UMass FMCH Tuesday Talk - April 14, 2026/EDUCATION | | |
Table of Contents
Upcoming Events
Focus of the Week - Education
Announcements
Department Member Recognition
Presentations and Publications
Frankly Speaking Podcast
Resources
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Upcoming Events
FMCH 3rd Annual Warren Ferguson Professorship Grand Rounds
Tuesday, April 14th, 12:00 - 1:00pm, Etel Haxhiaj presents "From Clinical Practice to Advocacy: Your Voice Matters! Paul J. DiMare Center theater room #N1-1500 and via Zoom. Meeting ID: 191 986 273 Passcode: FMCH
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/191986273?pwd=NEtlZmNkdWlSUGwyeTJQU3dCeUs1QT09
Education Grand Rounds and Core Workshop Series
Thursday, April 16th, 4:30-6:00pm, Lisa Gussak and Funmi Ayobami, PhD, present "Growth Mindset in Action: Learning from Feedback". UMass Chan Amphitheater 1 (S2-102) and via Zoom. Registration requested.
Department of Medicine Grand Rounds
Thursday, April 30th, 12:00 - 1:00pm, Alok Kapoor, MD, MSc, Aida S. Taku, MD, Sandhya D. Tagaram, MD, FRCP, MS and Jay Patel, BS, present "Diagnostic Error Identification and Reduction: A Patient Safety Imperative".
Hiatt Auditorium (S1-608) or via zoom.
https://umassmed.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qsBdErX1SjSiyUobQFnGQA
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Focus of the Week - Education
Jeanne Cawse-Lucas, MD, Vice Chair of Education
Please register for the department's Annual Faculty Development Day on Thursday, May 14th, 2026 using the following link:
https://umassmed.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bmFgIADaawhPaTA
The program will be in the Albert Sherman Center on the UMass-Chan campus. An optional informal CV session from 12:00-1:00pm, where faculty hoping to pursue promotion can review their CV with a senior faculty member. The formal program will commence at 1:00pm with a large-group workshop on interrupting bias in the clinical and learning environments, followed by hands-on breakout sessions on POCUS, intrapartum care, and scholarship. Lynn Gerrits, a caregiver wellbeing specialist, will be available throughout the afternoon for brief wellbeing sessions including hand massage, reiki, and talk therapy. The retreat will conclude at 4:45pm. Faculty members who have joined in the past 3 years are invited and encouraged to start their faculty development day earlier at the new faculty morning from 9am-12pm in the Benedict Building. There will be an "academic onboarding," and sessions on scholarship opportunities and library resources. If you are interested in attending but have RSVP'd, please email Heather Garron at heather.garron@umassmemorial.org.
For anyone who is planning to pursue promotion, please take a look at the updated departmental promotions resources, which can be found under the "resources" tab on the departmental website. You can learn about our departmental promotions process, with reference to UMass-Chan faculty affairs material.
https://www.umassmed.edu/fmch/faculty-resources/faculty-promotions2/
Faculty needed to facilitate simulated interview sessions with 3rd year medical students and people with disabilities. Please complete this survey
https://doodle.com/group-poll/participate/bDZ7g1ke to sign up for sessions at 12:45-2:45 pm and/or 2:45 to 4:45 pm on Mondays, June 1st, August 8th, October 19th, and in 2027: January 11th and March 22nd. These sessions are jointly offered by FM and IM. Please email linda.long@umassmed.edu with any questions.
Recordings of almost all department grand rounds can also be found under the "resources" tab found at the link below.
https://www.umassmed.edu/fmch/faculty-resources/gr/2019-grand-rounds22/
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The FMEC Board of Trustees is seeking applicants for Member-at-Large positions on the Board! There are at least 3 vacancies for three-year terms, starting in October 2026. For more information, please review FMEC Board Member Duties 2026. Interested applicants should review the information and submit their application no later than June 3rd, 2026.
Interested in Learning More? Tuesday, May 19th, 2026, 12:30pm-1pm.
Join members of the FMEC Board for a short informational session about what serving on the FMEC Board is like. Bring your questions or just hear about the time commitment, benefits, challenges and more. Please use this link to register and join the meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85336667467.
This is a call for applicants. The job description available here. Quality Assurance and Equity Rounds (QAER) provide a monthly opportunity for FMCH faculty and learners to reflect on and learn from challenging cases. With gratitude to Sara Shields who currently serves in this capacity, we seek a new facilitator to start in the new academic year. The facilitator will have 0.05 FTE offset to organize and facilitate monthly QAER presentations. Applicants should be clinically active faculty; experience in quality assurance and/or education is preferred. Responsibilities include scheduling monthly sessions, supporting presenters and expert discussants in QAER preparation and setting objectives for the CME application process. Please see link for additional information.
