Department of Internal Medicine News

Inside IM

News from the Department of Internal Medicine

Message from the Chair

Debra Romberger , MD shares a message and department updates for the last few months with all faculty and staff.

Read More of the Chair's message about resident training completion, COVID-19, Golden Apple teaching awards, and the culture conversations that will happen the month of June.

Micah Beachy , DO, vice president and chief quality officer, Nebraska Medicine, and associate professor of Internal Medicine, UNMC, has been named governor of the Nebraska Chapter of the American College of Physicians (ACP). He was elected by local members this past year and will serve as governor for a four-year term. Read the announcement here .

Leading the way in COVID-19 care

Susan Swindells, M.B.B.S ., is part of an expert panel of U.S. physicians, statisticians and others developing treatment guidelines for COVID-19.

She and other panelists were invited to join the U.S. National Institutes of Health panel by Anthony Fauci, M.D., director of the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Read more of the UNMC Today article here .

The panel of experts convened by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases recommends against doctors using a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin for the treatment of COVID-19 patients because of potential toxicities. Read more from the NPR article here .

COVID 19 Remdesivir - Andre Kalil, MD

Dr. Andre Kalil has been involved in the research for treatments for this virus since the NIH clinical trial started back in February. The initial results show remdesivir accelerates recovery from advanced COVID-19. But, Dr. Kalil notes that more testing is needed to confirm results for the many variant processes of a virus. Read more of the UNMC Today article here.

Dr. Kalil has been interviewed for many news agencies and publications, however the best picture definitely goes to the New York Times. Make sure to read the article...talk about a day in the life....

COVID-19 Related Resources

UNMC, Nebraska's public academic health sciences center, continues its support of the state's collective effort to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

"There were a lot of resources out there, but they were 'living' in disparate areas," Kelly Caverzagie, MD said. Read More

Allergy Counter Installed

Anyone who suffers with seasonal allergies knows all too well what the first signs of spring bring: pollen.

Andrew Rorie, MD , treats plenty of patients for those allergies associated with pollens, sometimes with medications, and sometimes with monthly allergy shots.

AAIM Educational Research Grant

Congratulations to Chris Smith, MD for being awarded an AAIM educational research grant to evaluate the impact of standardized documentation and just-in-time training on POCUS performance. This is in collaboration with Dr. Smith's colleague at OHSU. They plan to begin the study this summer.

Protocols on UptoDate and Advisory Board

The UNMC COVID website is recognized and linked on Up-to-Date, a website used by physicians for the most up-to-date information in treating diseases. A nice recognition of the hard work that so many have done to get useful guidance on external facing website. Our efforts have also been recognized by the IDSA and CDC said Mark Rupp, MD , Chief of the Division of Infectious Disease.

Internal Medicine Notable Publications reported with ADIS and Scopus for the 1st Quarter of 2020. Publication of the Quarter has been awarded to Susan Swindells, MBBS and the Honorable Mention to JIll Poole, MD . Please email Shannon Thomsen to obtain the full list pulled from SCOPUS and ADIS.

View the latest Internal Medicine faculty publications (in descending order by publication year and title) on Research Nebraska .

UNMC Today & Other News

As government officials, business leaders and others consider their options for safely taking steps to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic in the state of Nebraska and beyond, the University of Nebraska Medical Center has developed an innovative data-driven model that will help to guide their decision-making. James Lawler, MD, MPH, assisted in the development of a graphic illustration in collaboration with Jeffrey P. Gold, MD, chancellor at UNMC and several others. Read more of the UNMC story here .

Raquel Lamarche, MD, has been writing weekly blog posts for the division of infectious disease's UNMC ID blog in a new column called “The Weekly Corona”. Not only is she well versed but all of the drawings are hers. Check it out here.

Dr. Jill Poole, Chief of the division of allergy and immunology, was interviewed in April to discuss the difference between pollen season and COVID-19. Click the link for the interview.

Drs. Kelly Cawcutt & Jasmine Marcelin recently participated in a CHEST webinar on April 23rd, Acute Respiratory Failure in COVID-19: Part II. Panelists continued a conversation around patient management in cases of COVID-19 characterized by acute respiratory failure. Panelists focused on questions that came in during and after the initial webinar held on April 9. This follow-up webinar centered on diagnosis and treatment protocols, as well as patient management in COVID-19 cases.

Dr. Cawcutt also participated in the MJH Life Sciences™ Contagion®/ Infection Control Today Webinar “ COVID-19: From The Frontlines" that was held on April 13th. She was joined by a panel of health care professionals at the frontlines to disseminate factual information to help in the diagnosis, management, and potential treatment of COVID-19.

Ted Mikuls, MD, is leading a task force on COVID-19 clinical guidance for patients with rheumatic diseases for the American College of Rheumatology. Read More

Dr. Mikuls also received a special delivery from two of his dorm buddies from Santa Clara University. The friends, one in Hong Kong, and the other in Los Angeles, teamed up to raise enough money to buy 4,000 KN95 masks. They shipped them right to Dr. Mikuls’ home! Here he is, delivering them to the med center for his colleagues facing COVID-19. Now that’s friendship!

In the College of Medicine the Department of Internal Medicine had the March resident and employee of the month. Congrats to Dr. Kaitlyn Brittan and Paula Swanson .

During the 2020 Annual Faculty Meeting held virtually on April 14th the following faculty members received service awards.

