The Michigan Dept. of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) has revised the Public Health Code - General Rules governing implicit bias training standards to permit asynchronous teleconference or webinars as acceptable modalities of training, which previously was prohibited. LARA requires implicit bias training for physicians (and other healthcare professionals), effective June 1, 2022. The requirements apply to both new applicants as well as those renewing their existing licenses or registrations. See the MSMS schedule of webinars here.

On March 17, APRH Chief Medical Officer Sheryl Wissman and GME staff hosted a midday wellness event in the hospital's main auditorium for residents in our primary care programs. The date marked the third anniversary of the COVID pandemic in the US. APRH provided boxed lunches, beverages, and (given the date) green shamrock cookies. Attendees were encouraged to talk about their successes and current challenges with regard to wellness and self-care. About 25 residents participated. Many thanks to Dr. Wissman for leading the wellness day and to the attendees for their engagement and willingness to share insights about residency wellness in the wake of the COVID pandemic.  

GME is accepting applications for the 2022-23 Peter Svider Memorial Resident Scholarship Award in memory of the scholarly achievements, clinical excellence, and exceptional collegiality of Dr. Peter Svider, a 2018 graduate of our Otolaryngology residency program. The Svider Award is given once annually to a graduating resident or fellow in any GME program in recognition of distinctive achievement in scholarly activities across the entire period of training. The deadline for applications is Monday, April 24, 2023.

The SEMCME Annual Michigan Summit on Quality Improvement, Patient Safety, and High Value Care will be held on Friday, May 12, 2023, at the MSU Management Education Center in Troy, from 8 am-5 pm. For more information, contact Nadia Juzych at njuzych@med.wayne.edu. The SEMCME Annual Research Forum will be held in Lovett Hall at the Henry Ford in Dearborn on May 24, 2023, from 8 am to 2:30 pm. Please note: Presenters at the Research Forum will be preselected by GME via a competitive process, prior to submission to SEMCME. The deadline is Monday, April 17. Contact the GME Research Coordinator Heidi Kenaga for more info.

GME is accepting applications for the 2022-23 Seed Grant funding cycle for both research and QI projects. Contact GME Research Coordinator Heidi Kenaga for more details.

This past Tuesday, the Resident Council and GME co-sponsored the 2023 Professional Development Symposium, held as an online event in the evening. The topic was "How to Handle Difficult Conversations and Patients' Emotions," with guest speaker Nadia Tremonti, pediatrician and palliative care specialist and 2002 graduate of the WSU School of Medicine. Dr. Tremonti was the focus of the award-winning documentary Palliative, which you can read more about here. More than 30 incoming interns, current residents, and faculty attended the symposium. A recording of the event and PPTs will be posted on the GME website shortly. Many thanks to Dr. Tremonti for her engaging and informative presentation!

The Resident Council would like to remind all residents and faculty that GME hosts a page for confidential concern reporting.

Internal Medicine Program Director Sarwan Kumar co-authored two letters (with Deepak Gupta) published on KevinMD, described as the "web's leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insights." One letter addressed "Equalizing the future of medical residencies: standardizing work hours and wages," and another "Is mandating premedical training widening disparities in the US physician workforce?  Congrats! 

Dermatology faculty and residents continue to publish their research at an impressive rate: "Hair length in association with hair care regimen and healthy habits in Black women" appeared in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, co-authored by Nikita Wong, an M-4 student and Kirk Williams, a M-3 student in WSUSOM, resident Starling Tolliver, and Associate Program Director Geoffrey Potts. WSUSOM student Haya Beydoun and Derm faculty Mena Moossavi have co-authored “Frictional dermatitis from touchscreen contact,” which appeared in Pediatric Dermatology last winter. Resident Andrew King was co-author of two case reports: with WSUSOM student Sarah Gonzalez and Meena Moossavi, “Nodular melanoma in an African American Japanese male,” published in Clinical Case Reports, and as first author with Nikita Wong and Geoffrey Potts, “Successful treatment of refractory Hailey-Hailey disease with dupilumab: A case report,” in SKIN The Journal of Cutaneous Medicine. Well done!  

At the American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Program Director Steve Daveluy gave a presentation on "Laser and light-based therapies for hidradenitis suppurativa" for a panel addressing current medical and surgical management of HS. Derm resident Hany Deirawan conducted an oral presentation on "Deciphering the immune landscape and immune evasion mechanisms in locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma," which sheds light on the expression of novel immune checkpoints in these cutaneous malignancies. This research was funded by Dr. Deirawan's GME Seed Grant Award.  Congrats!

Need assistance with manuscript, poster, or conference presentation?

WSUGME is happy to offer any resident or faculty assistance in the preparation of a poster or abstracts for submission to academic conferences or review of a manuscript. Contact Research Coordinator Heidi Kenaga.

Through a new partnership with the Michigan Health Council, the Family Medicine residency program has been engaging Michigan youth in "Mini-Medical Schools." Both through virtual platforms and in-person sessions, children of all ages can meet a friendly doctor and ask any question that may be keeping them up at night. Residents and faculty alike have been both challenged and delighted with queries ranging from "What's the grossest thing you've seen?" to "Do you get sad when your patients die?" to "Could you deliver your own baby if you had to?" Photos from the virtual mini-medical school can be found here. Also pictured:  At the new Lake Orion Senior Center, FM Chief Resident William Nham provides a blood pressure screening.    

Family Medicine residents and faculty participated in the FM Advocacy Day held on March 22 in Lansing, meeting with legislators to discuss crucial policy issues impacting family medicine in Michigan. Pictured:  (top row) Victoria Prince, Jose Almonte, (bottom row) Haria Henry, Mariam Japaridze, Rachel Klamo.

The Dermatology program was well represented at the American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting, held from March 17-21 in New Orleans. In addition to presenting research at the conference, faculty and residents attended many great lectures, networked, caught up with alumni, made it to the semi-finals of the Dermpath Bowl, and enjoyed getting to explore a fabulous city. Photos here.  

The Center for Health Equity and Community Knowledge in Urban Populations (CHECK-UP) promotes relationships between Wayne State University faculty and community organizations to advance health equity in the Detroit metropolitan area. The Center focuses on building research networks in four areas: Black Health and Racial Equity; LGBTQ Health; Middle Easterns and North African [MENA], Refugee, and Immigrant Health; and the Community Health Scholars Program. Founding director Hayley S. Thompson, PhD, is a clinical psychologist whose research addresses racial and ethnic disparities in cancer care and outcomes. She is professor in the WSU Department of Oncology and the Associate Center Director for Community Outreach and Engagement at Karmanos, where she established the Office of Cancer Health Equity and Community Engagement.

Launched in 2020 by medical and graduate students in the Joint Medical Program at the University of California-San Francisco School of Medicine and the UC-Berkeley School of Public Health, the Institute for Healing and Justice in Medicine is an interdisciplinary organization that publishes community-based scholarship about emerging medical and public health practices addressing social justice. The institute has engaged more than 3,000 individuals from hundreds of institutions around the world in their activities, which include research working group initiatives, a peer-reviewed publication, a justice resource hub, and community healing gatherings.