Archived Newsletter:  January 2018

Feature Articles

Doris Rubio, PhD, Becomes Associate Vice Provost for Faculty

Doris Rubio, PhD, accepted an offer to become Associate Vice Provost for Faculty, effective September 1. Her work in this capacity, which will be part-time, will be instrumental in designing and implementing professional development opportunities for faculty, as well as helping the Office of the Provost ensure a strong and productive work environment and climate for all faculty.

Dr. Rubio is a professor of medicine, biostatistics, nursing, and clinical and translational science, as well as the director of the Center for Research on Health Care (CRHC) Data Center, which provides Web design, database development, data management, and statistical analysis across the University. She is also the co-director of the Institute for Clinical Research Education (ICRE), which provides training in clinical and translational research and offers multiple programs for career development. Dr. Rubio directs the Evaluation & Tracking Core in the Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Her research focuses on the co-occurrence of alcohol use and depression in women and, in particular, on how life events impact alcohol use and depression. She has published on topics such as psychometrics, structural equation modeling, quality-of-life indicators, aging, and alcoholism.

Dr. Rubio earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work at Florida Atlantic University, her Master of Social Work at Florida International University, and a PhD in Social Work at Washington University. She joined the Pitt Faculty in 2002 after spending time on the faculty at Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Missouri, and Saint Louis University.

Medical Director of Hospital Medicine for the Division of General Internal Medicine

Gena Walker, MD, has been hired to be the new Medical Director of Hospital Medicine for the Division of General Internal Medicine. She is also being named the Division’s Director of Inpatient Medicine Value and Quality, and receiving an appointment as Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine. She will be starting with us on March 1, 2018.

Dr. Walker is coming to us from the Carolinas Hospitalist Group (in the Carolinas HealthCare System), where she has been practicing since 2007. She is no stranger to Pittsburgh, however, having completed an internal medicine/pediatrics residency here at Pitt, with a year as Chief Resident. Before joining the Carolinas Hospitalist Group, Dr. Walker spent three years as a hospitalist at the Medical University of South Carolina. She earned her medical degree from the West Virginia University School of Medicine in 2000.

In her ten years with the Carolinas HealthCare System, she has held a number of positions of leadership. Since 2009 she has been the co-director of the hospitalist group at Carolinas Medical Center-Mercy, a 198-bed acute care hospital in Charlotte, NC. She served for one year as the Chief of Internal Medicine at CMC-Mercy before taking on another position for the hospitalist group in 2013, as co-director of its Pre-operative Medical Assessment Clinic. She most recently held an additional position as Vice Chief of Internal Medicine for the Central Division of the 47-hospital health care system.

Gena has earned several awards for patient care during her career: she made Charlotte Magazine’s annual “Top Doctors List” from 2012 to 2016, was named physician of the year for CMC-Mercy in 2010, and was given the Planetree Physician Champion Award in 2012. Gena has also actively served on several committees in the healthcare system. She has been a long-serving member of the Operations and the Medical Executive Committees for the system’s Central Division, and has chaired the hospitalist group’s Patient Experience Committee since 2014.

Gena has a clinical interest in palliative medicine, and co-authored a needs assessment with Dr. Robert Arnold on pediatric resident education in palliative care, which was published in Pediatrics.

School of Medicine Curriculum Colloquium: Education Awards

The Division of General Internal Medicine was well represented at the annual University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Curriculum Colloquium, where several of our faculty received education awards.

Thuy Bui, MD, received the Kenneth E. Schuit Award for the Dean’s Master Educator. This award recognizes basic science and clinical faculty for education-related contributions to the Pitt Med Curriculum.

Peggy Hasley, MD, MHSc, was the recipient of the Sheldon Adler Award for Innovation in Medical Education, recognizing individual achievement in innovation in medical education at UPSOM.

Carla Spagnoletti, MD, MS, was recognized with the William I. Cohen Award for Excellence in Clinical Skills Instruction, which recognizes faculty who consistently provide outstanding clinical skills instruction for first and second year UPSOM medical students.

Raquel Buranosky, MD, MPH, received the Award for Excellence in Clinical Precepting, for consistently providing outstanding clinical instruction in a community setting for UPSOM medical students.

3rd Integrative Conference on Technology, Social Media, and Behavioral Health

The Center for Behavioral Health and Smart Technology along with the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business hosted the 3rd Integrative Conference on Technology, Social Media, and Behavioral Health at the University Club on November 3, 2017. With over 230 registered attendees from Pitt’s Schools of the Health Sciences, the Katz Graduate School of Business, the School of Computing and Information, UPMC, Carnegie Mellon University, and the local health care start-up community, this year’s cross-disciplinary Conference was the biggest and best yet.

In addition to a variety of engaging speakers from Pitt and CMU, the Conference featured two Keynote Speakers: Dr. David Mohr, Director for the Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, and Jesse Schell, CEO of Schell Games and Distinguished Professor at CMU’s Entertainment Technology Center. Dr. Mohr’s morning address was on “Achieving an Implementable Revolution in Digital Mental Health,” and Jesse Schell spoke about “Games for Health: Challenges and Opportunities.” The afternoon session focused on Katz’s Healthcare Executive MBA program and Pitt’s Innovation Institute. All speeches were illustrated by graphic artist Leah Silverman, whose work is displayed on the Center’s website, where you can also view videos of the presentations.

The day concluded with a Networking and Demo Session, which featured 18 innovative health software programs. Among these programs were the three winning games from the School of Computing and Information’s Games4Health Jam, hosted by Professor of Practice Dmitriy Babichenko one week prior to the Conference.

Thank you to those of you who joined us for this stimulating day of learning and networking, and we hope many of you will attend the 4th Integrative Conference next November!

Rishi Manchanda, MD, MPH, Physician and Activist, Inspires Students and Faculty During Visiting Professorship in September

The Center for Behavioral Health & Smart Technology also co-sponsored the recent visit to the University of Pittsburgh by Rishi Manchanda, MD, MPH, president and founder of HealthBegins, a non-profit “think-and-do tank” based in California. As a visiting professor from September 25 to 26, he met with faculty, students, and staff, and delivered the Department of Medicine Grand Rounds presentation, “Moving Upstream: Addressing Social Determinants to Advance the Quadruple Aim and Health Equity.” Dr. Manchanda, who combines roles as a physician, author, community health activist, and “upstreamist”—more on this later—is motivated by a determination to improve population health by addressing social determinants of health. The company he founded, HealthBegins, shares a similar goal: to create a smarter health care system that improves health where it begins.

During his visit to Pittsburgh Dr. Manchanda met with our health care and educational leaders and was very impressed with UPMC Health Plan’s commitment and efforts to improve the health of dual eligible beneficiaries. At the same time, he inspired our residents and students to think outside the box, creatively and astutely, to solve the biggest challenges in health care today: cost and inequities.

Dr. Manchanda also had a lively discussion with Thuy Bui, MD, associate professor of medicine, on how we could incentivize hospitals, clinics and health care-related organizations to develop quality improvement activities that address root causes of diseases and population health issues. Dr. Bui encourages readers of this newsletter to share their opinions on the subject (email: buit@upmc.edu), on which there are multiple viewpoints as to how best to tackle health-related social needs like inadequate housing, employment, income, healthy food, social support, health literacy and neighborhood safety. One approach is exemplified by a recent initiative from Geisinger to offer a fresh food pharmacy program. Another option is to try to infuse aspects of social determinants of health into each and every quality improvement project at UPMC. For example, a QI project on improving discharge instruction could go “upstream” and address the needs of patients with limited English proficiency in the discharge process. Which approach do you favor—tailored projects or the drip method? (And no, “trickle down,” is not a third option.)

“If there is enough of us going upstream,” Bui said, “we can change the direction of health care in this country.” Dr. Manchanda also shared with Julia Holber, Associate Director of the CBHST and one of its research associates, that “going upstream requires not just financing and resources but vision, commitment, executive sponsorship, and teamwork.” UPMC seems primed to take on this challenge.

