MaineHealth Academic Affairs February 2023 Newsletter

 

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS Research | Education | Innovation

February 2023 Newsletter View previous Academic Affairs Newsletters here.

Academic Affairs Leadership Team Doug Sawyer, MD, PhD Chief Academic Officer & Interim Chief Medical Officer Susan Ahern Vice President of Innovation Linda Chaudron, MD, MS Vice President of Medical Education Elizabeth A. Jacobs, MD, MPP Vice President of Research Kneka Smith, EdD, MPH Vice President of Operations for Academic Affairs

Note from... Doug Sawyer, MD, PhD, Chief Academic Officer Dear all,  I am guessing that, like me, you are welcoming these longer days. Eleven hours between sunrise and sunset today! It always amazes me at how quickly the days get longer as we head toward spring. And with spring, lots of milestones and opportunities are ahead to get excited about, so read this month’s newsletter, and take notes.    I want to give a few special 'shout outs'. First, it is Resident Appreciation Week. If you are a Resident or Fellow reading this, know that we truly appreciate you! We are grateful for your decision you made to train with us at MaineHealth, for the work you do every day to improve the health and wellness of our patients, and the impact you make on our culture of collaborative practice. We are also excited for the work you will do in your career - you are going to change the practice of Medicine! If you are not a Resident or Fellow, go find one and show your appreciation - they are the future of Medicine, which is bright.    Second, if you see Cliff Rosen, give him a high five for his election into the Association of American Physicians (see more details in the Research section below). This is a huge accomplishment, and as far as we know Cliff is the one and only member of AAP from Maine! We are truly blessed to have such an accomplished physician-scientist on our team. Congratulations, Cliff!    And of course, I am wicked excited to see our Maine Track students experience Match Day in Maine! This is a first. Let's have a blast celebrating the transition of these amazing future doctors. Let's make it a tradition!   Be well, find joy, and be kind, Doug 

IN THIS ISSUE

Upcoming Events & Opportunities Medical Education Library & Knowledge Services 

Research Innovation

Upcoming Events & Opportunities

Health Care Activism, Community Health & Patient Centered Research March 7 - April 18 Tufts CTSI is offering this 1-credit course which provides important context and insights into the different ways patients and communities get involved in health care research. It also supports comparison and contrast of approaches and methodologies to give course attendees a broader view of the diverse, complex, and vital work involved in engagement.     Learn More & Register

UMaine Institute of Medicine Seminar March 24 | 12 pm | Zoom Seminar: Towards developing a multisensory dining ecosystem (EatCoSystem) to stimulate appetite and motivate older adults to eat better Speaker: Nimesha Ranasinghe, PhD, Assistant Processor in the School of Computing and Information Science, University of Maine. Learn More & Register

Learn More & Register Real World Data to Real World Evidence March 29 - May17 | 7 weeks: 1-hr class per week MaineHealth Institute for Research and The Roux Institute's Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics Center are presenting this course which will cover how to use state-of-the-art statistical software and methods to combine and analyze large-scale federated health data from diverse sources (e.g. EHRs) while preserving privacy.

Learn More & Register Applications Open for the Interprofessional Innovation in Education Award Applications due April 10 Maine Medical Center Department of Medical Education and MaineHealth Innovation are collaborating to support novel ideas that solve an unmet health care professional education need with the new funding opportunity open to all 22,000 MaineHealth care team members.  See link left and article in Innovation section of this newsletter for more information.

Learn More Writing Your First NIH Grant Seminar Series Starting March 10 | Virtual Starting Friday, March 10, the University of Vermont will be offering eight weekly 1-hour sessions to guide you through the scored and supplementary components of your first NIH proposal, using a parent R01 as a training tool; the last session will cover additional mechanisms that are available to early career investigators, including the K-award mechanisms, and the highly prestigious DP2 and MIRA awards. Individuals signing up from Maine Medical Center or their affiliates should include the name of their institution and department in the department registration field.

Learn More & Apply Funding Opportunity for Early-Career Healthcare Providers: MRG application deadline is April 10 Maine Medical Center promotes and supports clinical and translational research by junior provider staff through the Mentored Research Grant (MRG) Program. This intramural grant program is designed to encourage and support the intellectual curiosity and research capabilities of awardees. MRG grants are administered by MaineHealth Institute for Research and are expected to generate new knowledge that will be disseminated via presentations and publications to the broader medical and/or public health community.

