Massachusetts Governor's Newsletter Winter 2018-2019

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Elisa I. Choi, MD, FACP, ACP Governor

Elisa I. Choi, MD, FACP, ACP Governor

 


Message from the Governor

Elisa I. Choi, MD, FACP

Dear Colleagues,

I hope each of you enjoyed the recent holiday season, and ushered in the New Year festively, safely, and joyously with your families and loved ones! Our MA ACP Chapter had a terrific 2018, and we are very excited to build upon our successes last year to achieve even greater positive change for you and your patients in 2019. Our recent November 17, 2018 Annual Meeting held at the Massachusetts Medical Society had a record number of registrations, so “Thank you” for your participation and engagement! I am grateful to the national ACP leaders who spoke at the conference and I look forward to continuing the close collaborations with them for upcoming meetings for our Chapter. Our numerous MA ACP Chapter Committees and Working Groups are beginning to gear up for this next year (details further on in the newsletter), with a number of activities already confirmed. More details are outlined below, but please SAVE THE DATE for Tuesday March 26, 2019, for our 4th Annual Advocacy Day at the MA State House (a national ACP award-winning program!), and also for Saturday November 9, 2019, for this year's MA ACP Annual Meeting! In addition to the wonderful leaders of our MA ACP Chapter (acknowledged in the following sections of the newsletter), we have a representative now from our state joining the national ACP Council of Students, Mr. Akshay Kapoor, Class of 2020 from University of Massachusetts Medical School. I am delighted that Mr. Kapoor will be a national ACP member of this particular Council, and I look forward to partnering with Mr. Kapoor, and many other medical student members of MA ACP, to support their further involvement with ACP-related activities. One of my priorities for our state's ACP Chapter is to increase the engagement of our medical student and our resident/fellow members. To that end, our MA ACP Chapter's Council of Students and Council of Residents & Fellows are eager to hear from you, our MA ACP medical students and residents/fellows, about how these Councils and our MA ACP Chapter can further support your professional growth and development. I wanted to congratulate the new Masters and the national ACP Award winners, our Chapter Award winners, and new Fellows – you make us all so proud! “Welcome” to our new ACP members, I look forward to your continued involvement in our Chapter! A special thank you to our MA ACP Awards Committee Chairwoman Dr. Judy Melin for her superb leadership of the time intensive process of supporting our Chapter's nominees for these prestigious national ACP awards, as well as of the nominating and selection process for Chapter Award recipients. I am pleased to report that in addition to having the privilege of representing all of you, the MA ACP Chapter members, as your Governor, at national ACP convenings, I have been elected to the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors for the coming year. Additionally, I have been appointed as a member of the ACP delegation to the AMA (American Medical Association) House of Delegates. I intend to continue, as I have done since I started my term as Governor, to represent the voice of “frontline physicians” and also to advocate for our patients. Please reach out with your thoughts, comments, and suggestions. I have several social media platforms (details below, for my Governor's Facebook page, Twitter feed, and Instagram account), as does our MA ACP Chapter, so you can be sure to stay up-to-date with the ongoings of our efforts in “real time”. I want to close my comments of this edition of the Governor's Newsletter with a quote from Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., who we recently honored with a national holiday – “Life's most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” As physicians, care providers, and healers, we are “doing for others” on a daily basis. I thank you for what you do, tirelessly and devotedly, for your patients. I look forward to continuing to stay connected with you, in our mutual shared goal of enhancing our professional satisfaction and our patients' well-being.

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Governor's Council Retreat

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Last June 2018, our Governor's Council (the governing board of our MA ACP Chapter) spent a productive weekend retreat discussing ways to improve and enhance the value of our Chapter's activities for our members. The outgrowth of this productive series of conversations is the formation of a Membership and Wellbeing Committee for our Chapter, under the auspices of which there can be numerous initiatives that can address topics of membership recruitment and retention, physician wellbeing, women in medicine, mentoring in medicine, leadership development, among others. ACP can truly be the “professional home” for all internists, and 2019 will bring opportunities for further involvement, networking, and collaborations, among our Chapter's members. Thank you to the dedicated members of the Governor's Council for your sage and thoughtful input, during the retreat, and throughout the year!

