GME Professionals Day

by | Aug 20, 2021 | Announcements, News

The Association of Hospital Medical Education (AHME) has designated August 20, 2021 as GME Professionals Day.

 

GME Professionals Day is an opportunity for ACGME Sponsoring Institutions and Residency and Fellowship programs to celebrate the important contributions made by the GME Professionals who staff their programs and central GME offices. As defined in the ACGME Common Program Requirements, program administrators manage the day-to-day operations of the program and serve as an important liaison with learners, faculty, other staff members, and the ACGME.  They serve as members of the leadership team, are critical to the success of the program, must possess skills in leadership and personnel management, and are expected to develop unique knowledge of the ACGME and Program Requirements, policies, and procedures. Sponsoring institutions and programs are highly dependent on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes GME professionals possess, and the dedication they exhibit in supporting the learning environment of the institution, their programs, and the success of their trainees.

 

We in the UW GME Office would like to take this time to recognize the immense dedication of each of you who make up the 110+ ACGME program administrators, dental residency program administrators, non-ACGME program administrators, and numerous additional program staff that support our 200+ training programs. You are key to their success.  Every year brings new requirements and challenges to navigate, and the last 18 months during COVID-19 have been particularly challenging.  In spite of this, you have found new opportunities to improve management of your programs, have flipped the structure of recruitment to a virtual environment, shared best practices with your colleagues, and done this while supporting the mission of this institution and the education and wellness of your trainees.  Your work does not go unnoticed, and we want to thank you for being such an important part of our GME community.

 

The UW Graduate Medical Education Office Team

GME News & Notes: August

by | Aug 18, 2021 | Announcements, GME News & Notes, News

Dear GME Community,

This Friday, August 20, is GME Professionals Day!  Please thank the program managers, administrators and coordinators who work tirelessly on behalf of residents and fellows.

The August GME News and Notes contains some important information and deadlines including a reminder about UW’s vaccine requirement and information about Washington’s new long term care premiums.  Additionally, and as with past months, this issue of GME News & Notes has lots of great information about awards, publications, opportunities, new leadership, team members, etc.

Many thanks to those who reached out to me with information to share here.  Please continue to do so by sending to me at hamrac@uw.edu.

Cindy Hamra

Cindy Hamra
Assistant Dean of GME

Policies and Processes

  • Vaccine Attestation Requirement: Residents and fellows, along with SOM faculty who are clinically active, should complete the UW Medicine attestation at UW Medicine | COVID-19 Vaccine. The revised deadline is October 18, 2021.
  • Long-Term Care Insurance Premium: Effective January 1, 2022 the University of Washington will begin to deduct from employees’ paychecks a long-term care premium and remit the funds deducted to the Employment Security Department as required in the Long-Term Services and Supports Trust Act under RCW 50B.04.080. This premium collection from the employee supports the Long-Term Services and Supports Trust Program, designated as the WA Cares Fund. More information on the WA Cares Fund is on the UW HR website.

Program Information

  • New Program Directors: GMEC approved the following new program directors. All are awaiting ACGME Review Committee approval:
    • Rebecca Wiester, Child Abuse Fellowship
    • Julie Hodapp, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Residency program
  • ACGME Common Program Requirements FAQs Updated: The FAQs related to the ACGME Common Program Requirements have been updated, effective July 1, 2021. The FAQs can be found on the ACGME Common Program Requirements page under “Additional Resources”.

Events of Interest

  • AHME’s Council of Program Administrators and Coordinators (COPAC) has designated Friday, August 20 as GME Professionals Day!  More information is here.
  • GME Drop In: GME team members will be at UWMC-Montlake on Thursday, August 26 from 11am – 1pm in the AA wing. Drop by to pick up lunch and say hello.  We will share more information via email the morning of the 26th.
  • Life After Residency & Fellowship Seminar:  The annual seminar is coming up on Saturday, August 28 from 9am – noon.  Register now. Event topics include: avoiding job search pitfalls, how to negotiate and what to look for before you sign a contact.
  • NURF Diversity Recruitment Town Hall:  The Network of Underrepresented Residents and Fellows (NURF) is hosting a Diversity Recruitment Town Hall for prospective residents and fellows on Tuesday, August 31, from 6 – 8pm. More details here.
  • Our Family Planning & Fertility for Resident Physicians event is Thursday, September 30, from 6:00 – 7:45pm.  All residents, fellows and guests are encouraged to attend. Agenda and registration information here.
  • Registration for our Fall Program Director Development Series is now open. Please register here.  This season we are excited to be bringing you information about Standing up to Microaggressions, the Washington Physicians Health Program (WPHP), and the Peer Support Program.  Please see the agenda for additional details on these important topics.
  • Other GME Events can be found on our calendar.

Projects and Resources

  • We recognize that the recent crises in Afghanistan and Haiti may be very difficult for members of our GME community. Please know that you are not alone and that resources are available to you if you need support.  Talk to your friends, colleagues, review the resources for foreign national physicians and US Veterans on the Wellness page under General Wellness and Self Care, or reach out to one of our Wellness Service counselors for support.
  • The updated UW Medicine Patient Rights and Responsibilities Policy is available on the intranets for Harborview and for UW Medical Center. The Patient Rights and Responsibilities handbook is currently being revised to include this anti-discrimination language. If you experience any type of discrimination by a patient or visitor or another staff member, please reach out to your manager, supervisor or lead. You can also report an incident using the UW Medicine Bias Reporting Tool.
  • Recruitment Resources for Programs and Applicants: Check out the GME website for helpful recruitment resources for programs and applicants, including:
    • Prospective Residents & Fellows: Videos for prospective applicants, letter to applicants from Dr. Joyner, eligibility and recruitment policies, resources on appointments, salary and benefits including links to the RFPU-NW contract, RFPA, salary schedule, and benefits at a glance guide.
    • Recruitment Resources: Required notifications to applicants, eligibility requirements, application and interview tools, EDI resources, resources and best practices for virtual recruitment.
    • Recordings of Fall 2020 events:
  • The WWAMI Rural Residency Training Opportunities page has resources and information regarding rural training opportunities, including ACGME’s focus on Medically Underserved Areas and Populations.
  • The GME Office is accepting nominations for the 2021 Bruce C. Gilliland Award for Excellence in Teaching of Residents and Fellows. The award recognizes outstanding teaching in graduate medical education in any specialty and at any UW Medicine or affiliated training site. Send your nominations tp Tammy Ramirez by 5 p.m. on August 20, 2021.
  • The GME Office is hiring a temporary/project Accreditation Specialist (Req #193053).  See posting here.
  • The Program Administrator Advisory Council (PAAC) is looking for new members!  If you are interested in joining or would like to nominate a colleague, please email Gabrielle Pett.

People

Dr. Joyner’s Blog: August

by | Aug 4, 2021 | News

Confronting Stress and Suicide

TW: Suicide

Last month, a PGY-3 urology resident at the University of Iowa died by suicide. Although I did not know him personally, I am filled with great sadness and my sympathies are with his family, friends, the trainees and faculty at Iowa.

This tragic event is a grim reminder of how stressful residency training can be and how we need each other, especially now.

We have all chosen an incredibly difficult profession. It is perhaps one of the highest callings and our work brings us incredible happiness, but the demands we face, though increasingly familiar, never get easier. It is important to acknowledge the challenges of training: the responsibilities, the rush of the day, the chaotic night calls, and the enduring fatigue.

Suicide is usually a consequence of several health factors and life situations leading to stress, anxiety, and other mental health conditions such as depression and loneliness.  Sometimes, when these risk factors go unnoticed, the condition can progress and may be accompanied by physical pain, grief, and hopelessness. It is our responsibility as physicians to recognize colleagues who are experiencing extreme stress. Speak with them. Take a moment to ask them how they are doing, especially if they appear to be struggling. It is important for us to look after ourselves and out for each other. Take a run, take a walk, take a break. Look for ways to build and maintain community in your new environment. Speak with a peer, resident or faculty mentor about this sad news, even if you do not have a personal connection.

Some of you have come to Seattle by yourself to meet new friends and to start new adventures. Some have come with family and are struggling to find a new apartment. Others are excited about exploring a new hiking trail or discovering a new favorite restaurant or bar. Some of you have left partners behind so that each of you can pursue your chosen careers in separate cities, finding time to visit each other when you can. Changes and transitions can come with added stress, which can wrap you in isolation and warp your sense of belonging.

No matter where you are from, you should know that we all have something in common: we are all adjusting to our new lifestyle in a new environment with new people. Whatever your story, recognize that you are not alone and there are resources here to help you.

  • GME Wellness Service is a UW Medicine resource which supports mental health care for our trainees. It offers free, confidential and unlimited counseling services for UW residents and fellows (and their partners) seeking counseling. Use Schedulicity to make an appointment online at any time of the day.
  • GME Report-A-Concern is an online tool which allows you to submit an issue or problem you have noticed in the learning environment.
  • National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 800.273.8255, and a Physician Support Line (licensed psychiatrists volunteer on this confidential phone line) operates 7 days a week from 8 am to 1 am EST and the phone number is 888.409.0141.
  • CareLink is a 24/7 resource for all UW employees that connects you with someone to talk to when life presents challenges, conflicts or other stressors.

Reach out to this wonderful new community of people. Consider how you might honor our colleague’s memory by continuing to do the good work that all of us have chosen, not only for our patients, but for each other.

Byron D. Joyner, MD, MPA
Vice Dean and Designated Institutional Official (DIO)
Graduate Medical Education, UW Medicine

GME News & Notes: July

by | Jul 22, 2021 | Announcements, GME News & Notes, News

Dear GME Community,

Welcome to beautiful Seattle summer and the new academic year! In June we held our New Resident & Fellow Orientation, welcoming nearly 500 new residents and fellows, the biggest incoming group ever! The July issue of GME News & Notes introduces new leadership, includes information about ACGME Milestones, new policies and more.

Many thanks to those who reached out to me with information to share here.  Please continue to do so by sending to me at hamrac@uw.edu.

