Recently, the appointment of ten new professors became official within the Department of Internal Medicine. One professorial announcement from fiscal year 2021 was also recently approved.

Learn more about their journeys to professor below.

Joseph Akar, MD, PhD, was filled with joy when he learned he earned the rank of professor. It fills me with tremendous pride to have my clinical and academic accomplishments acknowledged by my peers in the heart rhythm space, and by aspirational Yale faculty. Being part of this distinguished group gives validation for the hard work over the years.

He contacted his family immediately, he considers his wife Rana his north star throughout his academic journey, and a true force for good. Upon receipt of the news, his son Nedi gave him a huge hug, and then asked for cake.

He loves the feeling of wonder that comes with discovery in the world of academia. Akar credits Yale for having a special place in his heart since he came to New Haven for his residency training. So, coming back home to the institution I love and subsequently being promoted within the Yale family is the crowning achievement of my career, he said.

Fun fact: Akar was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon. Upon arrival to the U.S. for college, the first phone call to his family was to inform his brother that there is so much green in the U.S., you can practically play soccer anywhere. He is a die-hard soccer fan and huge supporter of the Arsenal Football Club.

Ursula Brewster, MD, loves nephrology. She fell in love with it in Medical School where Dr. Fred Appleton taught the 2nd year nephrology course. He instilled in her a healthy respect for the kidney, and a love for longitudinal patient relationships. While undergoing subsequent clinical training at Yale, she was spoiled by brilliant clinicians who modelled what it was to be a great physician and educator, Brewster said. I trained with so many great people, but I really connected to the nephrology way of thinking, and was star struck by the likes of Dr. Asghar Rastegar and Dr. Mark Perazella.

She is grateful to all those who invested time into making her a better physician and educator. And since she has been at Yale since 1998, she jokes that thats a long list of people. When she found out about her promotion, she snuck over to hug Margaret Bia, MD, professor emeritus of medicine (nephrology), whom Brewster credits as a life mentor and advocate for a generation of women physicians at Yale. When she started at Yale, Dr. Bia was the only other woman in the section, and has been a support, a champion and a friend throughout her entire career.

She derives pride from the fellows that she teaches as the director of the Nephrology Fellowship program. Each year, a new group of brilliant, energetic young physicians start in our nephrology fellowship, and watching them progress through the training program, and into their own careers is such fun. It is a very rigorous program, filled with ups and downs, but each and every year they make me so proud, she said. She loves to hear from them once they are out in practice. She regularly receives texts about great diagnoses they made, academic accolades, and their policy work. But her favorite messages to receive from them are the wedding and baby pictures.

Brewster loves being in academia. Being surrounded by brilliant and passionate people who want to push the edge of our understanding of medicine and the human condition is just thrilling. Watching great minds at work simply never gets old.

But she does need to unplug on occasion, so she goes off the grid. Every summer, her family travels to a small remote lakeside cabin in the Maritimes, Canada.

No electricity, no cell towers, no one else can get there and there is no outside information that comes in. Truly disconnecting from the pace of this job is really important for me to recharge and it has become almost impossible with the EMR. As clinicians, if we have the ability to check on a patient we are worrying about, we will. You cant turn that off. And if we see something wrong, then we have to do something about it. Pretty soon we are spending our time away on EPIC. We all do it. The only way not to is to either have more self-control than I have to not check in the first place or to go so far away you cant check even if you want to. So thats what I do. And its great.

When Sarwat Chaudhry, MD, found out that she was promoted to professor, she thanked three people who were instrumental in her career: Patrick OConnor, MD, MPH, MACP; David Fiellin, MD; and Harlan Krumholz, MD, SM. Dr. Patrick OConnor is my section chief who provided enduring and tireless encouragement; Dr. David Fiellin provided the professional guidance I needed to make it across the promotion finish line; and Dr. Harlan Krumholz interviewed me for the Clinical Scholars Program over 20 years ago and has been a fierce supporter, advocate, and friend ever since, explained Chaudhry. She credits this trio and her other amazing colleagues as her favorite part of academia.

Chaudhry said that it is very validating to have her professional accomplishments recognized as worthy of promotion to full professor by Yale School of Medicines senior faculty. On a practical note, its great that I wont have to go through the review process again! she joked.

During her career, she is most proud of developing insights that can improve the way we provide care for patients and supporting the development of the next generation of physician-scientists.

Fun fact about Chaudhry: She can deadlift 200 pounds!

Lauren Cohn, MD, started her medical career working in the lab studying the immunology of asthma in preclinical models. Her laboratory, along with others, defined the cytokine pathways underlying asthma pathobiology. Pharmaceutical companies took this knowledge to design monoclonal antibody therapeutics to block the pathways. Cohn and team tested the medications in clinical trials, which then led to a use of the therapeutics in the clinic.

My career has spanned a period of remarkable advancement in asthma care, from bench to bedside. I have had a unique opportunity to harness my deep interest in lung immunity, understand some of the mysteries of asthma and offer life-changing therapies to patients with severe asthma and other complex lung diseases, said Cohn.

Her promotion validated her effort to expand the understanding of lung diseases and apply it to patient care. In fact, when she learned about the promotion, she continued with her day, caring for the next patient on her schedule.

Cohn admits the process of learning and sharing in academia is both inspiring and humbling. The academic environment allows me to ask penetrating questions about lung diseases. It provides time to dig deep into understanding my patients, inspiring colleagues who are knowledgeable and committed and who have similar motivations, and then the imperative to disseminate this knowledge by teaching those around me.

Fun fact: Cohn wore a cast on her left leg for much of high school, after breaking her tibia and fibula in a bicycle accident and later in a gymnastics meet. The surgeon told me I wasnt going to win any beauty pageants given my leg. I told him I was going to medical school, so I didnt care, said Cohn.

A cardiologist, Jeptha Curtis, MD, works to improve the quality of care delivered to patients with coronary artery disease and those undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. Upon learning about his promotion, Curtis enjoyed a brief moment of tremendous satisfaction, and then started the next case. Upon returning home that evening, he has a celebratory drink with his wife, happy that the process is completed. Curtis credits her patience and support for making everything possible.

Throughout his career, he is most proud of the success of his mentees. He loves academia because he can work with some of the smartest and most committed people in the world to have a positive impact on the care of patients with heart disease.

Fun fact: Some people say that Curtis has too many antique cars. He respectfully disagrees.

Neera Dahl, MD, PhD, came to Yale School of Medicine 15 years ago and helped build the clinical polycystic kidney disease (PKD) program. Her nephrology section chief applauded this accomplishment, along with Dahls promotion in an announcement to the team and included one important detail that was unknown to Dahl; that Yales PKD program is now one of the largest in the country.

When notified that she was being promoted to professor, she emailed her PhD thesis advisor. I had just seen her recently as I was in Boston for the National Kidney Foundation meeting, and it was finally safe to connect. I was her first graduate student, and I think at the time we were both a little uncertain of our future success. She went on to do brilliant things and recently retired as acting chair and a tenured professor in physiology, said Dahl.

Dahl appreciated that she took a chance on her, because she admits that she wasnt a very disciplined student at the time. She told me she was stronger for having had me in the lab, and I knew she understood the effort in the achievement, said Dahl.

Dahl knows that the promotion isnt something she achieved alone. It was a group effortpatients, nurses, the clinical trials team, my friends, family, mentors, and colleagues all supported this process. I am celebrating their efforts as well.

Overall, Dahl cites a joy of academia is the ability to teach, informally or formally. She works extensively with fellows and post-grads and notes that they always bring different talents and ambitions to their roles. She said, It is a privilege to be able to shape that raw energy into academic success.

She credits Yale with giving her the resources to create a program from scratch. I have learned that at Yale if I can imagine a program, we can build it. There are many resources that can be leveraged, so its just a matter of holding on until the infrastructure forms underneath you. I am grateful to everyone who has shared or offered resources or advice.

She also acknowledges the administrative staff for their resourcefulness. They are unsung heroes, said Dahl. If you tell them what you need, they can usually create it for youwe've acquired everything from spare furniture to extra closet space to innovative patient-facing scheduling this way.

Fun fact: Dahl is really into bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, and anything that can be considered a pollinator. She has always enjoyed gardening but during the pandemic, it became an obsession. She tore up parts of her front lawn to make a wildflower meadow and rain garden. Last fall, she planted to extend the season for the early pollinators, and now has been watching with delight as her garden is both blooming in late April/early May and attracting pollinators, although she says that the bees still look cold.

Within medicine, teaching has always been the greatest love of Alfred Lee, MD, PhD. After completing his residency and fellowship training in Boston, he actively pursued faculty positions oriented towards teaching. I chose to return to Yale because of what seemed like an extraordinary commitment on the part of the institution to the teaching mission of academic medicine, far beyond other institutions I looked at, said Lee.

Along with directing the Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program, Lee also teaches the hematology course for the Yale medical students. In August, he gave the keynote address at the White Coat Ceremony for the incoming first year medical students, where he spoke about the nonlinearity of his own path to becoming a clinician-educator, which saw him exploring career interests in music and science before finding his calling as a physician. I always try to reassure students and trainees that unexpected detours are all part of the natural process of learning and professional development, and that these experiences make us all better doctors and better people in the end. Lee said that his promotion to professor is confirmation that Yale genuinely values teaching as one of its core academic principles.

Two fun facts about Lee:

The favorite part of working in academia for Richard A. Martinello, MD, are the opportunities to collaborate with colleagues and students both within and external to Yale, which have culminated in meaningful scientific advancements, along with the opportunity to impact the processes, practice, and operations at Yale New Haven Health, which improves quality and safety for patients and staff. He also enjoys teaching and mentoring talented, energetic students.

Throughout his career, he is most proud of the research he has done and the teams that he has built and led. Martinello acknowledges that the road he has taken to professor has been a long and challenging journey, with uncertainties, but is proud of his accomplishment. [Being a professor] further cements my role as a mentor and will allow me additional opportunities which I can share with others who are not quite as far down the career path as me, said Martinello.

This path has led him to work with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in different capacities, from working with the VA to lead the response to the 2009 pandemic; participating in the initial development of federal Combatting Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria plans and implementation; and leading the VAs increased involvement to further vaccinate veterans and VA staff. When he was working in the VA Central Office in Washington, D.C., he would attend occasional meetings at the White House, including in the Situation Room.

When he received the news, he had an immediate sense of joy and relief, and shared the news with his wife and family.

Fun fact: Bicycling is Martinellos hobby, and he logs thousands of miles each year. His longest ride to date is 107 miles.

When he found out about his promotion to professor, William Ravich, MD, said he immediately called his wife Elaine, because she had been waiting as long as I had.

To Ravich, being promoted to professor represents a level of recognition for my work that is really appreciated. Traditionally, prestigious medical institutions - including Yale - have been reluctant to promote faculty who are primarily clinicians, to professor, but The Times They Are A-Changin, Ravich said.

His favorite part of academia is teaching in clinic. Ravich believes there is nothing better than sharing his experience and thoughts in the context of trying to solve a patients clinical problem. Taking care of patients is always interesting and challenging but sharing my experience with gastroenterology (GI) fellows, medical residents, and medical students now thats the icing on the cake.

When asked about his career accomplishments, Ravich responded that he was most proud of his expertise in the field of swallowing disorders. Through my experience taking care of patients with difficult swallowing problems, during which I have collaborated with clinicians from a variety of specialties, I have developed what I believe to be a unique perspective on the evaluation and treatment of swallowing disorders.

Fun fact about Ravich: During the 1980s, he served as an informal consultant to the National Zoo in Washington DC. In that capacity he performed endoscopies on a giant panda and an orangutan, lead into publications in the veterinary literature.

When Donna Windish, MD, MPH, found out she was being promoted to professor, she immediately told her husband and 10-year-old son. Because it was two weeks before Christmas, her son convinced her to wait to tell the rest of the family until Christmas Eve. To prepare for the big announcement, he created a video montage of her career in medicine, adding graphics and music, and recording the narration. On December 24, he presented his video tribute. I was surprised what he understood of what I/we do in medicine. It was well-done, so kind, and touching. I cried, admitted Windish.

Her promotion is special. I feel my hard work as a clinician-educator and scholar has been recognized by my peers at Yale and across the country as being important. I hope that my promotion will inspire other clinician-educators to find enjoyment in educational scholarly work and purse their own areas of interest.

Throughout her career, she is most proud of the two programs she developed: the Yale General Internal Medicine (GIM) Medical Education Fellowship Program, and the Department of Internal Medicine Advancement of Clinician-Educator Scholarship (ACES) Faculty Development Program.

The Yale General Internal Medicine Medical Education Fellowship Program started in 2016 and was built from her accumulated experience and ideas of what knowledge, attitudes, and skills a clinician-educator scholar needs to succeed in academic medicine. The fellowship has become a popular option for internal medicine residents looking into academic careers and who want to be scholarly clinician-educators. I truly am impressed at how successful the program graduates have become as clinician scholars, educators, and leaders, said Windish.

In 2019, Windish started ACES, a program is designed to improve the educational scholarship of junior clinician-educators in the department. She used the blueprints of the Yale GIM Medical Education Fellowship program to put this new program forward. Windish is excited to see the ideas of the junior faculty participants come alive in their curriculum development, abstract presentations, publications, grants, and leadership positions.

Fun fact about Windish: She is an avid baker who loves to try new recipes and expand her repertoire. While she has made many desserts over the years, her most favorite are the hand decorated birthday cakes of varying shapes and sizes: trains, cars, bulls, bunnies, video game characters, etc. These cakes were designed for her son, niece, and nephew, but were enjoyed by all, she said. If medicine were not her calling, she thinks she would open a pastry shop!

