Governor’s Corner
Matt Hollon, MD MPH FACP
Late in the afternoon, the sun filtering through clouds provides a beautiful backdrop for the “snowghosts” at Schweitzer Mountain. Hopefully, despite the struggles and sorrows of this past year we are entering 2021 with a sense of optimism – may our future be “bright”!
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. – Edward Abbey
I enjoy this quote for two reasons. I have always held it as true that the best things in life are earned – the reward following a real challenge is all the sweeter. I also appreciate that this quote is grounded in the optimism that presupposes the amazing view. Certainly, optimism for a brighter time has carried many of us through this often lonesome and somewhat dangerous period in human history. The start of this year is a wonderful opportunity to highlight all the reasons we can be optimistic both personally and as a Chapter.
For starters, this fall, we conducted our once every four years election for a new Governor. We were fortunate to have had two wonderful candidates, Dr. Chris Knight and Dr. Ki Shin. We are pleased to share with you that Dr. Knight is our Governor-Elect designee. We also welcomed two new Executive Council members, Dr. Amish Dave from Seattle and Dr. Radica Alicic from Spokane. We can be optimistic that the future of our chapter has outstanding leadership to help us conduct the mission of the professional organization – connecting our members, supporting your careers, and advocating for patients and the profession.
The future of our chapter is bright as well with our amazing associate members – nowhere is that more obvious than in the incredible participation we have from our associates in the annual abstract competition and Doctor’s Dilemma. This year we devoted the final half-day of our annual meeting to the competitions – and staged both virtually (one of just a few Chapters in the entire country to successfully put on a medical jeopardy competition). This associates’ half-day followed the full day main meeting which also turned out to be a wonderful success with nearly 200 virtual attendees. During the day, in addition to hearing around a dozen outstanding plenary sessions, we celebrated this year’s Chapter Award winners. This level of engagement and energy by our membership in the face of an otherwise tumultuous world is another reason to be optimistic about our Chapter’s future.
There is also the sense, despite the political turmoil, of opportunity to envision a brighter future on several important advocacy fronts. Guided by our Chapter’s Health and Public Policy Committee (currently under the leadership of Drs. Carrie Horwitch and Genevieve Pagalilauan) and supported by National ACP policy, we continue to focus our efforts on addressing diversity and equity in the healthcare system and society (see National ACP’s Racial Health Disparities, Prejudice and Violence policy papers), reducing the harm from firearms, and tackling the public health crisis of climate change.
And of course, at the heart of any membership organization are our members. With nearly 3000 of you, we can be optimistic about the future of internal medicine in our state. With you all, we can continue to build our professional community locally and across the state, support the work we do for patients, and continue to advocate for physicians, patients, and the public’s health. I invite you in 2021 to see the Washington Chapter of the American College of Physicians as an excellent way to amplify your optimism for our brighter future. We invite you to be engaged with the Chapter by participating in events such as our Annual Meeting 2021 and, if you have a bit of time and energy, volunteering for one of our Committees or Councils.
Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. – Nelson Mandela
Matt Hollon, MD MPH FACP
Governor || Washington Chapter – American College of Physicians
Governor Elect: Dr. Christopher Knight, MD FACP
I’m a primary care internist who trained at University of Washington and stayed on as faculty—my roles now include teaching medical students and internal medicine residents, and doing occasional hospital work in addition to my outpatient practice. It’s hard to imagine with the Chapter, the nation, and the world will look like when I take office a year from now. I expect that some things will be better (virtual meetings!), some things will be worse (virtual meetings!), and much will be the same as it has been for many years.
I hope to lead the chapter into a new post-pandemic future, trying to carry forward hard-learned lessons about the importance of policy and and social disparities in health while fostering the enthusiasm for medicine that has led to record-setting numbers of applications for medical school. I’m confident that the importance of our roles as internists—outpatient and inpatient, generalists and specialists—will remain obvious as the pandemic subsides. In this environment, we will continue to promote enthusiasm for internal medicine and ACP among students, residents, and practicing clinicians and have an even more vibrant, engaged, amazing Chapter moving forward.
