University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Medicine FY2019 Annual Report

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE

U N I V E R S I T Y O F I L L I N O I S AT C H I CAG O

2019

Annual Report

CONTENTS 01 02 03 06 12 18 26 30 38 42 54

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Project Manager/Designer/Editor Krystle Stewart, BS Project Consultants Lisa Butler, MPA Lisa Stigger, BA Contributors/Reviewers: Patricia W. Finn, MD George T. Kondos, MD Bryan Blaha, MS Karishma Parekh, MS Special Thanks to: DOM Administration Staff, Division Administrators, Division Chiefs and Councils.

This publication was produced by the University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Medicine 312-996-7700 dom.uic.edu

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DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE

FROM THE HEAD OUR VISION, MISSION + VALUES NEW LEADERSHIP CLINICAL AFFAIRS EDUCATION SCHOLARLY ACTIVITIES GLOBAL HEALTH CULTURE & DIVERSITY FACULTY AFFAIRS DIVISION HIGHLIGHTS PHILANTHROPY

MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD Dear Colleagues and Friends, As I write this letter we are in the midst of unprecedented times: a pandemic due to COVID-19 and social upheaval due to hundreds of years of racism.

This is our second annual report of the Department of Medicine (DOM) at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago. Presenting a compilation of our achievements during fiscal year 2019 may not seem like a top priority.

Notably, stressing the singularity of purpose and indefatigable spirit that imbues the DOM is of timeless importance. The current times stretch us, but the achievements presented in this report underscore our strength and commitment to meet the challenges of the pandemic in our mission to provide exceptional care for all.

What has struck me most is the dedication and resilience of the trainees, faculty and staff. I am in awe and I have never been more proud to lead the Department of Medicine. I encourage you to carefully read all of our accomplishments and to eagerly await our next annual report. There are many stories to share and we will share them all with you next year. But for now, I encourage you to share with me in the joy of our accomplishments from fiscal year 2019.

Sincerely,

Patricia W. Finn, MD

Earl M. Bane Professor Head, Department of Medicine Associate Dean, Strategic Initiatives Associate Program Director, Medical Scientist Training Program College of Medicine University of Illinois at Chicago

ANNUAL REPORT 1

OUR VISION, MISSION AND VALUES

T MESSAGE FROM OUR DIRECTOR OF ADMINISTRATIVE OPERATIONS Dear Colleagues and Friends,

he University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Medicine (DOM) has a long tradition of providing thorough and comprehensive training in medicine.

Since 1882, we have been moving academic medicine forward for the people of Illinois and beyond.

The year in review on the pages of this report offer a glimpse inside the many ways in which we are breaking ground in the Department of Medicine through high-quality clinical care, scholarly activity, and education.

The Department of Medicine is the largest of 25 academic departments in the College of Medicine (COM).

We are comprised of nine divisions, with faculty engaged in teaching, scholarly activity and patient care services.

With 650 faculty and staff, 242 residents and fellows, nine divisions, one institute and 14 accredited fellowship programs, the Department of Medicine is dedicated to serving one of the most diverse populations in the world. Our extraordinary achievements and outcomes in FY2019 are tangible confirmation that the Department of Medicine is on the right path and at the very forefront.

CLINICAL The DOM is committed to stewardship in the communities it serves by providing high-quality and cost-effective patient care while increasing financial stability.

We align with UI Health’s UI CARE (Compassion, Accountability, Respect, Excellence) values.

On behalf of our faculty, staff, students and the patients we serve, I want to thank our generous donors, our friends and families for their phenomenal support and steadfast confidence in the Department of Medicine to fulfill our promise of leading the creation and advancement of health equity. Your support is greatly appreciated and helps to make what we do possible.

Sincerely, R. Bryan Blaha, MS Director of Administrative Operations

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SCHOLARLY ACTIVITY Our commitment to scholarly activity is essential to our overall mission. Germane to this concept is the naming of research and investigative activity as “scholarly activity”. In recognition of the fact that collaboration and teamwork

are essential to success, the DOM does not define roles as “research” or “clinical”, but rather enhancing scholarly activity for all DOM members whether trainee, faculty or staff.

EDUCATION The DOM plays a significant role in the education of medical students, internal medicine residents, and specialty fellows throughout their years of training.

PHILANTHROPY & ENDOWMENTS Fundraising for the DOM has a renewed emphasis on both research grants and private philanthropy, engaging alumni, community leaders, residents and faculty.

FACULTY AFFAIRS With our goal of training the next generation in mind, the DOM formulated strategies to enhance faculty development in conjunction with programs for retention and recruitment.

CULTURE & DIVERSITY The DOM is committed to promoting a culture of diversity, inclusion, and excellence.

NEW LEADERSHIP SENIOR ASSOCIATE HEAD, STRATEGIC PROGRAMS Jeffrey Jacobson, MD, professor of medicine and director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU), was appointed senior associate head for strategic programs in the Department of Medicine. In this new position, and in alignment with the Department of Medicine’s mission of patient care, scholarly activities, education, and service, Dr. Jacobson will assist the head in articulating, monitoring, and achieving the overarching goals of the DOM. Dr. Jacobson has been a dedicated UIC faculty member since 2005, and ICU director since 2012. He has been a driving force on the Hospital’s Sepsis Committee and was at the forefront of developing a hospital-wide “sepsis alert” system that has been automated in the electronic medical record so that providers can be notified more quickly about patients at risk for developing sepsis. Dr. Jacobson is an accomplished physician-scientist in the fields of lung vascular biology and acute lung injury. He has contributed to several important papers in top journals in his field, including American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology and Pulmonary Circulation.

Jeffery Jacobson, MD

At the department level, he has served as a respected leader of the Scholarly Activities Council (SAC), whose mission is to enhance collaborations between investigators, training of the next generation of scientists and physician-scientists, and environment for scholarly activities at UIC. Dr. Jacobson is the quintessential doctor’s doctor. He is respected by faculty, staff, and trainees and has been nominated for physician of the year. His teaching prowess is supported by the multiple Certificates of Excellence in Education. Importantly, his interactions with the patients and families in the clinic are exemplary.

CHIEF, DIVISION OF RHEUMATOLOGY Nadera J. Sweiss MD, professor of medicine, was appointed the division chief of Rheumatology. Dr. Sweiss directs the UI Health Cold Hand Clinic and the Bernie Mac Sarcoidosis Translational Advanced Research (STAR) Center. The STAR Center provides clinical services for sarcoidosis patients and also conducts research into new treatments for sarcoidosis.

Dr. Sweiss completed her medical degree, master’s degree, internal medicine residency and rheumatology fellowship training at University of Jordan Hospital. Dr. Sweiss subsequently completed internal medicine residency training at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Chicago, IL, where she also served as chief resident. She completed a rheumatology fellowship at the University of Chicago. Dr. Sweiss has been named Castle Connolly’s top doctor for the past 3 years. In 2016, Dr. Sweiss was recognized in Jordan as the first Jordanian woman physician to be promoted to the rank of Professor in the United States.

Nadera Sweiss, MD

ANNUAL REPORT 3 ANNUAL REPORT 3

LEADERSHIP Department Head

Patricia W. Finn, MD

Administrative Operations Director R. Bryan Blaha, MS

Finance and Accounting Director Maritza Delgado, MS

HR and Faculty Affairs Director Michael Paprzyca, MBA Information Technology Manager Robert Rios Research Operations Director Maritza Delgado, MS

Business Development and Strategy Director Karishma Parekh, MS Revenue Cycle Director Caryn Riley, MSW

Assistant Director of Advanced Practice Provider Carolyn Dickens, PhD, APRN Division Administrators 9 Divisions 1 Institute

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Advisory Committee

Institute for Minority Health Research Martha Daviglus, MD, PhD - Director Cesar Alvarado - Administrator

Center for Dissemination and Implementation Science Geri Donenberg, PhD - Director

Divisions

Academic Internal Medicine and Geriatrics Rachel Caskey, MD - Chief Ainoa Coltri - Administrator Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Brian Layden, MD, PhD - Chief Pam Terrell - Administrator

Hematology and Oncology Damiano Rondelli, MD - Chief Onesima Martinez - Administrator

Nephrology Jose A.L. Arruda, MD - Chief Ted Ebersold - Administrator

Sr. Associate Head of Medicine

Sr. Associate Head, Strategic Programs

George T. Kondos, MD

Jeffery Jacobson, MD

Head’s Office Administrative Staff

Cardiology Dawood Darbar, MD - Chief Daniela Nita - Administrator

Gastroenterology and Hepatology Barbara Jung, MD - Chief Alejandra Mendoza - Administrator

Infectious Diseases Richard Novak, MD - Chief Ted Ebersold - Administrator

Pulmonary, Critical Care, Sleep and Allergy Steve Dudek, MD - Chief Alejandra Martinez - Administrator

Department Councils

Clinical Affairs Amer Ardati, MD Dan Mihailescu, MD Tom Stamos, MD Sara Smith, MD Hira Tanwir, MD Neeta Venepalli, MD Tony Vergis, MD - Resident Michelle Lewis, MD - Resident Linda Donnell - Coordinator

Faculty Affairs Jose Arruda, MD Joan Briller, MD Michael Fischer, MD Min Joo, MD Claudia Lora, MD Robert Rosman, MD Jun Sun, PhD

Education Waddah Alrefai, MD Alex Auseon, DO Alana Biggers, MD, MPH Olga Garcia, MD Ben Gerber, MD, MPH Asra Khan, MD Fred Zar, MD Rachael King, MD - Resident Linda Donnell - Coordinator

Scholarly Activities Geri Donenberg, PhD Paul Grippo, PhD Jeff Jacobson, MD James Lash, MD Irena Levitan, PhD Jun Ma, MD, PhD Jonathan Meyer, MD - Resident Krystle Stewart- Coordinator

Rheumatology Subhash Kukreja, MD - Interim Chief Jean Fitzpatrick - Administrator

ANNUAL REPORT 5

CLINICAL PROGRAMS The Department of Medicine (DOM) is committed to stewardship in the communities it serves by providing high-quality and cost-effective patient care. We are fully engaged on all fronts with the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System (UI Health) to expand clinical programs.

The commitment to addressing community needs goes well beyond the traditional service role of an academic medical center. We advocate for reducing health disparities, which requires a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach to the inequities in healthcare access and quality of care. We aim to raise awareness, conduct critical investigation and assist those communities in need.

oversees the clinical activities, education and scholarly activities of their division.

The energy and talents of the new recruits prompted a renewed commitment to excellence in the clinical mission and an expansion of clinical programs. The DOM conducts bi-weekly outpatient meetings with clinic medical directors, clinic directors, staff, division chiefs, and DOM business administrators every Friday.

These meetings have resulted in the coordination of activities among the DOM clinics, improvements in services and the formation of new clinical programs which we invite you to learn more about within our division profile pages.

RECRUITMENT, REORGANIZATION & RESULTS To maintain and enhance the clinical mission, the DOM recruited key faculty members. A new chief, Dr. Nadera Sweiss was appointed in the Division of Rheumatology and an interim chief, Dr. James Lash, was appointed in the Division of Nephrology. Each division chief

CLINICAL HIGHLIGHTS PATIENT ACCESS OPTIMIZATION INITIATIVE Solving patient access issues requires a combination of cultural, philosophical, and operational changes, and understanding the magnitude of potential issues across our enterprise. The Patient Access Optimization Initiative is an enterprise-wide project to improve scheduling, financial clearance, and registration processes for ambulatory clinic patients. Led by an executive committee of key physicians and administrative leaders, with support from Huron Consulting, four major components of this initiative were at the forefront; access optimization, financial clearance, scheduling lag, and no shows.

The project designed a future-state access model by identifying opportunities to optimize our current intake process in order to improve patient experience, while also reducing costs. The Patient Access Optimization Initiative has been instrumental in building an

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operational and data-quality foundation towards analyzing access- to-care performance.

ACHIEVEMENT IN HEART FAILURE CARE The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association recognized the University of Illinois Hospital (UIH) for our commitment to providing effective stroke and heart failure care using the most advanced procedures available. UIH was awarded the Get With the GuidelinesÂŽ -Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: Heart Failure Honor Roll.

Health systems that receive this award meet specific quality-achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of heart failure patients for over 24 consecutive months. These measures include evaluation of the patient, proper use of medications,

Contributors to UIH’s Heart Failure programs at award event

and aggressive risk-reduction therapies, including ACE inhibitors/ARBs, beta blockers, diuretics, anticoagulants, among other appropriate therapies.

This is the second consecutive year that UIH has achieved heart failure designation. The Heart Failure program previously earned the Silver Quality Achievement Award. Beyond this the U.S. News and World report ranked Cardiology’s Heart Failure program as high performing.

