In a bold response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rowan Universitys two medical schools are enabling their fourth-year students to graduate early and join the health care workforce weeks ahead of schedule.

Both Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU) and Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine normally graduate students in mid-May, and the newly minted physicians start their hospital residencies on July 1. Under the new policy, qualified students will be able to complete medical school as early as mid-April and either start their residency shortly thereafter if the graduate medical education program accepts them to start early, or join the workforce in another capacity as an employee or volunteer.

Our medical students are passionate about helping others. They dont want to wait on the sidelines during this unprecedented public health crisis, said Annette C. Reboli, M.D., CMSRU dean.

Early graduation will allow the new doctors to help address staff shortages as health care professionals care for COVID-19 patients or are unable to work.

The new physicians can mainly care for those with other needs, as more of the medical workforce tends to the surge of COVID-19 patients, Reboli explained.

By graduating early, our students can make a huge difference in hospitals ability to care for patients and save lives, said Thomas Cavalieri, D.O., RowanSOM dean.

At CMSRU, nearly one third of the schools 79 fourth-year students reported they would like to graduate ahead of schedule. Cavalieri expects a similarly high level of interest among RowanSOMs 180-member graduating class.

While the initiative is voluntary, requirements include:

Both schools will work with students who choose the early graduation option to ensure as smooth a transition as possible, said Reboli.

Many of the graduates will join health systems in New Jersey, which has the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases nationwide, noted Cavalieri.

At RowanSOM, half of this years graduating class has accepted residencies in the states health systems, including Jefferson Health New Jersey, Cooper University Health Care, and Inspira Health. CMSRU will send 32 percent of its 2020 graduates to New Jersey institutions, with a large portion going to Cooper, the schools teaching affiliate.

By graduating sooner, our students will help allay the tremendous physician shortages expected in our state, Cavalieri said.

Some students will go to parts of the country where COVID-19 rates are low right now. While those hospitals may not need new physicians to start early, situations can change quickly as new coronavirus hot spots emerge. CMSRU and RowanSOM students can opt into the early graduation program as needs shift.

Both schools are planning early graduation ceremonies held virtually in the coming weeks. Details will be announced soon.

Link:
Rowan University's two medical schools will offer early graduation to aid fight against coronavirus - Rowan Today

Medical school is a launching path to a career as a physician. No decision a medical student makes will affect where that career ends up more than picking a medical specialty.

There are some important questions and criteria surrounding that decision, and those questions are further complicated by medical training taking place during a pandemic. One of those key questions pertains to timing. One medical school faculty member and dean offered advice about when a student should pick a specialty.

The first and second year of medical school, typically the years during which students are doing their preclinical training, are a time to keep your mind open to possibilities, according to Lindia J. Willies-Jacobo, MD, associate dean for admissions and professor at Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, which welcomed its first class of medical students this fall.

We find that students come into medical school thinking they want to pursue a particular career without having truly explored it, said Dr. Willies-Jacobo, who has been working with medical students for more than a decade. Its really amazing how many students will change their career path as a direct result of doing a much deeper dive into it.

As far as students who dont have a specialty in mind, the majority will come in truly not knowing. Some will come in thinking they know, then there is that five or 10% percent that know they want to be the thing, a pediatrician, a neurosurgeon, and they stay the course.

After months off the wards due tosafety precautions put in place to curb potential exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic, many medical students are returning to patient-facing roles.That means most medical students are resuming or beginning clinical clerkships.

Lasting between four and eight weeks, at most schools, the core clinical clerkships consist of internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, family medicine, psychiatry, neurology and radiology. Those rotations take place in the third year of training at most schools.

They have an opportunity to engage in clinical settings those first two years, but a deeper level of engagement happens during the third year of medical school, said Dr. Willies-Jacobo.

Your clinical clerkship may serve to reinforce your specialty choice, if you happened to be leaning one way, or expose you to something new. One potential pitfall to picking a specialty during your third year is the amount of free time students have.

Core rotations tend to be a busy and stressful time for students, Dr. Willies-Jacobo added. They are being evaluated frequently.

Learn thesix factors that dictate the resumption of clinical training.

With residency applications for most students going out in the fall of year four, most students pick a specialty at the end of their third year of medical school.

For students who are still deciding, subinternships rotations that typically take place at a hospital affiliated with your training institution during your fourth year of medical schooloffer one last chance to get specialty exposure before sending out applications.

Subinternships allow students to work in a more autonomous way, Dr. Willies-Jacobo said. Most subinterns will work similarly to the way an intern would work. They are fairly independent in their engagement with the stations. In that autonomy and being in that role in a pretty intense way is a way in which students can use that fourth year to settle on a specialty.

Learn how residency programs will view applications in 2021.

Some students who are truly undecided will apply to more than one specialty, Dr. Willies-Jacobo advises against that. Instead, she is seeing more students take an extra yearoften to pursue an additional advanced degreewhile they pick their physician career path.

I often will sit in my office with my student and have them put on paper the reasons they are attracted to one specialty versus the other, she said. There are times students decide for themselves they will take an additional year to figure it out.

I dont think theres one approach that every student should utilize. Doing that legwork and putting it on paper can help. Sometimes exploring a field a bit more can be the secret sauce to making a decision, Dr. Willies-Jacobo said.

Avani Patel, MD, is a first-year psychiatry resident at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi. Torn between two specialties during her fourth year of medical school, she decided to withdraw from the Match, delay graduation, and take an interim year to pursue a Masters in Healthcare Administration degree before beginning residency.

I wanted to go through the Match and graduation because thats what everyone in my class was doing, Patel said. But I needed to take this time and learning opportunity for myself to make sure of what I really wanted.

Once the pressure was off, Patel elected to pursue psychiatry as a specialty.

One thing Ive learned is that having this time of being away from patients and clinical care, it made me realize I do want to be a physician more than anything, said Patel, who graduated this past spring and began residency in July. Although this past year has been very fulfilling, none of it matters without the patient care. Im excited about residency, and I know Im in the right mind-set.

Go here to see the original:
When's the right time to choose a medical specialty? - American Medical Association

After a nine-month process, theVirginia Tech Carilion School of Medicinehas received all approvals needed to grow its class size from 42 to 49. The expansion will start with the Class of 2024, which is set to begin study this fall.

When Lee Learman arrived as thenew dean in July 2019,one of his first initiativeswas to explore growing the class size at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, which is currently among the smallest medical schools in the country.

In fall 2019, Learman formed a Class Size Incremental Increase Task Force to look at possible expansion. The task force featured faculty, staff, and students to get a variety of inputs and to weigh if there was room to expand.A high priority for the task force was maintaining the best parts of a small class size, including comradery amongst classmates, easy access to faculty, and some signature pieces of the curriculum, such assmall-group, problem-based learning.

The task force recommended initial growth of seven students the number chosen because it would require one additional small group for the problem-based learning method.

The medical school submitted a request to expand to its accrediting body, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), which approved the request in February. The college then sought approval from the university, Virginia Tech, as well as Carilion Clinic to make sure the additional students could be accommodated. With each partners approval, the VTCSOM Medical Curriculum Committee and Academic Committee formally approved the expansion this week.

We thank all of the faculty, students, and staff who served on the growth task force and whose thoughtful recommendations guided our request for growth, said Learman. Also thank you to the commitment of Virginia Tech President Tim Sands and Carilion Clinic CEO Nancy Howell Agee for their support of these growth discussions over the last nine months.

Since its charter class, the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine has received thousands of applications for the 42 available spots. Over the last four years, the medical school received 4,000 or more applications for 42 spots. A majority of applicants are academically qualified for admittance.

Increasing our class size using an incremental approach equivalent to one small group allows us to preserve part of what makes us special maintaining close, personal relationships among students and faculty while also giving more people who are deserving and qualified the opportunity to experience it each year, said Learman.

The admissions team is monitoring current acceptances to see if additional offers will need to be made. Admitted students must hold only one medical school acceptance by April 30, so the class makeup will be more apparent by that date.

If there was ever a time when we needed a strong, health-systems minded physician workforce, it is now. We look forward to welcoming 49 incoming students in the Class of 2024 to increase our contribution to that workforce, Learman said. Looking at the talent and diversity of our current applicants, Im confident that these future physicians thought leaders will fit in well with our growing community of students and alumni at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine.

comments

Continued here:
VT Carilion School of Medicine to expand class size with next entering class - Southwest Times

Sara Worril.(WYDaily/Courtesy of Williamsburg Community Foundation)

Sara Worrill will embark on her journey toward becoming a physician with the intent of taking her knowledge back to Williamsburg to practice.

In just a few weeks shell pack her belongings and make the drive to Blacksburg.

Indeed, shes not the only one who will venture off to college to pursue a career, but theres a local significance here.

You see, Worrills journey is made possible in part thanks to the generosity of a Williamsburg couple who chose to leave a generous bequest creating a medical school scholarship for students who intend to practice in the Williamsburg area.

Shes the first student ever to receive the Perisie Scholarship in Memory of James P. and H. Bihin Perisie. It will almost entirely cover the cost, and is renewable as long as the student maintains full-time status and is in good standing.

Heres more information about the scholarship.

The scholarship fund is managed by the Williamsburg Community Foundation.

A 2019 graduate of Old Dominion University, Worrill majored in Biochemistry and Psychology, according to a news release from the foundation.

She has worked as a volunteer scribe at Lackey Clinic, where she got to observe both general medicine and specialists in action while taking notes during patient visits.

Worrill is currently working as a medical assistant at M.D. Express Urgent Care. She will begin med school this fall at the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine.

