Letter from the Chair
Welcome to the summer DOM Insider! It has been a busy second half of the academic year with many exciting things happening in the department.
This spring we celebrated graduation for our fellows and residents and wish them well as they embark on the next step in their careers. The department did extremely well in resident and fellow matches and we now look forward to welcoming new trainees this summer. We also want to congratulate Steven Cheng on his new role as Director for the Residency Program.
We’ve wrapped up an informative year of Grand Rounds, and look forward to a new year of presentations starting in August with CPC beginning in September. Our clinical and research efforts are thriving and our faculty, staff and trainees continue to be recognized for their many achievements. We are especially proud of being able to celebrate Ramsey Hachem and the pulmonary transplant team for the 2000th lung transplant.
Our spotlight story is on Third Space Endoscopy with Ahmad Najdat Bazarbashi and the cutting edge techniques being used for patients in Gastroenterology. Take a few moments to learn more about the outstanding clinical care, innovative research, and educational excellence delivered by your colleagues from across the department.
I also encourage you to frequently visit the DOM website to learn about the latest division news as well as on our DOM social accounts. In fact, we’re now on Facebook as we work to broaden our connections across the Department of Medicine, along with our community and patients as well. We hope if you’re on social media you’ll be sure to follow us and share DOM news on your profiles.
I hope you take advantage of this time to reconnect with your family and friends and enjoy all the great things available to us. Summer is a perfect time to focus on wellness and getting outside and enjoying all that St. Louis has to offer - be it a walk around Forest Park, a visit to the Zoo, a St. Louis City SC game or a concrete at Ted Drew’s after a show at the Muny. Or perhaps just a quiet evening with a new book.
As always, thank you for your support of the Department of Medicine.
Best Regards,
Vicky Fraser, MD, Adolphus Busch Professor of Medicine, Chair, Department of Medicine
Spotlight
Third Space Endoscopy with Ahmad Najdat Bazarbashi, MD. Dr. Bazarbashi is one of the faculty in the WashU Gastroenterology Division, specifically in the section of Biliary & Interventional-Endoscopy and is director of the Third Space Endoscopy Program.
Read more about the work being done to advance care for patients.
Clinical News
Transplant team celebrates WashU’s 2000th Lung Transplant. Read more.
Center co-Director collaborates with university & Nigerian partners to curb hypertension. Read more.
Research News
Deadly Fungal Infections Confound Doctors—‘It’s Going to Get Worse’ Read more.
Maternal vitamin D deficiency increases lifetime diabetes risk in offspring. Read more.
Kidney donor updates for those with HCV and COVID-19. Read more.
Scanning electron microscopy of human islet cilia. Read more.
Finding may lead to improved insulin-secreting cells derived from stem cells. Read more.
Red flags indicate risk for early-onset colorectal cancer. Read more.
Putting Radiation to the test to heal irregular heartbeat. Read more.
Kulkarni Lab (bottom) investigates modulating host immune response in the lungs in severe pneumonia. Read more.
COVID-19 vaccine appears more effective if received around midday. Read more.
Adam May, MD, Co-Authors New Review in JACC on Critical Care of Electrical Storm. Read more.
Nancy Sweitzer, MD, PhD, published study in NEJ on DCD Trial. Read more.
Cardiovascular Faculty Publish Study on Inequities in Treatment for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Patients. Read more.
Education News & Events
WashU Living Well Center (LWC) offers a Lifestyle Medicine & Food As Medicine Essentials Course.
Enrollments are open until August 15, 2023. For more information and to register.
Office of Vice Chair of Education
Congratulations to the Class of 2023! As we move into a new academic year, we would like to honor the accomplishments of our entire medical education team working tirelessly towards a smooth turnover of trainees. We recognize and applaud the herculean effort that is required of everyone at this special time of year.
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Hematology/Oncology Fellows celebrate graduation. From left: David Russler-Germain, MD, PhD, Michael Slade, MD, Raya Saba, MD, Bindya Patel, MD, Fahrettin Covut, MD, Michael Igelsia, MD, PhD.
