Tag Archives: Recognition

Distinguished SOM professor and alum Michael Weaver, M.D., announces retirement

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Michael L. Weaver, M.D., FACEP, CDM, clinical professor in emergency medicine and early graduate of the medical school, has announced his retirement as of July 1. Weaver was the first African-American to complete the school’s full six-year curriculum, graduating in 1977.

During his years as a physician, Weaver has championed the School of Medicine’s efforts in diversity and inclusion while earning a national reputation as a leader in emergency medicine and an advocate for victims of abuse.

In addition to his teaching role at the School of Medicine through Saint Luke’s Hospital, Weaver served in many capacities at the school. These included being a member of the Selection Council, the Diversity Council, and chair of the alumni Minority Faculty Recruitment Committee and the Alumni Retention Committee. He established a minority scholarship at the school in 2004, and was the first African- American to hold the title of clinical professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine. He has provided education to the School of Medicine through Grand Rounds and noon conferences, and has provided mentorship within the Summer Scholars Program.

Weaver is the 1997 winner of the school’s E. Grey Dimond, M.D., Take Wing award and is also an E. Grey Dimond Fellow.

He served as medical director of Saint Luke’s Kansas City Hospital’s Level I trauma emergency services for 17 years and was the founding chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine. He has provided emergency medicine oversight for MAST and Life Flight Ambulance systems for more than 15 years and was appointed by Missouri Governors Carnahan and Ashcroft to chair EMS for Missouri.

Since 1980, he has been the medical director of Saint Luke’s Health System’s Clinical Forensic Program, providing care for victims of elderly/child abuse, sexual assault, interpersonal violence and trauma. In this role, Weaver has also been a consultant for the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice and the White House. He has authored numerous articles, edited books/journals and lectured internationally.

For the past 15 years, Weaver has led the Critical Mass Gathering event, a mentoring program for underrepresented minority medical students at UMKC, University of Kansas and Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences. To continue that work, Weaver founded Mission Vision Project KC, a nonprofit that aims to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in the Kansas City health care workforce.

Weaver says, “It’s hard to be it, if you can’t see it!” He plans to create age-appropriate mentorship opportunities for K-12 to show underrepresented minorities that they can see and aspire to be doctors or dentists, pharmacists, nurses, paramedics, biomedical engineers, etc. He will continue working with health care organizations, educational institutions, and community partners to raise funds to support these goals.

With retirement, Weaver plans to spend more time with his family and continue his work with Mission Vision Project KC.

School of Medicine celebrates faculty, student achievements

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The School of Medicine recognized 36 faculty members who recently received promotions and tenure and presented six special awards for faculty and student achievements during a reception on Sept. 28 at Diastole.

This year’s list included 12 faculty promotions to the rank of professor and 24 to the rank of associate professor. Visit the School of Medicine web site for the complete list of faculty promotions.

Special Award Recognitions

Louise E Arnold Excellence in Medical Education Research Award
George Thompson, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry, received the third-annual award that recognizes someone who has contributed to innovation and scholarship in medical education.

Thompson says his goal in medical education is to support students in fully integrating humanism, good communication, and professionalism into their practice of competent biological medicine. He has served as course director for the School of Medicine’s courses on fundamentals of medical practice and CUES to medical communication. A nomination letter recognized him for nurturing medical professionalism in his students.

Betty M. Drees, M.D., Awards for Excelling in Mentoring
The fifth-annual awards were presented to faculty members for their excellence in mentoring, guiding, coaching and sponsoring students, trainees, staff and peer faculty.

Prakash Chandra, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry, received the award presented each year to an assistant or associate professor. Chandra joined the School of Medicine faculty in 2013. In letters supporting his nomination, Chandra’s trainees wrote, “I cannot remember a single time where Dr. Chandra was not there for us. No matter how busy he is, he always put his mentees ahead. He is a great listener and eager to teach. In addition to being a guide, Dr. Chandra has pushed me to achieve more than I could imagine.”

Paul Cuddy, Pharm.D., vice dean of the School of Medicine, received the Lifetime Achieve in Mentoring Award that is given to a full professor. Letters of nomination noted Cuddy’s 37 years of service to the School of Medicine where he has also served as senior associate dean for academic affair and associate dean for the curriculum among many other roles. One wrote, “Paul is a careful listener, gives constructive feedback and criticism in a manner that leaves a feeling that something was accomplished. He is the soul of the SOM.”

