Many of you may know that the GME Office has been working to improve our communications mechanism, primarily by shifting to a robust website.  Our goal is to provide information to our community in a clear and consistent way.  Since September 2020, Dr. Joyner has penned a monthly DIO GMEC Update.  After careful discussion, we have decided to expand our updates to bi-monthly.  Dr. Joyner will continue to share a monthly blog post and we will add a monthly “GME News & Notes” blog post.  This post will include 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.

I enjoyed compiling this information and hope you enjoy reading,

Cindy

Cindy Hamra, JD
Assistant Dean of GME

People

• Check out this interview and article on KOMO featuring Paul Pottinger, who wears many hats, among them Program Director for the Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program: Meet Seattle’s pandemic power couple: Julia Quinn and Dr. Paul Pottinger
• Lara Oyetunji, MD, MPH, former UW Thoracic Surgery fellow and current attending in Cardiothoracic Surgery was recently featured in The Huddle
• The Department of Medicine announced the inaugural Diversity Academic Development Scholar Awards, developed to promote and foster the transition of meritorious URM trainees to the roles of junior faculty and principal investigator. Awardees from the GME Community include:
  • Chase Cannon, Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program
  • Erik Kimble, Hematology-Oncology Fellowship Program
  • Helen Stankiewicz Karita, Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program
  • Kennedy Ukadike, Rheumatology Fellowship Program
• Lisa Vande Vusse, Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program was first author and Dr. Jennifer Best, Associate Dean for GME and Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program, was senior author, on a paper in Academic Medicine titled “Maximizing Career Advancement During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Recommendations for Postgraduate Training Programs”
• Melissa (Moe) Hagman, Program Director for the UW Boise Internal Medicine Residency program, received the Idaho American College of Physicians chapter Distinguished Teacher Award at the 2021 Virtual Hindson Winter Conference.
• Chris Knight, Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program, and associate professor, General Internal Medicine, has been appointed Governor-elect of the Washington Chapter of the American College of Physicians.

Policies

• In January, GMEC approved a new MedHub User Access Controls Policy, which establishes criteria and processes for requesting MedHub user access.
  • In response to an audit by the University of Washington Internal Audit, the GME Office also recently completed an extensive audit of MedHub administrative user accounts, to bring us into compliance with this new Policy. Thank you to programs for all your work on this!  User audits will be carried out annually in the future.
  • The new policy also specifics that MedHub accounts must now be requested on the MedHub page of the GME website.
• Revisions to the Visa Policy were approved at the February GMEC meeting. The revisions add information and practice that weren’t addressed in the previous version, including:
  • Addition of requirements for participation in early orientation and eligibility for compensation
  • Addition of restrictions on gaps in visa sponsorship
  • Restrictions on eligibility for outside work

Program Information

• Congratulations to the Orthopaedic Sports Medicine fellowship program in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, which received initial ACGME accreditation in January. The program director is Albert Gee.
• Welcome to the following new Program Directors:
  • Michael Bamshad is the new program director for the Medical Biochemical Genetics Fellowship program, replacing Dr. Lawrence Merritt.
  • Julie Rivers is the new program director for the Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Fellowship program, replacing Dr. Amy Geddis. Dr. Geddis is transitioning to a role as Division Chief for Hematology at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
• Welcome to the following new Program Administrators:
  • Jill Fulmore, Clinical Informatics Fellowship
  • Danielle Townsend, Urology and Pediatric Urology programs

Events of Interest

• Programs are encouraged to invite their URM applicants to the Second Look Event, scheduled for Thursday, February 25^th, 2021 from 6:30 pm – 8:30pm Pacific Time. This event is intended for applicants from underrepresented and/or disadvantaged backgrounds to ask questions of and get answers from our faculty and housestaff as they make their final rank list. Register online.
• February 26 is 2021 Thank a Resident Day!  Residents and fellows make up 1 in 5 physicians at UW Medicine – please make sure to thank your resident/fellow colleagues for their important work!
• Please join GME and campus partners for the documentary film “Black Men in White Coats.”
  • The film will be available for viewing anytime between February 27 and March 3, 2021. A unique streaming code will be emailed to attendees. Register Here
  • Please join us on March 3rd from 5:00 pm – 6:00 p.m. PST/6:00 pm – 7:00 p.m. MST, for a virtual Q&A and discussion panel with Dr. Dale Okorodudu, founder and executive director of the film, Dr. Paula Houston, Chief Equity Officer, UW SOM Office of Healthcare Equity (facilitator), Dr. Byron Joyner, Vice Dean for Graduate Medical Education, Dr. Ben Danielson, Dr. Chase Cannon (Infectious Diseases Fellow) and Dr. Gregory Walker (Orthopaedic Surgery resident).
• The GME Office held our AY22 Onboarding Kickoff Meeting for programs on February 2, 2021. Onboarding information is posted to the Appointments & Credentialing page of the GME website. Big thanks to Khrystine Buccat and Hayley Fisher for their incredible work in this area!
• Other GME Events can be found on our calendar.

COVID Updates

• Thank you to the 100+ residents and fellows who have participated in moonlighting shifts to help support UW Medicine hospitals address increased service needs driven by COVID. Beginning in early December 2020, these individuals have worked nearly 600 moonlighting shifts.  As a result, we have been able to minimize any voluntary redeployments to 19 total shifts (around 3% of the total) and therefore minimize COVID impacts on resident / fellow education.
  • Thank you also to the 7 residents from Internal Medicine and Family Medicine who have voluntarily redeployed to cover these 19 shifts.
• Please note that Dr. Joyner sent an email to programs on February 16, with ongoing guidance regarding restrictions for away rotations, recruitment events and interviews. Specifically, the February 16 message stipulated that all graduation activities should be virtual for AY21 graduates.  Remember please that in-person interviews will not be allowed at any time during the 2021-2022 recruitment season, including in-person interviews for our own, local UW medical students or residents.
  • The GME Guidance for Programs Regarding Medical Students & Residents/Fellows: Rotations & Interviews on the GME website was updated to reflect these changes.
• We continue to update our guidance for residents/fellows and programs on the GME COVID page.

Progress

• UWSOM received continued accreditation status from the ACGME with no citations or Areas for Improvement.
• Call Rooms, Lactation Rooms and Parental Support: Over the last year the GME Office has made a concerted effort to improve resources for our residents and fellows, in particular call rooms and parenting support. Information is posted in our news. Thanks to Natalie Brady for her work in this important area!