Kudos to Bruce Rollman, MD, MPH, CBHST Director, for planting the seeds to get Dr. Manchanda to come to Pittsburgh and for cheerleading the Program for Healthcare to Underserved Populations.

Professional Recognition

Awards

Tanya Nikiforova, MD, was awarded “Best Poster – Student, Resident, or Fellow” for her fellowship project, “We’re Better Together: A Curriculum for Enhancing Interprofessional Care in Resident Clinic,” presented at the Academy of Master Educators Medical Education Day.

Lectures and Presentations

Bruce Rollman, MD, MPH, delivered the Provost’s Inaugural Lecture presentation entitled “Creativity, Clinical Trials, and Finding the Wow Factor” in recognition of his being named to the UPMC Endowed Chair in General Internal Medicine (September 7, 2017). Click here to view a video of the presentation.

A Beckwith funded project, led by second-year Academic Clinician-Educator Scholars (ACES) Fellow Jill Allenbaugh, MD, along with Jennifer Corbelli, MD, MS, and Carla Spagnoletti, MD, MS, was presented in November at the Press Ganey national conference. The project showed that a resident and nurse curriculum on health literacy and beside communication significantly improved communication techniques at the bedside and both MD and RN HCAHPS scores. The project has won numerous local awards at the DOM Research Day, Med Ed Day, and GME leadership conference.

John Blosnich, PhD, MPH, was invited to serve as a Subject Matter Expert for an effort by the VA Suicide Prevention Office to update and tailor a suite of safety planning manuals (suicide prevention) to unique needs of Veteran sub-populations (e.g., LBGT, women, PTSD).

The papers below by DGIM faculty were briefed to the VA National Leadership Council:

  • Gellad W, Thorpe J, Zhao X, Thorpe C, Sileanu F, Cashy J, Hale J, Mor M, Radomski T, Hausmann L, Donohue J, Gordon A, Suda K, Stroupe K, Hanlon J, Cunningham F, Good CB, Fine M. Impact of dual use of VA and Medicare Part D drug benefits on potentially unsafe opioid use. American Journal of Public Health. In press.
  • Schwarz EB, Sileanu FE, Zhao X, Mor MK, Callegari LS, Borrero S. Induced abortion among women Veterans: data from the ECUUN study. Contraception. 2017 Oct 15. [Epub ahead of print]
  • Rosland AM, Wong E, Maciejewski M, Zulman D, Piegari R, Fihn S, and Nelson, K. Patient-centered medical home implementation and improved chronic disease quality: a longitudinal observational study. Health Services Research. November 20, 2017 [e-pub ahead of print].
Professional Organizations

Eric Anish, MD, was selected as a 2017 Clinical Practice Award winner by the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American College of Physicians. The award was presented on December 9, 2017, at the Annual Dinner in Hersey, PA. This award honors Fellows and Masters of the American College of Physicians who demonstrate by their example and conduct an abiding commitment to excellence in medical care, education, research and service to their community, their chapter, and the American College of Physicians.

Thomas Radomski, MD, MS, has been elected to be President of the SGIM Mid-Atlantic Region. He will serve as President-elect for the upcoming year and take over as President in 2019.

Bruce Rollman, MD, MPH, was named a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Media

Medpage recently completed a series on free clinics and one of the segments features the Birmingham Clinic. Maggie Benson, MD, MS, the Clinic’s medical director, was a participant in the series, along with Amy Kennedy, MD, General Internal Medicine Chief Resident, Amna Jamil, PharmD, a recent Pitt Pharmacy resident, and Mary Hebert, Clinic Manager. Click here to view the video.

The findings from a large clinical trial led by Dr. Rollman and colleagues from the Center for Behavioral Health and Smart Technology was recently published online in JAMA Psychiatry, and was featured in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, on UPMC’s website, and in other media outlets.

Walid Gellad, MD, MPH, was interviewed for a recent CNBC Nightly Business Report feature about California’s drug price transparency bill, which can be viewed here (segment begins 16:32).

Promotions and Tenure

Associate Professor

Dana Tudorascu, PhD: Promoted to Associate Professor of Medicine, non-tenure stream

Seo Young Park, PhD: Promoted to Associate Professor of Medicine, non-tenure stream

Assistant Professor

John R. Blosnich, PhD, MPH: Promoted to Assistant Professor of Medicine, non-tenure stream

Other Positions

Walid Gellad, MD, MPH, was appointed Associate Chief for Research in the Division

Faculty and Staff Changes

Welcome Aboard: Faculty

Ann-Marie Rosland, MD, MS, started as an Associate Professor in the Division on October 1, 2017.  She will be based both at the VA and the University.

Ann-Marie conducts research that aims to improve health care for diabetes and other chronic conditions, and to support patient engagement and self-management, frequently by mobilizing the power of the patients’ social networks. She received her bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, in chemistry from UW–Milwaukee, earning the Emeritus Award for most outstanding chemistry undergraduate. She then attended Washington University Medical School with a Distinguished Student Scholarship. After completing her internship and residency at the University of Pennsylvania, she worked as a primary care clinician for the City of Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s Ambulatory Health Services. A few years afterward, she entered the RWJF Clinical Scholars Program at the University of Michigan. After completing the program and earning a master’s degree in health and health services research, she was appointed as a research investigator at the VA Ann Arbor Center for Clinical Management Research, and in 2011 received an appointment as assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan. Since 2006, she has been an attending physician in the University of Michigan Healthcare System, and since 2007 a primary care physician at the VA Ann Arbor.

In the 10 years since she began at the VA, Ann-Marie has had great success in her research within the institution and beyond. She is currently active on 6 grants—as PI or co-PI on half of them, including a VA HSR&D-funded 4-year RCT to determine how technology-enhanced coaching of patients with high-risk diabetes and supportive family members may improve patient engagement and lower risk for complications. She is a co-PI for a $4 million Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) to improve prevention and management of chronic conditions by supporting Veterans and providers in making personalized healthcare decisions that take into account individual patient risk and preferences.

Ann-Marie actively disseminates her research, with 36 peer-reviewed publications in a broad spectrum of journals, including the American Journal of Public Health, American Journal of Managed Care, Journal of Gerontology, and Patient Education & Counseling. A review of models for mobilizing family support for chronic disease management, published in Chronic Illness,was one of the top ten cited articles in the journal from 2010 to 2016.

Welcome Aboard: Division Faculty Hospitalists

Satya Acharya, MD, began on July 1. She has been working as a hospitalist since 2005, and spent several years as a teaching hospitalist at the University Hospitals in Cleveland, OH. Since 2015 she has been as an attending hospitalist in the Departments of Critical Care Medicine at both UPMC Passavant and UPMC St. Margaret, simultaneously holding an appointment as a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. She completed her education and training in India, including residencies in cardiology, psychiatry, and anesthesia, before completing a residency in internal medicine at Western Reserve Care System in Youngstown, OH. She also completed as research fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the Cleveland Clinic in 2001. She will be working days on our Hospitalist service.

Zohaib Aftab, MD, began on July 1. Dr. Aftab recently completed his residency in internal medicine at New York Medical College at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson, NJ. Dr. Aftab received his medical degree at King Edward Medical University in Lahore, Pakistan. He completed subsequent internships in ENT and Surgery in Pakistan before undergoing externships at Detroit Medical Center in nephrology and interventional cardiology. He also recently completed the Essentials in Critical Care Ultrasound Course offered by the American Society of Chest Physicians. He will be working days and nights on our Hospitalist service.