Eric Winer, MD, was named professor in 2008 during his time at Harvard Medical School. Upon his return to Yale School of Medicine (YSM) earlier this year, he was appointed as professor of medicine (medical oncology) and named the Alfred Gilman Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology.

Being a professor at YSM is meaningful to Winer because New Haven is where he began his career in medicine. He is thrilled to have returned to Yale, where he earned his undergraduate degree, medical degree, and completed his residency training.

It is special to be a Yale professor having attended Yale College and Yale School of Medicine, and then serving as a house officer in internal medicine. When I was a college student, I never thought that I would ultimately become a professor, said Winer.

He loves mentoring residents, fellows, and junior faculty. While at Harvard, he was honored with a lifetime mentoring award, an honor that he was very proud to receive.

An additional source of pride for Winer is both his clinical work that focuses on patients with breast cancer and the research he has done that has led to significant improvements in cancer care.

Fun fact about Winer: He did not take any science as an undergraduate. He majored in history and Russian Studies, but ultimately decided he did not want to work for the CIA.

The Department of Internal Medicine at Yale is among the nation's premier departments, bringing together an elite cadre of clinicians, investigators, educators, and staff in one of the world's top medical schools. To learn more, visit Internal Medicine.

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Eleven New Professors Appointed in Department of Internal Medicine - Yale School of Medicine

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Juanita Franklin was driving through the East Texas town of Gun Barrel City a couple of years ago when she saw a new sign down the road from the Christian Life Center food pantry where she volunteers. It promised something she desperately needed: Healthcare Access for All!

Franklin, whose left leg is amputated below the knee and who has chronic high blood pressure and thyroid problems, is among the 18% of Texans who are trying to survive without health insurance. Thats the highest state rate in the country by far and more than double the national average. The rate is even higher nearly 30% among the 6,400 residents of Gun Barrel City.

The sign Franklin saw that day staked in front of a former office building announced an effort by two local doctors to bring relief to some of those struggling Texans.

Doug Curran and Ted Mettetal have practiced medicine for 80-plus years combined, most of it in a thriving private practice in the town of Athens, about 20 miles east of Gun Barrel City. In 2019, at an age when most physicians are ready to retire, the longtime friends set out on a new venture: opening a safety-net clinic that would treat anyone, regardless of their ability to pay.

Such clinics are urgently needed because low-income Texans have less access to health care than residents of any other state.

Eligibility for Texas Medicaid the federal-state partnership that provides health insurance to low-income Americans is so restrictive that a family of three is denied coverage if it earns more than $4,000 a year. Those who do qualify may not be able to find doctors who accept the public insurance because the states reimbursement rates are so low. A 2017 survey found that a third of Texas doctors refuse to accept new Medicaid patients.

Curran has tried for years to persuade the Republican-dominated state Legislature to address these problems. When he served as president of the Texas Medical Association from 2018 to 2019, he made it his mission to get Gov. Greg Abbotts signature on a bill to expand Medicaid coverage, a position 69% of Texans now support, according to a 2020 poll by the Episcopal Health Foundation. But Texas remains among 12 states that have refused expansion, even though the federal government would pay at least 90% of the cost.

I basically spent a year of my life trying to convince Texas legislators that they really ought to value our people more, they ought to provide better access for all our people, especially our working poor, said Curran, who leans conservative but has grown increasingly progressive. But our state has not had the wisdom of engaging that.

If Texas expanded Medicaid as envisioned in the 2010 Affordable Care Act, a family of three could qualify for health care coverage if it earned as much as $31,000.

In 2019, Curran and Mettetal along with Athens native Glen Robison, who had managed their private practice began planning to close at least a sliver of the health care gap themselves.

The idea was to build a network of safety-net clinics to serve a mostly rural area east of Dallas, beginning with the clinic in Gun Barrel City. Theyd combine the clinics with a medical residency program to bring desperately needed new doctors into the region.

To launch the East Texas Community Clinic, or ETCC, they persuaded two local organizations to put up $200,000 in seed money. For long-term funding they set out to apply to a federal agency, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, which offers millions of dollars in grants and enhanced Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements to qualified clinics in poorly served areas.

In a series of interviews with Public Health Watch over the past 13 months, Curran, Mettetal and Robison laid out what has happened in the three years since they launched their grand plan.

Much of what they had envisioned has gone as expected. The need for the clinics is certainly there. If anything, its greater than they had imagined. And their residency program, a collaboration with the University of Texas Health Science Center in Tyler, has been even more successful than they had hoped.

Where they went wrong, Curran said, was in underestimating how hard it would be to get a good thing done.

They had hoped to receive the federal funding relatively quickly by the end of 2021 because to them the health care needs in Texas seemed so obvious and urgent. But the bureaucracy has moved at a glacial pace.

I thought, were gonna do this thing and everyone will recognize the need and say lets absolutely help you, but thats not what happened, Curran said.

To calm his frustrations, Curran, who is 73, likes to reflect on the story of Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer who led the first successful trek to the South Pole. Amundsen succeeded because he persisted in pushing forward 20 miles each day, Curran points out, no matter how harsh the conditions.

Thats kind of how weve done this, he said.

* * *

The Gun Barrel City clinic opened at 8 a.m. on May 20, 2020. As Curran waited for the first patients to arrive, he wondered for a moment what he had gotten himself into.

Here I am, 70 years old, starting a new adventure, he said. You kind of ask yourself, what in Gods name am I doing?

His friend Mettetal was 69. And Robison, then 45, had left a steady job and taken a pay cut to join them. The plan may have seemed crazily ambitious to an outsider, but the three men had seen firsthand the consequences of people having to forgo care because they couldnt afford it. They felt compelled to help.

Retirement didnt suit the doctors, anyway. They relished the joys and pace of small-town medicine: delivering a baby in the morning, stitching up a wound in the afternoon, making a house call after work.

When youre used to going 90 miles an hour, you kind of go stir crazy, Mettetal said.

Robison had the technical skills to run day-to-day operations and navigate the clinic toward steady, long-term funding. The doctors had state and local connections that could help them patch together start-up funds and resources.

A group of physicians from their former private practice in Athens agreed to buy the 1,900-square-foot Gun Barrel City building and lease it to them. They used an economic-development loan to gut the old accounting office and create four small exam rooms.

The Dallas-based Ginger Murchison Foundation, whose namesake had deep ties to Henderson County, where ETCC is based, and Ardent Health, a privately owned company that operates health care facilities in Texas and other states, donated the $200,000 in seed money. A third funder the East Texas Medical Center Foundation stepped up after Curran drove one of its board members, a neurosurgeon and old friend, to Waco to visit a safety-net clinic similar to what ETCC was hoping to build. So much in life, its not what you know, its who you know, Curran said.

To save money, Curran and Mettetal worked without pay, on alternate days, six days a week. The clinics doors were open 10 hours on weekdays, six hours on Saturdays.

Weve never read anything in the Bible that talks about retirement, said Mettetal, who, like Curran, grew up in rural Arkansas. The two met in medical school at the University of Arkansas, where they were both members of the Baptist Student Union. They still worship together at the First Baptist Church in Athens.

The Gun Barrel City clinic offered all the services that a private family practice would preventive screenings, chronic-disease management, immunizations, lab work, prenatal care, child wellness checkups. They used some of their precious start-up money to bring in a pediatrician, Alice Splinter, two times a week.

But there was one big difference between this clinic and their old practice. Patients paid only what they could afford, even if that meant they couldnt pay anything at all. Everyone was welcome.

Patients rolled in slowly at first, maybe a dozen a day.

But word quickly spread, and within a couple of weeks the clinic was booked. Some people traveled hours for the chance to see a doctor.

It was like instantly, we had a full schedule, we were seeing patients left and right, said Colby Estrada, the front-desk receptionist.

Estrada, 22, had always known that plenty of locals couldnt afford health care. Her own father, a rancher, doesnt have medical insurance. But she was shocked by the number of people who came through the door. It wasnt uncommon for 80 to pass through in a single day.

Many had been forced to delay treatment for so long that their ailments had become more costly and complex to treat.

One woman had postponed surgery for an abdominal tumor because she had lost her job and health insurance. Some people had been living with untreated diabetes. Others were on the cusp of kidney failure. The doctors rarely went a week without seeing someone who lived in a car.

It was mind-blowing, Estrada said. Its just amazing to see us help everybody.

Estradas father, Emilio, now comes to ETCC for care. So does her mother, Debra, who works a mile down the road at the local WIC office, which serves low-income women and children. Debra sends her WIC clients there, too.

Its so great to be able to say that right down the road theres a clinic thats sliding-scale, they dont turn anyone away, she said.

The doctors had always known Texans were suffering because they couldnt afford health care. But seeing the reality of the unmet needs was unsettling.

You delude yourself into thinking its not that bad, Curran said. Its pretty bad.

Juanita Franklin, 58, the woman who had seen the clinics sign on her way to volunteer at church, was among the clinics first patients. She and her husband, Kevin, had spent eight years trying to find consistent care for his prostate cancer.

In 2019, when Kevin became too sick to work, he finally qualified for Social Security disability benefits and Medicare. But when his new benefits were added to their household income, Franklin lost the disability assistance that had made her eligible for Texas Medicaid. Shes been uninsured ever since.

It was very scary, she said. I didnt know what else to do but pray.

Franklin now considers ETCC her medical home.

* * *

While Curran and Mettetal were treating the first patients, Robison was running the business side of the clinic. They couldnt survive on donations. They needed the steady stream of funding that the Health Resources and Services Administration offers clinics deemed federally qualified health centers, or FQHCs.

Becoming an FQHC is such a grueling process that many groups hire consultants to do the paperwork for them. To save money, Robison took on the job himself.

The clinic had to be up and running six months before he could even submit an application. During that period, it had to abide by strict FQHC rules to prove it was worthy of the special designation. It couldnt refuse care to anyone. It had to make its services easily accessible. And most of the people on its board of directors had to be patients at the clinic.

The application also required extensive data to prove that the clinics service area which stretched over three counties and included more than 47,000 low-income residents actually needed an FQHC.

Its easy to understand why theres not one of these on every corner, Mettetal said.

Robisons life took on a new rhythm: Build the clinic by day, then write about it in the application that night. He said it felt a bit like walking across a bridge as it was being built.

In January 2021, Robison submitted the 234-page application.

In just seven months, the Gun Barrel City clinic had tallied roughly 7,000 patient visits, and its benefits were already being felt in the emergency room at a nearby University of Texas outpatient facility, which often serves as a safety net for people without health coverage.

Wes Knight, chief financial officer at UT Health East Texas-Athens, said that during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the ER would have expected an upturn, uninsured visits dropped about 3 percentage points.

The UT facility saw another benefit: It could refer its uninsured ER patients to Gun Barrel City for follow-up care. Curran and Mettetal think the clinic has saved the local hospital system hundreds of thousands of dollars in uncompensated care.

Robison thought details like these would prove that the clinic deserved FQHC status. People familiar with the process told him hed probably hear back from the Health Resources and Services Administration in about 30 days although he figured it might be a bit longer, given that the nation was in the midst of another COVID-19 surge.

A month ticked by and there was still no word.

In March 2021, Robison sent the Health Resources and Services Administration an email asking about the status of the application.

He got the bad news in a form letter that same day.

Their application had been denied because it hadnt proved they were eligible for FQHC status. The letter didnt specify what needed to be fixed, but suggested that they apply again. Robison would have to start from scratch.

But they never considered giving up. Too many people already depended on ETCC to let it fail. In fact, they were getting ready to open a second clinic, this one in Athens. They needed the space to serve their growing list of patients and to train their first four family-medicine residents, who would be arriving that summer.

I figured it wouldnt be the last time wed get rejected, Curran said.

Curran and Mettetal were accustomed to the ups and downs that come with big, complicated projects. In 2010, Mettetal had founded another nonprofit, Hope Springs Water, which drills clean water wells around the world. Curran owns and helps work the ranch where he lives with his wife, Sandy, and tends more than 250 head of cattle. Both Curran and Mettetal helped start their former private practice in Athens.

They have some of their best ideas including ETCC and Hope Springs Water during their ritual, early-morning walks on a quiet road that runs past Currans ranch and the small cemetery where he has plots for himself and his wife.

But getting the clinics on stable footing was turning out to be much more difficult than they had anticipated.

Their three core donors had committed to keep them afloat until they got through the FQHC application process, but they couldnt depend on charity forever. If they didnt qualify as an official FQHC, their plan would be unsustainable in the long term.

* * *

They opened the Athens clinic in June 2021, a couple of months after their FQHC application was rejected. It sits in the center of Athens medical district, next door to the 127-bed University of Texas Health hospital.

You put it right in the middle of all the health care services so that (patients) realize they get the same care that everybody else gets, Curran said.

Ardent Health, one of their primary funders, owned the medical plaza and donated the space, which had just been vacated. It was a bit of luck kind of a God thing, if you will, Robison said.

The 7,000-square-foot facility was more than three times as big as the Gun Barrel City clinic, and furnishing it on a tight budget was no easy task. The previous practice had left behind some exam beds and desks, but other than that, the rooms were bare.

Robison searched everywhere for good deals. He bought an 18-foot conference table and a hutch for $400 from an attorney who was closing her office in Houston, nearly 200 miles away. He found 14 matching upholstered chairs for the waiting room $86 for the lot from a seller in Cedar Hill, 100 miles to the northwest. He roped the seats to the bed of his truck and drove them home.

I looked like Jed Clampett, said Robison, who keeps a sign on his desk that reminds him to keep hustlin.

