February 3, 2023

DOM CONNECT:

Your Department, Your Colleagues, Your Stories

February Chair's Spotlight

In this month’s Chair’s Spotlight, we highlight the work of Lauren Feld, MD, physician and assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and physician executive for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) in the Department of Medicine.

Dr. Feld’s clinical interests include adult gastroenterology, hepatology, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, women’s health in liver disease, and LGBTQ health. She also has a background in clinical medical ethics and quantitative assessment, with specific training and expertise in survey research and secondary data analysis on the impact of psychosocial factors in patient care. Her work focuses on patient-physician communication and access to care and she is equally committed to advocating for workforce gender equity.

Dr. Feld joined the faculty at UMass Chan/UMMH in September 2022. She brings passion and enthusiasm to her work, and we are thrilled that she has joined us in the Department of Medicine!

Learn more about Dr. Feld by clicking the button below.

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Team Spotlight

Team Spotlight: Mission Behavioral Health Lab in the Division of Health Systems Science

In this month’s Team Spotlight, we highlight the work of the Mission Behavioral Health Lab, which joined the Division of Health Systems Science in the fall of 2022. The lab is led by David Smelson, PsyD, professor of medicine in the Division of Health Systems Science and director of the Center of Excellence in Addiction and includes research team members Abigail Helm, PhD, research program manager, Paige Shaffer, MPH, PhD candidate, senior project director and chief data analyst, Jennifer Harter, PhD, senior project director, Michael Andre, MPH, research project director, Brooks Thompson, Kathryn Bruzios, MS, and Idalis Rivera-Ramirez, clinical research coordinators, and Kendra Caputo, Eleni Kachadoorian, Sarah Marcus, and Marinna Kaufman, clinical research assistants, as well as a dedicated team of clinical staff and students.

The Mission Behavioral Health Lab is dedicated to conducting state-of-the-art research toward advancing the understanding of the etiology, consequences, and treatment of addiction and mental health, as well as the implementation of evidence-based practices. Work in the lab includes an evidence-based intervention, called Maintaining Independence and Sobriety through Systems Integration, Outreach, and Networking (MISSION), which was developed in 2001 to specifically meet mental health, substance misuse, and other psychosocial needs of individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (CODs). MISSION combines several evidence-based practices into a system of care to address population-specific factors, provide COD treatment, and community-based support to sustain recovery.

The Mission Behavioral Health Lab’s research includes testing other novel behavioral and pharmacological treatments, community-based treatment engagement approaches, racial and ethnic disparities in care, mobile health devices, multisite implementation trials, and examining psychiatric epidemiological research across addiction. The lab has received funding from the NIH (National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institute of Drug Abuse, and National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health), Department of Veterans Affairs, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration, Bureau of Justice Administration, the Executive Office of the Massachusetts Trial Court, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, as well as several other states around the country. They have 12 federal grants including recently received funding for a 4-year grant titled “Supporting Treatment Access and Recovery for Co-occurring Opioid Use and Mental Health Disorders (STAR-COD),” as part of NIH’s The Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative (HEAL Initiative).

The Mission Behavioral Health Lab serves as an "academic incubator” for collaborations within the Department of Medicine, UMass Chan Medical School, other University of Massachusetts campuses, and beyond, and we are thrilled to welcome their group to the Division of Health Systems Science.

Learn more about the Mission Behavioral Health Lab: Mission Behavioral Health Lab (umassmed.edu)

Learn more about MISSION here: www.missionmodel.org

Related Story by NIH on MISSION: A Whole Health Approach for Treating Opioid Addiction and Mental Illness

Recent Honors

Division of Hematology/Oncology Faculty Excel in Clinical Care and Medical Education

Left to Right: Drs. Mittal, Suzuki, Patel, and Gerber

Members of the Division of Hematology/Oncology continue to demonstrate excellence in clinical care and medical education through their leadership, participation, and service in national societies and annual meetings. Division faculty recently accepted opportunities to contribute to their flagship societies, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the American Society of Hematology (ASH). Kriti Mittal, MD, MS, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology has been invited to serve as a member of the ASCO’s Digital Education Content Planning Group whose purpose is to assist with the planning of topical content in the areas of breast, lung, gastrointestinal, and genitourinary cancers. She will also work alongside faculty to plan and develop content across all ASCO Digital Education’s educational activities. Sakiko Suzuki, MD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology and program director of the Hematology/Oncology Fellowship program was accepted into ASH’s Medical Educator Institute through a national, competitive application process. This one-year program is offered for medical educators who are guided through in-person and virtual sessions, as well as longitudinal mentoring relationships with medical educator faculty, to gain hands-on experience in various aspects of medical education scholarship.

Members of the division also served as abstract reviewers and session moderators at the ASH Annual Meeting that was held this past December. In addition to his role as an abstract reviewer, Shyam Patel, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine, served as the session moderator for Acute Myeloid Leukemias – Biomarkers, Molecular Markers, and Minimal Residual Disease in Diagnosis and Prognosis – Molecular Features and Response to Treatment in AML. Jonathan Gerber, MD, the Eleanor Eustis Farrington Chair in Cancer Research, professor of medicine, and chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology, served as the coordinating abstract reviewer and session moderator for Acute Myeloid Leukemias – Investigational Therapies, Excluding Transplantation and Cellular Immunotherapies – Relapsed/Refractory AML. He also currently serves on ASH’s Committee on Practice, Subcommittee on Precision Medicine, and Continuing Certification Working Group, as well as the ASCO Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) Trial’s Molecular Tumor Board. Additionally, Dr. Patel, Dr. Laurie Pearson, and Dr. Poorva Bindal were all first authors on abstracts presented in poster sessions at the annual ASH meeting.