Ricardo Cabello, MD, earned his medical degree from Pitt’s School of Medicine in 2014 and recently completed his residency at Mount Sinai Beth Israel. While an undergraduate student in biochemistry at the University of Virginia he gained research experience working as an assistant in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics on a project related to protein crystallography. He pursued further research with a retrospective study conducted during medical school in the Department of Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, and a project during residency on advanced liver disease. He also spent a summer during medical school as a teaching intern at the Hillman Cancer Center. He has presented abstracts at annual meetings of SGIM and the Society of Hospital Medicine, and given a grand rounds presentation while at Mt. Sinai. He’ll be working both days and nights on our hospitalist service.

Aman Gupta, MD, earned his medical degree in India before completing an internship and residency at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. He then began as a hospitalist at UPMC East, where he has worked since 2014. While in medical school he completed a clinical clerkship in nephrology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He has coauthored publications that have appeared in AJRCCM and in PLOS ONE, and given presentations—including on research associated with the Pittsburgh COPD SCCOR Study—at meetings of the American College of Chest Physicians and the American Thoracic Society. He’ll be working days on our hospitalist service.

Arun Janakiraman, MD, MHMS, earned his medical degree from Ross University School of Medicine in 2010. Before that he had completed a Master of Health Management Systems program at Duquesne University in 2006 after having earning a BA in Economics from George Washington University. He completed his internship and residency at Cooper University Hospital (Camden, NJ), followed by a year as chief resident. He was active during residency, gaining teaching experience precepting residents and medical residents, and was the resident member of a hospital committee devoted to patient/family health care education. He has coauthored publications appearing in the Journal of Community Health, among others, and given presentations at the European Society of Cardiology, the Infectious Disease Society of America, the American College of Cardiology, and Academic Internal Medicine Week. He’ll be working days on our hospitalist service.

Kristen Livesey, MD, earned a double major with honors in biological sciences and public policy and management from Carnegie Mellon University, and subsequently attended medical school at Pitt, graduating in 2012. During med school she won the Dean’s Summer Research Award, completed the Physician Scientist Training Program, and co-directed the Cancer Institute Summer Academy at Hillman Cancer Center in 2009. After completing her internal medicine residency in the women’s health track at UPMC in 2015, she began working as an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an assistant in medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. She has been an active citizen wherever she’s gone, serving as the class representative for the housestaff council during residency and more recently on a health failure readmission reduction working group at Mass General. She has taught medical students and residents, and is currently active on two research projects funded by PCORI, one as co-investigator and the other as internal consultant. She is a co-author of nearly two dozen publications, many related to autophagy and cancer. She’ll be working both days and nights on our hospitalist service.

Mohana Loya, MD, MPH, began in the Division on June 13. Dr. Loya completed his education in 2006 at J.S.S. Medical College in Mysore, India, followed by two years of family medicine residency and three years of internal medicine residency at Guthrie Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, PA, where he received multiple recognitions for promoting excellence and professionalism. Dr. Loya also earned an MPH from Missouri State University in 2010. Since August 2016 he has been working as a hospitalist at CHI Health Creighton University Medical Center Bergan Mercy in Omaha, Nebraska. Dr. Loya has given presentations at annual meetings of the American College of Chest Physicians and the American Thoracic Society. He conducted research in Pittsburgh in 2009 with the Allegheny County Health Department related to risk factors for H1N1 influenza. He will be working both days and nights on our Hospitalist service.

Emanuel Petroulakis, MD, had been working since last year as a hospitalist at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, CO, before starting as a hospitalist in the Division on July 1. He completed both his undergraduate education (with high honors) and medical school at Rutgers, followed by an internal medicine residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. While in residency he helped design a neurology curriculum, and he has since then gained teaching experience as a member of the active staff at Jefferson and at Cooper University Hospital. He has also worked on the active staff responsible for an inpatient medical service at South Jersey Healthcare – Regional Medical Center. He has held an appointment as a clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of New Mexico Medical School since 2013, and before that at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Jefferson Medical College.

Maria Tsangaridou Petroulakis, MD, FACP, attended medical school in Greece before completing residency training at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, NJ. She earned a Fellowship in the ACP in 2010. During residency she was a member of the critical care chapter of the curriculum review committee, and has since then gained teaching experience as a member of the active staff at Cooper, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, and Inspira Medical Center (Vineland, NJ). She has worked as a locum tenens hospitalist at several hospitals from Billings, MT, to St. George, UT, most recently at St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood, CO. She will be working days on our hospitalist service.

Raghunandan Purushothaman, MD, went to medical school in India before doing his residency at the University of Arkansas, which he recently completed. In his final year of residency he served as the program’s representative for the hospital’s infection control team. He co-founded the Society for Enhanced Health and Access to Treatments (SEHAT) in 2013, which promotes the control of non-communicable diseases in India. He conducts research related to this area, with a co-authored publication on the effectiveness of community health in controlling cardiovascular disease in LMIC that appeared recently in Global Heart, and a design of a cluster randomized controlled trial to study the same issue in India, which was published in the American Heart Journal in March of this year. He will be working days and nights on our hospitalist service.

Saro Sarkisian, MD, MHA, began on June 12. Dr. Sarkisian received his medical degree in 2009 from Aleppo University School of Medicine in Aleppo, Syria. During his education he undertook a research internship at the Neurovascular Laboratory at Columbia University, and completed clinical elective rotations in pulmonary medicine and cardiology at the University of Illinois, Chicago, as well as an additional rotation in cardiology at the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas. He completed an internal medicine residency at UPMC from 2010 to 2013, after which he began working as a hospitalist physician at Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg, PA. He quickly began to take on leadership roles in the health system: he was appointed lead hospitalist physician in 2014, and served as chair of the Case Resource Management Committee and a member of advisory boards for Excela Health Medical Group. In 2015 he became the assistant medical director of the hospital’s Palliative Care Program. As a nocturnist, Dr. Sarkisian will be working on the Bone Marrow Transplant service and the Leukemia service at UPMC Shadyside.

Benjamin Sprague, MD, MS, before starting in the Division on July 1, had been serving as the chief medical resident of quality & safety at the VA Pittsburgh and UPMC. He completed both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in biomedical engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He earned his medical degree in 2013 from Pitt, during which he was a Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellow and earned a Certificate of Clinical Research in the Clinical Trials Research Track from the ICRE. During his residency, which he completed at UPMC in 2016, he volunteered at the Birmingham Free Clinic, and was active during both residency and medical school as the vice president of academics for the medical school’s Student Executive Council, and on a national level as the American Medical Student Association National Office’s Academy Officer and Director, and the student representative to the NBME’s Advisory Committee for Medical School Programs. He has experience teaching medical students as a small group instructor and facilitator, and has delivered presentations at the American Heart Association and the Biomedical Engineering Society. He will be working days and nights on our hospitalist service.

John Szymusiak, MD, MS, FAAP, is a recent graduate of our Academic Clinician-Educator Scholar (ACES) Fellowship, in the Medicine–Pediatrics track. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 2011, and did his residency in the internal medicine–pediatrics program here at UPMC, serving in his fourth year as chief resident. He has developed several curricula including a patient safety curriculum for senior residents at CHP. He was recently a co-coordinator of the evidence-based medicine curriculum for UPMC Shadyside, and has taught medical students and residents in a variety of settings. His research has been supported by DGIM and the Shadyside Hospital Foundation, and has been presented at national meetings of the American Academy of Pediatrics and SGIM, among others. He is active in service, having served as president of his medical student association, as a member of several committees for the residency and CHP, as well as a reviewer of oral abstract presentations that were finalists for the Hamolsky Award at SGIM. He was elected a Fellow in the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2015. He will have a secondary appointment in the Department of Pediatrics, working 50% of his time with the Diagnostic Referral Service, hospitalist service at Children’s Hospital.

Priyanka Vallabhaneni, MD, received her medical degree and served as an intern and house surgeon superintendent in India, before doing an internal medicine residency at St. Luke’s University Hospital in Bethlehem, PA. Since 2014 she has been working as a hospitalist at UPMC East. She completed a number of clinical observerships at UPMC before her residency, including in critical care medicine and general internal medicine. She has been a coauthor on research presented at the American Association for Cancer Research, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. She will be working days on our hospitalist service.