Appointments filled up fast in Athens, just as they had in Gun Barrel City. By the end of 2021, the two clinics had logged about 15,000 patient visits and had become local points of pride.

Gary Reaves, who owns a plant nursery in the nearby town of Malakoff, sometimes dropped by with lunch for the front-desk staff. His home shares a fence line with Currans ranch.

Athens is a very tight-knit town, Reaves said. And a lot of it is because of people like Dr. Curran.

Reaves has been Currans patient most of his life, first at Currans private practice and now at ETCC. Ive been blessed that I can afford it, Reaves said. But theres a lot of people that cannot.

Reaves, 67, was a drummer in his high school marching band and remembers seeing a young Curran on the sidelines during football games, checking players for injuries. Years later, when Reaves dad was diagnosed with cancer, Curran cared for him until he died. When Reaves brother passed away last year, Curran stopped by to check on his grieving patient, friend and neighbor.

* * *

In many ways, ETCC was expanding exactly as Curran, Mettetal and Robison had hoped it would. In just over a year, theyd opened two clinics, hired three more doctors, seen thousands of patients and launched a successful residency program.

But financially, they often lived month to month. Whenever their bank accounts got perilously low, they went back to their donors with detailed progress reports and requests for more money.

Robison was rewriting the FQHC application with help from the Texas Association of Community Health Centers. He managed the clinics by day and worked evenings and weekends on the application. He said it was the hardest thing hed ever done, including his four years in the Air Force.

It costs $80,000 to $100,000 a month to keep the clinics running. Their three donors fund about 75% of the operation, because about 70% of their patients either have no insurance, inadequate coverage or state Medicaid coverage, which in Texas comes with very low reimbursement rates.

The state typically pays ETCC about $28 for seeing a Medicaid patient. If it provides that same service to a privately insured patient, it can receive as much as $90.

While Robison wrestled with the FQHC application, it seemed the clinics might get a one-time shot of money from the state.

The Texas Legislature was divvying up $16 billion in federal COVID-19 relief money, and one idea was to use $200 million of it to reboot an incubator program the state had once offered to clinics that were trying to become FQHCs.

Curran traveled to Austin to lobby for the provision.

[It] didnt seem excessive in light of the access-to-care issues that Texas has, he said. Not only was ETCC providing affordable care to thousands of uninsured Texans, it was also training young doctors who might end up staying in the rural region for good.

The Legislature passed the bill in October 2021, but it included $20 million, not $200 million, for the incubator program. Curran was still pleased. He assumed ETCC would be eligible for a big chunk of that money. They needed it to hire 10 more staff members, including another physician, medical assistants, a social worker and two full-time billers to negotiate with insurance companies, so they could capture as much revenue as possible.

But six months after the governor signed the spending bill, the Texas Department of State Health Services still hadnt opened the application process. An agency spokesperson told Public Health Watch in May it was in the process of hiring the program staff to begin the program.

Meanwhile, ETCC was close to running out of money again.

Glen and I just looked and were down to our last $50,000, Curran said. So, here we go again, were out of money. Its just such a pain, you know. Its just very frustrating to have to do this when you know theyre sitting on $20 million.

In a stroke of good timing, the Health Resources and Services Administration reimbursed ETCC $130,000 for uncompensated COVID-19 care the clinics had provided. It would help cover their costs for a couple of more months.

Robison had submitted their new application for FQHC status in March, and a reviewer had already been in touch, asking for a few clarifications. That was a good sign. But there was still no word about a site visit, the critical next step.

Curran and Robison went back to their donors. They got another $200,000 early this summer.

* * *

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A free medical clinic opened in rural East Texas. Thousands poured in for help. - The Texas Tribune

Company: University of ExeterJob title: Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Medical SchoolJob reference: WXRKClosing date: Monday 10th October 2022

The University of Exeter combines world-class research with excellent student satisfaction, from our campuses in the South West of England, in Exeter and Cornwall. We are one of the very few universities to be both a member of the Russell Group and have a Gold award from the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), evidence of our established international reputation for excellence in both research and teaching. Our success is built on a strong partnership with our 30,000 students from 150 countries - and a clear focus on high performance. Based on the vibrant St Lukes Campus, the University of Exeter Medical School is critical part of the Universitys Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, and enjoys a world-leading reputation in several areas of research. The Medical School has three departments and is home to 500 staff and almost 3,000 students.

We are now seeking to appoint a new Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Medical School. The School has contributed to the overall success of the institution and this role will play a pivotal part in the continued growth of the School and its academic activity. Building on an outstanding reputation for research and education, the Dean will be responsible for the strategic development of the School through the effective leadership of staff and research activity in alignment with Exeters 2030 strategic plan. As a Deputy PVC, the Dean will contribute to the development of wider Faculty and University strategy.

Candidates will have a demonstrable ability to lead a department of appropriate scale within a field of science relevant to the medical school. A track record of leading successful growth across both research and teaching activity within in a high performing context will be key. The appointed candidate will bring a collaborative and inclusive management style, an ability to develop partnerships with external stakeholders ideally with but not limited to the NHS and a capacity to lead through influence alongside efficient and effective resource management.

The University of Exeter is committed to excellence in equality, diversity and inclusion in all our activities. Whilst all applicants will be judged on merit alone, we particularly welcome applications from groups currently underrepresented within our working community. The University of Exeter is committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion in all our activities, and we invite candidates from under-represented groups to consider applying for this opportunity.

Saxton Bampfylde Ltd is acting as an employment agency advisor to the University of Exeter on this appointment. For further information about the role, including details about how to apply, please visit http://www.saxbam.com/appointments using reference WXRK. Alternatively, telephone +44 (0)20 7227 0880 (during office hours). Applications should be received by noon on Monday 10th October 2022.

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Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Medical School job with UNIVERSITY OF EXETER | 310002 - Times Higher Education

Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine is going head-to-head with three other medical schools as part of a friendly competition being held in the name of saving lives.

The 2022 Bone Marrow Donor Registration Drive is now underway.

OUWB has partnered with Be The Match the National Marrow Donor Programs annual bone marrow registration drive thats aimed at educating and signing up as many potential donors as possible.

Led by medical students from the Student National Medical Association (SNMA), OUWB will compete with other medical schools in Michigan and Indiana to try and be the one that signs up the most people for the national bone marrow registry.

The drive will consist of in-person events this week as well as an option to participate online through Nov. 15.

Tiffany Williams, director, Diversity & Inclusion, credits students from SNMA for leading the effort.

Theyve been very diligent in making this drive a priority every year, she says. Its a testament that theyve been able to continue the drive, especially since it had to be completely virtual for the last two years.

OUWB is big on compassion

The importance of the bone marrow registry cannot be overstated.

Bone marrow donations have the ability to help with more than 70 diseases that can be treated by a blood stem cell transplant, including leukemia and lymphoma, sickle cell disease, inherited immune disorders, and more.

According to the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), Be The Match helped facilitate nearly 6,7000 blood stem cell transplants or other cell therapies in 2021.

OUWB has been participating in the bone marrow donor registration drive since 2014, after OUWBs Student National Medical Association (SNMA) proposed the idea.

Williams says it makes sense for the OUWB community to be involved in the drive because it reflects a commitment to giving back and getting involved in the community.

OUWB is big on compassion and serving the community, says Williams. (The bone marrow donor registration drive) falls right in live with that.

How does it work?

The drive is open to those who are 18 to 40 years of age, in general good health, and willing to donate to any searching patient.

The way it works is relatively simple: An individual swabs the inside of the cheek to generate a sample that is used to compare, and ideally match up, specific protein markers with patients who need a bone marrow transplant.

In-person swabs can be done Tuesday, Oct. 11, from 10 a.m. to noon; Thursday, Oct. 13, from 10 a.m. to noon; and Friday, Oct. 14, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. On those dates and times, medical students from SNMA will be at a registration table in the Oakland Center.

Williams says one of the most exciting aspects of this years drive is that it will have an in-person element for the first time since 2019.

Being in-person gives the drive that personal touch, she says. Were able to explain face-to-face the importance of registering to potentially be a donor, as well as provide access to swab kits.

There are two other ways for people to participate.

One is to text MSOUWB22to61474for a swab kit to be sent in the mail the return the swabs to Be The Match by Nov. 15.

Another is to use this link to register online and request a swab kit.

Williams says the goal is to register as many people as possible. As an extra incentive, OUWB is competing with medical schools from Central Michigan University, Indiana University, and Wayne State University.

The school that secures the most registrations by Nov. 15 will win bragging rights, according to Williams.

OUWB won the competition in 2020, and Williams says she is looking forward to the results from this year.

Were going to bring it home, she says.

For more information, contact Andrew Dietderich, marketing writer, OUWB, at adietderich@oakland.edu.

To request an interview, visit the OUWB Communications & Marketingwebpage.

NOTICE: Except where otherwise noted, all articles are published under aCreative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. You are free to copy, distribute, adapt, transmit, or make commercial use of this work as long as you attribute Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine as the original creator and include a link to this article.

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Competition heats up between OUWB, other med schools in bone marrow drive - News at OU

5. Write a personal statement that makes you stand out.

When applying for medical school, you will be required to write a personal statement. Although, this essay is often the last part of the application process, you should start preparing for it as early as possible. This is one part of the admissions process in which you can have direct influence and should aim for the best product possible.

While admissions committees often emphasize that they do not advise students about what to write in their personal statement, there are specific themes and topics that can be included. Your personal statement should reflect your goals and the qualities that are unique to you, so that you stand out. As you start your essay, take the time to carefully reflect on the academic foundation you have built and the experiences that have contributed to the development of your character and led to your decision to pursue a career in medicine.

Medical school admission requirements include a personal interview, though the specific processes differ among schools. Interviews may take place on or off campus. Interviews may be conducted by an admissions committee member, by multiple members of the admissions committee, or by off-campus interviewers, such as practicing physicians and/or current students. Generally, the interview assessments are added to the admissions file.

During the interview be prepared to answer questions in the following topical areas:

Medical school admissions committees view involvement in extracurricular activities very favorably. If you can maintain a competitive grade point average in a rigorous curriculum and still actively participate in extracurricular activities, this demonstrates a high aptitude and work ethic. Many successful pre-med students join a variety of organizations, play varsity and intramural sports, participate in theatrical and singing groups, and volunteer. Leadership positions in these areas can also show commitment and personal growth. However, it must be emphasized that no amount of involvement in extracurricular activities can substitute for a good academic record or strong MCAT scores. Successful pre-med students have clear priorities and have learned to manage their time wisely.

Work experience related to the medical field is of particular value when applying to medical school. The primary value of working in a hospital, doctors office, public health clinic, or nursing home is to increase your exposure to the field and also help you decide whether to pursue a career in medicine. Many admissions committees will view this type of medically-related work experience favorably. This is not a medical school prerequisite to admissions, but is becoming increasingly important.

Students who have shadowed health professionals show that they have taken the initiative to investigate their career choice and have spent time and effort learning about the career. It is very important to keep track of physicians you have shadowed and the number of hours you spent in their offices. It is a good idea to shadow different professionals, not just physicians, to give you a broad perspective of the health care system. It is also important to shadow one or two professionals on a regular basis so that they may become familiar with you and your career goals. These individuals are more likely to feel comfortable writing you a letter of recommendation if they have mentored you or allowed you to follow them on an ongoing basis. It would also be a good idea to journal your experiences while shadowing. Journaling provides an opportunity for you to document your experiences for future application materials and experiences that can be written about in your personal statement.

If you want the chance to see medicine through its widest window, try shadowing a family physician. Because family doctors take care of everyone, from infants to older adults, these shadowing experiences are particularly rewarding and will help you get a jump start understanding medicines most popular specialty.

Volunteering not only helps students decide whether medicine is the right field for them, it is a way to provide service to the community. Medical school admissions guides strongly urge their applicants to have engaged in some kind of volunteer activity before applying to medical school. Volunteering is viewed as increasingly important when it comes to admission decisions. It conveys commitment and integrity. You cannot demonstrate those traits in only a few days or a month of volunteer service.

Experience in scientific research is recommended by admissions committees for the academically strong student who has such an interest. This type of experience is essential if you aspire to a career in academic medicine or research. Many undergraduates develop an interest in pursuing research as a career while participating in projects in the laboratory of a faculty member.

Other considerations that may be a factor when applying to medical school include:

Thoroughly review each medical school's application requirements to ensure that you are supplying all of the information requested.

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How to Get into Medical School | Medical School & Residency ...

Eight Ohio University senior Army ROTC cadets scattered around the world over the summer for Cadet Troop Leader Training and Project GO opportunities.

Each year, Army ROTC cadets are eligible for competitive training opportunities that expose them to careers that match their academic and personal interests. These opportunities provide unique three- to four-week experiences where cadets serve in lieutenant-level leadership positions in active-duty units.

The experience our cadets gain is invaluable and allows them to observe other leadership styles and develop their own leadership skills, said Troy Lovely, who leads the Army ROTC at Ohio University. I am always excited to hear their stories and see the passion ignited for the leadership profession they are about to embark on.

Carissa Nickell, a psychology major in the College of Arts and Sciences, served in Fort Stewart, Ga., as an Army Medical Department intern at Winn Army Community Hospital, a small hospital for active-duty military personnel, their dependents, and military retirees. She completed rotations in pediatrics, physical therapy, occupational therapy, labor and delivery, and the postpartum mother-baby unit. Nickell learned how to draw patient labs, drew blood, learned how to read and interpret all labor and delivery monitors, and learned how to assist in natural deliveries.