Gastroenterology Fellows celebrate graduation. Back row from left: Kemmian Johnson, MD, MPH, Matthew Peller, MD, Badr Alhumayyd, MBBS, Parth Shah, MD, Parth Patel, MD. Front row from left: Garrett Greenan, MD, Lolwa Al-Obaid, MD, Vladimir Lamm, MD. Not pictured: Ankita Tirath.Learn more about leadership changes, accomplishments and other exciting education and scholarship news in the latest update from the Office of the Vice Chair of Education, Abby Spencer, MD.
DOM Office of Faculty Development (OFD)
Visit the OFD website to learn about existing resources and to view upcoming events.
- DOM New Faculty Orientation will be held on Friday, August 18th. All new or recently hired faculty in the Department of Medicine are required to attend! Registration is now open.
- Save the Date – DOM Faculty and Family Day on October 15, 2023 from 11:00am-3:00pm. More details can be found here.
- The DOM Health and Wellness Program led by Dr. Carolina Salvador has a new webpage which provides an overview of the program, information about the Well-Being Council, and a list of internal/external resources including wellness websites, phone apps, books, podcasts, and articles.
IDEAS at DOM and Vice Chair of Health Equity
IDEAS at DOM hosted an event at the home of Dr. Angela Brown, Vice Chair of Health Equity, on June 4th to celebrate our graduating Internal Medicine residents and fellows. We also had an opportunity to meet some of our incoming Internal Medicine residents! Story here.
OUTmed
- OUTmed returned as a sponsor of St. Louis PrideFest 2023, held June 24 and 25 in downtown St. Louis. The theme for 2023 Pride St. Louis was Diversity Creates Community. OUTmed coordinated opportunities for WashU Med faculty, trainees, residents, students, staff, and allies to participate throughout the weekend. Throughout weekend volunteers helped to staff a booth offering resources available at Washington University School of Medicine for PrideFest attendees. On Sunday, over 200 WashU Med attendees, their families, and friends marched in the Grand Parade, wearing coordinating t-shirts provided by OUTmed. Story here.
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2023 St. Louis Pride Parade.
2023 OUTmed Leadership Team. 
MEDA
- The Mentorship to Enhance Diversity in Academia (MEDA) program hosted a Mentoring Roundtable session for their 2nd Annual Symposium on May 4th. The mentoring roundtables made up of MEDA mentors and mentees focused on discussions on career development, promotions, personalizing your grad/med school experience, faculty job search, grantsmanship, and promoting/supporting DEI in STEM. Story here.
On June 13th, Angela Brown, MD, Vice Chair of Health Equity, and Jill Mantia, Director of IT Special Projects, for the Department of Medicine presented a workshop on “Translating Dashboard Data into Actionable DEI and Faculty Development Strategies" at the AAMC 2023 Group on Diversity and Inclusion (GDI) and Group on Faculty Affairs (GFA) Joint Professional Development Conference. Their presentation was in collaboration with the University of Arkansas. Learn more.
Forum for Women in Medicine
Check the FWIM webpage for future dates and events.
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FWIM Interdivisional Lunches took place in March and April to bring together women faculty and trainees across the division for community building over a series of lunches.
FWIM Trainee Leadership Development Program graduated its first cohort. Celebratory dinner with plaque distribution took place on May 16th. Year two cohort will be recruited this summer. 
Across the Department
Rakhee Bhayani, MD, published a paper in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. Read more.
Seasonal Allergies Overflow Your Bucket. Read more.
Learn Ways to Help Prevent a Stroke. Read more.
Paint, Paper and Watercolors with Raya Saba, MD. Read more.
Several Members of WashU Nephrology participated in the National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meetings. Read more.
North County Dialysis Team celebrates when one of their high-risk dialysis patients gives birth to a baby boy. Read more.
Karen Joynt Maddox, MD, testifies at Senate Finance Committee Hearing on Health Care. Read more.
Amy Riek, MD, gets personal in Show Me the Science podcast. Read more.
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New Faculty Leadership
Rakhee Bhayani, MD: Named Vice Chair for the Advancement of Women’s Careers Learn more.
Maya R. Jerath, MD, PhD: Named Vice Chair of Ambulatory Clinical Operations, Safety and Quality. Learn more.
