U of M Family Medicine Graduation 2015

Mac Baird, MD, and wife Kris
at our Photo Stop

University of Minnesota Family Medicine and Community Health held its annual resident and fellow commencement on June 2, 2015, at the McNamara Alumni Center on the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis.

The event was catered by D'Amico & Sons, and music was provided by Four Voices String Quartet.

Fifty-four residents graduated from across our eight family medicine residency programs, along with fellows in sports medicine (two graduates), hospice and palliative medicine (three graduates), human sexuality (one graduate), and behavioral medicine (one graduate).

Twenty-five junior faculty and fellows also completed faculty development training in curriculum design, evaluation, and teaching skills. 

A number of family medicine residents and faculty were honored for excellence in teaching, research, and service.

Excellence in Research Award

The Excellence in Research Award was presented to St. Joseph's graduating resident Amanda Weinmann, MD, for a breast cancer screening modality, called molecular breast imaging. 

Weinmann's main roles on the research team were to develop methodologies to reduce patient exposure to radiation, improve image quality, and develop biopsy capability, allowing the imaging technique to be used for screening purposes. Throughout residency, she disseminated her research through peer-reviewed publications and national presentations.

"I was impressed with her ability to use resources wisely in conducting a background literature search to frame the problem, to use her computer programming skills to build a simulation model, and to apply scientifically sound judgement to thoroughly test and validate her design," said Carrie Hruska, PhD, associate professor of medical physics at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, "Ultimately, her design was manufactured and put into clinical use on the molecular breast imaging system. It was designed so well that it simultaneously improved our ability to visualize small breast lesions while also improving the sensitivity of the camera such that patient imaging could be conducted using a lower radiation dose."

Amanda Weinmann, MD

Faculty Awards

Two faculty were recognized for excellence in education of residents, medical students, and other health professionals: Phillip Fallt, MD, Affiliate Faculty Teacher of the Year, and Mark Yeazel, MD, MPH, Faculty Teacher of the Year.

Fallt is an affiliate faculty, teaching OB/GYN in the family medicine clinic to North Memorial residents. One nominator wrote that Fallt's "dedication goes beyond that of a preceptor," that he is "dedicated to the field of family medicine as a whole." 

Phillip Fallt, MD

Yeazel is faculty in our research area and at our North Memorial and University of Minnesota Medical Center residency programs. He also co-leads our faculty development training. Nominators said that Yeazel is "supportive, ready to teach, compassionate, deliberate, and thoughtful." 

Mark Yeazel, MD, MPH

Community Service Award

The Leonard P. Burke, MD, Memorial Award is given to the graduating resident whose family medicine training has resulted in a unique service contribution. St. Cloud's Jennifer Taves, MD, was honored for her work with Reach Out and Read. 

Under Taves watch, St. Cloud's residency clinic site distributed 250 to 300 books annually. 

The director of Reach Out and Read Minnesota, Lynn Burke, had this to say about Taves, "Her dedication, perseverance, and enthusiasm are the reason her clinic's program is thriving." 

Jennifer Taves, MD

STFM Resident Teacher Award

Nine residents from across our eight residency programs were presented the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) Resident Teacher Award for demonstrated interest, ability, and commitment to family medicine.

Awardees included Jennifer Belisle, MD, Karen Borchert, MD, Stephen Clappier, MD, Alisha Fahley, MD, Scott Hanson, DO, Andrew Houghton, MD, Elycia Matushin, MD, and Jennifer Taves, MD.

STFM Resident Teacher Awardees

MORE

• View photos from our fun Photo Stop. 
• Read tweets using the hashtag #umnfamilymedgrad. 
• See our formal graduation photos. 

Duluth residency faculty, staff, residents

UMN Family Medicine Resident and Fellow Commencement

McNamara Alumni Center

University of Minnesota Family Medicine and Community Health held its annual resident and fellow commencement on June 5, 2014, at the McNamara Alumni Center on the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis.

The event was catered by D'Amico & Sons, and music was provided by the Daddy Squeeze Trio.

Fifty-eight residents graduated from across our eight family medicine residency programs, along with fellows in sports medicine (two graduates), hospice and palliative medicine (three graduates), human sexuality (one graduate), and behavioral health (one graduate).

Seventeen junior faculty and fellows also completed faculty development training in curriculum design, evaluation, and teaching skills.