If you have questions, please contact Jeanne.cawse-lucas@umassmemorial.org
or sara.shields@umassmed.edu. To apply, please send a CV and a paragraph indicating your interest to heather.garron@umassmemorial.org by Monday, May 18th, 2026.
With FM physicians from the US, Canada and Nicaragua, Anna Whelan co-founded the Association for Weight and Size Inclusive Medicine. Their Annual Scientific & Member Assembly on May 8th, a virtual conference on advancing evidence-based, weight-inclusive care. Register: https://weightinclusivemedicine.org/assembly2026/. There are 5.75 AMA PRA1 credits offered. Students can attend for $20, with free MSSI and AWSIM membership bundled in. Details here.
Redwan Ahmed is leading a track in the new "Transition to Residency" course (3/23- 4/3). His track includes any student that is FM bound, med peds and some medical subspecialties (that will see adults and children of all genders). He's designed the curriculum and has recruited some help from other Family Physicians (like Henry DelRosario and Trish Seymour) to teach.
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orner
Ethics Corner
Philip G. Day, PhD G. Day, PhD
Principlism and Primary Care
I was recently invited to co-author a short commentary on an article published in The American Journal of Bioethics which sought to understand if primary care clinicians adhere to “principlistic equality,” or the idea that the four principles of biomedical ethics (autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice) are nonhierarchical and of equal moral value prior to application. Sixty percent of the respondents were family physicians and I invite you to read the full study here (you may need to log in via the Lamar Soutter Library).
Participants in the study were asked to assign “importance points” to acontextual, general statements about the care of their patients that accorded with the four principles. While this may seem an inherently flawed design (can one think about their patients without immediately situating them in context? how can “your patients” be “your patients” in the abstract?), a scant majority (51.9%) assigned the most importance to non-maleficence. I’m curious if you find the principle of non-maleficence (do not harm patients) of the highest priority when you care for patients.
You can find our full commentary here, but I want to share a short selection of our response:
“In family medicine we believe in an ethics that derives from the word ethos, meaning a manner of behavior or habitual way of being, that simultaneously addresses all of our core values: patient-centered, person-focused, community-oriented care that is accessible, comprehensive, continuous, coordinated, contextual, and contiguous…there is nothing theoretical or abstract about primary care practice. There is always context in the primary care office, where we consistently have to balance cardiac, endocrine, gastrointestinal, infectious disease, musculoskeletal, neurologic, palliative, pulmonary, renal, and a multitude of other medical problems with behavioral concerns, the need for preventive care, and issues related to the social determinants of health. Family medicine endorsed the biopsychosocial model of care at its very beginning. We always consider context a priori.”
- Scotch HT, Baugh CM, DeCamp M, Taylor L, Fish LE, Goold SD, Wynia MK, Campbell EG. Principlistic Equality: The Relative Importance of the Four Principles Among Primary and Urgent Care Clinicians. Am J Bioeth. 2026 Mar;26(3):10-18. doi: 10.1080/15265161.2025.2554766.
- Tunzi M, Ventres W, Day PG, Satin D. What the Data Means … and What It Doesn't. Am J Bioeth. 2026 Mar;26(3):38-39. doi: 10.1080/15265161.2026.2623831. Epub 2026 Mar 12. PMID: 41817335.
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Announcements
Know a 1st year student interested in Family Medicine and Community Health? An exciting opportunity to explore a career in community health, receive mentoring, and serve in the Department (FMCH) and our community. The Huppert Community Health Scholar is a mentored student scholar position designed to provide a UMass Chan medical student with extra-curricular experiences and opportunities in community health, community engagement, and to develop leadership skills. A student will be chosen in their first year of medical school and continue in the position until graduation (with less responsibilities in clinical years). This Scholar opportunity is designed to support students who have a strong interest in family medicine (there are specific criteria to apply).
Deadline April 27th. More information here. Application available here. For questions, email Hugh Silk at hugh.silk@umassmemorial.org.
