UMass FMCH Tuesday Talk - June 23, 2026/RESEARCH

Table of Contents

Upcoming Events

Focus of the Week - Research

Announcements

Presentations and Publications

Department Member Recognition

Frankly Speaking Podcast

Resources

Upcoming Events

FMCH Grand Rounds

Tuesday, June 23rd, 12:00 - 1:00pm, Gennady Gelman, MD, and Allen Chang, MD, present "A Practical Guide to AI in Medicine: What's Here, What's Coming, and What It Means for Your Practice".

Meeting ID: 191 986 273 Passcode: FMCH

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/191986273?pwd=NEtlZmNkdWlSUGwyeTJQU3dCeUs1QT09

Focus of the Week - Research

Jennifer Carroll, MD, MPH, Vice Chair, Research

Suzanne Mitchell, MD, MS, Director, Research

Department Grand Rounds Recap: Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus—Updates for Primary Care Management 

Thank you to Amber Sarkar, MD and Anusmriti Guragain, MD for presenting key practical updates on managing type 2 diabetes in primary care. Diabetes affects 8% of adults locally and is a leading cause of serious complications. Early and regular screening—starting at age 35 for most adults and earlier for high-risk groups—is essential. Providers should consider screening children with risk factors starting at age 10. 

Effective management includes personalized goals, addressing complications like osteoporosis and dementia, and recognizing common but often overlooked issues like erectile dysfunction. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease screening is recommended every 1–2 years. Nutrition and physical activity remain foundational, emphasizing enjoyable, culturally appropriate eating and regular movement—including standing breaks every 30 minutes. 

Pharmacologic options have expanded, with metformin, GLP-1 receptor agonists, SGLT2 inhibitors, and insulin tailored to individual needs. Insulin initiation and titration guidance supports safe use in primary care. Finally, continuous glucose monitoring enhances glycemic control but may increase diabetes distress for some. Providers should also support patients managing diabetes during fasting periods such as Ramadan, using established guidelines. Overall, this update highlights the evolving, holistic approach required to optimize diabetes care in primary care settings. 

New Award: Building CER Capacity for Alzheimer’s Dementia Research 

We would like to celebrate a new 2-year PCORI engagement award starting July 2026 that will build the capacity of patients, caregivers, and providers to engage in patient-centered comparative effectiveness research (CER) focused on Alzheimer’s dementia interventions in New England. This project, led by Sonal Singh, MD, MPH, FACP, partners with the Alzheimer’s Association MA/NH, Reagan-Udall Foundation, Humana Health Care Research Institute, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Research Institute, and Eli Lilly. The initiative aims to strengthen community and stakeholder engagement in critical dementia research to improve care and outcomes. 

Seeking Clinicians for CHIRP Pilot Study interviews with medical students--  

Are you a primary care clinician? Do you care for patients with serious illness? If so, you are invited to participate in an interview as part of a pilot study called CHIRP (Continuity and Collaboration for Home IntegRated Primary Palliative Care). The interview can be completed on Zoom or by phone and scheduled at your convenience. You will be paired with a medical student (Anna Gaden, Jessica Fahim, or Maria DelPico) who will lead the interview. A $50 gift card stipend is available for all participants. Interested in learning more? Please contact Dr. Suzanne Mitchell (Suzanne.Mitchell2@umassmed.edu). 

Research Forum Update— 

Thank you to all our FMCH Research Forum attendees and presenters during this past academic year. We look forward to having you join us on Friday, September 18th at 12pm noon when the Research Forum will resume. In the meantime, please be sure to check our past forum recordings saved here.

Share Your Research News! 

Have a recent publication, grant, presentation, event, or recruitment to share? Please send your research-focused updates each month to Briana.linney@umassmed.edu for inclusion in Tuesday Talks. Your contributions showcase our department’s achievements and foster community engagement. 