Member Spotlight #1 – Dr. Amish Dave, MD
By Olivia Wang, MS2, WSU College of Medicine
As an undergraduate student who triple-majored in history, neuroscience, and biological sciences, Dr. Amish J. Dave did not know that a trip to Bulgaria for a combined political science and public health experience would have changed his initial career path from a Russian history professor to a physician. Studying xenophobia in Eastern Europe by day at the American University in Bulgaria while working in afternoons and evenings with orphans and children from low-income families in Bulgaria made him want to become a physician who can make a difference for people who are suffering from medical diseases and look into changing the social determinants of health.
After attending the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, Dr. Dave finished his internal medicine residency at Stanford University. There, he enjoyed working with a diverse group of patients at three medical centers and discovered his passion for rheumatology. His favorite part of rheumatology is being able to provide patients with as many chances with their life as possible by controlling often disabling disease processes that can heavily impact their lives. Dr. Dave likes building long-term relationships with patients who have autoimmune diseases like a primary care physician while providing them with specialized rheumatologic care. He also notes that we continue to live in a time where science has allowed for many new emerging medications in rheumatology and immunology.
Dr. Dave moved to Seattle about 5 years ago, and he has been highly involved in the community. As the Chair of the Public Health Committee for King County Medical Society, he has focused on childhood lead poisoning. King County Medical Society’s work has included widespread community screenings and lead testing and the development of educational conferences for immigrant families. He has also highlighted the need for firearm violence prevention and has submitted four resolutions to promote policy changes at Washington State Medical Association (WSMA); all of which have passed. In addition, Dr. Dave serves as a board member of WSMA, an alternate delegate of the American Medical Association (AMA), a board member of Indian American Community Services, a co-chair of the board of the Arthritis Foundation Great West chapter, and a co-chair of Proudly VM.
Dr. Dave is an Executive Council member of the American College of Physicians (ACP). Outside of work, he enjoys traveling and trying new restaurants. When asked about advice to medical students, he encouraged the medical students to learn something unique from each patient’s case, and find opportunities to interact with rare cases.
Member Spotlight #2 – Dr. Radica Alicic, MD FACP
By Alison Brennan, MS1, University of Washington
As a young girl, Dr. Radica Alicic wanted to be a geneticist. Her interest in the application of the basic sciences to human lives, however, naturally lead to her pursuit of a medical degree at the University of Sarajevo right after high school. Afterward, she turned to research, working toward a master’s degree in basic science and receiving a research scholarship with the United Nations. After moving to the United States as a refugee of the Bosnian War, her passion for research continued here in Spokane, working in diabetic kidney disease research at Providence Sacred Heart before beginning her internal medicine residency at the same institution. She completed her residency in the early 2000s as the hospitalist was emerging in the American healthcare system and many were questioning the viability of the young specialty. For Dr. Alicic, the trajectory of her career was never in question. In Europe, the hospitalist was well established and Dr. Alicic knew that she wanted to care for patients in an acute settings, solving the puzzles of disease, and, most importantly, helping patients get better. Nothing, she explains, is more rewarding than seeing a very ill patient improve and leave the hospital. In recent years, she has transitioned into her role as director of clinical research. This position places her on the cutting edge of scientific discovery (Providence Sacred Heart is involved in a few NIH COVID-19 trials) and gives her the ability to affect meaningful change in the scientific status quo and clinical practice.
As an ACP Executive Council member, Dr. Alicic is excited to make meaningful changes in both the physician and broader communities. Her belief in the ability of physicians to work together to improve care for patients and her desire to help her profession put it’s “best foot forward” makes this role a perfect fit. She explains that celebrating what we can change through scientific discovery and advances in medical treatment is more important now than ever before. She is also passionate about addressing the needs of patients outside of the hospital, citing food insecurity as a top priority for improvement and sees an opportunity for physicians to be a voice for the underserved. Although she never imagined herself on the administrative side of medicine at the beginning of her career, she now sees her positions, both in research and with the ACP, as ways to make a meaningful difference in the medical community and beyond.
2020 Abstract Competition
By Ananth Shenoy, MD
Our annual meeting was different this year. We modified our Student and Resident Abstract Competition for the virtual format and collaborated with the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Society of Hospital Medicine. With their support, we expanded the competition to include awards for hospital medicine focused presentations. We also included our poster presenters from the Spring Competition who were not able to present in May due to COVID restrictions.