40 Years : James Campbell, MD

30 Years : Debra Romberger, MD; Julie Vose, MD

20 Years : Michel Ouellette, PhD

10 Years : Nicole Shonka, MD; Andrew Vasey, MD; Gary Volentine, MD

Education News

Medical Students award Golden Apples

Congratulations to the Hirschmann Golden Apple awardees Troy Plumb, MD, J. Scott Neumeister, MD, and Daniel Hershberger, MD. Your passion for education is evident by your patience and dedication. During the virtual graduation program students shared that they would have also had Drs. Neumeister and Plumb hood them if there had been an actual ceremony. Read more.

Thank you Jennifer Parker, MD for providing such wonderful words to the graduat ing medical students who had selected you to participate in their graduation ceremony as one of the two marshalls.

Congratulations to the newest members of the Primary Care Residency Program!

Impact of Infectious Disease Course

Clinical learning rotations had to be delayed for now. Taking their place is a robust eight-week course, "Impact of Infectious Diseases" to study. Co-leader in the development of the course was Regan Taylor, MD. Read more.

Mustache Madness 2020

When COVID-19 restrictions started there were quite a few bearded folks. That all changed when the N95s had to seal around one's face properly. Hand it to the residents to come up with a great way to promote wellness in a Mustache Madness fund raiser. Raising money has never been so hair-raising. Not only did they raise funds for the resident wellness fund but also promoted some great camaraderie. Using the following pictures as guidance and the proof is in the pictures of our shavees. Shout out also goes to Dr. Amy Dreessen who provided coordination and updates for the event.

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Congratulations to Brittany Hance, MD, for being selected into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society as a resident.

Alpha Omega Alpha, founded in 1902, is the national medical honor society. Election to Alpha Omega Alpha is an honor signifying a lasting commitment to professionalism, leadership, scholarship, research, and community service. A lifelong honor, membership in the society confers recognition for a physician's dedication to the profession and art of healing.

Congratulations to Grant Jirka , for receiving the M4 Leeroy Meyer Outstanding Internal Medicine Award. Grant is originally from Columbus, NE and is pursuing an internal medicine residency at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA. Grant is the quintessential internal medicine student. He is very intelligent, extremely thorough, and has an innate curiosity and drive to always want to learn more. He had outstanding comments and evaluations by all of his attendings and residents, as well as excellent performances on the NBME and standardized OSCE exam, earning him a honors during his clerkship. During his 4 ^th year, he did an ‘honors medicine’ rotation with our UNMC chief resident. As part of this, he created a new EKG curriculum and powerpoint modules to help future medical students digest how to interpret EKG’s, which we are planning to utilize in our clerkship curriculum going forward. We wish Grant all the best in his future training at Thomas Jefferson!

Each quarter the junior (M3) students get an opportunity to choose which of the residents were the best teachers and mentors during that quarter. The following were chosen by the Jan - March students as:

Best Supervisory Resident Teacher and Mentor - Drs. Joe Dougherty and Jessica Rydberg

Best Intern Resident Teacher and Mentor - Drs. Natalya Tesdahl, Jonathan Hall, and Kaleb Thomas

New Faces or Committee Involvement

Congratulations to Whitney Goldner, MD for being selected for a term on the ABIM endocrinology specialty boards.

Congratulations to Apar Ganti, MD for being chosen for the Chair of the National VA Oncology Field Advisory Group.

Welcome to the Department of Internal Medicine

Dr. Kathryn Hutchens , Gastroenterology

Dr. Jiongru Wu , Gastroenterology

Dr. Amber Brown Keebler , General IM

Dr. Srinivas Chava , PostDoctor Research Associate, Gastroenterology

Dr. Carrie Valenta , Hospital Medicine

Welcome new staff:

Rhonda Prewitt , Allergy & Immunology

Whitney Dailey , Allergy & Immunology

Terah Riddle , Gastroenterology

Gabrielle Rose , Gastroenterology

Devi Fitelly , Hematology & Oncology

Sarah Hays , Cardiology CTO

Erin Pedersen , Cardiology CTO

Faculty Development - Dr. Shannon Boerner

New Faculty Development Task Force Member

Congratulations and welcome to Dr. Sara May, new representative to the Faculty Development Task Force from the Division of Allergy and Immunology. The Task Force members are liaisons across the Department, reporting their divisional needs as well as best practices. This group has focused on career development, goal setting, onboarding new faculty, promotion/tenure, among other efforts. Task Force members are available to members of their respective divisions for questions or concerns anytime – please reach out to us with your ideas!

ABIM Announces Important MOC Changes

From ABIM: Any physician who is currently certified and has a Maintenance of Certification (MOC) requirement due in 2020—including an assessment, point requirement or attestation—will now have until the end of 2021 to complete it. Physicians currently in their grace year will also be afforded an additional grace year in 2021. As of now, all fall 2020 MOC assessments will be offered as planned, so you can still take an exam this year if you’d like. For more information, see the ABIM website.

Division Events

Spielbound, the cafe owned by Kaleb Michaud, MD, associate professor in rheumatology, is still operational, with coffee drinks and other items available for pick-up or delivery. D.r Michaud has also made sure board games are available for purchase.Read the article here .

Cindy Marr , a research coordinator in the division of rheumatology retired in April after 13 years. On April 8th the division of rheumatology decorated her front yard with signs to commemorate her achievement and completed a "drive-by" to say farewell. Pictures shared by Sherrie Edwards. Congratulations on your retirement Cindy.

UNMC Department of Internal Medicine

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