Lydia Winnicka, MD, earned her medical degree with high honors from Ross University in 2014. She then did her residency and a year as chief resident, which she recently completed, at Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, PA. She has been a co-investigator on two recent projects, one a randomized trial of an intervention to reduce readmission of patients with COPD exacerbation, and the other a lung cancer screening protocol. She has presented original research and case reports at meetings of the American College of Chest Physicians and the American Thoracic Society. She began on August 6 and will be working days on our hospitalist service.

John Wuchenich, MD, MPH, has been working since 2015 as a medical hospitalist at the Providence Regional Medical Center and The Everett Clinic in Everett, Washington. After earning his medical degree from Loma Linda University, he completed residencies in internal medicine and preventive medicine at the Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH, at the same time earning an MPH from the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. While in residency he led a multidimensional initiative to improve the quality of smoking cessation interventions and nicotine withdrawal treatment for hospitalized patients. He has consistently been active in service, including as his residency program’s representative to an information systems committee at DHMC, and more recently as a clinical analytics team member at his current hospital. He has experience teaching medical students on their internal medicine clerkship, and while in residency was invited back to his med school alma mater to give a guest lecture on health care financing for a law and medicine elective. He begins on August 1 and will be working days and nights on our hospitalist service.

Welcome Aboard: Division Staff

Leslie Bullock is a Project Specialist with the Department of Medicine’s Office of Education. Leslie is originally from Roanoke, VA, and has called Pittsburgh home for the past year. Before joining the team at UPMC, she spent six years with Planned Parenthood in both direct patient care and clinic management roles. Leslie is a proud alumna of Virginia Tech and spends most of her free time watching Hokie sports, studying and performing opera, and snuggling with her cat.

Julia Holber, a recent graduate from Washington University in St. Louis, is the new Associate Director of the Center for Behavioral Health and Smart Technology. Having graduated with a BA in Educational Studies, a minor in Children Studies, and a concentration in Premedical Studies, she is thrilled to be back in Pittsburgh as part of the HealthTechPitt team.

Tyler Marchinetti is our new Project Coordinator in the Division. Tyler completed his undergraduate work at the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned a dual degree (BS/BA) majoring in Marketing and Human Resource Management. He comes to us from a marketing firm where he was the Lead Project Coordinator. For the next few weeks Tyler will be learning about our Division and programs. His first project will be assisting with the centralization of recruitment for the DOM Academic Hospitalist programs.

Fond Farewell

Dr. Susan Hunt
Julie Mastro
Brenda Sperski
Dr. Anoo Tamber

Grants and Funding

Grants

Subject: Launching the PROMIS-Preference (PROPr) score to measure population health outcomes with a single instrument
Principal Investigator: Janel Hanmer, MD, PhD
Sponsor: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Purpose of Grant: This project is designed to launch PROPr for population health measurement. The centerpiece of the project is a large, nationally representative survey that will co-administer the PROPr measure with other summary measures of health. This project will make two broad contributions to the area of population health measurement: 1) Creation of crosswalks between PROPr and three older summary measures of health (the EuroQol-5D, Health Utilities Index, and Short Form-6D). 2) Validate the use of PROPr as a measure to quantify the impact of a variety of social determinants of health on health-related quality of life.

Subject: Impact of resident physicians’ sitting at the bedside on patient satisfaction and HCAHPS scores
Principal Investigator: Jennifer Corbelli, MD, MS, and Carla Spagnoletti, MD, MS
Sponsor: The Beckwith Foundation
Purpose of Grant: Although some data exist in the hospitalist literature on this topic, the impact of this kind of physician activity in academic centers where physicians round in teams is unknown. We are partnering with Raquel Forsythe, an APD in general surgery, to compare the impact of the same intervention in medicine vs surgery resident teams.

Subject: Developing and Testing a Decision Support Tool for Women Making Tubal Sterilization Decisions
Principal Investigator: Sonya Borrero, MD, MS
Sponsor: NIMHD
Purpose of Grant: Because low-income women’s decision making and provider counseling regarding surgical sterilization are often suboptimal, the proposed research seeks to build and test a decision support tool to enhance low-income women’s ability to make informed and value-concordant surgical sterilization decisions. In addition to its potential clinical utility, this research has important public health and policy implications as it can inform ongoing efforts to transform the current Medicaid sterilization consent policy by offering an evidence-based tool that is truly able to ensure informed decision making in vulnerable populations. Once we help safeguard women with a process for ensuring informed consent, we can then consider shortening or waiving the 30-day waiting period that has restricted access to sterilization for many low-income women.

Subject: Using Electronic Health Records to Identify Social Determinants of Health among VISN4 Veterans
Principal Investigator: John Blosnich, PhD, MPH
Sponsor: VISN4 Competitive Pilot Project Fund
Purpose of Grant: This mixed-methods pilot project is crucial for developing an VA Merit application to develop and test an instrument to collect social determinants data from patients and to determine strategies for personnel- and system-level interventions(e.g., provider training, EHR-based dashboards) to improve patient treatment plans through integration of social determinants data.

Subject: Using Machine Learning to Predict Problematic Prescription Opioid Use and Opioid Overdose
Principal Investigator: Walid Gellad, MD, MPH
Sponsor: NIDA
Purpose of Grant: Prescription opioid overdose deaths quadrupled from 1999 to 2015, and drug overdose is now the leading cause of injury deaths among adults in the United States. This project will use innovative machine learning methods and readily available data for Medicaid beneficiaries in two states hard hit by the epidemic—Pennsylvania and Arizona—to develop algorithms to accurately predict who is at risk of problematic prescription opioid use and overdose. This information will empower health systems, payers, and policymakers to more effectively target interventions to prevent prescription opioid misuse and its consequences.

Subject: The Associations of Housing Instability and Housing Services Utilization with Suicide Risk among Transgender Veterans
Principal Investigator: John Blosnich, PhD, MPH
Sponsor: National VA Homeless Programs Office
Purpose of Grant: This project seeks to answer the following research questions: (1) what are the characteristics of transgender Veterans utilizing the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) who experience housing instability; (2) among VHA transgender Veterans experiencing housing instability, how frequently do they utilize housing services; and (3) how does utilization of housing services impact suicide risk among transgender Veterans?

Subject: Conservative Prescribing: Prescriber Profiling and Education Project
Principal Investigator: Walid Gellad, MD, MPH
Sponsor: Moore Foundation
Purpose of Grant: This project aims to develop and test new metrics of conservative prescribing; examine differences in conservative prescribing practices among 4 healthcare organizations; correlate conservative prescribing metrics with process and outcome measures; and develop and implement an educational campaign related to conservative prescribing principles.

Subject: The MyPath Reproductive Planning Tool for Women Veterans: A Pilot Study
Principal Investigator: Sonya Borrero, MD, MS (Co-PI)
Sponsor: CHERP Pilot Research Program
Purpose of Grant: This pilot project will assess the acceptability and feasibility of a patient-centered, interactive computerized tool called “MyPath” that delivers individualized information and decision support to facilitate high quality decisions about pregnancy and contraception and effective patient-provider communication.

