Two physicians with the University of Arizona Department of Medicine, department Chair Monica Kraft, MD, FAAAAI, FACP, FCCP, FERS, and 
Kevin Moynahan, MD, FACP, deputy dean of education, UA College of Medicine – Tucson, are being singled out for special recognition this weekend at the 2017 Scientific Meeting of the American College of Physicians (ACP) – Arizona Chapter.
The meeting is set for Friday, Oct. 20, through Sunday, Oct. 22, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Reid Park, 445 S. Alvernon Way, Tucson.
Challenges & Solutions
A varied program—including favorites of medical student, resident and fellow physician such as the poster competition, oral vignettes and Doctor’s Dilemma® gameshow-style knowledge contest—focuses on the theme, “Internal Medicine 2017 – Challenges and Solutions.” Among issues covered are opioids and pain management, osteoporosis, tough patient encounters, MIPS reporting, physician well-being, and prescribing psych meds safely.
The Saturday morning schedule also provides two views on “Precision Medicine,” courtesy of UA College of Medicine Dean Charles Cairns, MD, FACEP, FAHA, and Kenneth Ramos, MD, PhD, PharmB, associate vice president, precision health, UA Health Sciences; director, UAHS Center for Applied Genetics and Genomic Medicine, and former interim dean of the UA College of Medicine – Phoenix.
The keynote speaker is ACP President Nitin S. Damle, MD, FACP, a general internist in private practice and assistant professor of medicine at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Saturday morning, his topic is “Leading the Way Together.” On Sunday morning, his theme is “Health Effects of Global Climate Change.”
To register or add the event to your personal schedule (via iCal, Outlook, Google or Yahoo! calendar), click here — you also can find a summary of the program there (Click the image at left or 
this link [PDF] for the full event brochure). Continuing medical education credits are available for up to 13.5 ABIM Maintenance of Certification (MOC) points/13.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ to participants.
A Full Slate of Awards
The awards ceremony begins Sunday at noon. Dr. Kraft will receive the chapter’s Researcher of the Year Award and Dr. Moynahan, who has previously won the chapter’s Teacher of the Year Award, will receive its Laureate Award—the highest honor conveyed by a chapter on a member. An internist, he is a professor of medicine in the UA Division of Geriatrics, General Internal Medicine and Palliative Medicine.
Dr. Kraft’s selection, said Dixie Swan (on left at right), executive director, ACP Arizona Chapter, was for her many prior and ongoing contributions to advancing our understanding of asthma and its care. She pointed out that the researcher award is not given annually, but is based on meritorious career contributions.
“She was chosen handily because of her accomplishments,” added Robert M. Aaronson, MD (pictured right), ACP Arizona Chapter governor and state representative to the national association. “She not only has led the field in her body of work, but also has really addressed the issue of cutting edge translational research, identifying asthma phenotypes and finding therapies most effective in treating them.”
He is a pulmonologist with Pulmonary Associates of Southern Arizona, medical education director at Tucson Medical Center and a clinical professor of medicine at the UA College of Medicine – Tucson.
Eugene Trowers, MD, MPH, FACP, program chair of the meeting, agreed with Dr. Aaronson’s assessment. “She’s more than deserving because of all the great research she does. I’m glad to hear she’ll be honored,” said the UA professor of medicine, and director, UA Internal Medicine Residency Program – South Campus and Banner – University Medical Center South gastrointestinal services.
A past president of the American Thoracic Society, Dr. Kraft is also the Robert and Irene Flinn Endowed Chair of Medicine at the UA College of Medicine – Tucson and deputy director of the UA Health Sciences Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health for more than 20 years.
Medical Student of the Year
In addition, the UA College of Medicine - Tucson’s Morgan Whitaker will be presented with the ACP Arizona Chapter Medical Student of the Year Award.
Whitaker, a fourth-year med student and UA Internal Medicine Student Association member, also is a member of the research team at the UA Molecular Cardiovascular Research Program lab of Ankit Desai, MD, an assistant professor in the Division of Cardiology and member of the UA Sarver Heart Center.
She also was a 2014 Randall Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award recipient at the University of Alabama, where she completed her undergrad studies in biochemistry.
In Other ACP News
- Among UA Department of Medicine physicians recently awarded the Fellow of the ACP (FACP) designation are Rajesh Kotagiri, MD, FACP (Inpatient Medicine); Bhupinder S. Natt, MD, FACP (Pulmonary & Critical Care); and Srinath Sundararajan, MBBS, FACP, (Hematology & Oncology).
- Physicians who recently joined the ACP chapter include: Julia Indik, MD, PhD (Cardiology), Dalia Mikhael, MD (Inpatient Medicine), Elle Ross, DO, PhD (General Internal Medicine/Endocrinology), and Priyanka S. Dudani, MD (Inpatient Medicine).
- Others UA members of the 2017 Scientific Meeting program committee are Laura Meinke, MD, program director, UA Internal Medicine Residency Program – Tucson Campus and an assistant professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, and Eric Gall, MD, the 2015 event program chair and retired UA professor of rheumatology.
ALSO SEE:
"Asthma Research Gets Spotlight in Arizona Republic Op-Ed by UA Senior VPs" | Posted June 15, 2017
“Dr. Monica Kraft Named Fellow in Executive Leadership Program for Women in Academic Medicine” | Posted June 8, 2017
“Department of Medicine Chair Named Fellow of the European Respiratory Society” | Posted June 1, 2017