Dear GME Community,
Cindy Hamra Associate Dean, GME
February is Black History Month – there are so many good resources available, and I enjoyed reading President Cauce’s blog and the UW Combined Fund Drive’s engagement and learning opportunities. As we work to support our community, a reminder that Ramadan begins on March 22. Muslim colleagues and patients may be fasting between dawn and sunset in observance.
Additional celebrations in February include Thank a Resident Day on February 24. This day is an opportunity to recognize our trainees and their enormous contribution to our mission. In the spirit of celebrating our trainees, GME enjoyed partnering with The Huddle to craft this Getting to know our Chief Residents and Fellows article.
Finally, we are excited to welcome Allison Shults to the GME team as RMS and Information Systems Manager. In this role, Allison will be our MedHub subject matter expert and will lead a new strategic initiative to prioritize use of data in our work in GME. Allison joins us from the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington, where she was previously Assistant Director in the Master of Science in Information Systems program.
Thanks,
Cindy
Policies and Processes
- The GME Office, with input from the GMEC EDI Subcommittee, has updated our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Program Information
- The GMEC has approved appointment of the following new program directors; ACGME appointments require Review Committee (RC) confirmation:
- Anshu Bandhlish, Cardiovascular Pathology (Interim)
- Matthew Cham, Cardiothoracic Imaging
- Amanda Kost, Family Medicine – Medical Education Research
- At its January meeting, the ACGME granted Initial Accreditation to a new Internal Medicine residency program based in the Department of Medicine. The UW-Alaska Internal Medicine Rural Residency Program’s mission is to provide an intensive Alaska-based, rural primary care-focused training experience in internal medicine. This is the very first accredited rural residency training program in Internal Medicine in the country. More information on the Department of Medicine news site and at the UW Medicine Newsroom
- The ACGME has a weekly e-Communication. If you wish to receive it, email ACGMECommunications@acgme.org.
Events of Interest
- Upcoming GME Lunch & Learns
- For additional support for program administrators, please find below a schedule of *optional* informational drop-in sessions. The available drop-in sessions are designed to help programs with our various onboarding processes and answer any questions, in a casual and virtual format.
- GME Onboarding Drop-in Session #1
- Date: Tuesday, February 28
- Time: 9-10am
- Zoom
- RSVP: Not required
- Tentative Agenda:
- Guided instruction on MedHub functions
- Forms: one-step stipend increase, extensions, Job Profile Change/Program Transfer
- Q&A
- GME Onboarding Drop-in Session #2
- Date: Wednesday, March 29
- Time: 9-10am
- Zoom
- RSVP: Not required
- Tentative Agenda:
- TBD
- GME Onboarding Drop-in Session #1
- Register for “Fertility & Family Planning for those in Medicine & Science.” The UW Committee on Women in Medicine & Science will be hosting this workshop on Thursday March, 2 from 4:00 – 5:00 PST. This workshop will be presented by Rachel M. Whynott, MD, FACOG, Assistant Professor & Associate Fellowship Director, Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the University of Washington. It will discuss planning for pregnancy, what fertility testing may be appropriate for individuals, when to see fertility assessment, and fertility preservation options. Zoom information will be sent within the week prior to the event to those registered. For those unable to attend, materials and a recording of the event will be posted to the website afterward.
- Other GME Events can be found on our calendar.
Projects and Resources
The GME Annual Program Timeline has been updated and is now organized by activity type, eg ACGME Accreditation, Appointments and Onboarding, Program Activities, Recruitment. Please review the updated document and note the important dates for February and March.- Set your pronouns in Identity.UW: You can now display your pronouns in UW systems such as MyUW, Zoom and soon Canvas and MyUW class lists when you click “Set pronouns” in Identity.UW.
- 2024 ACGME Awards: Nomination materials are available on each award’s page in the Awards section of the ACGME website. All nominations are due March 15, 2023. Please reach out to the GME office if you plan to submit an application.
- UW Medicine launched an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Survey to identify baseline measures of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion across UW Medicine and provide actionable data to help prioritize areas for work at the entity and departmental levels. All UW Medicine faculty, staff, and trainees are invited to complete the survey which will take about 10-15 minutes to complete. The survey closes February 28, 2023. Please participate in this survey to help make us a more equitable and anti-racist institution.
- The NRMP will be holding an Introduction to the Fellowship Match webinar for NRMP Match participating specialties on Thursday, February 16, from 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. Learn about program staff roles and responsibilities, managing your program’s participation in the Match, ranking applicants, and important policy information. Advance registration is required.
- The GME Office is currently recruiting for an Affiliations and Agreements Specialist (req. 212955)
- Trainees are encouraged to subscribe to UW Medicine STAT|INFO ADVISORY which has been designed to disseminate official information via text message to keep the UW Medicine workforce informed during emergencies and situations that might disrupt normal operations.