We ultimately had 68 presenters, split between prerecorded presentations on YouTube and live presentations on Saturday after the main day of the meeting. Our participants showcased their hard work on clinical vignettes and research projects and our faculty judges reviewed these presentations and we awarded three prizes.
Congratulations to all our participants and to our top place finishers:
Belle Ngo from the University of Washington School of Medicine for the top medical student abstract titled “Hepatitis C treatment outcomes among patients treated in co-located primary care and addiction treatment settings.”
Qing Wang from the Madigan Residency Program for the top resident poster prerecorded presentation titled “Validity of home sleep apnea testing in an active duty military population.”
James Wykowski for the top resident live oral presentation titled “A new diagnosis of a genetic metabolic disorder presenting as post-partum altered mental status.”
Thank you to all our participating medical students and residents and the mentors who support them and to our judges for helping make the competition a success! We looking forward to seeing you at our Spring Scientific Day in May.
Doctor’s Dilemma
While we were not able to enjoy the extraordinary enthusiasm and energy of our medical jeopardy host, Dr. Moe Hagman, in-person, it was nearly the same in this year’s virtual competition. With the addition of some lively musical interludes, six teams from residency program across the state competed for this year’s title. With the added twist given the virtual platform that skill in spelling became a critical asset, our winner this year was the team from University of Washington comprised of Anna Morenz, Molly Kelly, and Cody Gehring. Congratulations UW!
2020 Annual Meeting Recap
We can certainly say that our Annual Chapter meeting in November was a meeting like no other! With extraordinary support from our Executive Director, Liz Truong, and her team at Association Management Inc., we successfully transitioned most of our planned meeting to virtual platforms. Our inpatient-focused and outpatient-focused pre-courses were held separate from the main meeting in late October and the virtual platform increased accessibility for our members across the state. Many thanks to the Co-Chairs for the pre-courses, Drs. Ramsbottom and Shenoy (outpatient), and Drs. Arora and Parker (inpatient) for helping to organize such compelling and contemporary content. We would also thank the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Society of Hospital Medicine for partnering with us on the inpatient precourse – a partnership we look forward to continuing to develop.
There were so many wonderful highlights to the main meeting that it is hard to hit them all. The day started off with a special bonus plenary from nationally renowned obesity expert, Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, who joined us from Boston to kick off the day with important updates on obesity in medicine. Key morning sessions include critical updates on the pandemic from our Chapter’s Internist of The Year, Dr. Jeff Duchin, as well as our popular debate session – this year on treating possible urinary tract infections in patients with dementia.
After our business meeting and awards luncheon, we had an extraordinary invited plenary and conversation with Edwin Lindo, JD on racism in medicine. He shared valuable insights on the history of racism in health care, contemporary impacts, and crucial strategies for moving forward. Afterward, he joined a “virtual table” with members of our Health and Public Policy Committee to talk about opportunities for advocacy.
The afternoon covered the full gamut of internal medicine from an update on medical genetics, to a review of HIV for the general internist, to an update on evidence based use of vitamins for health. The afternoon closed with the brilliant pulmonologist Dr. Patricia Kritek, taking us through her approach to an unknown clinical case presented by previous year’s meeting Co-Chair, Dr. Tristan Osborn. The active chat window provide wonderful commentary and some hilarious insights as the case evolved. Importantly, throughout the day we were able to weave in a nice dose of humanities and wellness by including short vignettes on doctoring (“Story Slam”) written by Chapter members and by providing time for socializing in the “virtual meeting hall”. The meeting concluded the following morning with our “Associates Day” where we heard residents present the top oral abstracts then concluded with our annual Doctor’s Dilemma competition.
No annual meeting could be accomplished without the leadership of the meeting Co-Chairs. This year’s Co-Chairs deserve a standing ovation and many thanks for their incredible work in planning and adapting the meeting in response to the pandemic as well as emphasizing the importance of planning the meeting honoring the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Their work this past year has laid the groundwork for diverse and inclusive meetings going forward. We all give our most sincere gratitude to Dr. Leah Marcotte and Dr. Anna Hagan for a job well done!