Cindy Hamra

Cindy Hamra
Assistant Dean of GME

People

  • The UW Medicine Huddle recently published an article welcoming new residents and fellows: https://huddle.uwmedicine.org/welcome-housestaff-2021/
  • Jennifer Best, Associate Dean, GME, has been named a 2021 Macy Faculty Scholar. The Macy Faculty Scholars Program is designed to identify and nurture the careers of promising educational innovators in medicine and nursing.
  • Fuki Hisama, Program Director, Medical Genetics, is senior author on the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics first Evidence-based Clinical Practice Guideline (EBG), “Exome and genome sequencing for pediatric patients with congenital anomalies or intellectual disability: an evidence-based clinical guideline of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics.”
  • Helen Jack, Internal Medicine R3, is the recipient of the Harborview Medial Center’s Annual Housestaff Achievement Award. Helen is recognized for her exceptional clinical ability, humanitarianism, and dedication to Harborview’s mission population.  
  • Julia Kocian, GME Wellness Counselor, offers wise words in this Right as Rain article: 4 Ways to Set and Keep Boundaries
  • Welcome new NURF Leadership for AY22
    • President: Joseph Nelson (FM, PGY3) 
    • Vice President: Gabriel Mendoza (Peds, PGY3) 
    • Secretary/Treasurer: James Abe (PM&R, PGY3) and Eric Robles (Peds, PGY1) 
    • Community Outreach Chair: Kelly Shontell (Peds, PGY3) 
    • Resident/Fellow Outreach Chair: Ricardo Pullido (OTO, PGY3) 
    • Medical Student Outreach Chair: Kilia Shanklin (Peds, PGY1) 
    • Education Chair: Sherise Epstein (OTO, PGY4) and Baer Karrington (Peds, PGY1) 
    • Social Media Chair: Jessica Pinto (IM, PGY1) 
    • HQSC-Liaison: To be filled 

Policies and Processes

  • The following policy updates were approved at the July GMEC meeting. All are posted to the GME Policies and Procedures website:
    • Transfer Policy
    • GMEC Approved (Non-ACGME Accredited) Programs Policy:
    • Special Review Policy

Program Information

Events of Interest

  • ACGME Annual Educational Conference and Coordinator Forum Pre-Conference: The Call for Sessions for the 2022 Annual Educational Conference is now open! Session proposals are being accepted for the Conference itself and the Coordinator Forum Pre-Conference to be held February 24-26, 2022. All accepted sessions will be presented on site at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando, Florida. Submit proposals by Monday, August 2, 2021 11:59 p.m. Central. Click here to learn more and submit a proposal!
  • Montlake (Seattle) Bridge Closure: the Montlake Bridge summer closure will now be from August 9 to September 3, not September 2 as previously communicated. WSDOT crews will have up until 5 a.m. on September 3 to complete their work. Please see UWMC’s Montlake Bridge Closure webpage and Montlake Bridge Closure FAQ for more information.  WSDOT will post regular Twitter updates during the closure
  • AHME’s Council of Program Administrators and Coordinators (COPAC) has designated Friday, August 20, 2021as GME Professionals Day.  More information is here.
  • We will host another GME Drop In session at UWMC-Montlake on Thursday August 26 from 11am to 1pm. Stop by, say hello and pick up lunch and other goodies.  More information including location will be shared soon.  We look forward to meeting you!
  • Register now for Life After Residency & Fellowship Seminar on Saturday August 28th.  Register now. Event topics include: avoiding job search pitfalls, how to negotiate and what to look for before you sign a contact.  You will leave the event with strategies, valuable insights and advice to support your transition into independent practice.
  • Other GME Events can be found on our calendar.

COVID Updates

  • Vaccine Requirement Update: UW Medicine is requiring all employees to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 or claim an exemption no later than Friday, September 10. This requirement aligns with UW’s broader campus policy for faculty, other academic personnel, staff, trainees and student employees.
  • 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/

Projects and Resources

  • UW CareLink Financial Connect is a free service that can support your family’s financial well-being. Make a confidential call to receive help on topics like these:
    • Making the most of the increased and expanded Child Tax Credit.
    • Planning for commute, food and child care costs that may change with the return to onsite work and/or in-person schooling.
    • Assessing your financial well-being as the COVID-19 economic impact payments expire.
    • UW CareLink consultants are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They will ask questions to understand your needs and schedule free appointments for you to meet with UW CareLink experts who can help.
  • Whole U Discounts: Save money and time this summer with The Whole U discount network
  • This recent article highlights a generous donation from Curt and Libba Anderson, which will support a new non-ACGME Sarcoma Fellowship and other Sarcoma research.

Dr. Joyner’s Blog: July

by | Jul 7, 2021 | News

Welcome! We are excited that you are here to begin your new journey with us.

Many of you have traveled from around the country – and from around the world –  to be at the University of Washington School of Medicine. You are coming with eagerness to learn and wide-eyed curiosity about this next chapter in your life. It is an exciting time!

Although we have all faced challenges and uncertainty this year – the year of the COVID-19 pandemic – we want you to know that we are here for you. World-class faculty and staff are committed to teaching you and to helping you as you start your journey. We want you to gain all of the experiences and have all of the learning opportunities you need to do your work. We want you to feel that you are working in a learning environment that is safe, inclusive and equitable.

Our new GME mission statement embraces all that we want you to be as you develop your own sense of doctoring within our system:

To improve the health of the public by fostering the professional growth of physician-leaders within a supportive and dynamic culture of learning, building the foundation for a workforce that represents and enhances the communities we serve.

As in all learning environments, there will be uncertainty during your training, not only because of the unpredictability of COVID-19, but because you will be – and should be – learning new things about your chosen specialty. You will meet new colleagues and friends. You will encounter new interdisciplinary teams with whom you collaboratively will learn to take care of patients and, along the way, you will learn more about yourself.

Matriculating now into your new residency or fellowship program should be an adventure – even for those of you who are UW alumni returning as subspecialty fellows. Our top priority is to offer you the best clinical learning environment so that you can develop the skills, behaviors, and attitudes you will need to be successful, independent doctors.

You are one of the amazing high-caliber physicians-and dentists in-training that sets UW apart from other institutions. The new wave of nearly 500 residents and fellows joining us over the next 3 months only highlights this point. You represent an exceptionally diverse and exceedingly qualified class who will enrich each other’s lives and learning experiences.

Read more in the UW Medicine Welcome to our incoming class in The Huddle.

Who you are

Exceptional.

  • In total, you are 498 incoming housestaff, the largest incoming group on record
  • Your gender breakdown: 51% women and 49% men
  • You are pursuing 120 different specialties
  • 320 of you are first-year residents

In some, cases nearly 33% of all US medical school graduates going into your specialty applied to your UW program, and you are among the select few to be admitted to our very competitive programs.

Diverse.

  • Altogether, you were born in 47 different countries
  • 28% of you were born outside of the United States
  • 52 of you graduated from a medical school outside of the United States.
  • You span generations – you are GenZ’ers, Gen Y’ers, and Gen X’ers.

This is no accident. Diversity and inclusion are core values of UW Medicine and are affiliated training hospitals.

Qualified.

  • 122 of you have achieved other graduate degrees. To name a few, these include:
  • 39 PhDs
  • 50 Other Master Degrees
  • 5 MBAs

 

Where you are

Graduate Medical Education (GME).  GME programs sponsored by the UW School of Medicine are designed to train physicians with habits of life-long learning and mature ethical and professional approaches to their practice.

UW Medicine. Among nearly 900 institutions, UW SOM is the 5th largest in the number of programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), and 8th largest in the number of trainees. The UW SOM offers over 120 residency and clinical fellowship programs and partners with the School of Dentistry to support 4 dental residency programs which are accredited by the Commission On Dental Accreditation (CODA).  The GME Office oversees more than 70 non-ACGME accredited fellowship programs, too!

For more information about our accredited programs, see the Residency and Clinical Fellowship Programs.

WWAMI. UW Medicine is by far the largest sponsor of GME programs in the five-state region known as WWAMI, which includes Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho (WWAMI). UW Medicine has a very important role in building a physician workforce capable of meeting the requirements of a rapidly-evolving healthcare environment for urban, rural and underserved areas in our region.

In addition to Seattle-based training, there are three distinct models for GME across the WWAMI region – Community Based–UW Affiliated, Regional Training Tracks, and Regional Resident Rotations.

Who we are

GME Leadership. We are responsible for the administrative oversight and academic quality of UW’s residency and clinical fellowship programs. Most importantly, we are here for you. We want you to feel safe in an environment where you can learn. The GME leaders listed below oversee an amazing and committed team that supports residents, fellows and programs in the UWSOM.

  • Byron Joyner, MD, MPA, Vice Dean for Graduate Medical Education and Designated Institutional Official
  • Jennifer Best, MD, Associate Dean, GME Education & Accreditation
  • Cindy Hamra, Assistant Dean GME Operations & Administration

Please contact any of us with questions, comments, or concerns.

Getting Started

For reference materials, useful forms, and information on the various benefits that are available to residents and fellows at UW, please see the Incoming Residents & Fellows and Current Residents & Fellows pages of this website. Many pertinent details surrounding your rights and responsibilities can be found in the Residency and Fellowship Position Appointment (RFPA) Agreement 2021-2022.

Wellness. Be on the lookout for The Wellness Corner, a monthly blog post from the GME Wellness Service containing information highlighting wellness activities and opportunities in Seattle and around Puget Sound. At this time, for your safety and the safety of the public, we are following Governor Jay Inslee’s Roadmap to Recovery phased reopening plan. We look forward to the time when you can hang up your white coat, get out of the hospital – and your home – and enjoy the life that indeed does exist outside of residency or fellowship training.

COVID-19 Culture. In the context of COVID-19, we must continue to be mindful and vigilant.  The UW will require faculty and other academic personnel, staff, student employees, and trainees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by autumn quarter in order to work on our campuses or within our facilities. All of our hospitals require the 3 W’s: washing your hands, wearing your mask, and watching your distance.  Look out for each other and for yourselves. We are slowly recovering and will continue to do so as long as we work together!

I look forward to working with you on new initiatives and ideas that will address the challenges we now face head-on. And, for all the new and exciting things this academic year will certainly bring for you, the GME Office’s core priorities remain the same: that you receive the best possible education, achieve and maintain a healthy work-life balance, and make a real difference for the patients that you serve. Our most significant wins and defining achievements in GME have always been rooted in housestaff ideas and in their participation.

In order for me to best do my job, I need to, and would like to, hear from you – all of you. Your engagement is critical to ensuring that we have the best possible education program for you, as well as for the patients we serve.

Some of you chose to match with our programs without ever having been to our campus. COVID-19 did not allow us to conduct safe, in-person interviews last year but that will not stop us from ensuring that you have everything you need to become a successful part of our system.

It is my distinct pleasure to welcome all of you to the University of Washington. I look forward to working with you and to embrace the opportunities and challenges that await us in the 2021-2022 academic year.

Be well and stay healthy!

Byron D. Joyner, MD, MPA
Vice Dean and Designated Institutional Official (DIO)
Graduate Medical Education, UW Medicine

GME News & Notes: June

by | Jul 2, 2021 | Announcements, GME News & Notes, News

Dear GME Community,

First, welcome to the almost 500 residents and fellows who are joining us for 2021-22!  We also want to say congratulations and good luck to those graduating at the end of June and July.

Dr. Joyner and Dipti Chrastka and I really enjoyed meeting those of you who dropped by to pick up lunch on Thursday at Harborview Medical Center.  We’ll continue to host these GME Drop In sessions through the year and our next will be at UWMC in August.  More information to come!

The June/July academic year transition is always a very busy time of year in the GME world. This issue of GME News & Notes is packed with information – awards, publications, opportunities, new leadership and team members, etc.

Many thanks to those who reached out to me with information to share here.  Please continue to do so by sending to me at hamrac@uw.edu.

