The department of internal medicine has completed another successful year.

There are a couple of ways to look at our many successes: we have been extraordinarily successful delivering the highest quality of care to the greatest number of patients ever and are viewed as a referral source for other Morsani College of Medicine specialties. Looking at Tampa General Hospital metrics, General IM attendings requested consultation on at least 1300 occasions in the past year from other specialists and subspecialists. This shows that our interdisciplinary approach to patient care is growing and our commitment to quality is stronger than ever before.

I want to share some of the key initiatives we will focus on in the 14-15 Academic Year. A major initiative is our collaboration with Patients Like Me. We will first focus on examining health outcomes for multiple myeloma patients and providing insight on web content. This opportunity will build the DOIM brand and allow us to conduct patient-centered research and begin accessing meta data. We envision patients clinically reporting the course of their illness, especially under treatment, and our EBM group assisting with analysis. We are finalizing this agreement and will provide more details in our next newsletter. 

The second initiative we're involved in is a unique USF Health cross-collaborative program with Consulate Health Care spearheaded by Jay Wolfson DrPH, JD. Our Division of Infectious Disease & International Medicine will be providing nursing home post acute care to both long-term acute care facilities and nursing home patients via a HIPAA compliant link. This will cover both clinical and administrative impact. 

Additionally, we are forming a committee to unify our diabetes initiatives and explore opportunities for cross collaboration with USF departments in this area. Those interested should contact Dr. Barbara Hansen at [email protected].

In strengthening our research, Dr. Thomas Casale from the Division of Allergy & Immunology has submitted a white paper and recommendations to improve research here at USF Health. His report is abstracted in this newsletter and is a critical read for all departmental members. This will begin our focused effort to streamline our clinical research activities. 

We are currently reorganizing the department in order to unify responses to the emerging clinically integrated network proposed by TGH and Florida Hospital. Through this reorganization, our divisions of Endocrinology, General Internal Medicine, Geriatrics, and Palliative Care will be grouped as a sub-department of Internal Medicine. Not only does this provide more robust quality of care, but it strengthens cross-collaboration within our department. Allergy & Immunology is procuring a BioCube for airborne challenge testing. There are only a few in the US. Allergy & Immunology is a preeminent division nationally and we are thrilled with the division's initiative.

Faculty recruitment is continuing. We are welcoming more than 10 new recruits to General Internal Medicine, Hospital Medicine, Nephrology, Infectious Disease, and Endocrinology.

This is an exciting time for our department and we are delighted to have you share in our successes.

 Damian Laber MD FACP, Professor, Division Director of Hematology and Medical Oncology, recently published an article in Invest New Drugs titled, A phase II trial of AS1411 (a novel nucleolin-targeted DNA aptamer) in metastatic renal cell carcinoma Rosenberg J, Bambury R, Van Allen E, Drabkin H, Lara Jr. P, Harzstark A, Wagle N, Figlin R, Smith G, Garraway L, Choueiri T, Erlandsson F, Laber D. 

Barbara Hansen PhD, Professor, Director of the Obesity, Diabetes and Aging Research Center, recently wrote a chapter titled "Animal Models of Obesity: Nonhuman Primates" in Handbook of Obesity, Third Edition (2014). This two volume handbook is the largest book ever written on obesity. 

As of July 2014, Dr. Hansen has been appointed as a Special Government Employee (SGE) to the Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee (EMDAC).

Asa Oxner MD will be a primary care physician in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Ambulatory Care at the USF Health Morsani Center. She will be part of the teaching staff for the ambulatory care training for both medical students and residents. She will also be a faculty director for the new medical-student led Healthcare for the Homeless program in Tampa. Dr. Oxner earned her medical degree at the University of South Florida where she was elcted to AOA and received a number of academic awards. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School in Boston in 2014.  As part of her Internal Medicine residency, Dr. Oxner took courses at the Harvard School of Public Health and worked in Botswana as part of a Global Health Track of Internal Medicine.  She was also in the HIV Primary Care Track and completed her requirements for certification as a practitioner of HIV Medicine.