2020 Chapter Award Winners
We have so many amazing Chapter members – in this unprecedented and historically challenging year we celebrate the following individuals:
Alvin J. Thompson Internist of the Year – Jeff Duchin, MD MPH
Washington ACP Community Service Award — Natalia Usoltseva, MD
Washington ACP Full-time Faculty Clinician-Educator – Chris Knight, MD FACP
Washington ACP Golden Apple Award – Lexie Graham, MD FACP
Kemi Nakabayashi Washington ACP Chapter Volunteer Award – Ananth Shenoy, MD FACP
Washington ACP Hospitalist of the Year – Nancy Marshall, MD FACP
Doug Paauw Outstanding Student in Internal Medicine – Leah Karlsen
Washington ACP Laureate Award – Genevieve Pagalilauan, MD FACP
2020 Health & Public Policy Update
Co-chairs: Genevieve Pagalilauan MD, MACP and Carrie Horwitch MD, MACP
Contributors: Sarah Hiner MD, Nobel Nguyen MS, Nancy Connolly MD, Carrie Horwitch MD
“This is a great country, but fortunately for you, it is not perfect. There is much to be done to bring about complete equality. Remove hunger. Bring reality closer to theory and democratic principles.”
Thurgood Marshall
Upcoming events:
WSMA legislative evening Feb 9 from 5:30-8:30 pm (register at Legislative Summit (wsma.org)
Wash State Public Health Association legislative day March 4 learn more at Home (wspha.org)
National ACP Legislative Day May 25-26-virtual this year – get more information on this and other ACP advocacy priorities at ACP Advocacy | Health Policy Issues and Health Care Reform (acponline.org)
Sign up to be an ACP advocate for internal medicine-it only takes a few seconds to join
Advocates for Internal Medicine Network | Advocacy | ACP (acponline.org)
On Feb 12, Nobel Nguyen med student and Drs Dave and Duze and others are creating a COVID-vaccine information video for people and communities of color. ACP is collaborating with other health organizations such as Virginia Mason, WSMA and UW. The goal is to educate, reach, and inform people about the vaccine. We hope the video can reach various communities and the organizers are also exploring having this created in different languages
On November 19, 2020, ACP along with AAFP, multiple other professional organizations, companies, and states, rolled out the “Get Covered 2021 Coalition.” The new endeavor, backed by the Biden administration is part of the effort to promote both universal mask-wearing and the crucial need to link the millions of uninsured Americans who qualify for coverage through the ACA or Medicaid with a single site that will link them to resources. The coalition provides free, high-quality masks in bulk to promote the campaign to interested volunteers. Information on the coalition is at www.GetCovered2021.org. Interested physicians/volunteers who would like the promotional mask packages to distribute or have questions email info@getcovered2021.org.
Washington legislative session began in early January and several bills are being discussed that have broad health implications. If you are interested in looking into any bills or commenting on any of them you can go to : Bill Information (wa.gov)
WSMA is monitoring several bills as well as commenting on several
HB1196- to allow coverage of audio-only telehealth visits (WSMA supports this)
HB 1091- low carbon fuel (WSMA supports). This would also fit with ACP policy
SB5313- Health care discrimination (WSMA supports)
HB 1345- Vape product regulations
There is also a lot of discussion about revising how public health is funded- this is a priority from the Governors office- in light of recent events with firing of health officers and other political stances (see HB1152, HB 1110, SB 5173)
And many many more. It you do want to comment- please comment as an individual (not from ACP)
We welcome your ideas for the HPPC committee – please email Liz Truong with ideas and contact info.
Membership & Diversity
By Gary Forbes, MD FACP
Co-Chair: Mary Anderson, MD FACP
The primary goal of the committee is to recruit and engage members across the state through participation in chapter activities that enhance the value of membership. Past events have included CME presentations, Dim Sum around the Sound (sponsored by the Women in Medicine council), and story slams. We are looking for students, residents, and practicing physicians wishing to help facilitate the development of programs in their communities, or state-wide. We especially welcome those who have an interest in advancing the goals of our updated diversity, equity and inclusion policy. The next meeting of the committee is planned for late spring.
Another goal of the committee is encouraging advancement to fellowship. There are currently 540 members eligible for FACP designation. There will be a webinar in late March or early April to provide more information on the application process; eligible members will be contacted in advance. We hope you will make plans to attend. New fellows are invited to participate in convocation ceremonies at the national meeting.
As always, any ideas for activities of interest to you and your colleagues are welcome and may be forwarded to gforbes@jeffersonhealthcare.org or Triturus_1@yahoo.com .