Cindy Hamra

Cindy Hamra
Assistant Dean of GME

People

2020-2021 GME Committee Transitions: Thank you to the following individuals for their service on our GME committees during AY21:

  • Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC): Robin Berger, Resident, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences; Hugo Carmona, Fellow, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine; Arjune Dhanekula, Resident, Thoracic Surgery- Integrated; Ekamjeet Dhillon, Resident, Orthopaedic Surgery; Ashley Eaves, Resident, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation; James Fink, Program Director, Neuroradiology; Jon Ilgen, Faculty, Emergency Medicine; Katie Johnson, Fellow, Child Abuse Pediatrics; Natasha Kwendakwema, Resident, Internal Medicine; Kat McGhee, Program Administrator, Rheumatology; James Owens, Program Director, Child Neurology; Brandon Peplinski, Resident,  Internal Medicine; Katie Smolinski, Resident, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation; Grace Wandell, Resident, Otolaryngology; Matthew Wise, Resident, Family Medicine; Athena Wong, Program Administrator, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences; Nicole Zern, Surgery
  • GME Position Allocation Committee (GMEPAC): Jorg Dziersk, Program Director, Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology; Bill Freeberg, Program Administrator, Radiology; Katie Nowlin, Program Administrator, Cardiothoracic Surgery
  • Clinical Learning Environment Review (CLER) Subcommittee: Lola Mudgistratova, Resident, Emergency Medicine
  • Policy Subcommittee: Sagar Chawla, Resident, Orthopaedic Surgery; Nick Freedman, Faculty, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation; Giana O’Hara, Fellow, Geriatric Medicine; Brandon Peplinski, Resident, Internal Medicine

Publications, Awards, and Staffing Updates

  • Edward Briercheck, Fellow, Hematology, is senior author of “Low-cost transcriptional diagnostic to accurately categorize lymphomas in low- and middle-income countries” in Blood Advances.
  • Daniel Cabrera, Assistant Program Director, Internal Medicine Residency, received a grant to focus on skill development for responding to bias and mistreatment from the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine, the American Board of Internal Medicine, the ABIM Foundation, the American College of Physicians and the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, which together have awarded a total of $287,500, split among 32 projects at medical schools and training programs.  More information is here.
  • Eric J. Chow, Fellow, Infectious Diseases, is author on the following:
  • Kevin Duan, Fellow, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, has been selected as a 2021 Doris Duke Physician Scientist Fellow. His research project: “Assessing the Value of Post-Discharge Home Oxygen After a COPD Exacerbation.”
  • Sherise Epstein, Resident, Otolaryngology, is a recipient of an AAO-HNSF Rande H. Lazar Health Services Research Grant. Dr. Epstein will be working with Dr. David Horn to evaluate special education outcomes among children with severe to profound hearing loss during her T32 research fellowship this year.
  • Olivia Frederiksen has joined the GME office as our Accreditation and Regulatory Specialist.  Olivia is taking on the monumental task of getting our Program Letters of Agreement in order and launching our PLA Generator.
  • Congratulations to the 2021 Department of Medicine Evans Award recipient Cody Gehring, Resident, Internal Medicine. This award is presented every year to one (or more) graduating medical student and 2nd year resident. The Evans award recognizes the special qualities of warmth, understanding, compassion and concern for the needs of others as exemplified by and expressed throughout the life of Dr. Robert S. Evans, who served as Chief of Medicine for many years at the Seattle VA Medical Center.
  • Courtney Gilliam, Fellow, Pediatric Hospital Medicine, published Grounded in Justice: An Equity Framework for Chief Residents in Academic Medicine
  • Fuki Hisama, Program Director, Medical Genetics & Genomics Residency and Associate Program Director, Combined Pediatrics & Medical Genetics/Genomics Residency, is co-author on the ACGME Milestones 2.0 for Medical Genetics.
  • Manny Jauregui, Resident, Otolaryngology, was first author of an article published in the December 2020 issue of Current Opinion in Otolaryngology & Head and Neck Surgery. The article, titled “Current management of type III and IV laryngotracheoesophageal clefts: the case for a revised cleft classification,” summarizes the pediatric laryngotracheoesophageal cleft (LTEC) literature and proposes a revised cleft classification system that more accurately reflects our current understanding of these anomalies.
  • Juliet Meggs has joined GME’s Learning Gateway team as a new instructional designer. She’ll be supporting (and helping us evolve) our learner-centered design process for asynchronous programs similar to Physician Well-Being and Bystander Intervention trainings.  Among her many qualifications, Juliet holds a masters in education, doctorate in counseling psychology, and has more than a decade of experience teaching online and in-person college courses.  She brings a creative and thoughtful approach to course design that builds a culture of community where everyone feels like they can participate meaningfully.
  • Kelly Ness, Fellow, Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition, is the 2021 recipient of the Brunzell Award. Dr. Ness received the award for her research on the role of microglia in central regulation of blood glucose.
  • Susan K. Peterson, director of academic appointments and compensation at the University of Washington School of Medicine, is the 2021 recipient of the  John R. Pettit Endowed Leadership Award.  The Pettit Award is named after John Pettit, UW Medicine’s former associate vice president for business and legal affairs, a person known for his leadership, integrity and positivity — all characteristics shared by Susan.
  • Elisabeth Poorman, Fellow, Addiction Medicine, is author of “The Number Needed to Prescribe – What Would It Take to Expand Access to Buprenorphine?” in the New England Journal of Medicine.
  • Clare Richardson, Fellow, Pediatric Otolaryngology, was awarded the 1st Place William Potsic Basic Science award for her presentation, “Cross-sectional and Volumetric Assessment After Slide Tracheoplasty in 3D Printed Infant Tracheal Models,” at the American Society of Pediatric Otolaryngology (ASPO) Annual Meeting. Dr. Richardson was also elected to present at the “Sim Tank” event at the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery Annual Meeting (Top 3 simulation submissions) for her project: “A 3D Printed Laryngeal Suturing Simulator for Endoscopic Laryngeal Cleft Repair.”
  • Nina Tan, resident, Internal Medicine, is co-author of “Faith-Based and Federal Government-Affiliated Training Sites for Primary Care: Implications for the Provision of Women’s Health Services” in the Journal of General Internal Medicine
  • Congratulations to our many PD and APD colleagues who were recognized as Seattle Magazine’s Top Doctors for 2021!
  • Congratulations to the new members of AOA UW Chapter: Anne Erickson, Resident, OB/GYN; Mackenzie Holmberg, Resident, Internal Medicine; Allison K. Ikeda, Resident, Otolaryngology-HNS; Molly Kelly, Resident, Internal Medicine; Neeraja Konuthula, Resident, Otolaryngology; Austin S. Lam, Resident, Otolaryngology; Vanessa Leonhard, Resident, Plastic Surgery; Suzanne Seo, Fellow, Pediatric Emergency Medicine; Christopher Sorensen, Resident, Internal Medicine; Jonathan Staloff, Resident, Family Medicine; Grace Wandell, Resident, Otolaryngology; Matt Wise, Resident, Family Medicine

Policies and Processes

  • COVID Vaccine Requirement: On June 2, UW President Ana Marie Cauce and Provost Mark Richards sent out notification that the UW will require faculty and other academic personnel, staff, student employees, and trainees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by autumn quarter in order to work on our campuses or within our facilities.  This requirement does include medical and dental residents and fellows, most of whom have already received their vaccines.  We will share additional information as we have it.
  • Change to UW’s International Travel Restrictions: On June 3 the Provost approved revised rules for official UW international travel. 
  • USMLE to limit test attempts as of July 1, 2021: As of July 2, 2021 an examinee’s total number of allowable attempts will be reduced from six (6) attempts to four (4) attempts per Step exam, including incomplete attempts.  To learn more about this change, please review the FAQs on the USMLE website.

GME Policy Updates

The GMEC approved changes to several policies at the June Committee meeting.  Updated policies are on the Policies and Procedures page of the GME website.

  • Program Reduction and Closure Policy:  Reflects changes in the ACGME Institutional Requirements (IRs) effective July 2021.  Includes categories of program reductions and closures (voluntary, ACGME, training site, or Sponsoring Institution initiated) and actions taken by the UWSOM, program, and ACGME to continue to support resident and fellow training, education, salary and benefits.
  • Substantial Disruptions in Patient Care or Education Policy:  Previously known as Continuity of UW Graduate Medical Education and Administration in the Event of a Disaster Policy.  Reflects changes in the ACGME IRs effective July 2021, including changing term “disaster” to “substantial disruptions in patient care and education”.  Policy also revised to incorporate our institutional responses to disruptions in patient care and education over past year (COVID, SCH OR closures).
  • The following policies were approved on the Consent Agenda.  Changes to the policies are very minor, and/or edits only.
    • Policy and Procedure Policy: New ACGME institutional requirement addressing adherence to institutional GME policies
    • Appointment Policy, Credentialing Policy, DEA Registration Policy, Immunization Policy, Licensure Examination Policy, Medical Volunteer Activities Policy, Outside Work Policy, State Licensing Policy, and Telehealth Policy: Updated with new academic titles that take effect July 2021 (Fellow Non-ACGME and Fellow Non-ACGME Stipend)

Events of Interest

COVID Updates

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

Progress, Activities and Resources

  • GME is excited to share our new Mission Statement: The mission of UW GME is to improve the health of the public by fostering the professional growth of physician-leaders within a supportive and dynamic culture of learning, building the foundation for a workforce that represents and enhances the communities we serve.
  • VAPS transition to Cerner: The VAPS EHR transition to Cerner is delayed, as is the training. We currently expect the transition to take effect in 2022 and will share more information when available.
  • Marriott Rooms for first responders: This initiative provides significantly discounted rates for first responders and health-care professionals at hotels near the hospitals where they’re working. Valid medical, government, military or relief organization ID is required for check-in.
  • Childcare resources:
    • Child care openings and tuition savings at KinderCare
      Plan now for care at KinderCare this fall. UW employees receive a 10% tuition discount and enrollment priority at select centers.
    • Backup child care is available to PEBB-eligible UW employees and UW students for when your regular care falls through. Eligible employees can access 10 days of in-center backup care annually through KinderCare, and 5 days of care annually through Bright Horizons that can be provided in-home (for adults or children) or in a local child care center. You must be registered before you request care, so plan ahead for Fall, and sign-up today!
    • In case you missed it, this recent article highlights UW resources to help your family plan for summer.

AY22 Orientation

by | Jun 8, 2021 | News, Resident & Fellow Events, Sticky

AY22 Orientation

Welcome to our incoming Residents and Fellows!

We are looking forward to meeting you at the UW GME Orientation.  Be sure to complete the GME Orientation Checklist prior to your Clinical start date, and tune into the LIVE UW GME Orientation on Monday June 22nd.

AY22 Orientation Details

Please direct questions to the content experts listed in each section on the GME Orientation webpage. If you are unsure where to go or who to ask, please contact UW GME.

GME News & Notes: May

by | May 20, 2021 | Announcements, GME News & Notes, News

Our May News and Notes includes recent publications from members of the GME community, several program director changes, the new process for new rotation and PLA requests, new ACGME Survey resources, the AY22 GME event calendar, and open positions in the GME Office.