Nancy Rihana MD joins the Division of Infectious Disease & International Medicine after completing her infectious disease fellowship here at USF this June. Prior to that she earned her doctor of medicine degree from Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon, and completed residency in internal medicine at North Shore LIJ Health system - SIUH , NY. She is board certified in Internal Medicine since 2012 and earned a certificate in infection control from IDSA in 2014. She was elected to AOA as a resident in 2014. Her interests include geriatric infectious diseases, infection control and invasive fungal diseases.

Claude Bassil MD joins the Division of Nephrology after completing his nephrology fellowship training here at USF this June.  He will hold appointments at Tampa General Hospital and Moffitt Cancer Center, where he will serve as our first nephro- oncologist for the Moffitt Cancer Center. During his fellowship Dr. Bassil served as chief fellow and received the distinguished service award. Prior to that he earned his doctor of medicine degree from Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon, and completed residency in internal medicine at North Shore LIJ Health system - SIUH , NY. He is board certified in Internal Medicine since 2012 . Dr Bassil interests are in onco-nephrology and glomerulonephritis.

Viraj Modi DO joins the Division of Hospital Medicine and will serve on the main service at Tampa General Hospital, where he will be admitting patients to floors and the ICU, as well as provide medical consultative services. Dr. Modi completed his residency at USF this June. During his residency he was voted Resident of the Month several times, awarded the Outstanding Third Year Resident Award and the Chairman's Award for Professionalism and Patient Centered Care. He graduated cum laude from USF with a BS in Biomedical Sciences prior to receiving his medical degree from Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in 2011.  Dr. Modi has been involved in different volunteer activities including health fairs and community clinics across Tampa and South Carolina. Currently, he is an active member of the American College of Physicians.

Kim Maguire MD joins the Division of Hospital Medicine after completing her residency here at USF in June. She will be managing inpatients at Tampa General Hospital as a Hospitalist on the newly developed MAIN Hospitalist Service. Dr. Maguire earned her medical degree at Florida State University, is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and the Gold Humanism Honor Society and enjoys teaching and helping out in her community when she can. Prior to medical school, she completed a Masters Degree in Physical Therapy at the University of Florida and subsequently worked in both inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation where she enjoyed returning patients to their prior function. In her spare time she enjoys ballroom dancing, game nights and spending time with her family. She volunteered in 2013 to help reorganize the resident graduation ceremony. She received the Chairman's Award from the Department of Internal Medicine in 2013.

Catherine Renee Smith, CMA, CCRC joins the Division of Allergy & Immunology as the new clinical research coordinator under the direction of Dr. Thomas Casale. She has been a CMA (Certified Medical Assistant) since 2002 and worked in Family Practice and Dermatology until 2009.  She began working in Clinical Research at Creighton University, Omaha, NE in 2009 in the Asthma, Allergy and Immunology Department as a research coordinator. She received the designation as a CCRC (Certified Clinical Research Coordinator) in the fall of 2012.  

May 29th was our last Grand Rounds lecture for the 2013-2014 Academic Year. The lectures resumed on Thursday July 24th.

Thursday, July 31st 

Respiratory Viral Infections in Immunocompromised Patients

By: Shyam Mohapatra PhD

Distinguished Professor

Director, Division of Translational Medicine

Director, USF Nanomedicine Research Center 
Associate Dean, Graduate Programs, College of Pharmacy
Vice Chair of Research, Internal Medicine

Thursday, August 7th

Anaphylaxis

By: Richard Lockey MD FAAAAI

Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics, Public Health  

Director, Divison of Allergy & Immunology

Joy McCann Culverhouse Chair of Allergy & Immunology

Thursday, August 14th 

Title N/A

By: Damian Laber MD FACP

Professor of Medicine

Director, Division of Hematology/Oncology

Thursday, August 28th

 OCD in Adults

By: Betty Horng PhD and Megan Toufexis DO

Assistant Professors

College of Medicine Pediatrics

*All DoIM Grand Rounds lectures are held from noon - 1:00pm in MDL 1003, lunch is provided. They are televised at TGH B107 and FOB 1304

• Bonus program begins after RVU's exceed 75^th percentile (8,500 RVU's for GI) 
• Monetary bonuses in increments of $5000 are paired with scholarly output
• Scholarly activities include posters/oral presentations at regional/national meetings, case reports, review articles and retrospective/prospective peer-reviewed papers
• Potential bonuses range from $5000 to $35,000/year with the number of scholarly activities expected to increase from 1-4 or more with larger increments
• The bonus is paid once a year contingent on the financial results of the total GI Division. The Department Chair has the discretion to adjust the bonus amount up or down based on the total audited financial results at the close of the financial year
• Progress towards a bonus is easily monitored by faculty member via their monthly HART report

General IM physicians and staff deal with a variety of issues for patients, and there is never a dull moment! These faculty, nurses and medical assistants embody the true essence of compassionate care and demonstrate it daily. 