FIRST MITRACLIP PROCEDURE PERFOMED BY CARDIOLOGY The Structural Heart Team that includes Drs. Elliott Groves, Adhir Shroff, Khaled Abdelhady, Mayank Kansal, and Katarina Beckman, and APRN Ashley Carter successfully performed the first MitraClip procedure at UIH. A less invasive alternative to open-heart, valve-repair surgery, the MitraClip procedure is a catheter-based treatment that involves placing the MitraClip device, a metal clip with a covering of polyester fabric, on a regurgitating mitral valve, the gateway between the heart’s left atrium and left ventricle. MitraClip pins part of the valve together, which allows the rest of the structure to open and close around it and prevents blood from leaking backward.

The procedure was the culmination of months of effort by the clinical and administration teams at the University of Illinois Hospital and the College of Medicine.

UIH DESIGNATED AS BLUE DISTINCTION CENTER+ FOR LIVING DONOR LIVER TRANSPLANTATION UIH was designated a Blue Distinction Center+ for Living Donor Liver Transplantation by BlueCross BlueShield, a quality-care designation that signifies our program met stringent, nationally established quality and safety guidelines. We are the only liver transplant program in the state to receive this distinction.

Our highly personalized patient care, extensive outreach, and meticulous post-transplant follow-up have been key factors to the sustained success and growth of our Liver Transplant Program. Deceased donor liver transplants increased more than a third in FY19 (55 transplants vs. 41 in FY18). The Liver Transplant Program has quadrupled its transplant volume in the past three years.

LEADER IN KIDNEY TRANSPLANT IN CHICAGO UIH Kidney Transplant volume grew by more than 50% from FY18 (131) to FY19 (201), and kidney/pancreas transplants nearly doubled from 11 to 19. UIH has performed more kidney transplantations in calendar year 2019 than any other institution in Chicago. We also have performed the most combined kidney/pancreas transplants in Chicago. This can be attributed to our emphasis on living donor transplants, like kidney swaps, and our commitment to using robotic surgical techniques. Living donor transplants grew for both the Liver and Kidney program. Liver was up 100%, and kidney up more than 40%.

ANNUAL REPORT 7

CLINICAL VOLUME We continue to build our clinical volume with our commitment to providing exceptional patient care for all in the communities we serve. The DOM is responsible for approximately 41% of overall adult hospital inpatient volume, with 21 inpatient services and procedure areas, as well as 31% of outpatient volume, with 18 clinics. Our volume of outpatient specialty care has grown every year over the last 5 years. The Department of Medicine was responsible for 158,046 outpatient visits and 7,748 discharges in FY 2019. We had a 4% increase in discharges from FY18 to FY19. Furthermore, twenty-eight of our physicians were named among “Chicago’s Top Doctors”.

HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS

Discharges FY19 - 7,748 FY18 - 7,483 FY17 - 7,016

OUTPATIENT OFFICE VISITS

On-site Visits FY19 - 149,923 FY18 - 145,701 FY17 - 142,293

Off-site Visits FY19 - 8,123 FY18 - 5,791 FY17 - 8,673

INPATIENT PROCEDURES

Inpatient Procedures FY19 - 53,120 FY18 - 52,563 FY17 - 51,239

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ANNUAL REPORT 9

REGION’S TOP DOCTORS

Twenty-two of the Department of Medicine physicians were named among the region’s top physicians by Castle Connolly, the consumer healthcare guide. Physicians were nominated by peers in a nationwide survey, then chosen by a physician-led research group. Additionally, 7 of our recognized physicians were featured in Chicago magazine’s January 2019 ‟Top Doctors” list.

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

ENDOCRINOLOGY, DIABETES & METABOLISM

GASTROENTEROLOGY

Dr. Joan Briller Professor

Dr. Elena Barengolts Associate Professor

Dr. Russell Brown Professor

Dr. George T. Kondos Professor

Dr. Dan Mihailescu Associate Professor

Dr. Allan Halline Associate Professor

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HEMATOLOGY

Dr. Victor Gordeuk Professor

Dr. Asra Khan Associate Professor

Dr. Dominic Ho Assistant Professor

Dr. Min Joo Associate Professor

Dr. David Peace Professor

Dr. Mark Kushner Assistant Professor

Dr. Robert Molokie Professor

Dr. Kevin Kovitz Professor

Dr. Damiano Rondelli Professor

Dr. Jonathan Radosta Associate Professor

Dr. Neeta Venepalli Associate Professor

Dr. Dean Schraufnagel Professor

NEPHROLOGY

RHEUMATOLOGY

Dr. Jose Arruda Professor

Dr. Nadera Sweiss Professor

INFECTIOUS DISEASE

Dr. Richard Novak Professor

INTERNAL MEDICINE

Dr. John Tulley Professor

MEDICAL ONCOLOGY

PULMONARY DISEASE

Dr. Reed Berger Associate Professor

Dr. Lawrence Feldman Professor

Dr. Steven Dudek Professor

Dr. William Galanter Associate Professor

Dr. Michel Gowhari Associate Professor

Dr. Howard Jaffe Associate Professor

PEDIATRICS

Dr. Rachel Caskey Associate Professor

ANNUAL REPORT 11

GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION

Christopher Gans, MD

Anne Polick, MD

We trained 115 residents in our preliminary and categorical Internal Medicine (IM) Residency program in addition to training 16 medicine/ pediatrics residents, 15 emergency medicine/ medicine residents and 6 neurology interns during the 2017- 2018 academic year. The program enjoys full ACGME accreditation with commendation and will have its next review and site visit in 2020. During recruitment for the 2017-2018 academic year, our Internal Medicine Residency program received more than 4,000 applications of which 700 were interviewed.

PROGRAM DIRECTORS In addition to Dr. Fred Zar, as the program director, the Internal Medicine Residency program supports five associate program directors, Drs. Christopher Gans, Patrick Godwin, Anne Polick, Alfredo Mena Lora, and Robert Sargis.

Dr. Christopher Gans was an internal medicine resident and cardiology fellow at UIC. He joined the faculty in 2011 immediately after his fellowship. He is the medical director of our Echocardiography Lab and director of the Patrick Godwin, MD, MBA Section of Onco-Cardiology.

Dr. Patrick Godwin has been a faculty member since 2001 and became section chief of Hospital Medicine at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center in 2008. His interests include clinical teaching, quality improvement, patient safety, health system reform, and telehealth.

Robert Sargis, MD, PhD

Dr. Anne Polick was an internal medicine resident and chief at UIC. She is an academic internist and has received the New Attending of the Year award on 3 different occasions.

Dr. Mena Lora was an internal medicine resident, chief resident, infectious diseases fellow and now faculty in the Division of Infectious Diseases.

Alfredo Mena Lora, MD

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Dr. Rob Sargis is faculty in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism.

He is the director of the Physician-Scientist Development program that leverages the immense and diverse resources at UIC to develop future leaders in academic medicine.

MATCH RESULTS In spite of a declining number of US medical students matching in internal medicine, the quality of the students matched in the Internal Medicine Residency Program has never been higher as measured by the House Staff Selection Committee (HSSC) scores. The score represents a compilation of medical school performance, exam scores, letters of recommendation and interviews. In addition the House Staff Selection Committee has successfully incorporated a Mission Fit Score into the creation of our match list to assure that trainees understand and are committed to the Department of Medicine’s mission. Given the large Latinx/Hispanic population we serve, an impressive 62% of the interns we matched speak Spanish at a conversational level.

UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES (URM) IN INTERNAL MEDICINE RESIDENCY PROGRAM DOM has increased the number of URMs in the IM residency from a low of 6% in 2014 to its current level of 22% as of the match of 2019.

BOARD CERTIFICATION PASS RATE In 2019, the IM Residency achieved a pass rate of 96% (27/28). Currently the UIC IM Residency ranks 2nd in the country out of the 47 large academic programs with more than 100 residents. Within the Chicago area, UIC ranks #1.

FELLOWSHIP SUCCESS RATE Last year 16/17 (94%) successfully entered the subspecialty of their choice with the last 3 years having the match rates of 16/17 and 17/17 matching, resulting in a 3-year success rate of

Internal Medicine PGY-1 class and chief residents

57/59 (97%). The mean distance down their match list they went to match was 1.8, thus the average resident matches at his/her first or second choice.

The DOM is training clinicians in internal medicine to serve the people of Illinois and beyond. It is also essential to train the next generation in academic medicine, i.e., “finding our replacements”.

FELLOWSHIPS DOM faculty trained 87 fellows in 14 accredited fellowship programs in FY19. All are fully accredited by the ACGME, seven of which have accreditation with commendation.

with additional mentorship skills, such as mentormentee communication, aligning expectations, professional development and assessing mentee understanding.

SCHOLARLY ACTIVITIES DATABASE The DOM developed and maintains a database of scholarly activities including all divisions. Trainees at all levels can search the database to identify potential faculty mentors and available scholarly activities to participate in. The website also includes additional information on mentoring, starting a research project, presentation, innovations, various tools and resources, and a list of frequently asked questions.

MENTORSHIP Faculty within the Clinical Competency Committee (CCC) continue to provide mentorship support; in addition, highly-nominated faculty outside the CCC are being recruited to provide additional mentorship and discuss potential career options. The DOM Education Council initiated a session to provide mentoring opportunities and hosted “meet and greet” sessions to increase the exposure of residents to faculty.

DOM faculty participate in and co-facilitate mentorship training workshops. These workshops utilize the “Entering Mentoring” curriculum and provide faculty

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MEET OUR CHIEF RESIDENTS

Rachael King, MD

Michelle Lewis, MD

Chief Resident: Ambulatory Medicine Medical School: USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Future Plans: Academic Internal Medicine

Chief Resident: Jesse Brown VA Medical Center Medical School: Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Future Plans: Academic Internal Medicine

My first visit to Chicago was in medical school, when I came for the American Medical Association (AMA) annual meeting, and I fell in love with the city. I knew I wanted to live here, but I needed a residency program that would fit my every need. For me, UIC was the perfect fit. I was able to have my desired clinical training, and the ability to work with an under-served patient population. Most importantly, I work with amazing attendings and residents that have become my family while I’m so far from my own. Although the winters in Florida are more desirable, I would never trade a Chicago summer for a Florida one! As the Ambulatory chief, I was in charge of all things outpatient, from scheduling the clinics to planning and teaching the outpatient curriculum. I was also the liaison for the Urban Global Health program, which I was a part of during residency. I was excited to be staying at UIC for another year as chief resident!

I am originally from a small town, our only stop light was removed during my senior year of high-school, and the main form of transport was by ATV. I was drawn to Chicago by my husband, and I grew to love the city.

What specifically drew me to UIC was the attitude of the program and the patient population. At UIC, our patient population is unique, diverse, and underserved.

I have grown to appreciate how adaptable UIC is from year to year, and it reflects the changing priorities of its residents. Residents have the opportunity to rotate through two great hospitals, both the University of Illinois Hospital and Jesse Brown VA Medical Center.

The VA holds a special place in my heart as veterans make for resilient (and lovable) patients who deserve the best quality of care. As the JBVA chief resident, I conduct morning report where we present interesting cases from both hospitals to facilitate interactive learning. I am also the scheduling chief, and will help you navigate your experience through the JBVA. My ultimate goal is to pursue a career in academic internal medicine, and the chief year allowed me to selfishly indulge in my love of teaching.

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Jon Meyer, MD

Tony Vergis, MD

Chief Resident: Research and Education Medical School: Saint Louis University School of Medicine Future Plans: Cardiology Fellowship

Chief Resident: University of Illinois Hospital Medical School: Ohio State University College of Medicine Future Plans: Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship

First things first, I was thrilled to be the chief of Research and Education at UIC this year. The constant strive for learning and teaching is what drew me to internal medicine in the first place, and I’m grateful to get the opportunity to be chief resident. Three and a half years ago, I saw the masterful teaching of our program director, Dr. Zar, during recruitment. That is what compelled me to come to UIC. Now, I am able to learn from the best! Coming from a small community in Missouri, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the second family I’ve found here in Chicago. I am committed to helping our community grow, as well as do my part to get our residents to where they want to be. Whether that be a fellowship or an academic internal medicine position.

It is not only the residents at UIC, but also the patients we serve which makes UIC a truly special place. The interaction with the diverse patients at UIH and the veterans at the Jesse Brown VA will make you capable and ready to take care of any patients you will come across following your training. After my chief year at UIC, I plan to pursue my passion for cardiology.

Although I had never lived outside the state of Florida, I knew UIC was home from the moment I interviewed.

Training at UIC has allowed me the privilege of caring for an underserved population. The breadth of disease presentations and rare cases I have seen, under the supervision of excellent mentors and clinicians, has given me a strong foundation in medicine. As the UIH chief, my role included running a daily morning report, overseeing mock codes, and providing the house staff with treats and a bad joke. I am also part of the wellness committee that was started by previous chiefs. When I’m not at work, I enjoy spending time with my wife and two kids, biking, and eating my way through Chicago.