Christopher Papasian Excellence in Teaching Award
Theodore Cole, Ph.D, professor of biomedical sciences, received the second-annual award recognizing a faculty member who excels in medical student education through innovative contributors to the educational mission. Cole has served a member of the School of Medicine’s biomedical sciences faculty since 1999. His students commended his encouragement and support in their nomination letters for the award. “Never a more respectful or gracious man, and with such a calming, ‘it’s not so complicated’ voice, he teaches.”

Excellence in Diversity and Health Equity in Medicine Awards
These awards recognize an individual or organization that has demonstrated sustained and impactful contribution to diversity, inclusion and cultural competency or health equity. The award is given to a student or student organization, and to faculty, staff, resident and/or organization/department.

Taylor Carter, a sixth-year medical student received the student award for her leadership and service with many school and national organizations. A member of Student National Medical Association, a national organization representing underrepresented minority medical students, since 2013, she currently serves as chair of the national academic affairs committee.

Carter has also served as a School of Medicine student representative to the diversity council as well as a student representative to the Children’s Mercy Diversity General Medical Education Sub-Committee. She works with School of Medicine partners on cultural competency curriculum reform to improve the student training in areas such as social determinants of health, personal biases and treating individuals from different backgrounds.

Two groups, the UMKC Student National Medical Association (SNMA) and the Children’s Mercy Hospital Faculty and Trainee Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (FTEDI) Committee, received diversity awards for organizations.

In the past year, the school’s SNMA chapter currently partnered with the Linwood YMCA to provide members who assist with its events, including the Launchpad after-school program, tutoring and mentoring middle and high school students. The chapter has also initiated new programming including a cultural competency workshop and a campus Living Culture event to celebrate diversity. For the past nine years, the organization has conducted a Black History Month Celebration that allows students to display their talents, while educating the audience about health issues that predominately affect the African American and Hispanic population.

The Children’s Mercy FTEDI Committee began as a grassroots effort led by physicians Bridgette Jones, Tamorah Lewis and Jaszianne Tolbert to improve diversity among the pediatrics residency class. The group has since implemented initiatives producing active national recruitment outreach to underrepresented minority trainees and faculty candidates, bias training for hospital leadership, a visiting professorship by national leaders and an elective for minority medical students.

UMKC researchers to present late-breaking studies at cardiovascular symposium

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Research studies by UMKC School of Medicine faculty researchers at the Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute have been selected for presentation at the world’s largest educational meeting for interventional cardiovascular medicine.

The researchers are the first or senior authors of 10 original studies and contributing authors of nine other studies selected for presentation at the 2017 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics symposium in Denver, running October 30 through November 2.

The presentations includes two major studies selected as Late-Breaking Clinical Trials. Only 12 research breakthroughs highlighting the most innovative treatments for heart disease are selected for the late-breaking presentations.

“It is rare for any institution to have even one late-breaking trial presentation at a major cardiology meeting,” said David Cohen, M.D., professor of medicine and MAHI director of cardiovascular research. “Having two of the 12 come from the Mid America Heart Institute is an incredible honor and a testimony to both the Mid America Heart Institute Clinical Scholars program and the international reputation that our research program has come to enjoy.”

Suzanne Baron, M.D., assistant professor of medicine, is the lead author of a study that describes the long-term quality of life outcomes of nearly 2,000 patients enrolled in a landmark multi-center trial. The research compared everolimus-eluting stents and bypass surgery for the treatment of left main coronary artery disease. Cohen is the lead author of the second study that evaluates the cost effectiveness of transcatheter aortic valve replacement compared with surgical aortic valve replacement in intermediate risk patients.

Four of the MAHI studies to be presented at this year’s meeting are the direct result of a groundbreaking OPEN-Chronic Total Occlusions (CTO) registry. The registry is led by Aaron Grantham, M.D., associate professor of medicine, with assistants from  Adam Salisbury, M.D., assistant professor of medicine, and the support of the MAHI Outcomes Research group. The studies define the success, safety, health benefits and cost effectiveness of novel techniques to open blocked coronary arteries that are considered untreatable through minimally invasive techniques.

