Packed House, Agenda Make for Eventful Fall 2018 DOM General Faculty Meeting

Collage of images from Fall 2018 DOM General Faculty Meeting including Drs. Ojo, Kron, Dake and SussmanWith a full agenda for the Fall 2018 General Faculty Meeting for the University of Arizona Department of Medicine, seats did not stay empty for long.

About 65 people attended and several more livestreamed in to watch it online. To view an archive video of the meeting, see this link: http://bit.ly/2PkSQJn

Facebook post about Fall 2018 DOM General Faculty Meeting photo albumYou also can see a photo gallery at the DOM Facebook webpage here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.739202079805830

To view a PDF version of the New Hires and Accolades & Awards slideshow presented at the meeting, click here (or see “EXTRA INFO” at the bottom of this article).

Topping the list of guest speakers were UA Health Sciences Senior Vice President Michael Dake, MD, UA College of Medicine – Tucson Dean Irving Kron, MD, and UA College of Pharmacy Dean Rick Schnellmann, PhD.

They were introduced after department Chair Monica Kraft, MD, recognized new faculty in the past quarter and highlighted accolades and awards, divvied up by education, clinical and research interests.

Graphic displaying UA Department of Medicine research awards 2017-18On research, Dr. Kraft was proud to announce that DOM contracts and grant awards for Oct. 1, 2017, to Sept. 30, 2018, topped $62 million. More than half of that—$32.7 million—involved National Institutes of Health funding that she said would again boost the department’s position on the Blue Ridge NIH Award Rankings. At the Principal Investigator Poster Session in January, she noted that the DOM had moved up from 56th to 39th position on the list since her tenure as department chair began in late 2014.

Dr. Dake discussed the UAHS Strategic Planning effort and new education, research and training and clinical facilities scheduled to open in 2019. He encouraged faculty to review the plan and offer input on ways in which it might be improved and address their issues and needs.

Dr. Kron talked about the department’s wins at the UA College of Medicine – Tucson 2018 faculty teaching awards announced earlier in the day, the recent LCME accreditation visit, a new master of education degree in medicine coming for the college next year, a college research retreat currently planned for Feb. 13. The retreat will feature Ted Talk style addresses, data blitzes, poster contests with awards, and a shark tank competition with Dr. Dake and UA President Robert Robbins, MD, among the judges, he added. In response to clinical dollar loss projections by Banner Health in Tucson, he also spoke about a “favored nation” status for employees and residents so that they can get appointments as patients within 3-days of a request to facilitate clinical access and improve the business model.

During a Q&A with both Drs. Dake and Kron, Dr. Kraft noted in response to a question from James Knepler, MD, about more clinical support that she felt new Banner – University Medicine CEO Chad Whelan, MD, was more attuned to clinical needs and requests being a physician himself.

UA College of Pharmacy Dean Dr. Rick Schnellmann confers with Dr. Monica Kraft before the meeting.Dr. Schnellmann talked about the new Arizona Center for Drug Discovery, under construction south of the UA Sarver Heart Center, and the need to identify more project ideas that pharmaceutical clients may be willing to fund for new or improved clinical therapies and devices.

Lisa Lin and Kaitlyn Norman-Powers, licensing managers with Tech Launch Arizona, gave an overview of how the UA commercializes inventions.

Dr. Kraft then discussed results from the recent Banner Health VOICE Survey and solicited participation on work teams to tackle issues they raised.

Next, Tammy Ojo, MD, DOM associate chair for clinical affairs, went over various strategies to meet 14-day new patient access goals and specified that the 3-day priority that Dr. Kron mentioned applied to both UA and Banner employees as returning patients.

Lastly, Amy Sussman, MD, DOM associate chair for education, provided an update on “The Overlap” that period from February through May of next year when changes to the medical student curriculum means the department will have double the number of students participating in clerkships, which will require “all hands on deck” for teaching purposes.

Dr. Ojo’s husband, Dr. Akinlolu Ojo’s presentation on the All of Us Arizona Research Program, of which he is principal investigator, was tabled until the next meeting.