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ACP Massachusetts Chapter 2018 Annual Scientific Meeting

Your Health Matters: Transformation of Physician Well Being and Practice

Meeting review by Joseph Li, MD FACP, Massachusetts Chapter 2018 Annual Scientific Meeting Planning Committee

As a member of the meeting planning committee and attendee, I was asked to reflect on the meeting highlights. Where does one begin? There were many meeting highlights. The meeting was emblematic of my feelings about ACP. As a Massachusetts internist, I feel fortunate that the ACP is not only advocating for my patients, colleagues and me but that ACP is also the place where I turn for practice resources, medical education and professional support. I offer the following meeting highlights!

A is for Advocacy

Shari Erickson, ACP Vice President for Governmental Affairs and Medical Practice presented a health policy update. ACP is at the forefront advocating for physicians and their patients. Among the many ongoing policies, she discussed were the ACP initiatives on putting patients before paperwork. My best guess it that ACP's efforts in this realm is getting some real traction. Case in point, shortly after the publication of the ACP Health and Public Policy Committee's paper on this topic, Medicare presented their proposal, “Putting Patients over Paperwork.”

B is for physician well-Being

Daisy Smith MD, ACP Vice President for Clinical Programs, led a conversation on physician well-being and thriving. How often have we heard about the epidemic of physician burnout in American medicine? Rather focus on the negative, she chose to lead a discussion about the positive. She gave the group the chance to re-invigorate those feelings which led us to be internists in the first place. Through conversation, she helped everyone bring fresh air into the conversation about work-life balance.

C is for Collaboration

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Karen Freund MD, the interim Chief of Medicine at Tufts Medical Center led a panel discussion on the relationship between primary care physicians and hospitalists and how their relationships impact on patient outcomes. Panelists included Sarita Bajracharya MD, Booker Bush MD, Jonathan Goldman MD and Bogdan Nedelescu MD. It's been over 20 years since the term, “hospitalists” was introduced into the lexicon of American medicine. Hospitalists are found at nearly all Massachusetts hospital and at most hospitals, it would be difficult to imagine how care of hospitalized patients could proceed without hospitalists. The panelists discussed efforts being made at different healthcare systems to improve collaboration between primary care physicians and hospitalists.

D is for Doctor's Dilemna

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Paramaraja Piranavan, Orhan Efe, and Sonu Abraham from Saint Vincent Hospital – 2018 Doctor's Dilemma Champions

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Is it dilemna or dilemma? Probably depends on your age. For those of you who fail to understand this reference, you are probably young enough to participate in Doctor's Dilemna. For those of you who have never witnessed this event, it is an exciting knowledge-based competition between residents from local training programs. Congratulations are in order not only to the winning team from St. Vincent's Hospital but also to all participants for a job well done!

E is for Education

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The meeting started with Early Education, in the form of the poster competition. Kudos to everyone who presented at the meeting. The posters were interesting, informative and inspiring! After lunch, we heard 2 special presentations. Arthi Sridhar MD, a resident from Baystate Medical Center presented a clinical vignette on polyarteritis nodosa. Kartik Tripathi MD, a resident at St. Vincent's Hospital presented his research on the impact of hepatitis C remission on glycemic control in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

F is for our Fearless leader, Dr. Ana Maria Lopez

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ACP President Ana Maria Lopez, MD, FACP

We were privileged to host the President of ACP, Ana Maria Lopez MD. She is Vice Chair of Medical Oncology and Chief of Cancer Services at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center – Washington Township. Dr. Lopez gave 2 presentations. In the morning, she discussed the explosion of knowledge about cancer genomics and how this has resulted in individualized care for patients living with cancer. In the afternoon, she discussed the many ongoing projects at ACP and how they impact patients and doctors.

G is our Governor, Elisa Choi

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MA Chapter Governor Elisa I. Choi, MD, FACP

Aside from Lynda Layer, the Executive Director of the Massachusetts ACP Chapter, this chapter meeting would not have been possible without the leadership of Elisa Choi MD, our Massachusetts ACP Chapter Governor. While Dr. Choi is highly visible at the annual scientific meeting, her impact on the Massachusetts medical community is felt throughout the year. Dr. Choi is an exceptional leader who inspires everyone to excel in their everyday practice.

