DoM Faculty Appointments and Promotions – December 2023

Congratulations to the following Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine faculty on their recent appointment or promotion to associate professor and clinical professor.

Clinical Professor

Robert Lowe, MD, Medicine/Gastroenterology, is a clinician-educator who has received numerous prestigious teaching awards, including almost every education award given by the medical school, as well as the university’s Metcalf Prize for Excellence in Teaching. He is considered to be a ‘go-to’ expert for primary care providers and other physicians when faced with complex liver or gastrointestinal diagnoses, as well as a deft provider in hospital-based internal medicine. He serves as a core faculty member in the Internal Medicine Residency and the GI Fellowship programs at Boston Medical Center, and is a member of the Clinical Competency Committee for both training programs. He is also the director of the Medical Educator Pathway, designed for internal medicine residents considering a career in medical education. Recently named assistant dean of medical education for clinical integration, Dr. Lowe has been a member of the Curriculum Redesign Committee and serves as co-chair of the Gastroenterology/Nutrition course and the Advanced Integration course in the new MD program curriculum. He is a member of the school’s Academy of Medical Educators and teaches in the Doctoring courses, in addition to serving as advisor to numerous medical students each year.

Associate Professor

Gemmae Fix, PhD, Medicine/GIM, is an applied medical anthropologist with postdoctoral training in health services research. An investigator at the Center for Healthcare Organization and Implementation Research (CHOIR), a VA Health Services Research and Development Center of Innovation, based at the Bedford VA Medical Center, Dr. Fix’s research uses ethnographic, qualitative methods to advance the delivery of patient-centered care, particularly for marginalized or populations stigmatized for their behaviors, such as people living with HIV or patients who are at risk for lung cancer. She has led AHRQ, VA and DoD-funded studies examining patients’ experiences of care, patient-centered HIV care and the use of co-design methods to engage patients in the research process. Additionally, Dr. Fix is interested in the professional development of social scientists. She led the formation of the Medical Anthropologists and Social Scientists in Health (MASSH) interest group, which brings together anthropologists and allied social scientists working in applied health settings to promote professional development, research collaboration and educational opportunities. She serves as secretary to the Board of the Society for Applied Anthropology.

Carl Streed, MD, MPH, Medicine/GIM, is a clinician-investigator who specializes in sexual and gender minority (SGM) health care.  His work has influenced the health care management of LGBTQ+ communities both in Boston and nationally. His work validates methods of identifying transgender cohorts within administrative claims data, explores strengths and opportunities for improvements of current cardiovascular risk estimation tools as they relate to gender-affirming care and identifies gaps in current clinical practice knowledge of primary care clinicians and cardiologists as it relates to transgender and gender diverse populations. His research portfolio effectively bridges research methods, population health research, clinical practice and clinician education. Dr. Streed is the recipient of the Excellence in LGBTQ Health Award from the American Medical Association Foundation for his personal and professional pursuit of a more equitable and inclusive society, focused on elevating voices and redistributing power. He serves as President of the US Professional Association for Transgender Health.

DoM Faculty Named to Boston Magazine Top Docs

Boston Magazine has published its annual list of “Top Docs,” and I’m pleased to share that many of our BMC clinician-faculty – across a variety of fields and specialties – are included on the list. Please join me in congratulating them on this achievement and for providing exceptional care to their patients and the community.

BMC’s “Top Docs” 2024

Top Docs are selected through a nomination process run by Castle Connolly for Boston Magazine.

Cardiac Electrophysiology
Robert Helm
Kevin Monahan

Cardiovascular Disease
Gary Balady
Sheilah Bernard
Robert Eberhardt
Ashvin Pande

Clinical Genetics
Jodi Hoffman

Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism
Sara Alexanian
Sonia Ananthakrishnan
Alan Farwell
Shirin Haddady
Stephanie Lee
Elizabeth Pearce

Gastroenterology 
Christopher Huang
David Lichtenstein
Robert Lowe
David Nunes

Geriatric Medicine
Heidi Auerbach
Lisa Caruso
Hollis Day
Won Lee

Hematology
Vaishali Sanchorawala

Infectious Disease
Sabrina Assoumou

Internal Medicine
Melissa DiPetrillo
Warren Hershman
Angela Jackson
Susan Phillips
Jeffrey Samet
Carl Streed
Charles Tifft

Interventional Cardiology
Claudia Hochberg
Anthony Litvak

Medical Oncology
Gretchen Gignac
Matthew Kulke
Adam Lerner

Nephrology
Laurence Beck   
Jasvinder Bhatia
Jean Francis
Lauren Stern

Pulmonary Disease
John Bernardo
Finn Hawkins
Elizabeth Klings
Frederic Little
George O'Connor

Radiation Oncology
Ariel Hirsch         
Minh T. Truong

Rheumatology
Andreea Bujor
David Felson
Eugene Kissin
Tuhina Neogi
Michael York

DoM DEIA Week Art Exhibit Submissions Are Now Open!!

