GME News & Notes: July

Policies and Processes

• Please review the July 8 ‘Update for AY26 Recruitment and Interview Season’ email from Dr. Byron Joyner for important information regarding interview formats, second looks, sub-internships and observerships. Information is also available on our Recruitment Resources webpage.
• Please review the June 20 ‘UW GME Community Commitment’ email from Dr. Jennifer Best regarding individual practices of inclusion and care, selected from and vetted by residents, that foster a culture of belonging.

Program Information

• Welcome New Program Administrators:
  • Ally Haviland, Infectious Diseases
• The GMEC has approved appointment of the following new program directors; ACGME appointments require Review Committee confirmation:
  • Eileen Rhee, Pediatric Critical Care Medicine
  • Basavaraj Ghodke, Neurointerventional Radiology (Interim)
  • Hanna Hunter, Cancer Rehabilitation
  • Amar Iravani, Theranostics
• The ACGME has a weekly e-Communication.  If you wish to receive it, email ACGMECommunications@acgme.org. 

Events of Interest

• GME Lunch & Learns
  • July 18: ADS Annual Update and Program Oversight; recording and slides now available
  • August 15: Cancelled
  • September 19: IMGs and Visa Sponsorship
  • AY25 Lunch & Learn schedule is posted to the GME website.
• We are thrilled to invite you to an important and informative GME-sponsored Community Lecture: “ Things I Didn’t Learn in Training About Firearms” presented by Dr. Mark Shapiro on Wednesday, August 21st, 2024 from 5:00 – 6:00 pm PST (Zoom). This event is open to the entire GME community, our partners in the WWAMI region, medical students, and all faculty. The event will be available to stream after the event. All participants will have the option to be anonymous and off-camera, with anonymous Q&A available. Registration is now open through Friday, August 16th.
• The AAMC Group on Educational Affairs announced that registration is now open for the 2024 Staff Track Virtual Conference! This annual event brings together staff professionals, specialists, educators, managers, and academic trainers from across the medical education continuum to share knowledge and foster collaboration. The event is Friday, September 13, 2024 at 8:00 AM PT / 11:00 AM ET via Zoom. Please register for this free event.
• As a reminder, PDDS is now EDGE! In an effort to enhance inclusivity and because we welcome individuals other than program directors to our events, we are rebranding PDDS as Educator Development for GME Excellence (EDGE). Specific times for Spring 2025 sessions will be shared in advance of the 90-day UW Medicine clinical schedule deadline.
  • Thursday, September 19, 2024; 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm: “Coaching to Consequences: Support and Remediation of Challenging Trainee and Physician Behaviors”: Dr. Eva Aagaard, Washington University
  • Tuesday, October 22, 2024; 9:00 am – 10:30 am: “Entrustable Professional Activities: Dr. Brenessa Lindeman, University of Alabama-Birmingham
  • Tuesday, March 25, 2025; TBD between 9:00 am and 12:00pm: “Supporting Trainee Disability Accommodations”, Hayley Fisher, UW GME
  • Thursday, April 24, 2025; TBD between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm: “How Our Program Does It” Session: Individualized Learning Plans OR Trainee Professional Development Curricula (concurrent)
• 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 July and August.
• A web page dedicated to coordinators, centralizing essential resources in one location, is now available on the ACGME website. ACGME also has two new resources available for Program Coordinators: a Program Coordinator Handbook and a Program Coordinator Handbook Companion: Paving Your Path to Success. Review the Handbook and access the Learning Path. The Handbook has also been added to the UWGME Program Administrators webpage.
• Parent trainees are encouraged to join our Parenthood Peer Mentorship Program as either a mentor or mentee. This program is designed to support parent trainees by matching them with peers to share knowledge and support each other. Additional information can be found on the Parenthood Peer Mentorship Program webpage.
• The GME Office would like to update our collection of trainee photos for use on our website, promotional materials, and articles for The Huddle/other in-house publications. We would very much appreciate programs submitting photos of trainees engaged in training, wellness, learning, or volunteering activities.  Please use our GME Photos Request form to upload any available photos. Please note that for compliance purposes there must be a photo waiver on file for any individual in the photo.
• In February, UW GME launched the new UW GME WhatsApp group exclusively for residents and fellows. Since its launch, we’ve welcomed over 220+ trainees to the community, and we have Expanded our Opportunities to include interest groups like “GME Parents” and “Quick Meals on the go!” Additionally, some other WhatsApp groups, such as “UW IMG Residents & Fellows” and “UW Surgery,” have linked up with the UW GME community, further enhancing connectivity and collaboration.
• The GME Office has put together a resource regarding information about legal matters for trainees. This document was created with input from Risk Management and Claims Services and is designed to be used by both trainees and programs. The resource is posted to the GME Website and can be found on the Current Residents and Fellows page under UW Resources.
• Physicians Anonymous is a peer based nonprofit organization which offers free anonymous support groups with med students, residents/fellows and MD/DOs who are suffering from burnout/mental health/suicidal ideation and substance use. There are a couple of groups during the week (free) and they also offer coaching (nominal fees).  The group is fully anonymous so there is no mechanism for documentation or mandating referrals.
• Get legal services through the WA EAP: If you or your family are facing a legal issue, the Washington State Employee Assistance Program can help with free expert advice from a qualified attorney, plus online support with legal forms, simple wills and a library of legal articles.
• Use your backup care benefit at select summer camps: Your backup care benefit through Bright Horizons applies to discounts at Steve & Kate’s Camps around the Puget Sound, where your child can design their own day of activities.
• Keep moving with Fitness Day partner discounts: Feeling energized by UW Fitness Day and want to keep moving? The Whole U’s community fitness partners offer great discounts to UW employees on classes and memberships.