Jennifer Bradford and Amber Cahill, will be presenting in partnership with MCSTAP on communication challenges related to opioid therapy for chronic noncancer pain. We believe that learning from peers, both the challenges you encounter and the strategies you’ve developed, will greatly strengthen this session. Please take a moment to complete this very brief 2-question survey (approximately 5 minutes). We are hoping to gather your insights, experiences, and wisdom! All responses are anonymous.
https://umassmed.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9npwrVz3MbZR4lE
Core Small Group Facilitators needed. The positions start July 1st, 2026 and are supported at 0.075FTE. A summary of the role:
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Any physician with a faculty appointment at UMass Chan is eligible; anyone who is currently in or willing to initiate the process of faculty appointment could also apply
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Teach case-based learning (CBL), problem-based learning (PBL), and simulation sessions to MS1s and MS2s in small groups
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Cater to a group of ~12 students (core small group) for 18 months of the discovery (pre-clerkship) phase and build longitudinal relationship
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Sessions are consistently scheduled on Tuesdays and Thursdays; the calendars are published 3-6 months in advance for convenient scheduling for clinicians
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Appropriate faculty development/preparation is provided for each session
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A total of 150 hours/academic year (0.075 FTE) is accounted for the role
Further details: https://www.umassmed.edu/oume/educators/faculty-handbook/vista-leadership-roles/csgf/
Apply at: https://umassmed.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4YHXOqEDNLLsspE
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Any questions may be submitted to Manas.Das@umassmed.edu.
Announcing the 2nd Annual UMass Chan Global Health Symposium on Tuesday, May 5th from 5-8pm in the Faculty Conference Room. Keynote will be given by Dr. Jennifer Adair, Associate Director of the Horae Gene Therapy Center, on global access to gene therapy. Event will also highlight the UMass Global Ghana Initiative that our nursing colleagues have developed. More information and registration can be found here.
MassAFP’s next major event will be Advocacy Day at the State House in Boston,
May 13th. As there is strength in numbers, all Massachusetts Family Physicians are encouraged to join MassAFP (and AAFP). Details available here: https://www.massafp.org/membership
The WDMS and Medical Humanities Lab at the Lamar Souter Library's 2026 Annual Meet the Author on May 20, 2026 will feature Carolyn Roy-Bornstein, MD speaking at the Lazare Auditorium. Her talk is: This Examined Life: An Evening of Poetry, Reflection and Narrative Medicine. Please register per this flyer. Her book, A Prescription for Burnout, Restorative Writing for Healthcare Professionals, is a gold level winner in Medical and Mental Health from the Nonfiction Authors Association and will be available for purchase.
As of February 23, 2026, the FDA mandated a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) for Nexplanon to ensure proper insertion/removal and reduce complication. All healthcare providers must complete new, specific certification training by August 23rd, 2026 to continue inserting/removing the implant (which is now approved for up to 5 years of use). If you have inserted/removed Nexplanon devices in the prior 3 years, and plan to continue on doing so, you are required to register with REMS and complete the registration/knowledge assessment/REMS enrollment by using the link below.
https://www.nexplanonrems.com/healthcareproviders/register
If you have not inserted/removed in the prior 3 years (and plan on doing so in the future), the FDA requires you complete an in-person training to be able to insert/remove them; please contact Kristina Gracey (Kristina.Gracey@umassmemorial.org) as we work to organize in-person trainings for all relevant providers needing this.
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Presentations and Publications
Students Jason Denoncourt (Class of ‘26 and future family physician at WFMR/Barre; AHEC Scholar), Kayal Parthiban (Class of ’27, AHEC Scholar) and Dan Mullin co-authored Bridging Systems of Care: Experiences of Faith Leaders Supporting Community Mental Health in Worcester, Massachusetts in the April 2026 edition of Community Mental Health Journal. Read it here.
Hugh Silk was an invited speaker for the Carequest Institute for Oral Health's Webinar on Medical-Dental Integration 101: Building the Bridge Between Oral and Overall Health on April 9th.
Diana Rinker, Dani Torres (medical student), Michelle Ojeda, Scott Hebert, and Hugh Silk presented a poster at the National Oral Health Conference in Oklahoma City on April 13th on their work with Road to Care entitled Improving the Oral Health of Persons Seeking Substance Use Treatment.
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Frankly Speaking Podcast
Please join us for a weekly Podcast series. Tune in as we discuss nonsurgical options for managing knee osteoarthritis in primary care. This episode reviews current guidelines and highlights new research on yoga as an effective alternative to traditional strengthening exercises. Gain practical insights to help patients reduce pain, improve function, and delay surgery-all while expanding your integrative treatment toolkit. Guest: Jillian Joseph, MPAS, PA-C, presents, "Flexibility in Treatment: What Yoga Can Offer Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis". Frankly Speaking Episode #480. Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frankly-speaking-about-family-medicine/id1194659367
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Please help us continue gathering information about instances of racism, bias, and microaggressions experienced by our learners, faculty, and staff. We encourage everyone to use our support tool, which takes approximately five minutes to complete. The information collected helps us identify appropriate and meaningful intervention options. Please access the form using the QR code or by using the Ombuds Support Form link: https://umassmed.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a3LP0h8mpHYDnqS
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