As the son of Liberian immigrants, Will Smith knew from a fairly early age that he wanted to help others like him and his family access health care and lead healthier lives. But by the time he earned his undergraduate degree from Notre Dame in Indiana in 2019, he didnt have much money saved up to pay for the MCAT exam or multiple applications to medical school.

Fortunately, Smith had learned about the AAMCs Fee Assistance Program from friends during his junior year of college. For those with a family income at or below 400% of the national poverty level, the program provides free MCAT prep materials, reduced MCAT registration fees, access to the Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR) database, and a waiver of all AMCAS fees for up to 20 medical school applications.

The Fee Assistance Program really gave me the ability to focus on the MCAT and take the time to see which schools lined up with my interests, says Smith, who applied for assistance in July, took the MCAT in September, applied to schools in October and November, and completed his interviews in December. He matriculated in 2020 and is now a second-year medical student at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

If it were up to me to pay the full amount, the application expenses would have put an extreme burden on me to work longer hours and pay for the study guide, registration, and MSAR, in addition to rent and household bills, he says. My family has had some tough times recently and did not have the money to help out.

When the Fee Assistance Program opens for the current calendar year on Jan. 31, students like Smith will find it even easier to qualify for assistance. Thats because the AAMC has modified two of its eligibility requirements:

A lot of applicants were confused as to why we were requiring parental documents, especially if they were of a certain age. We had applicants saying, Im 40 years old; I have a wife and children. Why are you requiring my parents information? says Shannon Vines, a document processing supervisor with the AAMC services team.

Age 26 was chosen as the cutoff largely because that is the age at which students are no longer considered their parents dependents under such federally funded programs as the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and the Affordable Care Act.

In an effort to open up eligibility even further, the AAMC also modified its requirements around U.S. citizenship. Now, applicants must only show proof of a U.S. address, such as a rental agreement, utility bill, credit card statement, or employer paycheck.

We want to continue to broaden the pool of applicants and provide opportunities for students underrepresented in medicine to have this medical school dream, says Sharifa Dickenson, director of business strategy and client engagement for the AAMC services team.

That belief was also the thinking behind the AAMCs decision in 2015 to open the program to recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

That modification allowed Elizabeth Juarez Diaz to qualify for the program in 2019. Growing up in Mexico, Juarez Diaz immigrated to Minnesota with her mother when she was just a child. Originally a nursing student at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Juarez Diaz only realized she wanted to be a physician late in her undergraduate studies. She applied to the Fee Assistance Program early in 2019, took the MCAT exam that April, applied to schools in May I applied to 20 schools because thats what the program covered had 10 interviews, and was accepted at five schools.

I was deciding between Washington University and Stanford and ultimately chose Washington University because of its robust training for physician-scientists, says Juarez Diaz, who is now an MD-PhD student at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The Fee Assistance Program really made it possible for me to matriculate and also be successful during my interview cycle, she adds, noting that once programs saw you were eligible for the program, they often also reimbursed flight and hotel costs associated with interviewing. Im hoping more students find out about this program and apply.

The AAMC estimates that the new eligibility criteria will enable 1,000 additional students to qualify for assistance. In 2020, 16,000 applicants received $33 million in fee assistance. In 2021, slightly fewer qualified about 13,000.

Leila Amiri, PhD, assistant dean for admissions and recruitment at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago, is also happy to see the eligibility criteria widened. Her school encourages applications from immigrant and underrepresented populations and has accepted more of these students in recent years.

Im just really happy that the AAMC is moving forward with this initiative and making [medical school] more accessible to these students, she says. The individuals who tend to be admitted to medical school are from the more affluent parts of our society. This will impact a small cohort of students, but for those students, its important.

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Some students struggle to pay medical school application fees. That's why the AAMC is expanding eligibility for its Fee Assistance Program - AAMC

So I searched for how to become a doctor on the used laptop I had bought on eBay and found that one needed to complete four years of college, four years of medical school, three to seven years of residency, and a few more years of fellowship in the case of choosing a subspecialty. Not only were the training demands high but only a tiny percentage of applicants were accepted to medical school each year. I had never met someone who had gone through the process.

My mind raced. How could I commit to a path that required at least 11 years of training before I would reach a level of financial security that enabled me to provide for myself and my family? How could I commit to a path defined by such uncertainty? At the time, I didnt even know about the exorbitant costs of applying to medical school, which include the application fees, test prep materials, and flights to visit schools. Some students, lacking the resources for these things, end up not applying at all.

I decided that I couldnt take the risk. Sacrificing my dream, my passion, for a more financially secure path made more sense. I could graduate in four years and earn at least three times as much per year as my parents made. It struck me as the deal of a lifetime. So when I opened the USC folder on acceptance day, I was being welcomed not as a premed student but as an engineer.

