February 2025
Dean's Message
February is always an exciting month for Virginia Tech and Hokie Nation as we prepare for one of the most meaningful traditions of the year: Giving Day! This year, Giving Day will take place from noon on February 19 to noon on February 20, and it promises to be another powerful demonstration of the impact of collective generosity. For 24 hours, Hokies from around the globe will come together to support the programs and initiatives they are most passionate about, including those here at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine (VTCSOM).
Giving Day is more than just a day to donate; it’s an opportunity for our entire community to show their Hokie pride and invest in the future of our students, faculty, and staff. At VTCSOM, gifts made on Giving Day directly support scholarships, student wellness programs, innovative research, and educational initiatives that allow us to prepare the next generation of physician thought leaders. Every gift—regardless of size—makes a difference and amplifies the power of our mission to foster excellence in medical education.
As we look ahead to 2025, our goals remain ambitious yet essential: increasing the number of endowed scholarships to ensure greater access and affordability for our students, expanding resources to enhance our curriculum, and fostering a culture of resilience and innovation that equips our graduates to tackle the evolving challenges of medicine. Last year, our Giving Day participation reached new heights, and this year, I am confident we will surpass those achievements. We have ambitious goals to surpass 200 unique donors and more than $250,000 funds raised.
I’m also thrilled to invite you to our Giving Day After-Hours Social, a special opportunity to gather with members of the VTCSOM community and enjoy live music, drinks, heavy hors d’oeuvres and giveaways. This event will take place from 5-7 p.m. on Wednesday, February 19 in the Atrium of Riverside 2. The $15 registration cost includes a $5 gift to the VTCSOM Annual Fund, supporting our Giving Day goals. It will be a wonderful chance to connect with colleagues, alumni, students, and supporters while celebrating the collective impact of Giving Day.
On behalf of our entire school, I extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributes to VTCSOM on Giving Day and throughout the year. Your generosity—whether through financial gifts, time, or advocacy — makes a lasting impact on our school and the communities we serve. Together, we can continue to grow and advance the mission of Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine.
Let’s show the world the power of Hokie Nation and make this Giving Day unforgettable!
Warm regards,
Alicia Besenyei
Assistant Dean for Advancement
News Around Campus
Events
Join us for Virginia Tech President Tim Sands' State of the University Address on Wednesday, Feb. 5 at 3 p.m. We will be holding a livestream viewing in collaboration with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC in the VTCSOM auditorium in Riverside 2.
- 2/4 Thread of Nature Art Show
- 2/5 State of the University
- 2/5 Docs for Morgan
- 2/19 Giving Day After Hours
- 3/21 Match Day
- 3/25 Research Symposium
Humanism Notes
"An attribute shared by poetry and medicine is their capacity for accommodating, and even embracing, sheer strangeness. Poetry, because of its frequent juxtapositions and metaphors, is often said to create an uncanny otherworldliness, as experienced in reading poets like Elizabeth Bishop and Wallace Stevens. Similarly, medicine, by constructing its own alternate reality of our familiar physical body via x-ray vision and acronymic medicalese, can also make us feel at once recognizable, and yet not, to ourselves. In “Test Results Are Inconclusive,”1 this parallel knowing-yet-not-knowing is enacted at the oddly satisfying, yet impossible intersection of these two fields of inquiry. First, the poem plays with the idea of validating knowledge, requiring us to “triple authenticate” ourselves with “cornea scan/fingerprint and second device,” strangely juxtaposing the human with the technological. The poem then questions repeatedly if any of the mysterious “results” we seek are true. Like poetry, medicine’s attempts to define us and our “private organs and generational/trauma” are as wobbly as the unexpected line break and equally unreliable, as when “ultrasound techs are not permitted/to inhale deeply, whistle, or show facial grimaces/as they move their wand in a widening oval,” which does and does not make sense. Ultimately, through its references to “viral/neon spirographs” and “beauty and abstract art in the digital/breast tomosynthesis,” we understand that our imagination, whether expressed in poetry or through medicine, is wondrous—if we truly understand anything at all."
Test Results Are Inconclusive
Test results are available—but first you must
remember your login name and valid
password—to view your recent results
you must triple authenticate with cornea scan
fingerprint and second device.
Test results reveal private organs and generational
trauma—IV contrast creates hot spots and viral<
neon spirographs from your childhood fixation of
the multicolored pens and unlimited scrap paper.
Test results are official—only when read
by the radiologist. Ultrasound techs are not permitted
to inhale deeply, whistle, or show facial grimaces
as they move their wand in a widening oval.
Test results may vary based on biorhythms, the pollution
from airborne political positions, and the hidden
privilege from conflicting sources within the dark
office of the senior radiologist.