There was a culture of respect and it was really learning-oriented. All of the nurses and providers there were really enthusiastic about getting us that hands-on experience that you literally cannot get as a nursing student; you cant get that anywhere else, Nickell said. They were really helpful in making sure we were learning and doing rotations in the hospital that would kind of help us figure out what we wanted to pursue post undergrad.

Nickell said the highlight of her experience was being in the labor and delivery and postpartum units. Nickell participated in more than 10 deliveries, scrubbed in on a Cesarean section, and got to hold newborns and take their vitals. She connected with other cadets from around the nation and learned from nurses and providers with extensive military and civilian experience. This experience led Nickell to realize her passion for nursing, specifically for labor and delivery and midwifery. She is now planning to pursue a masters degree in nursing to become a Certified Nurse Midwife/Certified Nurse Practitioner.

Richard Danylo, a chemical engineering and computer sciences major in the Russ College of Engineering and Technolgoy, travelled to Germany. He plans to matriculate into medical school next fall, so he shadowed doctors to better understand the Army physician lifestyle. He met with around 40 doctors and went to 10 different clinics to explore several medical specialties. He scrubbed into more than 10 surgeries, which was a unique experience for an undergraduate student. The Army doctors gave him advice about applying to medical school and let him use their medical libraries to conduct research.

Danylo described getting to scrub in on a shoulder repair surgery.

The doctor had me retracting skinand this was probably like a two-hour surgery. I didnt know it but apparently, its a rite of passage that a lot of people, when they start to go through surgery rotations in medical school, (they) get to the point where they might pass out, they start sweating because they get tired from doing grunt work like that, Danylo said. One of the other physicians in the room saw me really sweating but I made sure I didnt say anything. Afterwards they had a congratulations for me because I was now inducted into surgery.

This experience made Danylo consider going into surgical oncology and confirmed that medicine is the career he wants to pursue. Danylo said he appreciated all the mentors he met in Germany, the mentors he has here at OHIO who helped him get the internship, and the University for facilitating the ROTC program.

Nate Frimel, a history and political science major in the College of Arts and Sciences, was also in Germany this summer, after completing his required training at Fort Knox, Kentucky. He was attached to Charlie Company in the 1-214 General Support Aviation Battalion. In Army Aviation, the Charlie Company of every battalion is the medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) detachment, so the pilots focused on rescue missions. Frimel learned about topics like helicopter aerodynamics and the most efficient way to manage Army personnel.

I was able to establish effective relationships with almost everyone there, Frimel said. From the pilots to the mechanics, the experience showed me what being an effective Army officer looked like. Also, I got to fly in a Blackhawk, which was, by far, one of the coolest experiences of my life.

Luke Hinesley, a management information systems major, also went to Fort Knox, Kentucky, then Germany. He shadowed a lieutenant in the Second Cavalry Regiment and got to learn what officers in different Army branches do. Hinesley hopes to be a platoon leader after commissioning as an Army officer. His favorite experience this summer was getting to blow up 30 pounds of C-4.

The other OHIO ROTC cadets who completed internships and training this summer were Will Dunning, who travelled to South Korea for Air Defense Artillery training; Chance King, who helped with explosive exercises with an infantry/mortar platoon in Kentucky; Collin Brown, who learned how to parachute out of a helicopter as part of Airborne training in Georgia; and Ander Wehner, who participated in Project Go, a cultural and language immersion program in Taiwan.

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ROTC cadets gain transformative experiences around the world - Ohio University

ANN ARBOR, MI - A proposed $42 million renovation and repurposing of two University of Michigan Medical Science wings will go before the universitys Board of Regents on Thursday, Sept. 22.

The project would renovate about 60,000 square feet of space across three levels of UMs Medical Science Unit I building for the Medical Schools Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics department and several other Medical School units.

The proposed project would convert obsolete wet lab research space into an efficient and collaborative dry and computational research environment, according to the regents action request.

The project also would support UMs carbon-neutrality goal through interior and exterior design and construction features, including new energy-efficient HVAC equipment, lighting and control systems. Renovations also would include thermally insulated and triple-glazed windows, maximum insulation of roof and exterior walls and include new electric power and telecommunication systems.

Deferred maintenance is addressed in both wings of the project, including heating, ventilation, air conditioning, electrical, life safety system upgrades and providing accessibility and new finishes throughout.

The Medical Science Unit I building was originally constructed in 1958 and contains nearly 300,000 gross square feet of administrative and wet lab research space. Funding for the project would be provided from Medical School resources, the action request notes.

If approved, the architectural firm SmithGroup will design the project. The project is expected to provide an average of 37 on-site construction jobs. Construction is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2025, pending approval.

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$42 million renovation of University of Michigan medical research unit proposed - MLive.com

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] As the 2022-23 academic year begins at Brown and more than 3,203 new undergraduate, graduate and medical students arrive on College Hill, the University also welcomes a group of 62 dynamic new scholars and educators to the Brown faculty.

With research and teaching expertise on topics ranging from global health security to climate change, brain science to diaspora studies, and architecture to algorithms, Browns newest faculty members represent a wide range of fields, backgrounds and viewpoints. Welcoming faculty with such diversity of experience comes at a time when Brown is developing an operational plan for significantly growing its research enterprise.

Our faculty are accomplished researchers, creative artists and educators whose work expands knowledge at the leading edge of their disciplines and, in partnership with Brown students and staff, makes a positive impact in communities both locally and across the globe, said Provost Richard M. Locke. Im delighted to welcome this cohort of talented scholars to Brown to build on and amplify efforts across campus to develop solutions to many of the most vexing questions faced by society today.

The arrival of 62 new faculty members reflects Brown's strategic efforts to recruit top scholars from research areas articulated in the Building on Distinction strategic plan and related operational plans in which the University is uniquely poised to have a meaningful impact. And with nearly 30% of this years new faculty members coming from groups historically underrepresented in higher education, strategic investments in actions outlined in Brown's Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan are helping to ensure that faculty represent the varied backgrounds, perspectives and experiences critical to advancing knowledge, learning and discovery.

In addition, multiple new deans (including those with interim appointments) will lead schools and academic units in their first full academic years in 2022-23: Ronald Aubert, interim dean of the School of Public Health; Tejal Desai, dean of the School of Engineering; Dr. Mukesh K. Jain, dean of the Warren Alpert Medical School; Thomas Lewis, interim dean of the Graduate School; Shankar Prasad, dean of the School of Professional Studies; and Leah VanWey, dean of the faculty.

Desai, who began her tenure at Brown on Sept. 1, will deliver the keynote address at this years Opening Convocation ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 10.

The new professors, associate professors, assistant professors and lecturers will serve across the Universitys academic departments, divisions and schools. The full listing of new faculty, with links for more information about each of them, follows below.

Jayna BrownProfessor of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies

John EasonWatson Family University Associate Professor of Sociology and International and Public Affairs

Kent KleinmanFaculty Director of the Brown Arts Institute, Professor of the Practice of History of Art and Architecture

Karin WulfBeatrice and Julio Mario Santo Domingo Director and Librarian of the John Carter Brown Library, Professor of History

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Brown welcomes talented group of 62 new faculty members - Brown University

On Monday, psychologists from the Medical University of South Carolina will hold a training session at a university in Puerto Rico via Zoom. Theyll coach participants on how to offer psychological first aid in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona on an island still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Marias 2017 strike.

Rosaura Orengo-Aguayo, Ph.D., an associate professor in MUSCs Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, grew up in Puerto Rico and will lead the training session. She knows firsthand what its like to recover from a big storm in the U.S. territory, which gets walloped every seven or eight years. Shes also getting reports about Fionas impact from family members on the island.

My mom and my sister and my brother are all fine, physically. Their homes are intact. None of them have power, and water just returned today. But everyone there knows a direct family member or friend who had flooding damage or losses.

Some of those people are still scarred by the effects of Hurricane Maria, the most catastrophic storm to hit Puerto Rico in decades. It led to around3,000 deathsby some estimates and took out a lot of the islands infrastructure, including the electrical system.

Mondays training session is a continuation of MUSCs involvement with Puerto Rico, a connection that began after Maria. In 2017, a friend in Puerto Rico told Orengo-Aguayo the education secretary was looking for people who could come up with a comprehensive plan to help teachers and students deal with Marias aftermath. Schools were closed, utilities were out and loved ones were leaving.

For Orengo-Aguayo, it was a no-brainer. I think as professionals, we sometimes leave the personal out of the professional life. But in our team, we're the opposite. Im Puerto Rican, so that will forever be my home.

She and her colleagues used a grant they already had from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to train Puerto Rican teachers in how to take care of their own mental health while also caring for the kids who weathered the storm.

Since that teams first visit in October of 2017, the MUSC psychologists have been back multiple times to continue their work. In the last four years, we trained Puerto Rican providers to dotrauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, Orengo-Aguayo said.

They also conductedone of the largest post-disaster screening projects in U.S. history. It found most of the so-called Maria generation kids saw houses damaged on an island roughly the size of Connecticut, about half had damage to their own home, almost 58% had a friend or family member leave Puerto Rico, about a third had to deal with a lack of food or water and more than 15% still didnt have electricity several months after the September 2017 storm.

Clearly, Maria was life-altering for the island and its people. The MUSC team knew its work needed to continue. So Orengo-Aguayo and her colleagues recently got five more years of SAMSHA funding for their work in Puerto Rico.

She and another bilingual MUSC psychologist, Regan Stewart, Ph.D., had already scheduled another trip to Puerto Rico before Fiona. October 13th through the 25th, this trip was very much to meet with our partners in Puerto Rico. We're going to have a team retreat to discuss our goals and next steps, she said.

We also have four days going to a small island off the coast of Puerto Rico. That's a municipality called Culebra. And this island does not have a single mental health professional. So we're partnering with grassroots organizations to start the first ever telehealth program there so kids can get access to psychologists in the mainland, in Puerto Rico, in the island. So that's part of our trip as well.

Theyll also meet with experts at the largest community mental health center in Puerto Rico to follow up on needs and next steps. But Orengo-Aguayo said their work probably wont stop there.

I suspect we'll be doing some relief work as well. It'll likely involve meeting with leaders and stakeholders of agencies to assess, How do we support our staff? How do we support our students going back to school?

Familiar questions for a woman working to help the island she loves develop the mental health services it needs. My mission still as a clinical psychologist is that future clinical psychologists don't need to leave the island to get the best training, the best care. So for me, until my career's over, it will be about capacity building so that Puerto Ricans stay in Puerto Rico.

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MUSC to help with psychological first aid in Puerto Rico in Fiona's aftermath - Medical University of South Carolina

I spent a week at the Hazelden Betty Ford Addiction Treatment Center in Rancho Mirage, California. No, not as a patient, but as a member of the Summer Institute for Medical Students Program (SIMS). Heres what I learned:

Hazelden Betty Ford is the nations largest nonprofit addiction treatment center and their goal is to address substance misuse utilizing the bio-psycho-social model of care and 12 step programs. Patients are provided mental health resources including cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, anger management, group therapy, and more. Patients are encouraged to participate in meditation, yoga, and are even given a dietician and a personal trainer to improve their overall health and wellness. Hazelden Betty Ford offers in-patient and intensive outpatient treatment as well as family and childrens programs for the loved ones of those with substance use disorder. Their motto is If not us, then who?Dr. Brittany Ladson

Our week long experience was funded by The Betty Ford Foundation whose goal is to raise awareness, stimulate interest, and sensitize professionals to the process of recovery for substance use disorders and their family members. The SIMS program is unique in that, instead of participation in a classroom setting, students learn by integration into the daily life of the patients. It has long been said the best way to help those not addicted understand the recovery process is to let them see it happen and this program did just that.

We were 15 allopathic and osteopathic medical students from 15 different universities all out in Palm Desert to learn more about the disease of addiction. Many of the students had personal or family histories of substance use disorder, while others exposures were from drunk drivers taking the lives of their loved ones. For me personally, my exposure was through research I have been conducting in the understanding of vaping and opiate misuse disorder in high school students and an additional project studying EM residents Naloxone rescue kit prescription habits to patients who have overdosed. I had imagined participating in this week would help me learn what more I can do for my future patients, but as the week progressed, I saw myself aligning more with the patients themselves.

At the beginning of the week, it was clear that the medical students were seen as outsiders looking in during the patients small group therapy. Many of the patients expressed they felt like lab rats while we listened to their stories without actually experiencing addiction ourselves. As the week progressed, patients and students began fraternizing at meal times and in the hallway in between sessions. It was astonishing how fast the patients went from feeling like strangers to people we knew for a lifetime. It was like learning about a patient by looking through a keyhole- having a short period of time to understand all the things they think about and have experienced. At the end of the week, I didnt feel like I was leaving a small group of four patients in recovery, I felt like I was leaving a creative artist, an intelligent future RN, a strong businesswoman, and a caring mother. It truly shows you that addiction is ubiquitous. It is just like gravity, it is all around us. Addiction is an equal opportunity disease.

Our experience in group therapy was becoming a shared experience. I was learning to treat the patient, not just the disease. Patients in rehab are so generous; they really taught us so much and answered so many of our questions better than any textbook could. Doctors spend a lot of time with patients during their lifetime, but very rarely in this capacity. The experience was transformative for the patients as well. Many times patients expressed that they have felt that doctors have not done anything for them in the past. Some patients also expressed hatred of rehab centers because they see it as doctors making money off of their addiction and then sending them off into the world to relapse and present back to rehab. Having future physicians in the room pledging to be a force of change for the future of addiction medicine helped change their perspectives. Patients will see doctors differently and doctors will see their patients differently because of this experience.