An introductory engineering course confirmed what I already knew: I did not enjoy the work. I craved classes that examined the human condition. I wondered how the brains neural circuitry operated, how the human gut absorbed nutrients, and how I could ultimately use that knowledge to heal patients. I called a few friends from high school, and then my parents. Hiding my anxiety and downplaying how unalterable I considered my decision, I was careful bringing it up. My parents, to my great relief, encouraged me to pursue my dream. T lo puedes hacer You can do it they said repeatedly.

Despite all the sacrifices my family had already made for me, they were prepared to make more this time by choosing to stand by me on a path with no guarantees of my success. Whereas I had made my initial choice based on a hard calculus of financial need and a sense of responsibility to them, their encouragement hinged on love. They just wanted their son all of their sons to be happy. That evening, I committed to the path of medicine. Nearly four years later, I received an acceptance letter from Harvard Medical School.

A few months ago, I spoke with a group of mostly low-income students in Boston about my decision to go into medicine. In our virtual Q&A session, they didnt ask me about my life as a medical student. Instead, they asked how I chose the long road to a medical degree over the lure of a four-year degree that would have allowed me to support my family sooner. I told them that when I chose engineering over premed, it was because I grappled with this very dilemma. Low-income students greatly desire to give back to their families and communities, and I wonder how many will heed my message to follow their passion into medicine.

Many of these students will become successful professionals in other fields. I lament that when they let go of their dreams, medicine loses yet another sorely needed doctor raised in the communities we aim to serve, communities that have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Their choice not to enter this field worsens the existing doctor shortage in America, where physicians of color and those from low-income backgrounds are significantly underrepresented. About 5 percent of todays doctors are Black, 5 percent are Latinx, and another 5 percent are from the lowest household-income quintile. How many future doctors do we lose when students make this agonized choice not to pursue their dream of a medical degree?

When low-income students who yearn for a career in medicine struggle with how they can afford to pursue their dream, the burden is on them. They can apply for scholarships, and they can take out loans. But the burden should not be on them alone. We need the medical education system, which includes medical schools, the Association of American Medical Colleges, and the National Board of Medical Examiners, to ease the costs of applying to medical school and being a medical student including paying thousands of dollars for licensing exams and their preparatory materials. Anti-poverty legislation, such as the expansion of tax credits under the Build Back Better plan, and programs that bridge the mentorship gap between students and doctors are also required now more than ever. The more low-income students meet doctors whose life stories and struggles mirror their own, the more the field of medicine will be diversified and will benefit.

The trade-off I made that day more than eight years ago to abandon the surer thing, engineering, for the far less sure one, becoming a doctor, still nags at me. I still worry about my familys finances. I worry about their health, too. I know that people from marginalized communities like mine tend to die relatively young. When will I be able to return home, fix their air conditioner, oven, and the run-down car they should not be driving? How will my lack of financial contribution over the years while Ive been in school affect them?

When I feel weighed low by these questions, I remember the words my parents uttered that day: T lo puedes hacer. Its what I tell the students I speak to, too.

David Velasquez is a student of medicine, public policy, and business at Harvard University.

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My familys poverty nearly kept me from applying to medical school - The Boston Globe

AUSTIN, Texas As part of its groundbreaking Leading EDGE curriculum,Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin will offer its students a new dual-degree masters program in humanities, health and medicine in collaboration with the universitys College of Liberal Arts.

The humanities-focused dual degreeone of eight now offered by Dell Medis designed to produce physician leaders who bring humanistic knowledge, skills and frameworks to their work caring for patients, collaborating with other health professionals and addressing challenges and opportunities within the health system.

According to designers of the curriculuma team led by Phillip Barrish, professor of English and associate director for health and humanities at the University of Texas Humanities Institutethe Master of Humanities, Health and Medicine is founded on the premise that the methods and substance of the humanities and arts have the power to transform health and health care for all by enhancing human connections; deepening capacity for empathy, self-reflection and creativity; and improving understanding of the cultural, historical and social contexts in which health, illness and care occur.

This dual-degree opportunity reflects growing appreciation that exposure to the humanities in medical education helps physicians in all kinds of ways, including becomingmore empathic and supporting their ability to relate to and communicate withpatients beyond their disease processes, said Beth Nelson, M.D., Dell Meds associate dean of undergraduate medical education and interim chair of medical education. For those of us in medicine, a connection to the arts and humanities offers a broader perception and potential for improving overall wellness.

Dell Med students are able to pursue dual degrees during their third year, or Growth Year, which differentiates the schools curriculum by allowing students to individualize their experience in Innovation, Leadership and Discovery. Dell Meds dual-degree programs are structured to allow students to earn both degrees simultaneously in approximately four academic years. This new program will officially open to medical students in fall 2022.

The inherently interdisciplinary nature of the health humanities and the flexibility of the degree program means that medical students will be able to draw on the expertise of faculty from departments across the College of Liberal Arts and beyond, said Barrish. Students can choose to develop a concentration in fields such as disability studies, medicine and narrative, the history of medicine, health communication, culture and health, and health equity, among others.

