Summer is rapidly disappearing, and it is time for the incoming class of medical students to begin their studies this week. While they won’t join our clinical teams for another 18 months or so, we will interact with them frequently (nearly a third of their phase I teaching is by Internal Medicine faculty) and can help encourage and support them in their pre-clinical work. One of our faculty, Dr. Daniel Hershberger, was chosen by the 2023 graduating class for their top clinical teaching award (the Hirschmann Prize) this spring. From the recent AAMC graduating students survey, our UNMC students rated their experience in Internal Medicine as good or excellent such that we were in the 99.1 percentile for Internal Medicine experiences among the 153 allopathic medical schools. Thanks for what you do to help provide a top-notch experience for our medical students! We want to continue to maintain that great experience with cutting-edge educational strategies and a culture of valuing the students. If you are looking for ways to connect with students, check out the overview of educational activities in the presentation from our recent department meeting (click here to see it on our faculty development intranet).
In July, we welcomed 36 talented new residents in our Internal Medicine related programs. We are excited to have them on our team! Currently, zoom sessions with the divisions are being set up to provide our new trainees an opportunity to interact with faculty in their potential interest areas and help them identify mentors for scholarly activities or career advice. I encourage you to join those sessions as way to connect with residents you may not have a chance to meet on clinical rotations. The newsletter lists all the new trainees and provides some highlights from the spring residency graduation event. Plus, you will find pictures of our new Chief Residents.
The newsletter also highlights two faculty with new leadership roles in the department. Dr. Jasmine Marcelin is the inaugural Vice Chair of the department’s office of Equity and Inclusive Excellence. She has led the residency program’s DIVERSE (Developing an Inclusive and Varied Environment for Residents, Students and Educators) taskforce and will be expanding strategies that focus on equity and inclusion more broadly throughout the department. Dr. Shane Tsai has also assumed a new role as Division Chief of Cardiovascular Medicine. He is quickly familiarizing himself with the multiple missions of the division and I look forward to the creativity and enthusiasm that he brings to the role.
In July, the APPs working within our divisions and in partnership with our physicians officially became a part of the Intern Medicine department. These providers are important team members and their move into the department creates opportunities to work even more closely together in meeting our patient care, educational, research and service goals. We are in process of developing a department APP committee/council with representation from all divisions that employ APPs. If you have questions about that group, reach out to Angie Peppers, Vice Chair of Administration and Finance.
We are using the virtual department meetings on the third Thursday of the month at 5 pm CST in August and September to provide an overview of departmental activities. If you missed this past week’s meeting, both the slides and a recording of the meeting are available through the faculty development intranet. The focus on the August meeting was on education and research. Overall information about faculty make-up, clinical activities, financial information, an update from the VA, and faculty development will be presented in September. I hope you can join us.
The summer months also mark the time when we have several new faculty join us. To date, over 30 new faculty are a part of the department, and I am excited for what each of them will bring to us. They are listed in the newsletter. Dr. Andrea Zimmer, Associate Vice Chair for Faculty Development, conducted a special orientation session for them last week. Information for those who could not make it (or if you want a refresher course on some good introductory material to resources within the department and the campus), you can find that material on the faculty development intranet website. The summer is often a time of retirement as well and Dr. Greg Pavlides in the cardiovascular medicine division is retiring this month but retaining a connection with us as an Emeritus Professor. I am grateful for his wonderful service to the department!
It promises to be a hot next several days and I hope everyone will be careful with the heat. Before long, we will see autumn weather and activities. For some this is their favorite time of year and, if so, make sure you find time for the activities that bring you joy.