Student Updates

Weekly Safe Return to BUMC Update: Sept. 3

GMS

The virtual GMS Orientation for incoming Master’s and PhD students, held on Monday, Aug 31, included presentations by the GMS Associate Dean, various faculty and students about life in Boston, resources in GMS and BUSM, and GMS policies and graduate programs. The session on “Managing Stress in Graduate School” by Drs. Brady and Levy-Bell was particularly well attended. Kudos for organizing the event go to GMS Associate Director for Student Affairs Kimberly Arena, with support from Marketing Communications Specialist DJ King, EdMedia Instructional Techs Scott Amico and David King, and Ed Techs Jack Wolfe and Meagan Martin.

GSDM

Due to the continued success of the second phase of the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine’s resumption of in-person patient care, the school will expand its Saturday schedule beginning Sept. 12, to include the Predoctoral Patient Treatment Centers operating at 50 percent capacity. Adding these Saturday patient appointments will help the School meet the needs of its patients while increasing predoctoral students’ clinical educational opportunities.

View previous updates here.

Weekly Safe Return to BUMC Update: Aug. 27

BU Moves to Phase 3

As BU moves forward in phase 3 of its four-phase reopening, the health and safety of our community remains our highest priority. A clear explanation of the required public health guidelines can be found in the new Back to On-Campus Work, Phase 3 guide, published on the Back2BU website.

Important Updates for Teaching Faculty:

Classroom Moderators will not be approved for Remote Classes
Learn from Anywhere classroom moderators will only be available for when teaching faculty are teaching in the classroom. Moderators are IS&T student employees hired and trained to assist instructors with technology for classes offered in the LfA format. Because moderators do not supervise or instruct students in their assigned classroom, the instructor of record must be physically present in the classroom. 

Optimization of Reserved Space and AV/Technology for Classes
Please help us use instructional technology staff and space efficiently to ensure a successful semester on the Medical Campus. If you switch your class to online and no longer need a room reserved or an AV set up, please communicate immediately with:

GSDM

On Saturday, Aug. 29, the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine will open its new Simulation Learning Center (SLC) at 635 Albany St., on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. for pre- and postdoctoral academic sessions and individual practice, adding 135 practice slots per week. Faculty will monitor these Saturday SLC sessions to ensure compliance with infection prevention protocols, and PPE and social-distancing requirements.

The school’s existing SLC, located at 670 Albany St., will close permanently on Friday, Aug. 28.

View previous updates here.

Publish Your Art in WHORL 2020, 25th Anniversary Edition

When the BUSM Creative Arts Society was founded, it began mounting Art Days and produced the literary journal, Whorl (all prior print and online editions are here). Now, at a time when our faces are either on a screen or half hidden behind masks, we need as much concrete, touchable, tangible beauty as possible.  Whorl 2020 is coming back as a limited print and online edition!

“Art is humanity and healing. Art is identity and catharsis. Art is life. We are grateful to be alive, and grateful to be able to connect through art,” said Margaret Lee, MD, PhD, who was one of the founders of the Creative Arts Society and of Whorl.  Several years ago, she returned to the Medical Campus as a faculty member in pediatric dermatology and advisor for the preclinical Narrative Medicine enrichment course.  Dr. Lee also serves as co-advisor of the Creative Art Society.

Students, Faculty, Staff: Share your talents in Whorl

Whorl will print short prose, poetry and any visual art you can do justice to in print. Due to production constraints, to be considered for publication you must submit NO MORE THAN TWO ENTRIES with the following formatting:

  • Written work must fit on no more than two 5.5 in x 8.5 in pages in Calibri 12-point font with one-inch margins.  (final font style and size to be determined)
  • Visual art can be submitted in black & white or in color, and fit ONE 5.5 inch x 8.5 inch page in either orientation (vertical vs horizontal).
  • If you would like to publish images of a 3-dimensional piece, please submit 2-3 panels showing different angles, but the combined panels must fit ONE 5.5 inch x 8.5 inch page.
  • Visual pieces must be minimum of 300 dpi, ideally in TIFF or PNG format.

