GME News & Notes: April

Dear GME Community,

This is our third monthly “News and Notes” post, including updates about members of our community, policy updates, program changes, events of interest, and other updates.  If you have feedback, and/or information or events that you would like us to include in future posts, please send them to me at hamrac@uw.edu.

Cindy

Cindy Hamra
Assistant Dean of GME

People

• The Department of Medicine’s recent Staff Spotlight focused on Steph Timm, residency and fellowship programs administrator in the Division of Dermatology, and co-chair of the Department of Medicine Gender Equity Council. Read her story on the DOM website.
• UWSOM Psychiatry resident James Lee, recently published “Combating Anti-Asian Sentiment — A Practical Guide for Clinicians” as a perspective piece in the NEJM, and was featured on CNN, These Asian Americans faced racism growing up, but they won’t let it define them
• Jennifer Best, associate professor (General Internal Medicine) and associate dean, GME, is senior author of “Call for Collaboration: The Role of Accreditation in the Transformation, Accountability, and Sustainability of Education in Social Determinants of Health” in the Journal of Graduate Medical Education (JGME).
• Congratulations to Betsy Buswell, New Vice Chair of Finance and Administration in the Department of Medicine!
• Matthew Thau, fellow (Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine), was selected to receive an American Thoracic Society International Conference scholarship for his abstract “Serial Markers of Endothelial Dysfunction are associated with Acute Kidney Injury in a Population of Severe Trauma Patients.”
• Matt LaCourse, PM&R resident, received the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) Foundation Resident Scholarship Award.
• Mack Holmberg, Molly Kelly, Christopher Sorensen and Mindy Zeitz-Chua have been inducted to the UW Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society.

Policies

• Attention ACGME- and CODA-accredited programs, the GMEPAC process for AY23 (2022-2023) is now open. Information on the process and the application are posted on the Commitees page under “GMEPAC”.
• Revisions to the Eligibility, Recruitment and Selection Policy were approved at the April GMEC meeting. The policy reflects changes to the ACGME Institutional Requirements, effective July 2021 and includes guidelines and resources addressing diversity in recruitment.
• Updated Verification of Graduate Medical Education Training (VGMET) Form Now Available. The ACGME, National Association of Medical Staff Services (NAMSS), American Hospital Association (AHA), Organization of Program Director Associations (OPDA), and others created the VGMET form to standardize the training verification process and alleviate the burdens placed on hospitals, medical services professionals, and program directors. Form is available here: https://www.aha.org/resources/2016-04-12-verification-graduate-medical-education.

Program Information

• The GMEC has approved Shani Delaney as the new program director the Maternal Fetal Medicine fellowship, replacing Jane Hitti.
• The GME Office has partnered with colleagues in the UWSOM to develop a resource on our webpage regarding WWAMI Rural Residency Training Opportunities for programs interested in this area. Please review and reach out if you have questions.  Thanks to Judy Pauwels, Suzanne Allen and Freddy Chen, Dwane Liuska, Hadar Duman and Gabrielle Pett for their help building this resource!

Events of Interest

• Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction: The UW Center for Child & Family Well-Being is offering an 8-week course in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). Research on MBSR consistently demonstrates positive outcomes for a wide variety of challenges including highly stressful work or family circumstances, sleep disturbances, anxiety, depression and chronic pain. Wednesdays, April 28 – June 16, 6-8:30pm. For more information and to register, please visit their website.
• You can still watch “Picture a Scientist” via the UW Medicine Libraries website.  Access using your UW NetID.

Other GME Events can be found on our calendar: https://sites.uw.edu/uwgme/calendar/

COVID Updates

• We continue to update our guidance for residents/fellows and programs on the COVID-19 Updates page.

Progress, Activities and Resources

• AACOM, AAMC, ACGME, and ECFMG Release Transition to Residency Toolkit. The American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, Association of American Medical Colleges, ACGME, and Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates | Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research created a toolkit to help learners transition from medical school to residency during the COVID-19 pandemic. The toolkit is designed to aid both programs preparing for incoming residents, as well as students entering residency after a challenging and potentially disrupted final year of medical school.  Email questions and comments to umegmetoolkit@acgme.org
• An updated MOU between the School of Medicine and School of Public Health allows for the continuation of tuition waivers for Masters Programs (fee-based Masters not included). Please see Dr. Joyner’s March 29, 2021 email.