A number of family medicine residents and faculty were honored for excellence in teaching, research, and service.

Excellence in Research Award

The Excellence in Research Award was presented to Mankato graduating resident Joanne Genewick, DO, for her study of advance directives.

While working on hospital service, Genewick routinely saw patients who had not taken action to direct their care at end-of-life. A 2013 study from the American Journal of Public Health revealed that "more than 60% of adult participants wanted their end-of-life wishes to be respected; yet, only a third had completed advance directives." As Genewick found, this gap is not uncommon.

To understand the gap, Genewick studied patients who completed advance directives to gain a better understanding of what motivated them to take action.

Among her findings, she discovered:

• Language mattered—how physicians approached the conversation of end-of-life care impacted patient action.
• Targeting various age groups based on readiness to listen showed a direct correlation to patient action.
• Individual patient factors, like education level, had an impact on patient action. 

Joanne Genewick, DO

Faculty Awards

Two faculty were recognized for excellence in education of residents, medical students, and other health professionals: Deanna Bass, MD, Affiliate Faculty Teacher of the Year, and Andrew Slattengren, DO, Faculty Teacher of the Year.

Bass is affiliate faculty, teaching and providing integrated psychiatry services at three of our family medicine residency programs: St. John's Hospital, St. Joseph's Hospital, and University of Minnesota Medical Center. She was honored for her innovative teaching methods and development of unique tools like the Rapid Interview for Psychiatry model and 50 smart phrases for primary care providers (to improve diagnostic and treatment planning skills). Bass has been a valued member of our teaching team for nearly two decades. She is an advocate for primary care and integrated behavioral medicine.

Deanna Bass, MD

Slattengren is faculty at our North Memorial Family Medicine Residency and currently chairs the planning committee for the 2014 Family Medicine Midwest Conference. He was recognized for his passionate, innovative teaching; commitment to scholarship; and patient care delivery. In their nomination letter, North Memorial residents wrote, "Slattengren created an environment where inquisitive learning is supported and valued."

Andrew Slattengren, DO

Community Service Award

The Leonard P. Burke, MD, Memorial Award is given to the graduating resident whose family medicine training has resulted in a unique service contribution. North Memorial's Keri Bergeson, MD, was honored for building a partnership between North Memorial residency and Exodus House, a homeless shelter in Minneapolis. More specifically, she designed a longitudinal rotation for residents in North Memorial's underserved medicine pathway to provide clinical care at Exodus House once/week.

Throughout her medical training, Bergeson has demonstrated a passion for underserved medicine and a commitment to community service. The director of health services for Catholic Charities, which operates Exodus House, said, "Keri Bergeson, MD, has both head and heart, which is the best combination for a physician."

Her community outreach and service extends beyond this noteworthy project; she has also been actively involved with the Phillips Neighborhood Clinic, a free clinic in Minneapolis, and the Interprofessional Street Outreach Program.

Keri Bergeson, MD

STFM Resident Teacher Award

Nine residents from across our eight residency programs were presented the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) Resident Teacher Award for demonstrated interest, ability, and commitment to family medicine.

Awardees included Eli Horn, MD, Joanne Genewick, DO, Elizabeth Meichsner, MD, Maiken Strohm, MD, Susan Pleasants, MD, Natalya Lyadova, MD, Kate Brown, MD, Brittany Kalmi, MD, and Gaurav Nigam, MBBS.

MORE

• Check out Storify to read tweets from the event. 
• Visit our Facebook page to see an event photo album. 

A fun shot with our UMMC residency grads and faculty

STFM Annual Spring Conference 2014

The Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) held its annual spring conference May 3-7, 2014, in San Antonio, Texas. The conference focused on leadership and advocacy in early careers and the development of skills to lead institutional and national change.

UMN Family Medicine at the Conference

The University of Minnesota Department of Family Medicine and Community Health was well represented at the conference, with about 25 faculty, residents, and medical students presenting on a variety of family medicine and primary care-related topics.

Faculty Shailey Prasad, MD, MPH, and Kathleen
Brooks, MD, MBA, MPA, with med students Brian
Park, MPH, and Catie Glatz presenting at the
conference.

