Dear GME Community,
Cindy Hamra Associate Dean, GME
Please join me in welcoming our new Appointment Manager, Shinetra Pryor who joined the GME Team on January 31st! Shinetra is joining us from the UWSOM Geriatric and Palliative Care fellowship programs where she was the Program Administrator. Shinetra has worked within UW Medicine since 2007 and joins GME with a wealth of knowledge. She was also recently awarded the Recipient of the inaugural Department of Medicine Outstanding Staff Award!
Thank a Resident Day is Friday February 23rd. Thank a Resident Day is sponsored by the Gold Humanism Honor Society and takes place each year to collectively show gratitude and appreciation for residents and how integral they are to the healthcare team. We’re planning GME Outreach events and encourage programs and departments to plan to celebrate as well!
Finally, in February, we celebrate Black History Month. Since there are so many wonderful resources, we’ve added a section in the newsletter directing to many of them.
Thanks,
Cindy
Black History Month
- The Office of Healthcare Equity is an excellent resource for talks and training on the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion and justice. The Huddle Black History Month page provides digital assets to take part in this month’s celebration, as well as learning resources for all employees and self-care resources for Black employees.
- Black History Month: Celebration, Reflection and Action: Read the message from UW Medicine leadership celebrating the contributions of our Black colleagues and learn how our health system is working to dismantle healthcare inequities.
- We invite you to read this excellent article on the recent history of black physicians in Seattle and on George Counts, the first Black professor in the UW Department of Medicine and an important leader in Public Health and mentor to many.
- Celebrating Black History Month: Honoring Ancestors, Looking Forward from The Huddle explores themes of history, art, equity and community and features Ivana Thompson, Associate Chair of Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
- Read more on President Cauce’s blog post and explore ways to engage through The Whole U.
Policies and Processes
- The AAMC, in collaboration with the ACGME, is administering the AAMC Resident Readiness Survey, a process of collecting and sharing information back to medical schools about their graduates’ readiness for GME. Program directors currently training any PGY-1 resident who is a 2023 graduate from any of the 174 participating medical schools have been invited to respond to the Resident Readiness Survey administered via GME Track. We encourage program directors who have not completed entering the information to do so before February 23, 2024. They should log into GME Track, click the Resident Readiness tab at the top of the screen.
- Residency and Fellowship Position Appointment (RFPA) Agreement for 2024-2025: the AY25 RFPA was approved by GMEC on January 11 and is now available on the Policies and Procedures, Current Residents and Fellows, and Prospective Residents and Fellows pages of the GME website.
Program Information
- The GMEC has approved appointment of the following new Non-ACGME program directors:
- Brittany Barber, Head and Neck Oncology and Microvascular Reconstruction Fellowship
- Craig Birgfeld, Pediatric Craniofacial Surgery
- Meghan Flanagan, Breast Oncology Surgery
- The ACGME has a weekly e-Communication. If you wish to receive it, email ACGMECommunications@acgme.org.
Events of Interest
- GME Lunch & Learns
- GME Event Follow up: Navigating Parental Leave During Residency and Fellowship – recorded virtual event held on February 6, 2024 has been posted on the GME website, including several resources. Bre Leatherman is available to answer any questions you may have.
- The first session of our Cultivating Skills in Feedback and Critical Conversations Education Series is Tuesday February 27 from 11:30am to 1:00pm. In response to your feedback, we will be offering an in person session with lunch provided and a virtual option. The focus of the 2/27 session will be: Why Feedback Matters – The Impact of Feedback Culture and Remediation on Programs, Learners and Leaders. Program directors, associate program directors, program administrators and faculty are welcome. For planning purposes, please RSVP by Friday, 2/16. Please reach out to Amanda Easton and Jenn Johal if you have questions and we hope to see many of you there.
