The Dean's Weekly View: Monmouth BBQ, Faculty Named Tenure & Ice Cream Social

July 13, 2018

The latest news and updates from Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Monmouth Medical Center Welcomed Students at BBQ

Monmouth Medical Center welcomed Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School students at a BBQ and Bonfire on June 28 at the Ocean Place Resort and Spa in Long Branch. Leadership and administrators from both the medical school and Monmouth Medical Center, an RWJBarnabas Health facility, hit the beach with two things in mind: training and retaining the best and brightest New Jersey educated physicians. Beginning this month, approximately 40-50 third- and fourth-year students began performing clerkship rotations at Monmouth. An additional five students will have Monmouth as their academic home for all rotations.

“We look forward to forging this new academic partnership with the teaching faculty and administration at Monmouth Medical Center as a regional campus,” states Sherine E. Gabriel, MD, MSc , dean. “The goal is to provide the best education for our students and retain as many physicians as possible to live and practice right here in New Jersey.”

Click here to view a slideshow of photos from the event.

Faculty Promoted and Granted Tenure

Forty-nine faculty members were promoted and/or granted tenure effective July 1. This impressive slate of faculty are leaders at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, the university and their respective disciplines and fields. The achievements of our colleagues demonstrate our exceptional contributions as an institution to basic science investigation, the practice and teaching of the health professions and clinical care.

Please congratulate our colleagues on their efforts and accomplishments.

Social Media Post of the Week

rwjms Anna Olds organized the “Gun Violence Is a Public Health Issue” walkout in collaboration with the Association of Women Surgeons. This summer, Anna is doing an away rotation at Penn in cardiac surgery--the specialty she plans to pursue when she graduates in May #MedstudentMonday

Internal Medicine Residents and Brothers Publish Kidney Disease Study

Brothers Ramy Sedhom, MD , and Daniel Sedhom, MD , were co-authors of a review titled “Mini-review of kidney disease following hematopoietic stem cell transplant,” which was published in Clinical Nephrology in June. Dr. Ramy Sedhom completed his chief resident year in internal medicine this May and has proceeded to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine for oncology fellowship training, while Dr. Daniel Sedhom is a third-year resident.

The review highlights the incidence, timeline, etiology, risk factors and prognosis of kidney disease in the setting of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Read the review here .

Dr. Ramachandran Named Associate Director of SATHI

Usha Ramachandran, MD , assistant professor of pediatrics, was named associate director of the South Asian Total Health Initiative (SATHI). In this role, Dr. Ramachandran will work with Director Sunanda Guar, MD , professor of pediatrics, in overseeing SATHI research, education and outreach activities to reduce health disparities in the South Asian community.

Dr. Ramachandran has been committed to addressing health disparities in underserved and minority communities throughout her career. In addition to providing high-quality care to patients at the Eric B. Chandler Health Center, she has worked tirelessly to coordinate and revitalize its Reach Out and Read program. In recognition of her efforts, she was recently asked to lead the program at a statewide level as co-medical director for ROR-New Jersey.

Dr. Ramachandran has been a member of the SATHI advisory committee since 2012, and has given several presentations to the community at South Asian health camps, radio shows and community events. As a member of the planning committee, she helped organize SATHI’s conference on Maternal and Child Health Issues in South Asians. Dr. Ramachandran is the Rutgers principal investigator for an ongoing, five-year research study, in collaboration with Albert Einstein College of Medicine, on feeding and oral health practices in South Asian families, which is funded by an NIH R01 grant.

Congratulations, Dr. Ramachandran, on this new role!

Dr. Chefitz Thanks Division of General Pediatrics at Event

Since 2005, the Department of Pediatrics' Division of General Pediatrics had a contract at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset to care for children in the emergency department, newborn nursery and inpatient service. The dedicated faculty earned the trust and respect of the community and delivered top-notch care.

Recently, the contract ended, and Dalya Chefitz, MD, chief of the division and associate professor of pediatrics, invited the entire division to her home on Sunday to celebrate and honor the team, including Dawn Thompson, MD, site director and assistant professor of pediatrics; Pankaj Doshi, MBBS, RBHS instructor of pediatrics; Kendra Hall, MD, clinical instructor of pediatrics; and Shunli Hou, MD, RBHS instructor of pediatrics.

Dr. Hou and Dr. Thompson are continuing their commitment to the department by seeing patients and teaching as part of the pediatric faculty practice at 1 World's Fair Drive in Somerset.

S ave the Date for Summer Events

The medical school will welcome the newest medical school class, the Class of 2022, at the White Coat Ceremony on Aug. 3 at 2 p.m. at the State Theatre in New Brunswick.

Faculty, staff and students are invited to attend this special milestone. Please RSVP here.

Dean’s Ice Cream Social

Faculty and staff appreciation days

Piscataway

Monday, July 23, 1 p.m.

Patio outside Great Hall and near the Hippocrates statue

Rain location: Old Student Lounge

New Brunswick

Wednesday, July 25, 1 p.m.

CHINJ Second floor patio

Rain location: CHINJ Seminar Room 3101

HIPHOP Participates in Sexual Violence Outreach Program

The Homeless and Indigent Population Health Outreach Project (HIPHOP) Community Health Initiative (CHI) participated in a summer project titled “Warming the Lives of Survivors." The Center for Empowerment -- Middlesex County’s Sexual Violence Program invited HIPHOP to join them in this endeavor by creating and donating teal crocheted squares that will be combined to form a blanket. As a symbol of community support, this blanket will be given to another organization within Middlesex County that works with survivors of sexual violence.

HIPHOP-CHI student leaders; Susan Giordano , program coordinator of HIPHOP; and nonprofit organization Lazos America Unida and their community members, made more than 37 squares with love and compassion.

Upcoming Grand Rounds and CME

While most departments and divisions will be resuming their regularly scheduled series of Grand Rounds and Case Conferences in September, please welcome the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences series that began this morning with "Assisted Reproduction: Emerging Technologies Challenge Conventional Ethics" by Department Chair Mark V. Sauer, MD, MS .

In addition, the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine commences its case conferences next Wednesday, July 18, with "Anesthetic Management of Periopartum Cardiomyopathy" by Brian Raffel, MD , and resident Amanda Cole, MD , in CAB 3405 from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.

Best wishes to the new staff!

Click here to view all upcoming CME activities.

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