My mom is actually a D.O. (doctor of osteopathy) so Ive known about osteopathic medicine my whole life, Worrill said. I have always appreciated the holistic approach to medicine. After volunteering with Lackey Free Clinic, I realized that I have a passion for serving the medically underserved, so I connected with the schools mission right away. I was also drawn to their international outreach program which has medical clinics in the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Honduras.

She did not grow up in Williamsburg but said she loves the community and is looking forward to returning to practice here.

Worrill said she hopes to do some rotations with Riverside Health System during her med school residency program.

I plan on graduating in May of 2024, pursuing a career in primary care as a physician she said. I plan to use the knowledge, skills, and expertise gained during my time at VCOM to contribute to the medical community in the James City County area after graduation.

Williamsburg Community Foundation is able to assist residents who would like to create a scholarship fund.

There are many options such as creating a one-time award of $1,000 or more for local students through the WJCC Scholarship Fund, or creating an endowed scholarship with specific criteria.

For more information, contact the foundation at 757-259-1660, or email office@williamsburgcommunityfoundation.org. A complete list of the foundations scholarship opportunities can be found on the foundations website.

YOU ALSO MIGHT WANT TO CHECK OUT THESE STORIES:

Always be informed. Click here to get the latest news and information delivered to your inbox

Original post:
There's something about Sara: A scholarship from a Williamsburg couple will benefit the community - WYDaily

Hundreds of thousands of Colorado parents, teachers and students just finished or survived their first weeks of school this fall amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

Amy Swonger, a music teacher at Caprock Academy in Grand Junction, has had to cut some of her normal activities and limit the instruments and equipment students usually share. She teaches in-person and online, and said there are some days where she gets home and breaks down crying.

I can't really even explain why, she said. It's just trying to hold everything together, to keep it positive and to keep things moving. And then you get home and you can relax and you realize how much you've been holding it together all day.

She wasn't the only one: Parents and kids have persevered through online learning and a temporary Zoom outage on Monday, as schools have restructured their education plans to avoid spreading COVID-19. In the first days and weeks of school under these new arrangements, some worry about how the school year will progress and if it can be truly productive.

Nicole Gates has two boys, enrolled in third and seventh grade in Littleton Public Schools. The semester started Aug. 24. Her seventh grader gets a mix of remote and in-person school. Her third grader attends school in person full time. He has to wear a face mask, practice social distancing and has his own bottle of hand sanitizer on his desk like the rest of his 24 classmates, Gates said.

As long as he can stay healthy and the schools can stay operating then I think that's probably the better situation, but thats all 'what if,' she said. He's still at least seeing his friends five days a week and he's getting five full days of school.

The school has cohorts, splitting students into smaller groups that would make it easier to quarantine a single group if someone tests positive for COVID-19, instead of shutting down the entire school.

Gates said recess is a little strange because the kids cant touch each other or interact like they used to. Her third grader doesnt even pass his friends in other grade levels in the hallway between classes.

For her son in seventh grade, Gates worries about the quality of education he gets in this new environment and her own productivity when he's at home. Hes physically in class just two days a week, and online the other three days. On one of the online days, her son doesnt have an instructor and completes assignments independently. He finishes his online schooling by mid-afternoon, she said.

That's a long amount of time where I'm trying to work and he's already done, Gates said.

She asked friends what they are doing with their children, and some said they have started to plan their own separate and supplemental curriculum to make sure their kids get a full day and ultimately full year of school.

I don't know that I have the ability to do that, but I think I'm going to have to come up with chores and plans and different ways to keep him engaged and active, Gates said.

I definitely think if this is how things go for the course of a year, I don't think there's any way that it's going to be equivalent to what he would normally get during a five-days-a-week, in-person learning year.

Gates said shes moved her work schedule around so that shes working on weekends instead and can be home to help her sons with school work. But she said all of the rearrangements have impacted her familys ability to spend quality time together.

Steven Silz-Carson returned to his studies as a graduate student at the Anschutz Medical Campus in mid-August. He's not a traditional student. He is retired and isn't in a huge rush to graduate like other students.

He was nervous about the technology and wasn't sure what to expect out of the platform classes would be hosted on. But so far, so good, he said.

This is my first experience with online learning, he said. Because the professor has everything well organized, we know what to do very easily and she's very accessible.

That professor teaches English, and Silz-Carson said there is even an advantage to taking the course remotely: He feels a little more productive writing at home.

Still, he has some reservations about labs and his molecular biology course, which starts in September. It has a rotating instructor. Silz-Carson said he has the option to drop the course without payment or penalty within the first 10 days of the class so he may do that if he finds it to be too difficult.

Although dropping the course can cause a delay in graduation for many students and ends up being more expensive, Silz-Carson said hes fortunate that hes not in the stressful situation his peers are in.

They thought they would graduate and get a job and start paying off their student debt, he said. It's obviously going to take somewhat longer for most of us or other people in my program who tend to apply to medical school or PhD programs I know a lot of people are very stressed just with uncertainty itself.

Caprock Academy, the K-12 charter school where Swonger teaches music, started in-person full time at the beginning of August. The school also offers online classes for students who can't make it in person for health reasons. Swonger said at first she resisted physically going back, but nearly a month later, her perspective has changed a bit.

I'm not as worried as I was before, she said. I'm still worried because I just keep waiting for the shoe to drop. You wait for one case.She doesn't know of any positive cases so far, but she has noticed what seems like a constant rotation of teachers and students who arent in school for a chunk of time.

Swonger teaches in-person and online and said its like two full-time jobs, and its difficult to do both well. It feels like being a first-year teacher again, she said.

You're constantly worrying, Did they get it? Did they not get it? Why didn't they turn that in? Was it because they didn't understand it? Swonger said.

It's hard on the kids. It's really hard on the teachers because the teachers really want to do a good job, but there's only so much time in the day.

She created a whole new curriculum for in-person instruction. The students can't sing, for example, since that's considered a high-risk activity to spread the virus.

The hardest part of my job right now is being a music teacher and trying to figure out how to do it safely, she said. I used to have risers and carpets. Everybody has a desk now in my classroom. I wish I could say they're six feet apart, but they're not. There's just not room.

Swonger has tried to hold classes outside where students could spread out and sing, but said its been difficult lately because of smoke from the Pine Gulch Fire. Inside the classroom, she said she keeps the door open and has a fan to circulate the air.

Her advice for teachers, parents and students who are just getting back into the school groove is to remain positive and vigilant, and to not make assumptions about the entire school year based solely on the first week.

That's the part where youre afraid of all of the unknowns, but when you get in there and you're with your students, you kind of forget about everything else, Swonger said.

See more here:
Nerves, Tears And Lots Of Improvising Mark The Early Weeks Of School In Colorado - Colorado Public Radio

Tom Harkin, a neighbor on San Juan Ridge, was a forester renowned for his breadth of knowledge and depth of practical wisdom. Whether an issue was limbing trees, storing fir seeds, or erecting a shopping center versus leaving the place alone, his advice was always the same: It depends on what you want.

We have the style of healthcare we evidently want. It attends almost exclusively to the physical body, paying little attention to the experience of the sick person. Is that what we still want?

That question is especially pertinent during this pandemic. Were medically quite limited, lacking cure, adequate testing, and effective immunization. Were affected in significant non-medical ways, too.

Sick and dying patients are necessarily separated from loved ones. We suffer widespread anxiety and unfounded rumors. Our lives are utterly deranged, and we dont know if or when theyll be restored. But if, as they say, crisis flip side is opportunity, theres much we can do in addition to physical medicine.

Healthcare reform, then, isnt just about who pays for what. Genuine reform means getting what you want.

It depends on what we want. If all we want is to watch COVID-19 eventually head over the horizon, fine. But if we also want relief from suffering right now in the form of compassion, personal attention, counseling, and support, we can have that, too. Certainly many healthcare workers already act this way, but how can we steer the entire institution in that direction?

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City runs a program intended to give its graduates a head start in these softer skills. It admits scientific pre-meds, but also students who major in fields like English, anthropology and history. The assumption is that these students, having had more exposure than science majors to the human condition, will see their patients as more than medical problems.

Theyre selected after their sophomore college year, and dont need to take the notorious MCAT admission test.

This strategy has actually been around awhile. My own alma mater, USC, experimented with it for a few years in the 1960s, and I was one of its beneficiaries. Definitely not a science nerd, I was pretty good at languages, so they admitted me, along with several other atypicals. Once there, we discovered we had missed little: undergraduate science classes were largely irrelevant to medical training unless one planned to be a researcher. The college biochemistry that had been opaque to me in flasks and beakers came easily when it was about live humans.

Other medical schools are currently trying innovative admission policies and curricula as well. Some of class time devoted to traditional subjects like acetyl-coA production and the nature of mitochondrial nucleic acid is now shifted to communication skills, which will hopefully attain the impressive quality level of medicines science.

Healthcare reform, then, isnt just about who pays for what. Genuine reform means getting what you want.

Jeff Kane is a physician and writer in Nevada City.

Read more:
Dr. Jeff Kane: Humanities in medicine | TheUnion.com - The Union of Grass Valley

DURHAM, N.C. -- Speculation that a vaccine for COVID-19 might be widely available by the end of this year is overly optimistic, three Duke experts said Wednesday.

While there may be substantial scientific progress by the end of 2020, there will still be significant manufacturing hurdles to clear before a vaccine is available to most people, the experts said during a briefing for media.

Below are excerpts from the briefing:

David Ridley, health economist

Dr. Fauci is quite optimistic. I think optimism is good. I think optimism has a really important role. We need people within these companies being optimistic. If everyone sits back and talks gloom and doom nothings ever going to get done. So I respect that optimism.