Kelli King-Morris, MD: Named Director of new Maternal Fetal Medicine Nephrology Clinic at WashU. Learn more.
Kory Lavine, MD: Named Director for Center of Cardiovascular. Learn more.
Frank O’Brien, MD: Nephrology Fellowship Senior Associate Program Director. Learn more.
In Memorium
Obituary: Robert M. Senior, MD, former professor emeritus of medicine. Read more.
Obituary: Richard D. Brasington, Jr, MD, former director of the rheumatology fellowship training program. Read more.
Awards/Honors/Distinctions
Fogarty Fellowship proves pivotal for Anubha Agarwal, MD (right). Read more.
- Megan Tierney Baldridge, MD, PhD, elected to American Society for Clinical Investigation. Read more.
- Marlene Cano, MD, PhD, was recently awarded the Unrestricted Early Career Grant for Diversity from the American Thoracic Society. Read more.
- Steven Cheng, MD, received Distinguished Service Teaching Award. Learn more.
- Joseph Cherabie, MD, named “Let’s Stop HIV Together” Ambassador. Learn more.
- Kap Sum Foong, MD, receives LEAP Fellowship. Read more.
Sina Jasim, MD, (left in photo) awarded AACE Rising Star in Endocrinology. Learn more.
- Hrishikesh S. Kulkarni, MD, received the Early Career Award from the International Complement Society. Read more.
- Patricia Litkowski, MD, named project lead of a team selected for the 2023-2024 Big Ideas Competition Award. Learn more.
- Nigar Kirmani, MD, received the Distinguished Service Teaching Award. Read more.
- Zainab Mahmoud, MD, receives Eisenberg Scholar Award. Learn more.
- Robert Mahoney, MD, recognized as a 2023 Castle Connolly Top Doctor. Read more.
- Innovative Research Opens Door to ACS Grants for Russell Pachynski, MD. Read more.
- Luis Parra-Rodriguez, MD, selected for the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), New Investigator Scholarship. Read more.
William G. Powderly, MD, (right) received Carl and Gerty Cori Faculty Achievement Award. Learn more.
- Justin Sadhu, MD, MPHS, FACC, received Distinguished Service Teaching Award. Read more.
- Amanda Verma, MD, appointed to Heart Failure Society of America Committee. Learn more.
- Jean. S. Wang, MD, PhD, FACG, received American College of Gastroenterology’s Community Service Award. Learn more.
- Timothy Yau, MD, received Distinguished Service Teaching Award. Learn more.
Meet the World’s Brainiest Cover Band - It Has a Nobel Prize Winner on Harmonica. Read more.
Millman Lab receives level Gold certification for environmental sustainability. Read more.
Eric Johnson, MD and Martin Kerrigan, MD, receives 2023 Inpatient FIRM Internal Medicine Teachers of the Year. Read more.
WashU Celebration of Inventors 2023. Learn more.
2023 Internal Medicine Scholars Symposium Winners: Jonah Graves, MD, Alexa Loncharich, MD, Kandice Roberts, MD, Sajal Tiwary, MD, Cosette Champion, MD. Read more.
Cardiovascular Care at Barnes-Jewish Hospital Recognized for Excellence. Read more.
Congrats to the 2023 CRTC Award Winners. Read more.
Cardiovascular Faculty Members: Karen Joynt Maddox, MD, Rajan Sah, MD, Sumanth Prabhu, MD, Stacey Rentschler, MD, PhD, inducted into ASCI and AAP. Learn more.
Big Ideas announced the 2023-2024 awarded teams, featuring 14 DOM faculty. View the winning teams.
Welcome
- Hospital Medicine welcomes new hospitalist: Mohamed Ramadan, MD.
- Nephrology welcomes new Transplant Nephrology Fellow, Samer Abdulkhalek, MD.
- Allergy and Immunology welcomes Omar Elsayed-Ali, MD, as Assistant Professor of Medicine. Read more.
2023-2024 Internal Medicine Chief Residents:
Opportunities
New Program for Underrepresented in Medicine for Equity and Diversity (PROUD-MED) is soliciting for nominations and applications. Learn more.
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Resources
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