“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” ~ Jack Welch
June 29, 2012
Dear Colleagues and Friends:
Welcome to Our New Intern, Resident and Fellow Colleagues …
We want to send a big welcome to our new intern, resident and fellow colleagues beginning July 1. This week was orientation and we had a variety of presentations from our leadership as well as from our community leaders, VA, and GHS Medical Associates. Many thanks to Dr. Don Loebl and Ms. Karyn Nixon for welcoming our new colleagues to our community. There was a focus on excellence, quality, professionalism, and academic culture. Our colleagues also had training on our computer systems, medical student education and residents as teachers, along with our commitment to cultural diversity. Many thanks to Dr. Walt Moore and the GME staff, along with our faculty leadership, HR, Occupational Health Services, Alumni Center Staff, Information Technology, Medical Staff, Nursing Staff, and many others who provided their leadership and expertise. We very much appreciate everyone’s involvement and superb professionalism in making this event such a success.
Congratulations … Interim Dean for College of Graduate Studies …
Congratulations to Dr. Sylvia Smith on her recent appointment at Interim Dean of the College of Graduate Studies. We are excited and very proud of Dr. Smith as she takes on this new leadership role in addition to her roles as Professor of Cellular Biology and Anatomy, Ophthalmology and Graduate Studies and Co-Director of the Vision Discovery Institute.
Welcome to Our New Vice Chair in Psychiatry …
Dr. Peter B. Rosenquist will join our MCG faculty in July as Vice Chair and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior. He will also serve as the Director of Therapeutic Neurostimulation Lab. He has performed more than 10,000 electroconvulsive therapy sessions and is a leading principal investigator on industry trials exploring their use in major depression. He is also a chief collaborator for NIH supported studies in ECT and insomnia with Dr. W. Vaughn McCall, our new Chair of Psychiatry. Please join us as we welcome Dr. and Mrs. Rosenquist and their family to our MCG/GHSU family.
New Leadership at the GHS Medical Associates Helm …
As welcome the start of the new academic year, we also welcome the change in leadership with GHS Medical Associates. We want to express our sincere appreciation to Dr. Tony Mulloy as he rotates off the board as past chair and Dr. Stil Kountakis becomes past chair. We very much appreciate Dr. Kountakis’ leadership during his tenure as chair. We welcome Dr. David Bogorad as Chair, Dr. Jack Yu as Chair-Elect and Dr. Jatinder Bhatia as Secretary/Treasurer and look forward to their leadership as the new officers and offer our support. As we also welcome our new General Membership Trustees: Drs. Janis Coffin, Jim Mayfield, and Monte Hunter (re-elected for a second term), we want to thank Drs. Janet Munroe and Jennifer Herbert for their leadership and service this past year.
Congratulations … NBME Multimedia Task Force Appointment …
Congratulations to Dr. Pamela Fall on her recent appointment to the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Multimedia Task Force. The NBME is developing several MCG-based testing formats using multimedia to improve assessment of skills in physical diagnosis in USMLE and NBME subject exams. This is a wonderful opportunity for Dr. Fall to not only provide her knowledge and leadership but also to learn about these new testing formats to help improve medical education.
A Week of Collaboration Locally and Statewide …
Yesterday our new Cardiology Outpatient Site – Summerville office was launched at Trinity Hospital. Our thanks to Drs. Sheldon Litwin and Vinayak Kamath and all of the faculty and staff for making this happen. It is a wonderful opportunity for collaboration with our colleagues at Trinity Hospital.
Also this week the partnership between GHSU and University Hospital grew stronger as an expanded resident training affiliation agreement was approved by both institution’s Board of Directors. This affiliation expands the training of our residents at University. We very much appreciate the leadership of Drs. William Farr, Barry Jenkins, Walt Moore, and the faculty at both institutions for leadership and support of this wonderful opportunity for our colleagues in training. There will be 32 residents (12 internal medicine, 8 OBGYN, and 12 general surgery) who will complete part of their training this academic year at University. We are very excited about this ‘new’ partnership with our colleagues at University.