Submissions are due by 5 p.m. EDT Sept. 8, 2020.   

Please submit electronically to the Editors-in-Chief:
Margaret Lee, MD, PhD (Margaret.Lee@bmc.org)
Elizabeth Ragan, MPH (ejragan@gmail.com)

If you’d like to contribute financially to this effort or the Creative Arts Society in general, please visit bu.edu/give2busm, choose the “Dean’s Discretionary Fund,” and write “Creative Arts Society” in the comments. Support the healing power of the arts!

    Weekly Safe Return to BUMC Update: Aug. 20

    Faculty/Staff Health Commitments, Expectations, Compliance, and Resources

    Please see the recent letter from University Provost and Chief Academic Officer Jean Morrison and Senior Vice President for Operations Gary Nicksa to all BU faculty and staff regarding health commitments, expectations, compliance and resources. Faculty and staff are asked to review and agree to the COVID-19 Health Commitments and Expectations Pledge prior to returning to Campus.

    Chequers Café

    Chequers Café will reopen Monday, Aug. 24, with a limited menu and summer hours (7 a.m.-3 p.m.).

    Research

    Research recovery is fully into Phase 3, with every program now approved to resume research at some level of in-person activity. This includes human-subject research projects, which were on hold since March. While there is an increase in the number of lab members returning to the campus, all are maintaining 6 feet physical distancing, wearing proper PPE and continuing to work as much as possible remotely.

    The newly renovated and upgraded Center for Biomedical Imaging (CBI) has completed installation of two new MRI machines as well as a research ultrasound platform. The newly available hardware includes state-of the-art 3.0T human (Philips Ingenia Elition) and 9.4T small animal (Bruker BioSpec 94/20 featuring CryoProbe) MRI systems, in addition to ultrasound capabilities (Verasonics Vantage 256). Directed by Drs. Stephan Anderson, MD, and Lee Goldstein, MD, PhD, the CBI is currently operational (9.4 T MRI within 2-3 weeks) and aims to serve the scientific community at Boston University and beyond.

    MD Program

    First- and second-year medical students have been in the classroom as part of the hybrid Learn from Anywhere approach. This week, third-year students began their orientation on campus, including practicing donning and doffing PPE observed by faculty. Next week, all third years will begin in-person clinical rotations and first years will begin in-person doctoring.

    GSDM

    The Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine successfully moved last week to the second phase of its resumption of in-person patient care, increasing its patient capacity to 50 percent. The patient treatment centers, 635 Albany Street and the BU Dental Health Center at 930 Commonwealth Avenue, reported very smooth transitions to the increased patient flow. In the first week of Phase II, 635 Albany Street saw just over 900 patients, and 930 Commonwealth Avenue saw about 350 patients. This week, 635 Albany Street is anticipating 999 patients, and 930 Commonwealth Avenue is expecting about 350 patients. As part of Phase II, the School also resumed Saturday appointments, effective August 15, for the Department of Orthodontics & Dentofacial Orthopedics. The first Saturday was very successful, with a 90 percent attendance rate for booked appointments

    Based on updated guidance from the University, the School was able to increase the capacity of its elevators to four individuals per car, from two, which helped maintain a smooth and efficient walk-flow throughout the building.

    View previous updates here.

    Back2BU

    For the latest information about the return to campus and updated FAQs, visit the Back2BU website.

    Medical Campus Classrooms Added to the Find a Classroom Website

    BUMC classrooms are now included on BU’s Find a Classroom site.

    You can search by building, room number, capacity or equipment.  Room details include LfA reduced-capacity seating plans, classroom images, room features and available technology equipment.  Additional images and other information is still being added.

    Hopefully this enhancement will help to orient faculty, students and staff to Medical Campus instructional space.

    Please reach out with questions to either Lucy Milne lmilne@bu.edu 617-279-3535 or Jana Mulkern jmulkern@bu.edu 617-999-8743.