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New Dell Med Dual-Degree Program Brings Humanities Focus to Medical Education - UT News - UT News | The University of Texas at Austin

Its the first day of classes after the holidays and Elisabeth Woodhams is already wading into one of the toughest topics in academia. Abortion isnt the most technically demanding procedure for medical studentsits the politics and ethics that make it a minefield.

Woodhams, a School of Medicine assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, actually gives back-to-back abortion lectures, by Zoom, to 60-plus students. Its a lot more education on the subject than was being offered only a decade ago, when abortion rights were not under the legal fire that they are today. And that change was driven not by the school, but by students

Her first lecture reviews the medical aspects and is mandatory for MED second-years. She invites questions about the ethics of abortion, but stresses that her goal is to discuss the subjects clinical aspects. Chief of family planning at Boston Medical Center, MEDs teaching hospital and Bostons safety-net hospital, she runs down the list of drugs used to induce medical abortions, the steps in performing surgical abortions, and the microscopic risks to the procedure (Its safer than having your wisdom teeth pulled). She profiles the most common abortion patient: poor, white, already the mother of a child, self-described as religious.

Her second lecture is optionalmost of the students stick around for itand covers the sociopolitical landscape. Access is always the lens for abortion providers, she says, reviewing the Supreme Courts pending decision on a Mississippi law restricting abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. (Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Courts landmark 1973 ruling legalizing abortion, made the procedure legal before the fetus could survive outside the womb, typically about 23 weeks.) Woodhams also notes the ongoing judicial wrangling over Texas recent, approximately six-week ban.

These lectures, prefaced by another mandatory one on contraception, are a heftier introduction to abortion than when Woodhams joined MEDs faculty in 2014, at which point students received a single 45-minute talk on abortion and contraception. I tried to do that talk, she tells BU Today. It was incredibly hard. It ran way over. And then the students said, This is nonsense. We need more education than this.

Their activism led to the current program, which includes, beyond the lectures, exposure to abortion for most (though not all) students during their third-year clerkship. Whether they see the procedure depends on where they do their clerkships, which are medical students temporary assignments in various hospital specialties.

That exposure is more than many peer schools provide.

Long before the fracas over Mississippi and Texas, schools tiptoed gingerly around abortion, with more than half declining to offer any clinical training, according to one survey. Even MEDs curriculum, while bolstered from years ago, could be better, says Rose Al Abosy (MED23), a board member of Medical Students for Choice, a Philadelphia advocacy group with a MED chapter.

Clinical exposure is haphazard, Al Abosy says: I was assigned to BMC for my third-year clerkship. I actually just finished OB-GYN. And I did not see an abortion procedure. I was just never assigned to the abortion clinic. She witnessed the procedure only because Medical Students for Choice runs an immersion program at BMCs clinic, where a student can provide emotional support to those patients, should they want that, she says.

On the lecture front, Dr. Woodhams is amazing. She does a really, really fantastic job, Al Abosy says. But it was really disappointing that the sociopolitical context [talk] is the one thats made not mandatory. If you dont understand what patients are going through in order to get to a place where theyre even in front of a physician to ask for those medications, you dont understand what its like to get abortion care in this country.

Al Abosys bottom-line assessment of MEDs training: while there have been a lot of improvementsone in four women has an abortion by the time theyre in their 40s. And so this is a clinical, medical procedure that 25 percent of women are experiencing at some point in their reproductive lives, and it is allotted an hour in our pre-clinical [curriculum]. And it is actually relatively easy to not get in-person clinical experience with it at all.

If you dont understand what patients are going through in order to get to a place where theyre even in front of a physician to ask for those medications, you dont understand what its like to get abortion care in this country.

In an ideal world, people walking out of medical school with an MD should have a sense of what the abortion procedure looks like surgically, and what counseling regarding abortion looks like.

A SCOTUS reversal of Roe would leave abortion policy to each state. MED students hoping to be providers obviously would have to study geography for which states still permitted the procedure. Massachusetts would be one. The Bay State last year enacted a law codifying abortion rights in anticipation of a possible Roe reversal.

That would not change the type of education we give, the services that we offer, no matter what happens in the Supreme Court, says Rachel Cannon (SAR08, SPH19), a MED assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology.

If Roe does get overturned, she says, all that does is make education 10,000 times more important.You have to triple your efforts in education about this, because now you need to make sure that [students] understand how to facilitate patients who have self-induced abortions, recognizing the complications and the obstacles for those patients who have to travel great distances to find legal abortion.

As with the general population, some students might have moral objections to this particular surgery. And as at other medical schools, BU students who might be assigned to an abortion can opt out, Woodhams says.

I dont know of any students that have tried to opt out, Al Abosy says. MED attracts many students interested in social justice, Cannon adds, and with a growing number of US abortions performed on poor women, she says, In my experience, most students have wanted to participate in this care.