We also had the opportunity to present to the Board of Directors at SouthEast Regional Medical Center, our partner in medical education training in Brunswick. The vibrancy of our partnership is quite evident in Brunswick. There is new space for our medical students as well as a new simulation lab being built. Our thanks to Mr. Gary Colberg, Drs. Kathryn Martin and Wayne Rentz for their leadership and support of our partnership.
GHSU-ASU Consolidation Update …
Please continue to check out the website asughsu.org for the most updated consolidation news available including news on the Needs Assessment and Planning and Evaluation and Assessment sections of the prospectus as well as news regarding the faculty governance survey.
Supreme Court Upheld Affordable Care Act (ACA) …
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) released a statement yesterday (https://www.aamc.org/newsroom/newsreleases/295714/120628.html) “applauding” the Supreme Court’s ruling on the ACA. Although the AAMC is supportive of the ruling, they are closely watching how this relates to the Medicaid expansion. Now that approximately 32 million Americans will be newly insured, addressing the nation’s physician shortage (more than 90,000 by 2020), is a very real concern. The AAMC will continue to encourage Congress to provide more federal dollars to support physician training. We must be ready and able to care for these newly insured patients.
Medicine-Pediatrics Student Interest Group Formed …
With the leadership of Dr. Kim Doan Nguyen and assistance of now graduates, Drs. Philip Neiheisel and Carmen Wallace formed the Medicine-Pediatrics Student Interest group. This group meets to discuss reasons for choosing Medicine-Pediatrics and the experiences they have in applying to residency programs including application and interview processes. This is a very collaborative group in that community physicians as well as physicians from across the nation have joined in the mentoring and advisement of the students in the group. Dr. Nguyen is leading a proposal to develop an Obesity Intervention Program in Augusta in partnership with the Kroc Center. Participation in the kickoff program included our faculty, staff, students, and residents, as well Harrisburg Family Health Center, Healthy Augusta, Pediatric Partners, Hope Medical Center, Barney’s Pharmacy, Ambient Health, and representatives from Wildtree. Contact Michael Bykhovsky (mbykhovsky@georgiahealth.edu) President of Medicine-Pediatric Student Interest Group for more information.
Upcoming Dates and Events …
July 4th Independence Day
July 19th – 5th Annual Minority Mental Health Awareness Breakfast, 7:30 am, Be My Guest Catering & Events, 4216 Washington Road – Information Helen Blocker-Adams at hba@hbagroup-intl.com
July 24th GHS Blood Drive, 7 am to 6 pm, CMC Lobby
July 26th Beat the Heat – Blizzards to benefit our CMC – Miracle Treat Day
July 28th Halloween in July/Fireworks at the Augusta Greenjackets, 7:05 pm, Lake Olmstead Stadium
July 30th Cleveland Clinic Academy – We are delighted that Drs. Carly Hess and James Stoller will be on campus on July 30th: Dr. Stoller will present (7 am, Lee Auditorium) on “Leadership, Collaboration, and Change in Healthcare” and Dr. Hess will present (Noon, EC 1222) on “The Cleveland Clinic Academy: Why We Built It and What’s Been In It For Us”. Please attend these new offerings.
July 31st Back to School Alcohol Prevention and Awareness Town Hall, 6 pm, Augusta-Richmond County Library – a Collaborative community effort through a contract from the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, Division of Addictive Diseases/Office of Prevention Services and Programs, Institute of Public and Preventive Health, The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and Columbia County Community Connections. Contact a team member at 706-721-8418.
August 1st Class of 2016 Orientation
August 8th Educational Innovation Institutes EAT (Education and Treats), 12 noon, Magnolia Room in Terrace Dining, “Faculty Learning Communities: Communal Professional Development”
September 8th GHSU Family Day/MCG White Coat Ceremony
September 13th MCG Faculty Senate and Richmond County Medical Society New Faculty Reception
September 20th Career Development 101 (CD-101), 8:30-3:00, Alumni Center (charper@georgiahealth.edu)
October 20th MAG 158th House of Delegates Meeting
Have a great weekend!
Warm Regards,