- We are excited to announce a comprehensive Four-Part Leadership Lecture Series designed specifically for residents and fellows! Each month, we will delve into crucial areas that shape effective leadership in the medical profession, presented by experts in the field. Mark your calendars and join us! Registration will open in February. Please see the January 18 email from Jennifer Best for more information.
- Upcoming Program Director Development Series: This is a reminder to registration for our Spring Program Director Development Series on March 19th or April 8th. Please register at: https://sites.uw.edu/uwgme/pdds-registration/ .This season we are excited to offer two transformative sessions dedicated to the advancement of resident and fellow well-being and the refinement of recruitment program strategies. All sessions will be held on Zoom.
- Registration for the ACGME Meaning in Medicine 2024 Annual Education Conference is open! The conference is in Orlando, FL March 7-9, 2024. Support for meeting attendance is ensured by the clinical chair in every new Program Director Appointment Letter. Several members of the UW GME team will be attending the conference and we would like to know if you’ll be attending and/or presenting. Once we have a sense of UW representation, we are hoping to find time for UWSOM colleagues to get together for an onsite lunch or photo. Please contact Amanda Easton if you or members from your department will be in attendance.
- The UWSOM is sponsoring the 2024 Graduate Medical Education (GME) Summit. The focus will be collaborating to address workforce needs within the WWAMI region and beyond. Registration for the Summit is now open! Join us on April 25-26, 2024, in Anchorage, Alaska.
- Space still available for CRISP: CLINICAL RESEARCH INTENSIVE SUMMER PROGRAM: Applications are still being accepted for this new course designed to provide clinical investigators with hands-on experience in key clinical research skills to accelerate their career development. The program runs July 8–26, 2024 at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center campus in Seattle. A draft daily curriculum may now be viewed on the website under “Class Schedule & Draft Daily Topics.” Read more here.
- Other GME Events can be found on our calendar.
Projects and Resources
Please review the GME Annual Program Timeline for important dates for the months of February and March.- On February 14, a new safety event reporting tool called Safety Net will replace Patient Safety Net (PSN), a legacy system that has been in use at UW Medicine for nearly 20 years. There is now an icon for Safety Net on all UW Medicine desktop computers for easy access and all new reports should be entered using Safety Net. Safety Net is an online reporting tool that will help us improve the process of submitting and tracking safety reports so that we can continue to prioritize the safety of our patients, staff, faculty and trainees. For a detailed guide on using the system, please view the instructional video on ‘How to enter an event report in the Safety Net System.’ Safety Net seamlessly integrates reports from Risk Management and Patient Relations thanks to the collaborative effort of teams across UW Medicine. The Safety Net User Resource Page includes training materials, online support and transition plans.
- 2025 ACGME Awards: Nomination materials are available on each award’s page in the Awards section of the ACGME website. All nominations are due March 27, 2024. Please reach out to the GME office if you plan to submit an application.
- Please remember that the UW Medicine Bias Reporting Tool is a place to share incidents of bias including racism, sexism, ableism, discrimination of any form or other behaviors that do not reflect the prioritization of inclusion and equity expected in all areas of our community. The GME Concern Reporting tool is also available to members of the GME community to report concerns about the learning environment.
- The ACGME’s Back to Bedside initiative is designed to empower residents and fellows to develop transformative projects that foster meaning and joy in work and allow them to engage on a deeper level with what is at the heart of medicine: their patients. This initiative supports resident- and fellow-directed innovations. Proposals are due by April 22, 2024. Learn More
- Please review “Access to UW Medicine Care for Employees” from The Huddle for information about help for UW Medicine employees and their families to gain better access to UW Medicine facilities and providers.
- The GME Office is supporting a project called the Names & Pronunciations Initiative, which aims to not only highlight the importance of name pronunciations, but also improve communication by providing physical badges (for those who want one) which include users’ written phonetic name pronunciation. Anyone interested in learning more about the project or who wants to order a pronunciation badge can do so here: https://www.names-pronunciations-initiative.com/. If you have any questions, please email Sudiptho (UW MS4) at sudiptho@uw.edu.