The DoM is looking to celebrate and share the stories of our uniquely diverse community. DoM Faculty, staff, and trainees are encouraged to submit artwork of any subject and any medium (paintings, photos, poetry, sculpture, needlework, etc.) for display during the inaugural DoM DEIA Week. The art will be displayed on Tuesday, March 19th in the Wilkins Board Room.

Security will be provided. Pieces should be framed if possible. More information will be provided to those who submit artwork.

Click here to submit your artwork!!

AY 24 Evans Junior Faculty Research Merit Awardees!

We are delighted to announce the AY 24 Evans Junior Faculty Research Merit Awardees.

The awardees for AY 24 are: Tara Bouton, MD, MPH & TM (Infectious Diseases) and Simeon Kimmel, MD, MA (General Internal Medicine). These individuals were selected based on their very strong research accomplishments and exceptional promise as investigators! We had 21 very highly qualified applicants for the award! Although it was difficult to select awardees from such a talented pool of faculty, we can be assured that the number of highly talented junior faculty portends a very bright future for research in the Department of Medicine.

Please join us in offering congratulations to our outstanding AY 24 Evans Junior Faculty Research Merit Awardees!

DoM Faculty Member In The Media: COVID and flu cases rise in Mass. as experts urge more vaccination

The uptick has public health experts urging people to get vaccinated and do what they can to stop the spread of respiratory illnesses.

Dr. Sabrina Assoumou, an infectious disease physician at Boston Medical Center and an associate professor at Boston University, said people are still not getting as severely ill when they contract COVID due to the degree of immunity many have through previous vaccinations or infections.

But still, she pointed to the ongoing deaths due to COVID in the United States, which have stayed above 1,000 per week for the last few months across the country.

“That’s just too many, especially at a time when we have a vaccine that could prevent this,” Assoumou said. “And the reason why you want to get vaccinated right now is because, as we're learning, the virus is changing, and we also have what we call waning immunity. So the protection is waning.”

State data shows that about 18% of Massachusetts residents have gotten a recent COVID vaccine, and about 37% have gotten the flu shot.

Experts advised that the problem isn’t just about how severe the infection is upfront. COVID can turn into long COVID, a wide-ranging set of health problems including brain fog and severe fatigue — some of which can be debilitating — that people can experience for months or even years after being infected. The flu, too, can bring about other long-term health complications.

“Probably the biggest argument around trying to avoid COVID, and even flu for that matter, is that there are higher risks for medical problems after you get these infections,” said Dr. Lou Ann Bruno-Murtha, the division chief of infectious diseases at Cambridge Health Alliance.

“It’s not just the infection itself: it’s that the inflammation caused by the infection puts you at risk for other comorbidities and problems down the road,” Bruno-Murtha added. “And certainly, long COVID is still a thing that we want to avoid — there's previously healthy people that are currently suffering from long COVID. So if you can avoid long COVID, or avoid having a cardiac complication after influenza, you're going to be well ahead of the game.”

Courtesy of Massachusetts Water Resources Authority

Assoumou said that, for those who think they’ve been infected, the federal government is making more free COVID tests available.

“If you’re at high risk for complications from COVID, you could consider wearing a high-quality mask in indoor public settings and also trying to avoid crowds,” Assoumou said. “And if you’re sick, please stay home so that we can protect the community.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people who test positive for COVID should isolate for at least five days and wear a high-quality mask if they have to be around others, at home or in public. But the CDC recommends continuing to isolate if symptoms persist past five days.

Bruno-Murtha added that there is one bright spot in the respiratory illnesses picture in the state right now: the number of infections caused by RSV is going down.

“The good news is RSV seems to have peaked and is subsiding. So that’s great news for our young children, neonates that are really at risk for that to be a really severe disease,” said Bruno-Murtha.

MORE HEALTH

• COVID is everywhere again. Here's what public health officials say you should do.

• Masking returns at many Massachusetts hospitals — and not just because of COVID

• With holiday season underway, COVID ticks up in Boston area

Public health experts have also been reminding those who get COVID to talk to their doctor about getting treated — promptly — with the antiviral drug Paxlovid, which is highly effective at preventing severe disease after infection.

Some patients and even clinicians have been concerned about what has been described as a kind of viral rebound after the five-day Paxlovid treatment ends.

But Assoumou pointed out that the CDC has looked into that recently and found that there was “no consistent association between treatment and rebound.”

“So I really hope and I wish that we would get the word out, that if your health care professional thinks you're qualified, please take Paxlovid,” Assoumou said. “And I would not worry about rebound, because I would much more prefer to be at home with a stuffy nose than in a hospital because I did not take the Paxlovid.”

Both Assoumou and Bruno-Murtha emphasized that people can safely and conveniently get their flu shot and COVID shot at the same time, and that the current COVID vaccines are effective against the most prevalent variants circulating now.

“We are so fortunate in that regard,” Bruno-Murtha said. “Everything we know — the preliminary, even unpublished data — seems to show that for vaccines: really, really, truly miraculous.”

Author

Mark Herz

January 04, 2024

Original Post

2024 DoM Staff Appreciation Events

Keep an eye out for more information!

Congratulations to the DoM Inaugural M.A.D.E. Graduates!!!

