Jack Phan, X. Ronald Zhu, Steven J. Frank. Accepted for oral presentation at Particle Therapy Co-Operative Group Annual Conference in San Diego, CA. 2015 May.
Categorical second year residents Nicole Zeisig and Ahmed Ansari teamed up to present this awesome case from one of the Baylor teaching hospitals:
Getting to the Heart of It: An Unexpected Metastasis of a Common Malignancy
Nicole Zeisig MD, Ahmed Ansari MD, Jill Grounds MD, Shima Mousavi MD, Neda Zarrin-Khameh MD, MPH, Chirayu Shah MD. Poster accepted for presentation at Society of Hospital Medicine and Society of General Internal Medicine conferences.
Matthew Mrazek, Med-Peds PGY-4, was involved in the publication of:
A phase 2 study of bortezomib in combination with ifosfamide/vinorelbine in paediatric patients and young adults with refractory/recurrent Hodgkin lymphoma: a Children's Oncology Group study.
Horton TM1, Drachtman RA, Chen L, Cole PD, McCarten K, Voss S, Guillerman RP, Buxton A, Howard SC, Hogan SM, Sheehan AM, López-Terrada D, Mrazek MD, Agrawal N, Wu MF, Liu H, De Alarcon PA, Trippet TM, Schwartz CL.
British Journal of Hematology 2015.
Representing BCM at National ACP in Boston, Massachusetts in April 2015:
Too Blue Not to Be True: A Night Float's Diagnostic Dilemma
National Champion Minal Shah!
"Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Masquerading as a Traumatic Joint Effusion"
Andrea Shioleno MD, Shital Patel MD
'More Than Just A Cramp: Spontaneous Hemoperitoneum A Rare Cause of Exercise Related Abdominal Pain'. Gregory Constantine MD, Lee Lu MD.
BCM was well represented at National SGIM in Toronto, April 2015:
Min Ji Kim (PGY-2), Muneeza Muhammad(PGY-1), and Chief Resident Maulin Shah had two cases accepted for presentation at national SGIM in Toronto, Canada:
When a Murmur Is Not Just a Sound: Diagnosing Carcinoid Syndrome
Min Ji Kim, Maulin Shah, Muneeza Muhammad
Rheum Service Please! The Case of an Unusual Rash
Muneeza Muhammad, Min Ji Kim, Maulin Shah
Randy Chung (PGY-2)_ presented at National SGIM in Toronto as well, with the following cases
"AKI form Acute Unilateral Ureteral Obstruction: One Hard Calculus Problem"
Randy Chung, MD, Andrew Caruso, MD, and Jeffrey T Bates, MD
"Spindled Out of Control: A Rare, Aggressive Form of Lung Cancer"
Randy Chung, MD and Jeffrey T Bates, MD
Presented at Society of Hospital Medicine National Meeting (Washington, DC, March 2015) and Society of General Internal Medicine International Meeting (Toronto, Canada, April 2015)
Allison Ramsey (PGY-2) also represented with 2 cases with the help of Gail Crear on one:
"PSA: Prostate Service Announcement"
Allison Ramsey MD, Gail Crear MD, Jeffrey T Bates MD, and Andrew Caruso MD
"PSC: Primarily suspect cholangiocarcinoma"
Allison Ramsey, MD and Jeffrey T Bates, MD
Daniel Zhang (PGY-1) and Brendan Gilmore (PGY-1) had a strong showing with the case:
"Don't fall for it: A careful history and physical revealing superior vena cava syndrome (SVC) may be crucial in early detection of small cell lung cancer (SCLC).
Representing BCM at Digestive Diseases Week 2015 in Washington D.C.:
Cirrhosis is Under-recognized in Patients Subsequently Diagnosed with Hepatocellular Cancer. Megan Walker, MD; Hashem B. El-Serag, MD, MPH; Yvonne Sada, MD; Sahil Mittal, MD; Zhigang Duan; Jessica A. Davila, PhD, MPH; Fasiha Kanwal, MD, MSHS
Statins are Underutilized in Patients with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Dyslipidemia
Pierre Blais, Hashem El-Serag, Jennifer R. Kramer, Fasiha Kanwal
Metabolic syndrome and the risk of Barrett's oesophagus in white males. Thrift, A. P., Hilal, J. and El-Serag, H. B.
Psychosocial Interventions to Achieve Abstinence in Patients With Chronic Liver & Disease and Alcohol Use Disorders: A Systematic Review Anam Khan, Aylin Tansel, Donna White, Pierre Blais, Jan Lindsay, Hashem B. El-Serag, Fasiha Kanwal
The American College of Gastroenterology National Conference in Philadelphia:
'Assessing Multiple Variable in Adenoma Detection: An Interim Analysis' Vizute, J., Wendorff, G., Ayyar, B. Constantine, G., Taboada, C., Randall, C.
Crohn's Flare causes a Catastrophe Anam Khan, Yamini Natarajan, Joseph Sellin
And of course, Southern SGIM in New Orleans in February 2015:
Parvovirus B19: Not Just Your Toddler's Slapped Cheek Rash
Shira Sachs MD, Sarvari Yellapragada MD
Humanism in Medicine
Quality Improvement Corner
VA Quality Chiefs’ (CRQS) Corner
Dear All,
Each firm finished the 4+1 Quality Improvement course, and the PGY2s from each group have completed their own Quality Improvement projects! The results of these projects were presented within each firm, at the BCM Department of Medicine Research Symposia, and the BCM Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Conference. We were truly impressed by the time and effort you put into improving the processes that your groups identified. You can find a summary of each project in the Quality Improvement folder on Blackboard.