Recent Publications

Fall 2017 Publications (August – December)
  1. Abebe KZ, Jones KA, Ciaravino S, Ripper L, Paglisotti T, Morrow SE, Grafals M, Van Dusen C, Miller E. A cluster-randomized trial of a middle school gender violence prevention program: Design, rationale, and sample characteristics. Contemp Clin Trials. 2017 Nov;62:11-20. PMID: 28821469
  2. Abebe KZ, Scifres C, Simhan HN, Day N, Catalano P, Bodnar LM, Costacou T, Matthew D, Illes A, Orris S, Duell J, Ly K, Davis EM. Comparison of Two Screening Strategies for Gestational Diabetes (GDM2) Trial: Design and rationale. Contemp Clin Trials. 2017 Nov;62:43-49. PMID: 28823926
  3. Adams JW, Bryant KJ, Edelman JE, Fiellin DA, Gaither JR, Gordon AJ, Gordon KS, Kraemer KL, Mimiaga MJ, Operario D, Tate JP, van den Berg JJ, Justice AC, Marshall BDL. Association of Cannabis, Stimulant, and Alcohol use with Mortality Prognosis Among HIV-Infected Men. AIDS Behav. 2017 Sep 8. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28887669
  4. Allem JP, Chu KH, Cruz TB, Unger JB. Waterpipe Promotion and Use on Instagram: #Hookah. Nicotine Tob Res. 2017 Oct 1;19(10):1248-1252. PMID: 28077449
  5. Allem JP, Escobedo P, Chu KH, Boley Cruz T, Unger JB. Images of Little Cigars and Cigarillos on Instagram Identified by the Hashtag #swisher: Thematic Analysis. J Med Internet Res. 2017 Jul 14;19(7):e255. PMID: 28710057
  6. Allem JP, Ramanujam J, Lerman K, Chu KH, Boley Cruz T, Unger JB. Identifying Sentiment of Hookah-Related Posts on Twitter. JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2017 Oct 18;3(4):e74. PMID: 29046267
  7. Almutairi AR, Zhou L, Gellad WF, Lee JK, Slack MK, Martin JR, Lo-Ciganic WH. Effectiveness and Safety of Non-vitamin K Antagonist Oral Anticoagulants for Atrial Fibrillation and Venous Thromboembolism: A Systematic Review and Meta-analyses. Clin Ther. 2017 Jul;39(7):1456-1478.e36. Review. PMID: 28668628
  8. Anderson TS, Lo-Ciganic WH, Gellad WF, Zhang R, Huskamp HA, Choudhry NK, Chang CH, Richards-Shubik S, Guclu H, Jones B, Donohue JM. Patterns and predictors of physician adoption of new cardiovascular drugs. Healthc (Amst). 2017 Oct 21. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 29066168
  9. Andreescu C, Tudorascu D, Sheu LK, Rangarajan A, Butters MA, Walker S, Berta R, Desmidt T, Aizenstein H. Brain structural changes in late-life generalized anxiety disorder. Psychiatry Res. 2017 Oct 30;268:15-21. PMID: 28837828
  10. Bansal AD, Schell JO. Recognizing the Elephant in the Room: Palliative Care Needs in Acute Kidney Injury. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2017 Nov 7;12(11):1721-1722. PMID: 29042464
  11. Barnato AE, Chang CH, Lave JR, Angus DC. The Paradox of End-of-Life Hospital Treatment Intensity among Black Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study. J Palliat Med. 2017 Nov 6. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 29106315
  12. Blosnich JR, Bossarte RM. Premilitary trauma as a correlate of suicidal ideation among Veterans. Psychiatric Services. 2017 Aug 1; 68(8):755. PMID: 28669283
  13. Blosnich JR, Lehavot K, Glass JE, Williams EC. Differences in alcohol use and alcohol-related health care among transgender and nontransgender adults: findings from the 2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2017 Nov;78(6):861-866. PMID: 29087820
  14. Blosnich JR, Lytle MC, Coulter RWS, Whitfield DL. Suicide acceptability and sexual orientation: results from the General Social Survey 2008-2014. Arch Suicide Res. 2017 Nov 7. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 29111903
  15. Borrero S, Callegari LS, Zhao X, Mor MK, Sileanu FE, Switzer G, Zickmund S, Washington DL, Zephyrin LC, Schwarz EB. Unintended Pregnancy and Contraceptive Use Among Women Veterans: The ECUUN Study. J Gen Intern Med. 2017 Aug;32(8):900-908. PMID: 28432564
  16. Boss RD, Lemmon ME, Arnold RM, Donohue PK. Communicating prognosis with parents of critically ill infants: direct observation of clinician behaviors. J Perinatol. 2017 Nov;37(11):1224-1229. PMID: 28749479
  17. Bouldin ED, Trivedi RB, Reiber GE, Rosland AM, Silverman JB, Krieger J, Nelson KM. Associations between having an informal caregiver, social support, and self-care among low-income adults with poorly controlled diabetes. Chronic Illn. 2017 Dec;13(4):239-250. PMID: 29119864
  18. Bove AM, Smith KJ, Bise CG, Fritz JM, Childs J, Brennan GP, Abbott JH, Fitzgerald GK. Exercise, Manual Therapy, and Booster Sessions in Knee Osteoarthritis: Cost-Effectiveness Analysis from a Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial. Phys Ther. 2017 Oct 23. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 29088393
  19. Brown JB, Smith KJ, Gestring ML, Rosengart MR, Billiar TR, Peitzman AB, Sperry JL, Weissman JS. Comparing the Air Medical Prehospital Triage Score With Current Practice for Triage of Injured Patients to Helicopter Emergency Medical Services: A Cost-effectiveness Analysis. JAMA Surg. 2017 Nov 1. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 29094162
  20. Bruce RD, Merlin J, Lum PJ, Ahmed E, Alexander C, Corbett AH, Foley K, Leonard K, Treisman GJ, Selwyn P. 2017 HIV Medicine Association of Infectious Diseases Society of America Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Chronic Pain in Patients Living With Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Clin Infect Dis. 2017 Oct 30;65(10):1601-1606. PMID: 29091230
  21. Bruce RD, Merlin J, Lum PJ, Ahmed E, Alexander C, Corbett AH, Foley K, Leonard K, Treisman GJ, Selwyn P. 2017 HIVMA of IDSA Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Chronic Pain in Patients Living With HIV. Clin Infect Dis. 2017 Oct 30;65(10):e1-e37. PMID: 29020263
  22. Bruine de Bruin W, Wallin A, Parker AM, Strough J, Hanmer J. Effects of Anti- Versus Pro-Vaccine Narratives on Responses by Recipients Varying in Numeracy: A Cross-sectional Survey-Based Experiment. Med Decis Making. 2017 Nov;37(8):860-870. PMID: 28474962
  23. Bryk J, Fischer GS, Lyons A, Shroff S, Bui T, Simak D, Kapoor W. Improvement in Quality Metrics by the UPMC Enhanced Care Program: A Novel Super-Utilizer Program. Popul Health Manag. 2017 Sep 25. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28945512
  24. Bukowski LA, Blosnich JR, Shipherd JC, Kauth MR, Brown GR, Gordon AJ. Exploring Rural Disparities in Medical Diagnoses Among Veterans With Transgender-related Diagnoses Utilizing Veterans Health Administration Care. Med Care. 2017 Sep;55 Suppl 9 Suppl 2:S97-S103. PMID: 28806372
  25. Capone GT, Chicoine B, Bulova P, Stephens M, Hart S, Crissman B, Videlefsky A, Myers K, Roizen N, Esbensen A, Peterson M, Santoro S, Woodward J, Martin B, Smith D; Down Syndrome Medical Interest Group DSMIG-USA Adult Health Care Workgroup. Co-occurring medical conditions in adults with Down syndrome: A systematic review toward the development of health care guidelines. Am J Med Genet A. 2017 Nov 12. [Epub ahead of print] Review. PMID: 29130597
  26. Chiarchiaro J, Ernecoff NC, Scheunemann LP, Hough CL, Carson SS, Peterson MW, Anderson WG, Steingrub JS, Arnold RM, White DB. Physicians Rarely Elicit Critically Ill Patients’ Previously Expressed Treatment Preferences in Intensive Care Units. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2017 Jul 15;196(2):242-245. PMID: 28707977
  27. Childers JW, Back AL, Tulsky JA, Arnold RM. REMAP: A Framework for Goals of Care Conversations. J Oncol Pract. 2017 Oct;13(10):e844-e850. PMID: 28445100
  28. Chinman M, Woodward EN, Curran GM, Hausmann LRM. Harnessing Implementation Science to Increase the Impact of Health Equity Research. Med Care. 2017 Sep;55 Suppl 9 Suppl 2:S16-S23. PMID: 28806362
  29. Chonchol M, Gitomer B, Isakova T, Cai X, Salusky I, Pereira R, Abebe K, Torres V, Steinman TI, Grantham JJ, Chapman AB, Schrier RW, Wolf M. Fibroblast Growth Factor 23 and Kidney Disease Progression in Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2017 Sep 7;12(9):1461-1469. PMID: 28705885
  30. Coulter RWS, Mair C, Miller E, Blosnich JR, Matthews DD, McCauley HL. Prevalence of past-year sexual assault victimization among undergraduate students: exploring differences by and intersections of gender identity, sexual identity, and race/ethnicity. Prev Sci. 2017 Aug;18(6):726-736. PMID: 28210919
  31. Crihalmeanu T, Prabhu AV, Hansberry DR, Agarwal N, Fine MJ. Readability of online allergy and immunology educational resources for patients: Implications for physicians. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2017 Sep 8. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28923491
  32. Cunningham TV, Scheunemann LP, Arnold RM, White D. How do clinicians prepare family members for the role of surrogate decision-maker? J Med Ethics. 2017 Jul 17. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28716978
  33. De Genna NM, Ylioja T, Schulze AE, Manta C, Douaihy AB, Davis EM. Electronic Cigarette Use Among Counseled Tobacco Users Hospitalized in 2015. J Addict Med. 2017 Nov/Dec;11(6):449-453. PMID: 28753139
