Transformational Times
Words of Hope, Character & Resilience from our Virtual Community
Friday, April 29, 2022
A Note from the Editors:
This week's issue was mistakenly sent out missing an article. Please see the full issue below. Thank you for your understanding.
In This Issue Focusing on MCW Regional Campuses:
Director's Corner

Perspective/Opinion

Take 3

Poetry Corner
Your Turn

Upcoming Events/Announcements
Director's Corner

Improving Rural Health and Transforming Medical Education: Two Peas in a Pod


By Adina Kalet, MD, MPH

In this issue of the Transformational Times devoted to the MCW regional campuses, Dr. Kalet muses on how centering the social mission of medical education to address physician workforce maldistribution creates a hotbed of innovation which pays off in the long haul …
 
 
 
When I was 17 years old, I signed a contract to serve a medically underserved community as a primary care physician for five years in exchange for an innovative, excellent, highly subsidized, accelerated medical education. Committing to that path was the most consequential decision of my life up until that time (admittedly I was young). I was the first in my family to get on this path. I was so terrified about what I was getting myself into, I didn’t sleep for the full week before signing that document. Not certain I wanted to be a physician, I was not sure whether skipping two years of my life to get there fast was the good or right thing to do. The one person in my life who knew anything about medical school thought taking this non-traditional academic path was too risky. We were both wrong. 
Perspective/Opinion

Eight Years In: An Update from MCW-Central Wisconsin



By Lisa Grill Dodson, MD

Dr. Dodson, the inaugural dean at MCW-Central Wisconsin, shares the measurable impact that the campus has had on the region and students ...


I arrived in Central Wisconsin in 2014 to start MCW-Central Wisconsin without so much as a place to sit or a single clinical preceptor on the roster, so it feels amazing and a bit surreal to be writing about our successes and challenges eight years on. MCW-CW is graduating our fourth class next month which means that some of our earliest graduates (2019) are finishing residency and will be able to return to the area to practice this summer and fall. After eight years of measuring inputs and outputs, we are finally beginning to see some of our outcomes. 
Perspective/Opinion

From Faculty to Family - Thoughts on MCW-Central Wisconsin from a Milwaukee Faculty Transplant



By Roy M. Long, PhD

Dr. Long, who has taught at both MCW-Milwaukee and MCW-Central Wisconsin, shares what he has learned about the family atmosphere and the advantages of working in Wausau …



Family. At MCW, we often talk and hear about welcoming students, faculty, and staff into the “MCW family.” However, one important influence MCW-Central Wisconsin (CW) has had upon me is a greater dimension of family – one in which the parents and students at MCW-CW have welcomed me into their families.
Perspective/Opinion

The Physician in the Community Pathway at MCW-Central Wisconsin


By Amy Prunuske, PhD; Corina Norrbom, MD; Kelly Mulder, MEd and Lisa Dodson, MD


The team in charge of the “Physician in the Community-Central Wisconsin Pathway” describes some of the activities and accomplishments they have seen …


With rare exception, all of your most important achievements on this planet will come from working with others— or, in a word, partnership. 
- Paul Farmer, MD
 
Dr. Lisa Dodson set forward a bold vision for MCW-CW to be one of the most community-engaged medical school campuses in the country, and a key mechanism of achieving this has been through the Physician in the Community Pathway.  Dr. Corrie Norrbom, a family physician and local community leader, and Dr. Amy Prunuske, a researcher and educator, have served as the Physician in the Community course directors. They worked closely with Kelly Mulder to develop the course, which strives to raise student awareness and engagement in local Central Wisconsin issues.  
Perspective/Opinion

A Mentor and Mentee In Wausau

By Michele Montgomery, MD and Melanie Hellrood, MD


Dr. Montgomery, an experienced family physician on the MCW-CW faculty, and Dr. Hellrood, an MCW-CW alumna, share how their relationship, forged during Dr. Hellrood’s clinical rotations, led to a career choice …



Dr. Montgomery writes:

As a family medicine physician, I’ve had the opportunity to work with the MCW-Central Wisconsin students in both the clinic since the inception of the school and as a coach since I retired. I had a busy family medicine practice, including OB, with lots of children for patients, and hence it was a great teaching environment. Working with the medical students on an individual basis at the clinic was a capstone on my career. The students added so much to my day as well as to the patients’ visits. Patients were eager to be to be seen by students and provided excellent feedback to them as well. The students loved being able to apply their newly gained knowledge to the actual practice of medicine.
Well-Being Summit Summary

Waving the Wand of Collaboration, Communication, and Vulnerability: Summary of the Third Annual MCW and Kern Institute Well-Being Summit


By Christopher Davis, MD, MPH; Jacob Welsch (M1); Alexandra Johnson (M2) and Alicia Pilarski, DO
 
 
On April 5, 2022, the Kern Institute hosted the Third Annual MCW and Kern Institute Well-Being Summit with the theme “Inhale, Exhale, and Engage: Harnessing Happiness, Joy, and Resilience in Healthcare.” This year’s summit was the culmination of two prior events focused on our learners and improving institutional culture as well as many months of hard work and planning by the summit’s steering committee and Kern Institute staff. As a measure of success alone, 456 of 623 registrants from MCW (364), Froedtert Health (130), Children’s Wisconsin (79), MCW Affiliated Hospitals (10), Zablocki VA Medical Center (4), and elsewhere (36) attended at least a significant portion of the event.
Take 3

Take 3 with Dr. John Raymond



 John R. Raymond Sr., MD, who serves as President and CEO of the Medical College of Wisconsin, reflects on the regional campuses ...

 
Dr. Raymond answers the following questions:
  • Please share with us the foundational concepts in developing the Regional Campus Model.
  • How do you feel the Regional Campuses have transformed MCW as an institution?
  • In which ways have the Regional Campuses exceeded your expectations?
By Mary Oliver
 
 
Look, the trees
are turning
their own bodies
into pillars

of light,
are giving off the rich
fragrance of cinnamon
and fulfillment,

the long tapers
of cattails
are bursting and floating away over
the blue shoulders

of the ponds,
and every pond,
no matter what its
name is, is

nameless now.
Every year
everything
I have ever learned

in my lifetime
leads back to this: the fires
and the black river of loss
whose other side

is salvation,
whose meaning
none of us will ever know.
To live in this world

you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.
Readers respond to last week's reflection prompt:

In celebration of Earth Day, how do you take care of the Earth?

There are small things we can all do help make a difference! Here are steps I've taken: 
1. Switched from bottled shampoo, conditioner, and body wash to package-free bars
2. Working on cutting red meat out of my diet
3. Using compostable products e.g. doggy poo bags, garbage bags, etc
4. Bringing reusable bags to grocery stores 
5. Planning a 'green' wedding (reusable or compostable dishes, local grown food, skipping out on a red meat dinner option)
6. Purchasing quality, carbon-neutral (when possible) clothes and avoiding “fast fashion”
7. Avoiding plastic packaging (eg choosing cardboard laundry soap packaging)
8. Encouraging others to think about changes they can make, too! 

—Nicole Rademacher, Student
For this week's reflection prompt, please answer the following question:

Who is your inspiration in life?
Register Now
Curriculum Planning Virtual Retreat



The Curriculum Innovation team invites you to register for a virtual half-day retreat on Monday, May 2, from 8:00 am – 12:00 pm. We invite all faculty, staff and students to attend and share feedback on some of the curricular models. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. We hope you'll join us!

May 2, 2022
Virtual via Zoom
8:00 am - 12:00 pm CT  

Register Now for the 8th Annual Carrie Falk Memorial Lecture
All That Glitters

by Jessica Zitter, MD, MPH
Associate Clinical Professor, School of Medicine,
University of CA – San Francisco
Education Outreach Director, Division of Palliative Care, Highland Hospital
Author of Extreme Measures: Finding a Better Path to the End of Life
Featured in the Netflix documentary, Extremis


Dr. Zitter challenges and invites us, as physicians and healthcare professionals, to take a step back, take a deep breath, and enquire: what do we really want for ourselves, our loved ones, and those entrusted in our care when death comes? 