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 Hamra

Cindy Hamra
Assistant Dean of GME

People

  • Katherine Bennett, Assistant Professor Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine and Program Director for the Geriatric Medicine fellowship, is one of the authors of the ACGME Geriatric Medicine Milestones.
  • Chase Cannon, Acting Instructor in Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is the recipient of the Sexually Transmitted Infections Cooperative Research Centers (STI CRC) 2021-2022 Developmental Research Project (DRP) award. Project title: “Predictive Value of Serologic Tests for Syphilis Diagnosis in Asymptomatic Persons with a History of Syphilis.”
  • Basak Coruh, Program Director for the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship, will co-lead the UW Cystic Fibrosis Outpatient Integration program (UW CT OPTIN) which has been selected to receive funding from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
  • Anisha Ganguly, Internal Medicine resident, is lead author of Race and satisfaction with pain management among patients with HIV receiving long-term opioid therapy in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
  • Cindy Hamra, Assistant Dean for GME, is corresponding author of A Critical Reflection on the Experience of Non-Physician (“Public”) Members in Milestones 2.0 Work Groups in JGME.
  • Incho Lee, (former Director of Education for GME) and Jennifer Best, Associate Dean for GME, authored Call for Collaboration: The Role of Accreditation in the Transformation, Accountability, and Sustainability of Education in Social Determinants of Health published in JGME.
  • Marisa Osorio, Program Director for Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine Fellowship, will begin a new role as Division Chief of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine at Seattle Children’s Hospital
  • Lindee Strizich, Director, GME Quality and Safety, has been invited to sit on a panel at the AAMC’s Integrating Quality Conference
  • Matthew Thau, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine fellow, 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.”

Policies and Processes

Program Information

  • The GMEC has approved the following new Program Director appointments.  All must be approved by the ACGME:
    • Andrew McCoy, Emergency Medical Services fellowship program, replacing Michael Sayre
    • Mark Kilgore, Anatomical and Clinical Pathology residency program, replacing Kelly Smith
  • The GME Accreditation team has revised the PLAs and Rotation Requests page to include the new process for new rotation and PLA requests.
  • To facilitate review of the Resident/Fellow and Faculty Survey reports, crosswalk documents listing the applicable Common Program Requirement(s) corresponding with each item on the survey reports are available on the ACGME website in the Common Resources section for each specialty, on the DIO page, and on the Surveys resource page, as well as in the Accreditation Data System (ADS) Help Center.

Events of Interest

COVID Updates

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

Progress, Activities and Resources

  • ACGME Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, William McDade, is featured on Black Men in White Coats podcast: “From The Southside of Chicago to Top Doctor! – Dr. William McDade”
  • UW Medicine is now accepting applications for a second round of Patients Are First Innovation Pilots. This program awards up to $50,000 in project funds to UW Medicine faculty and staff with an innovative idea to improve patient care or address issues in our care delivery process.
  • The Organization of Resident Representatives (ORR) is now accepting resident nominations for the Community Service Recognition Award. The purpose of the award is to foster a service ethic among resident physicians by recognizing those who have made contributions above and beyond the rigors of residency training to improve the local communities surrounding their training institution. The award includes funded registration to attend Learn Serve Lead 2021: The AAMC Annual Meeting, a virtual recognition award ceremony, and a contribution to a community non-profit. Learn More.  Submission deadline: May 31, 2021.
  • The GME Office is currently hiring for two roles:
  • The UW Housestaff Quality and Safety Committee (HQSC) is excited to announce the 2021 Gene Peterson Faculty Award nomination process.  This annual resident-nominated award is given to a faculty member who demonstrates commitment to resident learning in the areas of quality improvement and patient safety. Please nominate a deserving faculty member here. The deadline is June 1, 2021.
  • Seattle Children’s Center for Diversity and Health Equity Releases Grant RFA: The Mentored Scholars grant has been expanded to include post-docs this year.

GME News & Notes: April

by | Apr 26, 2021 | Announcements, GME News & Notes, News

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

Cindy Hamra
Assistant Dean of GME

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

People

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.

Dr. Joyner’s Blog: April

by | Apr 21, 2021 | News

 

On March 1, 2020, I released a note that fewer than 10 individuals in Washington state had been diagnosed with COVID-19. As of this writing, more than 386,000 Washingtonians have been infected and 5,500 have died. Nationwide, more than 550,000 Americans have died during this pandemic. The SARS-CoV-2 – an infection unknown to us before last year, has touched everyone in every way possible.

We were all worried – and for good reason. We worried about our family, friends, colleagues and ourselves. We worried about our education, clinical skills and ability to learn in an environment that had been disrupted for more than a year and, in many ways, continues to be unfamiliar to us. Somehow, we adapted together – as well as we could, and brought ourselves back to the rhythm of the academic year.

At the beginning of 2020 recruitment season, many of us had no idea what to expect. How were we going to interview candidates? Would the selection of residents ultimately be fair? Would we be able to attract Underrepresented in Medicine (URiM) candidates? Would certain Black and Brown populations be at further risk by asking them to travel to Seattle? Like most other medical schools, the UW SOM decided that all interviews would be conducted virtually, even interviews for its own medical students.  This decision – and the unpredictability of the virus – created lots of anxiety.

So, we got to work.

The GME Office, which is traditionally not involved in the recruitment season activities, produced three videos that would capture the essence Seattle for the twenty-something perspective. This could not have been accomplished without the generous support of our clinical departments. The GME Office also organized town halls and networking opportunities for program leadership to discuss best practices for website marketing, communication strategies and diversity recruitment. Some programs developed their own materials to attract candidates who would not be able to visit Seattle.

The Network of Underrepresented Residents and Fellows (NURF) hosted two diversity and inclusion events in an attempt to help all of our programs attract underrepresented and vulnerable minority candidates. NURF even hosted a third, second-look event. These virtual events were successful, attracting hundreds of candidates who would learn more by asking questions and participating in small break-out room conversation.

So, did any of this work?

It did! The UW SOM had one of the best recruitment seasons in the past 15 years. All of our ACGME and non-ACGME programs matched with only one program using the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP).

Everyone had to make adjustments due to COVID-19, including medical student applicants, the National Residency Match Program (NRMP), program leadership and sponsoring institutions. In spite of the global pandemic, NRMP had the largest number of applications ever and the largest Match on record with 48,700 registrants, an 8.3% increase over 2020.

The UW residency programs offered 285 positions, 48 individual tracks, including a new track called Pediatrics Health Equity. Of the residency positions, 274 matched with only 11 spots eventually matching through SOAP, which resulted in 100% match rate. Forty-six UW medical students matched with our residency programs. Of the 285 who ultimately matched, there were 46 UW medical students, 200 US seniors, 16 IMGs and 12 from osteopathic medical schools.

The UW fellowships offered 163 positions, 34 of which were filled by UW residents. Only 3 positions ultimately did not match.

At UW – and around the country, there was a new focus on diversity and inclusion which proved to attract and match many Black and Hispanic, as well as female candidates According to a recent NY Times article (After A Year of Toil, Elite Universities Welcome More Diverse Freshman Classes, April 17, 2021), the death of George Floyd created a national consciousness of racial injustice and placed a greater value on diversity. As a result, early data suggests that many elite undergraduate universities admitted a higher proportion of first generation, lower income and traditionally underrepresented students.

Although the NRMP does not traditionally release diversity data for the Match, it appears that medical schools also followed this trend. It appears that the University of Washington did. Many of our clinical programs proudly reported on their success with BIPOC, URiM and women candidates:

Hopefully, we can sustain this trend, not just for this moment. Hopefully, we will be able to preserve this social awareness and continue to expand diversity in our pools of candidates who will eventually apply for, matriculate to and graduate from medical schools around our country. It will be important for UW to continue to create a healthy and safe learning and working environment for BIPOC medical students and trainees, cultivating our efforts of equity, hiring more diverse faculty and creating spaces where everyone can learn and thrive.

Overall, this Match year was a very good one. Thank you all for your individual and group efforts.

Byron D. Joyner, MD, MPA
Vice Dean and Designated Institutional Official (DIO)
Graduate Medical Education, UW Medicine

Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Discrimination and Racism

by | Mar 25, 2021 | News

Asians, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) have historically been the target of many racist attacks over the years. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 prohibited Chinese immigrants from entering the US.  “Yellow Peril” was a fear-mongering term used in the 19th Century as a racist color-metaphor that represented the faceless, nameless people from the “other non-white, non-Western” cultures. The Rock Springs massacre of 1885 occurred in Sweetwater County, Wyoming when immigrant Chinese miners were attacked by white miners who perceived that the Chinese were stealing their jobs. Many still remember the shameful Japanese internment camps during World War II which was created out of fear of all Japanese Americans. Race riots in 1990’s in LA and the present-day fabricated fear of Asians who have been blamed for starting COVID-19 by powerful politicians pushing insensitive terms, such as “China virus” and “Kung-flu” in this country. The surge in hate crimes we see today is directly related to the politicization of the pandemic and state-sanctioned racist language used by some of the highest-ranking politicians in the land.

These are all sad reminders of past and continued rancor of Anti-Asian racism under the banner of “nationalism.”

The recent shootings in Atlanta and attacks on older Asians in California and New York; the boycott of Asian/Chinese restaurants during COVID-19 all point to xenophobia. Hate crimes against AAPIs are common and commonly under-reported – and, all too often not reported at all due to language barriers, and Asian Americans not wanting to be perceived as troublemakers. For many Asian Americans, reporting violence goes against the “model minority myth” which is used to treat Asians as a monolithic, mild-mannered community, further otherizing them and dividing minority communities.

COVID-19 has disproportionately affected BIPOC and communities of color. Pacific Islanders rank third in COVID-19 deaths behind Native Americans and Black Americans. The racist and discriminatory acts and violence against AAPI communities has grown over 150% in the last year. Unemployment for Asian and Pacific Islanders increased to 450% between February and June of 2020. Many businesses owned by Asian Americans have closed during this last year, further crippling that community.

UW GME strongly condemns the racism and anti AAPI violence and stands in solidarity with our AAPI communities.

Reports can be made through the UW Medicine Bias Reporting Tool.

There are many ways to show our solidarity and speak out against this hateful rhetoric.

 

Dipti Chrastka, LMFT
Director, GME Wellness Service

 

Byron D. Joyner, MD, MPA
Vice Dean and Designated Institutional Official (DIO)
Graduate Medical Education, UW Medicine

GME News & Notes: March

by | Mar 19, 2021 | Announcements, GME News & Notes, News

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

Cindy Hamra
Assistant Dean of GME

Table of Contents

    

Table of Contents

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 4th 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.

Dr. Joyner’s Blog: March

by | Mar 3, 2021 | News

The early 20th Century was the birth of Black History Month. It began as a proposal of only a week. Carter G. Woodson, an American historian, author, journalist, and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, started what was to become a movement. He announced that the second week of February would be Negro History Week. HIs choice of February is not well-documented, but some historians believe that the inspiration was because February was the birth months of both Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglas. Mr. Woodson’s extensive work on the Journal of Negro History, which took 10 years to complete, made him realize that the “recognition and importance” of Black people in this country was deserving of a larger audience.

I couldn’t agree with him more.

All of us need to pause and appreciate the many gifts that Black Americans have given to this country, in shackled times and in times of unshaken pride. The fact that the gifts, given by Black Americans, have traditionally gone unrecognized by history is what should make us all appreciate more the injustice Blacks have suffered by the erasure of individual and collective Black contributions.

February is the annual celebration of not just those African Americans who have made specific contributions but to all African Americans who have been downtrodden by not being appreciated. Years of not appreciating our collective lives and losses have created a hurt that has affected all of us.