Test results may cause confusion—it’s understandable
to request a second opinion—but keep in mind 3D images
seldom outline falsehoods or grant fair reparations.
Test results may grant you a kinesthetic experience.
You may find beauty and abstract art in the digital
breast tomosynthesis—slices from different angles
are both dense and difficult—how bittersweet—
how cognitively dissonant—how nuanced are
the depth and texture of each opacity.
Jenna Rindo, BSN, MSE
Publishing
Jed Gonzalo, senior associate dean for medical education and professor in internal medicine and HSIS, and collaborators published “Advancement, Barriers and Collaboration: The ABC's of Addressing Challenges and Designing Solutions between Front-line Physicians and Business-oriented Leaders” in BMJ Leader.
David Musick, senior dean, faculty affairs and professor of internal medicine, and colleagues published “Pilot Study Exploring the Presence of Leadership Curricula in Undergraduate Medical Education” in BMJ Leader.
Nicholas Rider, professor in HSIS and associate chief medical information officer for the Section of Allergy-Immunology at Carilion Clinic, and colleagues published “Quantifying the Diagnostic Odyssey Burden Among Persons with Inborn Errors of Immunity” in the Journal of Clinical Immunology.
Sarah Evans, Natalie Karp, and W. Jerod Greer, faculty in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and colleagues published “Obesity and Native Tissue Repairs: A Secondary Analysis of the OPTIMAL Trial” in Urogynecology.
Evgeniya Molotkova, Class of 2025, and her mentor, Andre Muelenaer, Jr., associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics, along with Christopher Arena, collegiate associate professor, and students in the Department of Biomechanical Engineering and Mechanics, published “Safety Evaluation of a Device for Treatment of Lymphedema of the Upper Extremity” in Lymphatic Research and Biology.
Liliana Ladner, Class of 2025, and her co-mentor Eric Marvin, associate professor in the Department of Neurosurgery, Tyler Shick, Class of 2025, and his mentor Justin Weppner, assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, and Srijan Adhikari, neurosurgery resident at Carilion, joined Anita Kablinger, professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, in co-authoring “Association Between Impulsivity, Self-Harm, Suicidal Ideation, and Suicide Attempts in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury,” published in the Journal of Neurotrauma.
Brandon Ganjineh, Class of 2024, and Megan Whitham, assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and collaborators published “The Effect of Shift Timing on Cesarean Delivery Outcomes and Operative Noise Levels” in the American Journal of Perinatology.
Patrick Barrett, Class of 2023, his mentor Peter Apel, associate professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, and Cesar Bravo, also an associate professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, published “What Factors Influence Variability in Thumb Carpometacarpal Arthroplasty Care? A Survey of ASSH Members,” in Hand. Co-authors include colleagues from the Institute for Orthopaedics and Neurosciences at Carilion Clinic.
Alumni Note
Our Hokies in Health Care events in the Baltimore and Washington D.C. areas gave Virginia Tech and VTCSOM alumni a great chance to connect with Dean Lee Learman and learn more about our medical school and its future plans. We shared camaraderie along with delicious food and drinks. Be on the lookout for more Hokies in Health Care events coming soon!
Spotlight on Giving
Please join us to cheer on the competitors at the annual Docs for Morgan basketball fundraiser for the Morgan Dana Harrington Memorial Scholarship Fund at VTCSOM. The student team will look to defend its title from last year.
All donations will support medical school students and honor Morgan’s legacy, as well as VTCSOM's Giving Day totals! To find out more, visit: medicine.vtc.vt.edu/giving/morgan-harrington.html.
Docs for Morgan was formed in 2012 by Carilion Clinic physicians who wanted to honor Morgan and support her parents, Daniel and Gil Harrington. The event supports an annual scholarship that goes to deserving students at the school and honors Morgan’s passion for education.
Take Note
Take a journey through a world of art quilts unlike any you’ve likely seen before. Explore the animals and landscapes of three art quilters who have formed a friendship through their shared love of interpreting nature in fabric and thread.
Spring Art Show: Threads of Nature
- On Display: January-May 2025
- Opening Reception:
- February 4, 2025
- 5:30-7:30 p.m.
- VTCSOM Atrium
The Last Note
Yes, that is a real brain. ScholarDocs is in full swing right now, having had their third session last week. For those unaware, their mission is to foster a deep understanding and appreciation for science and medicine amongst high school students in Southwest Virginia. Through their after-school enrichment program, which is organized by dedicated medical students, they aim to ignite curiosity and passion for various medical subjects, ranging from cardiology to neurology.