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With Roe v. Wade on the Line, BU Will Continue Abortion Education Regardless of Ruling - BU Today

Fired University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel could be in an university classroom next fall, according to letters obtained by the Free Press.

It's part of a plan that would see him becoming a part of the university's faculty. The offer is outlined in letters sent to Schlissel onThursday from the leaders of U-M's medical school and the College of Literature, Science and the Arts. It's unknown whether Schlissel has accepted the terms.

Schlissel was fired as presidentearlier this monthafter aBoard of Regentsinvestigation into a violation of the school's new supervisor relationship policy. The investigation into Schlissel is continuing, including looking at whether he misused university funds in support of his relationship with an employee.

For 20 years, Schlissel ran a immunobiologylab. He earned both M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.He is a board-certified internist.

More: U-M investigating whether Schlissel misused university funds in support of relationship

More: University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel fired by board after investigation

More: How 3 Michigan university presidents who are doctors prepared for coronavirus

More: Former U-M President Mark Schlissel's presidential contract

The contract offer calls for a total of $185,000 in salary.

His previous contract called for him to be paid as a senior faculty member when he left the presidency, but no less than 50% of the $927,000 base pay of his last year as president. But that contract was voided when the university fired him for cause.

U-M spokesman Rick Fitzgerald confirmed the moves to the Free Press.

"Mark Schlissel is entitled to a faculty position, with tenure, that was granted as part of his initial U-M employment agreement and confirmed in his most recent agreement," Fitzgerald said.

Schlissel's firing did not strip his faculty appointments. Under the plan, he would be a professor ofmolecular, cellular and developmental biology in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts,and microbiology and immunology in the Medical School, with tenure. Fitzgerald said those departments would determinewhat his initial duties will be.

"This is the normal process for any faculty member returning to faculty duties from an administrative appointment."

The letters, which the Free Press obtained from a source not authorized to share them, spell out more of the details.

While his teaching requirement one class a year if doing research and two classes per year if not doing research won't start until the 2022-23 school year, he will need to get going on his research. He will also need to work on getting grants.

"Your appointment will be on a twelve-month basis with major effort to be determined by discussion with the chair and followed up in writing," the letter from university official Bethany Moore said. "Established research-active faculty in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology are expected to support a minimum of 50% of their academic salary on research grants."

He would also be expected to serve on faculty committees and mentor students.

Under the voided contract, once Schlissel was done with being president, he would have gotten another $2 million from the school to set up his lab.

David Jesse was a 2020-21 Spencer Education Reporting Fellow at Columbia University and the 2018 Education Writer Association's best education reporter. Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8851 or djesse@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @reporterdavidj. Subscribe to the Detroit Free Press.

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Former President Schlissel offered teaching, research slots at University of Michigan - Detroit Free Press

Since 2015, groups of medical students at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago have been working diligently to answer a single question: How can we improve healthcare at the system level?

Medical students have and always will be expected to provide personalized, high-quality care to their patients. But amid all the studying, rotations, research and clinical volunteering, there is another area of professional growth and healthcare activism emerging that allows students to promote broader change across the healthcare system: community health consulting.

A group of students at Feinberg, now more than 50 in any given year, have been providing pro-bono strategy consulting services to community clinics and healthcare not-for-profits for more than six years as members of Second Opinions, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit student organization founded by a trio of management consultants-turned-physicians. Second Opinions aims to promote system-level change in healthcare by pairing medical students with local healthcare organizations to support a variety of administrative and strategic initiatives.

Groups of four to five Second Opinions members work together on discrete projects for four months at a time, tackling problems in areas ranging from clinical workflow analysis to healthcare and not-for-profit economics. Current projects include helping one local community clinic improve its mammogram referral network and assisting a second clinic in the creation of an equitable sliding scale payment system for uninsured patients. While our projects are based on set timelines, we establish follow-up procedures in which we continue working with clients on emerging issues. This continuity-of-care approach is crucial across all levels of healthcare and is what drew many of us to medicine in the first place.

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Second Opinions shines brightest in its work to improve outcomes for underserved populations. Amid rising costs and legislative volatility in healthcare, Free and Charitable Clinics (FCCs) as well as Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) have led the way in providing accessible care to underinsured or uninsured Americans. To help them overcome their greatest obstacles, quantifying community impact and obtaining funding, our group recently created a reimbursement valuation tool to determine the monetary and quality-adjusted life years (QALY) values of services provided by free clinics as well as the value of appropriately averted emergency department visits.

The impact of our valuation tool started locally but soon gained national traction. First, we presented to the Illinois Association of Free and Charitable Clinics, a cluster of just over 40 FCCs. Soon, our team was presenting to board members of the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics, an organization of over 1,400 FCCs. This information has important implications for how healthcare resources get distributed, and our work quantifying averted downstream costs and disease strengthened the case for investing in these providers.

