January 2025
Dean's Message
Dear Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine Community,
Happy New Year! As we welcome a fresh start, we’re also gearing up for exciting challenges and opportunities to shape our school’s future.
In Fall 2024, we were formally notified by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) that our next reaccreditation survey will be held in September 2026. This marks a significant milestone since our first full accreditation survey in 2018, where we proudly earned the maximum term of eight years. This upcoming LCME review will be a comprehensive, detailed look at every aspect of our medical program, making our dedicated, sustained preparation over the next 21 months essential to our continued success.
For context, the LCME serves as the nationally recognized accrediting authority for M.D. programs in the United States and Canada and is sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). Maintaining LCME accreditation is not only a mark of excellence in medical education but also a key requirement for licensing graduates, receiving federal financial aid, and securing eligibility for residency programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
Please take a few minutes to watch our video about the LCME accreditation process and timeline: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bkF6dr11fg. You can also learn more at our VTCSOM webpage on the LCME accreditation process https://medicine.vtc.vt.edu/about/lcme.html. You’ll find detailed information on the importance of accreditation and the vital role it plays in the future of our medical school.
Thank you so much for your continued dedication to VTCSOM and to the communities we serve.
Warm regards,
Lee A. Learman, M.D., Ph.D.
Dean
Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
In Remembrance
We are saddened by the loss of Dr. Jim Johnson, former Virginia Cooperative Extension director and associate professor emeritus in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech, and benefactor of the Drs. Jim and Janet Johnson Medical Education Scholarship. Johnson’s wife of 52 years, Dr. Janet Johnson, is a long-time member of the VTCSOM Dean’s Advisory Council for Advancement. We send our condolences to Dr. Johnson and her family.
To read more, click here.
Social Media
- Holiday Facebook Reel
- 2024 was an amazing year for the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine thanks to our incredible students, faculty, staff and of course, the communities we serve! Here are a few of the things that made our year so great.
- Bodies and Bites at the West End Center for Youth!
- The Grinch drives students to the VIAL Lab!
- Breakfast With Santa!
Events
- 1/22 and 1/23 Hokies in Health Care - Baltimore/Washington D.C.
- 1/22 In Person Workshop: Practical Applications of AI in Medical Education
- 2/19 Giving Day After Hours
- 3/20 Hokies in Health Care- Rockledge
Humanism Notes
You are 10 times more likely to stick with a change made at the New Year. Learn more about the psychology of resolutions and how we can all successfully make improvements to our lives.
Publishing
Jed Gonzalo, senior associate dean for medical education and professor in internal medicine and HSIS, published “Exploring clinician perspectives of systems-based practice: A physician training challenge,” in The Clinical Teacher. Co-authors include colleagues from Pennsylvania and California medical schools and health systems.
Arthur Ollendorff, associate dean of graduate medical education, professor of obstetrics & gynecology and health systems & implementation science, and designated institutional official for graduate medical education at Carilion Clinic, joined colleagues in the publication of “Video-Based Coaching for Laparoscopic Salpingectomy: A Randomized Controlled Trial” in Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Emily Holt Foerst, assistant dean, academic and student affairs, director, academic counseling and enrichment services, and assistant professor in the Department of Basic Science Education, with Meghan Byrnes and Brett Jones, faculty from Virginia Tech, published “Examining the Motivational Climate and Student Effort in Professional Competency Courses: Suggestions for Improvement” in the Journal of Veterinary Medical Education.
Sarah Henrickson Parker, associate professor and chair of the Department of Health Systems and Implementation Science (HSIS), along with colleagues from Virginia Tech, published “Comparison Between Scene-Independent and Scene-Dependent Eye Metrics in Assessing Psychomotor Skills,” in Human Factors.
Nicholas Rider, professor in HSIS and associate chief medical information officer for the Section of Allergy-Immunology at Carilion Clinic, and collaborators published “A Health Economic Analysis of Non-injectable Epinephrine Compared with Intramuscular Epinephrine” in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.
With national and international colleagues, Rider co-authored “Disparities in Diagnosis, Access to Specialist Care and Treatment for Inborn Errors of Immunity,” which was published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice.
Anita Kablinger, Virginia O’Brien, and Robert McNamara, all faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, along with Sydney Jones, Hayoung Ko, and Lee Cooper from Virginia Tech, and other collaborators, published “Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on outpatient psychiatric population well-being and symptomology utilizing COVID-19 Events Checklist (CEC) and Measurement Based Care” in the Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes.
Elizabeth Polk, associate professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, and collaborators published “Impact of Physicians’ Perception of Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) on the Practice of Lifestyle Medicine. Finding from a Family Physicians Survey,” in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine.