Announcements

The department is seeking a Faculty Advisor for the Family Medicine Interest Group (FMIG) and the Primary Care Principles Optional Enrichment Elective (PCP OEE), sponsored by the AHEC grant. The Faculty Advisor supports, encourages, and nurtures students' interest in family medicine and helps student leaders make the FMIG and PCP OEE experience valuable for members. This may include suggesting new and topical ideas based on individual exposure to clinical practice and trends in family medicine, facilitating hands-on workshops and discussions connected with Principles of Primary Care OEE, serving as the liaison between the department of family medicine and student leaders, introducing students to the range of careers in family medicine, helping with student leadership transitions, and collaboration with other regional and national FMIG advisors. Interested family physician faculty should send a CV and brief letter of interest to Heather Garron (heather.garron@umassmemorial.org). See job description for more information. 

RISE ForBabiesBest 4-Part Childbirth Education Series in Spanish

Begins Wednesday, June 24th, 6:00–8:00pm. RISE is working with multilingual doulas and Jo Elle Moody/Florence Jean-Louis to launch a 4-class childbirth education series in different languages. Jo Elle and Florence are CBE certified and provide childbirth education in English. The model is to pair them with doulas who speak another language to run the sessions in that language. We will start with Spanish and then rotate every 4 weeks to other languages including Arabic, Haitian-Creole, Portuguese, Swahili and others (send us requests 😊) Feel free to share with patients!! And have them fill out the form below! 

Clases de Preparación para el Parto en Worcester RISE for Health – Fill out form

Annual Review Reminders

If you are a dually-employed faculty member (UMass-Memorial and Umass-Chan), you should have received a link from facultyaprs@umassmed.edu to complete your annual review. Faculty with umassmed appointments who are employed by FHCW or EMK but still get annual reviews due to their educational responsibilities should have received a paper form. If you have not received the link or the form, please let Heather Garron know at heather.garron@umassmemorial.org. Please review resources and FAQs for completing your annual review using the link provided below: 

https://www.umassmed.edu/ofa/academic/faculty-reviews/apr/. Annual reviews with supervisors should be completed by July 17th to leave time for chair review and timely submission to the school. Supervisors should schedule annual reviews now; please cross-check your lists for any additional supervisors that may contribute to the review. You have the option to route the review to additional supervisors.

Woohoo! Join MassAFP for a WooSox Game on July 26th!

Summer is nearly upon us and it is baseball season! Come join MassAFP and watch the WooSox take on the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp! Tickets include private party space and a 2 hour buffet of ballpark favorites from 12:30-2:30pm. Residents and students invited too! Register today!

Volunteer Opportunity 

The Akwaaba Free Clinic Program is a medical student-coordinated, free clinic. The Akwaaba student leaders are actively recruiting primary care providers to join the volunteer team and expand access to care. The clinic operates on Thursday evenings from 6-8 P.M. at the New England Ghanaian Seventh-day Adventist Church (67 Vernon St. Worcester, MA, 01610).  If you are interested in volunteering or would like more information, please reach out to MassAHEC Scholar: Jada Scotland (jada.scotland@umassmed.edu) or Okoh Frimpong (okoh.frimpong@umassmed.edu)

Kristina Gracey is the new lead for the accelerated MD (aMD) Pre-clinical Summer Intensive and is recruiting faculty to teach 3 accelerated MD students prior to the start of their FM clerkship. The Intensive runs July 6-9 and 14-17, 2026. If you would like to teach (or co-teach) a 30-60 minute session on a topic of your choice in order to help grow your CV, advance your work for promotion and contribute to aMD learning, please email Kristina at kristina.gracey@umassmemorial.org

Each year the Grand Rounds team  (Jeanne Cawse-Lucas, Frank Domino, Josephine Fowler, and Mary Anne Adams) works hard to deliver high quality, AAFP approved CME. To better address your needs, WE NEED YOUR HELP. Please answer this 4 question (3 minutes, max) survey to help us learn what you want. 

https://umassmed.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0694x39bXoIE42W

Glow Up is HERE! Join us for Glow Up, a FREE two-part wellness webinar series:

Part 1: "Ignite Your Wellness"

Wednesday, June 24th, 12:15–12:45pm

• Tips for seasonal eating & hydration

• Create a positive summer mindset

• Simple movement habits

• Set a Summer Wellness Pledge

Part 2: "Carry Your Glow into Fall"

Wednesday, September 16th, 12:15–12:45pm

• Tackle back-to-routine anxiety

• Shift your movement indoors

• Build your personalized Fall Wellness Gameplan

Register here 👉 https://CXO.formstack.com/forms/summer_glow_up_2026.

