With a dedicated team of approximately 425 faculty, 100 advanced practice providers, 200 staff members, 100 residents, and 100 fellows, the department is renowned for its collaborative and caring approach to providing the best possible care to a diverse patient population.
Annually, approximately 14,000 inpatients are admitted to these teams. Additionally, 900-plus patients a day receive expert care in the department’s specialty clinics or outpatient settings.
Revolutionizing IBD Care: The Power of Intestinal Ultrasound
Gastroenterologists, including the University of North Carolina’s Millie Long, MD, MPH, and Edward Barnes, MD, MPH, are undergoing rigorous training to introduce intestinal ultrasound (IUS) into their repertoire of imaging techniques.
UNC is expected to be the first site in the Southeast to offer this cutting-edge management tool.
UNC Designated as Scleroderma Research and Treatment Center
The acknowledgment highlights UNC’s proficiency in providing care for individuals affected by scleroderma, an autoimmune condition characterized by inflammation and fibrosis, leading to thickening of the skin and other body areas.
According to the National Scleroderma Foundation, the condition affects around 300,000 people in the United States. It impacts mostly women between the ages of 30 and 50.
Dr. Joseph Eron, infectious diseases physician, has seven children and eight grandchildren.
Dr. Subhashini Sellers, pulmonologist, has two dogs and recently began fostering puppies from a rescue.
Dr. Shehzad Sheikh, gastroenterologist, hopes to one day own a farm. He currently has goats, chickens and rabbits.
WELCOME NEW FACULTY AND STAFF
Rosa Dunn, Administrative Specialist, Cardiology
Nicole Rowland Triantis, Accounting Specialist
Hena Gandhi, Business Analyst
Morgan Stone, Physician Assistant, Cardiology
Katherine Anzing, Family Nurse Practitioner,
Cardiology
DOM Newsletter Trivia
Previous Question: How many fellows recently matched into Department of Medicine subspecialties? Congrats to Jennifer Kirchherr, PhD, for the correct answer of 55.
FEATURED PEOPLE
Featured Staff
Meet Jill Cunnup!
Jill Cunnup is the director of clinical research administration for the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism. She has been with UNC for almost 23 years. As many know, Jill wears flip flops almost all the time. Learn about the unique reason why.
Nonye Onokalah, MD, is originally from Raleigh and attended the University of Virginia for college where she majored in Psychology. In her free time she is an amateur barista, part time botanist, digital artist, and baker.
Candace Kastner, PA-C, is a physical assistant working with the palliative care program. She enjoys spending time with family, including her two year old daughter and new born son, checking out new restaurants, and working out.
Katie Gill's, MD, educator journey has been influenced by her family, especially her grandmother. Dr. Gills passion for teaching evolved as she became chief resident and Head Career Goal Advisor for Internal Medicine.
Lisa Carey, MD, received a $225K grant titled, "Clinical implications of metastatic subtype, microenvironment, and organ of involvement."
Yara Abdou, MD, was awarded $240K to investigate molecular residual disease by ctDNA surveillance in triple negative breast cancer with residual disease.
Joannie Ivory, MD, was granted $240K for her project, "Participant Enrollment in a Multi-Site Randomized Clinical Trial of Endocrine Therapy Adherence Support."
Seth Berkowitz, MD, received $450K by the American Heart Association for the Food as Medicine for Families (FAME-F) project.
Kenneth Oliver, MD, MPH, was awarded $200K from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for the project titled, "Studies of Adaptation to Host Environment and Therapeutics Development."
Jeremy Meier, MD, PhD, received a $100K, 2 year, 2024 ASH Fellow Scholar Award for his proposal Targeting a Novel Cyclic Dinucleotide Signaling Pathway in CAR T Cells to Fuel Antitumor Immunity.
Natalie Grover, MD, received a $150K, 2 year, 2024 ASH Junior Faculty Scholar Award for her proposal Improving efficacy of CAR-T cells in Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The Department of Medicine is asking School of Medicine and Health Care System staff (non-APP and non-faculty) to continue the conversation regarding the SHARE Survey results.
Those interested in joining the DOM Teammate Council should email trina_pugh@med.unc.edu by 1/31.