Lana Wahid, assistant professor in the Department of Medicine and medical director of inpatient clinical trials and vice chair for research in the Department of Medicine at Carilion Clinic, published “Combination Therapy is Not Associated with Decreased Mortality in Infectious Endocarditis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis” in Microorganisms. Co-authors included colleagues from Duke University and Tehran University of Medical Sciences.
Michelle Rockwell, assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, with colleagues from Virginia, Michigan, and California, published “Increased spending on low-value care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Virginia” in Health Affairs Scholar.
Isaiah Yim, class of 2026, Justin Weppner, assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, along with colleagues from Carilion, published “A Survey to Determine Health Utility States After a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): Influence of a History of TBI on Disability Perceptions” in Cureus.
Areej Ennasr, class of 2025, was first author on “Examination of the interaction of parameters for low-intensity focused ultrasound of the human motor cortex,” published in Brain Stimulation. Co-authors include mentor Wynn Legon, assistant professor of neurosurgery and assistant professor in the School of Neuroscience and at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute (FBRI), Andrew Strohman, a member of the M.D./ Ph.D. program, and VT graduate student Gabriel Isaac.
Andrew Strohman as first author, Legon, and Isaac, along with other collaborators, published “Low-intensity focused ultrasound to the insula differentially modulates the heartbeat-evoked potential: A proof-of-concept study,” in Clinical Neurophysiology.
Riya Patel, class of 2024, and mentor Joshua Eikenburg, class of 2015 and assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, were co-authors on “Combination topical 5-fluorouracil 5%/calcipotriene 0.005% cream for the treatment of cutaneous in situ squamous cell carcinoma: A pilot study,” published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. Co-authors include Mariana Phillips, associate professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Kiley Fagan, Eugenia Quan, Nathan Johnson (class of 2017), and Kyle Prickett, assistant professors in the Department of Internal Medicine, Allison Tegge and Douglas Grider, associate professors in the Department of Basic Science Education (DBSE), Patrick Rush, assistant professor in DBSE.
Kendal Carter, class of 2023 and now an OB/GYN resident at New Hanover Regional Medical Center, along with former mentor John Tuttle, assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery, former co-mentor Vincent Wang, associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics (BEAM), Emily Rogers, BEAM graduate student, and Nicholas Peterman, resident in orthopaedic surgery at Carilion, published “All-Suture Anchor Techniques for Biceps Tenodesis Are Noninferior in End-Cycle Stiffness to an Interference Screw Technique; However, Secondary Outcomes, Such as Ultimate Failure Load, Yield Load, Creep, and Load-to-Failure Stiffness, Are Inferior in an Ovine Model,” in Arthroscopy, Sports Medicine, and Rehabilitation.
Michael Ferguson, class of 2019 and assistant professor, and Abhishek Reddy, assistant professor, both of child and adolescent psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral and Medicine, published “Assessing Sleep Disorders in an Inpatient Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Unit” in Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America. Co-authors included Carilion psychiatry fellowship graduate Kishore Nagaraja and another colleague from the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Spotlight on Giving
Hokies in Health Care
We are thrilled to be hosting two Hokies in Health Care events in January 2025 to bring together alumni and friends of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in the Baltimore and Washington D.C. areas!
Dean Lee Learman will join you to discuss future plans for the school and how you can get involved. Enjoy a delicious dinner, drinks and grab some Virginia Tech swag.
Baltimore
Date: Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Time: 6-8 p.m.
Location: Gunther & Company, 3650 Toone Street, Brewers Hill, Baltimore, MD 21224
RSVP: aimsbbis.vt.edu/hokiesinhealthcarebaltimore2025
Washington D.C.
Date: Thursday, January 23, 2025
Time: 6-8 p.m.
Location: Wildfire Tysons, 2001 International Dr., McLean, VA 22102
RSVP: aimsbbis.vt.edu/hokiesinhealthcareDC2025
Giving Day After Hours
Enjoy live music, drinks, heavy hors d'oeuvres, giveaways, and more!
$15 per person (includes a $5 gift to the VTCSOM Annual Fund)
Help us meet our goal of 200 unique donors in 24 hours!
February 19th
5-7 P.M.
Atrium, VTCSOM, Riverside 2
Take Note
The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine Spring Art Show titled "Threads of Nature" will hold its opening reception from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 4, 2025 in the Atrium of VTCSOM's Riverside 2 Building. Featured artists whose quilt work will be displayed include Carol Monti (her piece titled "Morgan" shown above), Nancy Hershberger, and Tina Freudenberger.
The Last Note
VTCSOM hosted the 14th Annual Delta Dental Oral Health Endowed Lecture.
Dr. Jonathan An, an assistant professor at the University of Washington, presented on "Integrated Geroscience into Oral Health." He explored the fascinating connection between aging and oral health.
This impactful lecture series is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Delta Dental of Virginia Foundation. Their 2013 gift allows VTCSOM to integrate essential oral health education into our curriculum.