People
- Maheetha Bharadwaj, Urology resident, is featured in “Is it Normal to Wake Up to Pee in the Middle of the Night?” from Parade.
- Katherine Bennett, Geriatric Medicine Program Director, is senior author of “Fumbling the handoff—Exploring the transition experiences of program directors in geriatric medicine” in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
- The UW School of Medicine Colleges Program in the MD program teaches foundational clinical skills, coaches developing physicians, and fosters meaningful relationships and sense of community for UW medical students across the WWAMI region. In July 2024, the Colleges program on the Seattle campus will be expanding from 2 to 4 Colleges and is proud to be welcoming two outstanding leaders from the DOM as new College Heads. This includes Gaby Berger, Internal Medicine Associate Program Director.
- Jennifer Best, Associate Dean for GME (Education and Accreditation), is senior author of “The DIO Needs a Cabinet: Identifying and Supporting Designated Institutional “Others” in Graduate Medical Education” in the Journal of Graduate Medical Education.
- Kelley Branch, Cardiovascular Disease Associate Program Director, and Jeff Probstfield, professor (Cardiology) are co-authors of “The Cost-Effectiveness of Rivaroxaban Plus Aspirin Compared with Aspirin Alone in the COMPASS Trial: A US Perspective” in the American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs. Dr. Branch is also co-author of “Cardiovascular and renal outcomes with varying degrees of kidney disease in high-risk people with type 2 diabetes: An epidemiological analysis of data from the AMPLITUDE-O trial” in Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism.
- On the latest episode of “Beyond the White Coat,” AAMC President and CEO David J. Skorton, MD, talks with Justin Bullock, MD, MPH (Nephrology fellow), and Yunyu Xiao, PhD, about the stigmas that surround mental health in the medical profession and how those stigmas trickle down into patient care. The episode is available wherever podcasts are streaming and can also be accessed on YouTube. Listen Now. He has also been selected as the new co-director of Docs with Disabilities Initiative, joining the 2024-26 leadership team. Docs with Disabilities Initiative is a leader for disability inclusion in health professions training globally. Learn more on the Department of Medicine news site.
- Richard Cheng, Advanced Heart Failure/Transplant Cardiology Program Director, is quoted in “Demystifying cardiac sarcoidosis” in Medscape.
- Recognizing outstanding leadership since 2006, the Thorud Leadership Award is the highest leadership honor at the University of Washington. Congratulations to this year’s nominees from the Department of Medicine, Debra Cherry, Occupational and Environmental Medicine Program Director (General Internal Medicine), William Lombardi, CHIP – Advanced Hemodynamic Care and Complex Coronary Interventional Program Director (Cardiology) and Susan Wong, associate professor (Nephrology).
- Jason Deen, associate professor of pediatrics and medicine (Cardiology) has been appointed chairperson of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Native American Child Health (CONACH). Dr. Deen, a current member of CONACH, is a pediatric cardiologist, vice chair for equity, diversity and inclusion in the Department of Pediatrics and director of the UWSOM Indian Health Pathway.
- Sara Gunby, fellow (Gastroenterology) is referenced in “Smoking and Drinking Up the Risk for Diverticulitis” in Medscape.
- Jonathan Harper, Endourology Program Director, is featured in “Millennials, Listen Up: No. 1 Tip to Prevent Kidney Stones” from Right as Rain.
- Whitney Harper, program operations specialist (Internal Medicine Residency) is co-author of “Optimizing the Internal Medicine Residency Recruitment Process: A National Survey of Program Directors and Next Steps” in the American Journal of Medicine.
- Ramesh Iyer, Radiology Vice Chair of Education, has been appointed as Section Chief of Pediatric Radiology and Site Director for Seattle Children’s Hospital.
