August 2024
July 20, 2024
Above, members of the Class of 2028 enjoy the annual welcome event at a Salem Red Sox game.
Dean's Message
Dear VTCSOM family,
With orientation under their belts, today is the first day for the Class of 2028, and I am filled with deep admiration and abundant optimism for the journey that lies ahead. Each academic year brings with it a fresh wave of promise and potential, and this rings true as we welcome the Class of 2028.
Members of this new class will be torchbearers as we launch important curriculum modifications designed to cultivate physician thought leaders who embody the synergistic identities of scientist physician, systems citizen and lifelong master adaptive learner. These changes will be implemented in the context of our school’s ongoing commitment to small-group and case-based learning, early clinical learning opportunities, continuous quality improvement of curriculum, and engagement of faculty and staff seeking to create transformative medical education and research. Our curriculum is designed not only to impart knowledge and technical skills, but also to cultivate empathy, critical thinking, and a deep sense of social accountability.
Take a closer look at the development of our new curriculum in this video.
We will formally welcome members of the new class to Roanoke with the M1 Reception on August 15 and welcome them into the medical community with our White Coat Ceremony on August 16. The new timing of these meaningful events, which were previously held in October, symbolizes our commitment to adaptability and progress, reflecting the evolving landscape of medical education and practice.
To the Class of 2028: Your presence here signifies more than the career milestone of starting medical school. It represents your calling to support people in need of medical care — a calling to serve, to heal, and to lead with compassion and integrity. As you embark on this transformative journey, remember that your white coat is not just a uniform, but a symbol of trust and responsibility bestowed upon you by your future patients and community.
Please join me at our upcoming events in providing a warm welcome for the Class of 2028 to the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and to the Roanoke community. Following in the tradition of the 14 classes before them, the Class of 2028 will discover unique ways to make a positive impact on their peers, our entire VTCSOM family, and the Roanoke community we serve!
With warmest regards,
Lee Learman, M.D., Ph.D.
Dean
Editor’s note: The next issue of Progress Notes will be published Monday,September 9. All submissions should be sent to Catherine Doss (cdoss@vt.edu) no later than Friday, August 19.
News Around Campus
- A prescription for the future (Virginia Tech Magazine feature on VTCSOM)
- Medical school moments (photo essay of life in medical school at VTCSOM)
- VTCSOM after-school program nourishes young minds and bodies
- Medical school joins national project to advance respectful dialog in academic medicine
- New residency program to enrich medical education at Carilion Clinic, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
Events
- August 8 12 – 1 p. m. M106 - Building Bridges: Allyship, HIV, and AIDS
- August 15 3-4:30 p.m. 4 Riverside – Research Live Fair
- August 16 – White Coat Ceremony
- August 22 11 a.m.-2 p.m. – Noke Fair
- August 23-24 – TBMH 10-year Anniversary Celebration
- August 29 11 a.m.-2 p.m. – Hokie Fair
- August 30 - Last day of summer art show
Humanism Notes
The late Mary Oliver was an American poet whose work reflects a deep communion with the natural world. In this poem, Invitation, she emphasizes the importance of being present and open to the world around us, finding joy and inspiration in the small, everyday moments.
Invitation
Recognitions
"Thank you, Nancy Agee, for 12 years of outstanding and compassionate leadership at Carilion Clinic, your commitment to the Virginia Tech Carilion partnership, and for supporting our success at the VTC School of Medicine! We hope your legacy of service brings joyous memories in the years to come." - Dean Lee Learman. Agee will retire at the end of September. Steve Arner, Carilion Clinic's Chief Operating Officer, will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer on October 1.
CONGRATULATIONS TO US! VTCSOM has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the best medical schools in the country, ranking 31st out of 168 schools for graduates practicing in underserved areas (31%) and outperforming Virginia’s other ranked medical schools in this outcome (17-28%). Among the best research-intense medical schools we were listed in tier 3 along with Drexel, Geisinger, Texas Tech, University of Louisville, Virginia Commonwealth University, and other new and established medical schools.
Publishing
- Monifa Vaughn-Cooke, associate professor in the Department of Health Systems and Implementation Science, and colleagues from the University of Maryland at College Park, published “CogWatch: An open-source platform to monitor physiological indicators for cognitive workload and stress” in HardwareX.
- Serkan Toy, associate professor in the Departments of Basic Science Education and Health Systems and Implementation Science, and colleagues, published “Violence in the emergency department: a quantitative survey study of healthcare providers in India” in the International Journal of Emergency Medicine.