    Weekly Safe Return to BUMC Update: Aug. 13

    MD Program

    The 99 first-year medical students from across the country who moved into the Medical Student Residence during the last weekend of July-first week of August are settling in, building a new community with face coverings and physical distancing as part of the new normal.

    A very engaged Class of 2024 began the curriculum with a four-hour session on health equity and breakout rooms facilitated by faculty and students to explore topics such as racism in medicine, gender diversity, refugee health, community-based health and advocacy. They also participated in a wide range of discussions, including what it means to be “professional” as a first-year med student, how to engage in challenging conversations, and how to stay safe in the midst of a pandemic.

    Second-year medical students completed their first exam and began their second module, Infectious Disease in Disease and Therapy, and are working with actors to learn advanced communication skills like the Brief Negotiated Interview. Third-year students just completed their virtual clerkships and will begin clinical rotations in person on Aug. 24.

    GMS/PA

    The Class of 2020 completed the Physician Assistant (PA) Program on July 31 and soon will have a virtual celebration. This year they designed a BU PA Program lapel pin that will be given to BU graduates. The Class of 2021 has started procedural training in the Clinical Skills and Simulation Center, and some students have begun rotations. Members of the Class of 2022 have organized a panel discussion on racism, to be held on Monday, Aug. 24, with Carl Toney, PA-C; Philip Bondzie, PhD, PA-C; and Farrah Belizaire, MS, Associate Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

    GSDM

    Last week saw the first courses taught in the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine’s new auditorium. Dr. Carl McManama taught Comprehensive Preclinical Dentistry to the first-year DMD students, and Dr. Barbara Schreiber initiated her biochemistry course over three sessions. Due to room capacity restrictions imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, only a portion of the students in each class attended in person, while the remainder tuned in remotely.

    Classes also commenced in the school’s new Simulation Learning Center (SLC). Dr. McManama taught Preclinical Operative Dentistry to 44 students in the DMD Advanced Standing Class of 2022. (This is about half the total class, as required by current capacity limits in the SLC.) On the postdoctoral side, Drs. Tun-Yi Hsu and Sami Chogle reported that both residents and faculty in the Advanced Education Program in Endodontics were deeply impressed with the “state of the art” technology and the functionality of the new SLC.

    View previous updates here.

    Back2BU

    For the latest information about the return to campus and updated FAQs, visit the Back2BU website.

    BU’s COVID-19 Testing Passes Its First Test

    Pilot trial of 287 students on Medical Campus offers confidence to system operators

    Student Health Services athletic trainer Emily Gibb offers testing advice to Ahmad Al Khafaji (SDM’21) at the COVID-19 testing collection site on the BU Medical Campus. Photo by Jackie Ricciardi
      • Pilot trial of COVID-19 tests finds all systems go
      • No positive results found in first 287 students tested
      • All five testing collection stations go live on August 15

    A four-day pilot test of Boston University’s COVID-19 testing program on the Medical Campus last week found no positive cases of the virus among 287 graduate students tested. The success of the trial gives confidence to administrators and test system operators that the complex project can handle the challenges ahead, starting with the arrival of undergraduate students in mid-August, says Gloria Waters, vice president and associate provost for research.

    “This has been a huge undertaking,” says Waters. “There will be more than 150 people working on this at five different sites. The goal of the pilot was to try out our testing collection stations and the lab. It was about things like gathering samples and delivering them to the lab, and all of those things have gone very well.”

    Test results for 283 of the 287 students, all enrolled in the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine or the School of Medicine, were negative, and test results were inconclusive for 4 students, who have been called back for retesting.
    Waters says the pilot testing is continuing this week with increasing numbers of tests on the Medical Campus, and also with testing at the Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences & Engineering, which houses both a testing collection station and the BU Clinical Testing Lab, which will process the tests from BU’s five collection stations. As of Wednesday evening, more than 1,000 students on the Medical Campus had been tested, which she called “an incredibly robust response” by the students.