Medical Education

Simulation

New Team Member Timothy Pollick, (pictured right) our newest Simulation Specialist, started on February 27. While Tim will be new in this role, he is not new to MMC or the Sim Center. Tim is an experienced respiratory therapist and for the past 9 years he has cared for patients in SCU, NICU, and PICU. He also is a member of the NICU and PICU transport team. In 2021, we hired Tim to be a Clinical Actor. In this role, he’s worked alongside simulation specialists while portraying various bedside roles within our GME curriculum. Before healthcare, Tim served 20 years as a member of the NYPD, where he reached the rank of sergeant and served as a police academy instructor. Tim also is a veteran of the US Navy, with experience in the design, organization, and implementation of scenario-based training to ensure domestic and foreign mission readiness. As you can see, education has been embedded throughout Tim’s career.

Annual Sim Staff Retreat On February 10, the Sim Team spent the morning at the Roux Institute for our annual work retreat (no axe throwing!) They celebrated a fantastic year of work with first looks at the 2022 Annual Report (pictured bottom left) looked ahead with a 2023 revision of our Strategic plan, and used group intelligence to brainstorm solutions to programmatic challenges. Thanks to the Roux for sharing their beautiful facility. In addition to the Annual Report they also recently released a promotional video featuring the SP Lab. Click here to go behind the scenes to see all the good work they do! Regional Simulation One January 31, the MOMSim team traveled to Waldo County Hospital to deliver the simulation-based obstetrical emergency training to a group of 16 interprofessional healthcare providers. MOOSE, telesimulation team training for neonatal resuscitation, continued at Pen Bay and Lincoln/Miles Hospitals with one session at each site in February.

Standardized Patient Lab February was busy in the SP lab with a wide range of events. As examples of breadth of communication skills this team helps hone, it delivered three 3-hour trainings for new SPs, the M3 OSCE Family Medicine, Serious Illness Conversation training delivered to practicing nurses from the MH “Complex Care Team,” and fellows from 4 fellowship programs. Additionally, Internal Medicine utilized SPs to hone precepting skills with an OSTE training, and practice delivering bad news. Nephrology fellows practiced Shared Decision Making and GME learners and faculty came together to practice communicating about adverse events. Finally, they conducted their second session for Family Medicine residents who practiced taking a sexual history inclusive of patients from diverse identities. Did we mention ultrasound training for Pulmonary Critical Care Fellows and ED residents using SPs as body models? That, too!   Interprofessional Team Training at MMC The regularly occurring work to advance IP teamwork at MMC continued with 4 Pediatric Team Training sessions, 2 IP Adult Code blue trainings, and 1 Adult Medicine Service Line Sepsis Prevention Event successfully delivered this month.

Undergraduate Medical Education Congratulations to Jennifer Hayman, MD Dr. Jennifer Hayman (right) has been appointed as the Assistant Dean of Educational Affairs, Tufts University School of Medicine for the Maine Track. Congratulations to Dr. Hayman on a well-deserved recognition of her hard work!  Maine Track Match Day to be Held in Maine! Undergraduate Medical Education is delighted to announce that we will be holding our first Match Day Celebration here in Maine this year! The class of 2023 is the first Maine Track class to have spent a full three years with us, and requested to celebrate this special day with family, friends, faculty and staff here in Portland.  For those unfamiliar with the process, most fourth year medical students participate in the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) to enter their next stage of training. After applying to programs in the fall, they are offered interviews by programs who are interested, all of which are done virtually. Students then enter a rank list of programs, with the program that they would most like to join at the top. Similarly, residency programs enter a rank list of students they would like to match, and the NRMP matches students and programs. On Friday, March 17th at noon, students find out which program they have matched with—an exciting and admittedly anxiety-provoking moment! The Maine Track will be acknowledging Match Day at the MaineHealth building on Free Street on March 17th. Students can each bring two guests, and faculty and staff will be gathered to celebrate with a champagne toast! We will be Zooming with Boston to combine with the festivities that are being held there with Boston-based students. We couldn’t be more excited to share this momentous occasion with the students.