Improving Patient Centered Care

This week we warmly welcomed Dr. Lucy Guerra who joins us from the James A Haley VA hospital and Moffitt. She will work with Drs. Kevin O'Brien and Hugo Narvarte to enhance the division's already superb patient centered care. They will be joined by Asa Oxner MD, a USF alumnae who just completed residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Dr. Guerra who brings a wealth of experience in compassionate care kicked off her first day with the Division by doing a walk thru of the offices with Dr. Sinnott and Shenita Crum, her lead certified medical assistant, to view the patient's experience from the time they enter the waiting room through check-out. Kristy Andre MSM helped facilitate a strategic meeting with all of the Gen IM office faculty, nurses and staff to go over what they observed and to map out ways to improve the patient experience and quality of care.

Kris Kay, Monica Matos, Wanda Holyoke, Joe Jackson and Shenita Crum

Kristy shared the team's signage concerns with Joe Jackson, Director of Managed Care & Clinical Facilities and Monica Matos - Director of Brand Marketing for USF Health Communications who quickly held a walk thru with Kristopher Kay, National Account Manager from their preferred signage vendor Creative Sign Designs. During the walk they met with Dr. Guerra and Shenita and interfaced with patients in the waiting room and as they left the doctors offices. They committed to enhance signage and to change the patient check-out experience. Patient scheduling and other concerns will be reviewed with Ms. Wanda Holyoke from the USF Physician's Group and Dr. Guerra in the weeks to come. We thank them for their willingness to meet with us and contribute to patient satisfaction!

Commitment to Patient Centered Teaching 

Our Gen IM faculty are not only committed to patient centered care, but to patient centered teaching as well.

Dr. O'Brien is the Director of Undergraduate Medical Education for the department where he manages and teaches clerkships and electives for medical students. Every year he receives multiple teaching awards for his excellence in patient centered teaching. 

Dr. Guerra will serve as the new Associate Program Director for the IM Residency Program and will work with Dr. Cuc Mai to enhance the quality of their educational experience. In August Drs. Narvarte, Oxner, and Guerra will run student clinics at the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer's Institute , and will supervise and guide 48 residents as they see patients at the Morsani office.

Our faculty's committment to patient centered teaching and care transcends to the community. In 2007 Dr. Guerra helped four students establish the  BRIDGE Clinic, a free student-run clinic that stands for Building Relationships and Initiatives Dedicated to Gaining Equality. They serve uninsured adults 18 and older who are more than 200 percent below the poverty level. Their care is offered through a collaboration of medicine, physical therapy, social work, public health, and pharmacy providers.

Dr. Guerra also advises Tampa Bay Street Medicine, another student-run organization that is dedicated to improving the medical care of the homeless in the Tampa Bay-St. Petersburg metropolitan area through direct outreach on the streets and in shelters. By providing medical services on site as well as connecting homeless individuals with medical resources for longitudinal care, they seek to improve the health of some of the most vulnerable members of our community. April 25th they completed a Street Run in cooperation with Project Downtown, an undergraduate group that provides food to the homeless in Tampa Heights. The street runs, comprised of teams of 2-3 medical student volunteers that are supervised by a volunteer physician or nurse practitioner, provide basic primary care and wound care to homeless patients, as well as offer direction and resources for them to establish longitudinal care within the area.

They are currently looking for supervising USF faculty physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners to oversee upcoming Street Runs every other Friday from 5:30-8PM in Tampa Heights. If interested, please contact Shawna Foley MS2 [email protected] or Jason Riccuiti MS4 [email protected].

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• Nominations for those who go above and beyond
• Faculty, Research, Resident or Fellow feature (including patient-centered focus)
• Accomplishments, Awards and Accolades
• Publications
• International Activities
• Socializing/Networking Opportunities 
• Interesting articles you think the DOIM would benefit from
• Questions on policies, procedures or general inquiries