System-level change does not have to occur on a national scale. The work can start by aiding a local women's health clinic in the transition from paper records to an efficient electronic health record system so that more underrepresented Chicagoans can be seen each day. It can be performing community health needs assessments for neighboring clinics that operate in Chicago's West and South Sides, or even helping our own institution expand the reach of its pediatrics mobile health program.

Through experiences like this, our medical student members learn how to effect change on system-level healthcare issues and leave empowered to help both individual patients and the systemequipped to care for the forest and the trees. The problems we face are complex and open-ended, and our members are challenged to find ways to measure system performance and enact change through policy, workflow improvements, and clinical protocols that benefit entire patient populations, particularly underserved ones. This is a tall order, but as medical students, our advantage is that we are always intimately observing from the inside with a fresh perspective and a passion for creative innovation.

Our members grew up in an era marked by healthcare disparities and inefficiencies. The dysfunction of our American healthcare system is broadcast to us throughout medical school. We are ready to innovate, and we believe physicians should always have a seat at the table when it comes to improving the healthcare system and operating the business of healthcare. Our members are eager to provide actionable recommendations and create solutions to problems that burden the same underrepresented patients we hope to care for in clinics and hospitals throughout our careers. We also realize we have much to learn. Our members remain humble, ready to begin each project by listening for as long as it takes to adequately understand the scope of the issue at hand. Most of all, our members are creativeunafraid to invent solutions where there is no precedent to guide them.

We encourage medical trainees across the country to join in our efforts to promote community health through strategy work. There is space for anyone who is dedicated to community health to help, and we are excited to support others with this important work. System-level change is difficult but powerful, so help where you are needed and get creative. And if you need a Second Opinions consult, you know who to page.

Drs. Cecil Qiu, Liz Nguyen and Benjamin Peipert contributed to this article. All graduated from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Qiu is a resident at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Nguyen is a resident at Stanford University School of Medicine, and Peipert is a resident at Duke University School of Medicine.

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A different kind of consult: pro-bono community health consulting by med students - Modern Healthcare

An online webinar, the 17th Coronavirus (COVID-19) Symposium is sponsored byNew York Medical Collegeof the Touro College and University System. Continuing Medical Education credits are available upon request.

A presentation by the Center for Disaster Medicine of New York Medical College of the Touro College and University System.

by Edward C. Halperin, M.D., M.A.Chancellor and CEO, Professor of Radiation Oncology, Pediatrics and History, New York Medical College | Provost for Biomedical Affairs, Touro College and University System

byRobert Amler, M.D., MBADean, School of Health Sciences and Practice, Vice President for Government Affairs, New York Medical College | Former Regional Health Administrator, U.S. Dpartment of Health and Human Services | Former Medical Epidemiologist, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

by Marisa A Montecalvo, M.D.Medical Director, Health Services, New York Medical College | Infectious Disease Specialist

byMill Etienne, M.D., M.P.H., FAAN, FAESVice Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion, Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Associate Professor of Neurology and Medicine, School of Medicine House Advisory Dean, New York Medical College

byTami Hendriksz, DO, FACOP, FAAPDean and Chief Academic Officer, Professor of Pediatrics, Touro University California College of Osteopathic Medicine

byDaniel ShallitDirector of Global Store Development for New York City, Long Island and New Jersey, Starbucks and Princi Italian Bakery Real Estate/Development | Co-Chair of the Real Estate Entrepreneurship Advisory Board, Touro College Graduate School of Business

Hosted by Alan Kadish, M.D.Cardiologist | President, Touro College and University System | President, New York Medical College

Responses will be provided to the questions submitted in advance of the webinar. Questions may be submitted tocovid19updates@touro.edu

Register in advance for the webinar

This meeting has been approved for 1.5 CME credits by the Office of Continuing Medical Education, New York Medical College free of charge as a community service to our Healthcare Providers.

Accreditation Statement:New York Medical College is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Target Audience:Hospital-based physicians; Community physicians; Nurses; Pharmacists; Medical Students; Residents/Fellows; Public Health; Other Healthcare Providers; and Press.

Credit Designation:The New York Medical College designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.5AMA PRA Category 1 Credits. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Disclosure Statement:All activity faculty and planners participating in continuing medical education activities provided by New York Medical College are expected to disclose to the audience any significant support or substantial relationship(s) with commercial entities whose products are discussed in their presentation and/or with any commercial supporters of the activity. In addition, all faculty are expected to openly disclose any off-label, experimental, or investigational use of drugs or devices discussed in their presentations.

Commercial Support:There is no outside funding for this activity.

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17th Symposium on COVID-19: What Have We Learned? How Can We Use What We Have Learned? - Touro College News

On Thursday, Jan. 27 the UConn Health Board of Directors held a special meeting to endorse the Universitys appointment of Dr. Bruce T. Liang as UConn Healths Interim CEO and Executive Vice President of Health Affairs. His appointment is effective Feb. 1.