Further, the most commonly stated wish expressed by the patients during the week was to take care of ourselves. They all understand how hard it is to complete medical school and work as a physician for the rest of our lives. It is too easy to chase prestige and work yourself to exhaustion. Many patients expressed a similar reason for ending up with a substance use disorder and they didnt want to see that for the next generation of working professionals. The patient whose words most resonated with me on this subject was an emergency medicine physician in treatment for opiate use disorder. He knows better than anyone what the challenging world of medicine can do to a person. He reminded me that my life comes before my career no matter what. All it takes is one left step or one right step for you to become a patient at Hazelden Betty Ford.

As many of the patients describe during their experience at Hazelden Betty Ford, you can feel like you are in a bubble, shielded from the temptations of the outside world. Patients lovingly refer to this as the Betty Bubble. Patients all express concern with being able to apply what they have learned at the center to their real life situations. I, too, have been in the Betty Bubble during the week. I have learned so much but what if I cannot apply it to my real life situations in my residency program, my hospital system, and beyond? Then was going to rehab really worth it?

As a newly matched emergency medicine resident, I resonated with so much during the week. The emergency department is the place where you will see patients with substance use disorder in their most chaotic state. These patients may also be labeled frequent flyers. A patient raised an excellent point that emergency department doctors and nurses will become curious when a patient with a substance use disorder stops presenting to the ER. Its rare they assume the patient is in recovery; instead, they would assume they overdosed and died. However, that patients spot in the emergency department will surely be replaced by another member of the community experiencing addiction and the cycle of judgement by healthcare staff continues. Instead of applying derogatory terms to patients and making light of their addiction, we can be a force of good in their life. As a future emergency medicine physician, I have the power to connect patients to local resources, provide Naloxone rescue kits, and educate family members accompanying the patient on what it means to have addiction. Hospitalizations are a time when patients most likely evaluate their lives and health and if we can offer some wisdom during this time we could help change outcomes. Addiction medicine is truly preventative medicine- it prevents cirrhotic and steatohepatic disease, blood borne illnesses, necrotizing fasciitis, and so much more. We must not undermine the impact we can make in these critical moments.

Moreover, I reflected on the volume of patients seen in the emergency department who experience addiction (whether it is their chief complaint or a long term repercussion). A profound amount of patients experience substance use disorder, including many communities where they make up the majority of ED patients. However, we spend a disproportionate amount of time, education, and health care dollars on learning and treating other conditions. There are so many ways the health care system can better serve patients. Ways we can do this is ensuring that an addiction medicine consult service is available in every hospital. We must also understand the intersectionality of other addictions, most prominently food and nicotine addiction. Addiction is a disease that responds to treatment. We must offer services to all patients no matter how many times it has taken them to accept help. Whos to say that attempt number 30 isnt the one that will finally work? In the ER, we see a snapshot of ones addiction but it is important to remember their entire story and that we can change their ending.

In addition to what can be accomplished in the hospital, there is so much we can do at the medical school level to improve outcomes for patients with substance use disorder. I would like to see medical schools require students to attend in alcoholic or narcotics anonymous meetings. Its one thing to connect a patient with their local AA group, but it is another to share with them what they can expect to experience. And, most importantly, attending an AA or NA meeting shows solidarity in the fight against addiction. I also solidly believe in the power of the experiential learning model. The SIMS program provides the opportunity to learn what rehab centers really look like, what programming is offered, and how it is implemented. Rehab is more than yoga, meditation, and therapy. There are didactic sessions, community fellowship, and so much homework in completing the 12 steps. Rehab is truly two experts coming to the table and treating a disease. The patient is an expert on themselves and the therapist is an expert in counseling. If a patient is apprehensive about attending rehab, being able to share your personal experiences might have profound persuasion.

We also received camel pins just like patients do on their first day in rehab. In AA, camel pins represent how a camel picks up its load at the beginning of the day, holds its head high, stays dry the entire day, and then goes to its knees at the end of the 24 hour period. The same concept applies to sobriety in that you can avoid alcohol and other substances for a 24 hour period. You too can stay dry for a 24 hour period. Sobriety happens one day at a time. Just like many healthcare professionals wear pins to show their solidarity with Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQ+ community, wearing a camel pin can show solidarity with those experiencing addiction. For patients who do not recognize the significance of the camel, it will be a great conversation starter and will help spread the message that recovery is possible. I plan to wear my camel pin through residency and beyond to show support for those struggling in the community I am serving.

At the end of the week, while leaving the center, I couldnt help but notice the profound physical and architectural barriers that keep the rehab center away from public eyes. The 12 feet tall shrubs, security officers, and gates at the front all create privacy in a way that is more profound than any other medical facility type. The Eisenhower Health Center shares the same parking lot as Hazelden Betty Ford but they do not have more than palm trees in their parking lot. Of course HIPPA applies in all medical settings, but there is a deeper reason for Hazelden Betty Fords privacy. There is a very different perception for patients walking into addiction treatment centers verses a cardiology office. The implications it can have on your career and your perception in society can be overwhelming. However, you truly never know who is experiencing addiction and stereotypes will never apply accurately. I understood this best when I learned that nearly all the counselors and medical staff who work at Hazelden Betty Ford are in long term recovery themselves.

After our final day in the program, myself and the other medical students decided to explore the city of Palm Springs and enjoy fellowship among each other. Even this celebratory part of the week had deep implications for me. If you practice addiction medicine, should you feel guilty for having an alcoholic beverage when you are off the clock? When I asked this question to one of the addiction medicine fellows, he replied, The same concept applies if you work with diabetics and have dessert after work. Or if you work with heart attack patients and then have a salty dinner. For someone in recovery, 1 drink is too much and 100 drinks is never enough. I believe doctors have an obligation to their patients to lead by example but must also remember to appreciate that we do not have the disease of addiction.

During this week, my world view changed and now it is my job to take what I have learned and change the world. The SIMS program builds an army. We will be a ripple in the water of addiction medicine. We will help keep patients stay alive long enough to get the relief they are looking for. We will love patients until they can love themselves. SIMS helped complete my education. We have so much textbook education, but now we have the stories of the patients behind it. We learned to listen, not to respond, but to truly hear our patients. We stopped thinking with our heads and started thinking with our hearts. The opposite of addiction is not recovery, it is connection.

On someones first year anniversary of recovery in AA, all meeting attendees sing Happy Birthday to their sobriety. One year from now, I will be celebrating the anniversary of my attendance in the SIMS program and just like in AA, I will be celebrating by singing Happy Birthday. I hope to be reflecting on all the good I was able to do, all the patients I was able to help, and excited for all the great things I have planned to help fight addiction.

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The Betty Bubble: A Week at the Hazelden Betty Ford Addiction Treatment Center - Diverse: Issues in Higher Education

ReportLinker

Global Medical Education Market 2022-2026 The analyst has been monitoring the medical education market and it is poised to grow by $ 173. 36 bn during 2022-2026, accelerating at a CAGR of 16.

New York, Sept. 06, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Medical Education Market 2022-2026" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p04706407/?utm_source=GNW 95% during the forecast period. Our report on the medical education market provides a holistic analysis, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis covering around 25 vendors.The report offers an up-to-date analysis of the current global market scenario, the latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. The market is driven by growth in the number of online medical education programs, the advent of visual technologies in medical education, and the rise in organic growth.The medical education market analysis includes the courses and learning methods segments and geographic landscape.

The medical education market is segmented as below: Courses Graduate courses Certifications and training Post-graduate courses

By Learning Methods Blended learning Online learning

By Geographical Landscape North America Europe APAC South America MEA

This study identifies the rise in organic growth as one of the prime reasons driving the medical education market growth during the next few years. Also, the increase in partnerships between medical universities and associations and the rise in the number of medical boot camps will lead to sizable demand in the market.

The analyst presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters. Our report on the medical education market covers the following areas: Medical education market sizing Medical education market forecast Medical education market industry analysis

This robust vendor analysis is designed to help clients improve their market position, and in line with this, this report provides a detailed analysis of several leading medical education market vendors that include All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Grand Canyon University, Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins University, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, National University of Singapore, New York University, Stanford Medicine, TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER, The Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, The University of Alabama, University of California, University of Cambridge, University of Eastern Finland, University of Liverpool, University of New England, University of Oxford, University of Washington, Western Governors University, and Yale University. Also, the medical education market analysis report includes information on upcoming trends and challenges that will influence market growth. This is to help companies strategize and leverage all forthcoming growth opportunities.The study was conducted using an objective combination of primary and secondary information including inputs from key participants in the industry. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to an analysis of the key vendors.

The analyst presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters such as profit, pricing, competition, and promotions. It presents various market facets by identifying the key industry influencers. The data presented is comprehensive, reliable, and a result of extensive research - both primary and secondary. Technavios market research reports provide a complete competitive landscape and an in-depth vendor selection methodology and analysis using qualitative and quantitative research to forecast accurate market growth.Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p04706407/?utm_source=GNW

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The Global Medical Education Market is expected to grow by $ 173.36 bn during 2022-2026, accelerating at a CAGR of 16.95% during the forecast period -...

FOOT AND ANKLE ASSOCIATES OF LAKELAND

Matt Werd, DPM, FACFAS, was a featured sports medicine speaker at the national annual meeting of the American Podiatric Medical Association held July 29 in Orlando at the Marriott World Center. The APMA annual scientific meeting attracts foot and ankle specialists from throughout the United States and internationally. Werds lecture topic was: Athletic Shoegear Update 2022. He also served as an expert panelist for a question-and-answer session on lower extremity sports injuries. Werd has co-authored two editions of the medical textAthletic Footwear and Orthoses in Sports Medicine Springer Publishing 2017.

DERMATOLOGY ASSOCIATES OF CENTRAL FLORIDA

David Yrastorza, M.D., who practices at Dermatology Associates of Central Florida in Lakeland, recently became one of the first surgeons of micrographic dermatologic surgery (Mohs) in the country to be board certified in micrographic dermatologic surgery by the American Board of Dermatology. The Board of Directors of the American Board of Medical Specialties approved subspecialty board certification for Mohs surgery Oct. 26, 2018.Yrastorza passed the first exam for the new board certification held in October.Mohs surgeryis a precise surgical technique in which skin cancer is removed in stages in an office setting until all cancer has been removed. Yrastorza received his Bachelor of Science degree in psychology at Colorado State University in Denver and his master's degree in counseling psychology at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona. He matriculated in the Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Health Program at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, worked for a year in a psychiatric hospital while the application was being processed and began medical school the following year, 1986. Yrastorza did his premedical training at the University of Pennsylvania.He received his medical degree and did his dermatology residency at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, in Denver, where he was the chief resident. Yrastorza is a member of the American Academy of Dermatology, American Society for Mohs Surgery, Florida Society of Dermatologic Surgeons and the International Society of Dermatologic Surgeons.

WATSON CLINIC

The Watson Clinic Foundations Arts in Medicine program received a grant of $4,500 from the GiveWell Community Foundation, a charitable organization that addresses community needs throughout Polk County. The grant was presented in response to an application submitted as part of the organizations 2022 Impact Polk competition, and was distributed from the George W. Jenkins Fund within the GiveWell Community Foundation. Housed in the Watson Clinic Cancer & Research Center at 1730 Lakeland Hills Blvd. in Lakeland, the Watson Clinic Foundations Arts in Medicine program offers all forms of the expressive arts including creative activities such as watercolor painting, origami, and mosaics for cancer patients, caregivers and family members. at the Watson Clinic Cancer & Research Center. Research shows that these creative For more information on the program, and to learn how you can volunteer or donate, call 863-603-4718 or visit WatsonClinic.com/AIM.

Sumita Chandran, M.D., a board-certified internal medicine specialist, treats patients from Watson Clinic Main, 1600 Lakeland Hills Blvd., Lakeland. Chandran received her medical degree from Stanley Medical College in Chennai, India. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Mercy Hospital-State University of New York in Buffalo, New York. She is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Registered nurse practitioner Joseph Grych, APRN, treats walk-in patients at Watson Clinic Urgent Care Main, 1600 Lakeland Hills Blvd., Lakeland. Grych received his Bachelor and Master of Science in Nursing degrees from Chamberlain University in Addison, Illinois. He is board-certified by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners National Certification Board as a family nurse practitioner and is licensed by the state of Florida as a registered nurse and advanced practice registered nurse.

Shawn Amin, D.O., is a pain management specialist who treats patients from Watson Clinic Main, 1600 Lakeland Hills Blvd., in Lakeland. Amin received his Bachelor of Arts degree in behavioral neuroscience from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, his Master of Science degree in biomedical studies from Rutgers Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Newark, New Jersey, and his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford, New Jersey. He completed an internship in preliminary medicine at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in Farmington, Connecticut, and went on to complete his residency in anesthesiology and fellowship in pain medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark, New Jersey. He is board certified in both anesthesiology and pain Medicine.

Taylor Cook, D.O., is an obstetrics-gynecology specialist who treats patients from her offices at Watson Clinic Highlands, 2300 E. County Road 540A in south Lakeland. Cook received her Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Louisiana State University Health Science Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She is a member of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and her areas of expertise include high risk obstetric patients and minimally invasive procedures.

Jack B. Davidoff, M.D., is a board-certified priority care specialist who offers 24 to 48-hour appointment availability from Watson Clinic Highlands, 2300 E. County Road540A in south Lakeland. Davidoff received his medical degree from St. Georges University School of Medicine in Grenada, West Indies. He completed an internship and residency in family medicine at St. Josephs Hospital and Medical Center, Robert Wood Johnson University, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He is board certified in family medicine and emergency medicine, and is a member of the American Association of Physician Specialists and the Air Medical Physicians Association.

