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.

Dear GME Community,

Happy Match Day!  This is our second “News and Notes” post, including bi-monthly 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

• Barbara Jung, Chair of the Department of Medicine, joins the presidential line up for the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA). She will serve as vice president, president-elect and will become president in 2023. She will be the 4^th woman holding this office.
• Jennifer Best, Associate Dean for GME and Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program, and Hadar Duman, GME Director of Accreditation, joined colleagues from the University of Colorado School of Medicine and University of New Mexico School of Medicine to present “Special Reviews: When You Still Haven’t Found What You’re Looking For” at the 2021 ACGME Conference in February
• Estell J. Williams, Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, and General Surgery Residency Program alum, received the 2021 Distinguished Service Award for Community Service and Volunteerism, in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy. The award is sponsored by the UW Health Sciences Administration & University of Washington Medical Center.
• John Choe, Associate Professor, General Internal Medicine, and Associate Program Director in the Internal Medicine Residency Program, has been elected to the governing council for the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine (APDIM), part of the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM).
• Judy Pauwels, Associate Director of Program Development in the UW Family Medicine Residency Network, is the recipient of the Senior Women Faculty Mentor Awardee from the Dean’s Standing Committee on Women in Medicine.

Policies

• The Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC) approved a new Chief Resident/Fellow Policy at the March meeting, which is posted on the Policies and Procedures page.
• The New Program Application for GMEC Approved Non-Accredited Fellowship Programs was revised by the GMEC-Approved Non-ACGME Fellowship (GAF) Programs Committee in February and is available for new programs on the Non-ACGME Programs Resources page on the GME website.  In addition to the revised application, the GAF Committee also developed a new Department Chair Letter of Support letter template for new non-ACGME program directors.  Questions about the application can be directed to Gabrielle Pett at nathangl@uw.edu.
• The Residency and Fellowship Position Appointment (RFPA) Agreement 2021-2022 is now posted to the Policies and Procedures page.
• A friendly reminder that pursuant to the MedHub User Access Controls Policy, requests for MedHub accounts must now be requested via forms posted to the MedHub page of the GME website.
• The ACGME has released new Institutional Requirements, which will take effect July 2021.

Program Information

• Today is Match Day for the NRMP Main Residency Match.  Please join us in congratulating our residency programs that filled all 285 available positions offered in this year’s Match.  You can read the NRMP’s Press Release here.  We will share a larger update on UW’s Match results in the coming weeks.
• The GMEC has approved the following new ACGME program director appointments. All are awaiting ACGME approval:
  • Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology: Dr. Nazem Akoum, replacing Dr. Kristen Patton
  • Epilepsy, Dr. Jeffrey Tsai, replacing Dr. Norman So
  • Hematopathology: Dr. Dan Sabath, replacing Dr. David Li
  • Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, Dr. Emily Myers, replacing Dr. Samuel Zinner
• The GMEC also approved Dr. Travis Nelson, as the new Program Director for Pediatric Dentistry, replacing Dr. Zheng Xu

Events of Interest

• Registration for the Spring Program Director Development Series is now open. If you haven’t yet signed up to join us, please register before noon on March 29.
• Join us for our Program Administrator Meeting, on Tuesday, April 13.  Topics include Annual Program Evaluation (APE) best practices and presentations from the Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) contest.  Event details can be found here.
• Other GME Events can be found on our calendar: https://sites.uw.edu/uwgme/calendar/

COVID Updates

• Reopening Vaccine First-Dose Appointments to Eligible 1A and 1B1 Employees: With a third COVID-19 vaccine now approved and vaccine supply increasing nationwide over the next few months, we are pleased to begin scheduling first-dose vaccinations for employees who meet the Washington State Department of Health eligibility criteria. Eligible employees are those in Phase 1A or 1B tier 1. This includes healthcare workers at high risk for COVID-19 infection, first responders, people who live or work in long-term care facilities, anyone 65 and older, people 50 and older who also live in a multigenerational household, and educators, staff and child care workers in pre-K, K-12 or daycare settings. If you are eligible for COVID-19 vaccination, please visit the UW Medicine employee COVID-19 vaccine site to schedule your appointment.
• Travel restrictions for UW Medicine employees remain in place, even for those who have already received the vaccine. This includes work-related travel for conferences and meetings. Non-essential personal travel also is strongly discouraged until further notice.
• Scheduling for COVID Moonlighting shifts is transitioning from the GME Office back to the services effective shifts starting 3/22/2021. Residents with questions can still contact Cindy Hamra (hamrac@uw.edu) for help navigating.
• UW COVID-19 Employee Emergency Fund: The roll-out of the coronavirus vaccine has brought new hope to all of us. At the same time, members of our community continue to feel a variety of impacts on their lives.  For many, the financial strain of this time is significant.   We want to remind everyone that the UW COVID-19 Employee Emergency Fund (EEF) remains available to employees most in need.  In addition, we know that changes in the availability of child care resources and the addition of remote learning have at times felt overwhelming.  To help ease some of these challenges, we are excited to announce that the Employee Emergency Fund is now offering an additional child care supplement.
• We continue to update our guidance for residents/fellows and programs on the GME COVID page: https://sites.uw.edu/uwgme/covid-19-updates-gme-community

Progress, Activities and Resources

• Bias Incident Reporting Tool Our commitment to a culture of inclusivity is shaped by the actions we take to recognize injustice and address and correct it where it occurs. One such measure, now available for the UW Medicine community, is the Bias Incident Reporting Tool, created and maintained by the UW Medicine Bias Response Team. This tool offers a mechanism for all community members to safely report incidences of bias and misconduct, and to receive a clear and streamlined response.
• 2021 PAAC Continuous Process Improvement Contest: Do you have the perfect tracking sheet for leave or trainee publications? The perfect CCC process or excellent MedHub evaluations? A great idea for how to innovate GME through program improvement? Send in a submission to the 2021 PAAC Continuous Improvement Contest! Send a brief summary (250 words) of what tool you’re submitting, the issue it addresses, and any examples to the PAAC at paac@uw.edu by March 26.
• 2022 ACGME Awards Nominations Open The ACGME recognizes notable designated institutional officials, program directors, residents and fellows, and institutional and program coordinators for their outstanding work and contributions to graduate medical education through its Awards Program. Nomination materials are available in the Awards section of the ACGME website.  The deadline for nominations is March 24, 2021, at 5:00 p.m. Central.
• UW Human Resources is launching an Advisory Committee on Work-Life. Formed at the recommendation of the COVID-19 Caregiver Task Force, this group will help guide the University’s continued response to COVID-19 caregiving challenges and shape post-pandemic work-life initiatives. UW Medicine will be represented in the committee by Anne Browning, School of Medicine Assistant Dean for Well-Being and Aimee Buckius, UW Medicine Human Resources. To help us understand the unique and nuanced needs of our community, please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us.
• The American Hospital Association, in partnership with ACGME, the National Association of Medical Staff Services, and the Organization of Program Director Associations and others, recently released an updated version of the Verification of Graduate Medical Education Training (VGMET) Designed to streamline and standardize the residency verification process and meet hospital credentialing needs, the template letter and form provide the necessary information to meet credentialing needs while reducing the need for residency programs to complete multiple requests for information.

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!