But will you and I get vaccinated this year? No way. Its possible a vaccine will be approved this year. But not at scale. We wont have a lot of doses of this.

We might have some people vaccinated this year. But the average person wont be vaccinated this year.

Thomas Denny, chief operating officer, Duke Human Vaccine Institute

If youre going into a tough game, you need a coach thats getting the team revved up. We may have some good science by the end of the year and think we have some leading candidates. But manufacturing them to have it all administered, thats a tall order to be ready by the beginning of 2021.

Ooi Eng Eong, deputy director, Emerging Infectious Diseases Programme, Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore

Once we get to the efficacy phase and ask the question of whether this vaccine will work to prevent infection, that depends on how common the infection is at that time. If the situation still goes on as it is, we shouldnt have any problem testing efficacy."

But if for whatever reason the prevalence of the disease goes down, it will take us a much longer time to assess efficacy.

Were not going to get rid of the coronavirus in a hurry. Its going to stay with us. Even if we can vaccinate people, protect them from infection the question is how long will immunity last?

If we think about using vaccines in stages, potentially we could get one, possibly at the soonest to me, about this time next year. Anything sooner than that is extremely optimistic. Others have said we could get it by the end of this year. Im an optimistic person, but Im not that optimistic.

David Ridley

Were preparing to manufacture at scale. Fortunately, some of these vaccine makers are already manufacturing now. Sanofi said theyre going to be able to make 100 million doses this year and a billion doses next year. Thats really unprecedented. Usually youd wait to see if your vaccine is having some success. If you think theres a 1-in-8 chance that youre going to get on the market, and youre already spending tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars, thats kind of crazy. But thats the crazy world we live in and I salute them for it.

Usually it takes years to manufacture. You want to be sure you got a good vaccine before you begin making it at scale. Typically this is going to take four or five years. Maybe now we can do it in one or two years. Part of this is going to depend on the appetite of these manufacturers to start building something now that they probably will never use.

My guess is this will take longer than people will assume because there will be a little bit of foot-dragging. If you drag your feet a little bit longer and make sure its a good vaccine, that its going to work before you make the huge investments in manufacturing, you can save a lot of money.

Thomas Denny

The duration of immunity post-vaccination is a major scientific issue were trying to understand. Were also trying to understand right now whats the duration of immunity after natural infection. That will help us probably understand how well or how well not vaccines will work for us.

One of the approaches were taking at the vaccine institute, were also exploring the potential development of a pan-coronavirus vaccine.

If we can develop a vaccine that would cover protection to all types of coronaviruses that may be a threat to us we think that would be a big benefit. Thats a longer-term goal for ours. Its 18 months to two years out. I dont think there are many playing in that space currently. Most are looking at the short-term COVID-19 pathogen and trying to get a rapid vaccine developed for that one.

Ridley

Its very common for the second product, a later product to be better than the first. Lipitor was fifth to market for cholesterol drugs and was arguably better than the previous four.

Its reasonable to expect that later entrants will be better. Assuming the virus is still with us and still a threat, Id expect other companies to continue product development.

Ooi Eng Eong

Obviously theres pressure. Theres pressure from the demand from the public for a solution so they can go back to some level of normality in their lives. Theres pressure from colleagues in the hospitals saying we need to deal with this.

Theres also competition from other groups working on vaccines. I think competition is good. It forces us to think harder to come up with better, more innovative ways of doing things. There is pressure but I think at some level of pressure is good to really push the boundaries.

Ridley

We need a lot of materials in this process. Some are very simple. Gowns and masks are pretty simple things. Swabs for diagnostics are pretty simple things. Rubber stoppers, medical glass sound pretty simple. But we really have a high standard for those because anytime we have something coming into contact with the vaccine thats going to go straight into your blood stream, we have a really high standard for sterility.

Sterile water always seems to be in shortage. Water should be easy to make. But it has to be sterile because its going straight into the bloodstream. We cant underestimate the importance of all these products along the line.

We might be a little concerned about hoarding. Theres cost to scaling up PPE. Theres cost to scaling up medical glass and rubber stoppers. Someone might hoard those. One of the vaccine manufacturers, one of the hospitals might try to grab those materials. Theres all sorts of parts in this process and if one of them breaks down, it slows the process of getting the vaccine to people."

Ridley

None of the major vaccine manufacturers will charge ridiculous prices. Theyre in this game to try to do good, to try to impress their employees, to try to impress their shareholders. Theyre not going to do that by charging ridiculous prices.

Ooi Eng Eong

Were testing (our vaccine) as a preventative vaccine. But is an intriguing possibility. Our fight against the virus relies on the body to recognize first of all its infected with the virus. It triggers a series of processes. So it is entirely possibly theoretically that because were using an RNA vaccine, the vaccine will trigger the processes that will allow the (body) to fight an RNA pathogen.

Weve only had this virus for seven months now. Theres a lot we dont know about this virus.

Think about it like a thief breaking into your house. If this person is very skilled at overcoming your alarm, they will be able to break into your house. If you have another system that can activate the alarm while the break-in is in process, you would actually trap the thief. So it is something that is possible.

Denny

Those with underlying medical conditions, and first-line responders. Hospital workers, theyre the highest priority. If we cant keep those folks going, were in trouble.

Faculty participants

Thomas N. DennyThomas Dennyis chief operating officer of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute, a professor of medicine and an affiliate member of the Duke Global Health Institute. His administrative oversight includes a research portfolio of more than $400 million. Denny has served on numerous committees for the NIH over the last two decades.thomas.denny@duke.edu

Ooi Eng EongOoi Eng Eongis a professor of medicine and deputy director of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Programme at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore. He also co-directs the Viral Research and Experimental Medicine Centre at the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre (ViREMiCS), which studies therapies and vaccines against viral infections.engeong.ooi@duke-nus.edu.sg

David RidleyDavid Ridleyis a professor of the practice at Dukes Fuqua School of Business, where he is faculty director of the Health Sector Management program.He was lead author of the paper proposing a review program to encourage development of drugs for neglected diseases that became U.S. law in 2007.david.ridley@duke.edu

---Duke experts on a variety of other topics related the coronavirus pandemic can be found here.

See original here:
COVID-19 Vaccine in 2020 Highly Unlikely, Experts Caution - Duke Today

The suspension of most new work visas for entry into the United States, announced by President Trump on Monday, will not affect international medical graduates (IMG) who apply for J-1 visas to take up residency positions in this country, a US State Department official who asked not to be identified told Medscape Medical News.

International students who seek F-1 visas to attend medical school here also will not be impacted by the order, said Matthew Shick, senior director of government relations and regulatory affairs for the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), in an interview with Medscape Medical News.

Recent US residency program graduates who hold J-1 visas will still be able to convert them into H-1B visas so that they can accept clinical positions in the United States, said Matthew Bourke, a spokesman for US Citizenship and Immigration Services. "J-1 visa holders currently in the United States are still permitted to change status through H-1B petition process to extend their stay and work in this country," he said.

The White House order is not retroactive and does not revoke visas currently held by IMGs and others.

A broad swath of foreign physicians and medical researchers who seek H-1B visas will be affected by the presidential proclamation, however. The proclamation will remain in effect through the end of this year and could be renewed after that.

Whether a physician is accorded such a visa depends on what he or she plans to do in the United States. According to the State Department official, "Physicians who are seeking entry to the United States on an H-1B or L visa to provide medical care to individuals who have contracted COVID-19 and are currently hospitalized, or who are involved in the provision of medical research at United States facilities to help the United States combat COVID-19, may be considered for a national interest exception" to the proclamation.

The AAMC said in a news release that it is "deeply troubled by this proclamation, which will hinder our nation's health care workforce and biomedical research enterprise. The medical residents, physicians, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students who work and train in the United States with H-1B and J-1 visas are integral to providing health care nationwide. These individuals are also performing scientific research that is critical to advancements in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the entire spectrum of illnesses, as well as future pandemics."

The AAMC noted that sustaining the US healthcare workforce is clearly in the national interest. Moreover, it pointed out, "Over half of the current postdoctoral researchers in this country hold temporary non-immigrant visas and fill a critical need in the US labor market by providing specialized knowledge and skills in the development of innovative and cutting-edge biomedical research."

In addition, Shick told Medscape Medical News, about a quarter of the IMGs who match to US residency programs hold H-1B visas, rather than J-1 visas. Smaller institutions sponsor these visas as a recruitment incentive, he noted, adding that if a residency graduate has an H-1B visa, they can stay here instead of having to return to their home country for 2 years.

"The ability [of IMGs who seek H-1B visas] to enter the US for training has been called into question," he said. "We're right at the time when programs start, on July 1; so if they haven't already gotten their visa stamped by the consulates, they might be stuck outside the country until there's clarification on their status.

"We're also concerned about our research enterprises at institutions that often rely on foreign talent. In some cases, the researchers who come here use H1-B visas. As our statement pointed out, they're often looking for cures for other conditions besides COVID."

In the White House proclamation, the Trump administration argued that the visa suspensions would help protect the US labor force from immigrant competition at a time of mass unemployment because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was also the argument used in an April 22 proclamation that suspended the issuance of green cards but exempted IMG physicians and other healthcare professionals.

Shick noted that US medical school graduates are matching to 96% of the slots available to them in residency programs. "So these IMGs aren't taking jobs away from US grads," he said. "They're filling a need, and we're able to recruit the best and brightest from around the world."

The restrictions on IMGs entering this country will exacerbate the existing physician shortage in the United States, Shick predicted. The cap on the number of graduate medical education slots subsidized by Medicare has kept the growth in the physician workforce below the increase in patient demand, he noted.

"Now we're talking about restricting H-1B visas on top of our current limitations. We're currently turning away 50% of the IMGs who apply for residency. That has nothing to do with the immigration rules."