Maine Medical Center Institute for Teaching Excellence (MITE) Apply to the Academy Scholars Program! The Academy Scholars Program is a two-year program intended for educators who wish to enhance their teaching, education research, and administrative skills. Deadline for applications is March 20, 2023. Apply here. MITE Teaching Award Nominations Now Open! Please consider nominating some of our amazing educator for recognition. See the awards and nomination process here.   Register Now! Best Practices for Delivering Learner Feedback: A Simulation-based Course, May 12, 8 am. Click here to register   We have many useful online resources, check out MITE’s newest pages: Canvas Public Course Index Healthcare Improvement Guide Curriculum Development Guide Mentoring Guide

Continuing Interprofessional Development (CIPD) Our application has changed, please make sure you are looking to CloudCME for the most updated planning template and do not copy previous applications. Also check out the Department of Medical Education SharePoint Site for upcoming Grand Rounds!

Check out the Department of Medical Education SharePoint Site!

Library & Knowledge Services

Library MaineHealth Library Visits The Library space at SMHC has been cleared of print materials. Thank you to Heather Kemp, Medical Librarian and Scott Young in SMHC Facilities for the hard work to review and close out this collection. Some materials have been brought to the MMC Library. The SMHC space will be converted to a training room for staff. Library staff have completed our western MaineHealth tour – read about our visits to Memorial, Franklin and Stephens! Next up – lots of stops in the greater Portland area! Photo right features is Nathaniel Baca, Knowledge Services Specialist and Jennifer Smith, Laundry Aide at Stephens and the winner of a library tour raffle.

Telehealth in a Rural Public Library Project The partnership between MMC Library and the Steep Falls Library continues! The Network of the National Library of Medicine funded this project and MMC Library launched the partnership with Steep Falls in Spring 2022. We tested our telehealth station in February and greatly appreciated the willing participants who provided support and feedback on the process. Pictured right: Sitting - Lance Deroche, Standing L-R - Sue Deroche and Marty Duggan (library volunteer). Thank you also to MaineHealth Telehealth and the Maine State Library for their help and support! Visit our site to learn more about the project.  MaineHealth Patents We are proud to announce that all MaineHealth patents are posted in the Knowledge Connection! Visit the site to browse and search this collection. While patents are posted online at the US Patent and Trademark Office it is a complex search and a frustrating experience for most users. Now, the patents are posted in full, easily findable, and branded as MaineHealth. Thank you to Maegan Halica, Knowledge Services Specialist and Todd Keiller, Intellectual Property Officer for their work on this! Dana Center Room Booking Software The Library and Dana staff are teaming up to review room booking software. We are exploring additional features for our staff and for all of our colleagues booking rooms. Features include self-service booking, mobile app and MS Outlook integration. Watch for exciting developments in the coming months!

Research

Awarded Grants

Dr. Eben Estell has been awarded an NIH K01 Mentored Research Scientist Career Development Award. K01 grants provide support and protected time for an intensive, supervised career development experience in the biomedical, behavioral, or clinical sciences leading to research independence. The grant will provide $637,135 in salary support and operational costs over the five year period of the grant. Eben’s research studies the signaling pathways by which irisin, a signaling factor released from muscle during exercise, affects key cells within bone to guide adaptation of the tissue. A better understanding of how exercise supports bone health will help to treat an aging population facing degenerative bone diseases.

Lucy Liaw, PhD (left) and Kinna Thakarar, DO, MPH, (right) are multiple PIs on a newly awarded T35 grant, entitled "Enhancing research training for Maine Track / Tufts medical students" from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at NIH. T35 grants are institutional training grants that support short-term training of predoctoral students interested in careers in biomedical, behavioral, or clinical research. The five year grant will provide funding for 10 students each summer (50 total) to engage in rigorous, full-time summer research training experiences. In addition, students will take part in a curriculum that includes foundational training in research methodology, responsible conduct of research, and research in rural communities. Medical students will be selected from the Tufts University School of Medicine Maine Track to participate in the summer between the first and second years of study. Students will be matched with mentors in diverse research areas - our T35 mentors include 33 faculty members, along with 17 physician researchers/educators and 16 basic/translational researchers. This T35 program will increase our community of rigorously trained physicians who are comfortable working across the basic-translational-clinical research spectrum to promote public health.

