July 2023
Progress Notes
July 3, 2023
Progress Notes / July 2023
July and August will be exciting months in graduate medical education as the Carilion Clinic-Virginia Tech Carilion (CC-VTC) programs welcome 118 new residents and fellows into 26 accredited residency and fellowship programs. The largest cohort is the 83 first-year residents entering 11 residency programs.
Seven VTCSOM alumni are entering five residency programs: OB/GYN, Pediatrics, Surgery, Dermatology, and Neurosurgery. Dr. Amanda Murchison, the OB/GYN residency program director and vice-chair of education, is excited to have two VTCSOM graduates in an incoming class of four OB/GYN residents.
"Lauren Hennis and Kyle Nolan will make the sixth and seventh VTCSOM graduates to enter our residency," she said. "We were impressed by both of them during their third- and fourth-year rotations, and we are thrilled that they matched with us. We look forward to being a part of their continued journey."
Most of the new residents and fellows graduated from medical schools in the Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest. Five are arriving from schools west of the Mississippi River. Approximately half of the incoming residents graduated from allopathic schools.
Ten graduated from the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine in Blacksburg, the most represented alma mater of the incoming residents.
Rounding out the incoming class are 28 residency graduates who will be joining 12 of the CC-VTC fellowship programs, three new podiatric surgery residents, and four hospital dentistry residents.
We are extremely fortunate to have such a talented group of newly graduated doctors joining our residency programs, and we look forward to supporting them in this next phase of their journey.
Arthur Ollendorff
Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology
Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education
Recognitions
- Sue Gregory and Glenda Dalton recently earned the Virginia Tech fiscal management certificate that required completion of assigned work spanning eleven months and passing a comprehensive final exam. Paige Markham Jentsch completed the first level of the fiscal support program. The series of fiscal certificate programs are part of the Fiscal Training and Development Program hosted by the Vice President for Finance.
- Congratulations to all those who were recently recognized in Carilion Clinic's Cheers for Peers.
- Congratulations to the most recent Carilion Clinic-VTCSOM neurology residency graduates Nazik Abuelgasim, Nitya Karki, and Nasser Mohammed. Dean Learman spoke at the recent ceremony, and James Schmidley, professor of internal medicine, received two awards: Virginia Tech Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) "Excellence in Teaching Award" and Carilion Clinic - VTCSOM Neurology Residency Faculty Teaching Award for 2023. Schmidley recently retired from his position as Neurology Clerkship Director. Below Dean Learman joins members of the neurology faculty to congratulate the three graduates who are on the front row right to left.
Posters and Presentations
- Patrick Beck, VTCSOM class of 2024, successfully presented a poster entitled, "Adoptive transfer of NF-kB p50 knockout immature myeloid cells shows a trend towards slower glioblastoma tumor growth in an orthotopic mouse model" at the 2023 Virginia Tech Cancer Research Alliance Retreat. Beck also successfully gave an oral presentation at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute's annual retreat on his VTCSOM research project entitled, "Developing novel precision medicine for glioblastoma."
- Beck and his faculty mentor Abhishek Reddy had their abstract entitled, "Cannabis smoking vs vaping in adolescents: A review of the literature" accepted for a poster presentation at the American Academy for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry's annual meeting.
Publishing
- Kristina Werner and John Epling, VTCSOM faculty members in family and community medicine, co-authored: "Lung cancer-related mortality and the impact of low-dose computed tomography screening."
- Michelle Rockwell, assistant professor of family and community medicine, collaborated with a statewide team to publish a paper about innovative efforts around equitable research recruitment: "Use of population health data to promote equitable recruitment for a primary care practice implementation trial addressing unhealthy alcohol use."