For more news, follow Medscape on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, andYouTube.

Go here to read the rest:
How Does the New Immigration Order Affect the Medical Community? - Medscape

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine has announced Dr. Louise Logan will lead the schools program that helps doctors in training stay well.

She will begin her duties at Lead Clinician of the Resident Wellness Program with the Postgraduate Medical Educations Wellness Office on July 1.

This is a critical role at NOSM and Im very proud to pass the baton to Dr. Logan, Dr. Jonathan DellaVedova said in a release. I look forward to supporting her transition into this role and seeing her further develop the Resident Wellness Program, said Dr. DellaVedova, the schools inaugural Lead Clinician of the program.

His term ends Sept. 30, with overlap for a transition.

Dr. Vivian Leung, the chief resident in general surgery, sat on Dr. Logans interview panel as the NOSM resident representative.

Dr. Louise Logan continues to be a strong resident advocate, qualities she has exemplified since her time as chief resident. She stands out and we are thrilled that she has accepted this critical role at NOSM, Dr. Leung said.

Dr. Logan is Francophone from Northern Ontario and the current Emergency Medicine Clerkship Lead for NOSM in Sudbury.

She is an emergency physician and Medical Lead of Continuous Quality Improvement for the Emergency Department at Health Sciences North.

Dr. Logan holds an undergraduate degree at Laurentian University, an MD at the Universit de Montral, and Family Medicine and Special Competency in Emergency Medicine training from the Northeastern Ontario Family Medicine Program.

She was a founding member of NOSMs Francophone Reference Group, as well as several NOSM administrative committees including Admissions and Learner Affairs and, sat as a member of the NOSM Board of Directors and Academic Council.

The NOSM PGME Wellness Office and the Lead Clinician of the Resident Wellness Program are available to residents for coaching and guidance on wellness issues and resources.

Any resident experiencing academic or occupational distress is encouraged to reach out for support. Visit the Resident Wellness page for more details.

sud.editorial@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @SudburyStar

Read more:
Medical school appoints new wellness lead to help doctors in training - The Sudbury Star

The process of becoming a physician is a journey that starts for each of us at a different point.

For me, it started with a traumatic event a life-threatening injury that I suffered in the sixth grade after a fall through a window, which resulted in substantial blood loss and progressed to hemorrhagic shock. I did not fully understand my proximity to an untimely death until many years later as a surgical intern on the trauma surgery team at Tampa General Hospital at the University of South Florida.

By then, I was far along on my individual journey, one that included catalysts as well as areas of struggle and achievement. Without question, those who are making this journey during the COVID-19 pandemic are facing challenges unlike any in the history of medicine. Many have had disruptions in their undergraduate education or gap year in preparation for medical school. They have had disruption in their ability to take the MCAT exam. And those who are applying to medical school this year will likely face additional disruptions, through virtual rather than in-person interviews.

But I would like you to know that however different the process is this year, it is being shared by premed students all over the United States. One of the advantages to the current way in which most medical schools admit students is the use of a holistic admissions process to decrease emphasis on any specific test (MCAT) or GPA and rather emphasize an individuals journey to becoming a physician and the distance traveled in getting there. Many medical school applicants will have poignant stories related to their respective journeys and, undoubtedly, most will include specifics related to the current pandemic. These stories should be included in applications as a sign of strength and resilience. And while it is true that many applicants will have missed some opportunities for in-person clinical or research experiences during the pandemic, most of the premed students I advise have taken this time to connect and grow in other meaningful ways that will contribute to their career paths and their application processes.

For those of you applying to medical school this year, I would encourage you to think about the application process as a journey that will require perseverance and, for some, perhaps another application cycle. If medicine is your passion, embrace this path forward as well as the experience and always keep learning and growing as you move forward.

In my years as dean of the school of medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, I frequently share the following insights, which are even more pertinent during these challenging times:

First, the calling to become a healer and a physician is one of the greatest endeavors that a human can embark upon. It has been this way since the dawn of time and in every culture and every era. That journey is enriched by the special trust and bond that occurs between patient and doctor, and it is strengthened by the expectation of humanism, empathy, and social justice that is at the core of medicine. I would encourage all physicians-to-be, wherever the path takes you, to ensure that social justice is rooted in your outlook for your career and more broadly your communities. As physicians, you will have the ability and opportunity to change not only your patients outcomes but also those of your communities and the broader world.

Second, the path you are choosing will include struggle but also enormous reward. The struggles will include the choices between dedication to patients or time with family. They will include the enormous difficulty around maintaining well-being in the face of many pressures, demands, and illnesses. They will include finding paths to increased health equity when so many disparities occur in our current society and systems of providing care. The rewards will include the ability to put someones arm back together (if you are a surgeon) so that they can live life to its fullest. They will include helping to heal other parts of the human anatomy in different specialties as well as knitting together hearts and souls in a rewarding and lasting way. And, in times when your skills and the current knowledge available are not able to offer a cure, you will be with your patients and their families at an incredibly vulnerable time but also a time when your words, touch, and emotion can provide bridges to healing of another sort.

Finally, the process of becoming a physician is a journey that should never end. It certainly does not end when the medical school dean hands out a diploma bearing the initials MD behind ones name for the first time. It does not end after residency or even when one feels they have mastered the craft of their respective discipline. With changing technology and information medical knowledge now doubles about every 20 to 30 days (a significant increase from approximately every five years when I was in medical school!) physicians can never be complacent. Even in retirement, we will always be doctors, possessing the responsibilities that come with the title and continuing to make those around us, and the world, a better place. For those of you just now beginning your journey, I hope it is successful and I look forward to the day, in the not-too-distant future, when we will be physician-colleagues.

Joseph Kerschner, MD, is dean of the school of medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, provost and executive vice president of the Medical College of Wisconsin, and chair of the AAMC Board of Directors.

Original post:
The pandemic has disrupted medical school admissions. I urge you to apply anyway - AAMC

Pritesh Gandhi had spent months courting abortion-rights and gun safety groups, hoping to win their endorsements in his congressional primary runoff.

But in late April, when his campaign adviser sent him a text to say a prominent group was ready to talk, Gandhi couldnt immediately take the call.

Covered head to toe in personal protective gear while working at the Peoples Community Clinic in East Austin, Gandhi responded with a selfie and a message saying he was tied up but would be available shortly. A primary care physician, he was spending the afternoon collecting nasal swabs from low-income patients to test for the new coronavirus.

Gandhi, who is in the Democratic primary runoff for the 10th Congressional District, is among a group of health care workers from both parties running for office in 2020, when moonlighting as a political candidate during a global pandemic has required a special kind of stamina. When those workers filed paperwork to run for office weeks before the virus was on the radar of the World Health Organization, let alone American voters many thought theyd make issues like Medicaid expansion or the Affordable Care Act central to their campaign.

Now, COVID-19 is dominating their bids and their day jobs.

For Gandhi, who is also an affiliate faculty member at Dell Medical School in the Department of Population Health, the pandemic has given front-line health care workers like himself a view of the high stakes of government decision making. At work, he said, he interacts with everyone from healthy patients to those showing minor symptoms of the virus to those awaiting what could be a deadly fate in the ICU.

Although his first priority is tending to his patients Peoples Community Clinic counts about 20,000 uninsured and underinsured Central Texas patients Gandhi said that his medical work has unexpectedly prepared him for the oftentimes grueling work of campaigning.

We are doing all this juggling because the stakes are just too high, he said. The effort were putting into this campaign is because ultimately I need to look my patients in the eye every single day and know in my heart of hearts Ive done whatever I can do to fight for them and their families.

In Gandhis case, that means sometimes starting his days as early at 4:30 a.m. and ending them at midnight or later a dramatic shift to his schedule that also carves out time to help his oldest daughter with her math homework or make dinner. During the day, hes checking his patients labs and working in the clinics respiratory center.

At night, he pivots to campaigning.

Other candidates in health care report similar experiences, though this isnt the first time candidates with medical or scientific backgrounds have entered the political arena.

Texas saw a wave of scientists-turned-politicians run for office during the 2018 midterms, and Congress welcomed nine new members into its ranks that year who had academic or professional experience in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Many of these first-time candidates entered politics in response to President Donald Trump, whose administration they viewed as hostile to scientific expertise, after he withdrew the nation from the Paris climate accord and attempted to gut Obamacare.

Now, during another public health crisis, they see an opportunity to stand out by touting their qualifications as the country confronts a global pandemic.

Christine Eady Mann, a family doctor in a Democratic primary runoff in the 31st Congressional District, said she divides her time in similar ways to Gandhi: She works full time 35 hours a week at the Northwest Diagnostic Clinic in Cedar Park while devoting another 30 hours to campaigning.

Two to three times a week, donning full personal protective gear, she tests possible COVID-19 patients before coming home at 5 p.m. After a shower, change of attire and quick dinner, shell pivot to campaigning: virtual town halls, phone-banking and texting potential donors and volunteers, and creating content for her website and Facebook pages.

Its rigorous, but its very similar to what I did when I was in residency, she said. You just do what you gotta do.

Mann, who also advanced to the Democratic runoff for the seat in 2018 but ultimately lost to Air Force veteran MJ Hegar, said her disappointment in the federal response to the coronavirus reached a zenith immediately after the March 3 primary. Now its a part of her campaign.

Her clinic, she said, was receiving little to no guidance from county, state or federal officials about how to handle the risks associated with the virus. On top of that, there was a perpetually low supply of personal protective equipment, forcing her to use and reuse N95 masks often disinfecting them in between. The clinic also had trouble accessing coronavirus test kits until a few weeks ago.

