FCM News Flash (April/May 2011)

Noteworthy Accomplishments of the Department of Family and Community Medicine

Awards

Dr. Mark Loafman has been nominated for the Gustav O. Lienhard Award. Established in 1986, the Lienhard Award is presented annually by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in honor of Gustav O. Lienhard, Chairman of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Board of Trustees from 1971 to 1986. The award recognizes individuals for outstanding achievement in improving health care services in the United States. If he receives the award, Mark will accept the honor at the IOM’s Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. on October 17, 2011.
PA student, Kisha Hope, was awarded a Student Leadership Award by the Lesbian-Bisexual-Gay-Transgender PA Caucus. From a national pool of applicants, her application was accepted due to its strength and scoring by their Awards Committee. There were two awards granted to female PA students and two to male PA students. The award includes leadership training and involvement in the American Academy of PA’s annual conference in Las Vegas in May 30 – June 4, 2011.

In the News

The RESLI Initiative, funded by the DAVEE Foundation and lead by Drs. Elizabeth Ryan and John Gatta, was featured in Feinberg’s Medicine at Northwestern publication. Read the full article on page 5 at the following link: http://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/giving/assets/pdfs/MaN_S11_Final.pdf.
Dr. Deb Edberg was quoted in both the San Francisco Examiner and the Trib local Northwestern News promoting the $16 million HRSA Teaching Health Center Grant as an innovative program to train much needed primary care physicians.

In the Field

Resident Tina Wheat and Deb Edberg lobbied in Washington with the AAFP congressional congress. Tina met with Luis Gutierrez and Jesse Jackson Jr., and was photographed for the IAFP newsletter.
Resident Meredith Hirshfeld and Deb Edberg were invited to DC to participate in a HRSA Teaching Health Centers Grant Awardee Conference. Grant implementation was discussed, along with future GME funding among the 11 award recipients. Additionally, Meredith and Deb attended a meeting with the P4 recipients where innovations in primary care education were presented.
Terry Long attended the 2011 Community Research Workshop hosted by the Center for Civic Engagement at Northwestern University. Discussions by and with panelists, as well as with graduate students, were aimed to better develop community-based research activities.
Deb Edberg spent two weeks in Zambia working on a collaborative global health experience for students and residents that will be presented to the Global Health Center at Northwestern.

Presentations, Publications, and Committees

In April, Dr. Bechara Choucair presented at two Northwestern University events: At the 2011 GlobeMed Summit (http://www.globemed.org/), he addressed the historic perspective on health legislation; and, at the Medill School, he discussed how Journalism students might become more engaged with public health priorities. In May, Dr. Choucair delivered the Keynote Address for Northwestern University’s 2011 Program in Public Health Graduation Celebration.
Gail Patrick submitted a manuscript that’s been accepted for publication. The paper, entitled “Specialty care referral patterns for the underserved: A study of community health centers on the South Side of Chicago,” will be featured in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved in the November 2011 issue (JHCPU 22.4).
Dr. Choucair joined the Advisory Board of the Northwestern Comprehensive Center on Obesity, directed by Dr. Lewis Landsberg. The Advisory Board will focus its activities towards advocating for support and advising on a broad range of initiatives representing the entire scope of the NCCO’s interdisciplinary mission.