See flyer for more information.

Wellness Resource for Caregivers

What is Core4? Core4 is a FREE 12-week nutrition and wellness program exclusively for UMass Memorial caregivers. It's designed to expand nutrition knowledge and support long-term well-being through lifestyle and positive behavior changes.

Here's how it works:

✅ Starts with a 1:1 session with a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist

✅ Followed by 11 weekly group sessions (1 hour each)

✅ Focuses on boosting overall health, improving eating habits, and building sustainable lifestyle changes

Program Schedule: Virtual individual meetings begin the week of July 12th. The group sessions begin Wednesdays- July 22nd-September 30, 8:00am – 9:00am, virtual. Spots are limited and this program fills up fast! To register, scan the QR code, or hover over the word "register" on the attached flyer or email myhealthmatters@umassmemorial.org 

with any questions.

Back by popular demand, Yoga is returning to Polar Park’s Outfield on Saturday, August 29th, and tickets are now on sale! The event has new ticket options this year allowing you to choose if you’d like to stay for breakfast in the DCU Club or leave immediately after the yoga flow ends. The first 250 attendees will receive this year’s event gift of a cooling workout towel. We hope you’ll join us for a relaxing flow in the outfield.

Click here to buy tickets. Click here for more info.

Ticket Types

• Yoga with Breakfast: $43/person
• Yoga Only: $18/person

Event Details

• Gates Open: 6:30am
• Yoga: 7:00am
• Breakfast: 8:00am

Presentations and Publications

Participants of the POCUS Faculty Development project led by Erin Cathcart and Becca Gwaltney and funded by the Lasser Fund completed a 1-day Intro to POCUS Workshop with UMass iCELS. Henry DelRosario led the DVT/IVC station as faculty! 

Department Member Recognition

Congratulations to Manju Mahajan on being promoted to Associate Professor.

Frankly Speaking Podcast

Please join us for a weekly Podcast series. In the US, maternal morbidity and mortality rates are among the highest in the western world, and stroke is one of the leading causes-responsible for 1 of 12 maternal deaths. This rate is estimated to be much higher in high-risk pregnancies. Join us as we discuss a recent study examining rates of maternal stroke in which 1 in 4 women with stroke experienced a missed diagnostic opportunity and hear what these findings mean for your practice. Guest: Susan Feeney, DNP, FNP-BC, NP-C, presents, "What Are We Missing? Recognizing Symptoms of Maternal Stroke". Frankly Speaking Episode #490. Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frankly-speaking-about-family-medicine/id1194659367

Resources

Past editions of the Tuesday Talk are available at 

https://www.umassmed.edu/fmch/ under Resources.

The UMass Memorial Caring for Caregivers Program is available at 508-334-HELP,

EAP at 866-263-3525, and the UMass Chan EAP at 800-322-5327.

www.LiveandWorkWell.com 

Yoga Classes with Dr. Liz Erban. New members always welcome. 

Wednesday(s), 6:30-7:30am, for a gentle awakening yoga session led by Liz Erban.

https://umassmed.zoom.us/j/91343267992?pwd=ZHF3NHVrVlR1MVdMV09HSE5lTzdsQT09

FMCH Department Calendar a centralized resource designed to highlight departmental dates, deadlines, and events. If you experience any issues, please reach out to (natalia.tobon@umassmed.edu) or (sandra.girouardtodd@umassmed.edu).