We have seen a critical lack of adherence to science and scientific principles that have led to the deaths of more than 100,000 Americans, Mann said. I dare say that if we had people in elected office who understood how to look at data and how to decide what is valid and what is not and use that data to make decisions, we would be in a different place.

Now shes working to recruit other physicians to run for public office. Mann has consulted for and helped launch Doctors in Politics, a group aimed at supporting candidates running for Congress. (The group is backing both Gandhi and Mann this election cycle.)

In the Panhandle, Trump-backed Republican Ronny Jackson, who previously served as a White House physician, has advanced to the GOP runoff in the 13th Congressional District, where hell face Republican Josh Winegarner in July.

In a statement for this story, Jackson, a licensed physician and a board-certified emergency medicine physician, played up his background as a qualification for office and made a key campaign pitch out of working to lower health insurance costs.

COVID-19 has demonstrated to us that our health care system has many vulnerabilities, some of which are now national security issues, he said. Whether its pharmaceutical manufacturing in China or the lack of resiliency and preparedness in our local hospital system, these are issues I fully understand.

Jackson has appeared numerous times as a medical expert on Fox News since the pandemic arrived, boosting his visibility in one of the most conservative districts in the country.

Not that the physicians-turned-candidates are the only ones campaigning on the pandemic or having their day jobs take on heightened relevance during the campaign.

Gandhis July opponent in the runoff, Mike Siegel, is a civil rights lawyer. During the coronavirus pandemic, Siegel said hes educating his constituents on the rules for voting by mail. The states Republican leadership has resisted expanding mail-in voting during the pandemic; the state Democratic Party has sued to try to force their hand.

In mid-March, Siegel paired up with an Austin-area Texas House member to demand the state expand voting by mail to every Texan. He says he communicated with the Texas Democratic Party about the idea that people who are vulnerable to the coronavirus should be able to be considered disabled and qualify for mail-in ballots. That legal theory was part of the Texas Democratic Partys lawsuit in state district court.

And now, after the brutal killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, Siegel said hes using his platform to talk about his background in fighting for racial justice which, among other things, includes fighting housing discrimination against Black Austin residents as a city attorney.

Now theres a lot more space to talk about these issues, said Siegel, who recently won the endorsements of both Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Before, I thought a lot of Democratic politics was focused on health care and the environment, but the idea now is were talking about effective policing and public safety, which gives me the chance to talk about my background.

Manns challenger, Donna Imam, is a computer engineer who has included the voices of medical experts in her campaign, including hosting virtual town halls with emergency care physicians. Shes also working to inform people and businesses on how to apply for loans and access other economic safety nets if theyve lost their livelihoods during the pandemic.

In the 13th District, meanwhile, Jacksons credentials have sometimes been used against him. When he first announced his bid for the seat in December, one of his primary opponents at the time used Jacksons past as a physician to Trumps predecessor to paint him as President Obamas Doctor while noting Barack Obamas past praise for Jackson. (Jackson was White House physician under Trump, Obama and George W. Bush.)

But as the coronavirus pandemic has upended Americans lives, it has also served as a cultural moment to lionize front-line health care workers. Around the country, public shows of appreciation have included free and discounted food and flights, murals, and the ability to shop special hours at some retail stores.

Now some doctors want to turn nightly cheers into votes.

Health care is the most important issue to most Americans, and this crisis has exposed the perils of undermining expertise and science, said Shaughnessy Naughton, who founded 314 Action in 2016. Named for the first three digits of pi, the national group backs scientists and doctors running for office.

Health professionals are who Americans are looking to to help us through this crisis, said Naughton, whose group has endorsed Gandhi.

If Gandhi and Mann advance to the general election, both would be underdogs. In Gandhis case, the 10th Congressional District is a longtime GOP seat represented by Austin Republican Michael McCaul. Siegel, Gandhis runoff opponent, came within 5 percentage points of flipping the seat in 2018. The 31st Congressional District, meanwhile, has a tight GOP grip, and whoever snags the partys nomination would need to unseat U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock, who was first elected in 2002 and won reelection by 3 percentage points in 2018.

Still, Naughton believes the ongoing attention to a public health crisis could prove favorable to candidates with backgrounds in science and medicine.

These physicians running are in a unique position to talk about their experiences at a time when everyone is thinking about how to keep their families safe, she said.

For some, including Gandhi, those on the front lines have a direct line of sight into the suffering everyday families experience, whether in the public health sector or economically. That alarm has only grown in light of the governments response to the coronavirus pandemic, from failures in state testing to a lack of Medicaid coverage to people with incomes near or below the poverty line.

Because I see that failure, I feel compelled to fight for change, Gandhi said.

See original here:
These Texas doctors are running for Congress during the pandemic - The Texas Tribune

Mother daughter duo celebrate med school graduation together

Dr. Cynthia Kudji and her daughter, Dr. Jasmine Kudji, be working in the same hospital system beginning July 1.

NEW ORLEANS - A mother and daughter duo recently became the first to graduate from medical school together and the first to be matched at the same hospital.

Dr. Cynthia Kudji and her daughter, Dr. Jasmine Kudji, attended medical school at the same time, though at a distance.

Cynthia attended the University of Medicine and Health Sciences (UMHS) in Maine and St. Kitts in the Caribbean, while Jasmine was at Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans, according to the a blog in which they share updates on their history-making careers.

They were surprised on Match Day when they learned they would both be working in the same hospital system, beginning on July 1. Cynthia was matched in Family Medicine at LSU Health, and Jasmine also matched at LSU in General Surgery, according to UMHS which added that they are the first mother and daughter to attend medical school at the same time and match at the same institution.

Dr. Cynthia Kudji & Dr. Jasmine Kudji display their residency announcements at LSU Health New Orleans. (Photo credit: Adrienne Battistella Photography)

Cynthia, originally from Ghana, had dreamed of becoming a doctor but had to put her career on hold after she became pregnant at 23. She eventually became a nurse and later a nurse practitioner. At age 43, she decided to pursue her medical degree after a trip back to Africa to visit relatives.

My mom wanted us to have a family trip back to Ghana and there was an incident where we were in the village and somebody just walked up to us and said that their child had a fever and was sick and wanted my mom and I to help. We put the child in water, trying to get the temperature down, and thats pretty much all I remember, Cynthia told UMHS. I just remember being so frustrated that the mom had to come to a complete stranger to get access to health care. The only thing I knew that could change that situation was to be a physician.

Cynthia enrolled at UMHS in St. Kitts, and began what she calls an extremely trying yet fulfilling time in my life. Jasmine simultaneously was attending medical school at LSU.

I think initially it was difficult because my mom and I have always been really close so I had to get used to the distance, we had to learn how to FaceTime and Skype each other, so we were Skyping each other every day and whenever I had struggles and she had struggles, we just had to learn to communicate from a distance, Jasmine told UMHS. But I think over time we figured it out.

Dr. Cynthia Kudji dreamed of becoming a doctor but had to put her career on hold when she became pregnant at age 23. (Photo credit: Provided)

Being in the health care field amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Jasmine and Cynthia said they have witnessed racial disparities firsthand. Lawmakers and community leaders in cities across the country have sounded the alarm over what they see as a disturbing trend of the coronavirus disproportionately affecting black, Latino and other minority populations.

As they continue their journeys into the medical field, both stressed the importance of educating the black community about the virus.

A lot of times we kind of take it for granted, especially with the African American population, just how sensitive the topic can be regarding protective wear, Cynthia told UMHS, adding that many black men wearing masks into stores have felt unfairly targeted as criminals.

Theyre exposing themselves to prevent being profiled. Despite these unfair situations, as a provider, at the same time you still have to educate the public and you still have to get them to wear the masks and the gloves and give them the information and the rationale behind your recommendations, she said.

Democratic lawmakers want police departments to be vigilant about any racially biased policing during the coronavirus pandemic, as people in communities of color express fears of being profiled while wearing masks or other face coverings in public.

After a challenging journey through medical school, Cynthia and Jasmine said they are excited to begin the next phase of their careers and once again be living in the same state.

I always tell people we laugh together, we study together, we cry together, Jasmine said. I think medical school is one of those experiences that you dont truly understand until youre in it. Sometimes people struggle to find someone who relates to their struggles, so for that person to be my mom was extremely helpful.

This story was reported from Cincinnati.

Read more here:
Mother and daughter graduate medical school together and get matched at same hospital - FOX 13 Tampa Bay

KALAMAZOO, MI -- The founding dean of the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine is set to retire next year.

Dr. Hal B. Jenson announced he will retire in 2021, and a national search for his replacement is underway at the medical school, according to a news release from WMed.

Jenson arrived to the school in 2011 and helped lead the institutions founding in 2012.

Since March 2011, I have had the honor and privilege of serving as the founding dean of WMed, Jenson said. We have accomplished significant milestones as a new medical school and focused on operational excellence to become even better. I hope you share the same sense of accomplishment that I have for the medical school that we, together, have created."

Under his leadership, WMed experienced a number of key milestones and accomplishments, including the granting of full accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission and the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, as well as certification with the U.S. Department of Education. The school has graduated three classes of doctors since its creation, the school said.

The schools Board of Directors selected the search firm AMN Leadership to lead the search process and a 13-member search committee will be led by WMU President Edward Montgomery, who also serves as chair of the Board of Directors.

The search committee includes representatives from the Board of Directors, Ascension Borgess and Bronson Healthcare, as well as medical school faculty, leadership, students, residents and staff.

Finding Dr. Jensons successor is a critical task and committee members have committed their time and effort over what will be an 11-month period to assist WMed in this important recruitment process, Montgomery said. I want to thank Dr. Jenson for his steadfast and unwavering leadership of the medical school over the last 10 years and his willingness to assist in what will be an important transition over the next year.