Presenters included department head Macaran Baird, MD, MS; faculty Nancy Baker, MD, Jerica Berge, PhD, MPH, Joe Brocato, PhD, Kathleen Brooks, MD, MBA, MPA, Reneé Crichlow, MD, Bruce Dahlman, MD, MSc, Roli Dwivedi, MD, Lauren Giammar, MD, Jody Lounsbery, PharmD, Jean Moon, PharmD, C.J. Peek, PhD, Shailey Prasad, MD, MPH, Jacob Prunuske, MD, MSPH, Lisa Prusak, MD, Chris Reif, MD, MPH, Andrew Slattengren, DO, and Michael Wootten, MD; retired faculty Barbara Leone, MD; residents Keri Bergeson, MD, Betsy Gilbertson, MD, and Cora Walsh, MD; and medical students Brian Park, MPH, and Catie Glatz.

Topics included adolescent obesity, community health assessment, clinical pharmacy services, innovative didactics, end-of-life care, faculty development and mentorship, global health, integrated care, interprofessional education, leadership, homeless care, population health, research and scholarship, resident teaching, and rural and urban medicine.

Education director Joe Brocato, PhD, is also a member of the STFM Program Committee, who planned the conference.

UMN Family Medicine Receives AAFP Top 10 Award

The University of Minnesota Medical School was also honored with an American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Top 10 Award for its ongoing contribution to the pipeline of family physicians.

The University of Minnesota ranked sixth in 2014 with 18% of graduates entering family medicine. Even more impressive, AAFP reports that since 1980, the University of Minnesota has graduated more medical students entering family medicine residencies than any other allopathic school in the U.S.

AAFP President Reid Blackwelder, MD, commented, “For the past five years, we have seen growth in student interest in family medicine. Much of the credit goes to the medical schools that have actively supported family medicine as the comprehensive, challenging, and professionally fulfilling specialty that it is.”

UMN Family Medicine representatives receive AAFP Top 10 Award from
AAFP President Reid Blackwelder, MD, at STFM annual spring conference.

Social Media at the Conference: #STFM14

The energy and conversations generated from the conference were not contained to the walls of the Grand Hyatt San Antonio. The conference hashtag, #STFM14, saw more than six million impressions, averaging 35 tweets/hour.

Faculty and medical students joined the online conversation as well. The department’s top contributors were North Memorial residency faculty Reneé Crichlow, MD, (@reneecrichlowMD) and Duluth campus faculty Jacob Prunuske, MD, MSPH (@jprunuske).

Here is a sampling of our favorite #STFM14 tweets:

• @aafpprez: From #stfm14 Dr Jack Westfall: Treat your learners as you would have them treat their patients. #aafp

• @kanfamdoc: Whole people deserve whole health care. #stfm14 #fmrevolution

• @bicmay: MT @reneecrichlowMD: We have to make advocacy training a part of residency. #FMRevolution stories need to be told. #stfm14

• @SingingPenDrJen: #stfm14 Rodgers plenary: "You get the best efforts from others not by lighting a fire beneath them but by building a fire within them."

• @RichmonddDoc: Saultz: Family medicine does not gain by seeking to align w/ a system that promotes high-tech, high-cost gadgets that benefit few.  #stfm14

• @reneecrichlowMD: Why have community health assessment? "Family medicine includes comprehensive continuous care in the context of community." #stfm14 #RPAP

• @MaryTheobald: Purpose of Milestones is not to evaluate residents, it’s to evaluate programs. #stfm14

• @RichmondDoc: Social determinants of health is not a new subject for FM, but it has taken on a new urgency in today's world. #stfm14

• @RichmondDoc: Woolf: I don't think that most Americans realize the chance our children will reach 5 yrs old is the lowest in the developed world. #stfm14

• @jprunuske: Investment in #education may lead to more health benefits than investment in #medicalcare. #stfm14 

• @reneecrichlowMD: Family AND Community Medicine is our specialty and we must work in both to address the Social Determinants of Health #STFM14 #FMRevolution

• @KPDocAdriano: We all have bias. We have to learn to recognize them & leave them at the door to provide excellent care. #stfm14

• @jprunuske: Americans instinct to deal with health problems is medical care. WRONG. #stfm14 Must address community where we live work & play.

• @reneecrichlowMD: #STFM14 Inspiration and Information! Great Meeting! New friends and Old, see you next year! Viva la #FMRevolution

Save the Date: STFM 2015

Next year’s STFM annual spring conference will be held in Orlando, Florida, April 25-29. Yep, we’ll see you in Disney World, #STFM15!