Big crowds and big wins for DOM at ACP Arizona Chapter Scientific Meeting

[Collage of three images from the Department of Medicine’s participation in the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Arizona Chapter of the American College of Physicians, Nov. 8-9, at the Casino del Sol Resort.]The 2024 Scientific Meeting of the Arizona Chapter of the American College of Physicians — a national organization of internal medicine physicians who specialize in the diagnosis, treatment and care of adults — drew quite the crowd Nov. 8-9 at the host venue, Tucson’s Casino del Sol Resort.

With 161,000 members, ACP is the largest medical-specialty organization and second-largest physician group in the U.S.

See a mini-photo gallery below for event highlights.

By the numbers, the meeting included:

  • 425+ attendees
  • 240+ posters presented
  • Six Oral Vignettes presented
  • 11 CME lectures given
  • The first Great Debates Southwest Champions crowned, and
  • Doctor’s Dilemma Finals.

[Casiono del Sol Resort on West Valencia Road in Tucson, Arizona]With 125 medical student and 138 resident posters accepted, the number of poster submissions broke a record for the state chapter, noted Indu Partha, MD, FACP, the ACP-AZ Chapter Education Committee chair and chair of the meeting. She and several Department of Medicine faculty at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson took part in organizing the event.

[Indu Partha, MD, FACP]“We had a fantastic turnout for the meeting and were represented incredibly well by University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson students, residents and faculty,” added Dr. Partha, who is an associate professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine — or GGP, and associate program director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program – Tucson Campus.

“After a year of planning, it was so rewarding to see our hard work come to fruition. We had a record number of registrants, sponsorships as well as posters — Tucson did itself proud. I would like to especially recognize the scholarly contributions of our talented COM-T students, residents and faculty and the financial sponsorship support of the Department of Medicine and its chair, Dr. James Liao.”

[Joy Bulger Beck, MD, Christian Bime, MD, MSc, and Amit Algodar, MD, PhD, MPH]She noted lectures delivered by Joy Bulger Beck, MD, FACP, clinical assistant professor, GGP division; Christian Bime, MD, MSc, FACP, associate professor, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine — or PACCS; and Amit Algotar, MD, PhD, MPH, clinical associate professor, Department of Family & Community Medicine, were “very well received and appreciated.” Dr. Bulger Beck also was recognized as the ACP Arizona Chapter Educator of the Year, while [Vijay Chandiramani, MD, FACP]Vijay Chandiramani, MD, associate professor and associate chief, Division of Inpatient Medicine, who was honored at last October’s Scientific Meeting as Hospitalist of the Year, was named this year’s Internal Medicine Physician of the Year. And Joseph Gunderson, a College of Medicine – Tucson, or UACOM-T, fourth-year medical student (MS4), was named the Student of the Year.

Amy Sussman, MD, FACP, DOM vice chair for education, director of the Internal Medicine Clerkship, and a professor and fellowship director in the Division of Nephrology, was very proud of Gunderson’s choice (having nominated him) as well as achievements of other students and residents.

“I could not be prouder of our UACOM-T students and residents! Many students earned distinction on their poster presentations, taking first place in four out of five categories. And both our student and resident teams won their preliminary Doctor’s Dilemma round and went on to compete for the title (which went to Sierra Vista’s Canyon Vista Medical Center team). The student team (competing against resident teams) went on to place second,” Dr. Sussman added.

Other UACOM-T results included: Resident Posters – Quality Improvement/Patient Safety category: Joshua Sethi, MD, MS, 2nd place; and Clinical Vignettes category: Monica Angeletti, MD, 1st place, and Rishab Srivastava, DO, 3rd place; and Student Posters – Basic Research category: Caleb Seekins (MS1), 1st place, Shivani Patel (MS2), 2nd place, and Nikhil Mathu (MS1), 3rd place; Clinical Research category: Samrawit De La Cruz (MS2), 1st place, and Joseph Gunderson, 2nd place; Quality Improvement/Patient Safety category: Thomas Brower, 1st place, and Ahmed Al-Shamari (MS4), 3rd place; and Clinical Vignette category: Toluwalase Talabi (MS4), 1st place, and Camila Hurtado (MS3), 2nd place.

For the full results (and a few more photos), see this email from the ACP-AZ Chapter (PDF).

Others Dr. Partha recognized, included:

  • Laura Meinke, MD, a critical care medicine specialist in the PACCS division and the DOM’s associate vice chair of education and director of the IM Residency Program, who represented the program at the Meet the Program Directors event;
  • Ian Coe, MD, an assistant professor in the Inpatient Medicine division and a co-course director of the Scientific Meeting’s  Point-of-Care Ultrasound, or POCUS, pre-course held 8-11 a.m., Friday, Nov. 8;
  • Kendal Flegenheimer, MD, an Inpatient Medicine assistant professor, and Nephrology associate professor Sangeetha Murugapandian, MD, both vice chairs of the Doctor’s Dilemma subcommittee; and
  • Gurusaravanan Kutti-Sridharan, MD, associate professor, Inpatient Medicine, who was one of the Posters Subcommittee co-chairs.