Nominations and resumes will be accepted throughout the summer and candidates will be presented to the search committee in September. Officials expect candidates to be on campus in late fall to participate in interviews and presentations to the community, the school said.

Also on MLive:

Restaurants, pools, libraries reopen: An updated chart of whats allowed in Michigan

Kalamazoo leaders march in solidarity with black LGBTQ community

K-12 teacher shortage sparks Aquinas to add accelerated masters program

The rest is here:
Founding dean of WMU medical school set to retire - mlive.com

When new physicians Cynthia Kudji and her daughter Jasmine Kudji checked their emails March 20, Match Day, they didnt expect to set two records. That morning, the duo had both been placed at Louisiana State University Health to complete their residency training one of the first times a mother and daughter matched with the same hospital after graduating from medical school at the same time.

We were so excited, Jasmine, 26, said. Our life has never been planned, and you never know whats going to happen. It was one of the best moments of my life.

A native of Ghana, Cynthia immigrated to the United States with her family when she was two years old. It was during a family trip back to Ghana where Cynthia, 17 at the time, was inspired to become a doctor. There, she saw how egregious health conditions were when a woman she didnt know asked her to treat her ill child.

It jolted me because her only form of health care was a complete stranger, said Cynthia, 49. I thought, You know what? What can I possibly do to change that, leave an impact, and make a difference?

The Morning Rundown

Get a head start on the morning's top stories.

Her dreams were put on the backburner when she became pregnant with Jasmine as a senior at Tulane University, where she received a B.S. in biology as an undergraduate. Instead, Cynthia attended William Carey University for nursing school and completed her masters of science in nursing at Loyola University in 2006. She worked as a nurse for nearly a decade before eventually deciding that she still wanted to become a physician.

Witnessing Cynthia constantly putting herself before others led Jasmine to follow in her mothers footsteps. Growing up, I saw that being a physician was a position of service, and I really valued that, Jasmine said. I could see myself doing that from a young age. In 2014, Jasmine graduated from Louisiana State University majoring in English while taking pre-med classes.

While Cynthia went to the University of Medicine and Health Sciences in the Caribbean island of St. Kitts, her daughter attended Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans.

Being apart was difficult at first for both of them.

We really are each others best friends and we constantly rely on each other, Jasmine said. Medical school is not set up to work by yourself.

Their mother-daughter bond was only strengthened while simultaneously attending different medical schools whether it was staying up late together studying for a test over Skype, calling each other with questions about a patients diagnosis, or crying about the compounding stress of the program.

Now, moving forward, theyre excited to be reunited for their residency programs at Louisiana State University Health -- Cynthia is planning to train in family medicine while Jasmine will pursue general surgery.

The coronavirus pandemic is a reminder for Cynthia and Jasmine of why they wanted to become doctors in the first place. This is a time when physicians can be leaders, show that we contribute, we make a difference in peoples lives. This is where we get the opportunity to serve, Cynthia said.

Im glad Ill get to do something that people need now more than ever with my daughter.

Read more:
A double match: Black mother and daughter graduate together from medical school, placed at the same hospital - NBC News

Graduating from medical school in the midst of a global pandemic spurs mixed emotions, including a sense of loss as in-person ceremonies are canceled and loved ones are unable to witness the accomplishment firsthand.

But the sheer joy this accomplishment generatesand the pride that is rightfully taken in such a momentous achievementhas not changed. This years medical school graduates have overcome obstacles no one imagined would be placed in their path.

Right now, the nation is relying on its doctors, nurses, scientists and other health professionals to guide us through a most tumultuous time. To that list of heroes we can add our nations graduating medical school students, as many of them joined the health care workforce to battle COVID-19 while completing their education.

It was my privilege to participate in a virtual celebration May 20 honoring this years medical school graduates. The AMA Tribute to the Medical School Class of 2020 was a joyous celebration of the talented young men and women who have answered the call to serve others at one of the most challenging moments in modern medicine.

Responding to the growing pandemic earlier this spring, medical schools in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio and other states allowed qualified fourth-year students to begin their internships early to bolster our front-line responders during a dramatic surge in COVID-19 patients

This action was not unprecedented. During World War I and again during World War II, U.S. medical students completed accelerated courses of study and graduated early to serve in the armed forces, and to help fill physician shortages on the home front.

Completing medical school is a tremendous accomplishment, one that requires intellect, perseverance, courage, compassion, and a drive to help others. This year, graduate have been put to the test amid the most severe public health crisis our nation has witnessed in decades. In 2020, those with freshly minted MD and DO degrees will enter residency with a new sense of urgency to do their part to alleviate suffering, restore patients to health, and help bring the pandemic to an end.

Overcoming obstacles is a fact of life for any physician, at any stage of his or her career. The obstacles posed by COVID-19 are as complex and challenging as any we have faced in our lifetimes. We are just beginning to understand the risks posed by this virus to multiple organs in the human body, exactly how it is transmitted, and why some populations are impacted so disproportionately.

Medical school graduates will bring new energy, fresh insight and the will to overcome to the ranks of medical professionals working so hard today to answer these and other questions. We need them now more than ever.

I know that established physicians will eagerly continue the time-honored practice of mentoring todays medical students, interns and residents. The wisdom generated by practical and clinical experience takes on even greater value when it is shared with those who are just now launching their careers.

Finally, I am encouraged and heartened to see more women and people of color joining our nations physician workforce. The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the need to deliver compassionate and equitable care.

Today and far into the future, a more diverse physician workforce will help our nation meet the moral imperative to ensure that everyone, in every situation, receives access to high-quality, evidence-based medical care.

The rest is here:
Med school grads: We need you more than ever - American Medical Association

Two siblings got to share some major achievements with their grandfather who was on lockdown in a nursing home, KTLA reports.

The pandemic made it difficult but not impossible.

It was an emotional reunion through the glass when the proud grandpa got to see his grandkids for the first time in months in their caps and gowns.

Vana Ebrahmi, 25, graduated from Loyola Law School on Sunday, and her brother graduated from medical school.

It was a momentous occasion that they had to share with one of their biggest supports.

He takes off his mask, and I start crying. His smile is there, Vana said.

Hayrik Abnous, 86, was on lockdown at La Crescenta nursing home, so the siblings havent been allowed to see him since March.

At the nursing home before corona, we were there every single day, hours in. And it was just like, we wanted to make it feel like we were together on this, Vana said.

The siblings are the first in their family to graduate college.

Were an immigrant family. Were Armenian, Vana said.

Her grandparents and parents escaped war in Iran and eventually made it to the US in 1993.

They had little to nothing then, so seeing their grandchildren accomplish the American dream is fulfilling.

VIt almost felt like we did it. and like we did it together. We called him later, and my grandpa doesnt speak a lot of english, but all you hear him keep saying is I love you, so that was a great feeling, Vana said.

They couldnt celebrate in a traditional way, but this moment was a silver lining.

With the pandemic, theres obviously good and theres bad. And I think the good is youre able to be more intimate and have more meaningful relationships with the people around you, Vana said. I dont even know how many times Ive watched it myselfts a moment know Ill hold forever and that can live on with us forever.

The siblings have virtual commencement ceremonies, and they hope to celebrate together as a family in person sometime in the future.

More here:
Medical school graduate, law school graduate surprise grandfather during emotional reunion in their caps and gowns - WGHP FOX 8 Greensboro

In fact, Dr. Deborah L. Birx, 64, is a world-renowned global health official and a retired U.S. Army physician who was instrumental in HIV/AIDS vaccine research, and whose career has spanned three decades. And ever since Vice President Mike Pence appointed her as the response coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force one of two women on the team shes been on national TV almost daily, often alongside Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious-disease expert.

Birx has been a scene stealer before such as when she warned younger Americans that they were not immune to COVID-19, stating, millennials are the key to stopping the spread of the virus.

But her body language as President Trump suggested bright-light treatments and disinfectants to fight the coronavirus on Thursday sitting still, taking a deep breath, blinking, setting her face still and then staring at the ground went viral on Twitter TWTR, +3.15% on Friday. Some criticized her for not standing up and refuting the presidents comments immediately.

Read more:Trump suggests disinfectant as treatment for coronavirus by injection inside or almost a cleaning later says he was speaking sarcastically

Others set the clip to the theme music from HBOs T, +0.71% Curb Your Enthusiasm, or joked about her facial expression. You can see Dr. Birxs soul leave her body, snarked one tweet.

The president has since responded that he was asking the questions sarcastically, and the White House press office accused the media of taking his comments out of context.

Related: Chris Cuomo satirizes Trumps disinfectant-injection suggestion: Take two shots of Windex, swallow this lightbulb, and call me in the morning

For those curious to learn more about Birx, however, here are five things to know about the ambassador-at-larges 30-year career, and her current role as the federal coronavirus response coordinator.

She was always a science buff

Birx grew up in Pennsylvania, where she and her two older brothers converted the backyard shed into a makeshift lab. Their most notable invention: a satellite-dish antenna that they moved around on roller skates, the Society for Science & the Public reported. When Birx was a junior at Carlisle High School in Pennsylvania, she competed in the 1973 International Science and Engineering Fair in San Diego. Her project on paleobotany in the Carboniferous period scored the trophy for girls grand champion, plus a chance to compete in the Army and Navys International Science and Engineering Fair (which she won). She eventually put herself through medical school at the Hershey School of Medicine at Penn State, the Hill reported.