EXTRA INFO: New Hires, Accolades & Awards

New Hires – July-October 2018
 

Tushar Acharya, MD, PhD — Cardiology Rupa Bala, MD — Cardiology
Olivia Hung, MD, PhD — Cardiology Nadar Makki, MD — Cardiology
Jennifer Stern, PhD — Endocrinology Juanita Merchant, MD — Gastroenterology & Hepatology (Chief)
Shaun Chatelain, DO — GGP Clara Connell, MD — GGP
Amy Klein, MD — GGP/Palliative Krisstina Gowin, MD — Hematology & Oncology
Sao Jiralerspong, MD — Hematology & Oncology Mohanad Al-Obaidi, MD — Infectious Diseases
Justin F. Hayes, MD — Infectious Diseases Jamilah Shubeilat, MBBS — Infectious Diseases
Tarun Bathini, MD — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist David Brual, MD — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist
Soham Davé, MD — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist Maham Farshidpour, MD — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist
Roshanak Habibi, MD — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist ​Robert Koch, MD — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist
Shilpa Pedapati, MD — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist Nanda Pullela, MD — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist
Sorabh Sharma, MD — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist Anne Shergill, MD — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist
Kamaldeep Singh, MD — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist Alvaro Altamirano Ufion, MD — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist
Angelo de Mattos, MD, MPH — Nephrology Pablo Loarte-Campos, MD — Nephrology
Elaine Cristan, MD — PACCS/Pulmonary Tammer Y. El-Aini, MD — PACCS/Pulmonary
Imran Patel, MD — PACCS/Sleep Medicine Salma Patel, MD — PACCS/Sleep Medicine
Francesca Polverino, MD, PhD — PACCS/Pulmonary Puneet Shroff, MD — PACCS/Allergy
Alicia Rodriguez-Pla, MD, PhD, MPH — Rheumatology  

Accolades & Awards: July-October 2018
 

Education – UA/State Recognition

Education – National/Global Recognition

  • Dr. Kwan Lee invited speaker on "Contemporary Management of Cardiac Arrest in the Cath Lab" on behalf of SCAI delegation to Vietnam National Heart Association meeting and Great Wall International Congress of Cardiology, Beijing China.
  • Dr. Hannah Tiu creates a Nephrology Fellow Survival App for mobile learning/ reference.
  • Dr. Khadijah Breathett chairs session at Heart Failure Society of America Scientific Sessions in Nashville and gives talk on “The ACA and Advanced HF Therapies”
  • Olympian Billy Mills and UA’s Dr. John Galgiani give keynote speeches for Association of American Indian Physicians Conference on impact of Valley fever.
  • Dr. Bree Johnston named to the ABIM Geriatrics exam writing committee as well as associate editor of American Academy of Hospice & Palliative Medicine online journal PC-FACS and AAHPM ACGME Curricular Milestones Workgroup member.
  • Dr. Marvin Slepian paper on “Relation between blood pressure and pulse wave velocity for human arteries” in PNAS opens door on wearable technology to monitor patient blood pressure.
  • Dr. Karl Kern gives international address at Brazilian Society of Cardiology’s 73rd Annual Congress and the UA Sarver Heart Center Resuscitation Research Group, which he chairs, has four presentations accepted at AHA Annual Scientific Sessions in November.

Education – National/Global Recognition

  • Dr. Sachin Chaudhary to cohost CME-event “Empowering the IPF Patient” Dec. 3 at Aloft with National Jewish Health’s Dr. Gregory Cosgrove, who also is CMO for the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation.
  • Dr. Nancy Sweitzer gives Maurice Sokolow Lecture in Cardiology at UCSF, keynote addresses at University of Alabama Comprehensive Cardiovascular Center’s 7th Annual Focus on Heart Failure Symposium and University of Washington’s 5th Annual Full Spectrum of Heart Failure Therapy Conference, and serves as invited speaker at the UCLA Cardiovascular Symposium 2018.
  • Dr. Tushar Acharya article on “The Iceland MI Study: Association of Unrecognized Myocardial Infarction with Long-term Outcomes in Community-Dwelling Older Adults” published in JAMA Cardiology.
  • Dr. Raj Janardhanan delivers several invited lectures and headlines a 3D echocardiography workshop at EchoIndia 2018 in Chennai, where he also provides SRM Medical College guest lecture on “Multimodality Imaging in Valvular Heart Disease.”