Welcome to New Faculty
Welcome to the new faculty who joined us recently:
- Emergency Medicine: Kurt Schapira, Gregory Wade, OluMide Ojeifo
- Internal Medicine: Shehriyar Mehershahi, Varun Kesar
- Radiology: Manil Kukar
Diversity and Inclusion Notes
July Diversity Highlights
Holidays and observances in the month of July:
- 1: Canada Day/Fête du Canada
- 3: Asalha Puja/Dharma Day
- 4: Independence Day
- 9: The Martyrdom of the Bab
- 11: St. Benedict Day
- 11: World Population Day
- 14: International Nonbinary People’s Day
- 14: Bastille Day
- 15: St. Vladimir of the Great Day
- 18: Nelson Mandela International Day
- 19-20: Hijri New Year
- 25: St. James the Greater Day
- 26: Disability Independence Day, anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act
- 26-27: Tisha B’Av
- 27–28 (sundown to sundown): Ashura
- 30: International Day of Friendship
- Juneteenth - Dean Learman and NL Bishop, senior associate dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion enjoyed an afternoon out at the Roanoke Cultural Collective's 2023 Juneteenth Family Reunion.
- Camp Carilion - In addition to learning about the Anatomy Lab (above), Camp Carilion students also learned about the ultrasound process from Carilion Clinic ultrasound supervisor, Adrienne Sato, and toured the DiFeliceantonio Lab at FBRI.
- The Hub - Looking for ways to engage? Already have an engagement event or project in the works and want to get the word out? VTCSOM Engage information is a very handy link to register an activity or event - it's all at The Hub!
- Iron Man 70.3 - Check out the amazing medical students and faculty who took part in this year's Carilion Clinic IRONMAN 70.3 Virginia's Blue Ridge Triathlon. Team Bearded Bros - Elvir Berbic, student affairs manager; along with Rusty Brown, and Logan Russell; and Team Tri Hards - Randall Bissette, Tyler Shick, and Ryan Morse (Class of 2025) completed the team relay. Shay Fahey and Sam Speroni (Class of 2025) completed the race as individuals.
Humanism NotesWake Up! By Jesse Oliver Jesse Oliver found that poetry opened discussions about his experiences of homelessness, gender transition and mental illness. Overcoming a personal struggle with social anxiety, Jesse moved his way through his first performances to establishing himself on the national stage. Inspired by the marginalized voices he encountered in the poetry community and compelled by the uncertainty and fear of the times, Jesse turned his attention outward with this new poetic message titled Wake Up! |
Take Note
Facilities Manager Brian Stanford gives an update on the second-floor renovations:
As you can see in the photos, the M210 classroom is getting close to completion of the construction phase. Painting is being done now, and carpet may be in by the end of the week. This will leave the IT/AV install and some lighting fixture upgrades, which all have material delays.
The M206/M212 student lounge is also progressing well. The kitchen casework is 80% complete and on schedule. Sprinkler system and HVAC duct work are complete.
Finishing out this area is expected the third or fourth week in July. Substantial completion for all work is expected on July 28th at which time, if permitted by the university building official, we can occupy the space.
Things are really looking great with Thor construction performing well. The PBLs began revamping on June 29 and should be completed very soon. I'd be remiss not to give a huge shout out to Dustin Womack, director of IT, and our IT team. This has been a logistical shuffle with furniture and IT equipment including the replacement of B-line. We have all worked seamlessly together and hope that everyone will be pleased with the end results.
Meanwhile, the new Education Management System for clinical skills assessment in the OSCE suite is up and running. Heidi Lane, assistant dean for clinical skills assessment and education, reports they are doing practice sessions and getting their exam cases entered into the system for the upcoming year. In addition, all new furniture has been added to the standardized patient lounge.
The Last Note
Farewell and best wishes to VTCSOM's academic affairs manager, Adelaida Stambol. We will certainly miss her, and we send heartfelt thanks for all of her contributions to the school!
Add Your Own Note
Have something noteworthy to share in Progress Notes? Do you have feedback about this newsletter? We'd love to hear from you. Please share your thoughts with us.