ANNUAL REPORT 15

RESIDENTS & FELLOWS CHIEFS: 2018- 2019 King, Rachael Lewis, Michelle Meyer, Jonathan Vergis, Anthony

CHIEFS: 2019- 2020 Arges, Alexandra (M/P) Abdul-Kafi, Owais Goodman, Colin Westphal, Glenn

PGY -1 Barton, Isaye Blessing, Paul (IM/EM) Caldwell, Jillian Calero, Humberto Cardona-Matos, Zulma Casalegno, Maria Laura Cheng, Renee Chow, Kevin Chung, Nakia Colamonici, Marco Collons, Danielle Cooper, Paul (M/P) Dalrymple, Nathan (M/P) Dwyer, Ryan (IM/EM) Edwards, Tyler Estupinan, Blanca (P) Fang, Jiali Fetcko, Kaleigh (Neuro) Fritzmann, Emily (Neuro) Genco, Matthew Gildersleeve, Robert Goldenberg, Benjamin Gonzales, Janae Hess, Robert (P) Hudak, Meghan (M/P) Jindia, Jonathan Joseph, Augustin Kang, Ian Kasjanski, David (P) Khorsandi, Pedram King, Kevin (P)

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Klesitz, Michaela (P) Kuang,Dalen (P) Kwak, Jina Lee, Kevin Mehta, Vivek Molinary Jimenez, Luis Narla, Shanthi (P) Olmsted, Richard (P) Olsen, Conner Pagan Pirallo, Patricia Pagani Lopez, Wilfredo Pan. Wenyu (P) Patel, Krishna (P) Rivera Matos, Lucia Rodriguez-Rivera, Yolanda Rybar, Douglas (P) Shah, Neal (P) Sharma, Neil (Neuro) Simon, Erik Singh, Avani Stobierska, Dorota (IM/EM) Swanson, Charles (M/P) Torabi, Sara (Neuro) Turchi, Ryan (P) Twing, Aamir Wei, Monica Wilson, Jessica (Neuro) Wylie, Kyle (Neuro) Xie, Xiangyu Zhang, Shunqing (P)

Griggs, Theodor (PhySci) Haemer, Zoe (M/P) Hill, Michael Hodge, David (M/P) Kaimakliotis, Paul Kang, Jennifer Kang, Sandra Kennedy, Kathleen Kreston, Rebecca (IM/EM) Kwok, Alyssa (IM/EM) Lal, Kumar Lopes, Caitlin Marrero-Rivera, Gabriel Mathew, Alice Pan, Alexander Parikh, Amar Patel, Armani Patel, Jayleenkumar Patel, Rishi Peninger, Emily Rabinovich, Emma Ramadugu, Ajit Saleemi, Sarah Savani, Umair Srisuwananukorn, Andrew Tian, Frances Yu, Andre Zilberstein, Ashley (M/P) Zilberstein, Netanel

PGY - 2

Abdul-Kafi, Owais Ali, Umayer Bice, Tristan Brook, Melissa (M/P) Brumley, William (IM/EM) Case, Aaron (IM/EM) De Leon, Sherryl Geary, Kyle Gonzalez, Rodolfo Goodman, Colin Guzman, Yasmin Haider, Danish Hanscom, Mark

Basha, Amina Borah, Brian Bounds, Rachel Cheng, Lily (IM/EM) Darlington, Ashley Desai, Binnie Fallen, Amy Fisher, Steven Flores, John (M/P) Freedman, Michael Gokhale, Sanket Grand, Jacob

PGY - 3

Hardin, Mary Hassan, Ahmad Hughes, Lauren Kalina, Michael Keiser, Jennifer Khan, Ghulam Khong, Hoai Trinh (M/P) Kibrit, Jacob Kosloff, Adam Kudia, Ramsha Ladner, Benjamin Layer, Senuri Mauro, Ana (M/P) Patel, Roshan Pham, Trinh Rock, Adam Sahni, Sakshi Sanyal, Shuvani (M/P) Singh, Sanmeet Thaker, Sarang Viner, Maya Weller, Katherine Westphal, Glenn Wheelis, Emily (IM/EM) Woo, Emily Wu, Catherine

PGY - 4 Arges, Alexandra (M/P) Calo, Sal (IM/EM) Davies, Alexander (IM/EM) Kosirog, Justin (IM/EM) Leone, David (M/P) Luo, Xixi (M/P) Willits, Sarah (M/P)

PGY -5 Hoffman, Gabriel (IM/EM) Naughton, Mary (IM/EM) Pearce, Elspeth (IM/EM)

FELLOWS Cardiology Balouch, M. Adnan Biso, Sylvia Brener, Alina Dai, Shengchuan Danavi, Joseph Deka, Anjan Evans, Kaleigh Krishna, Hema Mehta, Arjun Mehta, Devin Palm, Denada Parikh, Devang Phillips, Tyler Reddy, Satyajit Rodriguez Ziccardi, Mary Romer, Benjamin Salazar, Pablo Shih, Timothy Tofovic, David Trybula, Michael Endocrinology Cohen, Melissa Haider, Yasser Kothari, Vallari Kumar, Surina Zapata, Joseph

Nassani, Najib Nelson, Kirbylee Omino, Ronald Pajot, Gregory Thaker, Sarang Hematology/Oncology Abraham, Elizabeth Ivy Arain, Saad Kodali, Abhigna Meier, Anne Nehru, Motilal Vijeyluxmy Nguyen, Ryan Rana, Saud Schwartz, Candice Seifter, Ari Shah, Eshana Simons, Yael Singh, Naina Infectious Diseases Borgetti, Scott Clapham, Philip Jhaveri, Naman Kaplar, Katherine Krukowski, Marla Maita, Dayana

Geriatrics Al-Hamadani, Zaid Lefferts, Wesley Manhas, Sveena Njoki, Franklin Randhawa, Navneet

Nephrology Ando, Akika Ansari, Sajid Asmaro, Ragad Dabbas, Walaa Kagalwalla, Mustafa Kora, Rishi Pathak, Lakshmi

Gastroenterology Agarwal, Mitali Ahmed, Zohair Bromberg, David Bul, Vadim Eng, Jason Griggs, Theodor

Pulmonary and Critical Care Anis, Mariam Htwe, Yu Maw Hussain, Jawad Imayama, Ikuyo Kalra, Salil Kaul, Malvika

Krow, Solomon LaBedz, Stephanie Pham, Trinh Reddy, Manasa Tan, Ai-Yui Vagts, Christen Lee Yaqoob, Maidah Sleep Al Ikhwan, Mahdi Adel Aljarod, Tarake Tran, Lien-Khuong Interventional Fellow Djondo, Daniel Rheumatology Goico, Ana Kannan, Jacqueline Patel, Pooja Sosenko, Teresa

ANNUAL REPORT 17 ANNUAL REPORT 17

SCHOLARLY ACTIVITIES

T

he Department of Medicine (DOM) commitment to scholarly activity is essential to ensure exceptional care, training/education, and the generation of new knowledge. Germane to this concept is the naming of research and investigative activity as “scholarly activity”. The longstanding expectation is that all members of the DOM contribute to scholarly activity. The DOM does not define roles as “research” or “clinical”, but rather enhancing scholarly activity for all Department members whether trainee, faculty, or staff. Collaboration and teamwork are essential to our success. The DOM actively fosters research success by providing the tools and capacity initiatives for faculty, staff and students, spearheaded by the Scholarly Activities Council (SAC).

RESEARCH FUNDING The DOM has focused on increasing funding from multiple sources in addition to the NIH (including state, other government and private sources). These efforts led to a 53% increase in awards, mitigating recent challenges associated with decreases in total grant expenditures by the NIH. The DOM’s NIH and nonNIH funding increased to $38.4 million from $28.5 million, a 26% increase, representing approximately 20% of the UIC College of Medicine’s total awards. In demonstration of our strong commitment to advancing the careers of the next generation of researchers, seven junior faculty members received a K or career development awards. The department received a total of 64 new awards.

RESEARCH CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT Peer Review: The DOM provides an internal grant peer review program for all sections of grant applications.

The goal of the review is to provide friendly feedback to the applicants to facilitate the probability of success.

All grants are reviewed by at least by one and more often by two senior faculty with extensive experience of grant review and members of NIH study sections.

The reviewers provide advice and guidance about structure, presentation and logical flow with the goal of improving the grant within a short period of time prior to submission. Notably, increasing number of faculty are taking advantage of this service for a variety of funding mechanisms. Multiple grants were reviewed this year. Over 17 faculty representing all nine divisions and all ranks in the department utilized this service. The funding mechanisms included NIH R01 and R21 grants, career awards from NIH, American Diabetes Society, American Cancer Society, VA Merit, fellowships, including NRSA and F32, as well

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as University of Illinois System’s Discovery Partners Institute (DPI).

Grant Writing Boot Camp: The DOM led its third annual grant writing boot camp in the spring of 2019.

Applications to participate have increased each year.

In 2019, seven junior faculty were selected from a competitive pool and participated in eight sessions over 4 weeks. Sessions were led by 8 experienced NIHfunded investigators who provided guidance in grant writing. Each session included mini-presentations led by facilitators, cohort/peer mentoring, and individualized feedback by provided by a senior faculty member with successful grant funding. At the conclusion of the boot camp, a mock study section was held for participants. To date, 16 faculty have participated representing 7 divisions.

Research Training: The DOM’s Division of Academic Internal Medicine in conjunction with chief residents continued to support a website of scholarly activity opportunities to facilitate resident and medical student involvement in research. The website lists over 30 active opportunities for residents and students along with a variety of tools and resources to enhance research productivity. The website has led to a significant increase in resident and medical student engagement in research and an increase in additional mentorship. SAC provided reviews for resident abstract submissions to the annual American College of Physicians Illinois Chapter conference. Importantly, DOM has four T32 grants supporting trainees and faculty with NIH-funded career development awards.

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PUBLICATIONS DURING FY19

Above: Residents and Faculty at Association of American Medical Colleges Annual Meeting. Right: Scholarly Activities Day

ENHANCING DOM’S CULTURE OF SCHOLARLY ACTIVITIES Ideas on Tap: Ideas on Tap is a quarterly event taking place in the late afternoon creating an informal and social time where participants are encouraged to present multi-disciplinary research projects. The science is typically offered in poster form, where the presenting investigator has 5 minutes to discuss their poster. This event has grown in number and interest, and SAC now provides a broad theme for the event each quarter in order to bring investigators with common interests to exchange ideas and explore collaborations. On average, Ideas on Tap draws more than 50 attendees while showcasing posters on topics including obesity, health disparities, cancer, and the microbiome. These informal forums for faculty and trainees engaged individuals across COM campuses including faculty from Rockford and Peoria.

Scholarly Activities Day: The DOM’s seventh annual Scholarly Activities Day, themed “Innovations In Clinical and Basic Science”, was held March 7, 2019.

The event boasted of over 90 poster presentations by faculty, junior faculty, fellows, residents, students and staff. The keynote address titled “Poldip2, Nox4, and Vascular Disease” was given by Kathy Griendling, PhD. Irena Levitan, PhD, Noreen Nazir, MD, Santosh Saraf, MD, and Ana Ricardo, MD, MPH, MS gave oral presentations. The 2019 Scientific Excellence Awards were given to Taif Hassan (Staff), Zhongkai Zhu (student), Sanket Gokhale, MD (resident), Christopher Carmean, PhD (fellow/postdoc) and Ashley Kendall, PhD (junior faculty).

INSTITUTE FOR MINORITY HEALTH RESEARCH Under the direction of Dr. Martha Daviglus, the Institute for Minority Health Research (IMHR) continued to promote multidisciplinary research, training, and community partnerships to improve the health of vulnerable minority populations. Dr. Daviglus is the principal investigator (PI) or multiple-PI on several large scale NIH-sponsored longitudinal studies, including the Chicago Field Center for the Hispanic Community Health Study/ Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL)—the largest prospective epidemiologic study to date of diverse Hispanics/Latinos residing in the US and the All of Us Research program.

In the past year, UIC received a $12 million contract from the NIH to continue its role as the HCHS/ SOL Chicago Field Center for the third phase of the study plus additional funding for several ancillary studies. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI funded T32 Training program in Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Epidemiology & Related Chronic Diseases in Minority Populations provided multidisciplinary research training to 4 fellows (2 predoctoral and 2 postdoctoral fellows). This training program is designed to prepare the next generation of researchers to address future research needs to improve understanding of the causes of CVD and related chronic conditions in minority populations, and to alleviate race and ethnic disparities in CVD and related chronic disease outcomes. IMHR faculty and fellows served as lead authors or co-authors on 46 papers published in peer-reviewed journals from June 2018 to July 2019.