She has a military background

Birx trained in internal medicine and clinical immunology at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Institutes of Health, according to her biography on the Department of State website. She began her government career as a military-trained clinician in immunology, mainly researching HIV/AIDS vaccines, in 1985. She attained the rank of colonel, and as Col. Birx received two prestigious U.S. Meritorious Service Medals and the Legion of Merit Award. She was named the director of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, serving from 1996 to 2005. And she led one of the most influential HIV vaccine trials in history, her bio states.

Shes worked closely with three U.S. presidents and was dogged in getting George W. Bushs attention

When Bush announced his Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in 2003, Birx flew back from Kenya and waited outside of the then-director of the Office of National AIDS Policys town house for almost a week to get a meeting with him. She had been working on HIV vaccine research in Africa for almost six years at that point. So she showed him a 180-slide PowerPoint presentation until he agreed ... to let the Army also be part of PEPFAR, she told a George W. Bush Presidential Center podcast in September. I was not leaving his office, and so I wore him down.

Birx was later appointed ambassador-at-large and global AIDS coordinator by President Barack Obama, and she has overseen PEPFAR at the State Department for the past six years. Now she is also aiding the government response to the coronavirus under the Trump administration. Vice President Pence has described her as his right arm in that role.

Her signature scarves have built a following

As Birx tends to wear patterned silk scarves during the daily White House coronavirus briefings, viewers have taken note, and even fashion cues, the Wall Street Journal reported. Instagram FB, +2.66% accounts dedicated to her neckwear have sprung up, including @deborahbirxscarves and @deborahbirxscarfqueen. Some followers have posted pictures of themselves sporting similar scarves to hers on Twitter:

Why was Birx sporting scarves even before people started using them as makeshift face masks during the pandemic? Turns out, its one of her tips for packing lightly and sticking to just one carry-on bag when traveling for work. I take relatively plain dresses, black and other colors, that you can then change the scarves on, and through that it looks like its a totally different outfit, she told the Strategerist podcast last year.

She throws one heck of a Christmas party

Birx takes a hands-on approach to all of her work, including her annual Christmas Eve party. The Washington Post revealed in a lengthy profile that she hosts a 24-hour buffet for almost 100 people in her home on Christmas Eve every year, and that she and a deputy cook all of the food themselves. Its important that I do this myself, she said. We do this to show love.

The Post profile also notes that she graduated from high school at 16, got married and graduated from college at 20, finished medical school at 23 and had her daughters shortly after so shes juggled work and home responsibilities through her entire career. On weekends in the 1980s, Birxs older daughter would sit on the floor of the lab, playing with the colored caps of sample tubes, while Birx cultured HIV.

Stay up-to-date with MarketWatchs coronavirus coverage here.

Visit link:
Who is Deborah Birx the doctor whose reaction when Trump suggested people inject disinfectants has gone viral? - MarketWatch

While preparing for the MCAT exam, 2018 college graduate Lauren Pinchbeck has been working 40-hour weeks as a medical scribe to squirrel away money to apply to medical school. Her former job in a Phoenix, Arizona, hospital made it tough to squeeze in study time, and she didnt score as well as she wanted the first time she took the test.

I need to take the MCAT again, and I'm really hoping they wont cancel more test dates, she says. I cant go spending all the money I've saved for applications unless Im sure I have a high chance of getting in. Even as an undergrad at Virginia Commonwealth University, Pinchbeck worked full-time. I have to finance everything myself, she explains. My dads unemployed, and there are three other kids back home.

Applying to medical school is always time-consuming and stress-inducing in addition to the MCAT exam, there are essays to write, recommendations to accumulate, interviews to ace, and more but the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown many new obstacles into the paths of thousands of aspiring doctors. And medical schools face their own issues as they try to build classes that will serve their missions and the nations need for talented future physicians.

There are so many unknowns now, says Geoffrey Young, PhD, AAMC senior director for student affairs and programs. This causes significant anxiety for students who need information from schools, which all have their own policies. And it causes concerns for admissions deans who will be reviewing applications that wont be as complete as in previous years.

Admissions officials arent terribly concerned about 2020 applicants who already went through most of the process before the pandemic hit, but instead are worried about the many essential steps in the 2021 application cycle.

That means academic medicine leaders are scouring options to move the process forward as quickly, fairly, and effectively as possible.

On April 20, after conferring with admissions deans, college prehealth advisors, and other stakeholders, the AAMCs American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) announced that it would postpone the date that schools can access applicants files which include GPAs, MCAT scores, essays, and other key indicators from June 26 to July 10. Thats to give students more time to complete their applications before the AMCAS release date.

Due to the pandemic, this cycle is going to be like no cycle weve ever experienced before. We may not even know what some of the stages will look like until we get there.

Geoffrey Young, PhDAAMC Senior Director for Student Affairs and Programs

Individual schools are also contemplating and making COVID-19-related changes daily, and dozens of schools have posted policy changes on the AAMCs Medical School Admission Requirements page.

So far, a recent AAMC survey shows that 78% of respondents say they will accept pass/fail grades for prerequisite coursework taken between January and August this year, and 76% say they will accept online lab courses for spring 2020 and any subsequent semesters affected by the global pandemic. Other schools are also considering these options. In addition, many are considering extending application deadlines, and more than 30% of responding schools have done so. Yale, for example, has moved its secondary application meant to supplement the AMCAS package back a full month, from Nov. 15 to Dec. 15.

And more changes likely lie ahead for both students and schools.

Due to the pandemic, this cycle is going to be like no cycle weve ever experienced before. We may not even know what some of the stages will look like until we get there, says Young.

Still, he adds, the admissions community is really trying to listen to and provide support to applicants and prehealth advisors. They are doubling down on their use of holistic review to ensure they have a thorough picture of applicants.Collectively, they are really coming together to try to get through this together.

Even in ordinary times, the MCAT exam the rigorous multiple-choice test that helps schools evaluate applicants problem-solving skills, scientific knowledge, and more often tops lists of concerns about admissions.

In an attempt to protect examinees and halt the spread of the novel coronavirus, MCAT exams were suspended from March 27 through May 21. To compensate, the AAMC has announced three new testing dates June 28, September 27, and September 28. Registration for the new test dates will open on May 7. There will be a total of 21 dates between now and the end of September.

To further accommodate more test-takers, all 2020 sessions will offer three sittings per day: an early morning, an afternoon, and an evening option. To pull that off, the exam will be trimmed for the remainder of the calendar year from 7 hours to 5 hours and 45 minutes. The cuts will come from parts of the exam that dont impact scores, such as some questions that are being given a test run and an end-of-day survey. The plan is to return to the regular format in January.

In addition, MCAT officials are reducing the results-reporting timeframe from one month to two weeks for the June 19 through August 1 dates to allow examinees to include MCAT scores in their package earlier in the application cycle.

Given the unclear course of the pandemic, its impossible to predict whether all upcoming exams will be available, notes Valerie Parkas, MD, senior associate dean of admissions and recruitment for the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Each school needs to figure out how they want to handle the MCAT, she says. If they used to accept scores only up until September, maybe they will take them in October or even January, she notes. Here, one change weve made is that we will allow older scores than we had previously.

This is a rapidly evolving situation, and we thank examinees for their patience. We want to work to ensure the use of safe practices in the test centers.

Karen Mitchell, PhDAAMC Senior Director of Admissions Testing

Elsewhere, schools are considering whether they would screen applicants or even interview them without MCAT scores for now and then require the scores later in the process.

The MCAT serves as a bit of an equalizer, admissions leaders say. It allows us to compare applicants from different schools and who have taken different courses, explains Iris Gibbs, MD, associate dean of admissions for Stanford University School of Medicine, which signed a pandemic-related admissions statement together with all other California medical schools. Of course, we alwaysview the MCAT in the context of a holistic review of the entire application, she says.

Meanwhile, MCAT officials are focused on balancing speed and safety.

This is a rapidly evolving situation, and we thank examinees for their patience. We want to work to ensure the use of safe practices in the test centers, says Karen Mitchell, PhD, AAMC senior director of admissions testing. Once centers open up, they will practice social distancing measures and rigorous cleaning protocols, and they will allow test-takers to wear gloves and masks.

What about an online exam? Mitchell says that while her team has been evaluating various options to deal with the outbreak, online testing raises possible concerns, including that some students may face obstacles to an online offering, such as not having the right display resolution, reliable internet coverage, or a quiet spot to take the test. Fairness must be central to any solutions, she says.

Certainly, the MCAT exam is only one portion of the application process, experts note. Most schools take a holistic approach, looking at GPA, letters of recommendation, volunteer activities, and a broad range of other information, such as the context in which you were learning, says Steven Gay, MD, assistant dean for admissions at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Students, therefore, have many concerns about this multifaceted process. Below are some key issues.

As undergraduate institutions shuttered campuses and moved courses online, many switched to pass/fail grades or at least offered the option.

Although these changes were meant to serve students, they have also generated some stress. Kaitlyn Tindall, a junior at Ohio State University, notes that she didnt feel comfortable opting for pass/fail. Depending on the class, a passing grade can sometimes be anywhere from an A to a D, she notes. I dont know how medical schools will view transcripts, so I didnt want to take any chances.

Medical schools are taking a range of approaches to pass/fail, with some saying they prefer letter grades in prerequisite courses and others explicitly declaring no negative consequences for anyone who chooses the option this spring.

Meanwhile, says Young, the AAMC is developing resources to help medical schools and prehealth advisors understand how to work with changes caused by online courses and pass/fail grading. Above all, he says, we are encouraging schools to be flexible and transparent with students who are trying to figure out how to apply at an unprecedented time.

Some students worry about their ability to solicit all-important recommendation letters from professors, mentors, and prehealth advisors given the current circumstances.