Have Questions about the Health of your Research Study?   Check out the below resources and Support of Education and Quality Improvement for Researchers (SEQuR) Post-Approval Monitoring FAQs   Resources: Request a post-approval/investigator compliance review from SEQuR Compliance review preparation checklist Example compliance review form MaineHealth Human Research Protections Program SOPs: 2.2 Investigator Compliance Reviews Request a research training in-service   Questions? Contact SEQuR@mainehealth.org

Did you know Research Navigation services are available? The Research Navigation team is a resource available to all staff and trainees across MaineHealth who are involved or would like to be involved in research. The team aims to reduce barriers and guide investigators through their research journey. They can be your partner through all the stages of your research project; whether it be research design, proposals, data analysis, editing a presentation or publication, or the IRB application process. You can request services by completing an initial request form. Questions? Contact:  Navigation@mainehealth.org

Notables

Congratulations to Cliff Rosen, MD, Senior Scientist at the MaineHealth Institute for Research and Director of the Northern New England Clinical and Translational Research Network, who has been awarded membership into the Association of American Physicians (AAP)! The AAP is a society of America’s leading physician-scientists who are elected based on their enduring, impactful contributions to improve health. Dr. Rosen was nominated by Mone Zaidi, MD, PhD, of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, who wrote, “Cliff Rosen is a highly respected physician-scientist leader whose pioneering discoveries of bone marrow adiposity and IGF-1 action on bone have had a major impact on our understanding of bone mass regulation. His paradigm-shifting clinical studies on the lack of synergism between anti-resorptive and anabolic drugs have impacted patient care directly.” Dr. Rosen has made a tremendous impact in his career as a scientist as well as a mentor to many. His accomplishments include overseeing numerous phase II and III clinical trials, receiving both private and NIH funding. He is a member of the FDA Advisory Panel on Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs. He also is the Editor-in-Chief of The Primer in Metabolic Bone Diseases and is the Associate Editor for New England Journal of Medicine. His publications include more than 369 peer-reviewed manuscripts, covering both clinical and basic bone biology.

In Case You Missed It  Abby Fleisch, MD, MHIR Faculty Scientist and MaineHealth Pediatric Endocrinologist, was interviewed by News Center Maine Channel 6 regarding the chemicals known as PFAS and the new guidance recommended for people exposed to these “forever chemicals”. Check it out And Dr. Fleisch was featured by by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences on their website in a "Story of Success" article. Read more

Check out MaineHealth Institute for Research's SharePoint Site!

Innovation

the connective tissue between research, education, and care

Last Call for Applications for the Innovation Cohort & Ignite Fund!

Innovation Ignite Fund Seed investment funding of up to $20,000 is provided to help innovators understand user pain points, build a prototype or test an assumption. Applications due March 15 at 12:00 pm Learn more and apply. Above: Jim Byrne, PT, posing with his prototype of the Home Health Portable Workstation. This innovation was built to allow clinicians to properly set up in every home to improve the quality and the efficiency of home health care. Learn more about this and our other current Innovation Ignite projects here.

Innovation Cohort MaineHealth care team members can take part in this 8-week program to help advance an early innovative "back of the envelope" idea. Applications are due March 15 at 12:00 pm  Learn more and apply.   Above: Obieze Nwanna- Nzewunwa, MD, presenting a prototype of his innovation Lediscan at an Innovation Cohort meeting. Obieze took part in the Innovation Cohort before being awarded Innovation Ignite funds to further advance his project. Learn more about Lediscan.

Applications are Now Open for the Interprofessional Innovation in Education Award Applications due April 10 at 11:59 pm Maine Medical Center (MMC) Department of Medical Education (DME) and MaineHealth Innovation are collaborating to support novel ideas that solve an unmet health care professional education need with the new funding opportunity open to all 22,000 MaineHealth care team members.  We invite you to submit innovative learning and development models (e.g., curriculum), processes or products that will positively impact learners and help us achieve the MaineHealth vision of working together so our communities are the healthiest in America. In the spirit of interprofessional collaboration, this award requires that the applicant and implementation team represent more than one health profession. Ideally, your innovative idea will also apply to learning and development in more than one health profession. To learn more, sign up for an info session using the links below: March 15, 7–8 am March 16, 12–1 pm March 22, 7–8 am

Keep up with MaineHealth Innovation by signing up for Innovation's monthly newsletter.  MaineHealth Innovation builds connections to drive diversity of thought, educates to produce creative problem-solvers, and funds to accelerate ideas. By leveraging the ideas, insights and expertise of all care team members to develop novel solutions to our unmet care needs, we are working together so our communities are the healthiest in America. To learn more about these or other innovation opportunities at MaineHealth, visit the MaineHealth Innovation website or email innovation_center@mainehealth.org.

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