As I look toward the New Year and reflect on the many past, present and planned graduate medical education (GME) initiatives for improving diversity at the UWSOM, I think of the many ways in which GME has attempted to nurture our Black residents and fellows and, as much as possible, help them in their endeavors and honor their presence while they are here.

In many ways, our Black trainees have had the strength and sheer will to make many of our activities of appreciating Black contributions possible. The Network of Underrepresented Residents and Fellows (NURF) started nearly 13 years ago from the request of 4 Black women graduates of UW medical school. That once small and inchoate group has continuously thrived and is fully recognized and appreciated by the entire UWSOM as dynamic, energetic and inclusive. Even during the pandemic, the group has been busy. NURF led the recruitment effort this year with two diversity Town Halls for all specialties and followed that up with a recent Second Look for URiM and diverse candidates. These virtual meetings have been organized, informative and well-attended.

NURF has also partnered with the Housestaff Quality & Safety Committee (HQSC), another resident-run, multi-specialty organization in which members are interested in quality and patient safety issues and initiatives. NURF and HQSC members have created the Joint Conference in QI & Health Care Equity which, with the involvement of medical directors and other faculty, has created substantial projects around health and equity for marginalized patient populations.

GME is collaborating with the Office of Healthcare Equity to host Black Men In White Coats this week. The founder of this movement, Dr. Dale Okorodudu will join us to describe his work in supporting Black families, diverse communities and all medical schools in celebrating Black academic achievement so that the process of recruiting and retaining more Black men in medical schools around our country is a reality. Black Americans represent about 13% of the population but fewer than 4.4% of all medical trainees and 2/3 of those are Black women. We have much work to do.

I celebrate the work that we have done, not just in February but throughout the year for our Black housestaff. I celebrate the work they have done and continue to do with their white and Brown allies to make the future better for us all. As I look toward 2021 – and the rest of our lives, I want us to appreciate Black achievement every day and celebrate Black history which is part of our collective American history.

Byron D. Joyner, MD, MPA
Vice Dean and Designated Institutional Official (DIO)
Graduate Medical Education, UW Medicine

GME News & Notes: February

by | Feb 19, 2021 | Announcements, GME News & Notes, News

Dear GME Community –

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

Cindy Hamra, JD
Assistant Dean of GME

Table of Contents

    

Table of Contents

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 25th, 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!

DIO GMEC Update: January

by | Jan 25, 2021 | Announcements, News

This month is Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. Celebrate his life and his vision: Belonging!  Thank you for taking part in learning more about diversity and inclusion, more about yourself! Enjoy the January 2020 GMEC Update.

People

Congratulations to the following members of our community:

  • Bessie Young, Professor of Medicine, Division Chief of Nephrology at the VA resident was selected the 20201 Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award. This award is presented to an individual who or team which promotes and champions the values of DEI in their department of medicine. https://medicine.uw.edu/news/bessie-young-receives-aaim-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-award.
  • Susan Merel, Associate Professor and Stephanie Timm, Dermatology Residency & Fellowship Programs Administrator from the Department of Medicine are co-chairs for the Department’s inaugural Gender Equity Council.
  • Ken Steinberg, Program Director for Internal Medicine Residency Program and Professor of Medicine, has started a Health Equity pathway for R2s and R3s. The pathway is for residents who are considering careers incorporating health equity in clinical care, research, education and advocacy.
  • Heather McPhillips, Program Director for the Pediatrics Residency Program and Professor, Department of Pediatrics, shared that the Pediatrics program has developed a health equity track, offered as a separate track in the NRMP Match.
  • Daniel Cabrera, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, and Assistant Program Director for the Internal Medicine residency program, was named by Dr. Joyner as the inaugural Chair of the new Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Subcommittee of the GMEC.
  • Fiona Gallahue, Associate Professor, Emergency Medicine, and Program Director for the Emergency Medicine residency program successfully published an article in JGME entitled: A Critical Disconnect: Residency Selection Factors Lack Correlation With Intern Performance. https://meridian.allenpress.com/jgme/article/12/6/696/448210/A-Critical-Disconnect-Residency-Selection-Factors
  • Byron Joyner, Vice Dean for Graduate Medical Education, Designated Institutional Official, and Professor of Urology, received the Mass General/Brigham’s 2020 Alumnus Award for his 25 years of work in medical education.

Programs

  • Three new program directors were approved by the GMEC: Yajuan Liu for Laboratory Genetics and Genomics; Fatemeh Behnia for Nuclear Medicine; and Niviann Blondet for Pediatric Transplant Hepatology.
  • Jennifer Best, Associate Dean for GME and Hadar Duman, GME Director of Accreditation are working to assist programs on Special Review to reflect on areas where they might consider trying new approaches to areas for improvement.

Progress

  • The GMEC-sponsored EDI Subcommittee was approved by the GMEC after a presentation of the EDI Task Force’s work to complete the charter.

Policies

  • Gabrielle Pett, GME Senior Director of Business Affairs, presented the revised Resident and Fellow Position Agreement (RFPA) Agreement for 2021-2022. There was a tremendous amount of work that was done to make the changes in the RFPA so that it would be aligned with the 2019 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).  Thank you to all of the Policy Subcommittee members!
  • Cindy Hamra presented the new MedHub User Access Controls policy which was approved by the Committee.  The new policy establishes criteria and processes for requesting MedHub user access.

Partnerships

  • The GME Office held a second winter Town Hall to discuss COVID-19 updates for the residents, fellows, and programs. Cindy Hamra, Assistant Dean for GME hosted Drs. Tim Dellit, Chris Kim, Nick Meo, Shireesha Dhanireddy and Byron Joyner. We will continue to hold similar Town Halls every month to be sure that our trainees and programs have current information about impacts of COVID-19 and to answer questions.
  • Vaccinations for trainees are ahead of schedule. More than 1000 housestaff have already received at least their first of two COVID-19 vaccines

Projects

  • Please see the COVID-19 Updates: GME Community section of the GME website for information and updates on the increasing COVID-19 pandemic in our community. Cindy Hamra has been working closely with UW Medicine leadership to include our housestaff thoughtfully and strategically in the COVID-19 response.

 

“We Delight In The Beauty Of The Butterfly, But Rarely Admit The Changes It Has Gone Through To Achieve That Beauty”. – Maya Angelou

 

Byron D. Joyner, MD, MPA
Vice Dean and Designated Institutional Official (DIO)
Graduate Medical Education, UW Medicine

DIO GMEC Update: December

by | Dec 14, 2020 | Announcements, News

Hanukkah and Christmas holiday are upon us this month. The much anticipated COVID-19 vaccine is here too.  I hope the DIO Blog will put you in the holiday spirit to read the December 2020 GMEC Update.

People

Congratulations to the following members of our community:

  • Dr. Brian Cervoini Rosario (PGY-2) was selected as a resident member of the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Review Committee (RC) at the ACGME.
  • Drs. Ben Massenburg (PGY-4) and Kajal Mehta (PGY-3) were selected by the Resident and Associate Society of the American College of Surgeons for two Global Surgery Work Group leadership positions. Dr. Massenburg will hold the Subspecialty Engagement Lead position and Dr. Mehta start as secretary and will advance to Vice Chair in 2022 and then to Chair in 2023.
  • Gregory Walker (PGY-5) resident in the Department of Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine has published a paper with his department chair, Dr. Howard Chansky and another faculty member Dr. Mario Taylor for the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery entitled What’s Important: Take a Knee: It is our collective responsibility to dismantle systemic racism.
  • Dr. Grant Hughes, associate professor of Rheumatology has received a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Award from the Arthritis Foundation for $10,000 to support the Rheumatology Fellowship training program.
  • Dr. Bessie Young, professor of IM, VA division chief of Nephrology, won the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Award.
  • The Triple I Outstanding Research Mentor Award was presented to Dr. Fuki Hisama, professor of IM, division of Medical Genetics for her exemplary mentorship of our UW medical students in the conduct of scholarly work.
  • The Department of Surgery faculty members, Drs. Lisa Mcintyre and Nicole Zern published an article in JAMA entitled Emergency Restructuring of a General Surgery Program During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic: The University of Washington Experience.
  • Drs. Nick Meo, Jon Ilgen, Niten Singh and Byron Joyner were involved in the recent article in the Journal of Graduate Medical Education about the University of Washington’s experience in the COVID-19 surge in the spring.

Programs

  • Special Reviews continue to make improvements to our learning environment for residents and fellows. Dr. Best and Hadar Duman are working to assist each of the programs to reflect on areas where they might consider trying new approaches.

Progress

  • The GMEC-sponsored CLER Subcommittee had its inaugural meeting the month to kick off the many projects to make progress in the areas of Patient Safety, Quality, and especially in Healthcare Equity and Teaming. This committee is chaired by Dr. Lindee Strizich, GME Director of Quality and Patient Safety, UWMC-Montlake.
  • The GMEC-sponsored Clinical Learning Environment Review Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Task Force has completed its final meeting and the final draft of its charter which will be presented ot the GMEC for a vote next month.

Policies

There were three new GME policies presented and approved by GMEC:

  • GME Appointment Policy
  • GME Credentialing Policy
  • GME Scheduling and Boarders Policy

Each of these new policies will clarify processes to improve conditions for residents and fellows in our community.  Check them out.

Partnerships

  • GME held a winter Town Hall to discuss COVID-19 updates for the residents and fellows. Drs. Tim Dellit, Chris Kim and Nick Meo were present to answer questions, as were Cindy Hamra, Dipti Chrastka and Byron Joyner. We will continue to hold similar Town Halls every month to be sure that our trainees understand current COVID-19 information and obtain answers to their questions.

Projects

  • Please see the COVID-19 Updates: GME Community for information for updates on the increasing COVID-19 pandemic in our community. We are working closely with UW Medicine leadership to include our housestaff thoughtfully and strategically in our efforts to protect our community.

 

Byron D. Joyner, MD, MPA
Vice Dean and Designated Institutional Official (DIO)
Graduate Medical Education, UW Medicine

DIO GMEC Update: November

by | Nov 23, 2020 | Announcements, News

November has a lot of celebrations, in fact 135, according to one source. But, the Thanksgiving holiday is the most popular in the US. While you’re nibbling on turkey, thanks for reading the November 2020 GMEC Update for our community.

People

  • Congratulations to the following members of our community:
    • Seattle Children’s Hospital in-patient resident team which has included space during their rounds to discuss any concerns around equity, diversity and inclusion that may impact patient care.
    • Dr. Joel Kaufman was elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine.
    • Dr. Elina Quiroga received the UW Award of Excellence for her outstanding work in mentoring Underrepresented in Medicine members of the community.
    • Dr. Kemi Doll published a personal essay in the New England Journal of Medicine about structural solutions for minority faculty in subspecialties in Medicine
    • Dr. Fuki Hisama published “Diversity, Inclusion and Equity in Medical Genetics: The time is now” in Medical Genetics
    • A former IM resident, Dr. Harvey Alter, received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his contributions to the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus.