ANNUAL REPORT 19

CENTER FOR DISSEMINATION AND IMPLEMENTATION The Center for Dissemination and Implementation Science (CDIS) was founded in 2017 to advance implementation research, practice, and education with community partners to achieve local and global health.

In the past year, under the direction of Geri Donenberg, PhD, CDIS expanded its robust program of extramural research funding, scholarship, and mentorship, and launched several new initiatives to support its mission to build a healthier world through implementation science.

Geri Donenberg, PhD

LEADERSHIP TEAM The Center welcomed two new investigators to its leadership team.

Dennis Watson, PhD, associate director for Community Engagement, leads the CDIS Development Core and Bethany Bray, PhD, associate director for Scientific Outreach leads the CDIS Methods Core.

SCHOLARSHIP Center investigators managed 23 active research projects with awards totaling over $14 million in extramural research funding. Notable projects include IMARA South Africa, a two-year, $1.2 million grant with the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre to adapt an evidencebased mother-daughter intervention for South Africa to reduce incident sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Three additional years of funding totaling $2.6 million will support an evaluation of the intervention in a randomized controlled trial with 525 mother-daughter pairs. Dr. Dennis Watson received funding from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation to assess implementation and test the effectiveness of a model to link people who use opioids to evidence-based Dennis Watson, PhD medication assisted treatment through syringe service programs combining health navigation with immediate linkage to care.

In the past year, CDIS faculty and staff produced 54

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peer reviewed publications, presented at 34 national and international conferences, participated in 7 study sections, were invited to give 21 talks, and were mentioned 31 times in local and national media. A recent publication in Health Psychology (Donenberg, Emerson, Kendall, 2018) reporting the efficacy of the PHAT Life (Preventing HIV/AIDS Among Teens) intervention for juvenile offenders in reducing sexual risk was featured by the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities. Angela Walden, PhD, recently co-authored an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune, “The invisibility of Chicago’s Native American residents,” highlighting the need to include Native Americans in conversations about racial equity in Chicago.

MENTORSHIP Other notable projects include four career development, training, and fellowship awards for CDIS faculty and mentees. CDIS also trained three Clinical Psychology interns and three undergraduate summer Interns; welcomed two post-doctoral fellows; Bethany Bray, PhD and advised numerous other students and mentees.

CENTER INITIATIVES • Monthly Works-in-Progress seminars, for scholars to share work, receive feedback, and explore potential partnerships.

• One-on-one consulting for researchers needing guidance with grant review. Two of four proposals reviewed by CDIS consultants were subsequently funded.

• An annual one-day workshop, which gave 20 attendees a foundational understanding of dissemination and implementation science.

• Methods Lunch, a monthly opportunity to discuss innovative methodological topics.

• Triannual CDIS Colloquium series, co-sponsored by the Center for Clinical and Translational Science and the Richard Weber Lecture series, hosted renowned implementation science scholars, including Lisa Saldana, PhD and Matthew Aalsma, MA, PhD, HSPP.

BIAS REDUCTION IN INTERNAL MEDICINE The Bias Reduction in Internal Medicine initiative was developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to “break the bias habit” and challenge cultural stereotypes that impact interactions with others even unconsciously.

“Nobody thinks that their thoughts or actions are based on internalized stereotypes or biases, but the truth is that these ideas can be so ingrained that even the most sensitive person can be influenced by them in their behavior at work, towards colleagues, patients, or towards students,” said Dr. Patricia Finn. “BRIM has been shown in early trials to help faculty recognize and reduce biased thoughts and behavior. I knew immediately after I saw the results presented at a conference that I wanted our department of medicine to participate in the next phase of evaluating the program.”

The UIC Department of Medicine (DOM) was the first to enroll in the 2017 nationwide study of BRIM developed

by Dr. Molly Carnes, professor of medicine, psychiatry and industrial and systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her colleagues.

The NIH-funded study will include 20 departments of medicine and will last approximately two years at each institution. The DOM initially selected four local leads for the study: Drs. Waddah Alrefai, Alana Biggers, Geri Donenberg, and Andrew Trotter.

“Ensuring a positive departmental climate by reducing racial/ethnic, gender, and other biases will improve faculty retention,” explained Dr. Carnes. “The average cost of losing a faculty member exceeds $400,000, so climate is also important with regard to cost-savings.

Women who work in more supportive climates have lower levels of work/family conflict, even if they work up to 70 hours per week,” said Dr. Carnes.

“Research indicates that professional interactions, performance evaluations and hiring decisions are often inadvertently influenced by opinions people hold about others, like where they’re from or the language they speak, without getting to know the individual,

Dr. Carnes explained. Race/ethnicity, gender, age, sexual preference and even weight can drive biases. At the heart of BRIM is a three-hour workshop designed to “break the bias habit” in Internal Medicine. Participants are taught to recognize their implicit biases and identify strategies to reduce them. For example, participants are encouraged to take the other person’s perspective — or put oneself in another’s shoes, and replace a stereotypical perception with real information based on the individual. At the end of the workshop, participants indicate “commitments to action;” the most common ones were challenging microaggressions, practicing perspective-taking, and recognizing and challenging stereotypes. Ten DOM faculty (Drs. Waddah Alrefai, Arivarasu V. Anbazhagan, Alana Biggers, Min Joo, Claudia Lora, Pooja Malhotra, Shubha Priyamvada Lnu, Seema Saksena, Andrew Trotter, and Suncica Volkov) were trained by Dr. Carnes’ team to deliver the workshops and are now certified BRIM implementers.

As part of the research study, half of the DOM divisions received the workshops led by the team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and half of the divisions received the workshop delivered

by UIC trained implementers. Prior to workshop delivery, DOM faculty completed a baseline survey on the departmental climate. Three months after the workshops, participants completed a follow-up survey about the department climate, the BRIM workshop, and changes in their behavior. A final survey was completed by participants at the conclusion of the study.

According to Dr. Finn, the current focus on faculty is only the beginning. “While this program focuses on faculty, we look forward to using these skills and tools in training the next generation of physicians.” Indeed, the UIC-DOM-BRIM team (leads and implementers) is currently providing workshops to DOM trainees including internal medicine residents, fellows and post-docs. Future plans include delivering BRIM to MSTP students (spring semester in 2020) and all interested staff.

ANNUAL REPORT 21

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS ACADEMIC INTERNAL MEDICINE 1. Ma J, Effect of integrated behavioral weight loss treatment and problem solving therapy on body mass index and depressive symptoms among patients with obesity and depression: the RAINBOW randomized clinical trial. Jama.

2019;321:869-79.

2. Adelman JS, Effect of Restriction of the Number of Concurrently Open Records in an Electronic Health Record on Wrong-Patient Order Errors: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Jama. 2019;321(18):1780-7 3. Schiff GD, Ten Principles for More Conservative, Care-Full Diagnosis.

Annals of internal medicine.

2018;169(9):643-5.

4. Choi N, Successful Use of Interventions in Combination to Improve Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Coverage Rates Among Adolescents-Chicago, 2013 to 2015. Acad Pediatr. 2018 Mar;18(2S):S93-S100.

5. Caskey RN, Transition to international classification of disease version 10, clinical modification: the impact on internal medicine and internal medicine subspecialties. BMC Health Serv Res. 2018 May 4;18(1):328.

6. Suku S, A multivariable analysis of childhood psychosocial behaviour and household functionality. Child Care Health Dev. 2019 Mar 21.

7. Weaver F, Alerting Doctors about Patient Life Challenges: A Randomized Control Trial of a Previsit Inventory of Contextual Factors. Medical Decision Making Policy & Practice. 2019;4(1).

8. Wright A, Best practices for preventing malfunctions in rule22 DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE

based clinical decision support alerts and reminders: Results of a Delphi study. International journal of medical informatics. 2018;118:7885.

9. Garabedian PM, Comparison of a Prototype for Indications-Based Prescribing With 2 Commercial Prescribing Systems. JAMA network open. 2019;2(3):e191514.

10. Bhattacharyya S, Distinct Effects of Carrageenan and High-Fat Consumption on the Mechanisms of Insulin Resistance in Nonobese and Obese Models of Type 2 Diabetes.

Journal of diabetes research.

2019;2019:9582714.

11. Cedillo-Couvert EA, Patient Experience with Primary Care Physician and Risk for Hospitalization in Hispanics with CKD. Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN. 2018;13(11):1659-67.

12. Wright A, Structured override reasons for drug-drug interaction alerts in electronic health records.

Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA. 2019.

13. Ma J, Translational behavioral medicine for population and individual health: gaps, opportunities, and vision for practice-based translational behavior change research.

Translational behavioral medicine.

2018;8(5):753-60.

14. Biggers A, Relationship between depression, sleep quality, and hypoglycemia among persons with type 2 diabetes. Journal of clinical & translational endocrinology.

2019;15:62-4.

15. Zar FA, Changing to oral antibiotics was noninferior to continuing IV antibiotics in left-sided infective

endocarditis. Annals of internal medicine. 2018;169(12):Jc65.

CARDIOLOGY 1. Romano S, Prognostic Implications of Blunted Feature-Tracking Global Longitudinal Strain During Vasodilator Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Stress Imaging. JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. 2019 Mar 15. pii: S1936878X(19)30226-8.

2. Liu M, Sox17 is Required for Endothelial Regeneration following Inflammation-Induced Vascular Injury. Nat Commun. 2019 May 9;10(1):2126.

3. Indorkar R, Global Coronary Flow Reserve Measured During Stress Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging Is an Independent Predictor of Adverse Cardiovascular Events. JACC Cardiovasc Imaging.

2018 Oct 22. pii: S1936878X(18)30745-9.

4. Romano S, Prognostic Implications of Mitral Annular Plane Systolic Excursion in Patients with Hypertension and a Clinical Indication for Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging: A Multicenter Study. JACC Cardiovasc Imaging.

2018 Nov 5. pii: S1936878X(18)30845-3 5. Argenziano M, Electrophysiologic Characterization of Calcium Handling in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Atrial Cardiomyocytes. Stem Cell Reports.

2018 Jun 5;10(6):1867-1878.

6. Alzahrani Z, The Role of Family History in Early-Onset Atrial Fibrillation across Race-Ethnic Groups. JAMA Network Open.

2018;1(5):e182497.

7. Menon A, Electrophysiologic and Molecular Mechanisms of a

8. Ornelas-Loredo A, Reduced Therapeutic Efficacy of Sodium Channel Blocker Antiarrhythmic Drugs in Obesity-Mediated Atrial Fibrillation. Provisionally accepted for publication. JAMA Cardiol.

9. McCauley MD, In Vivo Restoration of Myocardial Conduction with Carbon Nanotube Fibers. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol. 2019. In Press.

10. Koczo A, Breastfeeding, Cellular Immune Activation and Myocardial Recovery in Peripartum Cardiomyopathy JACC-Basic Transl Sci 2019 Jun 24;4(3):291-300.

11. Davis EM, Maternal Obesity Affects Cardiac Remodeling and Recovery in Women with Peripartum Cardiomyopathy. Am J Perinatol.

2018 Sep 5.

and neurocognitive domains in patients with hypopituitarism.

Pituitary. 2019 Apr;22(2):105-112.

5. Cordoba-Chacon J1, Tissuedependent effects of cis9,trans-11- and trans-10,cis-12CLA isomers on glucose and lipid metabolism in adult male mice. J Nutr Biochem. 2019 May;67:90100. Epub 2019 Feb 10.

6. Cordoba-Chacon J1, Adult-Onset Hepatocyte GH Resistance Promotes NASH in Male Mice, Without Severe Systemic Metabolic Dysfunction.Endocrinology. 2018 Nov 1;159(11):3761-3774.

7. Barengolts E1,2, The Effect of Probiotic Yogurt on Glycemic Control in Type 2 Diabetes or Obesity: A Meta-Analysis of Nine Randomized Controlled Trials.

Nutrients. 2019 Mar 20;11(3). pii: E671.

ENDOCRINOLOGY, DIABETES & METABOLISM

GASTROENTEROLOGY & HEPATOLOGY

1. Carmean CM1, Arsenic modifies serotonin metabolism through glucuronidation in pancreatic β-cells. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2019 Mar 1;316(3):E464-E474. Epub 2018 Dec 18.

1. Engevik AC, Loss of MYO5B Leads to Reductions in Na+ Absorption with Maintenance of CFTR-dependent Cl-Secretion in Enterocytes. Gastroenterology.

2018 Aug 22. pii: S00165085(18)34890-X.

2. Khan MW1, Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Basis Dis. Hepatic hexokinase domain containing 1 (HKDC1) improves whole body glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity in pregnant mice. 2019 Mar 1;1865(3):678-687. Epub 2018 Dec 10.