He will serve as successor to Dr. Andrew Agwunobi, CEO of UConn Health since 2015, who will assist with the transition until he leaves later in February for a new position in private industry.

I am humbled and honored to be asked to serve as the Interim CEO of UConn Health and with the privilege to work with our Interim President Dr. Radenka Maric, Liang told the board.

Liang is an internationally recognized cardiovascular physician-scientist and national leader in academic medicine. He will continue to serve as dean of UConn School of Medicine and the Ray Neag Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular Biology and Medicine. Liang first joined UConn Health in 2002 as a physician-scientist faculty member and was appointed dean of the medical school in 2015. As dean he has led to new heights UConns advancement of medicine, medical education, and research.

The board has come to know Dr. Liang over the last many years. We know of his great talent, vision and commitment to the mission of the medical school as well as UConn Health, said Sanford Cloud, Jr., chairman of the UConn Health Board of Directors. He is well-qualified to be named interim executive vice president.

Liang shared his excitement to have the opportunity to work more broadly with such excellent leaders at UConn Health and its Schools.

I hope to fulfill the great potential and promise of UConn Health, Liang said. We will strive to advance the very positive trajectory in our tripartite missions of excellence in quality and safety of clinical care, of continuing growth as the single-largest source of physicians, dentists, surgeons, and public health experts for the state of Connecticut. Also, continue to grow as a science and innovation hub in collaboration with our colleagues at UConn Storrs, the School of Dental Medicine, and our close partner The Jackson Laboratory.

We will also advance the missions of community collaboration with our faculty, staff, and students who provide valuable volunteer services ranging from vaccination collaborations with community healthcare workersto serving the underserved communities.

During the special meeting, Cloud also thanked departing CEO Agwunobi for his exemplary service to UConn Health.

Andy, we all want to thank you for your outstanding leadership over the last several years. You have led the transformation of UConn Health in every way, including its growth. You have been an extraordinary leader. We wish you the very best, said Cloud.

Andy leaves behind a very, very powerful legacy here, said UConn Board of Trustees Chairman Daniel Toscano.

I am grateful to Dr. Andy for his transformative leadership at UConn Health, Liang said.

In 2021, Liang led the School of Medicines 50th anniversary celebration of its generational community impact in producing five decades of new physicians, surgeons, scientists, and community leaders to serve the state of Connecticut and beyond while increasing diversity and health equity in academic medicine. In fact, U.S. News & World Report has named it as one of the 10 most diverse medical schools in the nation, as 23% of its student body are from underrepresented groups in medicine.

Under Liangs leadership the medical school has received record-breaking research grant funding of over $100 million year after year. He also has overseen the schools successful implementation of a new-age, team-based and patient-centered four-year curriculum since 2016, better preparing future physicians for the rapidly evolving health care field. In fact, UConn was the first medical school in the nation to eliminate lectures, and continues to offer early, hands-on clinical care exposure at the very start of medical school, along with the integration of basic sciences education. The school also has completed several successful LCME accreditation surveys under Liangs leadership, and is highly ranked nationally among public medical schools as No. 30 in primary care and No. 31 in research by U.S. News & World Report.

As an active researcher, Liangs cutting-edge translational research contributions have advanced scientific knowledge about heart disease. His research has been continuously funded since 1986 by the NIH, the American Heart Association, and the US Department of Defense. He is widely published in the areas of cardiac myocyte, intact heart biology, and heart failure translational research. His latest research investigations have developed a new potential medication for advanced heart failure patients. This research, jointly performed with scientists at the NIH, has received patents from the United States and European Union.

Liang is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), American College of Cardiology, and the American Heart Association, and is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of University Cardiologists, the Council on Clinical Cardiology and Basic Cardiovascular Sciences, and the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. He has been consistently named one of Americas Top Doctors and Best Doctors in America for cardiovascular disease care.

Prior to joining UConn Health in 2002, for 13 years he served the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine as associate professor of medicine and pharmacology. Liang received his bachelors degree from Harvard in biochemistry and molecular biology and his medical degree from Harvard Medical College. He completed his internal medicine internship and residency training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and cardiology fellowship training at Brigham and Womens Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

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Dr. Bruce T. Liang Named Interim CEO of UConn Health - UConn Today - UConn Today

By Brian McNeill

VCU Librarieshas acquired a treasure trove of thousands of rare medical books, manuscripts, silhouettes and prints, providing researchers with the opportunity to explore the history and evolution of medicine in its earliest printed form.

The collection of Joseph Lyons Miller (1875-1957) who practiced medicine in Thomas, West Virginia, while serving as medical director of the Davis Coal and Coke Co. and as surgeon to the Western Maryland Railroad Co. includes 2,250 books, published from 1500 to 1946; 78 silhouettes; 3,500 prints; as well as approximately 400 manuscript items, including correspondence, account ledgers, medical student notes and essays with a significant portion related to Virginia and Virginia physicians.