Programs

Progress

  • The GMEC Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Executive Task Force, chaired by Dr. Byron Joyner and Dr. Barbara Goff (Chair, Obstetrics and Gynecology) had its first meeting this past week. The Task Force voted to approve a long-standing GMEC-sponsored EDI Subcommittee. The GMEC-sponsored Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Task Force will have its last meeting this month, just before presenting its findings and recommendations to the GMEC in January.
  • The inchoate GMEC Clinical Learning Environment Review (CLER) Subcommittee has started to organize its committee members to better integrate, elevate and support accountability for efforts toward enhancing the CLER focus area: Patient Safety, Health Care Quality (including Disparities), Teaming and Supervision. If you are interested in contributing to the CLER Subcommittee, please look for the announcements.

Policies

  • There is a new, comprehensive GME Leave Policy, which was approved by GMEC at the November meeting. The policy addresses state and federal laws, as well as ACGME and ABMS requirements.

Partnerships

  • Dr. Tom Gallagher from the Center for Scholarship in Patient Quality and Safety, called attention to resources about helping to build an anti-racist society. The list included both local and national resources that will help people to have opportunities to become involved in anti-racist issues, concerns and projects.

Projects

  • Please see the COVID-19 Updates: GME Community for information for updates on the increasing COVID-19 pandemic in our community. We are working closely with UW Medicine leadership to include our housestaff thoughtfully and strategically in our efforts to protect our community.

 

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday!

Byron D. Joyner, MD, MPA
Vice Dean and Designated Institutional Official (DIO)
Graduate Medical Education, UW Medicine

Teach for Impact – Fall 2020

by | Nov 2, 2020 | News, Teach for Impact

The GME Education Team introduces the new “Teach for Impact!” series to share selected teaching methods with our faculty and trainees quarterly. Our Team would like to contribute to our community’s devotion to quality education by sharing novel ideas as well as “oldies but goodies” that will help us expand our teaching repertoire.

HOT OFF THE PRESS

Meaningful feedback going beyond the feedback process

Have you noticed that some trainees become defensive when you point out areas for improvement while giving feedback? Do you want to provide feedback that helps trainees manage the complex, new, and ambiguous professional challenges? Two articles were recently published that encourage educators to rethink feedback as a tool for life-long learning and to engage learners actively in the feedback process.

Feedback should focus on long-term learning toward autonomous practice and both educators and learners should be able to take their feedback conversations into their future work.  This article provides concrete strategies to help trainees develop evaluative judgment and capability to identify and appraise the qualities of good practice.

Feedback should be a relational activity between learners and educators, not an educator “delivering monologue.” “Socially-embedded” nature of sharing feedback needs trust between the two parties to reveal and communicate vulnerability as well as to co-construct knowledge.

Want to observe how other faculty engage learners in feedback? Watch this 8-minute video. You will see examples of bad, better, and excellent feedback that (dis)engage learners.
Food for Thought:  Competency-based GME during and after a pandemic

Canada has launched a nationwide transition to the competency-based time-variable (CB-TV) GME. Even though GME in the US vouches for competency-based GME, it is still tethered to time- and case-volume based training requirements. Goldhamer et al. share suggestions to transition to CB-TV GME as planned curriculum-based training opportunities are lost or reduced due to COVID-19.

OLDIES BUT GOODIES

Scaffolding:

“Scaffolding” is a way to support learners by breaking learning up into chunks and providing a concrete structure for each. Does medical knowledge you want to teach involve understanding of several concepts with progressive difficulty levels? Would (struggling) learners benefit from explicitly guiding from where they are now to the next level by teasing out the task? Here is more information on scaffolding.

The GME Education Team is available for consultations.  Please contact Incho Lee, PhD, Director of Educational Quality Improvement, at ilee@uw.edu.

GME Updates: Call Rooms, Lactation Rooms and Parental Support

by | Oct 27, 2020 | Announcements, News

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.  We know that the intersection between parenthood and training can be a pinch point for many of our residents and fellows and will continue our improvements around this and other issues.

Recent improvements have included:

  • Lactation room at UWMC – Montlake

    General Parenting Resources

    • New Growing Your Family webpage intended to centralize information for residents and fellows regarding parenting, parental leave and crowd-sourced tips.
    • Creation of the Parenthood Peer Mentorship Program (PPMP) to match parent trainees with experienced parent physicians.
    • On October 7th we held the Family Planning & Fertility and Navigating Parental Leave for Resident Physicians event (view recording).  Over 40 residents, fellows and their guests attended this event and heard from subject matter experts on fertility and parental leave, and heard from a panel of their peers.

  • New refrigerator installed by GME at the VA Puget Sound lactation room

    Lactation Rooms

    • Survey of system-wide lactation rooms and addition of this information to the GME website.
    • Creation of an additional lactation room in the UWMC-Montlake Crow’s Nest (Housestaff Lounge).
    • Installation of a refrigerator in the VA Puget Sound lactation room.
    • Imminent installation of refrigerators in 6 Seattle Children’s lactation rooms (pending inspection by Facilities).
    • Hospital-led addition of lactation refrigerators at the Harborview Medical Center lactation rooms.
    • Purchase of lactation coolers available for long-term loaning to support residents and fellows rotating in hospitals without convenient refrigerator access or who prefer a cooler rather than a shared fridge.

  • Workstation in a VA Puget Sound Call Room

    Call Rooms

    • Inventory and assessment of system-wide call rooms.
    • Transition to single-occupancy call rooms to improve safety for residents and fellows during COVID-19.
    • Hospital-led creation of two brand new call rooms at UWMC-Northwest, with three additional rooms in progress.

We want to thank all of our GME staff who have worked on these initiatives especially Natalie Brady, Hadar Duman, Cindy Hamra, Dr. Jennifer Best and Hayley Fisher.  Additionally we sincerely appreciate the hard work of our hospital partners including Dr. Tom Staiger (UWMC-Montlake), Dr. Vivek Jain (VAPS), Seth Hennessey (UWMC-Northwest), Kari Dietrich (SCH), Holly Smith (VAPS), Debbie Colpitts (VAPS), Evelyn Sinsel (HMC), Pam Renna (UWMC-Northwest), Amy Akers (UWMC-Northwest) and Chris Pendergrass (SCH).

The GME Office continues to work on improving support and resources available for all of our residents and fellows. We look forward to continuing to share our work with the community.

DIO GMEC Update: October

by | Oct 12, 2020 | Announcements, Events, News

It is mDr. Jennifer Besty pleasure as acting meeting chair, to provide the October 2020 GMEC Update for our community.

People

  • Congratulations to Dr. Debra Cherry on her $175K SHIP grant from the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries for projects to improve reproductive health for Washington workers
  • Congratulations to our newly approved Program Directors:
    • Dr. Kathleen Kieran (Pediatric Urology – 1 year interim)
    • Dr. Sarah Prager (Complex Family Planning)

Programs

  • Complex Family Planning, previously a non-ACGME fellowship program, is applying for ACGME accreditation (see PD approval above).

Progress

  • The GMEC Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Executive Task Force, chaired by Dr. Byron Joyner and Dr. Barbara Goff (Chair, Obstetrics and Gynecology) had its first meeting this past week. The Task Force voted to approve a long-standing GMEC-sponsored EDI Subcommittee. They will begin to write the charter for approval by the GMEC next month.
  • GMEC approved a charter for a newly formed GMEC Clinical Learning Environment Review (CLER) Subcommittee to better integrate, elevate and support accountability for efforts to enhance the CLER focus area: Patient Safety, Health Care Quality (including Disparities), Teaming and Supervision. Though outside of the current charter, Well-Being and Professionalism efforts, also included in the CLER program, are actively ongoing.

Partnerships

  • Dr. John Scott presented an update on Telemedicine programs across UW Medicine.

Projects

  • Please see the GME website for information on a slew of upcoming events including:
    • “Family Planning and Fertility and Navigating Parental Leave for Resident Physicians” (10/7)
    • Dr. Bill McDade, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer for the ACGME will be a GMEC-sponsored virtual Visiting Professor (10/8, 3:00-5:00pm).
    • The second NURF Diversity Recruitment Open House (10/12).
    • Program Director Development Series – Fall Curriculum: Implicit Bias in Candidate Selection and Navigating Vulnerability and Shame in Medical Education) (10/19)

 

Jennifer Best, MD
Associate Dean, Accreditation and Education
Graduate Medical Education, UW Medicine

 

DIO GMEC Update: September

by | Sep 25, 2020 | Announcements, News

Welcome to the new Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC) Update!

I am excited to share information with you on a monthly basis about our Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC) meetings which take place the second Thursday of every month.

The primary duty of UW GMEC is to oversee the learning environment for more than 1500 residents and fellows in our training programs. In order to provide the best oversight, all GMEC meetings involve representatives from all around our GME community, including housestaff, program directors, program administrators, compliance personnel, dental school administrators, VA leaders, dean’s office administrators and many others. Since we cannot fit everyone around the virtual GMEC table, I hope that these DIO Updates will allow you to follow news about our housestaff and those involved in training residents and fellows.

Starting this month, I will provide regular updates on GMEC’s activities, actions and initiatives. As the Chair of GMEC, I feel that it is my duty to inform you, the GME community of how GMEC cares for and protects the housestaff. As the Chair of the GMEC, I take this job seriously.

Every month, I will provide updates in the 6 Ps we have selected: People, Policies, Progress, Programs, Partnerships and Projects. I hope that these categories will cover the GMEC Update.

People

This section will cover those who have new, GME leadership positions or are transitioning in some way into or away from GME leadership.

  • New program director: Dr. Tracy Tylee – Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition
  • New program director: Dr. Michelle Weathered – Neurology
  • New committee chair: Dr. Lia Halasz is assuming a new role as Chair of the GMEC Approved Fellowship (GAF) Committee. We thank Dr. Lisa Taitsman for her nearly 3 years of service!

Policies

One of the roles of the GMEC is to introduce new or revise existing policies that must be voted on by GMEC members.

Progress

In this section, updates will be provided regarding progress in Institutional and Programmatic Accreditation, the Learning Gateway educational modules and quality and patient safety news.

Hadar Duman (Director of Accreditation) presented the results of our annual Accreditation Dashboard. This year, our Sponsoring Institution, the UW SOM has full accreditation, as do all of our programs. There are only 14 ACGME-accredited programs that have been identified for our Special Review process, which is intended to assist programs with meeting accreditation standards.

Partnerships and Projects

This section will provide high-level information about GME, UW Medicine, and UW SOM.

  • The GMEC heard about the formation of a GMEC Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Task Force that will create the charge for the work of a long-standing GMEC-sponsored EDI Subcommittee. The Task Force will meet in early October.
  • The work of the Scheduling Task Force is ongoing with an anticipated completion date of November 2020. Recommendations will be brought to GMEC early in 2020.

Keep up with GME news by following the GME Updates. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.

Byron D. Joyner, MD, MPA
Vice Dean and Designated Institutional Official (DIO)
Graduate Medical Education, UW Medicine

 

Welcome Andrei Dandescu, New GME Wellness Service Counselor

by | Aug 3, 2020 | Announcements, News

Please join us in welcoming Alexandru “Andrei” Dandescu, our new GME Wellness Counselor!!  Andrei comes with strong clinical skills as well as many unique experiences that include working as a therapist in varied settings.