Sunil Rohatgi, M.D., is an oncology-hematology specialist at the Watson Clinic Cancer & Research Center, 1730 Lakeland Hills Blvd., Lakeland. He received his medical degree from the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville. He performed his residency in internal medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and a fellowship in hematology/medical oncology at New York University College of Medicine in New York. He is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine. In 2021, he was recognized by Castle Connollys Top Doctors series for the New York Metro area. His areas of expertise include the treatment of breast, lung and gastrointestinal cancers, hematological malignancies and bleeding disorders.

Danielle Chislett, a licensed practical nurse at Watson Clinic, was recently named the recipient of the Program for Employee Excellence and Recognition award forAugust. Chislett has been with Watson Clinic more than 22 years and spent most of her career in the orthopedics department. She was promoted to the position of LPN Team Leader in 2019 and has excelled at assisting various departments in their day-to-day operations, as well as aiding the clinical director and clinical coordinator with various management responsibilities. Chislett received a plaque, dinner at a local restaurant, a reserved parking spot and a gift certificate from the Medical Spa at Watson Clinic.

LAKELAND REGIONAL HEALTH

Charles Buerk is a physician assistant specializing in orthopedics with extensive experience in both sports medicine and pediatric orthopedics. Buerk completed his Bachelor of Science degree in biological science at Florida State University in Tallahassee. He earned his Master of Physician Assistant Studies degree from the University of South Florida in Tampa. Buerk sees patients at the Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center.

Larry Leyderman is a physician assistant specializing in orthopedics with extensive experience in general and orthopedic surgery. Leyderman earned his Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. He earned his Master of Science degree in biology from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago and his Master of Physician Assistant Studies degree from Chatham University in Pittsburgh. He sees patients at the Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center.

Paula Wengerski is a physician assistant who specializes in orthopedics acute fracture care, casting, gait evaluations and scoliosis. Wengerski earned her Bachelor of Science degree in early childhood education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Champaign, Illinois. She earned her Master of Medical Science degree in physician assistant practice from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in Chicago. Wengerski cares for patients at the Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center.

Bonni Bishop, Psy.D.,is a licensed clinical psychologist. Her behavioral health specialties include treating mood disorders, trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder, dementia, anxiety, LGBTQ concerns and adjustments to medical concerns. She also conducts psychological testing. Bishop earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and social work from Barry University in Miami Shores. She earned both her Master of Science degree in clinical psychology and Doctor of Clinical Psychology degree from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale. Bishop completed her psychology residency at the Citrus Health Network in the Child Adolescent Treatment Center in Pembroke Pines. She treats patients at the Harrell Family Center for Behavioral Wellness Outpatient Clinic at Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center.

Catherine Principe,Psy.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in health psychology with extensive experience in providing comprehensive psychological care for patients ages 18 and older. Her expertise includes the treatment of anxiety, depression, chronic pain, complex medical conditions, trauma and other chronic mental health conditions. Principe earned her Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, Illinois, and her Doctor of Psychology degree from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology in Chicago.She sees patients at the Harrell Family Center for Behavioral Wellness Outpatient Clinic at Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center.

Zuleyma Toledo-Nieves, M.D., is a licensed neurologist specializing in the management of medical conditions related to the nervous system such as headaches, seizures, strokes, movement disorders, peripheral neuropathies and myopathies. Toledo-Nieves also specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of Multiple Sclerosis and inflammatory conditions of the central nervous system. After earning her Bachelor of Science degree in molecular biology from the University of Puerto Rico Ro Piedras Campus in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Toledo-Nieves earned her Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She completed her neurology residency at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and her Multiple Sclerosis clinical fellowship at the University of South Florida in Tampa. She cares for patients at the Grasslands Campus.

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Awards and new employees - The Ledger

Dr. Charles Drew instructs Howard University interns during rounds.A report from the Association of American Medical Colleges sounded the alarm; the U.S. soon could see a substantial shortage of more than 120,000 physicians nationwide.

In The Complexities of Physician Supply and Demand: Projections From 2019 to 2034, the association projects that the shortfall could be anywhere from 37,800 to more than 124,000 physicians nationwide by 2034. If there were enough Black doctors, perhaps that projected shortfall could be averted.

An estimated 35,000 Black medical school graduates may have been available by 2019 to increase the physician workforce in the country had some of the historically Black medical schools that trained them remained open, according to research published in a JAMA Network article, Projected Estimates of African American Medical Graduates of Closed Historically Black Medical Schools.

During the first two decades of the 20th century, the number of medical schools that provided training to African-American students rapidly decreased, a development associated in part with the 1910 Flexner report, which recommended that, among the historically Black medical schools, only the Howard and Meharry programs should remain operational, writes Dr. Kendall M. Campbell, senior associate dean for academic affairs for the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, with colleagues.

Campbell and his fellow researchers conducted an observational economic evaluation of historically Black medical schools that shuttered after the Flexner report and four that remained open. They used steady and rapid expansion models to evaluate how the closures of these schools affected the number of Black medical school graduates.

Between the late 1800s and the early 1900s, there were 13 historically Black medical schools that operated in seven states, from Louisiana to Pennsylvania, according to the JAMA Network article. They shuttered after the Flexner Report, but before they did, the schools collectively graduated more than 700 Black doctors, the researchers found. Today, there are four historically Black medical schools in operation: Meharry Medical College, Howard University College of Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. More are planned.

The Flexner Report, a book-length, landmark document published in 1910, evaluated U.S. medical schools and resulted in transformative changes to the entire medical education system with the recommendation to close about 75% of the nations medical schools, five Black medical colleges among them. Howard University in Washington, D.C., and Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., were deemed worthy to survive. In the last century, Howard and Meharry trained most of the nations Black doctors.

Dr. James E.K. HildrethMeharry President and CEO Dr. James E.K. Hildreth criticized racism and bias in that report.

By surviving, Flexner basically recommended that our [Meharry] doctors be dedicated hygienists, says Hildreth. He didnt believe that Black physicians were ready to do anything more for Black patients.

Hildreth says the reports author wrote that the schools were in no position to make any contribution of value to the solution of the problem. He says a century later, the impact of the 1910 report on Black medical education has been crippling.

While the researchers wrote that investing in the creation of additional medical schools at Historically Black Colleges and Universities may have long-lasting implications for the size and diversity of the physician workforce in the U.S, Hildreth and others in medical education believe that training enough physicians to diversify their workforce and close the racial healthcare gap is not the responsibility of HBCUs alone.

If those five schools had survived and were permitted to continue, Hildreth suggests, we probably would have thousands and thousands more Black and brown physicians in practice today. Based on their historical research and economic modeling, Campbell and his colleagues agree.

Opening of new Black medical schools

In the next few years, the number of Black medical schools is expected to grow from the current four to six, and so are opportunities to expand training programs and reach across the South efforts that can help move the needle on diversifying the physician workforce, improve healthcare access in communities of color, and reduce health disparities, according to Dr. Reynold Verret, president of Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) in New Orleans. Verret announced plans in April for a medical school at XULA.

Experts agree the way to address the physician shortage is to create new medical schools, but diverse representation requires a further step, says Verret. In the last century (and since the Flexner Report), there have been few new medical colleges until recently, and only one at a Historically Black College and University. XULA is examining the option to change that narrative.

Xavier University of Louisiana

XULA is the only historically Black, Catholic university in the nation, enrolling approximately 3,600 students in Fall 2021. Despite its size, XULA consistently produces more Black students who apply to and then graduate from medical schools than any other institution in the country.

Verret has helped the university maintain that coveted slot since he succeeded Dr. Norman Francis as president in 2016.

Were No. 1, says Verret, a biochemist and immunologist. He says XULA expects to be in a unique position, in a few years, to train its own and address the dearth of Black doctors and research scientists. He suggests a modest start with an inaugural class of about 50 medical students.

The idea for a medical school did not begin with the pandemic, says Verret. It has been several years in the making. Providing a training ground for practitioners and researchers of color has been the driver, he tells Diverse.

The issue of health disparities that we have been chasing for quite some time is also an issue of representation, adds Verret. He wants to grow the number of researchers of color in health care who are at the table and asking the questions questions about what disease processes youre addressing and what determinants that affect health care youre addressing.

The medical school project entered the planning phase earlier in 2022, but XULA has had the prescription for training future Black physicians for nearly a century, says Verret. With a strong but often underfunded science program, the university began producing its first medical school students not long after opening its doors in 1925.

Morgan State University

Dr. John SealeyMorgan State University, a public HBCU in Baltimore, is preparing to bring a new medical school to its urban campus. As soon as Fall 2024, the proposed institution, the School of Osteopathic Medicine at Morgan State University, expects to admit its first class of about 75 future physicians, the schools founding dean, Dr. John W. Sealey, told Diverse.

The school is currently seeking approval, undergoing an extensive accrediting process. It would be the first osteopathic medical school at an HBCU and the only such school in a region that spans Maryland, Delaware, the District of Columbia, and Northern Virginia. Sealey says the new medical school will be a privately funded, for-profit institution, and not operated by Morgan State, a public HBCU in the University of Maryland System. The school represents a public-private collaboration.

We do not get any money from Morgan or from the state, says Sealey, who practiced cardiothoracic surgery for more than two decades and was most recently associate dean of clinical medicine at the Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Sealey was hired by Denver-based Salud Education LLC. Morgan State reached an agreement with Salud that will allow the new medical school to be built on its campus without spending state funds. Salud would raise the estimated $120 - $130 million in capital it will cost to open the new medical school with plans to build a 181,000-square-foot facility on land leased from Morgan, says Sealey. The deal is seen as a unique opportunity to further the progress happening at Morgan in a way that could benefits the city of Baltimore, the state, and the nation.

Baltimore already has two medical schools, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Both are affiliated with their respective hospitals. The proposed School of Osteopathic Medicine at Morgan State University could vie with the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles and XULA to be the first new medical school on a Black college campus since 1966.

Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science

Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU) could have its first class of about 50 students to its proposed four-year medical degree program by 2023, says Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, dean and a professor of medicine at CDU. We've been planning this in earnest for five years, says Prothrow-Stith, formerly an emergency medicine physician and previously an assistant dean at the Harvard University School of Public Health. It is a large goal to open a medical school program. Its also a long process and a big deal, and the time is now.

Prothrow-Stith says contributing to the launch is the need to address racism as a public health threat. The COVID-19 pandemic, which illuminated long-festering racial health gaps, gun violence, trauma, and George Floyds murder, have all helped to create this kind of threshold, Prothrow-Stith explains. Now, CDU has an opportunity to respond. They found themselves at a similar threshold moment in 1965 when the Watts region of Los Angeles erupted.

We [CDU] have a remarkable history that was born out of the Watts revolt. It was at that intersection of health inequities and police brutality that sparked CDU, Prothrow-Stith tells Diverse in a 2020 interview. Planned is a new medical school facility that will be built on the CDU campus in South Los Angeles on the Watts-Compton border, and an independent, four-year medical degree program that is expected to begin training about 60 students a year starting in Fall 2023.

Since 1979, CDU has partnered with the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA to train 28 medical students a year. Prothrow-Stith says the partnership with UCLA will continue. In June 2022, CDU received a one-time allocation of $50 million from the State of California to support the new medical degree program. CDU plans to use the funding to increase the number of Black medical graduates practicing in California by almost 30% and the number of Latinx graduates by nearly 20%, states CDU President and CEO Dr. David Carlisle in a statement.

Morehouse School of Medicine

Through a recent $100 million partnership with CommonSpirit Health, one of the nations largest healthcare providers, the historically Black Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) in Atlanta plans to grow its current medical degree program and expand its reach over the next decade.

We are going to open up five regional medical campuses, says MSM President Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice during an NPR interview. As we build out these programs, we will have over 300 more Black residents, and you will see us doubling our medical student size. We have 110 students per year. We will go up to 225 students over the next five years.

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Building Black Medical Schools - Diverse: Issues in Higher Education

If someone asks me how my first year of medical school went, half of the time I dismiss them with a one-word answer, saving them from a conversation they arent ready to have. The other half of the time, I tell the truth, just to see what they have to say.

It was fine, except for when I watched my dad die in the middle of it.

Often, the discussion starts to wither. Usually, I am met with an Im so sorry and maybe a Let me know what I can do to help. Once in a while, the person Im talking to is an older adult and can say they relate, having lost a parent before themselves. However, the conversation usually turns, them hesitant to dig deeper and me wondering how much to share.

But the truth is, I am always ready to share. It is an experience that irrevocably changed my life course and identity. The earthquakes of the past year created a chasm so deep that I am forever separated from who I used to be, when I was obliviously ambitious and innocently self-centered.

Just one year ago, I was a typical first-year medical student, learning to adjust to a new city, new friends and a new breakneck-paced curriculum. My biggest worries were whether I was making enough social connections in medical school and whether I made the right choice in committing to this field at all. Although my first year started shakily, plagued with self-doubt and imposter syndrome, I had begun to get my bearings and become hopeful about my future in medicine. Then, a November phone call from my mom slid my life into unknown, unfamiliar and lonely territory.

The doctor said your dad has Stage 4 cancer and has about one year left to live.

This news seemed incompatible with what I knew about my dad. When I left southern California to move to Boston for medical school, my dad was still cooking fresh meals every day, arguing with vigor and working long hours in the garden for fun. Even after hearing this update with my mom, I thought that my dad, a lifelong fighter, could still enjoy a few more months of life before disease took over.

However, it seemed things rapidly tumbled downhill as soon as the doctors words were spoken. When I returned home for winter break, I expected a warm welcome for completing a challenging first semester of medical school. Instead, I found my dad struggling to ambulate with a walker, feet swollen with edema, calling for me constantly to help him set up his bed, get him a snack and find the phone that slipped onto the floor.