People

• Anne Browning, associate dean for Well-Being at the UW School of Medicine, is featured in “One Fun Thing: Seize Summer” from The Huddle.
• Nina Clark, General Surgery resident, Cindy Hamra, Associate Dean, GME, and Lisa Hammel, Senior Director of Clinical Risk Management, discussed trainee involvement in lawsuits in an episode of the Behind the Knife podcast.
• Başak Çoruh, Pulmonary and Critical Care Program Director, has been recognized by the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) as a 2024 Distinguished CHEST Educator. This designation provides national-level recognition of excellence in continuing medical education through commitment, involvement, and leadership in CHEST education programs and activities.
• Taylor Coston, fellow, is lead author and T. Eoin West, professor (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine) is co-senior author of “Severity of inhalation injury and risk of nosocomial pneumonia: a retrospective cohort study” in Chest.
• Jeremy Hess, Population Health Research Program Director, is featured in “Heat-related emergencies are soaring in the US — can hospitals keep up?” from the New York Times.
• Austin Johnson, fellow, Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, is featured in “LGBTQ+ UW Medicine Employees On Being Our Authentic Selves” from The Huddle.
• Nitin Kondamudi, fellow, Cardiology, is co-author of “Effects of an Intervention to Improve Evidence-Based Care for People With Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease Across Sex, Race, and Ethnicity Subgroups: Insights From the COORDINATE-Diabetes Trial” in Circulation.
• Oliver McElvaney, fellow, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, received the LeRoy Matthews Physician-Scientist Award. This is a highly prestigious 5-year career development award from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation totaling $570,000. The title of his award is “Clustering and immunophenotyping of acute pulmonary exacerbations of cystic fibrosis.”
• Congratulations to Internal Medicine residents Gena Lenti and Hallen Pham, this year’s recipients of the Tina Juul-Dam Primary Care Award, voted on by the medicine residents. The award memorializes Dr. Juul-Dam, a third-year resident who died in 2004 while on rotation in Alaska, and celebrates her spirit, dedication to patients, passion for primary care, and motivation of others.
• Congratulations to the following Department of Medicine members who received grants from the Kuni Foundation to propel adult oncology and cancer vaccine research. Shailender Bhatia, professor (Hematology and Oncology) and collaborators Lisa Tachiki, assistant professor, and Manoj Menon, Hematology and Oncology Program Director, are testing a markedly lower-dose plus reduced-frequency strategy of the immunotherapy drug nivolumab, to potentially make the drug available to patients who would otherwise not have access to the drug. Learn more from Hutch News.
• Colt Merges and Maggie Wilkins, R1 Boise Internal Medicine, are featured in Sweethearts match in medicine: Two newlywed doctors to serve Idaho’s healthcare needs.
• Christina McMullen, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Associate Program Director, is featured in “Are the Claims About Cold Plunge Health Benefits True?” from Right as Rain.
• Natalia Murinova, Headache Program Director, is featured in “Worst head pain ever? It could be a cluster headache” from Right as Rain.
• Congratulations to Claire Murphy, recent alum, Emergency Medicine, who was awarded the 2024 Harborview Medical Center Humanitarian Housestaff Award (pictured below with Edie Shen).

• Sarah Prager, Complex Family Planning Program Director, is featured in “What the latest Supreme Court abortion ruling could mean for WA” from Cascade PBS.
• Bonnie Ronish, Occupational and Environmental Medicine Associate Program Director, is featured in “Use these interactive maps to track PNW wildfires and air quality” from The Seattle Times.
• MaKenna Stavins, Internal Medicine R3, was a speaker at the 2024 UW School of Medicine Stethoscope Ceremony (Livestream recording posted here).

• Andrew Wright, Advanced GI Minimally Invasive Surgery/Foregut Program Director, is featured in “These Surgeons are Asking (and Answering) Ethical Questions” from The Huddle.
• Bessie Young, Vice Dean of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, wrote “Assessing Strategies for Inclusion of Marginalized Communities in Clinical Trials—What’s the Plan?” in JAMA Network Open.
• Check out the Otolaryngology Head and Neck – Summer 2024 Newsletter for trainee features and faculty highlights.