The Joseph Lyons Miller Collection contains remarkable first and second editions of books dating back to 1500, as well as prints and records, saidTeresa L. Knott, associate dean for VCU Libraries and director of theVCU Health Sciences Library. These books shaped the practice of medicine, nursing and public hygiene. Many are artifacts themselves offering beautiful illustrations, interesting printing techniques and insight into medical history.

Arthur L. Kellermann, M.D., senior vice president for VCU Health Sciences and CEO of VCU Health System, said he had a recent opportunity to see the Miller Collection and was struck by its beauty, historical significance and power.

I am proud and grateful for the team who worked so hard to bring the Miller Collection back to VCU Libraries, Kellermann said.

The acquisition is a homecoming for the collection, which Miller began building as a student at the University College of Medicine, which merged with the Medical College of Virginia in 1913 and was a precursor of the VCU School of Medicine.

In 1927, Miller formally offered to donate the collection to the Richmond Academy of Medicine on the condition that the organization would build a permanent home for it with a fireproof library. William T. Sanger, Ph.D., president of the Medical College of Virginia, proposed the institutions cooperate via a public-private partnership that led to the construction of the Richmond Academy of Medicines first permanent facility at 1200 E. Clay St., built in tandem alongside and connected to VCUs health sciences library that opened in 1932. The collection was available in the building for 56 years, until it was relocated in 1988 to the Virginia Historical Society, now the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.

Its exciting to see the collection return to the corner of 12th and Clay streets, Knott said.

Until 33 years ago, the Miller Collection was available to VCU Libraries personnel who helped organize and present the collection, through the double doors connecting the library and the Richmond Academy of Medicine building, now the Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research, she said. Most importantly, Health Sciences Library special collections materials were acquired based on having the Miller Collection readily accessible. The collections complement each other like two interlocking pieces.

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'These books shaped the practice of medicine': VCU Libraries acquires large collection of rare medical texts, illustrations and documents - VCU News

Racism in medicine is real, with negative consequences for patients, physicians, and the public as a whole. This point is not in dispute. I have been a victim of racism on multiple occasions. Sometimes an interaction is so traumatic that I try to forget, to bury it and move on. The feeling that you're a second-class citizen makes it that much more difficult to carry out the day-to-day work of medicine.

Given the problem and prevalence of racism in medicine, it's time for a real overhaul one backed by concrete steps rather than symbolic ones. It doesn't matter if you change the name of a building or a street; what matters is the actionable steps taken to ensure that people are treated fairly.

That said, I wonder if we sometimes overreact to certain remarks because we assume, based on (traumatic) prior experiences, that they are coming from a bad place. I say this not to discount or diminish the very real racial discrimination suffered by myself and my colleagues every day. However, I've found that it's also possible to misinterpret certain questions or statements when we don't have more context.

I say this from my own personal experience. Let me share two examples.

This past December, a 74-year-old woman with colorectal cancer was waiting for me in the clinic. She has been on first-line chemotherapy of FOLFIRI for several months, but I was seeing her for the first time.

After I walk into the exam room, we chat a little to build rapport. Naturally, the discussion is about Canadian winter and Christmas.

Suddenly, she asks a question that takes me by surprise: "Are you allowed to celebrate Christmas?"

I am startled because the conversation so far has been pleasant. I reply rather tersely, "Apparently, it's not yet illegal in Canada for everyone to celebrate Christmas."

She doesn't pursue it further. We talk about blood work, toxicities, scans, the usual. Thankfully, there was no bad news before Christmas.

As I am about to wrap up our encounter, she launches into the topic again, saying, "My daughter-in-law never celebrated Christmas. She was a Hindu from India."

I stop. I am still a bit offended that she assumed I was from India (I am not), and that even if I were, she assumed I'd be a Hindu by default (though I am).

But at this point I'm also intrigued. I ask, "Was? You said your daughter-in-law 'was.' What happened?"

With tears in her eyes, she says, "She passed away young. She was nice. But she didn't know anything about Christmas and never celebrated one. I thought that was because of her religion."

I thought about this encounter for several hours after. I'd been offended by her suppositions and generalizations, but once home, I recalled that as children in Nepal, we referred to every White person as American, and every East Asian as Japanese. We were and still are surprised and amused when non-Hindus celebrate our festivals like Dashain and Holi alongside us in Nepal.

Now an argument can be made that this is merely lack of education, and that everyone, with the means, should educate themselves that such generalizations can be dangerous and hurtful. But in this case, I could see that the question had come from a place of genuine inquiry with the emotional overlay of her past experience. There was no intended slight against me.

On another day in December, I meet a 78-year-old man with metastatic prostate cancer, accompanied by his wife. The news isn't good. The scans show disease progression.

I am seeing them for the first time, and when I enter the exam room, I greet them. After some basic introduction, they ask me, "Where are you from?"

I immediately take offense at this classic line of racial stereotyping.

My response: "From Canada," hoping the two words would dead-end the conversation.