- Nicholas Rider, professor in the Department of Health Systems and Implementation Science, and collaborators, published “Validating inborn error of immunity prevalence and risk with nationally representative electronic health record data” in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
- Rider and collaborators, published “Identifying Region-Specific Allergy Sensitization Clusters to Optimize Diagnosis and Reduce Costs” in The Journal of Pediatrics.
- Azziza Bankole, chief diversity officer and professor of psychiatry and behavioral medicine and internal medicine, along with Alexandra Hanlon, professor of practice and director of the Center for Biostatistics and Health Data Science (CBHDS) at Virginia Tech, and CBHDS faculty members Alicia Lozano, Wenyan Ji, and Tanner Barbour, published “Behavioral and Environmental Sensing and Intervention for Dementia Caregiver Empowerment (BESI): A Pilot Study” in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association.
- As part of their research domain projects, Bria Hall, Class of 2025, and Marie Rhoads, Class of 2026, published “Understanding family-level decision-making when seeking access to acute surgical care for children: Protocol for a cross-sectional mixed methods study,” in PLoS One, with their mentors, Henry Rice, Duke University School of Medicine, and Brian Meier, assistant professor of emergency medicine. Other co-authors include Allison Tegge, associate professor in the Department of Basic Science Education, Terri-Ann Wattsman, associate professor of surgery, Angelica Witcher Walker, assistant dean for student vitality and assistant professor in the Department of Health Systems and Implementation Science, Mamata Reddy Tokala, a biostatistician at Carilion, Elizabeth Creamer, professor emerita of education research and evaluation at Virginia Tech, and other colleagues from Duke University School of Medicine.
- Katie Brow, Class of 2023, published as part of their research domain project, “Identification of weight loss interventions for translation among endometrial cancer survivors: A RE-AIM analysis,” in Translational Behavioral Medicine, along with their mentor Shannon Armbruster, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, co-mentor Samantha Harden, associate professor of family and community medicine and in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise at Virginia Tech, and Jamie Zoellner from the University of Virginia.
- As part of their research domain project, Haseeb Goheer, Class of 2025, and his mentor Jonathan Carmouche, vice chair and professor of orthopaedic surgery, published “Insulin dependence negatively impacts outcomes in anterior cervical discectomy with fusions: a ten-year retrospective analysis,” in The Spine Journal, along with Carilion physicians Linsen Samuel and Christopher Hendrix.
- Andrew Strohman, Class of 2024, and Alexander In, Class of 2025, published “Noninvasive neuromodulation of subregions of the human insula differentially affect pain processing and heart-rate variability: a within-subjects pseudo-randomized trial,” as part of their research domain project. Co-authors include their mentor, Wynn Legon, assistant professor of neurosurgery and assistant professor in the School of Neuroscience and at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech (FBRI), and Brighton Payne, also of FBRI.
- As part of a study led by Phyllis Whitehead, associate professor of internal medicine, “Studying moral distress and moral injury among inpatient and outpatient healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic” was published in The International Journal of Psychiatry Medicine. Co-authors include David Musick, senior dean, faculty affairs and professor of internal medicine, Carl Haisch, Maria Stack Hankey, biostatistician at Carilion, Brock Mutcheson, assistant dean, assessment and program evaluation and assistant professor in the Department of Health Systems and Implementation Science, Sarah DeWitt, assistant professor of internal and health systems and implementation science, Christi Stewart, associate professor of internal medicine, Jonathan Stewart, associate professor of internal medicine, Jennifer Bath and Sherry Boone, nurse practitioners at Carilion, Illona Jileaeva, Class of 2024, and Emily Faulks, associate professor of surgery.
- Michelle Rockwell, assistant professor in family and community medicine, authored an invited editorial along with Mark Fendrick from the University of Michigan. “Reducing low-value care is a feasible approach to enhancing access and affordability of high-value care for older Americans” appeared in The American Journal of Managed Care.
Posters and Presentations
Nicholas Rider, professor in the Department of Health Systems and Implementation Science, has been busy with speaking engagements and presentations:
- He was a session moderator and stakeholder for “How to Leverage AI for Improving Patient Outcomes” at the IPOPI Global Stakeholder meeting.
- Rider was a speaker at the AAAAI Practice Management Symposium on the topic “Using AI in Your Practice.”
- In addition, he was an AAAAI podcast invitee.