- Lily Jeong, incoming fellow (Nephrology) is a 2024 recipient of the American Society of Nephrology Loan Mitigation Pilot Program. This program aims to reduce the loan burden of future nephrology leaders. Dr. Jeong completed medical school and is currently in her last year of residency at UW in the clinician educator track.
- Barbara Jung, Department of Medicine chair, is featured in “’GI is Everything’: An Interview with AGA President Dr. Barbara Jung” from Op-Med Doximity. She is also author of the op-ed “Why Are We Letting Insurers Dictate Patient Care?” from MedPage Today.
- Andrew Ko, Neurological Surgery Program Director, is featured in “Analysis: Several companies are testing brain implants — why is there so much attention swirling around Neuralink? Two professors unpack the ethical issues” from The Conversation.
- Andrew Koth (Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Program Director), Emily Rhee (Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Associate Program Director), and Jessica McDade (fellow) are featured in “A Day in the Life of Employees Fostering Equity, Diversity and Inclusion” from The Huddle.
- Hannah Linden, Hematology and Oncology Associate Program Director, is co-author of “Activity and safety of enobosarm, a novel, oral, selective androgen receptor modulator, in androgen receptor- positive, oestrogen receptor-positive, and HER2-negative advanced breast cancer (Study G200802): a randomised, open-label, multicentre, multinational, parallel design, phase 2 trial” in The Lancet.
- Heather McPhillips, UWSOM Associate Dean for Curriculum, has been elected Chair of the ACGME Pediatric Residency Review Committee to begin serving on July 1, 2024.
- Susan Merel, associate professor, Gabrielle Berger, Internal Medicine Associate Program Director, Amanda Shepherd, Internal Medicine Associate Program Director, Lindsay Gibbon, clinical assistant professor (General Internal Medicine) and Patricia Kritek, SOM Vice Dean of Faculty Affairs, are co-authors of “An Embedded Curriculum to Teach Critical Incident Debriefing to Internal Medicine Residents” in the Journal of Graduate Medical Education. Lead author is former chief resident James Wykowski.
- Leo Morales, Assistant Dean for Healthcare Equity and Quality, is quoted in “More states offer health care coverage for certain immigrants, noncitizens” from San Jose Mercury News.
- Paul Nghiem is the founding chair of the Department of Dermatology as of March 1, 2024.
- Johnnie Orozco, Hematology and Oncology Associate Program Director, and Phuong Vo, associate professor, are co-lead authors, and Brenda Sandmaier, professor (Hematology and Oncology) is senior author of “Targeted Radiation Delivery before Haploidentical HCT for High-risk Leukemia or MDS Patients Yields Long-term Survivors” in Clinical Cancer Research. Department of Medicine co-authors are Ajay Gopal and Damian Green. The paper was also featured in the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Science Highlights.
- Meena Ramchandi, Infectious Diseases Program Director, is featured in “UW Medicine: King County sees ‘great increase’ in syphilis cases following national trend” from My Northwest.com.
- Coralynn Sack, Occupational and Environmental Medicine Associate Program Director, is lead author of “Airway Tree Caliber and Susceptibility to Pollution-associated Emphysema: MESA Air and Lung Studies” in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Department of Medicine co-author is Joel Kaufman.
- The Huddle recently featured an article, New Program Provides Rural Surgery Training for Residents. General Surgery R4 Hannah Wild is the first resident to participate in the track.
- 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 2024 issue.
- Crystal Brown, assistant professor (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine) is lead author and Bessie Young, Vice Dean of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, is senior author of “Physician Perspectives on Addressing Anti-Black Racism” in JAMA Network Open. Department of Medicine co-authors are Arisa Marshall, Kristine Cueva and Erin Kross.
- Michelle Zhang, R3, was an invited presenter at the Best of SWOG research webinar on her research, evaluating the relationship between obesity and survival in patients with acute myeloid leukemia treated on the SWOG 1203 clinical trial. Read more on the Department of Medicine news site.