H is for Honors

The annual scientific meeting is the one time annually when the chapter has the opportunity to recognize the excellence being achieved by the many doctors in our commonwealth. Congratulations to all award winners and thank you for your service to patients and colleagues.

Award Presentations – Masters/National Awards

Masters

  • Harriet Bering, MD, MACP
  • David Blumenthal, MD, MACP
  • Lewis Braverman, MD, MACP
  • Stuart Mushlin, MD, MACP
  • Joel Popkin, MD, MACP

ACP Jane F. Desforges Distinguished Teacher Award

The award is bestowed upon a Fellow or Master of the College who has demonstrated the ennobling qualities of a great teacher as judged by the acclaim and accomplishments of former students who have been inspired and have achieved positions of leadership in the field of medical education, primarily as teachers.

~ Lewis Braverman, MD, MACP (not in attendance)

ACP Advocate for Internal Medicine - Special Recognition Spring 2018

~Zoe Tseng, MD, FACP

Award Presentations - Chapter Awards

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Early Career Leadership Award - Kathryn A. Jobbins, MS, DO

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Resident/Fellow Leadership Award - Prarthna Bhardwaj, MD

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Resident/Fellow Leadership Award - Aalok Khole, MD

Outstanding Clinician-Teacher Award - Martin A Samuels, MD MACP

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Laureate Award Winner- Valerie E. Stone, MD, MACP

Thank you to all the chapter meeting planning committee members – Drs. George Abraham, Elisa Choi, Linda Habeeb, Katie Jobbins, Gene Lambert, Mary Lee, Jo Li, Michael Rosenblum, Anita Vanka plus our Poster Competition Team – Drs. Prarthna Bhardwaj, Vinod Chaubey and Aalok Khole and our Doctor's Dilemma team – Drs. George Abraham, Antonio Garcia, Michael Barry and Michael Rosenblum.

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My Experience at ACP – A Resident's Perspective

Arthi Sridhar MD, PGY-2 Internal Medicine, Baystate Medical Center

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The ACP Massachusetts Chapter Poster Presentation was an excellent opportunity for residents across Massachusetts to network and learn from each other in a unique academic atmosphere. As a Resident with our budding experience, there are so many clinical scenarios that we only read about in our textbooks and it was a great platform to listen to other residents share the unique illness scripts they diagnosed and treated.

During the poster presentation, I was asked thought provoking questions by the Judges and other physicians, which stimulated me to think out of the box and urged me to go home and dig deeper. This in turn, helped me fine-tune my case report for the Oral Presentation. I received tremendous support and encouragement from my Institution and the ACP members leading up to my Oral Presentation, which helped reiterate how supportive we are of one another.

During the Massachusetts Chapter meeting, it was inspiring to listen to some of the brightest minds in our field share their experience as physicians. The different sessions held throughout the day were relatable to all physicians across their varying levels of experience. I am fortunate to have been given the opportunity to be a part of this meeting, meet my colleagues from different institutions and to be introduced to a community of physicians who strive for excellence and inspire one another.

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Health and Public Policy Committee (HPPC)

Zoe Tseng, MD, FACP and Aisha James, MD, Co-Chairs

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ACP President Ana Maria Lopez, MD, FACP meets with the Health and Public Policy Committee at the chapter meeting

The Health and Public Policy Committee (HPPC) has an active year ahead planned. We have expanded the number of subcommittees from three to five, focused on the below issues:

Opioid Use Disorder Subcommittee: Co-Chairs: Audrey Provenzano and Gene Lambert - Planning to organize a CME event similar to last year's on prescribing buprenorphine in primary care.

Prescription Drug Cost Subcommittee: Co-Chairs: Zoe Tseng and Suhas Gondi - Looking to see what state legislation will be proposed in the next legislative session to address drug costs.

Immigrant/Refugee Health Subcommittee: Co-Chairs: Amy Gardner and Shela Sridhar - Spearheaded advocacy efforts of our chapter members to oppose to government using public benefits programs such as Medicaid and SNAP in public charge determinations.

Advocacy Day Subcommittee: Co Chairs: Aisha James and Stephanie Titus - Planning for Advocacy Day at the State House has begun, and the event will take place on Tuesday, March 26 9:30am-4pm. Mark your calendars!

