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On June 13 at the Hyatt in New Brunswick, 25 residents ( left ) and 22 fellows ( right ) graduated from the Department of Medicine in a ceremony attended by 325 family members, friend, faculty and staff. The awards ceremony was led by Department of Medicine Chair Fredric Wondisford, MD , and Residency Director Ranita Sharma, MD . In addition to the graduation, fellows and residents received excellence awards, and faculty members received teaching awards. Click here to see a list of all the recipients.

Congratulations, residents and fellows, and welcome into the community of alumni!

Gloria Bachmann, MD , professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences, associate dean for women’s health and director, Women’s Health Institute ( third from right ), was featured in the cover story of the latest Rutgers Magazine , titled #WeToo, which highlights how the Women’s Marches and the #MeToo and Time’sUp movements have reenergized the commitment to women’s rights. Some of the prominent scholars and experts explain the range of endeavors u nder way at the university aimed at improving the lives of women. Dr. Bachmann’s section of the article reflects on r eproductive and health care rights.

National headlines continue to garner fear among women’s groups, such as the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, that Title X funding for family planning will continue to be withdrawn from clinicians who provide most standard forms of birth control and given to those who promote abstinence or natural family planning.

The greatest threat, however, may be geography. Dr. Bachmann notes that 20 percent of Americans live in rural areas, but they’re served by only 10 percent of the nation’s physicians—and only 6 percent of America’s Ob/Gyns. “In these areas,” she says, “around 4,000 additional primary care physicians are needed to meet current health care needs.” Even with a sufficient supply of practitioners, health care for women living near and below the poverty line would still be in jeopardy. That’s because Medicaid—which pays for roughly half of all obstetric deliveries in the United States—has been cut in some states and is in danger of even deeper cuts by the federal government. “You would do a great disservice to low-income and underserved women by taking away their only source of health insurance,” says Dr. Bachmann. Read the whole story in Rutgers Magazine.  

In addition to Dr. Bachmann, two alumni were featured in the magazine about their couples match, here, and alumnae Charlene Flash, MD, was also profiled here about her work with HIV.

Dr. Gupta Named a Finalist for the NJBIZ Healthcare Heroes Award

Guarav Gupta, MD, assistant professor of neurosurgery and director of cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgery, was named a finalist for the NJBIZ 2018 Healthcare Heroes Awards. Dr. Gupta was a finalist in the innovation category. Read about Dr. Gupta's dedication to innovation and healing in an article in Robert Wood Johnson Medicine, "Traumatic Brain Injury Leads to a 3D Printed Skull."

NJBIZ honors individuals and organizations that are making a significant impact on the quality of health care in New Jersey.

Congratulations, Dr. Gupta!

Race and ethnicity may affect kidney stone composition, according to a study led by Ephrem O. Olweny, MD , assistant professor of surgery, which was presented at the American Urological Association's 2018 annual meeting in San Francisco.

Among kidney stone formers, stones containing more than 50 percent calcium oxalate monohydrate are significantly more common among Middle Eastern patients than among whites, blacks and Hispanics, whereas stones containing more than 50 percent hydroxyapatite, with or without calcium oxalate, are significantly less common in Middle Eastern patients than in whites, blacks and Hispanics. “Overall, our findings suggest that kidney stone composition is determined by a multi-factorial process with dietary, metabolic and/or genetic influences; further investigation into specific mechanisms is warranted,” Dr. Olweny and colleagues concluded.

Read more abut the findings here .

Joy Lee Elected AMA Student Delegate

Fourth-year student Joy Lee ( photographed left with the United States Surgeon General, Vice Admiral Jerome Adams, MD, MPH) was elected as the medical school’s American Medical Association’s (AMA) Medical Student Section (MSS) delegate during the 2018 AMA Annual Meeting June 7-13.

In this role, Lee will represent AMA's nearly 50,000 medical school student members to the AMA House of Delegates. Responsibilities include shepherding medical student-authored resolutions to a satisfactory result in the House of Delegates, organizing an MSS caucus of students delegates from across the nation and guiding students through the process of resolution writing. The MSS strives to be the medical students' leading voice for improving medical education and advocating for the future of medicine.

Congratulations, Joy, on this esteemed honor! Please reach out to Joy with any AMA student matters. 

Clinical faculty, medical residents and fellows are encouraged to sign up for the Advanced Practices Strategies (APS) Clinical Loss Prevention, Patient Safety and Risk Management On-Line Training courses offered by the university, which will remain available only through June 30. The APS course modules will be replaced by a new initiative in the near future. All APS course completion information will be maintained, including information needed for CME application requirements. For questions, contact Ron De Vos, director of risk manager, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences.

In addition, all faculty are invited to take part in a new Faculty Development Workshop Series: Innovative Strategies to Transform Learning, to be held Thursday, July 26, and Friday, July 27 , in the active learning classroom located in Rutgers Academic Building in New Brunswick. 

   

CE credit will be offered. Course details and registration information are available online and in the attached flyer. Learn more and register here .

The Department of Surgery and Division of Cardiology within the Department of Medicine will be holding the final CME events for this academic year. I personally thank all faculty, staff, students and health professions colleagues for their participation in this programming. I also extend my sincerest appreciation to the CME coordinators within the various departments and divisions for their dedication to our educational mission, which positively impacts patients, families and communities.

Click here to view all upcoming CME activities.

-- Paul Weber, MD, RPh, MBA , associate dean, Continuing Medical Education

Targeted Antibody Tralokinumab Misses Mark for Asthma -- Reynold Panettieri, MD -- MD Magazine

Checking in (and Checking up) on Dad this Father’s Day -- Biren Saraiya, MD -- Health News Digest

Senior Assassins: harmless tradition or violent game? -- Anthony Tobia, MD -- MyCentralJersey.com

Finding the Root Cause of Overeating -- Researchers at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School  -- News Dog

Cancer fighting vaccines enter the arena -- R esearchers from Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School -- NJ.com

Accessory bile duct: a rare but important anatomical variant -- Anthony S. Casabianca , MD -- BMJ Case Reports

Exploring a New Treatment for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer -- Darren R. Carpizo, MD, PhD -- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey

What's On Your Summer Reading List? -- Gloria Bachmann, MD -- Rutgers Today

How Science Denialism Affects Global Health -- Richard Marlink, MD -- Rutgers Today