Excellence in Research and Diversity

Story-AF Project Assists in Improving AF Health

Six million Americans suffer with atrial fibrillation (AF), a heart rhythm abnormality that is a major risk factor for stroke. Despite this, only 60% of eligible AF patients receive treatment, and this gap is even larger for African Americans who use anticoagulation 10-22% less frequently compared to White patients. As AF is a major risk factor for stroke, professional societies recommend anticoagulation (AC) in most patients. However, some patients are reluctant to start or continue taking AC due to onset of bleeding or other setbacks. This translates to roughly 900-2,000 preventable strokes and 180-400 preventable deaths occurring in African Americans each year.

For these reasons, teams at UMass Chan Medical School, led by Alok Kapoor, MD, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine, and the University of Michigan, led by Geoff Barnes, MD, are partnering on Story-AF, a project dedicated to understanding the stories of African American patients who have AF and are on anticoagulant therapy. Through the project, African American patients will share their experiences, tell their stories about being diagnosed with AF and treated with anticoagulants, and share any obstacles they faced or setbacks that occurred. Researchers then plan to test the power of these stories to encourage other African American patients to take an anticoagulant to help prevent stroke and improve their overall health.

Excellence in Clinical Care

Pulmonary Readmission Highlight

Led by Emil Tigas, MD, assistant professor of medicine, Jodi Wilson, NP, and Kaileigh Lavin, NP, all of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care, the COPD readmissions program improved upon its FY22 goal to reduce COPD readmissions to 20.5%, by achieving a rate of only 19.6% for FY22.

The COPD readmission reduction program is a comprehensive program that identifies COPD patients at high risk for readmission and consists of collaborative evaluation and management by the Pulmonology service, COPD nurse practitioners, respiratory therapists, social workers, nurse navigators, and other ancillary team members.

Congratulations on this incredible achievement!

Excellence in Education

Deborah DeMarco: A Distinguished Career

Deborah DeMarco, MD, professor of medicine, senior associate dean for clinical affairs, and associate dean for graduate medical education has dedicated over 30 years of service to the mission and growth of the Department of Medicine and UMass Chan Medical School and now has announced her retirement in June 2023.

Dr. DeMarco’s service to our institution has been exemplary and highly impactful to the growth and success of our GME programs. Her commitment to making these programs more inclusive, supportive, and well-structured has strengthened our ability to continue to recruit top-tier students to our institute.

Of her time in GME, Dr. DeMarco recently remarked, “I have been associate dean since 2001 and it has been the most rewarding career I could have ever wished for. The people I have worked and collaborated with in both the school and clinical system, and the variety of issues we deal with in the GME office have made every day different and never boring. When I started in this role in 2001, we had about 42 ACGME-accredited programs and 456 residents. We have grown to 63 programs with 628 residents and fellows. In the past several years we have achieved new residency programs in urology, neurosurgery, ophthalmology and just last week otorhinolaryngology so we now have the full cadre of core residency programs. Mentoring new program directors through the challenges they face and helping residents and fellows navigate their training years in a supportive environment have been some of the greatest joys in this role.”

Beginning with her first academic leadership appointment as director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program in 1995, Dr. DeMarco has served UMass Chan as an active member and leader of important initiatives and programs. She has served on numerous committees, several of which focus on strengthening and growing GME programs through focused task forces for diversity, supporting the wellness and growth of our residents, and ongoing curriculum review and strategic planning. Specifically, her service on the GME and UMass Chan Diversity Task Forces, Woman’s Leadership Workgroup, Academic Accommodation Committee and Educational Diversity Initiatives demonstrate her long-standing dedication to the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion as they pertain to not only GME but also the greater campus community and beyond.

Dr. DeMarco has received multiple honors and awards, including the Sarah Stone Excellence in Education Award and the ACGME Parker J. Palmer Courage to Lead Award for demonstrating excellence in overseeing residency and fellowship programs in 2021. Most recently, Dr. DeMarco was the recipient of the 2022 Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Service.

The Department of Medicine extends our heartfelt gratitude to Dr. DeMarco for her tireless work and dedication to the educational mission of our department and UMass Chan. Her work has had an important impact on countless educators and trainees during her tenure which will be felt for many years to come. We wish her all the best in her upcoming retirement later this year.

2022-2023 Medical Grand Rounds

The Department of Medicine Grand Rounds series continued this past month, with presentations from Robert Bonow, MD, MS, Goldberg Distinguished Professor of Cardiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, titled "50 Years of Studying Aortic Valve Disease," Akiko Iwasaki, PhD, Sterling Professor of Immunobiology, Yale University, titled "Immunology of Long COVID," and Paul Sax, MD, clinical director, Division of Infectious Disease, Brigham and Women's Hospital, professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, titled "A Medical Miracle-Four Decades of Progress in HIV Care & Research."

Most recently, the department heard from Michael Newstein, MD, PhD, Milford Regional Medical Center, Doug Salvador, MD, MPH, Baystate Health, Kimi Kobayashi, MD, MBA, SFHM, UMass Memorial Medical Center, and Susan George, MD, MACP, SFHM, FRCP, for a grander rounds presentation titled "Quality Improvement and Patient Safety," and from Daniel Alford, MD, MPH, professor of medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, titled "Opioids, Pain, and Addiction: Preventing Harm and Maximizing Benefits."

View this year's line-up of speakers here. Please join us in person for these presentations if you are able. Light refreshments will be available.

Interested in watching our Grand Rounds presentations? Click on the links below.

January 5 - 50 Years of Studying Aortic Valve Disease

January 12 - Immunology of Long COVID

January 19 - A Medical Miracle: More Than Four Decades of HIV Care and Research

January 26 - Grander Rounds: Quality Improvement and Patient Safety