2. Anbazhagan AN, miR-125a-5p: A Novel Regulator of SLC26A6 Expression in Intestinal Epithelial Cells. Am J Physiol, Cell Physiol.

2019 May 1.

3. Pusec CM1,2, Hepatic HKDC1 Expression Contributes to Liver Metabolism. Endocrinology. 2019 Feb 1;160(2):313-330.

4. Eisenberg Y1, Oxytocin alterations

3. Principe DR, KRASG12D and TP53R167H Cooperate to Induce Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma in Sus scrofa Pigs. Sci Rep. 2018 Aug 22;8(1):12548.

4. Ding Y, Omega-3 Fatty Acids Prevent Early Pancreatic Carcinogenesis via Repression of

the AKT Pathway. Nutrients. 2018 Sep 12;10(9). pii: E1289 5. Kumar A, Angiotensin II inhibits P-glycoprotein in intestinal epithelial cells. Acta Physiol (Oxf).

2019 Jun 8:e13332.

6. Malhotra P, Mechanisms of Niemann-Pick type C1 Like 1 protein degradation in intestinal epithelial cells. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2019 Apr 1;316(4):C559-C566.

7. Zhang Y, Intestinal epithelial HMGB1 inhibits bacterial infection via STAT3 regulation of autophagy.

Autophagy. Published in March 2019.

8. Xia Y, Statistical Analysis of Microbiome Data with R. Series title: ICSA Book Series in Statistics.

Springer Nature. October 2018 (over 10, 000 download) 9. Trivedi I, Patient Understanding of ”Flare” and ”Remission” of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Gastroenterology Nursing. 2019, July/August; Vol 42(4): 375-385.

10. Skef W, Beyond Hospital Rankings: How Do We Measure Academic Strength in Gastroenterology/ Hepatology Divisions?

Gastroenterology. 2019 Jan;156(1):4-6. doi: 10.1053/j. gastro.2018.11.041. Epub 2018 Nov 22.

11. Zhang, Y, Lack of vitamin D receptor leads to dysfunction of Claudin-2 in intestinal inflammatory responses.

Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2019 Jan 1;25(1):97-110.

12. Zhang, J, Deletion of Sorting Nexin 27 Suppresses Proliferation and Migration in Highly Aggressive Breast Cancer Cells in vitro and in vivo. BMC Cancer (2019) 19:555

ANNUAL REPORT 23

SCHOLARLY ACTIVITIES

Frameshift NPPA Mutation Linked with Familial Atrial Fibrillation. J Mol Cell Cardiol.2019;132:24-35.

13. Dugum M, Association of Dietary Habits with Severity of Acute Pancreatitis. Curr Dev Nutr.

2018;2(12):nzy075. Epub 2018/12/21.

14. Mutlu EA, Inhalational exposure to particulate matter air pollution alters the composition of the gut microbiome. Environ Pollut. 2018 Sep;240:817-830.

8. Shah H, Phase I Study of Aurora A Kinase Inhibitor Alisertib (MLN8237) in Combination with Selective VEGFR Inhibitor Pazopanib for Therapy of Advanced Solid Tumors”- Am J Clin Oncol 2019; 42:413-420

HEMATOLOGY/ONCOLOGY

9. Venepalli NK, Phase I Study of IGF-Methotrexate Conjugate in the Treatment of Advanced Tumors Expressing IGF-1R – Am J Clin Oncol 2019

1. Niihara Y, Investigators of the Phase 3 Trial of l-Glutamine in Sickle Cell Disease. A Phase 3 Trial of l-Glutamine in Sickle Cell Disease. N Engl J Med. 2018 Jul 19;379(3):226-235. doi: 10.1056/ NEJMoa1715971.

10. Calip GS, Myelodysplastic Syndrome and Acute Myeloid Leukemia Following Use of Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factors in Older Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Patients. Cancer. 2018 Dec 12. cncr.31914.

2. Saraf S, HMOX1 and acute kidney injury in sickle cell anemia. Blood 2018; 132: 1621-1625.

11. Patel PR, Synergistic Cytotoxic Effect of Busulfan and the PARP Inhibitor Veliparib in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2019 May;25(5):855-860.

3. Raslan R, Hemolysis and hemolysisrelated complications in females versus males with sickle cell disease. Am J Hematol 2018; 93: E376-E380.

4. Tayo BO, Fixed low-dose hydroxyurea for the treatment of adults with sickle cell anemia in Nigeria. Am J Hematol 2018.

5. Pasquinelli MM, (2018) Outcomes From a Minority-Based Lung Cancer Screening Program vs the National Lung Screening Trial. JAMA Oncol.

Sep 1;4(9):1291-1293.

6. Huang L, (2018) Molecular Classification of Lymph Node Metastases Subtypes Predict for Survival in Head and Neck Cancer. Clin Cancer Res December 20.1078-0432.CCR-18-1884.

7. Hoskins K, A Feasibility Study of Breast Cancer Genetic Risk Assessment in a Federally Qualified Health Center. Cancer 2018 Sep 15;124(18):3733-3741. Epub 2018 Oct 15.

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12. Breuer E, Potassium channel activity controls breast cancer metastasis by affecting b-catenin signaling.

Cell Death and Disease, 2019 February 21.

13. Sweiss K, Acute Kidney Injury Within 90 Days of FluBu4 Predicts for Early and Late Mortality. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2018 Oct 19. s41409-018-0361-8.

14. Saraf SL, Haploidentical Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation Demonstrates Stable Engraftment in Adults with Sickle Cell Disease.

Biol Blood Marrow Transplant.

2018 Aug;24(8):1759-1765. j.bbmt.2018.03.031. Apr 12.

15. Senyuk V, Blockade of TNFα to Improve Human CD34+ Cell Repopulating Activity in Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation. Front Immunol. 2019 Jan 22;9: 3186.

PubMed PMID: 30723481.

INFECTIOUS DISEASES 1. Lodise TP, The Emperor’s New Clothes: Prospective Observational Evaluation of the Association between Initial Vancomycin Exposure and Failure Rates among Adult Hospitalized Patients with MRSA Bloodstream Infections (PROVIDE). Clin Infect Dis. 2019 Jun 3;. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciz460.

2. Bleasdale SC, The Impact of Antibiotic Stewardship Program Resources on Infection Prevention Programs. Clin Infect Dis. 2018 Nov 20;. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciy986.

3. Peña F, Zika Virus Epidemic in Pregnant Women, Dominican Republic, 2016-2017.Emerg Infect Dis. 2019 Feb;25(2):247-255. doi: 10.3201/eid2502.181054.

4. Pandit K, Anorectal tuberculosis as a chronic rectal mass mimicking rectal prolapse in a child – a case report. Annals of Medicine and Surgery. 36 (2018): 264-6.

5. Jarrett OD, Specific vaginal bacteria are associated with an increased risk of Trichomonas vaginalis acquisition in women. J Infect Dis. 2019 Sep 26;220(9):1503-1510.

6. Nagel E, Impact of the Ebola epidemic on clinic outcomes of HIV-infected soldiers and their dependents in Sierra Leone. Int J STD AIDS. 2019 Feb;30(2):106112. Epub 2018 Sep 19.

7. Novak R, For the HIV Outpatient Study Investigators. Risk Factors and Incidence of Syphilis in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)–Infected Persons: The HIV Outpatient Study, 1999–2015. Clin Infect Dis. 2018 Apr 24.

8. MCB Mendoza, Time spent with HIV viral load above 1500 copies/ ml among patients in HIV care, 2000-2014.AIDS. 2018 Sep 10;32(14):2033-2042.

9. Li S, Fc gamma receptor polymorphisms modulated the vaccine effect on HIV-1 risk in the HVTN 505 HIV vaccine trial. J Virol.

2019 Aug 21. pii: JVI.02041-18. doi: 10.1128/JVI.02041-18.

10. Hong, JS, Identifying Protective Factors that Potentially Buffer the Association between Peer Victimization and Weapon-Carrying among U.S. Adolescents. School of Psychology International, 40(4), 381-402.

11. Hong, JS, Pathways from peer victimization to sexual risk-taking behavior among African American adolescents in Chicago’s Southside.

Psychology of Violence, 9(1), 88-97.

12. Tan WP, Predictors of fluoroquinolone-resistant bacteria in the rectal vault of men undergoing prostate biopsy | Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis. 2018 Oct 2.

13. Moritz D, Recovery of Cryptococcus gattii from an Infected VentriculoPeritoneal Shunt in Illinois | Emerg Infect Dis. 2018;24(7):1382-1383. https://dx.doi.org/10.3201/ eid2407.171754 14. Umar E, (2019). The influence of self-efficacy on the relationship between depression and HIVrelated stigma with ART adherence among the youth in Malawi. Jurnal Keperawatan Indonesia, 22 (2), 147–160 15. Donenberg G, Pathways from witnessing community violence to mental health problems among South African adolescents. South African Medical Journal

NEPHROLOGY 1. Cedillo-Couvert EA, CRIC Study Investigators. Patient Experience with Primary Care Physician and Risk for Hospitalization in Hispanics with CKD. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol.

2018 Nov 7;13(11):1659-1667.

2. Desai N, CKD and ESRD in US Hispanics. Am J Kidney Dis. 2019 Jan;73(1):102-111.

3. Hynes DM, Integrating a Medical Home in an Outpatient Dialysis Setting: Effects on Health-Related Quality of Life. J Gen Intern Med. 2019 Jul 24.

4. Lederer S, The National Kidney Foundation of Illinois KidneyMobile: a mobile resource for community based screenings of chronic kidney disease and its risk factors. BMC Nephrol. 2018 Oct 25;19(1):295 5. Lieberthal W, AMPK-mediated activation of Akt protects renal tubular cells from stress-induced apoptosis in vitro and ameliorates ischemic AKI in vivo. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2019 Jul 1;317(7):F1-F11.

6. Metwally AA, Utilizing longitudinal microbiome taxonomic profiles to predict food allergy via Long Short-Term Memory networks. PLoS Comput Biol. 2019 Feb 4;15(2).

7. Ranjan R, Multiomic Strategies Reveal Diversity and Important Functional Aspects of Human Gut Microbiome. Biomed Res Int. 2018 Nov 14;2018:6074918.

8. Rauch J, β2-Glycoprotein I-Reactive T Cells in Autoimmune Disease.

Front Immunol. 2018 Dec 10;9:2836.

9. Ricardo AC, CRIC Investigators.

Sex-Related Disparities in CKD Progression. J Am Soc Nephrol.

2019 Jan;30(1):137-146.

PULMONARY, CRITICAL CARE, SLEEP AND ALLERGY 1. Moon HG, Airway Epithelial Cell-Derived Colony Stimulating Factor-1 Promotes Allergen Sensitization. Immunity. 2018

Aug 21;49(2):275-287.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2018.06.009.

Epub 2018 Jul 24.

2. Turturice BA, Lower perinatal exposure to Proteobacteria is an independent predictor of early childhood wheezing. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2019 Jan;143(1):419421.e5. doi: 10.1016/j. jaci.2018.06.051. Epub 2018 Sep 8.

3. Lazarus SC, Mometasone or Tiotropium in Mild Asthma with a Low Sputum Eosinophil Level.

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute AsthmaNet. N Engl J Med. 2019 May 23;380(21):2009-2019.

4. Fancher IS, Potential Strategies to Reduce Blood Pressure in Treatment-Resistant Hypertension Using Food and Drug Administration-Approved Nanodrug Delivery Platforms. 2019 Feb;73(2):250-257. doi:10.1161/ HYPERTENSIONAHA.118.12005.

5. Pasquinelli MM, Outcomes From a Minority-Based Lung Cancer Screening Program vs the National Lung Screening Trial. JAMA Oncol. 2018 Sep 1;4(9):1291-1293. doi:10.1001/ jamaoncol.2018.2823.

RHEUMATOLOGY 1. Van Raemdonck K, CCL21/CCR7 signaling in macrophages promotes joint inflammation and Th17mediated osteoclast formation in rheumatoid arthritis. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2019 Jul 24. doi: 10.1007/ s00018-019-03235-w.

2. Kim SJ, Macrophages are the primary effector cells in IL-7induced arthritis. Cell Mol Immunol.

2019 Jun 13. doi: 10.1038/ s41423-019-0235-z. [Epub ahead of print] PMID:31197255

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GLOBAL HEALTH AFRICA Since 2007, Dr. Geri Donenberg has led and co-led six NIH-funded global health studies focused on improving mental health, reducing sexual risk taking, increasing HIV testing and counseling, improving uptake and linkage to care for antiretroviral therapy (ART) and preexposure prophylaxis, and improving ART adherence among adolescents and young adults. She recently completed a 2-arm randomized controlled trial sought to improve ART adherence among Rwandan 10-21 year-olds living with HIV (R01HD074977; Cohen, Donenberg, Nsanzimana, MPI). Young adults 22-25 years old were trained to deliver a trauma-informed cognitive behavioral intervention to their younger peers. The intervention is being adapted for four African countries (South Africa, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Botswana) as part of IMPAACT 2016. In this new study, Dr. Donenberg (with D. Dow) will test the efficacy of the intervention on mental health and ART adherence for 15-19 year-olds living with HIV. Adaptations and translations of all study materials into six African languages are underway, and the study will open to accrual in 2020.