But they probe further.

"Now, where are you really from?" Again I answer "From Canada," wishing in this moment that masks and face shields could hide my identity.

And again: "No, where did you actually come from? Where were you born?"

By now I am irritated. I lie, saying, "In Canada. I was born in Canada." Not because I am not proud of my heritage (I am super-proud), but I have learned that people often ask these questions to racially profile, discriminate, and undermine.

At last, we turn to medical matters. I break the bad news, albeit not as well as I had hoped. To my surprise, they take it calmly.

The couple then asks about my holiday plans and mentions that one of their kids is coming back home and they are really excited.

And suddenly, they blurt out, "You know what, doc, we came here from the Czech Republic several years ago, and it has not been easy for us learning a new language and raising kids. This young son, he is now in medical school and will soon become a doctor. We are so proud of him. For immigrants like us, it really means a lot. This country has given us so much and we feel very grateful."

Wow. I realized that I had completely misunderstood them. They were asking about my roots because they saw their own son in me, as an immigrant. I had thought they must be Canadians because they looked White. The mistake wasn't theirs it was mine!

Finally, I told them that I was from Nepal. They were immediately interested, looking up Nepal in Google Maps. We embarked on a long discussion about different cultures. Toward the end of our conversation, they said they'd really like their son to grow up to be a doctor like me.

The biggest compliment came next: They asked if I could be their oncologist moving forward.

I'm relaying these encounters with patients not to generalize that all "Where are you from?" comments are innocuous. I have been on the receiving end of similar remarks from patients that were intended as microaggressions, or sometimes overt discrimination.

These interactions also made me recall that before I moved to North America, I always assumed that this kind of question came from a place of interest, and I took it as an opportunity to talk about my country and my culture. Only after moving to North America did I learn that these questions are not necessarily genuine or harmless.

However, after these two encounters with patients, I began to wonder whether I had transitioned from being unaware or less aware of the racial implications of certain questions to being overly sensitive. I also wondered whether I could channel this emotional energy into positive change.

And there's a lot of work to do. We need to address systemic racism in access to cancer care, cancer outcomes, healthcare workers' education, and career opportunities. We need to address deep-seated biases about people's appearances, ethnicity, and culture.

When racial minorities ask for equality, they are asking for equal access to education, treatment, career opportunities, and salary, as well as to justice, respect, and freedom. A world that doesn't address these issues but simply stops asking us where we come from is not the just world we are seeking.

Addressing these issues would go a long way toward creating a more level playing field, toward real equality. In such a world, being asked "Where do you come from?" would not feel so loaded with judgment about who I am. In that world, I might once again feel confident that this question comes from a genuine place of interest.

Bishal Gyawali, MD, PhD, is an associate professor in the Departments of Oncology and Public Health Sciences and a scientist in the Division of Cancer Care and Epidemiology at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and is also affiliated faculty at the Program on Regulation, Therapeutics, and Law in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. His clinical and research interests revolve around cancer policy, global oncology, evidence-based oncology, financial toxicities of cancer treatment, clinical trial methods, and supportive care. He tweets at@oncology_bg.

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Racism in Medicine: But Where Do You Really Come From? - Medscape

View Larger Image UAMS is offering a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Program online starting March 2.

Jan. 28, 2022 | LITTLE ROCK The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Mindfulness Program is offering the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Program online starting March 2.

Participants learn mindfulness techniques that foster positivity, inner strength and peace, while providing useful skills for navigating difficulty, stress, illness and pain.

The program is an eight-week, nine-session training in mindful awareness and meditation skills. Classes meet weekly online for about two hours and for an all-day session toward the end of the course.

Orientation is 5:30-7 p.m. Wednesday, March 2. Classes one through eight meet from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays, March 9 to April 27. The all-day class and retreat is 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 16.

The cost for the course is $300 and covers materials. UAMS employees may take the course for $250. Couples or families can receive a group rate of $225 per person. Scholarships are also available.

To register or apply for a scholarship, visit Mindfulness.UAMS.edu. For questions, contact UAMSMindfulnessProgram@uams.edu.

MBSR was developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., in 1979 at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and is a form of mindfulness and meditation that is well-documented and supported by scientific studies. Participants learn different meditative tools to mindfully explore healthier relationships with the day-to-day challenges and demands of life.

Elements include:

The course is taught by Feliciano Pele Yu Jr., M.D., a professor of pediatrics, biomedical informatics and public health at UAMS; associate director of the UAMS Mindfulness Program; and certified Koru Mindfulness teacher who has completed the MBSR Teacher Training Intensive through the University of California San Diego Mindfulness-Based Professional Training Institute.

Professor of Psychiatry Puru Thapa, M.D., is director of the UAMS Mindfulness Program, which offers Mindfulness teachings and courses to the UAMS community and the general public. For more information, visit Mindfulness.UAMS.edu.

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UAMS to Offer Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program - UAMS News