  34. DePasse JV, Nowalk MP, Smith KJ, Raviotta JM, Shim E, Zimmerman RK, Brown ST. Does cost-effectiveness of influenza vaccine choice vary across the U.S.? An agent-based modeling study. Vaccine. 2017 Jul 13;35(32):3974-3981. PMID: 28606814
  35. Dewitt B, Davis A, Fischhoff B, Hanmer J. An Approach to Reconciling Competing Ethical Principles in Aggregating Heterogeneous Health Preferences. Med Decis Making. 2017 Aug;37(6):647-656. PMID: 28453945
  36. Dezzutti CS, Park SY, Marks K, Lawlor S, Russo J, Macio I, Chappell C, Bunge K. Heterogeneity of HIV-1 replication in ectocervical and vaginal tissue ex vivo. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 2017 Oct 6. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28982249
  37. Domenick Sridharan N, Fish L, Yu L, Weisbord S, Jhamb M, Makaroun MS, Yuo TH. The associations of hemodialysis access type and access satisfaction with health-related quality of life. J Vasc Surg. 2017 Aug 16. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28822665
  38. Espey E, Teal S, Borrero S, Raine-Bennett T, Finer L. Scientific abstracts featured research at the 2017 Scientific abstracts featured research at the 2017 North American Forum on Family Planning. Contraception. 2017 Oct;96(4):263-264. PMID: 28774665
  39. Eyawo O, McGinnis KA, Justice AC, Fiellin DA, Hahn JA, Williams EC, Gordon AJ, Marshall BDL, Kraemer KL, Crystal S, Gaither JR, Edelman EJ, Bryant KJ, Tate JP; VACS Project team. Alcohol and Mortality: Combining Self-reported (AUDIT-C) and Biomarker Detected (PEth) Alcohol Measures Among HIV Infected and Uninfected. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2017 Nov 2. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 29112041
  40. Flink-Bochacki R, Meyn LA, Chen BA, Achilles SL, Chang JC, Borrero S. Examining intendedness among pregnancies ending in spontaneous abortion. Contraception. 2017 Aug;96(2):111-117. PMID: 28578152
  41. Frazier W, Cochran G, Lo-Ciganic WH, Gellad WF, Gordon AJ, Chang CH, Donohue JM. Medication-Assisted Treatment and Opioid Use Before and After Overdose in Pennsylvania Medicaid. JAMA. 2017 Aug 22;318(8):750-752. PMID: 28829862
  42. Friedberg MW, Gellad WF, Prasad V. Limitations Concerning the Association of Physician Sex and Patient Outcomes. JAMA Intern Med. 2017 Jul 1;177(7):1058. PMID: 28672361
  43. Gandhoke GS, Pandya YK, Jadhav AP, Jovin T, Friedlander RM, Smith KJ, Jankowitz BT. Cost of coils for intracranial aneurysms: clinical decision analysis for implementation of a capitation model. J Neurosurg. 2017 Aug 25:1-7. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28841115
  44. Gandhoke GS, Pease M, Smith KJ, Sekula RF Jr. Supraorbital Versus Endoscopic Endonasal Approaches for Olfactory Groove Meningiomas: A Cost-Minimization Study. World Neurosurg. 2017 Sep;105:126-136. PMID: 28408255
  45. Ganguli M, Sun Z, McDade E, Snitz B, Hughes T, Jacobsen E, Chang CH. That’s Inappropriate! Social Norms in an Older Population-based Cohort. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord. 2017 Nov 14. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 29140857
  46. Gelfman LP, Kavalieratos D, Teuteberg WG, Lala A, Goldstein NE. Primary palliative care for heart failure: what is it? How do we implement it? Heart Fail Rev. 2017 Sep;22(5):611-620. Review. PMID: 28281018
  47. Gellad WF, Thorpe CT, Steiner JF, Voils CI. The myths of medication adherence. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2017 Dec;26(12):1437-1441. PMID: 28994158
  48. Gibbs BB, Tudorascu D, Bryce CL, Comer D, Fischer GS, Hess R, Huber KA, McTigue KM, Simkin-Silverman LR, Conroy MB. Diet and Physical Activity Behaviors in Primary Care Patients with Recent Intentional Weight Loss. Transl J Am Coll Sports Med. 2017;2(18):114-121. PMID: 29130068
  49. Han S, Olonisakin TF, Pribis JP, Zupetic J, Yoon JH, Holleran KM, Jeong K, Shaikh N, Rubio DM, Lee JS. A checklist is associated with increased quality of reporting preclinical biomedical research: A systematic review. PLoS One. 2017 Sep 13;12(9):e0183591. Review. PMID: 28902887
  50. Hanmer J, Cella D, Feeny D, Fischhoff B, Hays RD, Hess R, Pilkonis PA, Revicki D, Roberts M, Tsevat J, Yu L. Selection of key health domains from PROMIS® for a generic preference-based scoring system. Qual Life Res. 2017 Dec;26(12):3377-3385. PMID: 28825177
  51. Hartley SL, Handen BL, Devenny D, Mihaila I, Hardison R, Lao PJ, Klunk WE, Bulova P, Johnson SC, Christian BT. Cognitive decline and brain amyloid-β accumulation across 3 years in adults with Down syndrome. Neurobiol Aging. 2017 Oct;58:68-76. PMID: 28715661
  52. Hausmann LRM, Brandt CA, Carroll CM, Fenton BT, Ibrahim SA, Becker WC, Burgess DJ, Wandner LD, Bair MJ, Goulet JL. Racial and Ethnic Differences in Total Knee Arthroplasty in the Veterans Affairs Health Care System, 2001-2013. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2017 Aug;69(8):1171-1178. PMID: 27788302
  53. Hausmann LRM, Ibrahim SA, Kwoh CK, Youk A, Obrosky DS, Weiner DK, Vina E, Gallagher RM, Mauro GT, Parks A. Rationale and design of the Staying Positive with Arthritis (SPA) Study: A randomized controlled trial testing the impact of a positive psychology intervention on racial disparities in pain. Contemp Clin Trials. 2017 Sep 8. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28893676
  54. Hausmann LRM, Youk A, Kwoh CK, Ibrahim SA, Hannon MJ, Weiner DK, Gallagher RM, Parks A. Testing a Positive Psychological Intervention for Osteoarthritis. Pain Med. 2017 Oct 1;18(10):1908-1920. PMID: 29044408
  55. Hay CM, Lefkowits C, Crowley-Matoka M, Bakitas MA, Clark LH, Duska LR, Urban RR, Creasy SL, Schenker Y. Strategies for Introducing Outpatient Specialty Palliative Care in Gynecologic Oncology. J Oncol Pract. 2017 Sep;13(9):e712-e720. PMID: 28763259
  56. Helgeson VS, Seltman H, Korytkowski MT, Hausmann LR. Partner unmitigated communion moderates communal coping benefits in type 2 diabetes. J Health Psychol. 2017 Sep 1 [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28877601
  57. Holliday CN, McCauley HL, Silverman JG, Ricci E, Decker MR, Tancredi DJ, Burke JG, Documét P, Borrero S, Miller E. Racial/Ethnic Differences in Women’s Experiences of Reproductive Coercion, Intimate Partner Violence, and Unintended Pregnancy. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2017 Aug;26(8):828-835. PMID: 28402692
  58. Hooten WM, Brummett CM, Sullivan MD, Goesling J, Tilburt JC, Merlin JS, St Sauver JL, Wasan AD, Clauw DJ, Warner DO. A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Unintended Prolonged Opioid Use. Mayo Clin Proc. 2017 Dec;92(12):1822-1830. PMID: 29108841
  59. Huang DT, Angus DC, Chang CH, Doi Y, Fine MJ, Kellum JA, Peck-Palmer OM, Pike F, Weissfeld LA, Yabes J, Yealy DM; ProACT Investigators. Design and rationale of the Procalcitonin Antibiotic Consensus Trial (ProACT), a multicenter randomized trial of procalcitonin antibiotic guidance in lower respiratory tract infection. BMC Emerg Med. 2017 Aug 29;17(1):25. PMID: 28851296
  60. Hughes TF, Sun Z, Chang CH, Ganguli M. Change in Engagement in Cognitive Activity and Risk for Mild Cognitive Impairment in a Cohort of Older Adults: The Monongahela-Youghiogheny Healthy Aging Team (MYHAT) Study. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord. 2017 Oct 12. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 29028647
  61. Ibrahim SA, Egede LE, Fine MJ. New Evidence Reflecting VA’s Commitment to Achieve Health and Health Care Equity for All Veterans. Med Care. 2017 Sep;55 Suppl 9 Suppl 2:S1-S3. PMID: 28806358
  62. Irazabal MV, Abebe KZ, Bae KT, Perrone RD, Chapman AB, Schrier RW, Yu AS, Braun WE, Steinman TI, Harris PC, Flessner MF, Torres VE; HALT Investigators. Prognostic enrichment design in clinical trials for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease: the HALT-PKD clinical trial. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2017 Nov 1;32(11):1857-1865. PMID: 27484667
  63. Jacobs BL, Yabes JG, Lopa SH, Heron DE, Chang CH, Schroeck FR, Bekelman JE, Kahn JM, Nelson JB, Barnato AE. The early adoption of intensity-modulated radiotherapy and stereotactic body radiation treatment among older Medicare beneficiaries with prostate cancer. Cancer. 2017 Aug 1;123(15):2945-2954. PMID: 28301689
  64. Jantea R, Buranosky R, Simak D, Hoffman E, Zimmer SM, Elnicki DM. The 50/50 Block Schedule: Impact on Residents’ and Preceptors’ Perceptions, Patient Outcomes, and Continuity of Care. Teach Learn Med. 2017 Nov 30:1-10. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 29190139
  65. Javier AD, Figueroa R, Siew ED, Salat H, Morse J, Stewart TG, Malhotra R, Jhamb M, Schell JO, Cardona CY, Maxwell CA, Ikizler TA, Abdel-Kader K. Reliability and Utility of the Surprise Question in CKD Stages 4 to 5. Am J Kidney Dis. 2017 Jul;70(1):93-101. PMID: 28215946