Dr. Donenberg is leading a study to adapt and evaluate Informed, Motivated, And Responsible Adolescents and Adults (IMARA), a mother-daughter HIV-prevention program for the South African context (UG3HD096875; Donenberg, Bekker, MPI).

Findings from a 2-arm randomized controlled trial with African American mothers and daughters in Chicago showed highly promising effects; girls who participated in IMARA showed a 43% reduction in incident sexually transmitted infections at 12-month follow-up compared to a health promotion control group. IMARA is one of eight research teams in the NIH-sponsored PATC3H Consortium (Prevention and Treatment through a Comprehensive Care Continuum for HIV-affected Adolescents in Resource Constrained Settings) examining optimal strategies to identify and link to care youth at risk of HIV-infection and those living with HIV across sub-Saharan Africa and in Brazil.

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IMARA Team

SIERRA LEONE - WEST AFRICA Witnessing the devastating effects of Ebola in Sierra Leone Dr. Olamide Jarrett was motivated to take a yearlong leave of absence from UIC in 2015 to join the CDC in Sierra Leone as their medical management lead for Sierra Leone Trial to Introduce a Vaccine Against Ebola (STRIVE), a Phase 2/3 clinical trial testing the safety of a candidate Ebola vaccine in Sierra Leone. In this position, she served as the lead technical support for the collection of data on adverse events and serious adverse events and these safety data contributed to the vaccines FDA approval in December 2019.

Dr. Jarrett has worked to expand global health education at UIC and in 2019 joined the UIC Center for Global Health as the Associate Director of Academic Programs, where she has worked to revamp the mentoring program for medical students in the global health track and expand their research opportunities.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/GUATEMALA Dr. Max Brito developed and leads an extramural field elective, based in the Dominican Republic (DR), to teach about tropical infectious diseases, social determinants of health and the practice of medicine in resource-constrained settings. The 2 week trip includes a series of lectures on tropical medicine and global health, as well as rounds with the ID services of

two hospitals. Over the past 16 years, more than 130 trainees have participated in the Department of Medicine’s (DOM) Global Medicine Elective and this educational activity has become one of the most popular and requested in the department.

Dr. Stockton Mayer, co-director of the Urban Global Medicine program, partners with the School of Public Health and the School of Nursing to deliver care to People Who Inject Drugs, particularly related to skin and soft tissue infections in our community clinic sites and by mobile van. This program has been so successful that he is adding a second clinic per week, and has received support from the CDPH for this effort. This program has drawn considerable interest from our urban global health residents.

In 2019, The Urban Global Medicine program coordinated the expansion of HIV services to the Eastern Region of Guatemala. The new expansion clinic represents a partnership between UIC, The Jalapa Department of Public Health, and The Infectious Disease Clinic at Hospital Roosevelt. The clinic, located in Jalapa, Guatemala, opened in early January Drs. Max Brito andservices StocktontoMayer withLiving residents the in and provides HIV People WithinHIV Dominican Republic the Departments of Jalapa, El Progreso, and Chiquimula. Drs. Mayer and Brito lead the project. The clinic aims to provide regional medical care, ollaborative educational opportunities, and collaborative avenues to scholarly activity.

INDIA Dr. Vijay Yeldandi works with Laboratory Quality Systems in HIV (LaQSH) for establishing models of private public partnerships for HIV laboratory strengthening, enhancing laboratory strategic information by developing “nacoprayogshala” a web based portal for National EQAS, workforce development, and innovation for alternative specimen transport and patient centric differentiated care models for specimen collection.

Drs. Max Brito and Stockton Mayer with residents in the DR.

to PLHIV for management of TB at ART centres with formulation of national guidelines, for implementation of 3Is and provision of daily anti tuberculosis treatment. In addition, Dr. Yeldandi has worked on Airborne Infection Control (AIC) and adoption of cough etiquette, signage, improved ventilation, and infected particle dilution to prevent TB transmission in government ART Centers.

The e-NISCHIT initiative, a virtual case-based learning model for building clinical capacity of the staff of ART centres on HIV-TB case management using the “ECHO platform”, was rolled out which has resulted in improved case management of TB/HIV and MDR-TB/ HIV. AIC of TB, active contact detection, diagnosis of latent TB infection (LTBI) and strengthening the referral system of HIV-TB patients to VL testing in the Mumbai Municipality HTC Centres. These efforts were recognized by United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as “Global TB Elimination Champions” on World TB day 2019.

The National Initiative to Strengthen and Coordinate HIV-TB response(NISCHIT), ‘Single Window’ services

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GLOBAL HEALTH PAKISTAN A small notice on a bulletin board at the annual conference of the American Association for Study of Liver Disease in 2016, led Dr. Ammara Naveed to collaborate with a group of individuals trying to establish robust hepatology services in the city of Lahore, Pakistan.

Viral hepatitis, especially hepatitis C is the most common cause of decompensated liver disease requiring liver transplantation in Pakistan. The country houses the second highest number of hepatitis C virus (HCV) individuals around the world. Despite Dr. Naveed going to medical school in Pakistan, it was eye opening for her to read one article after another about the health care associated spread of hepatitis C. Tremendous efforts at scaling up testing and treatment; paralleled with prevention efforts were needed on the ground.

Through funding provided by Government of Punjab; Dr. Naveed was part of a team that set up twenty-four outreach clinics providing care for viral hepatitis under the banner of a program called Hepatitis Prevention and Treatment program. Dr. Naveed has been involved in capacity building, protocol development, monitoring

Research team: UGH Residents, Dr. Amina Basha and Dr. Ghulam Karim, with Dr. Ammara Naveed and the local PKLI&RC team.

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outcomes and patient empowerment through education on risk factors at these clinics. From August 2017 to July 2019, these clinics have provided care to 340,000 patients across Punjab, Pakistan, with 97% cure rates in those diagnosed with hepatitis C. With interest from a group of urban global health residents form University of Illinois in collaboration with a local team, we are now trying to work in the community. We recently did a survey on the current trends of injection practices in community clinics in Lahore, Pakistan and we are now planning interventions to assist the health care community in improving its current practices in line with WHO standards.

UIC GLOBALBMT (Nepal, India, Cuba, Greece, Ukraine, Nigeria, and Bolivia) Patients with severe blood cancers or non-malignant blood diseases can often be saved only with a bone marrow transplant (BMT). However, in low-middle income countries (LMICs) this procedure is rarely accessible either due to the lack of physician training, hospital infrastructures, drug availability or unaffordable cost.

In 2011, the UIC GlobalBMT initiative was launched to partner with hospitals treating patients with hematologic diseases in LMICs where BMT is highly needed and patients cannot afford to travel to other countries to receive treatment.

Collaborative agreements for developing BMT were signed over the last 9 years in Kathmandu (Nepal), Bangalore (India), Havana (Cuba), Ioannina (Greece), Kyiv (Ukraine) and Lagos and Ibadan (Nigeria). In 2019, a new project was started also in La Paz (Bolivia).

The UIC GlobalBMT program has been focused on promoting continuous education and research activities to sustain the growth of BMT; promoting quality standards in BMT for better patient outcomes; providing a continuous remote support to clinical BMT programs in LMIC. In 2019, CME events were held in Bangalore, Kathmandu, Cuba and Bolivia. In addition, the collaboration with the UI Center for Global Health has allowed faculty members in the Division of Hematology/Oncology, Division of Infectious Disease and Department of Pathology to organize an annual GlobalBMT Training program for physicians from LMIC at UIC. In 2019, hematologists from Kyiv, Ioannina, Ibadan and Lagos spent 6 weeks on campus to participate in clinical and laboratory training, quality management and attend 12 lectures.

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FOSTERING A CULTURE OF DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION Approximately two-thirds of patients at UIH are African American or Latino. The student body of the UIC Medical School is one of the most diverse in the nation with approximately 25% of underrepresented minority (URM) students. In contrast, prior to 2013, only 6% of internal medicine residents were URMs. The Diversity and Inclusion Task Force (DITF) was first installed in January of 2013 to strategize and promote a culture of inclusion regardless of ethnicity, gender and sexual identification or economic background.

Members (2018-2019 ): Alana Biggers, MD, MPH (CoChair); Olga Garcia-Bedoya, MD (Co-Chair); Max Brito, MD, MPH; Jorge Cavero, MD; Claudia Mercedes Lora, MD; Sharmilee Nyenhuis, MD; Jorge Ramallo, MD, MPH; Ramon Garcia, MD; Paula Allen-Meares, PhD; Geri Donenberg, PhD; Patrick Godwin, MD; Karriem Watson, DHSc; Fred Zar, MD; Anna Maria Gramelspacher, MD, Min Joo, MD; Alfredo Mena Lora, MD; Rachael King, MD, Lisa Butler, MPA FY 19 ACCOMPLISHMENTS Implementation of a restructured URM Mentorship Program In collaboration with the Urban Health program and the Department of Pediatrics, the URM mentorship program exposes medical students to the daily practice of internal medicine (IM) and subspecialties.

Students join a faculty and resident mentor 8 times a year in clinic, hospital rounds and/or procedure rooms. Implementation of the restructured curriculum occurred in FY2019 to better incorporate with the COM curriculum change. Drs. Claudia Lora and Sharmilee Nyenhuis led the Urban Health Mentorship program along with Dr. Kristen Kenan from pediatrics.

Students received formal and informal sessions on the patient experience, importance of mentorship, career advancement, test taking, and residency application.

Internal Medicine (IM) Summer Immersion Program Our annual summer externship in IM launched in summer 2016. Three URM medical students from UIC were accepted for summer 2018 (FY19).

The aim of the program encourages and supports

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students considering careers in IM by providing first-hand exposure to the breadth of opportunities available in general internal medicine and its subspecialties. During a 2-week rotation students receive clinical exposure to outpatient and inpatient IM. Students participate in community experiences working alongside faculty at community clinics and nursing homes. Additionally, students submit a case presentation abstract as a scholarly project to the the American College of Physicians (ACP) regional student competition.

First DITF Retreat - July 9, 2018 The DITF, Women in Medicine group, IM program leadership and chief residents were invited to a half day retreat to discuss the residency review process and establish goals for FY19. The goals for FY19 were; develop an enhanced approach to review applications using the Holistic Review; improve interview process with more holistic questions to improve our residency recruitment; leverage website and increase our social media presence; and enhance support systems to ensure that residents succeed regardless of background. The first two goals were implemented.

The remaining projects are ongoing and will continue to develop over the next few academic years.

Residency Interview Process The DITF with the input from the Clinical Competency Committee developed new interview questions for the residency interview process. Questions were designed to capture characteristics of the interviewees. Mission fit points were assigned based off the interviewees responses. Our goal was to better identify students who wanted to work to enhance the mission of the COM and the DOM. The top attributes captured from the survey were: medical knowledge; communication skills; strong work ethic; cultural humility and unbiased attitude; empathy; reliability and dependability; ability to work well with teams; good bedside manner; resilience and adaptability; professionalism.

DITF Mixer

From this process, potential applicants are now evaluated for being a fit for the mission of the DOM and the COM. This represents a 12% increase from FY 2018.

Development of new website A new website was developed to provide general information about the DITF and its initiatives. The website will continue to develop as more initiatives are created.

Residency Review Process The IM program leadership relies on the DITF to examine an applicant’s potential for an academic career. DITF reviewed, provided direct input and participated in the scoring process of the ERAS applications for URMs applying to the UIC IM program.

URMs represented 22% of the 2019 residents.

DITF Applicant Mixer During Interview Season IM residents and chief residents contacted URM applicants prior to their visit to UIC to introduce themselves and answer questions about the program’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. Interviewee’s are invited to an URM and LGBTQ applicant social happy hour to foster camaraderie and encourage applicants to directly ask questions to residents.

Contact information for LGBTQ identifying residents to learn more about LGBTQ life at UIC. National Medical Student Conferences The DITF participates at national and regional meetings of the Latino Medical Student Association

(LMSA) and Student National Medical Association (SNMA). These are the largest national organizations attracting students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. Since 2014, the DOM has sponsored a booth at both national society meetings to highlight the DOM and its training programs. Several faculty members from the DOM have served as speakers at these meetings, increasing the visibility of DOM programs. We have increased our engagement with URM students by over 200% since 2015. The number of URM residents in the IM residency training program have ranged from 14-35% since 2015 (a year since first attending the conferences). Prior to increased participation at SNMA and LMSA, the number of URM trainees ranged from 2-11%.