- A new opt-in module from Learning Gateway is now available. Prioritizing Ourselves When Fatigued is a 5 minute module intended as a brief reminder on the important issue of fatigue. Learning Gateway is happy to answer any questions about the module.
- Our new Leave of Absence webpage is now live on the GME website. Here you will find LOA planning information and resources along with an intake form to contact GME for leave planning assistance: Leave Planning Submission Form. This form can be completed by trainees or program leadership. The December 2022 Lunch & Learn on ‘Leave Policy and Guidelines’ provides an overview of both these new resources; please review the recording and slides.
People
- Congrats to members of our GME community who were nominated for the 2022 – 2023 Distinguished Staff Awards.
- Geoffrey Baird, Chair, Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, is quoted in “Is it time for a reality check on rapid COVID tests?”.
- The U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, took to social media to highlight the efforts of Justin Bullock, fellow, Nephrology, who advocates for greater mental health support for health workers.
- Fionnuala Cormack, clinical associate professor (Nephrology) will serve as the Associate Program Director for the Nephrology Fellowship Program, effective July 1, 2023. She brings tremendous strengths and experience to this role. She has served as the Director of the UW dialysis program, leads the Nephrology efforts at UW Stone Center, and is the Section Head of UWMC’s NW Campus. She is a gifted educator, and the fellows recognized her with the Teacher of the Year award for the 2019 – 2020 academic year.
- Tim Dellit, Interim Dean and CEO of UW Medicine, is quoted in “Gonzaga Law School, UW Medical ends participation with U.S. News rankings” – KXLY
- The Department of Surgery Newsletter ‘Surgery Synopsis’ features many voices of the GME community, including Program Directors, trainees, and program staff. Check out the Winter 2022 / 2023 issue.
- Yolanda Evans, alum, Adolescent Medicine Fellowship, is featured in The Huddle piece, “How alumna Yolanda Evans improves adolescent health by pausing and listening to youths’ needs”
- Roxanne Hicks, R3, Internal Medicine has been accepted into the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) Leadership in Health Policy Program (LEAHP). The Leadership in Health Policy Program aims to develop SGIM members who are effective and active health policy advocates and local health policy experts, leaders, and teachers; to offer health policy career development resources and opportunities to all SGIM members; and to develop an expanding, national cadre of Health Policy Committee members and broaden engagement in the Society’s health policy efforts.
- Trish Kritek, professor (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine) won the Reeves Prize for Presentation Excellence at the 2023 International Hypoxia Symposia in Lake Louise for her talk “Hypoxemia in the COVID ICU — Mechanisms and Reflections.”
- The University of Washington’s Latino Center for Health has launched a study to better understand the extent and impact of long COVID on the state’s Latino communities. “Since the onset of the pandemic, Latino communities in Washington state have had higher rates of COVID-19 infection than the general population, higher rates of hospitalization, and higher rates of mortality on an age-adjusted basis,” said Leo Morales, professor (General Internal Medicine) and co-director of the Latino Center for Health. “Yet we are not seeing many people from Latino communities showing up in our long-COVID clinics.” Read more from UW Medicine Newsroom.
- To improve HIV testing rates in the West African country of Côte d’Ivoire, community health workers need more training and support, researchers from the UW and the Institute de Recherche et Actions en Afrique, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire report in a new study. “We need to identify people who are infected if we are going to treat them, but identification can be the hardest of the three 95 percent goals to achieve,” said Nancy Mugisha, fellow, Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and lead author of the paper published in PLOS ONE. Read the full story from UW Medicine Newsroom.
- Henry Ou, Program Director, Pediatric Otolaryngology, is featured in Meet Henry Ou, a Pediatric Otolaryngologist at Seattle Children’s.
- Paul Pottinger, Program Director, Infectious Diseases, is quoted in “Too Many People Are Using Neti Pots and Vaporizers Unsafely, Survey Suggests” in Everyday Health.
- Sarah Prager, Program Director, Complex Family Planning, is featured in “In a post-Roe world, miscarriage treatment becomes more difficult.”
- Sarah Prager, Program Director, Complex Family Planning, is featured in “How a Texas ruling on abortion pills would affect Washington.”
- UW Medicine has announced the creation of a historic endowed deanship honoring retired Dean Paul G. Ramsey. The Paul G. Ramsey Endowed Deanship was established with leadership gifts from Steve and Connie Ballmer and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Each donated $10 million to advance research discoveries, train medical leaders and further excellence and equity in health care.
- Colbey Ricklefs, R3, Family Medicine, is leading an initiative to rid insurance codes of pejorative language.
- Grace Shih, Co-Director, Reproductive Health & Advocacy Fellowship, is quoted in “Post-Roe, vasectomies tick up in the Seattle area” – KUOW