During this time at home, I constantly asked my mom if I should take a leave of absence from medical school, and she would say that I should just focus on finishing my degree so I could move back to California. I asked my dad once what he thought about me taking a leave of absence, and he said no so forcefully that I didnt ask again. When January crept in and signaled the end of my winter break, I returned to Boston hesitant, afraid I was making the wrong move, but telling myself I would at least finish the last exam of our musculoskeletal block so I could complete the course. Then I would decide what to do next.

But as it turned out, time had already run out. Only three days after I returned to Boston following my winter break, my dad was hospitalized. I video called my mom to see her crying over my dads unconscious body in the hospital bed, and I immediately booked the next flight out of Boston to Los Angeles leaving in two hours, one way.

What followed were two agonizing weeks of living out of a hotel near where my dad stayed in the hospital. I visited my dad during the day, clinging to the doctors whenever they came into his room and peppering them with questions, squeezing every corner of my brain for medications I had learned to try and figure out what was going on with my dad. In the evenings, I returned to the hotel room and tried to continue learning the muscles of the arm, hoping I could return to school when my dad finally stabilized. I learned medical terms like rapidly progressive, critical condition and hepatic failure secondary to metastases to describe what I saw in my dad, but these terms didnt get close to what it truly was: an endless absolute nightmare.

In the end, there wasnt a year left of life at all. It was barely two months after the diagnosis. My dad was on the wrong side of the average, and statistics never felt so cold, cruel and useless. My dad passed away the day after my 24th birthday. At that point, he couldnt even say my name anymore.

In medical school, we talk about death quite a lot. Factually, as a result of what happens when your blood vessels lose their tension or your liver is overwhelmed, and ethically, as in what to do when a patients family wants them to remain on life support. We even talk about how emotionally exhausting and traumatizing it is to be a provider witnessing death on the front lines. But after watching my dad pass, my grief and distress were incomparable to anything medical school could cover in a course.

Medical school doesnt teach you that death is not only the exact time the heart stops working, but a process that could span days, weeks or months, shredding you apart as you watch your loved one teeter between hope and tragedy. Although we learn about so many types of cancers, the kind that took my dad cholangiocarcinoma only got one slide in a 200-slide lecture in the two-month gastrointestinal system block. And it didnt say anywhere on that slide that one day, your dad could be telling you that he cant wait to attend your medical school graduation, and that just one and a half weeks later, he would pass silently, staring back with open eyes, as you hold his hand and cry inside of your sopping wet N95 mask.

At his funeral, his brother took the podium and revealed that my dad had wanted to be a doctor when he was younger. However, being fresh immigrants from Vietnam, their family couldnt afford to support his medical studies, and my dad ultimately chose to study engineering. My dad hadnt told me this, and suddenly his emotional investment in watching me succeed in my medical studies made so much more sense.

I had arrived at medicine after a meandering, wavering journey through every other discipline imaginable, but after that revelation, I felt immense peace. If a lifes purpose exists, this was it. I was meant to become the first doctor in my family, and my dad was meant to watch me begin my medical journey, even as he got sicker and sicker.

I returned to Boston the day after the internment of my dads ashes at the mortuary. And this time, I returned with a purpose. I didnt even have much time to feel sorry for myself as I caught up on my missed exams and got back on track with the rest of my classmates. Even now, I cant believe I did it. I finished my first year of medical school on time with everyone else in my class, a cardiovascular final springing us all into the most relieved summer of my life.

Often people are surprised, asking me why I didnt just take time off. But I know my dad would understand, no explanation necessary. He was a person who survived being a boat refugee, traversing countries and then states until he ended up in California, trying on different careers until one fit. He was the type of man who tried to live as normal a life as possible with his cancer until the ruse was up. He would know that hard work towards a dream can be a better salve than listless days in grief. And he would see that the future doctor I will become is already starting to peek through, unable to be contained.

How was my first year of medical school? Fine, I guess. Even when my dad died in the middle of it. Despite it all, there were still delicately beautiful moments too. Showing my dad a picture of freshly fallen Boston snow while he lay in his hospital bed and him responding, Oh, what a lovely change. Returning to my Boston apartment and finding cards even from classmates I didnt know that well, expressing sympathy and solidarity. Seeing my partner integrate himself into my family as he helped complete tedious chore after chore in the aftermath of our tragedy. As heartbreaking as the past year was, I could also find solace in the way the pieces in my life fell together. The medicine for grief, I learned, is to live through, between and alongside it. Talking about it openly, daring to be vulnerable and being brave enough to remember even the memories that hurt.

Image credit: Snowflakes(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)bydanna curious tangles

Contributing Writer

Tufts University School of Medicine

Sarah Tran (they/them) was born and grew up in southern California. They attended Pomona College and graduated in 2020 with a Neuroscience B.A. and an Asian American Studies minor. They are currently attending Tufts University School of Medicine as a MD/MPH student, set to graduate in 2025. Their interests include community and social justice, claiming to be a writer despite not having enough time to write, and watching reality television with their partner.

Read more:
Grief Medicine in-Training, the online peer-reviewed publication for medical students - Pager Publications, Inc.

Opinion: My siblings paid in-state tuition at ASU because they were born here. I can't because I was born in Mexico. Proposition 308 would change that.

Hazel Villatoro| opinion contributor

I graduated a year early from North High School with a 3.8 GPA.

I did everything I could to put myself on a path to success: playing varsity soccer, participating in the AGUILA Youth Leadership Instituteand co-leading an Arizona Center for Empowerment initiative to increase civic engagement among high school students.

My dream was to attend Arizona State University this fall. But I cant afford it.

As an undocumented student, I am not eligible for in-state tuition. Im incredibly grateful to have received a full scholarship to Grand Canyon University, but not all undocumented students are as fortunate.

Each year, about 2,000 students do not qualify for in-state tuition because of their immigration status.

In November, Arizona voters should pass Proposition 308 so that all students are eligible for the in-state tuition rate, regardless of immigration status, if they have lived in the state for two years and graduated from a local high school.

It would give talented and hardworking students a chance to fulfill their dreams of higher education and help build a well-educated workforce to keep Arizonas economy moving forward.

My parents work hard to support our family and always instilled in me and my siblings the importance of education. My older brother and sister also graduated early from high school and attended ASU. My brother earned a bachelors degree in business and teaches elementary school. He is on track to finish his MBA. My sister is starting medical school and plans to become a surgeon.

My older siblings are my role models. I desperately wanted to follow them to ASU, but I could not. Although we all studied hard in high school, they were able to attend ASU and pay in-state tuition because they are U.S. citizens. I am not a citizen.

My brother and sister were born in Arizona, but I was born in Mexico when my mother went there to help with a family emergency. She brought me here when I was 1.

The only difference between me and my siblings is paperwork. Arizona is the only home Ive ever known.

Im an Arizona kid. I grew up just like other Arizona kids, playing soccer, taking family trips to Lake Pleasant, and going to the county fair.

Another view: Push to help 'Dreamers' is coming from ... Republicans?

I sat in dual enrollment classes where everyone was doing the same work, but my classmates received free college credits and I couldnt even sign up. In-state tuition and all the usual doors to higher education are closed to me simply because I am undocumented.

I want to follow in my sisters footsteps, attend medical school, and become a doctor. Its my dream to become an anesthesiologist. But there was no way I could afford to pay nearly $40,000 per yearat ASU 50%more than students who are eligible for in-state tuition.

At a time when many people seem divided, there is broad agreement about the importance of providing in-state college tuition to all Arizona high school graduates.

The effort to put Proposition308 on the ballot was strongly bipartisan. The measure passed the Republican-led House and the Republican-led Senate and was signed by a Republican governor.

If Arizona passes Proposition308, it will be joining 20 other states that have passed in-state tuition for Dreamers, including conservative-led states such as Utah, Texas, Oklahomaand Arkansas.

Undocumented students like me just want to be treated like everyone else. We want a fair shot at a good education. We want the chance to contribute to our communities, including as doctors, nurses, teachersand other professions that Arizona needs.

This fall, voters have the chance to do the right thing for us, for themselves, and for all of Arizona.

Hazel Villatoro is an incoming freshman at Grand Canyon University. Reach her atvillatoro.hazel1@gmail.com.

Original post:
Proposition 308 would allow Dreamers like me to pay in-state tuition - The Arizona Republic

CityBusiness, a New Orleans-based publication, recently announced its 2022 list of Health Care Heroes, including one School of Medicine professional and six Tulane physicians: (top row, from left) Bennetta Horne, PhD, Dr. Jacey Jones, Dr. Keith Ferdinand; (bottom row, from left) Dr. Mary Mulcahey, Dr. Adrian Baudy, Dr. Myo Thwin Myint and Dr. Meghan Howell (Ferdinand photo by Paula Burch-Celentano; Jones photo by Sally Asher; others provided by Tulane School of Medicine. Graphic by Kim Rainey).

CityBusiness, a New Orleans-based publication, recently announced its 2022 list of Health Care Heroes, including six School of Medicine physicians and one leader in its professional category. Started in 2007, the annual Health Care Heroes list honors healthcare professionals in the New Orleans area in the following categories: first responders, nursing, physicians, professionals and volunteers. Honorees are selected based on industry achievement and community involvement. This year, Tulane had six of the 22 doctors recognized in the physician category. To see the full list, click here.

Professional

Bennetta Horne, PhD, Assistant Dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, and Director, Office of Multicultural Affairs

Bennetta Horne has built her career on seeing the possibilities. Shes helped countless students make their dreams of attending a university and medical school become realities. Horne was recently named assistant dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, and shes also director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs at the School of Medicine.

Physician

Adrian Baudy, MD, Associate Professor and Program Director of the Nephrology Fellowship

Dr. Adrian Baudy grew up watching his family undergo treatments for heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure and stroke. His loved ones experiences with doctors inspired him to become one himself. Baudy came up with an idea to help lower their sodium intake. He knew his patients wouldn't give up their spicy foods, so Baudy developed a salt-free hot sauce and began giving it to his patients. He now sells it to people around the world, not for profit, but in an effort to show that eating healthier doesn't have to be boring.

Keith Ferdinand, MD, Professor of Medicine and Gerald S. Berenson Chair in Preventative Cardiology

Dr. Keith Ferdinand has been a leader in communicating the health issues related to COVID-19 for the Black community in New Orleans, providing scientific facts on the condition and the vaccine. He has been and is still heavily involved in many national organizations including the Association of Black Cardiologists, the American Society of Hypertension, and the Healthy Heart Community Prevention Program, a cardiovascular risk program targeting African American and other high-risk populations.

Meghan Howell, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Dr. Meghan Howell is a Childrens Hospital pediatrician and is the clinical director of the hospitals NICU graduate program. She also serves as Childrens Hospitals school wellness program and ThriveKids liaison. A fierce advocate for her patients, she is passionate about reaching children and families where they are every day, to promote health and wellness at home and in school settings. She has built and expanded the NICU graduate clinic, which treats growth issues associated with premature birth in babies and children who have experienced time in NICU.

Jacey Jones, MD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine

Dr. Jacey Jones came home to New Orleans after medical school because she wanted to take care of the same community who raised her. Both of Jones parents are doctors, and she followed their lead. She says growing up in her New Orleans East neighborhood and understanding the challenges and the reasons to celebrate help her connect with patients. Jones also volunteers her time and expertise outside the hospital, including speaking to area high schools about the importance of getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

Mary Mulcahey, MD, Associate Professor in Orthopaedics and Assistant Dean of Faculty Affairs

Dr. Mary Mulcahey uses her knowledge and experience to help her patients in New Orleans. She is also extremely passionate about trying to inspire women to become orthopedic surgeons. In February 2022, Mulcahey was appointed as an assistant dean of Faculty Affairs at the School of Medicine. She is also the assistant residency program director and director of the Womens Sports Medicine Program. Mulcahey is the team physician for several area sports teams. She is also passionate about trying to expand the diversity of future orthopedic surgeons.Myo Thwin Myint, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics and Program Director of Fellowship/Residency Training

Dr. Myo Thwin Myint advocates for patients and families, especially LGBTQ+ and minority/marginalized populations, to have access to care that is collaborative, coordinated, and that integrates physical and mental health. Myint serves as co-chair on one of the committees within the Presidential Commission on Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) and promotes systemic changes for the well-being of students, residents, fellows, faculty and staff.

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Seven from School of Medicine recognized as Health Care Heroes - Tulane University

Scott T. Hollenbeck, MD, FACS, has been named chair of UVA's Department of Plastic and Maxillofacial Surgery.

The University of Virginia School of Medicine has recruited internationally recognized plastic surgeon Scott T. Hollenbeck, MD, FACS, to lead its Department of Plastic and Maxillofacial Surgery. He succeeds Stephen Park, MD, FACS, who has served as the interim chair of the Department of Plastic and Maxillofacial Surgery since May 2020.

Dr. Hollenbecks talents as a surgeon, researcher and educator have made him a national leader in academic medicine, said Melina R. Kibbe, MD, the dean of the School of Medicine and chief health affairs officer for UVA Health. He is ideally suited to lead our excellent Department of Plastic and Maxillofacial Surgery to even greater accomplishments in service to our patients and future generations of physicians and scientists.

Hollenbeckcomes to UVA from Duke University/Duke Health, having served as Vice Chief of Research for the Division of Plastic, Maxillofacial, and Oral Surgery, director of The Human Fresh Tissue Lab, director of Breast Reconstruction, and director of the world-renowned Duke Flap Course,which teaches reconstructive surgery techniques to plastic surgeons from all around the world.