Story of successful recruit I first encountered faculty from the University of Illinois at Chicago during my first year of medical school at the SNMA Annual Medical Education Conference. I was impressed to see an internal medicine residency program invest in providing the opportunity for black attendings and resident physicians to recruit a diverse residency cohort. AMEC is an inspirational conference to begin with, and an added bonus was to fellowship with physicians whose medical mission aligned with mine. I wanted to care for patients who were un- or underinsured and who - most importantly - looked like me. Since joining UIC as an internal medicine resident, I have had wonderful experiences with my patients and new colleagues and have undoubtedly been supported as an underrepresented resident physician.

- Tori Gartmond, MD

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DOM IN FY2019 The UIC Chapter for the American Medicine Women’s Association hosted the Women in Medicine: Pathways to Careers and Change event. The event featured a panel of physicians and women’s health professionals from the University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Medicine who discussed becoming a leader in medicine and advocacy for women’s health. May 2019

Ukrainian Medical Association of North America (UMANA) Foundation’s Dr. Maria Hrycelak and Dr. George Hrycelak met with UIC’s Dr. Damiano Rondelli, Dr. Daniel Hryhorczuk and Dr. Patricia Finn on March 5 to deliver a donation to the Global BMT Training program. March 2019

Dr. George T. Kondos taught cardiovascular assessment skills to DOM Nurse Practitioners/ APRN’s via Harvey, the cardiopulmonary patient simulator which realistically simulates nearly any cardiac disease at the touch of a button by varying blood pressure, pulses, heart sounds, murmurs and breath sounds. Harvey is in use at nearly 700 medical centers around the world.

Attendees received 2 CEU’s that can be applied towards their license. April 2019

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Mentorship and career discussion with visiting professor Dr. Bairey-Merz and fellows before Medicine Grand Rounds. February 2019

Ideas on Tap Research Mixer, June 2019

Faculty and Staff Service Year Awards Celebration for 10, 15, 20 and 30 Years of Service. Decmeber 2018

In February of 2019 the American Heart Association (AHA) held their annual Go Red for Women Campaign Executive Luncheon. These events help the AHA raise awareness in the community about heart disease, encourage women entering STEM careers, and improve advances in our understanding of gender and heart disease. UIC cardiology supported the initiative this year with cardiology fellows and faculty in attendance.

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FACULTY AFFAIRS

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ANNUAL REPORT 35

DIVISIONAL ROCKSTARS ELLIOTT GROVES, MD Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine Cardiology Elliott Groves, MD, serves as medical director of the Structural Heart Disease (SHD) program at UIC. He started our SHD program in March 2018 and has performed nearly 200 structural procedures including transcatheter aortic and mitral valve replacements, therapies for mitral regurgitation, ASD/PFO closure and left atrial appendage occlusion. He has helped to move UIC into the current era of percutaneous approaches for the most common structural heart conditions.

In addition to his structural practice, Dr. Groves is a very active coronary and peripheral interventionalist at UIC and JBVA. He performs some of the most complex PCI procedures at UIC and is one of the highest volume operators for chronically occluded coronary arteries in the region. His efforts have not gone unnoticed as witnessed by multiple invitations to speak at national cardiology meetings. He is a passionate educator and works to improve the quality of interventional procedures at UIC and JBVA. MIN JOO, MD, MPH Associate Professor of Medicine Pulmonary, Critical Care, Sleep and Allergy Min Joo, MD, has been named a Castle Connelly Top Doctor each of the past 5 years. Dr. Joo is director of the UI Health Pulmonary Function Laboratory and director of the Tobacco Treatment Center. Her research focuses on improving the quality and effectiveness of healthcare delivery in COPD and asthma and is supported by her AHRQ-funded R01 entitled “Reducing Diagnostic Error to Improve Patient Safety in COPD 36 DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE

and Asthma”. Dr. Joo is a member of the Clinical Competency Committee for both the Internal Medicine residency and the Pulmonary and Critical Care fellowship programs. Dr. Joo serves on the DOM Diversity Inclusion Task Force and is a member of the UIC Senate and Senate Executive Committee. Externally, Dr. Joo serves on two panels for the National Committee for Quality Assurance. She is a member of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee for the COPD Foundation and a member of the Informing Health Care Decisions with Observational Research Working Group for the American Thoracic Society. Locally, she has served as an expert panelist at the Lung Health Expo sponsored by the Respiratory Health Association. Dr. Joo is a highly valued and essential member of our faculty.

SEAN KOPPE, MD Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine Gastroenterology/Hepatology Sean Koppe, MD, is the director of Hepatology, associate section chief and medical director of the Liver Transplant Service at UI Health. He provides compassionate and comprehensive care for patients with advanced liver disease and facilitates the evaluation for liver transplant. Since joining UIC in 2014, he has spearheaded efforts at faculty recruitment to build a world-class team. In addition to his busy clinics at UI Health and the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, his efforts to establish and maintain outreach clinics throughout Illinois have led to a thriving liver transplant program, with over 50 liver transplants performed in 2019.

Dr. Koppe is a nationally known expert on liver diseases, and has worked with UIC housestaff in publishing manuscripts on cirrhosis and viral hepatitis. His calm and gentle demeanor are respected by

patients and colleagues alike. Dr. Koppe’s efforts in clinical care and education were recognized when he was awarded this year’s UI Health Physician of the Year.

ALFREDO MENA LORA, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine Infectious Diseases Alfredo Mena Lora, MD, is the medical director of Infection Control and Antimicrobial Stewardship at Saint Anthony Hospital (SAH). Dr. Mena Lora works with Dr. Bleasdale on CDC-funded studies focusing on surgical site infections and C difficile stewardship of testing. Implementation of an Antimicrobial Stewardship program at SAH led to multiple presentations at the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and the Infectious Diseases Society of America conferences, and an implementation award by the Illinois Hospital Association.

Dr. Mena Lora also works on defining antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial use in his native Dominican Republic, where he has reported on multidrug resistant organisms in the community and in various local hospitals. Dr. Mena Lora enjoys teaching at all levels. He is an assistant medicine clerkship director for M3s, leads the medicine interest group for M1-M2s and is an assistant program director for the internal medicine residency program and infectious diseases training program.

SARAH MESSMER, MD Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine Academic Internal Medicine Sarah Messmer, MD, joined the DOM in July 2018. Her clinical interest includes immigrant and refugee health, LGBTQ and gender-affirming care,

global health, and opioid use disorder. As PI and co-director of a federally-funded grant through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Dr. Messmer is committed to advancing education on opioid use disorders for medical students, residents and faculty. Dr. Messmer is co-investigator on Project STAMINA (Syringe Service Treatment Access for MedicationAssisted Intervention through NAvigation), awarded by the Arnold Foundation, which will assess implementation and test the effectiveness of a model for linking people who use opioids to evidence-based medication assisted treatment through a syringe service program. Dr. Messmer has key roles on other UIC collaborations including: Milesquare “Breaking Down Silos” , the Center for Global Health, and Medication Assisted Treatment OB Training and Technical Assistance 2019.

Dr. Messmer’s accomplishments over her first year as faculty are nothing short of impressive!

SIRIMON REUTRAKUL, MD Associate Professor Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Dr. Sirimon Reutrakul is an internationally recognized diabetes researcher and educator. Dr. Reutrakul has obtained a NIH R01 as a co-investigator, two pilot and feasibility grants (NIDDK) as principal investigator, and one pilot and feasibility grant (NIDDK) as a coinvestigator. Dr. Reutrakul produced over 20 publications, including peerreviewed senior author papers and articles. Her work focuses on sleep and circadian related to metabolism, and her work consistently appears in top ranked sleep journals. She has also helped develop the sleep course, Sleep and Glucose Metabolism, at the College of Nursing. For over 10 years, Dr. Reutrakul has contributed to diabetes care and education in Thailand. She is president of Academic Affairs and the chair of the Certified Diabetes Educator Examination Committee for the Thai Association of Diabetes Educators. Dr. Reutrakul has a tireless work ethic, with a focus on our collective mission. She is a leader in diabetes research at our institution.

STEPHANIE TOTH-MANIKOWSKI, MD, MHS Assistant Professor of Medicine Nephrology Dr. Stephanie TothManikowski joined the DOM in July 2018.

Her research focus is on reducing health disparities in chronic kidney disease. She was awarded an

NIH Diversity Supplement to evaluate the impact of health care access in chronic kidney disease and was selected as a UIC KL2 Clinical and Translational Science Affiliate Scholar. Additionally, she received the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois Young Investigator Award to conduct a pilot study evaluating the impact of an intervention to improve sleep quality in individuals with chronic kidney disease.

Dr. Toth-Manikowski was selected as a semi-finalist for the Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development program, a competitive award funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Clinically, she is working with maternal fetal medicine providers to streamline interdisciplinary care for patients. She has taken on a role as a home therapies dialysis provider and along with Drs. Claudia Lora and Julia Brown is implementing an urgent start peritoneal dialysis program for patients admitted to the University of Illinois Hospital. We are delighted to have Dr. Toth-Manikowski on our team and look forward to watching her promising career evolve in the coming years.

DAWEN ZHANG, MD Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine Division of Rheumatology Dawen Zhang, MD, joined our faculty August 2019.

He is passionate about providing outstanding clinical care for patients.

He is an excellent teacher and mentor to the fellows, residents, and students. He is developing a structured program of musculoskeletal ultrasounds in the diagnosis and the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, crystal induced arthritis, and osteoarthritis. Our fellows and faculty seek out his input and advice as a valued resource and a role model.

He is well received by the staff, faculty, fellows, and trainees for his incredible devotion towards teaching.

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FACULTY AFFAIRS

PRITESH PATEL, MD Associate Professor Hematology/Oncology Pritesh Patel, MD is the associate director of the Blood & Marrow Transplant (BMT) program in the Division of Hematology and Oncology. His research focus has been primarily in BMT and in a cancer, multiple myeloma, that is two-time more prevalent in African American patients. Dr. Patel is incredibly loved by his patients for his compassionate and very knowledgeable care. He is the leader of a unique myeloma program at UIC that combines a multidisciplinary clinical approach to innovative research studying immunologic biomarkers predicting outcomes after BMT, developing targeted therapies in BMT for myeloma, such as the use of Total Marrow Irradiation, or PK-based dosing of melphalan, to increase efficacy of BMT; as

well as testing new therapeutic strategies impairing DNA repair mechanism in myeloma cells in preclinical experimental models. Dr. Patel’s energy, competence and humanity make him certainly a great colleague and a “rockstar”.

AWARDS AND PROMOTIONS 2019 Department of Medicine Faculty of the Year Dr. Joan Briller was recognized for the excellence she has shown in teaching, research and service.

Dr. Briller is nationally and internationally known for her work in women and heart disease and in evaluating heart disease in high risk pregnancies.

She has not only advocated for women faculty and trainees at UIC, she also spends much of her professional and personal time working on issues related to women’s health.

2019 Department of Medicine Rising Star Dr. Ananya Gangopadhyaya was recognized for her strong potential to be a future leader in her field. Dr. Gangopadhyaya is an outstanding clinician educator who has been integral in the development of curricula in a variety of formats including didactic, team-based learning, standardized patients and simulation. She is innovative, compassionate, student and patientcentered and provides high quality care.

Pictured left to right: Drs. Mark Rosenblatt (COM Dean), Ananya Gangopadhyaya, Patricia Finn, Joan Briller, Dawood Darbar, and George Kondos

UI Health 2019 Physician of the Year Dr. Sean Koppe was named UI Health’s 2019 Physician of the Year! Dr. Koppe is director of Hepatology in the Department of Medicine. The Department of Medicine had 5 nominees for the Physician of the Year award and 3 nominees for the Resident/ Fellow of the Year award. Dr. Koppe and all the nominees continuously put patients first, collaborate with other departments, respect their peers, foster an environment that encourages respect, integrity, fairness, and diversity, and personify the core values of our mission at UI Health.