The projects are as follows:
Firm A: Increasing the rate of age appropriate DEXA screening for women at Quentin Mease Clinic
Firm B: Improving pneumovax vaccination rates in diabetic patients at the Quentin Mease Clinic
Firm C: Reducing the number of paging errors to medicine teams at the MEDVAMC
Firm D: Implementation of a case-based teaching guide for residents on wards at the MEDVAMC
Firm E: Increasing correctly-timed vancomycin troughs through a vancomycin order set at the MEDVAMC.
We have also been working on a number of initiatives at the VA that we hope will improve patient care and help everyone rotating with us.
1. Systems-based Morbidity and Mortality Conferences
2. Debriefing sessions after challenging events
3. Overnight provider check-ins between physicians, nurses and bed control to help coordinate care and get help when needed
4. CPRS Downtime Crash Carts
5. Bar Code Medication Administration in the Emergency Room
6. Clinical decision support order menus
If you have questions about any of these projects or would like to get involved, please email us!
Thanks,
Mayur Parepally and David Rubio
First Annual Raymond D. Pruitt Memorial Lecture
Welcome to Baylor! Dr. Winkelmayer
Dr. Wolfgang Winkelmayer is the new Gordon A. Cain Chair of Nephrology and Professor of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
He is originally from Vienna, Austria. He earned an MPH in Health Care Management (1999) and a Doctor of Science degree in Health Policy (2001) from Harvard University. This was followed by 8 years as faculty of Brigham and Women¹s Hospital and Harvard Medical School where he established himself as a leader and researcher in comparative-effectiveness research as it pertains to kidney disease. He then made a cross country move to Stanford University where he spent 5 years as Director of Clinical Research in the Division of Nephrology. His main areas of research interest include the treatment of anemia as well as the effectiveness and safety of interventions for cardiovascular disease in patients with kidney disease. He serves as the Associate Editor for Nephrology of JAMA and is a Co-Editor of the American Journal of kidney Disease. Since 2010, he has served on the Public Policy Board of the American Society of Nephrology. We are incredibly fortunate to have Dr. Winkelmayer and look forward to his leadership.
Is there an app for that?
Advocacy Corner
Many of us were very active in volunteerism in high school, college, and even in medical school. However as residents, we don't necessarily have the time or the knowledge of the avenues we have to participate in volunteerism and nurture a passion for advocacy.
For more information, visit:
http://www.doctorsforchange.org/hope/contact/
In the meantime, From Wilson Lam himself:
Doctors For Change is a Houston-based health care advocacy non-profit comprised of physicians, trainees, and all forms of health care workers interested in improving the health of Houstonians and Texans. We capped off 3 visits to Austin for the 84th biennial regular session of the Texas Legislature. There we met with senators and representatives to discuss issues such as access to care, mental health, human trafficking, immunizations, social work, early education, and much much more. Texas is making bipartisan strides toward improving health of its citizens.
Another exciting release is the DFC Access to Care guide which can be found online at dfcguide.org. Here you will find Prescriptions for a Healthier Houston including a mobile-friendly app to navigate the health care exchange, resources of finding medications, community resources, and identifying the patient in need.
Children at Risk is another nonprofit aimed at improving the quality of life of children through research, public policy, education, collaboration, and advocacy. In April, they just celebrated their 9th Annual Gala with an evening featuring the Temptations! For more information, check out: childrenatrisk.org.
Get to know your Associate PRogram Director
The Inspirational Dr. Chirayu Shah
During medical school, I was paired up for Anatomy class with this beautiful young woman named Vandana. Like the spoof done at our wedding, the long hours around the anatomy tank and the intoxicating fumes of formaldehyde must have played a role in sparking my love for her. We got married a few days after medical school and then finished residency at Baylor. With a bit of luck, I was able to land my "dream job" by joining the Ben Taub faculty and then started working with the residency program under Dr. Hamill's leadership. With an interest in medical education, it only took me 4 years to finish the 2-year Masters in Education. I have an interest in developing innovative curriculum, non-traditional delivery models, and outcomes assessments.
The best part of my day is going to pick up our two kids, Sohan and Akash, where I am greeted with the biggest bear hugs. My two "Spidermans" have also influenced my favorite things in life. My favorite book is Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site. My adventures have shifted from cliff jumping to chasing my kids around the park. And I have a new appreciation for all the superheros.
I'll end with my favorite quote from the Dalai Lama when he was asked what surprised him the most about humanity. "Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived."
Tech Corner
Doximity. Facebook for doctors?! And you can get it on your phone
Yep. Now you can stalk that medical school classmate that was too snooty to be on Facebook. Contact other physicians in a HIPA friendly way. And look for job openings and find alumnus in the area of your choice. (SoCal here we come!)
Fig.1 Snapchat all the cool stuff we see!
Ever had a rash that you weren't exactly sure about or see a mass that didn't look right. Enter Fig 1, now you can take a picture and have specialists look at it and help you with the answer. Can I do this with board questions?! Please and thank you...
NEJM this week
Challenge yourself with the image of the week! And peek in on those procedure videos right before you put your first solo central line at 3 am on BSLMC night float. Fun times!