The American College of Physicians Internal Medicine Meeting 2025, will be April 3-5 in New Orleans. Learn more about that here: annualmeeting.acponline.org 

MINI-PHOTO GALLERY *
* Click on images to enlarge. Rollover image with mouse for captions.

[Selfie with ACP-AZ Chapter Governor Allan Markus, MD, and 2024 Scientific Meeting chair, Indu Partha, MD, after one of the talks] [Left to right, top row: Doctors Dilemma team with Curtis Josephs, Jacob Ref and David Mintz (MS4s); and other ACP-AZ Chapter Scientific Meeting participating students from the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson on the bottom row: Iliana Cosio (MS4), Ben Litmanovich (MS3), Hannah Newton (MS4), Laura Tran (MS4), and Toluwalase Talabi (MS4)] [The Doctor’s Dilemma competition pitting (on the left) the U of A College of Medicine – Tucson medical students Curtis Josephs, Jacob Ref and David Mintz (MS4s) and the U of A Internal Medicine resident team, Nelson Pham, MD, Nate Walton, MD, and Will Waidelich, MD] [U of A College of Medicine – Tucson medical students Curtis Josephs, Jacob Ref and David Mintz (MS4s) after the first round of the Doctor’s Dilemma competition.]

[From left, top row: U of A College of Medicine – Tucson participating students, Iliana Cosio, Laura Tran, Toluwalase Talabi, Hannah Rosch Newton, Joseph Gunderson, Alisia Tumac, and Jacob Ref; front row, kneeling: Ben Litmanovich] [DOM Vice Chair for Education Amy Sussman, MD, with Joseph Gunderson (MS4), the recipient of the prestigious 2024 ACP-AZ Chapter Student of the Year award] [Internal Medicine Resident Doctor’s Dilemma Team (3rd place): Hoang Nhat “Nelson” Pham, MD, Nathan “Nate” Walton, MD, and William “Will” Waidelich, MD, which came in third in the competition] [The Pulmonary division’s Laura Meinke, MD, who is program director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program in Tucson, the largest at the college, during the Meet The Director event.]

[University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson students who presented posters (MS3s) at the ACP-AZ Chapter 2024 Scientific Meeting, Nov. 8-9, at the Casino del Sol Resort] [Lecture on “What’s New in Women’s Health?” with Joy Bulger Beck, MD, FACP, clinical assistant professor, Division of General Internal Medicine, Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine] [Kendal Flegenheimer, MD, Inpatient Medicine assistant professor and vice chair (with the Division of Nephrology’s Sangeetha Murugapandian, MD) of the Doctor’s Dilemma subcommittee; Ian Coe, MD, Inpatient Medicine assistant professor; Dr. Witten; Dr. Wong; Kristopher Abbate, MD, Division of General Internal Medicine, Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine assistant professor] [Lecture on “Updates in Critical Care” with Christian Bime, MD, MSc, FACP, associate professor, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, and medical director, Medical Intensive Care Unit, Banner – University Medical Center Tucson]

[Anthony Witten, DO, Division of Inpatient Medicine assistant professor and IM Residency associate program director; Ryan Wong, MD, Division of Nephrology assistant professor and IM Sub-Internship director; and Joseph Gunderson (MS4). Gunderson took 2nd prize in his poster category.] [A lecture on “Updates in Obesity Medicine” by Amit Algotar, MD, PhD, MPH, clinical associate professor, Department of Family & Community Medicine, and member, Cancer Prevention & Control Program, U of A Cancer Center] [ACP-AZ Chapter Governor Allan Markus, MD; 2024 Scientific Meeting Chair Indu Partha, MD; and the event’s keynote speaker Elisa Choi, MD] [Internal Medicine residents (PGY2s) with Chief Resident Kandis Boothe in front of ballroom at Casino del Sol Resort in Tucson]

(Photos courtesy of Drs. Indu Partha and Amy Sussman)

Original event listing.

Looking Ahead: SGIM Annual Meeting, May 14-17, 2025

[Logo for Society for General Internal Medicine]GGP’s Indu Partha, MD, associate program director for the U of A Internal Medicine Residency Program – Tucson Campus, also pointed out that the deadline to submit clinical vignettes, scientific abstracts, and innovations in healthcare delivery or medical education for the SGIM Annual Meeting in Hollywood, Florida, May 14-17, 2025, is fast approaching. All submissions should be in by Dec. 19. The Society of General Internal Medicine represents people working in academic general internal medicine with more than 3,300 of the world’s leading academic internists as members. Learn more

ALSO SEE:
“Tucson’s Casino del Sol to host ACP-AZ Scientific Meeting, Nov. 8-9” | Posted Oct. 23, 2024
“Dr. Vijay Chandiramani named Hospitalist of the Year” | Posted June 24, 2024

Release Date: 
11/15/2024 - 2:15pm
Media Contact: 
David Mogollon | Communications Manager, University of Arizona Department of Medicine