Advocacy Education Subcommittee: Chair: Hemal Sampat - New subcommittee focused on education around advocacy skills. They will offer a session on how to meet with legislators in advance of Advocacy Day as well as a session on how to effectively engage peers and the media after Advocacy Day.

2019 will no doubt be a busy year for health care advocacy and we welcome your involvement. Please contact Lynda Layer at llayer@mms.org learn more.

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The Massachusetts Chapter on Social Media

“Like” us on Facebook:

(American College of Physicians, Massachusetts Chapter)

Follow us on Twitter:
@ACPMAChapter
(ACP Massachusetts)

Follow MA ACP Governor on Twitter: @MAACPGovernor

Follow MA ACP Governor on Instagram: @maacpgovernor

“Like” the MA ACP Governor Page on Facebook: MAACPGovernor

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New Members

The Chapter recognizes and congratulates the following physicians.

Fellows

Thank you to our current Fellows who have served our chapter over the past 6 months by sponsoring our New Fellows listed here:

Cesar Augusto Aguilar-Lopez, MD FACP
Jacob Alexander, MBBS FACP
Lindsey R Baden, MD FACP
Magdalena Boelsterl, MD FACP
Vinod K Chaubey, MD FACP
Tarek A El Sharkawy, MD FACP
David Feinbloom, MD FACP
Michelle J Gochioco, MD FACP
David Z Grace, MD, FACP
Hemant Hora, MD FACP
Nandana I Kansra, MD FACP
Venkatrao Medarametla, MD, FACP
David M Meenan, DO, FACP
Kriti Mittal, MBBS, FACP
Zeyar Myint, MD, FACP
Matthias M Nurnberger, MD FACP
Oksana Primmer, MD FACP
Kristin E Remus, DO FACP
Adam Rodman, MD FACP
Bruce B Rosen, MD FACP
Hemal N Sampat, MD FACP
Jennifer B Sargent, DO FACP
Rohan Sen, MD, FACP
Niloufar H Shoushtari, MD FACP
Sonal Singh, MD, FACP
Carl G Streed, Jr, MD, FACP
Anupama Surendran, MD FACP
Ramakrishna Thippanna, MD FACP
Deepu A Thomas, MD FACP
Meghna Trivedi, MD FACP
Daniela Urma, MD FACP
Anita Vanka, MD FACP
Sharon Wretzel, MD FACP
Wei Yang, MD, FACP
Oladapo Yeku, MD,PhD FACP
Zheng Zhou, MD FACP

You may be eligible to progress to Fellowship in the college. If you have never considered the same, please check out the ACP website . I strongly urge you to consider becoming a Fellow. I am happy to help with any questions that may arise if you do not find the information on the ACP website.