- And finally, Rider was a plenary speaker on “Past, Present & Future of AI for A&I” at the Aspen Allergy Conference.
Reflections on Community
This month we offer a thoughful piece by Mary Wesley, senior instructor in health systems and implementation science, and colleagues on the role of community in health care. The piece examines the significance of community in health care delivery, population health promotion, and engagement opportunities at VTCSOM. Read more.
Alumni Updates
Attention all VTCSOM Alumni:
Interested in returning to Roanoke or the surrounding areas to work and play? Carilion Clinic has outstanding employment opportunities available in many specialties. Visit Carilionclinic.org, scroll to Careers and then Physician Careers for more information. You may also reach out to Andrea Henson, director of physician recruitment & onboarding (ahenson@carilionclinic.org) or 540-224-5241.
Also, check out our updated alumni web page. You’ll find lots of resources and ways to stay connected with VTCSOM. Also, we urge you to reach out to Brittany May, director of alumni affairs, at may@vt.edu or via our updates survey if you have any updates you would like to share.
Welcome New Employee
A warm welcome is extended to Lee Rakes, senior director for educational affairs.
Welcome New Faculty
Surgery: Eric Ambroz, Maria Chulkov, and Tessa Lipsey
Internal Medicine: Ralph Brown, Chetan Nayak, Howard Pride, Eugenie Quan, and
Muhammad Ismail Khalid Yousaf
Basic Science Education: Neha Dhungana
Family and Community Medicine: Brittany England
Pediatrics: Jackson Kwok, Allison Moran, David O'Neil, and Nicholas Tallman
Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine: Andrew Tarasidis and Patricia Winter
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Update
August DIBS Event
Building Bridges: Allyship, HIV, and AIDS
August 8, 2024
Noon - 1:00 PM
2 Riverside Circle, M106
Join DIBS speaker Dr. Ashley "Bing" Bingham, Virginia Tech's director of the Pride Center in a topic focused on fostering meaningful and sustainable allyships and ways to support those affected by HIV and AIDS. This event is open to public, and boxed lunch will be provide to first 25 sign ups. Click here to register for this event.
Below are August holidays and observances:
1: Lammas
1: Lughnasadh
6: Transfiguration of the Lord (Feast of the Transfiguration)
9: International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples
12-13: Tisha B’Av
3–15: Obon (Ullambana)
15: Fast in Honor of Holy Mother of Jesus
15: Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary
15: Dormition of the Theotokos
17: Marcus Garvey Day
18: Hungry Ghost Festival
19: Raksha Bandhan
23: International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
26: Women’s Equality Day
26-27: Krishna Janmashtami
31: Paryushana Parvarambha
Community Corner
“Sons of the Village: The Art of Fatherhood,” curated by Fletcher Nichols, opened last month celebrating fatherhood and mentoring through a series of evocative photographs and multimedia art pieces. If you know someone who would like to visit the exhibit, contact Courtney Powell at cbrakes@vt.edu. The exhibit ends August 30.
Take Note
From the research team:
Research Live! Fair
VTCSOM will be hosting its first Research Live! Fair on August 15 from 3–4:30 p.m. in 4 Riverside Circle. The event will be open to both first-year medical students as well as first-year TBMH students. It will provide them with an opportunity to learn what different research groups have to offer and to meet the various research teams.
The Research Live! Fair will take the place of VTCSOM’s previous Research Live! Program. As we roll out a new curriculum this academic year, we wanted to provide students with more opportunities to meet the research teams and informally discuss research opportunities.
This fair is open to all prospective mentors or research group representatives (grad students, post-docs, residents, fellows, lab managers, current VTC mentees). We are planning to host one additional fair in October, and the date/details of the event will be shared soon.
We hope all those who may be interested will take the time to attend and meet our new students! Please use this link to sign-up. We look forward to seeing many of you there!
In other notes, the TBMH 10-year anniversary celebration will be held August 23 and August 24 in 4 Riverside. Contact Matthew Walker at mwalker1@vtc.vt.edu for more information.
And finally, whether you're new to the Roanoke area or are simply interested in exploring what downtown Roanoke has to offer, checkout the Downtown Roanoke Weekly Drop newsletter
The Last Note
Thanks to everyone who came out for our new curriculum fair! Two photos below: faculty and staff gather in the atrium for presentations, and Dean Lee Learman and Carilion Executive Vice President and Chief Physician Executive Tony Seupaul at the event.