    “Last week we never had more than 96 tests in one day,” Waters says. “On Monday of this week we had 350 on the Medical Campus and another 220 or so graduate students who were invited to be tested at the Kilachand Center. Each week between now and August 15 we will be adding people to be tested.

    “Once people are tested they will know what to do. They will know how to unwrap the swab and know what to do with it, so future tests should go more quickly. Those are the kinds of things that the pilot is about, and we need to test all of them. We need to be sure that people waiting for tests can stand six feet apart. This is a system with lots of processes, and we are troubleshooting the whole thing.”

    Kelly Lockard, Advisory Services associate director, says the pilot gave her confidence that BU’s system could handle testing on a large scale. “We are now focusing on refining a collection process that can accommodate over 6,000 students, faculty, and staff per day,” Lockard says, and that feedback from test participants will help guide operational decisions going forward.

    Drew Duckett, director of collection site operations for the Back2BU Health and Safety Initiative, says the pilot convinced him that the University has designed and built a safe and efficient collection process. “We still have work ahead,” says Duckett, who is also Student Health Services associate head athletic trainer. “We still must see this operate as smoothly at scale, but I am pleased with the process.”

    To head up operations at the BU Clinical Testing Lab, Waters brought in experts in healthcare technology and operations. New lab supervisor Lynn Doucette-Stamm, a former vice president of technology at Sitokine, Inc., who has more than 30 years of management and leadership experience in the human genetics and genomics field, describes the Clinical Testing Lab as “a state-of-the art facility that will provide the BU community with accurate and timely COVID-19 testing.”

    Candice Miller, who initially served as a consultant on the COVID-19 testing project, has been appointed managing director of lab operations and is responsible for setting up all of the collection sites. Formerly a vice president at Quest Diagnostics Molecular Biology Laboratory, Miller says the lab will deliver timely results with the highest possible accuracy. “We are ready for students and faculty to return to campus with frequent testing in our new high throughput clinical lab,” she says

    The testing station on the Medical Campus is at 72 East Concord Street. Charles River Campus testing stations are at the Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences & Engineering, the 808 Gallery, the Agganis Arena lobby, and for those who report feeling symptoms of the coronavirus, 925 Commonwealth Avenue Rear, in the back of Agganis Arena. The sites, which are scheduled to begin operations on August 15, will be open for collection from 7 am to 8 pm or 8 am to 9 pm, depending on the site (see the hours of operation sidebar above) and will collect an average of about 500 tests per hour across all sites.

    Arriving students, whose numbers are limited to about 750 per day, will go into surveillance collection testing after completing their entrance test. Undergraduates will be tested every three days at one of four collection sites on the Charles River Campus. Graduate students will initially be tested weekly. (The University is covering the cost of all tests for faculty, staff, and students.)

    Judy Platt, director of Student Health Services and chair of BU’s Medical Advisory Group, says certain groups of students will be prioritized for higher testing frequencies based on a variety of factors, including their living arrangements on campus and their interactions with the campus community. Faculty and staff who test positive will be asked to stay at home and reach out to their primary care physician for further instructions. Student Health Services has quarantine and isolation protocols for all students who have been exposed to the virus or who have COVID-19 symptoms or who have tested positive. In all cases, faculty, staff, and students will receive test results and further instructions, as needed.

    Waters says the University will closely monitor test results, as well as a variety of other metrics, and will respond appropriately. She says there is no designated positive test rate that will trigger a specific action.

    BU COVID-19 test collection site hours of operation and capacity

    Medical Campus
    Hours: 7 a.m.–8 p.m.
    Hourly capacity: 50    		 Kilachand Center
    Hours: 7 am–8 pm
    Hourly capacity: 80    		 808 Gallery
    Hours: 8 am–9 pm
    Hourly capacity: 240
    Agganis Arena Lobby
    8 am–9 pm
    Hourly capacity: 180    		 Agganis Arena Rear (Symptomatic)
    Hours: 8 am–9 pm
    Hourly capacity: TBD

    This BU Today story was written by Art Janke.