Education – Community Presence

Clinical – UA/State Activities

Clinical – National/Global Recognition

  • Dermatology Chief Dr. James Sligh appointed to American Academy of Dermatology Actinic Keratoses Work Group.
  • Dr. John Galgiani spearheads development, sharing of new UA/Banner Health Valley Fever Clinical Practice protocols to avert diagnoses delays in fungal respiratory infection endemic to U.S. Southwest.
  • 2018 Fellow of the American Heart Association conferred on Dr. Khadijah Breathett by AHA Council on Quality Care and Outcomes Research.
  • Dr. Mindy Fain awarded 4-year, $850,000 HRSA Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program grant to support inter-professional geriatric education and training and integrating geriatrics into primary care.
  • World Association of Sarcoidosis and Other Granulomatous Disorders names UA Interstitial Lung Disease Program among designated WASOG Sarcoidosis Clinics.
  • Dr. Chyi Chyi Chong was invited to be a faculty member and speaker at the 5th John C. McDonald Transplant & Dialysis Access Symposium hosted Oct. 13-14 by LSU Shreveport.
  • DOM physicians continue to make up quarter of ‘Top Doctors’ in Tucson from UA/Banner Health—24 appear in Tucson Lifestyle magazine listings for 2018.

Clinical – National/Global Recognition

Clinical – Community Presence

Research – UA/State Activities

Research – National/Global Activities

Research – National/Global Activities

  • Dr. Ernest Vina papers published in JAMA Network Open on “Positive psychological intervention on pain and functional difficulty among adults with osteoarthritis” and Lupus on “Healthcare resource utilization and costs of long-term corticosteroid exposure.”
  • Dr. Nima Toosizadeh co-authors multiple papers on geriatric biomechanics, back pain, frailty, fall prevention and assessments to predict acute outcomes in colonoscopy screening.
  • All of Us Arizona Research Program, hosted by UA-Banner Health, passes enrollment milestone of 15,000, continuing to leading national effort for genetic database to better develop personalized therapies in precision medicine.
  • Findings from study by Drs. Daniel Combs and Sai Parthasarathy published in Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine note infants often aren’t screened for sleep apnea, but it may be tied to risk of death from congenital heart disease.
  • The journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine publishes groundbreaking research, led by UA’s Dr. Esther Sternberg and funded by U.S. General Services Administration Wellbuilt for Wellbeing Program, that found open office seating arrangements offer health benefits unseen in workers in cubicles, private offices.
  • Dr. Monica Kraft officially made NHLBI advisory council member and chairs Sepsis workshop for National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

Research – Contracts & Awards

  • Boeringer Ingelheim $500,000 grant awarded to Dr. Sachin Chaudhary to study “Role of GERD and Sleep Apnea in progression & exacerbation of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF).”
  • Dr. John Galgiani awarded $200,000 subcontract from the CDC to investigate the clinical utility of a Valley fever rapid diagnostic test for antibodies to coccidioidomycosis.
  • Dr. Marvin Slepian wins NIH/NIBIB grant for $3.84M to study “Biomechanical Approaches and Technologies for Enhancing TAVR Outcomes.”
  • Dr. Steve Black wins $1.8M R01 award from NHLBI to study “PKG Signaling and Sepsis-Induced ALI” related to his research on ARDS.
  • Dr. Juanita Merchant receives two R01 awards from NIDDK/NIH for a combined $3.05M to study “Transcriptional Control Gastrin” and “MDSC Polarization and Helicobacter Induced Gastric Metaplasia.”
  • Dr. Khadijah Breathett receives $875K NHLBI grant — as well as $10K UA Sarver Heart Center Women of Color Heart Health Ed Committee award — to address provider bias in advanced heart failure therapies for racial/ethnic minorities.
  • Dr. Bhaskar Banerjee receives $1.99M research grant from NCI/NIH to fund next steps in development of Dual View Imaging endoscope in colonoscopy. He also is interviewed for upcoming article on topic in MedTech Strategist.

ALSO SEE:
“First Half of 2018 a Whirlwind of Accomplishment by DOM Faculty, Slideshow Attests” | Posted June 26, 2018

Release Date: 
11/09/2018 - 9:00am
Media Contact: 
David Mogollon | Communications Coordinator, University of Arizona Department of Medicine