Andrei starts his new position with us today, August 3 and will work three days a week. His office will be at Seattle Children’s Hospital.  Dipti Chrastka, our GME Wellness Service Director will work with Andrei to get him oriented to GME and open up his schedule to Wellness appointments in the next few weeks. Here is a bit of what Andrei shared with us.

Thank you for the opportunity to introduce myself.  My name is Alexandru Andrei Dandescu, please call me Andrei.

I was born and spent my early years in Campulung Muscel, a small medieval town nestled in the forests of the foothills of the Carpathian mountains.

The idyllic peaks, bucolic valleys,  jagged canyons and lively mountain streams of the Carpathians formed part of the natural borders between Walachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia the early nations that later became part of modern day Romania in 1918. Their serene, unspoiled natural environment fascinated me as a child, just as much as the vibrant local folklore and ancient lines of people.

I have a strong sense of origin and yet I see myself as an amalgam of diverse and constantly emerging interests. I am a proud Husky psychology undergrad and hold a Master’s Degree In Clinical Psychology from Radford University.

Exploring the Cascades and the greater Pacific Northwest helped me reconnect to the healing power of nature and the exuberant joy of hiking, skiing, biking and sailing. I feel compelled to research the therapeutic effects inherent in outdoor natural environments and the possible clinical and ecological impact of our species’ increasing disconnect from nature.

Over the course of the past twenty-something years, I have worked in various clinical settings, such as community mental health, private practice, residential care facilities, detention facilities, and hospitals.

My clients, co-workers, friends, and family, ongoing multicultural experiences and occasional world travel helped me better appreciate the individual complexity, numerous struggles and amazing potential of the always expanding human consciousness.  

At this time, I feel happy to be part of the Resident & Fellow Wellness Graduate Medical Education team and contribute to the wellbeing of our future healers and their partners.

Weekly Roundup: June 26

by | Jun 26, 2020 | Announcements, News

In the News

Recent Publications by General Surgery Residents

Awards

Shiv Bhandari, MD, MS4 (now UW Internal Medicine R1) and James Sze, MD, R2 (now UW Internal Medicine R3) were recently named recipients of the 2020 Evans Award in the UW Department of Medicine.   This award is presented every year to one graduating medical student and one 2nd year resident.  The award recognizes the special qualities of warmth, understanding, compassion and concern for the needs of others as exemplified by and expressed throughout the life of Dr. Robert S. Evans, who served as Chief of Medicine for many years at the Seattle VA Medical Center.

Community Updates

HQSC Leadership Board for 2020-2021

The UW Housestaff Quality and Safety Committee (HQSC) announced their Leadership Board for the 2020-2021 academic year.

  • Chair of Development: Jenny Yu, MD (Plastic Surgery)
  • Chair of Diversity and Inclusion: Jacqueline Dunahoe, MD (Orthopedic Surgery)
  • Chair of Publications: Vince Raikhel, MD (Internal Medicine)
  • Chairs of SQuIRREL: Ashley Tollefson, MD (Anesthesiology) & John Lipiz (Anesthesiology)
UW GME Leaders Appointed to ACGME Review Committees

Several leaders in our GME community were recently welcomed as members to the ACGME’s Review Committees:

  • Byron Joyner, MD, MPA, Vice Dean, GME and Designated Instiutional Official (Institutional Review Committee)
  • Heather McPhillips, MD, Program Director, Pediatrics Residency (Pediatrics RRC)

Program Updates

Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program Expansion

The UW Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program has received a 5-year $1.3 million training award from HRSA to expand from two to four fellows each year.  Fellows will train and provide care for underserved populations at Harborview Medical Center, Evergreen Treatment Services, Downtown Public Health Center, and Pioneer Square Clinic/Downtown Programs, and will participate in fellow didactics at the VA.  The program is based in the Division of General Internal Medicine at Harborview and is led by Drs. Joseph Merrill, Judith Tsui, and Jared Klein. Active recruitment for these additional positions is underway.

Internal Medicine Residency: Spotlight on Resident Research

The Internal Medicine Residency Program launched: “Spotlight on Resident Scholarship” to highlight research, quality improvement, medical education, advocacy, and other scholarly activities of UW Internal Medicine residents.  In the latest spotlight, “Sustainable mental health research capacity-building in Africa,” Dr. Helen Jack (R2) transformed the curriculum from a five-day workshop – on performing systematic reviews for early career mental health researchers from Ethiopia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe – to teach a “Training of Trainers” workshop that would allow local university faculty to repeat the workshop.  Universities in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe integrated Dr. Jack’s workshop into permanent curricula.  Dr. Jack intends to pursue a research-intensive career and continue her work examining capacity and implementation of mental health services in low- resource settings locally and abroad.

GME Updates

New UW/UWHA Contract

The new contract between UW and the UWHA was ratified by UWHA members on June 14.  The new UWHA Contract (effective until June 30, 2022) will be available on the UW Labor Relations website in the coming days.  The updated Stipend Schedule for UWHA Members effective July 1, 2020 is on the GME website.

GME Policy Updates

The Meals Policy has been updated to include new meal reimbursement rates at UWMC and HMC.  These were approved at the June 11 GMEC meeting.

AY21 Orientation

by | Jun 16, 2020 | News, Resident & Fellow Events

Welcome to our incoming Residents and Fellows!

We are looking forward to meeting you at the UW GME Orientation.  Be sure to complete the GME Orientation Checklist prior to your Clinical start date, and tune into the LIVE UW GME Orientation on Monday June 22nd.

AY21 Orientation Details
Please direct questions to the content experts listed in each section on the GME Orientation webpage. If you are unsure where to go or who to ask, please contact UW GME.

GME Supports Black Lives

by | Jun 4, 2020 | Announcements, News

Message sent to GME Community on June 1, 2020

Dear Colleagues,

With many others, the leadership and staff of Graduate Medical Education stand alongside our community at this devastating and violent crossroads in our nation’s history.

With you, we grieve the violent and senseless murders of Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and countless others who throughout centuries have died unseen and unnamed. We acknowledge that the history of Medicine on which our institution is built cannot be extracted from the abuse and disregard of black and brown bodies that continues today.

We support those of you engaged in peaceful protest and those of you marking these events in your own less visible ways. The path toward reconciliation is both collective and individual – and must be marked by action. That action may differ for each member of our community. All of us must consider our privilege, our knowledge and the importance of our voice.

We hope that you have seen the message from Dr. Ramsey regarding the virtual community gathering scheduled for June 3, during which there will be further discussion about what it means to be part of an institution that embodies anti-racism as a core value.

GME would also like to convene a virtual safe space in which our residents and fellows, program directors, administrators, staff and faculty may be and reflect together.

Please hold Thursday 6/4 at 6pm for a virtual forum (email uwgme@uw.edu to register).  We also invite you to connect with our Wellness resources, or consider meeting with our Wellness counselors Dipti Chrastka or Julia Kocian.

Sincerely,

Cindy A. Hamra, JD, MA
Assistant Dean, Operations & Administration
Graduate Medical Education| UW Medicine

Jennifer A. Best, MD
Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education
Associate PD, Internal Medicine Residency Program
School of Medicine | UW Medicine

Byron D. Joyner, MD, MPA
Vice Dean
Graduate Medical Education| University of Washington
Designated Institutional Official | UW Medicine

Welcome New UW Housestaff!

by | May 26, 2020 | Announcements, News

Dr. Byron Joyner
Vice Dean for Graduate Medical Education & Designated Institutional Official for UW SOM

I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all of you as we begin this exciting and historic academic year together.

In February, the city of Seattle was the first epicenter for COVID-19 in the US. Since then, many have been affected by the pandemic. We have all faced challenges and uncertainty.  As you start your journey at the University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM), we want you to know that we are here for you. We want you to gain all of the experiences and have all of the learning opportunities you need to do your work. We want you to feel that you are working in a safe learning environment. There will be a lot of uncertainty, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is slowly improving. But, there will also be a lot of uncertainty during your training because you will be – and should be – learning new things about your chosen specialty. You will meet new colleagues and friends. You will encounter new interdisciplinary teams. You will learn to take care of patients and, along the way, learn more about yourself.

Many things will be different and disorienting to us all and yet, the same great faculty and staff will be here to teach you and to help you along the way. Matriculating now into your new residency or fellowship program should be exciting– even for those of you who are UW alumni returning as subspecialty fellows. Our top priority is to offer all of you the best and safest clinical learning environment so that you can develop the skills, behaviors, and attitudes you will need to be successful, independent doctors.

You are one of the amazing high-caliber physicians-and dentists in-training that sets UW apart from other institutions. The new wave of 450+ residents and fellows joining us over the next 3 months only highlights this point. You represent an exceptional, diverse, and exceedingly qualified class who will enrich each other’s learning experiences.

Who you are

Exceptional.
  • In total, you are 473 incoming residents and fellows
  • You are pursuing 100 different specialties
  • 287 of you are first-year residents

In some cases nearly 1/3 of all US medical school graduates going into your specialty applied to your UW program, and you are among the select few to be admitted to these very competitive programs.

Diverse.
  • Altogether, you were born in 36 different countries
  • 28% of you were born outside of the United States
  • 44 of you graduated from a medical school outside of the United States.
  • You span generations – you are GenZ’ers, Gen Y’ers, and Gen X’ers.

This is no accident. Diversity and inclusion are core values of UW Medicine and are affiliated training hospitals.

Qualified.

108 of you have achieved other graduate degrees. To name a few, these include:

  • 21 PhDs
  • 34 MPHs
  • 6 MBAs

Where you are

Graduate Medical Education (GME).  GME programs sponsored by the UW School of Medicine are designed to train physicians with habits of life-long learning and mature ethical and professional approaches to their practice.

UW Medicine. Among nearly 800 institutions, UWSOM is the 5th largest in the number of programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), and 8th largest in the number of trainees. The UWSOM offers over 122 residency and clinical fellowship programs and partners with the School of Dentistry to support four dental residency programs which are accredited by the Commission On Dental Accreditation (CODA).  There are more than 70 non-accredited fellowship programs, too!

For more information about our accredited programs, see the Residency and Clinical Fellowship Programs.

WWAMI. UW Medicine is by far the largest sponsor of GME programs in the five-state region known as WWAMI, which includes Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho (WWAMI). UW Medicine has a very important role in building a physician workforce capable of meeting the requirements of a rapidly-evolving healthcare environment for urban, rural and underserved areas in our region.

In addition to Seattle-based training, there are three distinct models for GME across the WWAMI region – Community Based–UW Affiliated, Regional Training Tracks, and Regional Resident Rotations.

Who we are

GME Leadership. We are responsible for the administrative oversight and academic quality of UW’s residency and clinical fellowship programs. Most importantly, we are here for you. We want you to feel safe in an environment where you can learn. The GME leaders listed below oversee an amazing and committed team that supports residents, fellows and programs in the UWSOM.

Please contact any of us with questions, comments, or concerns.

Getting Started

For reference materials, useful forms, and information on the various benefits that are available to residents and fellows at UW, please see the Incoming Residents & Fellows page on this site. Many pertinent details surrounding your rights and responsibilities can be found in the GME Residency and Fellowship Position Appointment (RFPA) Agreement.