A specialist in breast reconstruction following cancer treatment, Hollenbeck holds several leadership positions in plastic surgery, including Vice President of Education for the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. The co-author of more than 100 peer-reviewed research publications, he focuses on the effect of obesity and tissue inflammation on breast cancer progression. He also holds several patents and has helped launch a biotechnology startup company. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Coulter Foundation, Plastic Surgery Education Foundation and the Southeastern Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, among others.

In addition to his patient care and research, Hollenbeck has worked to address healthcare disparities in the Durham, N.C., area by performing community-based studies to identify barriers to care. During his residencies and academic career, he has received several teaching awards for his work in medical student education.

Dr. Hollenbeck has an extraordinary reputation for his commitment to advancing medicine and improving patient care, said K. Craig Kent, MD, chief executive officer of UVA Health and executive vice president for health affairs at UVA. I look forward to seeing what he will accomplish in collaboration with our excellent faculty in the Department of Plastic and Maxillofacial Surgery.

Executive Vice President and Provost Ian Baucom noted that Dr. Hollenbecks appointment will be the latest step in cementing UVAs School of Medicine as one of the nations leading public medical schools.

Hollenbeck earned his medical degree from The Ohio State University, then completed his residency in surgery at New York-Presbyterian - Cornell and a research fellowship in wound healing and vascular biology at Weill Cornell Medical College. He subsequently completed a residency in plastic surgery at Duke University Medical Center.

Hollenbeck said he was attracted to UVA by its influential tradition in plastic surgery pioneered under the leadership of Milton Edgerton, MD; Raymond Morgan, MD; and many others.Just look around the country and count all the highly regarded plastic surgeons who have trained at UVA. Its really impressive and comparable to any program I can think of, he said. This program has amazing history and is well positioned to attract and develop the next generation of impactful plastic surgeons. With the engaged and dynamic leadership of Dr. Melina Kibbe, Dr. Craig Kent, and Wendy Horton, the sky is the limit for UVA Plastic Surgery.

Hollenbeck will join UVA on November 28, 2022.

More:
Top Breast Reconstruction Expert to Chair UVA's Department of Plastic and Maxillofacial Surgery - UVA Health Newsroom

Gaining a place in medical school has always been a lottery, made even more difficult for aspiring doctors this year. For those who failed to achieve their A level conditional offer grades, this will come as a hard blow and may seem grossly unfair.

Some students are entitled to feel victims of the A level grade inflation in 2020 and 2021 when exams were cancelled due to the Covid pandemic and acceptance to medical school was determined by over-generous teacher-assessed predicted grades. As the government returns the cap on the number of medical school places to approaching pre-pandemic levels, fewer places have been offered to students for 2022 entry and examination boards have been directed to reduce the number of top grades. For England, Wales and Northern Ireland, A and A* grades have been reduced from 45 to 36 per cent. This years students are no less bright than those in the previous two years but will achieve poorer grades and fewer opportunities as a result of these manipulations. Meanwhile, medical schools are still demanding top grades.

During the acceptance bulges of 2020 and 2021, some medical schools invited students to defer their starting date by one year because they could not cope with the unexpectedly high number of students. Some even offered financial incentives either to delay or to move to other medical schools.

The cap on medical school places is now back to 7,500 in England. The government has evenrefused to extend the cap to accommodate students deferred from 2021 thusreducing the number of training places available for 2021/2022 applicants. These students have received no compensation for the reduced A level teaching provided as a result of school closures during the pandemic and variably efficient online learning.

Meanwhile most medical schools continue to offer 7.5 per cent of their places to international students because they pay higher fees than UK students.

The medical student cap exists only because of the cost of teaching more students, despite the fact that the NHS is desperately short of doctors. The government was quoted this week as saying that the cap is regularly reviewed to ensure it meets the needs of our NHS. This comment amounts to hypocrisy of the highest order because the government knows that for the past decade the UK has been forced to recruit an ever-increasing number of doctors from abroad to meet the needs of the NHS. In 2021, a staggering 63 per cent of doctors registering with the General Medical Council for the first time qualified abroad. There were 7,377 UK graduates, 2,591 from EEA schools and 10,009 International Medical Graduates from countries outside Europe. Between 2016 and 2021, the GMC has recruited 53,296 doctors from abroad.

The good and the great who run our medical schools, the medical Royal Colleges and the governing Medical School Council are perfectly aware of this data. They pay lip service to the need for more UK medical schools but never, as supporting evidence, mention that since 2018, we have imported more doctors than we have trained. They are self-constrained by political correctness as they promote each other around the circuit of influential jobs. They form an elite club, some of whom have not worked at the bedside for years. The few who see themselves in line for a gong definitely wont challenge government policy. The golden rule for promotion is to make small waves to remind others of your presence but never rock the boat.

Successive governments with their short-termist views have long realised that it is cheaper to import medical graduatesfrom abroad than to train our own. The only exception in the recent past are the five new medical schools commissioned in 2018 by Jeremy Hunt, then Secretary of State for Health. These new schools will graduate a total of 1,500 doctors annually, the first in 2023/4. They will form a drop in the ocean of the needs of the NHS.

Meanwhile the GMC continues at pace to recruit doctors from low-income counties to plug gaps in the NHS. They come mostly from countries with patient/doctor ratios well below World Health Organisation recommendations. These doctors are desperately needed in their home countries to provide essential services. This raises serious moral and ethical issues.

The UK is a signatory and therefore in breach of the WHO code of practice on international recruitment of health workers which states that member states should discourage active recruitment from developing countries facing critical shortages of health workers.

Not creating more UK medical schools amounts to a tragedy for students, the NHS and for patients. We have a wealth of home-grown talent desperate for the opportunity to train as doctors. One way or another, medical education and staffing of the NHS are a disaster and no one seems to care enough to plan the changes necessary. We need more UK trained doctors and more UK medical schools.

See the rest here:
Its time to lift the medical student cap - The Spectator

$1 Million Gift will Support New State-of-the-Art Gross Anatomy Laboratory

BALTIMORE, July 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) DeanE. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, announced today that UMSOM will receive a new $1 million gift fromMaurice N. Reid, MD '99, CEO and Medical Director, ExpressCare Urgent Care Centers, bringing his total giving to nearly $2.2 million. Dr. Reid, who has been a longtime supporter the School's initiatives, is a proud School of Medicine alumnus and member of the Dean's Board of Visitors.

The gift, in support of medical education and the recently implemented Renaissance Curriculum, will be used to renovate UMSOM's gross anatomy laboratories and modernize that teaching environment for medical students.

"The School of Medicine is deeply grateful to Dr. Reid for his generosity in providing a transformational gift that will undoubtedly improve the learning environment for all of our students," said Dean Reece, who is also Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Maryland, Baltimore, and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor. "This gift will help guide UMSOM into the future by providing the technologically advanced infrastructure required to equip our students with the fundamental knowledge and skills necessary to practice medicine."

Dr. Reid noted that modernized teaching facilities and new technology are essential for the implementation of innovative learning methods. "As a physician and graduate of the School of Medicine, I recognize the importance of being on the front lines of medicine and medical education," said Dr. Reid. "I am thrilled to be able to support the Renaissance Curriculum by supporting the creation of a state-of-the art anatomical learning facility that will help train future generations of physicians."

The UMSOM's commitment to providing and maintaining an appropriate educational environment that is comfortable, technologically current, and conducive to learning is a leading priority for the Office of Medical Education. Donna L. Parker, MD, FACP, Professor of Medicine and Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education, believes the anatomy lab renovations afforded by Dr. Reid's gift will benefit students for the entirety of their pre-clerkship studies. "With our Renaissance Curriculum, students no longer learn anatomy in one course at the beginning of first year," she said. "They now revisit anatomy subject matter the anatomy laboratory during different blocks over the entire pre-clerkship curriculum. This allows them to learn anatomy along with the physiology and pathophysiology of each organ system."

The current laboratory, originally built in the 1970s, will receive various "infrastructure improvements along with new equipment, such as moveable and height-adjustable operating bed stations with smart monitors and surgical drop lighting," said Dr. Parker. "We are also looking to add innovative technology to the facility. This gift from Dr. Reid will make it possible to provide our students with a wonderful and updated environment in which to learn."

Adam C. Puche, PhD, Professor and Vice Chair of the Dept of Anatomy & Neurobiology at the UMSOM, added: "As part of the Renaissance Curriculum, the teaching of anatomy was restructured with heightened clinical relevancy and tight integration into systems-based learning. During this process, we recognized the existing UMSOM gross anatomy laboratory infrastructure was inadequate to deliver modern teaching technologies to our students.The renovations possible with this gift will upgrade the UMSOM gross anatomy teaching laboratories to a state-of-the-art facility, providing our medical students a modern teaching environment for the study of anatomy."

Dr. Reid's record of philanthropic giving to UMSOM is highly notable. His most recent contributions include a donation of $500,000 given in 2019 to support The Maurice N. Reid, MD Collaborative Learning Space. In 2021, he committed to more than $300,000 to support a pilot cohort for Point of Care Ultrasound training for medical students, along with a more recent $100,000 pledge to support the Center for Advanced Research Training & Innovation (CARTI).

Dr. Reid earned his medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1999, followed by a residency in Emergency Medicine at the University of Maryland Medical Center. After completing his residency, he served as Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the UMSOM and later worked as Clinical Director of the Emergency department at Bon Secours Hospital in Baltimore, MD. In 2004, Dr. Reid left academia to pursue his desire to open an urgent care center in Harford County. In March of 2005, Dr. Reid founded ExpressCare Urgent Care Centers and opened its first location in Bel Air, MD. Since opening its doors, ExpressCare has grown to over 30 locations in three states and has formed a strategic partnership with LifeBridge Health, which now owns a minority share of ExpressCare.

About the University of Maryland School of Medicine

Now in its third century, the University of Maryland School of Medicine was chartered in 1807 as the first public medical school in the United States.It continues today as one of the fastest growing, top-tier biomedical research enterprises in the world -- with 46 academic departments, centers, institutes, and programs, and a faculty of more than 3,000 physicians, scientists, and allied health professionals, including members of the National Academy of Medicineand the National Academy of Sciences, and a distinguished two-time winner of the Albert E. Lasker Award in Medical Research. With an operating budget of more than $1.3 billion, the School of Medicine works closely in partnership with the University of Maryland Medical Center and Medical System to provide research-intensive, academic and clinically based care for nearly 2 million patients each year. The School of Medicine has nearly $600 million in extramural funding, with most of its academic departments highly ranked among all medical schools in the nation in research funding. As one of the seven professional schools that make up the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus, the School of Medicine has a total population of nearly 9,000 faculty and staff, including 2,500 students, trainees, residents, and fellows. The combined School of Medicine and Medical System ("University of Maryland Medicine") has an annual budget of over $6 billion and an economic impact of nearly $20 billion on the state and local community. The School of Medicine, which ranks as the 8thhighest among public medical schools in research productivity (according to the Association of American Medical Colleges profile) is an innovator in translational medicine, with 606 active patents and 52 start-up companies. In the latestU.S. News & World Reportranking of the Best Medical Schools, published in 2021, the UM School of Medicine isranked #9among the 92 public medical schoolsin the U.S., and in the top 15 percent(#27) of all 192public and private U.S. medical schools. The School of Medicine works locally, nationally, and globally, with research and treatment facilities in 36 countries around the world. Visitmedschool.umaryland.edu

SOURCE The University of Maryland School of Medicine

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UM School of Medicine to Expand Innovative Medical Education Spaces with Gift from Entrepreneurial Leader and Alumnus Maurice N. Reid, MD '99 - PR...

The 2021 UMass Cancer Walk and Run raised more than $700,000 for cancer research and clinical trials. The fundraising goal for this years event is $850,000 and carries a superhero theme.

UMass Chan Medical School has announced Harr Toyota as the presenting sponsor of the 24th annual UMass Cancer Walk and Run to be held on Sunday, Oct. 2, at Polar Park.

Harr Toyota is honored to serve as the presenting sponsor of this critically important event in Central Massachusetts, said Mike Gross, president/general manager of Harr Toyota. Many of us have been touched by cancerperhaps through personal diagnosisor by a family member, friend or colleague diagnosed with the disease. Our donation will help reduce the suffering and deaths caused by this disease.

Each year thousands take part in the event and 100 percent of the money donated supports adult and pediatric cancer research and care, and clinical trials of potentially lifesaving therapies at UMass Chan.

Harr Toyota has been a steadfast partner of the UMass Cancer Walk and Run and we are grateful for their ongoing support, said Traci Heath, manager of the UMass Cancer Walk and community fundraising. This signature sponsorship will help us continue to conduct cutting-edge cancer research at the highest level.

The walk and run has become one of the regions signature fundraising events. The Worcester Telegram & Gazette named the walk the Best Fundraising Event in 2021 and 2020 and the Worcester Business Journal chose it as the best nonprofit fundraiser event in Central Massachusetts. The 2021 event raised more than $700,000 for cancer research and clinical trials. The fundraising goal for this years event is $850,000 and carries a superhero theme.

Throughout the course of its history, thousands upon thousands of superheroes from across the region have emerged to lace their sneakers and take part in the walk. This year we honor these superheroespatients with cancer and their family members, health care providers, researchers, volunteersand you. By raising money and taking part in the walk, you have the power to save lives, UMass Chan Medical School Chancellor Michael F. Collins said in a video earlier this year.

Visit umasscancerwalk.org to start a fundraising page, start a team or make a donation.

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Harr Toyota announced as presenting sponsor of UMass Cancer Walk and Run - UMass Medical School