May 5, 2022
Presented in the Kerrigan Auditorium and via Zoom
10:30 am - 12:00 pm CT  

Join us
KICS Journal Club with Dr. Ben Kinnear


KICS journal club is an opportunity to discuss some of the latest, influential, and/or thought-provoking articles in medical education with the authors who wrote them. It is an opportunity to learn about new ideas, methodologies, assessments, and strategies for publishing in medical education.


Dr. Kinnear is an associate professor of pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and serves as an associate program director of the Med-Peds and Internal Medicine residency programs overseeing their medical education pathway.

May 11, 2022
via Zoom
12:15 pm - 1:00 pm CT  
Register Now
Faculty Development Day: Thriving at All Stages of Your Career

The Office of Faculty Affairs is thrilled to host an all virtual Faculty Development Day: Thriving At All Stages of Your Career. This annual one-day event provides resources to enhance overall faculty professional development in a variety of areas, with a special keynote address at noon.

Many Kern Institute faculty are contributing to sessions at this event, with Dr. Adina Kalet facilitating a Mentoring Intensive Workshop. Registration for this Workshop is limited and only open through the end of March.


May 12, 2022
Virtual via Zoom
8:00 am - 5:00 pm CT  


Wisconsin Medical Journal Seeks Applicants for Editor-in-Chief


The Wisconsin Medical Journal (WMJ) is seeking candidates to serve as its next Editor-in-Chief. The WMJ is an indexed, peer-reviewed journal published through a collaboration between the Medical College of Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. 
The EIC will serve a three-year term, with the potential for renewal. Previous experience as an editor or deputy/associate editor is preferred, as is prior editorial board experience. This is a volunteer position that averages 4 to 6 hours per week and will commence in June 2022.

The deadline for applications is May 13, 2022.
Register Now
The Doctor as a Humanist DASH 6th Symposium: Humanism in Surgery

Fabrice Jotterand, PhD and Clara Bosco will be leading a plenary session entitled The Wise Surgeon in the Age of Artificial Intelligence at The Doctor as a Humanist DASH 6th Symposium: Humanism in Surgery, a hybrid event.



May 20, 2022
Hybrid Event  


Academic Medicine Call For Papers

Academic Medicine is seeking original submissions for their Letters to the Editor feature from medical students, residents, fellows, and trainees in other health professions on the topic of a transformative moment in your professional journey.

The editors will be looking for letters that go beyond describing an event to reflect meaningfully on how the experience affected your professional identity formation. In other words, a successful letter will not simply tell us what happened, but will also illuminate the role of that experience in shaping your identity as a health care professional. We expect you to use your personal experience to illustrate the point, but the purpose of the letter should be to communicate a broader issue or idea that has relevance for others throughout academic medicine. Submissions that are strictly narrative will not be considered for publication. Authors wishing to submit a strictly narrative piece should explore the journal’s Teaching and Learning Moments feature as an option.
Join us
KICS Journal Club with Dr. Margaret Chisolm


KICS journal club is an opportunity to discuss some of the latest, influential, and/or thought-provoking articles in medical education with the authors who wrote them. It is an opportunity to learn about new ideas, methodologies, assessments, and strategies for publishing in medical education.

Dr. Margaret Chisolm will be doing an experiential Visual Thinking Strategies mini-session and discussing her article How Visual Arts Based Education Can Promote Clinical Excellence.

Dr. Chisolm the vice chair for education and a professor of psychiatry and behavior sciences and medicine at Johns Hopkins University and the author of From Survive to Thrive: Living your best life with mental illness.


June 8, 2022
via Zoom
12:15 pm - 1:00 pm CT  
The Transformational Times publishes weekly, delivering stories of hope, character and resilience to our virtual community.
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