I was hoping to have enough time to show professors that I could make a good medical school candidate, but we only really got to meet for the first half of the semester, says Tindall. Some of my classes have something like 500 people in them, so although a professor might recognize my face if I went to office hours, Im not sure that he would recognize my name in an email.

Another concern is whether students can garner gold-standard committee letters a composite document capturing an applicants overall preparation given that campuses have shut down.

In response, several schools have loosened their rules around recommendation letters. We will take a packet of letters rather than a committee letter, for example, and it wont hurt applicants, says Christina Grabowski, PhD, associate dean for admissions and enrollment management at the University of Alabama School of Medicine. We completely understand that the recommendation process has really been disrupted.

The COVID-19 outbreak has also severely limited applicants ability to access health care and research-related experiences.

Opportunities to get clinical experience, to volunteer in hospitals, and even to work in communities have been greatly reduced, says Gibbs. We are completely understanding about those opportunities not being available, and if a student is ready to apply in other areas, we will still take that person's application quite seriously.

But experts note that recent experiences might have made a significant difference for some candidates. For most students, applying isnt about the last three months, notes Grabowski. My fear is for students who are really counting on this time to make their applications more competitive. Unfortunately, those students may feel like they shouldnt apply now.

In fact, she adds, Im interested to see whether our application volumes will go down because of students who decide, Im just not ready, and Im going to wait another year to apply.

In a March 19 statement, the AAMC strongly encouraged medical schools and teaching hospitals to conduct all interviews virtually to help promote public health. While students may understand the need to move online, some consider it a setback.

I would be disappointed to do an interview on camera. I like to be able to get a sense of someones demeanor and to read them during the interaction, says John Thurber, a University of Alabama student working on his masters degree in biomedical and health sciences. Id be frustrated because I think I could crush an in-person interview.

Others, though, would welcome the shift. Taking off work and having to pay for flights, a place to stay, and food would put me in a bad place financially, says Pinchbeck. Sure, it would be great to see the campus, but Id rather do virtual interviews.

Schools have their own issues to consider. Grabowski offers one scenario: Say theres a dip in the pandemic when her school launches in-person interviews in August but then they have to switch to online interviews during a resurgence. That means we would be giving different students different interview experiences, which isnt completely equitable, she says.

The question then becomes if we should offer virtual interviews the whole season, or if it isnt really necessary to jump to that level from the get-go. Both options have disadvantages, but we want to try to mitigate the downsides as best we can.

Admissions officers say theyre committed to focusing on how the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on the applications and the lives of medical school applicants.

Weve always had a question on our application asking students to describe any adversity that might have impacted their journey, notes Parkas. Now, though, we have explicitly indicated that applicants should let us know about anything they feel was impacted by the pandemic.

In addition, leaders recognize that some students are harder hit than others. We need to look through the lens of equity as we think about how this has impacted communities of color more, urban communities more, Parkas says.

In some cases, experts note, students are back home studying in increasingly impoverished conditions, in locations with poor Wi-Fi connections, or while acting as caregivers for younger siblings. I need to keep all this in mind as I try to understand what students have gone through during these last few months, says Gay. If I ignore this, I do so to the detriment of the applicant and my school.

Whats more, schools need to recognize that current concerns will not evaporate with this round of applications, Parkas notes.

Weve lost thousands of people during this pandemic, she says. Those people were parents and grandparents and parts of an applicants community. We have to remember that these effects will linger into many upcoming application cycles, too.

Read this article:
Shortened MCAT exams, extended AMCAS deadlines: How the pandemic has upended medical school admissions - AAMC

As many other U.S. schools did amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Hopkins School of Medicine pulled medical students from both their classes and clinical rotations around mid-March.

We were all looking forward to a spring of celebration, and a lot of that excitement is gone, Tym Kajstura, a fourth-year medical student, wrote in an email to The News-Letter.

For students like Kajstura who expected to graduate this year, celebration instead gave way to uncertainty and frustration.

We had a lot of questions and uncertainty early on about what our role in the pandemic would be, Kajstura wrote. Would we graduate early like some schools in NY or MA? Would there be some kind of advanced clerkship? Would our internships start earlier?

Medical schools located in hotspots for the virus such as New York made the decision to graduate fourth-year students early and offered graduates temporary employment in order to receive their help with the consequences of the pandemic. Maryland has not faced the surge in hospitals faced by other states to warrant the risk of pulling in the graduates.

In some ways its frustrating having finished medical school and being unable to help clinically, but Im grateful it never got to the point that it was necessary to pull us in, Kajstura wrote.

However, students have found other ways to help during the pandemic. For example, Lukas Mees, who is a third-year medical student, helped to address a critical lack of personal protection equipment (PPE) and medical supplies. In order to handle the shortage, students have sewn masks, driven supplies between hospitals and constructed face shields.

PPE shortages are affecting healthcare workers worldwide. As a medical student, this is a problem that hits close to home, Mees wrote in an email to The News-Letter.

For students meant to begin some of their most critical clinical training, the pandemic caused an unwelcome interruption to their education. Before the outbreak, Mees was scheduled to begin a surgical rotation. During rotations, which begin in their third year, medical students gain valuable hands-on experience by shadowing physicians and residents as they treat patients.

I was pretty excited to get into the [operation room]. While I understood the necessity of the pause, this came as a big disappointment, Mees wrote.

Students have also missed out on entering simulation suites, facilities designed to replicate hospital environments for students to practice necessary clinical skills such as CPR.

We werent able to run through rapid response scenarios, complete the in-person portion of [Basic Life Support] certifications, or work with standardized patients, Kajstura wrote.

However, students have found that they could both continue learning and contribute to the crisis effort at the Hopkins Medicine Unified Command Center, the emergency department responsible for crisis response in the Hopkins Hospital System.

Benjamin Bigelow, a third-year medical student, has been volunteering at the center since it was established in March.

It has been a huge bonus to my education as I have learned how to work within a hospital system as it responds to an emergency, Bigelow wrote.

He described his efforts handling incoming calls to the department, where he set up six call centers with over 100 phone lines. Bigelow also helped to establish a division to transport much needed medical supplies and ventilators. Currently, he volunteers in the long-term care command division. There he works to support the preparedness of skilled nursing facilities, nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

Currently were trying to look at the data we are seeing as we test in long-term care facilities to better guide them on infection prevention strategies, he wrote.

Long-term care facilities house some of the nations most at-risk populations for COVID-19 outbreaks. Residents require close interaction for assistance with personal care, a risk for viral transmission. At the Command Center, Bigelow helps to stabilize these facilities by getting them access to testing and PPE to prevent further infections.

Despite the sobering nature of the virus, Bigelow is hopeful about the benefit his experiences will have on the nations preparedness moving forward.

I do think future research opportunities will develop from the work, since I have a deep understanding of some unique aspects of this pandemic, Bigelow wrote.

Students have also adjusted to the situation by starting remote research projects, taking online clerkships and electives, and taking advantage of access to virtual rounds and case conferences organized by Hopkins.

Ive been saddened and frustrated to watch the pandemic unfold, Mees wrote. At the same time, Ive been inspired by how the people at Hopkins have risen to the challenge.

Go here to see the original:
Medical students share the pandemic's effects on their education - Johns Hopkins News-Letter

The new United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) donor heart allocation system gives priority to patients supported with nondischargeable mechanical circulatory support (MCS) devices while awaiting heart transplant. Whether there has been a change in temporary MCS use in cardiac intensive care units (CICUs) since the implementation of this policy is unknown.To examine whether the UNOS donor heart allocation system revision in October 2018 was associated with changes in temporary MCS use in CICUs and whether temporary MCS use differed between US transplant centers and US nontransplant centers and Canadian centers.In this cohort study, 14 centers from the Critical Care Cardiology Trials Network (CCCTN), a multicenter network of tertiary CICUs in North America, contributed 2-month snapshots of consecutive medical CICU admissions between September 1, 2017, and September 1, 2018 (prerevision period), and October 1, 2018, and September 1, 2019 (postrevision period). CICUs were classified as US transplant centers (n=7) or other CICUs (US nontransplant centers or Canadian centers; n=7).Revision to the UNOS donor heart allocation system.Treatment with temporary MCS (intra-aortic balloon pump, microaxial intracardiac ventricular assist device, percutaneous centrifugal ventricular assist device, venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or surgically implanted, nondischargeable MCS device) during hospital admission.A total of 384 admissions for acute, decompensated, heart failure-related cardiogenic shock (ADHF-CS) were included, among which 248 (64.6%) were to US transplant centers; 126 admissions (51%) were in the prerevision period and 122 (49%) were in the postrevision period. The mean (SD) patient age was 61.2 (14.6) years; 246 patients (64.1%) were male. The proportion of admissions with ADHF-CS managed with temporary MCS at US transplant centers significantly increased from 25.4% (32 of 126 admissions) before to 42.6% (52 of 122 admissions) after the UNOS allocation system changes (P=.004). In other CICUs, the proportion did not significantly change (24.5% [13 of 53 admissions] to 24.1% [20 of 83 admissions]; P=.95). After multivariable adjustment, patients admitted to US transplant centers in the postrevision period were more likely to receive temporary MCS compared with those admitted in the prerevision period (adjusted odds ratio, 2.19; 95% CI, 1.13-4.24; P=.02).In the year after implementation of the new UNOS donor heart allocation system, temporary MCS use in patients admitted with ADHF-CS increased in US transplant centers but not in other CICUs. Whether this shift in practice will affect outcomes of patients with ADHF-CS or organ distribution should be evaluated.

PubMed

Read more from the original source:
Use of Temporary Mechanical Circulatory Support for Management of Cardiogenic Shock Before and After the United Network for Organ Sharing Donor Heart...