2021 Annual Chapter Meeting
Planning for our next Annual Chapter Meeting began in January. We remain hopeful that we will return to an in-person meeting at Bell Harbor International Conference Center in Seattle. We also look forward to taking advantage of some of the “lessons learned” in staging virtual events throughout this past year. Under the guidance of main meeting Co-Chairs, Drs. Pallavi Arora and Mary Ramsbottom, as well as outpatient pre-course Co-Chairs, Drs. Anita Chopra and Stephanie Fosback, and inpatient pre-course Co-Chairs, Drs. Stephanie Field and Raman Palabindala, this will be an amazing collegial and continuing education event. The dates are November 4-6, 2021 – so mark your calendars!
Primary Care Council
The primary care council of ACP strives towards Physician well- being and professional fulfillment.
Our goal is to provide resources, tool and support to help clinical practices thrive but also a platform to foster camaraderie, share ideas and promote wellness. In these stressful times, this sense of community is not only vital to us clinically, but will also avoid burnout and increase our engagement with the community. If you are interested in joining the Primary Care Council, please contact Chair Anita Chopora at achoprag@gmail.com or Executive Director, Liz Truong at liz@aminc.org.
“Worth a Shot” Campaign
‘Worth A Shot ‘ is an effort to raise awareness and education about the COVID-19 vaccine, dispel fears, and reduce vaccine hesitancy. In collaboration with King County Public Health, they are presenting the program at schools, community centers, boys & girls clubs to educate people through grassroots efforts focusing on the youth demographic to create ambassadors for the program who can be influential in convincing their families to receive the vaccine. They have recorded interviews with experts – infectious disease , public health , which are there on the page .They have also translated information into 15 different languages.
Check out the “Worth a Shot” campaign here:
https://www.youthawaremagazine.com/community-initiatives/worth-a-shot
Joey Parker’s Teaching Corner
As physician educators, not only must we prepare our learners to be excellent clinicians, but we also must help them pass the ABIM examination at the end of their 3-year residency. On a busy wards service, a teaching tool I’ve had much success with is finding 2 or 3 board review questions centering on the topic I taught my learners and going through these questions a few days after my didactic. For example, if I taught on community acquired pneumonia on Monday, on Thursday I’ll bring out a few questions to really hammer this point home. This trick serves multiple purposes: you implement repetition and recall, you assess how well you taught the subject and your learner’s retention, and you also keep board review questions fresh in your mind for when you re-certify. Over time, you begin to develop a library of board review questions you can pull out on demand pending the situation. Add this teaching tool to your arsenal of tricks, and I think you’ll reap the rewards.
From National – ACP Leadership Programs Available in Hospital Medicine or Primary Care
In partnership with the American Association for Physician Leadership, the ACP Leadership Academy offers a flexible, 18-month-long Certificate in Physician Leadership program with tracks in Hospital Medicine and Primary Care. The program includes a combination of formal training through 46.5 hours of online coursework, online group discussions facilitated by leaders in internal medicine, and a capstone project that demonstrates successful mastery of leadership concepts. This program offers exclusive training by leadership experts and important career-building skills. In addition, ACP provides participants with access to a number of professional development and membership engagement opportunities. Participants complete the program as part of a cohort starting July 1.
From National – Medical Students and Resident/Fellows Needed for Story Slam at ACP Future IM Meeting
On May 14 – 15, 2021, ACP will be holding a virtual event for ACP Medical Student and Resident/Fellow Members titled, ACP Future IM Meeting. Although the ACP Future IM Meeting landing page is not yet on the ACP website, we want to start soliciting/spreading the word about the story slam happening during the event. We need 10 participants to speak on the theme: lessons learned from the pandemic as a trainee. Medical students and residents/fellows must be ACP members, but they do not need to be registered or be “present” during the story slam on May 15. As you’ll see from the directions on the submission form, they need only submit their information and a URL to their 5-minute story. If selected, their stories will be edited together with the other chosen submissions for the hour-long story slam.
Here is the form where they need to submit their stories. They need to be logged into their ACP account in order to access the form: Submit Stories
Deadline to apply is Friday, March 19, 2021. Thank you in advance for your help in finding trainees to tell their incredible stories.
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