Members

Jose J Acevedo, MD
Matthew Adlestein, MD
Aravind Ajakumar Menon, MD
Komal Akhtar, MD
Abdulhamied Al Faddagh, MD
Sylvia Vania Alarcon Velasco, MD
Ahmed A Alsolami, MD
Sonia Ananthakrishnan, MD
Kathlyne Anderson, MD
Eric Ardolino, MD
Artem Astsaturov, MD
Lenore Azaroff, MD
Jaime M Barker, MD
Wael Barkoudah, MD
Lydia Barlow, MD
Daphna H Bar-Nur, MD
Thara Basavaiah, MD
Lauren N Bedrosian, MD
James S Besante, MD
Irun Bhan, MD
Jessamyn Blau, MD
Justine Blum, MD
Matthew Burdette, DO
Kristy M Cahill, MD
Arun K Chandran, MBBS
Gina Chen, MD
Teresa Cheng, MD
Gerald Chi, MD
Sanjita Chittimoju, MD
Yashodhan Chivate, MD
Andrea L Ciaranello, MD
Stephanie Cody, MD
Donna Cota, DO
James L Dawson, MD
Elita Defeo, DO
Karen Deffenbacher, MD PhD
Jay J Dennehy, MD
Kabilan Dharmarajan, MD
Oluchi Dike, MD
Ilona DuBuske, DO
Natasha Dudiki, MD
Tanu Duggal, MBBS
Erica Dwyer, MD, PHD
Feyza Erenler, MD
Andrew Fauteux, MD
Andreas Filippaios, MD
Ashley Freyre, MD
Raghunandan Ghimire, MBBS
Jacinta Grant, MD
Benjamin Grin, MD
Shruti Gupta, MD
Sungho Han, DO
Boram Han, MD
Mary Kathryn Hannan, MD
Abdalla Hassan, MD
Kelly Hathorn, MD
Deidre R Hein, DO
Nicole Herbst, MD
Luna Hidaya, MD
Kelsey Hills-Evans, MD
Brandi L Hoag, DO
Amy T Hou, MD
Chi-Joan How, MD
Elizabeth Hutton, MD
Mridula A Jacob, MD
Aisha James, MD
Russell W Jenkins, MD, PhD
Anil K Jha, MBBS
Tulip Jhaveri, MBBS
Haixia Jia, MD
Louise Kane, MD
Firas Kara, MD
Philip Kemp, MD
Tamer Khafagy, MD
John S Kim, MD
Yu Na Kim, MD
Carolyn Koulouris, MD
Hussam A Kurdi, MD
Rida Laeeq, MD
James S Lang, MD
Steven Lau, DO
Elizabeth Levine, MD
Jeff Liao, MD
Brian Lilleness, MD
Paul Long, MD
Abiramy Maheswaran, MD
Muhammad Owais Malik, MD, MBBS
Lucas Marinacci, MD
Fady Y Marmoush, MD
Mary A Marschner, MD
Cynthia L Mazzoni, MD
Jessica McCannon, MD
Susan McGirr, MD
Mythily Meda, MBBS
Edward G Medeiros Jr, DO
Eric K Min, MD
Mahmoud A Moawad, MBBCh
Jonila Murati, MD
Timothy Murphy, MD
Purushothaman Muthusamy, MD
Qiang Nai, MD,PhD
Alex T Q Nguyen, MD
Benson M Njenga, MD
Ali Nujaidi, MBChB
Ugochi L Obih, MD
Daniele Olveczky, MD
Joseph Omlor, MD
Vinit Oommen, MD
Anthony Dean Osterman, MD
Lina Pabon-Nau, MD
Amar Pandit, MD
Chase Parsons, DO
Ankit R Patel, MD
Prakash Paudel, MD
Deepan Paul, MD
Jesse Michael Platt, MD
Elisabeth Poorman, MD
Ania Preneta, MD
Ashish Rai, MBBS
Leah Ratner, MD
Chandra Reddivari, MBBS MD
Jackie V Rodriguez, MD
Rachel Rome, MD
Philippe Rosenberg, MD
Elizabeth Ryer, DO
Misagh Sadat-Aalaee, MD
Ahmed Salama, MD
Jonathan Salik, MD
Shazia Samanani, MD
Shakira L Sanchez-Collins, MD
Carlton D Scharman, MD
Myles Schultz, MD
Michael Schwartz, MD
Jaclyn C Shameklis, MD
Ali Shami, MD
Claire Shappell, MD
Priya Sharma, MD
Himesh Sheth, MD
Hyun Joon Shin, MD
Naomi S Shin, MD
Courtney Shipman, MD
Monica Sircar, MD
Donielle F Sliwa, MD
Kevin Smith, MD
David Sorkin, MD
Shela Sridhar, MD
Carl G Streed Jr, MD
Johnny Succar, MD
Nicola Sumorok, MD
Luke Suvunrungsi, MD
Selvana S Takla, MD
Alexander Teng, MD
Alexa Triot, MD
Angelique Uhlmann, MD
Ikram Ullah, MD
Joyce C Wamsele, MD
Hannah Wenger, MD
Xiao Yang, MD
Lauren Yang, MD
Christina Yen, MD
Caroline Zahm, MD
Katherine Zeitler, MD
Rena Zheng, MD, PhD

Physician Affiliates

Ana Paula Oppenheimer, MD

Thank you to all members of the MA ACP for your continued support. If you are looking for ways to engage with your local chapter, contact our Chapter Administrator, Lynda Layer at llayer@mms.org or 781-434-7317.

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Massachusetts Governor's Newsletter February 2019