Join us in congratulating this year's M.A.D.E. graduates!!

2023 Department of Medicine Fellowship Match List!

Announcing Fellowship Match & Future Positions! – Internal Medicine Residency Program

Senior Residents
Graduating Class of 2024

Gabrielle Barbera, Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship, Rutgers R. W. Johnson Medical School - Newark, NJ
Danielle Bellavance, Chief Medical Resident, Boston Medical Center/VA - Boston, MA
Shreya Bhatia, Geriatric Medicine Fellowship, Boston Medical Center - Boston, MA
Abbi Cerezo, Hospitalist, University of Utah - Salt Lake City, UT
Samantha Chua, Gastroenterology Fellowship, Boston Medical Center - Boston, MA
Alejandro De La Hoz Gomez, Infectious Diseases Fellowship, Massachusetts General Hospital - Boston, MA
Harshitha Dudipala, Hematology & Oncology Fellowship, University of California San Diego - San Diego, CA
Benjamin Eromosele, Chief Medical Resident, Boston Medical Center/VA - Boston, MA
Adriana Flores, Pulmonary & Critical Care Fellowship, Boston Medical Center - Boston, MA
Taylor Francoeur, Hematology & Oncology Fellowship, University of Massachusetts - Worcester, MA
Rohan Ganti, Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship, Rutgers, R. W. Johnson Medical School - Newark, NJ
Philip Hewes, Hospice & Palliative Medicine Fellowship, University of Massachusetts - Worcester, MA
Garen Kroshian, Cardiovascular Disease, Boston Medical Center - Boston, MA
Alan Manivannan, Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Fellowship, Boston Medical Center - Boston, MA
Zachary Milstone, PRIMER Research Chief Resident, Boston Medical Center - Boston, MA
Connor O’Neill-Dee, Nephrology Fellowship, Boston Medical Center - Boston, MA
Sahaj Patel, Hospice & Palliative Medicine Fellowship, Weill Cornell Medicine-Cornell University - New York, NY
Scott Place, Chief Medical Resident, Boston Medical Center/VA - Boston, MA
Max Rosenthaler, Chief Medical Resident, Boston Medical Center/VA - Boston, MA
Caroline Ross, Chief Medical Resident, Boston Medical Center/VA - Boston, MA
Sabetta Singh, Chief Medical Resident, Boston Medical Center/VA - Boston, MA
Quinn Solfisburg, Hematology & Oncology Fellowship, Boston Medical Center - Boston, MA
Natalie Sun, Gastroenterology Fellowship, SUNY Downstate - Brooklyn, NY
Abigail Tami, Gastroenterology Fellowship, Geisinger Health System - Danville, PA
Carly Taylor, Hospitalist, Boston Medical Center - Boston, MA
Tracey Yee, Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship, University of Vermont - Burlington, VT
Marcel Yibirin Wakim, Chief Medical Resident, Boston Medical Center/VA - Boston, MA

Chief Medical Resident
Graduating Class 2023

Laura Burns, Hematology & Oncology Fellowship, MD Anderson Cancer Center - Houston, TX
Sophie Claudel, Nephrology Fellowship, Boston Medical Center - Boston, MA
Chad Hinkle, Infectious Disease Fellowship, University of Chicago - Chicago, IL
Juan Rodriguez, Pulmonary & Critical Care Fellowship, Boston Medical Center - Boston, MA
Esther Saul, Pulmonary & Critical Care Fellowship, Boston Medical Center - Boston, MA
Ayelet Shapira-Daniels, Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship, Boston Medical Center - Boston, MA
Karina Verma, Hematology & Oncology Fellowship, Boston Medical Center - Boston, MA
Alex Yeo, Pulmonary & Critical Care Fellowship, Boston Medical Center - Boston, MA

Alumni

Jinal Gandhi, Hematology & Oncology Fellowship, Montefiore Medical Center-Einstein - Bronx, NY
Daniel Gonzalez Izundegui, Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship, University of Texas Southwestern-Dallas - Dallas, TX
Claude Hardy, Addiction Medicine Fellowship, Massachusetts General Hospital - Boston, MA
Abdulaziz Malik, Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowship, Tufts Medical Center - Boston, MA
Emily Mann, Hematology & Oncology Fellowship, Boston Medical Center - Boston, MA
Kaitlin McCarter, Rheumatology Fellowship, Brigham & Women’s Hospital - Boston, MA
Kristina Moller, Hospice & Palliative Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center - Boston, MA
Sofia Shaikh, Gastroenterology Fellowship, University of Rochester - Rochester, NY
Jasmine Vakhshoorzadeh, Pulmonary & Critical Care Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh, PA

Save the Date: DoM DEIA Week | March 18-22

The DoM will hold its first annual Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Week the week of March 18, 2024. In the DoM, we are dedicated to fostering a workplace that values and celebrates diversity, promotes equity, ensures inclusion, and prioritizes accessibility. We firmly believe that our collective differences make us stronger, and we are committed to creating an environment where all individuals, regardless of their background, feel valued, respected, and empowered.

Please join us in celebrating and educating our community about a wide range of identities and backgrounds that make individuals in our department unique.