Vaidyanathan presents research at international neurology conference

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Medical student Vaishnavi Vaidyanathan, right, presented her research poster with her mentors Harold Morris, M.D., and Angela Hawkins, M.S.N., R.N., at the 2017 American Academy of Neurology conference.

Fifth-year medical student Vaishnavi Vaidyanathan spent nearly two months exploring the histories of stroke patients and the effects of the clot-busting drug tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). The result was a research poster she recently presented at the 2017 American Academy of Neurology conference in Boston.

Her presentation showed that patients treated with tPA within the first 24 hours of a suffering a stroke have significantly fewer early onset seizures.

Vaidyanathan began her study last September while completing a neurology rotation at Saint Luke’s Hospital. Under the guidance of Saint Luke’s neurologist Harold Morris, M.D., and Angela Hawkins, M.S.N., R.N., stroke program manager, Vaidyanathan reviewed the histories of nearly 1,300 stroke patients.

“They allowed me to write it up and go through process with their guidance,” Vaidyanathan said. “I learned so much from that, literature searching, how to write up an abstract, doing bio-statistics. It was a great learning opportunity.”

The annual neurology conference in Boston drew an international audience of nearly 14,000 physicians and scientists.

“This conference was a great experience,” Vaidyanathan said. “I got to meet people who are celebrities in the neurology field. They’re very well-known. I had the opportunity to listen to talks about the latest research that’s going on in neurology and hear all the great innovations that are happening. It was an awesome experience.”

Vaidyanathan said she already has ideas for future studies that look at the effects of tPA and other intra-arterial interventions on the incidence of post-stroke seizures.

“I hope to do further investigation of these patients and get more results that I can write up and present,” she said.

Physician Assistant students take part in 2017 White Coat Ceremony

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Members of the School of Medicine’s physician assistant program took part in the reading the PA Professional Oath during the annual White Coat Ceremony on April 15.

Eighteen students from the UMKC School of Medicine’s master’s program for Physician Assistants took the spotlight at the UMKC Student Union on April 15.

The class read aloud the Physician Assistant Professional Oath as part of the program’s White Coat Ceremony, marking a milestone in the journey toward completing  the Master of Medical Science Physician Assistant degree.

At the School of Medicine, the annual rite takes place at the beginning of the students’ fifth semester of the seven-semester program. It signifies the time of students transitioning from the classroom to the clinical phase of their training.

This was the third year of the White Coat Ceremony for the school’s PA program, which celebrated its first graduating class last May.

Following a brief welcome and introductions from program director Kathy Ervie, M.P.A.S., PA-C, Jim Wooten, Pharm. D., and associate professor of medicine for the departments of Basic Medical Sciences and Internal Medicine, offered brief remarks of encouragement.

Members of the PA program faculty then placed the white coats on their students’ shoulders. The white coat is considered a mantle of the medical profession and the ceremony emphasizes the importance of compassionate care and expertise in the science of medicine.

The Arnold P. Gold Foundation initiated the White Coat Ceremony to welcome students into the medical profession and set expectations for their role as health care providers by having them read their professional oath. Today, nearly 97 percent of the AAMC-accredited medical schools in the United States and Canada, and many osteopathic schools of medicine conduct a White Coat Ceremony. The Foundation partnered with the Physician Assistant Education Association to provide funding to establish the first White Coat Ceremonies for PA programs at the end of 2013.

Students chosen to national, regional APAMSA leadership roles

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Timothy Chow, front row, second from left, was recently appointed to the national board of the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association.
Timothy Chow, front row, second from left, was recently appointed to the national board of the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association.
Timothy Chow, Elizabeth Theng
Timothy Chow, Elizabeth Theng

Two UMKC School of Medicine students have been selected to serve in national and regional leadership positions with the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association.

Fourth-year student Tim Chow was recently appointed to the organization’s executive board as the chief financial officer. Elizabeth Theng, a second-year student, was selected to serve as one of four regional directors for APAMSA’s Region VI, which covers 11 states.

This is Chow’s second term on the national board. Last year, he served as the national director of membership. Before that he served as the Region VI director and as treasurer of the UMKC chapter of APMSA. He has been part of the organization throughout his time at UMKC.

Theng became involved with APAMA during her first year at the School, largely as a volunteer at various local health fairs and as a representative for first-year students. She currently  also serves as treasurer of the School of Medicine chapter of APAMSA.