Wellness. Be on the lookout for information from our Wellness team, highlighting wellness activities and opportunities in Seattle and around Puget Sound. At this time, for our safety and that of the safety of the public, we are still under Governor Jay Inslee’s orders of social distancing. We look forward to the time when you can hang up your white coat, get out of the hospital – and your home – and enjoy the life that indeed does exist outside of residency or fellowship training.

COVID-19 Culture. In the context of COVID-19, we must be mindful and vigilant. If you are ill, stay at home. Wear your mask and learn to don and doff properly. Look out for each other and for yourselves. We are in an uncertain time but we will get through this together, as long as we work together!

I look forward to working with you on new initiatives and ideas that will address the challenges we now face head-on. And, for all the new and exciting things this academic year will certainly bring for you, the GME Office’s core priorities remain the same: that you receive the best possible education, achieve and maintain a healthy work-life balance, and make a real difference for the patients that you serve. Our most significant wins and defining achievements in GME have always been rooted in housestaff ideas and in their participation.

In order for me to best do my job, I need to – and would like to – hear from you all of you. Your engagement is critical to ensuring that we have the best possible program for you, as well as for the patients we serve.

It is my distinct pleasure to welcome all of you to the University of Washington. I look forward to working with you and to embrace the opportunities and challenges that await us in the 2020-2021 academic year.

Be well and stay healthy!

Byron Joyner, MD, MPA
Vice Dean for Graduate Medical Education &
Designated Institutional Official for UW SOM

Weekly Roundup: May 15

by | May 15, 2020 | Announcements, Awards, News

Awards

The University of Washington Housestaff Quality and Safety Committee (HQSC) is thrilled to announce Chloe Bryson-Cahn, MD as recipient of the 2020 Gene Peterson Faculty Award for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety.  Dr. Bryson-Cahn is an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy & Infectious Diseases.  She serves as the Medical Director of Antimicrobial Stewardship and Associate Medical Director of Infection Prevention at Harborview Medical Center.  She also is the Associate Medical Director of the University of Washington Tele-Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (UW TASP). 

Congratulations to Khalida Arif, MD, UW School of Medicine class of 2020, and incoming UW Internal Medicine resident, who was recently named to the Husky 100.   The Husky 100 recognizes 100 UW undergraduate and graduate students each year who are making the most of their time at the UW in the classroom and community.

GME Updates

 
GME Policy Updates

Revisions to the USMLE and Licensing Examination Policy were approved at the May 14 GMEC meeting.

New GME Program Administrator

Welcome to Paul Ford, Program Administrator for Hematology-Oncology.

Committee Nominations for AY21

The GME Office is currently accepting nominations for Committee membership for 2020-2021.  Nominations should be sent to Lani Wall at lwall13@uw.edu by May 29.

Weekly Roundup: May 1

by | May 3, 2020 | Announcements, Awards, News

In the News

Awards

Tanya Meyer, MD, UW Otolaryngology Associate Professor, and Otolaryngology Residency Program Director, has been elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha (AΩA) Honor Medical Society at the faculty level by current members of the University of Washington chapter. Dr. Meyer joins an elite group who have received the honor: in 2020, only 3 were elected from among approximately 2,100 full-time faculty in the School of Medicine.

Douglas Paauw, faculty councilor for the UW AΩA chapter, writes, “Each year, the UW AΩA chapter elects faculty, residents, and fellows who demonstrate commitment to and excellence in teaching medical students as well as displaying outstanding leadership, professionalism, service, and professional achievement. . . election to AΩA is one of the highest honors that physicians can receive.” 

Dr. Meyer is a senior laryngologist with a national reputation in clinical neurolaryngology and for her research on the impact of voice disorders in the workplace. She is the residency program director for UW Otolaryngology-HNS and serves as co-chair of its Diversity Committee. Dr. Meyer was a recipient of the 2018-2019 Presidential Citation from the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS). 

GME Updates

 
New GME Finance Manager

Casey Dalluge joined the GME team as the new GME Finance Manager on April 23.  He joins the University of Washington with an extensive background in financial modeling, business analysis, and team leadership.  Welcome Casey!

New ACGME Programs for AY21

The ACGME recently approved the accreditation for the following programs:

  • Pediatric Hospital Medicine
  • Psychiatry-Boise
Committee Nominations for AY21

The GME Office is now accepting nominations for Committee membership for 2020-2021.  Nominations should be sent to Lani Wall at lwall13@uw.edu by May 29.

Weekly Roundup: April 17

by | Apr 17, 2020 | Announcements, Awards, News

In the News

Residents raising money for “Off Their Plate”

The Internal Medicine residents at the University of Washington have started a campaign to raise money to support communities impacted by Coronavirus around the U.S. They are supporting “Off Their Plate”, a grassroots organization powered by nonprofit World Central Kitchen.  “Off Their Plate” partners with local restaurants and workers to restore wages and provide meals to healthcare workers on the COVID frontline in cities across the U.S. They have raised over $1,570 so far.

To read more hero stories, from the front lines and behind the scenes, please visit the DOM heroes page on the Department of Medicine website.

Awards

The UW Pediatric Residency Program Alaska Track has been awarded the Outstanding Teaching Program Award for 2020 from the Academic Pediatric Association (APA).  This is the highest honor in the US given each year to a pediatric teaching program – student, resident or fellowship.

Internal Medicine resident Ryan Stultz, MD (Class of 2022) and member of the Physician-Scientist Learning Pathway, was awarded a Resident Research Preceptorship from the Rheumatology Research Foundation with his mentor Dr. Christian Lood, assistant professor (Rheumatology). Their translational research will examine potential links between extracellular mitochondria and auto-antibody formation in systemic sclerosis.

Kelli Alderman, fellowship program administrator (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine) won the 2020 Association of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Program Directors (APCCMPD) Award for Innovative Fellowship Program Administration Abstract, and presented at the APCCMPD annual meeting’s vrtual conference in March.  Title: “The Hackathon as a Way to Innovate in Fellowship Education.” Co-authors: Rosemary Adamson, Nick Johnson, Andy Luks, and Başak Çoruh.

GME Updates

Welcome to our new Program Directors and Administrators!

Program Directors:

  • Andrew Ayars, MD, Allergy and Immunology
  • Michi Shinohara, MD, Dermatopathology

Program Administrators:

  • Rene Barton, Medical Genetics
  • Tara Camill, Pediatric Radiology
  • Erin Moore, Pain Medicine and Anesthesia Critical Care
New ACGME Programs for AY21

The ACGME recently approved the accreditation for the following programs:

  • Obstetric Anesthesiology
  • Addiction Medicine-Boise
Committee Nominations for AY21

Look for an announcement in the coming weeks calling for nominations for our GME Committees for AY21.  Check out our Committees page for desciprtions of each Committee.

GME Policies Updates

 

Celebrating 2020 Match Day!

by | Mar 20, 2020 | Announcements, News

Dear UW GME Community,

Even as we focus intently on the immediate needs of our community and patients in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, we also look to the future!

Today, is Match Day for the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) Main Residency Match – an opportunity to celebrate the bright future of medicine and to welcome 291 new members to our University of Washington School of Medicine GME community.

We wish to acknowledge the immense effort of ALL of our residents, fellows, faculty and staff during the recruitment season – and your year-round efforts to create and contribute to a highly sought-after learning environment!

For those of you interested in data:

National Data

UW Data

  • # UW Positions offered/filled in Match: 291/291
  • Largest UW Match:  In 2019 had 281 positions
  • # of Specialties: 23
  • # of Tracks: 46 (2 participated in SOAP)
  • # of Rural Tracks: 4
  • UW Students Matched: 52 (Tied for largest Match of UW students)

​GME is mindful of the fact that matching in Seattle during this time of uncertainty may raise certain questions for our incoming residents and fellows. We will be communicating with them directly in short order to provide information about anticipated concerns and to ease their transition in whatever way we can. We will also be updating the Incoming Residents and Fellows page on the this website as new information is available:

Congratulations to all!  We hope you will pause for a moment with your teams to acknowledge this wonderful annual milestone.

Welcome Dipti Chrastka, New Director of GME Wellness Service

by | Mar 19, 2020 | News

In the midst of a stressful time, we are so happy to have some wonderful news to share; GME is thrilled to introduce our NEW addition to the Wellness Team: Dipti Chrastka, LMFT!

Dipti is excited to join the UW GME Wellness team! Here is her introduction for you all:

“As a young child, I discovered that I loved being around people and enjoyed listening to stories. Being patient, caring, offering support were values that I held deeply. This inspired me to study Clinical Psychology and volunteer in underserved, low income and minority communities. In 1994, I completed a Post Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy.

I worked in a clinic setting as well as outreach to schools with the goal of reducing stigma and building awareness of mental health and wellness.”

“I grew up in Bombay, India and have lived in the US for 28 years where I have continued to work in the field of behavioral health. My work has been with adults, children, youth, families, schools and communities of color with poor access to resources. I am an Ethnic Minority consultant and trainer, with over 25 years of experience.  This has included leading conversations and training on how to support Asian/Pacific Islander populations . I have a strong sense of fairness, equity and social justice. Having worked the gamut from behavioral health, community mental health, consultation to crisis, I am very excited about this new role.

My goal is to build a culture of wellness that encourages a healthy work environment, community building, and purpose as well as stress-management. This includes improving access to health initiatives, and working collaboratively to create an impact on the system as a whole.

My favorite quote that guides me is ‘Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much’.”

In her spare time, Dipti loves playing sports. She is an avid table tennis player (started playing before she was 5 years old!) and participates in tournaments every year! You won’t have to wait long to meet Dipti—she will be starting at GME Wellness this Monday, March 23rd at HMC!

Daniel Leifer, MD, Receives David C. Leach Award

by | Feb 28, 2020 | News

Daniel Leifer, MD, Dermatology R3, received the David C. Leach award this week at the ACGME Annual Educational Conference in San Diego, CA.  The David C. Leach Award recognizes residents and fellows who have fostered innovation and improvement in their programs, advanced humanism in medicine, and increased efficiency and emphasis on educational outcomes.

Dr. Leifer received the award for his work developing DermLinks in 2018.  DermLinks is a collaborative online home page for University of Washington dermatology residents. It makes frequently-used online resources easily accessible by situating them on a single page.  DermLinks is resident-run and collaborative: residents edit DermLinks through the Google Docs interface and contribute their own useful links.

His work was recognized for targeting the following areas to improve GME and/or patient care: fostering innovation and improvement in the learning environment, increasing efficiency and reducing non-educational burden in the program, and improving communication and collaboration in education and patient care within the program.

Please join us on congratulating Dr. Leifer on his award!

ACGME Q&A with Fiona Gallahue, MD

by | Feb 28, 2020 | News

Fiona Gallahue, MD, Program Director for the UW Emergency Medicine residency program, was awarded the 2020 ACGME Parker Palmer Courage to Teach Award and will receive her award at the ACGME Annual Educational Conference in San Diego, CA this week.

The Honoring Excellence: Q and A with Dr. Gallahue, is one in a series of interviews with recipients of the 2020 ACGME Awards. The awardees join an outstanding group of previous honorees whose work and contributions to graduate medical education (GME) represent the best in the field.