Epic@UNC Upgrades – Coming Feb. 4
Visit the Epic@UNC Upgrade Site for complete information on the upgrade. The upgrade includes several updates to In Basket workflows including auto-expiration of messages. Messages that are considered clinically actionable will expire at 180 days, and messages that are informational only will expire after 90 days. For complete details on these changes visit the In Basket Resources site.
School of Medicine Annual Faculty Meeting
Please save time on your calendars on Monday, February 26 from 4:30 – 5:30 pm, for the UNC School of Medicine annual faculty meeting. The meeting will be held in 1101 Roper Hall.
South-Eastern Cardio Oncology Conference
This conference, on March 8th, brings speakers from across the southeast to discuss the cardiovascular health of patients with cancer, including compelling sessions on the management of amyloidosis.
This meeting will update attendees on the recent developments in health promotion and disease management for conditions commonly encountered in primary care, including:
An intense two-day education event, the Tar Heel Boot Camp is designed for APPs and physicians in adult clinical care settings. Save the date for April 5 &6 at the Friday Center. Registration opens soon.
Grand Rounds
February 1
Canceled
February 8
Sascha Tuchman, MD
Professor of Medicine
Director, UNC Multiple Myeloma and Amyloidosis Program
February 15
"Prevention of Respiratory Tract Infections: Focus on Vaccines for COVID-19, Influenza, RSV And Pneumococcus"
David Weber, MD, MPH
Charles Addison and Elizabeth Ann Sanders Distinguished Professor of Medicine
Associate Chief Medical Officer, UNC Medical Center
February 22
Scott Donaldson, MD
Hubert E. Hatcher Family Distinguished Professor of Medicine
Co-Director, UNC Adult CF Care Center
February 29
"Medicaid Expansion: How Policy Impacts the People of North Carolina"
Ciara Zachary, MPH, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Department of Health Policy and Management
Gillings School of Public Health
DIVISION NEWS
Joe Tucker, MD, PhD, and Weiming Tang, PhD, announce a new scholarly exchange program that will give early-career researchers from the U.S. the opportunity to train in China.
Klara Klein, MD, PhD, led a study showing metformin use does not increase gastrointestinal adverse events during GLP-1RA initiation.
Edwin Kim, MD, MS, spoke about the history, setbacks and strides of food immunotherapy.
Clare Mock, MD,joined Becker's Women's Leadership Podcast to discuss physician-patient safety, her background and expertise, and more.
John Batsis, MD,spoke about the risks associated with anti-obesity drugs and was featured on The Chronic Disease of Obesity podcast.
Laura Young, MD, PhD, was among the researchers who published,
"Metformin Plus Insulin for Preexisting Diabetes or Gestational Diabetes in Early Pregnancy: The MOMPOD Randomized Clinical Trial."
HIV.gov remembersAda Adimora, MD, MPH, as a distinguished HIV researcher and member of PACHA.
David Weber, MD, MPH,spoke about the new COVID-19 variant in North Carolina.
David Wohl, MD, quoted in article feature women living with long COVID in Cary.
Mildred Kwan, MD, PhD,is helping to lead a project aimed at identifying patients who were mislabel as allergic to penicillin.
Researchers at the UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases and the Thurston Arthritis Research Center’s Core Center for Clinical Research investigated the relationship between alpha-gal syndrome and knee pain.
Seth Berkowitz, MD, MPH,published "Understanding food insecurity risk in the United States: A longitudinal analysis."
Walker D. Redd, MD,was featured in "When Is Colonoscopy Warranted After a Diverticulitis Episode?"
Andrea Coviello, MD, spoke about the State Health Plan coverage of Wegovy.
Gregg Warshaw, MD,was quoted in article about ageism and the need for more geriatricians.
Emily Chang, MD,published "Lung Ultrasound, Bioimpedance Spectroscopy, and Physical Examination for Volume Assessment in Hospitalized Hemodialysis Patients: A Diagnostic Test Study."
MED MOMENTS
"Congratulations to Tiffany for becoming a Registered Nurse! Our entire clinic crew is so proud of you 🎉"
Co-chairs of The 22nd Annual North Carolina Cardiovascular Update, Drs. Rick Stouffer and Matt Cavender along with UNC Faculty Speakers, and guest Craige Lecturer Michelle A. Albert, MD, from UCSF.
Send Morgan_Duerden@med.unc.edu awards, grants, photos and news to include in the next monthly issue of DOM Digest.
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