  66. Johnson EM, Hamilton MF, Watson RS, Claxton R, Barnett M, Thompson AE, Arnold R. An Intensive, Simulation-Based Communication Course for Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Fellows. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2017 Aug;18(8):e348-e355. PMID: 28796716
  67. Jonassaint CR, Birenboim A, Jorgensen DR, Novelli EM, Rosso AL. The association of smartphone-based activity space measures with cognitive functioning and pain sickle cell disease. Br J Haematol. 2017 Jul 17. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28714077
  68. Jonassaint CR, Kang C, Abrams DM, Li JJ, Mao J, Jia Y, Long Q, Sanger M, Jonassaint JC, De Castro L, Shah N. Understanding patterns and correlates of daily pain using the Sickle cell disease Mobile Application to Record Symptoms via Technology (SMART). Br J Haematol. 2017 Oct 26. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 29076140
  69. Judge CP, Borrero S. Contraceptive decision making after the 2016 US presidential election. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2017 Jul;217(1):89-90. PMID: 28366732
  70. Judge CP, Wolgemuth TE, Hamm ME, Borrero S. “Without bodily autonomy we are not free”: exploring women’s concerns about future access to contraception following the 2016 US presidential election. Contraception. 2017 Nov;96(5):370-377. PMID: 28801054
  71. Judge CP, Zhao X, Sileanu FE, Mor MK, Borrero S. Medical contraindications to estrogen and contraceptive use among women veterans. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2017 Oct 27. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 29111146
  72. Juengst SB, Switzer G, Oh BM, Arenth PM, Wagner AK. Conceptual model and cluster analysis of behavioral symptoms in two cohorts of adults with traumatic brain injuries. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2017 Aug;39(6):513-524.
  73. Kabiri M, Chhatwal J, Donohue JM, Roberts MS, James AE, Dunn MA, Gellad WF. Long-term disease and economic outcomes of prior authorization criteria for Hepatitis C treatment in Pennsylvania Medicaid. Healthc (Amst). 2017 Sep;5(3):105-111. PMID: 27932263
  74. Kavalieratos D, Gelfman LP, Tycon LE, Riegel B, Bekelman DB, Ikejiani DZ, Goldstein N, Kimmel SE, Bakitas MA, Arnold RM. Palliative Care in Heart Failure: Rationale, Evidence, and Future Priorities. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2017 Oct 10;70(15):1919-1930. Review. PMID: 28982506
  75. Kazmerski TM, Borrero S, Sawicki GS, Abebe KZ, Jones KA, Tuchman LK, Weiner DJ, Pilewski JM, Orenstein DM, Miller E. Provider Attitudes and Practices toward Sexual and Reproductive Health Care for Young Women with Cystic Fibrosis. J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2017 Oct;30(5):546-552. PMID: 28163120
  76. Kazmerski TM, Sawicki GS, Miller E, Jones KA, Abebe KZ, Tuchman LK, Ladores S, Rubenstein RC, Sagel SD, Weiner DJ, Pilewski JM, Orenstein DM, Borrero S. Sexual and reproductive health care utilization and preferences reported by young women with cystic fibrosis. J Cyst Fibros. 2017 Aug 30. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28866451
  77. Kazmerski TM, Sawicki GS, Miller E, Jones KA, Abebe KZ, Tuchman LK, Ladores S, Rubenstein RC, Sagel SD, Weiner DJ, Pilewski JM, Orenstein DM, Borrero S. Sexual and reproductive health behaviors and experiences reported by young women with cystic fibrosis. J Cyst Fibros. 2017 Aug 1. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28774749
  78. Khouja T, Smith KJ. Cost-effectiveness analysis of two caries prevention methods in the first permanent molar in children. J Public Health Dent. 2017 Aug 18. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28833182
  79. Kim H, Rajagopalan MS, Beriwal S, Smith KJ. Cost-effectiveness Analysis of Stereotactic Radiosurgery Alone Versus Stereotactic Radiosurgery with Upfront Whole Brain Radiation Therapy for Brain Metastases. Clin Oncol (R Coll Radiol). 2017 Oct;29(10):e157-e164. PMID: 28552517
  80. Lee CS, Liebschutz JM, Anderson BJ, Stein MD. Hospitalized opioid-dependent patients: Exploring predictors of buprenorphine treatment entry and retention after discharge. Am J Addict. 2017 Oct;26(7):667-672. PMID: 28324627
  81. Lehavot K, Blosnich JR, Glass JE, Williams EC. Alcohol use and receipt of alcohol screening and brief intervention in a representative sample of sexual minority and heterosexual adults receiving health care. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2017 Oct 1;179:240-246. PMID: 28810195
  82. Levenson JC, Shensa A, Sidani JE, Colditz JB, Primack BA. Social Media Use Before Bed and Sleep Disturbance Among Young Adults in the United States: A Nationally Representative Study. Sleep. 2017 Sep 1;40(9). PMID: 28934521
  83. Lewandowski A, Gillespie A, Kridgen S, Jeong K, Yu L, Gartner-Schmidt J. Adult normative data for phonatory aerodynamics in connected speech. Laryngoscope. 2017 Nov 2. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 29094368
  84. Liebschutz JM, Xuan Z, Shanahan CW, LaRochelle M, Keosaian J, Beers D, Guara G, O’Connor K, Alford DP, Parker V, Weiss RD, Samet JH, Crosson J, Cushman PA, Lasser KE. Improving Adherence to Long-term Opioid Therapy Guidelines to Reduce Opioid Misuse in Primary Care: A Cluster-Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2017 Sep 1;177(9):1265-1272. PMID: 28715535
  85. Lim G, Melnyk V, Facco FL, Waters JH, Smith KJ. Cost-effectiveness Analysis of Intraoperative Cell Salvage for Obstetric Hemorrhage. Anesthesiology. 2017 Dec 1. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 29194062
  86. Luiggi-Hernandez JG, Woo J, Hamm M, Greco CM, Weiner DK, Morone NE. Mindfulness for Chronic Low Back Pain: A Qualitative Analysis. Pain Med. 2017 Aug 16. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 29025059
  87. MacDonald S, Hausmann LRM, Sileanu FE, Zhao X, Mor MK, Borrero S. Associations Between Perceived Race-based Discrimination and Contraceptive Use Among Women Veterans in the ECUUN Study. Med Care. 2017 Sep;55 Suppl 9 Suppl 2:S43-S49. PMID: 28806365
  88. Maners RJ, Bakow E, Parkinson MD, Fischer GS, Camp GR. UPMC Prescription for Wellness: A Quality Improvement Case Study for Supporting Patient Engagement and Health Behavior Change. Am J Med Qual. 2017 Nov 1. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 29144156
  89. McNeil M. Menopausal Hormone Therapy: Understanding Long-term Risks and Benefits. JAMA. 2017 Sep 12;318(10):911-913. PMID: 28898364
  90. Meisel K, Arnold RM, Stijacic Cenzer I, Boscardin J, Smith AK. Survival, Functional Status, and Eating Ability After Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy Tube Placement for Acute Stroke. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2017 Aug;65(8):1848-1852. PMID: 28449220
  91. Merlin JS, Westfall AO, Heath SL, Goodin BR, Stewart JC, Sorge RE, Younger J. Brief Report: IL-1β Levels Are Associated With Chronic Multisite Pain in People Living With HIV. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2017 Aug 1;75(4):e99-e103. PMID: 28328552
  92. Merlin JS, Westfall AO, Johnson MO, Kerns RD, Bair MJ, Kertesz S, Turan JM, Clay OJ, Starrels JL, Kilgore M. Cost-effectiveness of a chronic pain intervention for people living with HIV (PLWH). J Med Econ. 2017 Sep 18:1-5. PMID: 28880698
  93. Morone NE, Moore CG, Greco CM. Characteristics of Adults Who Used Mindfulness Meditation: United States, 2012. J Altern Complement Med. 2017 Jul;23(7):545-550. PMID: 28084788
  94. Myaskovsky L, Gao S, Hausmann LRM, Bornemann KR, Burkitt KH, Switzer GE, Fine MJ, Phillips SL, Gater D, Spungen AM, Boninger ML. How Are Race, Cultural, and Psychosocial Factors Associated With Outcomes in Veterans With Spinal Cord Injury? Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2017 Sep;98(9):1812-1820.e3. PMID: 28130083
  95. Nandiwada DR, Kohli A, McNamara M, Smith KJ, Zimmer S, McNeil M, Spagnoletti C, Rubio D, Berlacher K. High-Value Consults: A Curriculum to Promote Point-of-Care, Evidence-Based Recommendations. J Grad Med Educ. 2017 Oct;9(5):640-644. PMID: 29075387
  96. Nelson HN, Borrero S, Lehman E, Velott DL, Chuang CH. Measuring oral contraceptive adherence using self-report versus pharmacy claims data. Contraception. 2017 Dec;96(6):453-459. PMID: 28882679
  97. Nowak KL, You Z, Gitomer B, Brosnahan G, Torres VE, Chapman AB, Perrone RD, Steinman TI, Abebe KZ, Rahbari-Oskoui FF, Yu ASL, Harris PC, Bae KT, Hogan M, Miskulin D, Chonchol M. Overweight and Obesity Are Predictors of Progression in Early Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2017 Nov 8. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 29118087
  98. Parekh NK, Donohue JM, Men A, Corbelli J, Jarlenski M. Rethinking How to Measure the Appropriateness of Cervical Cancer Screening. Ann Intern Med. 2017 Sep 19;167(6):445-446.  PMID: 28693041
  99. Phillips KT, Anderson BJ, Herman DS, Liebschutz JM, Stein MD. Risk Factors Associated With Skin and Soft Tissue Infections Among Hospitalized People Who Inject Drugs. J Addict Med. 2017 Nov/Dec;11(6):461-467. PMID: 28767536
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Announcements