The latest appointments came during the organization’s 2016 national conference at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. They are each is for one year.

APAMSA is an organization of medical and pre-medical students that provides a forum for student leaders to develop programs and initiatives to address health issues unique to the Asian and Pacific Islander American communities.

School of Medicine sets aside day to recognize residents, fellows

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ResidentsDay
The School of Medicine will take a day to recognize its residents and fellows with the first Resident/Fellow Appreciation Day on Feb. 25.

Colleagues cheered on Joanne “Jo” Marasigan, a second-year orthopedic resident at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, in a crutches/walker/wheelchair relay race. “Go Flo-Jo!”

Marasigan and 20 of her physician-in-training colleagues also competed in casting and suturing competitions, using medical guidelines, in an OrthOlympics, all part of a pilot program conceptualized by the UMKC School of Medicine to create a National Resident/Fellow Appreciation Day Feb. 25.

“It’s a great idea because every health profession gets a day of recognition,” Marasigan said between jovial competitions. “We get lumped in with other doctors but really, we’re a subset of doctors who work much longer hours. There’s a lot at stake here: a day off as the gold medal.”

There are more than 120,000 residents and fellows — physicians in training — in the United States. Called housestaff, residents and fellows work long hours, typically up to 80 per week, at a much lower salary than healthcare professionals who have completed training. Marasigan’s colleague, James Barnes, M.D., developed the idea for a national recognition day after seeing other healthcare professions honored.

“UMKC has over 400 physicians in training who contribute nearly 1.5 million hours a year to serve patients and gain practical experience and expertise,” said Barnes, the UMKC Housestaff Council President and event organizer. “To our knowledge, there is no national day designated to recognize this unique set of healthcare workers.”

As institutional sponsor of the residency and fellowship programs, the UMKC School of Medicine and clinical training partners including Truman Medical Centers, Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City, Children’s Mercy, Center for Behavioral Medicine and Kansas City VA Medical Center are participating with catered meals, snacks, banners, gifts and special events to recognize the residents and fellows.

Various departments are celebrating in unique ways, such as hula dancing and yoga sessions for the Department of Emergency Medicine. Several departments are having catered on-site pancakes, and Barnes’ department, Orthopedic Surgery, held the “OrthOlympics.”

Barnes is also conducting a research project in collaboration with faculty mentor and Orthopedic Program Director, James Bogener, M.D., on the effects of the recognition and appreciation on residents/fellows. Barnes and Bogener are conducting a survey to gauge residents’ and fellows’ thoughts on the day and how it affects their perception of the workplace and their satisfaction.

This event has been made possible through the facilitation of the UMKC School of Medicine Housestaff Council and the Council on Graduate Medical Education. The UMKC councils’ goal is to present the event to national organizations including the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), American Medical Association (AMA) and American Osteopathic Association (AOA) to make Resident and Fellow Appreciation Day a day of recognition nationally for all residents and fellows.

“We are proud, but not surprised, that our residents and fellows at the UMKC School of Medicine conceptualized this important event,” said Steven L. Kanter, M.D., dean of the UMKC School of Medicine. “We look forward to celebrating their critical contributions as integral members of the patient-care team.”

 

Physician Leadership Program helps earn Leadership Excellence award for Bloch School

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The Physician Leadership Program (PLP) and the UMKC-Cerner Certificate for Healthcare Leadership program earned the Bloch School of Management a No. 6 ranking in the 2014 Leadership 500 Excellence Awards presented by HR.com.

Click on image to see the top Educational Institutions in the 2014 Leadership 500 Excellence Awards
The PLP is a partnership between the School of Medicine and the Henry W. Bloch School of Management. The certificate program equips those in leadership positions or who will be promoted in the next 12 to 18 months with the management skills necessary for 21st Century health care delivery. Participants attend classes over the course of six weekends spread throughout seven months.

The UMKC-Cerner Certificate for Healthcare Leadership program is a collaboration between the Bloch School of Management’s Executive Education Center and Cerner Corporation, one of the world’s leading health care technology providers. The first program of its kind at the Bloch School is a nine-month curriculum designed to enhance health care leadership abilities for selected executive participants from Cerner.

For the past 30 years, Leadership Excellence has recognized the top 500 leadership organizations and their strategies and solutions in its yearly ranking issues.