An update from the Office of the Vice Chair of Education

Over the past few months, we have been really excited about welcoming our new fellows to the fellowship program.

We want to highlight our 3rd and 2nd year fellows for the great work they are doing on their research projects. Liza Kalaidina, (3rd yr) is working in Dr. Ellebedy’s lab on humoral immune response to allergy shots. Rebekah Browning, MD, PhD is working in Dr. Kendall’s lab on immune cell populations in those with food allergy. Dayne Voelker, MD is working in Dr. Kau’s lab evaluating H. flu colonization in asthmatics. Alex Patterson’s research is focused on hypersensitivity reaction to COVID vaccine and Lexie Doss is working on the memory response in those with primary immunodeficiency receiving COVID vaccine.

We are most looking forward to ACAAI meeting in November where our fellows have been selected to give oral presentations on their posters.  Our educators can be described as dedicated to the fellowship and currently participating in our fellowship interview season recruiting next year’s fellows.

Over the past few months, we have been really excited about achieving/accomplishing:

• Using social media as a strong platform for medical education, networking, and advocacy for our fellows (and fellowship program)
• We want to highlight Dr. Miguel A Chavez and Dr. Nathanial Nolan for the great work they are doing with The ID Fellows Network. It is a network of fellows from different training programs who are passionate about ID teaching and learning using digital media. Through live Twitter chats, interactive case discussions, and curated digital contents, it has become a popular resource for trainees all over the country. It was founded and now led by two Wash U DOM ID fellows, who are now current faculty, Miguel A. Chavez, MD, MSc and Nathanial Nolan, MD, MPH. Check out their website for more information.
• Women In Infectious Disease (WIID). Founded by ID fellow, Gayathri Krishnan, MD, it serves as a platform to support, nurture, and uplift women in infectious diseases. Check out their Twitter account, @Women_in_ID for more information.
• We are looking forward to collaborating with fellows/trainees from other specialties who are interested in leveraging social/digital media for medical education.
• Our educators can be described as passionate, collaborative, and innovative with a deep sense of community and leadership.

Over the past year, we’ve been really excited about joining the Competency-based, Time-variable HPM fellowship curriculum project for mid-career learners. This is a project sponsored through the ACGME Academic Innovation in Residency Education program, and led by The University of Pennsylvania. The UPenn HPM PD, Laura Dingfield MD, is the PI on the study.  Currently, our fellows and faculty get to work with fellows and faculty from UPenn, Mt. Sinai, Kaiser of So Cal, MGH, UMinnesota, and GW.  It’s been really fun and inspirational to work with this crew, and we look forward to the next couple of years. It will provide a great option for mid-career professionals interested in HPM training, and really improve our existing traditional curriculum.

Over the past few months, we’ve been really excited about recruiting for our fellowship program. We’ve had a record number of applicants for our program which makes us proud to know that Rheumatology is a sought-after specialty.

• We are most looking forward to the new educational collaborations we have planned among our fellowship training program, the Infectious Diseases and Nephrology training programs, our interprofessional colleagues​, and Rheumatology fellowships at other institutions.
• Our educators can be described as passionate about patient care and training future rheumatologists.
• Dr. Lisa Zickuhr was appointed as APD and will lead the new Clinician Educator program within the Rheumatology Fellowship
• Dr. Andrea Ramirez-Gomez and Dr. Atinuke Aluko chosen as inaugural Ben Schwartz Distinguished Fellows
• Dr. Roseanne Zhao was chosen as 2021 ACR Distinguished FellowShout-out to the Inaugural DOM Fellowship Multidisciplinary Health Equity Case Conference. 
• The Infectious Diseases, Nephrology, and Rheumatology Fellowship Training Programs partnered with their associative health professionals and community allies to create a multidisciplinary, interprofessional Health Equity Case Conference.  The conference, scheduled to occur four times a year, introduces fellows to the social and political history of St. Louis that sets the context for clinical practice in our region and fosters discussion about cases in which social and structural factors impacted patient.  Attendees share their experiences, resources, tools, and techniques with one another to bolster awareness, knowledge, and skills for managing such challenges in the clinical setting.

Recent publications:

• Zickuhr L, Kolfenbach J, Bolster MB. Applying Educational Theory to Optimize Trainee Education in the Ambulatory Virtual Care Environment. Med Sci Educ. 2021 Aug 17:1-8. doi: 10.1007/s40670-021-01365-0. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34422453; PMCID: PMC8370462.
• Zickuhr, L., Jones, H.A. Rheumatology resources need reform to represent all patients. Nat Rev Rheumatol 17, 447–448 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-021-00636-9
• Rana A, Witt A, Jones H, Mwanthi M, Murray J, Zickuhr L. The Representation of Skin Colors in Images of Patients with Lupus Erythematosus. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2021 May 31. doi: 10.1002/acr.24712. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34057307.

Special thanks to IM Residency Chief Resident, John Hickman, MD, who is working with a small team of us to revamp and enhance our Grand Rounds series.  Congratulations to our amazing 3^rd year residents who have kicked off the year with outstanding Grand Round presentations. If you missed them, no worries, check out our new Grand Rounds website Grand Rounds – John T. Milliken Department of Medicine where you can see upcoming and past presentation recordings. The residency also just completed their recent PEC (program evaluation committee) meeting and kicking off the new academic year with many exciting projects and curricular innovations.

Deptola Published in Journal of Graduate Medical Education

WUSM’s Amber Deptola, MD was recently published in the Journal of Graduate Medical Education discussing resident well-being. The article specifically highlights motivation as an integral component of resident well-being, including what existing literature says, and actionable recommendations. Her article was also featured in a post from the International Clinical Educators blog.