Save the Dates

The Program for Health Care to Underserved Populations (Birmingham and Women’s Center Clinics) is excited to have you save the dates for two upcoming fundraising events in 2018:

  • January 18, 2018: The Pitt Medical Students of the Health Outreach and Education Project (HOEP) and Students and Latinos United Against Disparities (SALUD) will be holding their Annual Live and Silent Auction to Benefit PHCUP Clinics, held in the Biomedical Science Tower, Room S100. Silent auction items—including Penguins and Pirates tickets, two seats on the Stat MedEvac Helicopter (city tour), spa packages, baked goods and more!—are open for viewing at 5 p.m. and the live auction starts at 6 p.m. Click here to catch updates on our Facebook page.
  • March 17, 2018: Pitt Dhirana will host its sixth annual intercollegiate Classical Indian Dance Competition at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall. The PHCUP’s Birmingham Clinic is humbled to once again be the beneficiary of proceeds from this amazing event. Click here for tickets and updates.

These student-led fundraising events are vital to our patient care operations at our Birmingham and Women’s Center Clinics, helping to support our medication and medical supply budgets as well as patient transportation expenses. We truly could not serve the community without these amazing students and their commitment to our program. Please join us!

Birth Announcements

Courtlyn Schmalzried and family announced the birth of son, Isaac Luca

Tanya Nikiforova, and Brent Thiel, announced the birth of daughter Nadia

Anita Leon-Jhong and family announced the birth of son Ramon Edward

Nicole Kaefer and family announce the birth of son Dominik

Graduation Announcements

Research Assistant, Adelina Malito, will be graduating in December 2017 with her Master in Social Work with a focus on Mental Health. During her time at the School of Social Work, she has served on the Student Representative Board as the Part-Time Representative and completed internship hours at The Parenting Institute and Keystone Training and Consulting.

Contact Us

Division of General Internal Medicine Academic Offices

UPMC Montefiore Hospital
Suite W933
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
412-692-4821

Patient/Clinical Inquiries

412-692-4888

Administrative Office

412-692-4889