Pictured left to right: Drs. Heather Pendergrast, Terry Vanden Hoek, Sean Koppe, and Mike Zenn

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Paul K. Schlesinger, MD JBVA Attending of the Year Award Dr. Mayank Kansal Clifford G. Pilz, MD House Staff Attending Physician of the Year Award Dr. Amer Ardati 2019 Alpha Omega Alpha Faculty Teaching Award Recipient Dr. Fred Zar 2019 C. Thomas Bombeck Award for Excellence in Medical Education Recipient Dr. Mahesh Patel Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Medical Education Recipients Drs. Pavan Srivastava (M3), Fred Zar (M3) Ananya Gangopadhyaya (M4) Pictured left to right: Drs. Mayank Kansal and Amer Ardati

Physicians Awarded Certificate of Excellence in Teaching Award Michelle Barnes George Kondos Anne Polick Yuval Eisenberg Melvin Lopata Hartwell Rogers Michael Fischer Stockton Mayer Jeffrey Ryan Ananya Gangopadhyaya Dan Mihailescu Santosh Saraf Patrick Godwin Richard Novak Jalene Shoener Min Joo Mahesh Patel Paul Szyperski

Stefan Tchernodrinski Andrew Trotter Sarah Unterman Fred Zar

FACULTY PROMOTIONS Shiva Arami, MD Professor

Michael Fischer, MD Professor

Sara Smith, MD Associate Professor

Alex Auseon, DO Professor

Ananya Gangopadhyaya, MD Associate Professor

Pavan Srivastava, MD Associate Professor

Shane Borkowsky, MD Associate Professor

Sharmilee Nyenhuis, MD Associate Professor

Tom Stamos, MD Professor

Maximo Brito, MD Professor

Santosh Saraf, MD Associate Professor

Lisa Tussing-Humphreys, PhD Associate Professor

James Bui, MD Professor

Rob Sargis, MD Associate Professor

Karen Vuckovic, PhD Associate Professor

Susan Corbridge, PhD, APRN, FAANP Professor

Shiva Shahrara, PhD Professor

ANNUAL REPORT 39

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IN MEMORIAM Remembering THOMAS DEAN STAMOS (1963-2018) Thomas Dean Stamos, MD, professor of medicine, colleague and friend passed away on Friday, December 7, 2018. Dr. Stamos was revered for his exemplary leadership.

In the Division of Cardiology, he held positions as clinical chief, director of Heart Failure, director of the Echocardiography Lab, medical center director for the Heart Center Outpatient Clinic, and director for Cardiac Rehabilitation. He was the program director for the Cardiovascular Diseases Fellowship program for ten years.

In the Department of Medicine, he was an associate head, member of the Clinical Affairs Council, and was elected to the Advisory Committee. As a testament to his excellence, he was the recipient of the Department of Medicine Faculty of the Year award in 2015 and the Medicine Residency Teaching Award in 2017.

Dr. Stamos obtained his MD degree from Rush Medical College and his master’s in public health at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He completed internal medicine residency at University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, Madison, WI, where he was also chief resident. Prior to joining UIC in 2005, Dr Stamos was an assistant professor of medicine at Northwestern University and Rush Medical College.

Dr. Stamos embodied the standards we expect in a teacher and educator. He had a compassionate and gifted approach to teaching and a devotion to the obligation of educating the next generation of physicians that embody our core mission.

Dr. Stamos was an expert in cardiac imaging and a recognized leader in the field of echocardiography. His clinical interests included valvular heart disease, transesophageal echocardiography, and congestive heart failure. He had an impressive record of scholarly activity, having published more than 50 journal articles and book chapters. Dr. Stamos was a leading authority on healthcare disparities in heart failure and developed unique heart failure programs targeted at decreasing readmissions and improving care for vulnerable patient populations. He was a frequently invited speaker at local, national, and international meetings.

Tom was a devoted husband to his wife Julie, and a loving father to his three children, Dana, Gayle and Luke.

Always known for his equipose, he was not neutral about his beloved World Series winning Chicago Cubs!

He tackled his illness with great bravery and continued his care of patients. He was a model of strength and resilience. It is a true honor to have known this spectacular clinician, educator and leader.

He will be in our hearts forever and we will miss him tremendously.

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DIVISION HIGHLIGHTS ACADEMIC INTERNAL MEDICINE AND GERIATRICS (AIM) CLINICAL In FY19, the Division of Academic Internal Medicine welcomed three new faculty members: Kelsie Avants, DO, Michael Charles, MD, and Sarah Messmer, MD. Outpatient care is provided at four on-site clinics and one off-site clinic at the South Loop Physicians Group. We provide geriatric care at three nursing home facilities: Symphony at Aria (Hillside, IL), Center Home for Hispanic Elderly (Chicago, IL) and Barton Senior Residences of Chicago (Chicago, IL). The division has four robust general medicine inpatient services at the University of Illinois hospital and runs an observation unit in collaboration with the Emergency Department.

In FY19, AIM spearheaded the following three clinical projects with the goal of improved patient care and patient care experience.

• Expansion of interprofessional services at the South Loop Physicians Group Clinic.

• Efforts to decrease the no-show rate in the Primary Care Plus outpatient clinic by 3%.

• Improve access to geriatric care for new patients over the age of 72 looking to establish primary care and expand access to annual Medicare wellness visits.

The Geriatric program provides comprehensive geriatric assessments and management of acute and chronic diseases through Consultative and Primary Geriatric Care to a diverse patient population in a variety of settings. In FY20, AIM will develop a program in aging and prevention, led by Dr. Jun Ma. The program will integrate research, training, and education in the field of aging. This will include mentoring junior faculty and 2nd year research fellows in the Geriatric Fellowship program.

EDUCATION All AIM faculty actively participate in educational efforts at UIC including undergraduate and graduate medical education. Our faculty hold leadership roles in both the internal medicine residency program and in the medical school. Over the past year, AIM faculty have contributed more effort to the medical school curriculum reform, than any other unit in the College of Medicine.

The Geriatric Medicine Fellowship program at UIC is a one year highly collaborative ACGME-accredited program. Our geriatric fellowship program is one of the largest programs in the country that provides medical and inter-disciplinary education on normal aging, geriatric chronic diseases, palliative care and evidence-based senior healthcare. The goal of our program is not only to create future leaders in Geriatric Medicine, but to prepare fellows to succeed in clinical and academic settings by providing them exceptional clinical training with opportunities for participation in research. There are many structured electives including palliative care, wound care & rheumatology.

In FY19, four fellows completed training through our fellowship program.

The Clinical Leaders and Academic Scholars (CLASS) fellowship program launched on July 1, 2018, led

by Saul Weiner, MD. The fellowship graduated one fellow and enrolled two fellows this year: one fellow specializing in point-of-care ultrasound; and the second focused on oncogeneralist medicine.

Faculty at our South Loop Physician’s Group. Pictured left to right: Drs. Kelsie Avants, Rachael King, Katie Mena, and Michael Charles

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Dr. Joan Briller, professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology, receiving the Department of Medicine Faculty of the Year Award.

Dean Mark Rosenblatt (left), Drs. Joan Briller (center) and Patricia Finn (right).

SCHOLARSHIP AIM received 14 new sponsored awards; six were federally funded (non-VA), three VA funded, as well as non-federally sponsored funding. Some of our new awards include an NIH (R01HD097171); MPI: Rachel Caskey, MD, MAPP (UIC) and Saida Haider, MD (University of Chicago); and a NIH Common Fund (UH3HL132368), MPI: Jun Ma, MD (UIC) and Leanne Williams, PhD (Stanford University).

AIM faculty published over 50 peer-reviewed publications and gave over 70 presentations at the University, local, regional, national and international conferences.

CARDIOLOGY CLINICAL Our cardiology clinical practice experienced a compound annualized growth rate of 12% in 2018-2019 with progressive increases in case volumes across all services, invasive and noninvasive procedures, and imaging laboratories.

Charges and collections from patient care in the Division experienced growth exceeding 10%. The cardiac catheterization laboratory logged over 750 procedures in 2018-2019 with a 16% increase in charges and 13% increase in patient volumes. The

Clinical Electrophysiology (EP) Laboratory continues to grow with a 8% annualized growth rate and over 500 procedures performed. This growth necessitated building a second dedicated EP lab that opens fall of 2019. There continues to be steady growth in the non-invasive laboratories with a 28% increase in professional charges and an annualized growth of 20%. Our Heart Center expanded services with an overall 9% increase in patients seen and over 11,000 patient visits. This growth in clinical and procedural volumes does not include the affiliated Jesse Brown Veterans Administration cardiology program, which is rapidly developing into the premier cardiology program for Veterans in the Tri-State area.

Structural Heart Disease Program (SHD): The SHD program began in 2017 and while it has been highly successful a fully-fledged program has only recently been established. Elliott Groves, MD, an experienced and highly talented interventional cardiologist, leads this program. With over 80 transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVRs), 50 left atrial appendage closure devices (Watchman) and a new Mitraclip program (mitral valve replacements), the SHD program continues to grow offering excellent care, improving survival and quality of life for patients who are ineligible or at increased risk for conventional surgery.

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DIVISION HIGHLIGHTS

Program in Onco-Cardiology: Chris Gans, MD established an Onco-Cardiology program that evaluates patients being treated with potentially cardiotoxic chemotherapeutic regimens. The program partnered with UI Cancer Center so patients at risk for developing chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity can be screened with speckle tracking echocardiography to detect changes in myocardial function before a decrease in the ejection fraction. This program continues to grow and offer best patient care with an unprecedented and highly successful interdepartmental collaboration.

Community Outreach Program: We have expanded our clinical footprint with the initiation of regional programs via professional service agreements for cardiology services with: i) Miles Square Federally Qualified Health Center; ii) Mount Sinai Hospital; and iii) Cardiovascular Consultants, P.C., Munster, Indiana. Forging strategic partnerships with local and outlying regional hospitals via the delivery of high quality and cost effective care is an important component of securing our position as a regional referral center and destination of choice for complex tertiary level care for the underserved and minority population of Chicago.

EXCELLENCE IN BASIC, CLINICAL, AND TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH Since 2015, we developed new research programs in cardiovascular genomics, obesity research centered on underserved minority populations, and a program in basic and translational research in arrhythmias. These new programs complement our existing research programs in cardiomyocyte contractility, angiogenesis, redox signaling, cardiovascular regeneration and stem cell biology, heart failure across racial and ethnic groups and cutting edge cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) research.

A newly established Cardiology T32 training program in personalized cardiovascular medicine is an example of the impact of these novel programs and collaborations. The T32 training program is directed towards predoctoral, MD postdoctoral and PhD

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post-doctoral fellows providing didactic training in genomics and personalized cardiovascular medicine. A second example of the multidisciplinary collaborations across divisions, departments and institutions is the submission of the UIC Strategically Focused Research Center for Atrial Fibrillation sponsored by the American Heart Association. We are collaborating with Martha Daviglus, MD, PhD (Director, Institute for Minority Health Research) and Maria Argos, PhD (Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics) at UIC and Nona Sotoodehnia, MD, MPH from the University of Washington, Seattle in a center grant titled “Leveraging mechanistic insights to improve personalized therapies for atrial fibrillation across ethnicities.�

EDUCATION The cardiology fellowship program trains 22 fellows per year with the goal of preparing them for both clinical and academic practice. Graduates who become faculty or affiliated faculty has risen steadily, comprising 24% of all cardiology fellows within the past few years. The rate of our fellows resulting as first author on publications has risen from a mean of 48% to 65% since 2015. Overall authorship has risen from 65% to 83%. Our fellows have placed in the top three at the Annual Fellow Research Poster Competition during the Illinois/Wisconsin Chapter meeting of the American College of Cardiology for four straight years. Our American Board of Internal Medicine Cardiovascular Disease board examination pass rates were up 3% (to 90%) in the most recent report issued to our program.

Overall, the Division of Cardiology experienced impressive growth in the clinical, research and educational missions. Furthermore, the expansion of our clinical enterprise within the Division has been accomplished despite an ever-increasing competitive cardiology market in Chicago. In addition to the growth in faculty, clinical volumes and revenue we have experienced, the Division of Cardiology has proudly pioneered the development of new programs, implementation of new models of healthcare delivery focused on quality and outcomes strengthening our

relationships with community hospitals in Chicago and expanding our clinical footprint.

ENDOCRINOLOGY, DIABETES AND METABOLISM CLINICAL Clinic volumes increased 12% compared to the prior year. To accommodate the needs of urgent patient access we expanded urgent appointment slots to all provider schedules. Daniel Toft, MD, PhD, an expert in thyroid cancer, joined our faculty. In an effort to provide broader team-based approaches and improve patient access we have incorporated an advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) Krishna Patel into our outpatient clinic. Patel cares for patients with diabetes only, the condition in highest demand in our clinics, and provides directed diet and medication changes that have improved our patient’s outcomes. We are able to facilitate more visits with an MD-APRN shared care model which has been well received by our patients.

We launched a pilot project targeting patients with poorly controlled diabetes who would benefit from a multidisciplinary approach that includes more

frequent visits. The Diabetes Resource Extension and Management (DREAM) team consists of an LCSW care coordinator, APRN, PharmD, certified diabetes educator, health psychologist, and an occupational therapist who rotate to see patients every 2 weeks for 3 months. This structured “Boot Camp” style of intensive management aims to address medication, diet, motivation, and psycho-social determinants of health with hopes of supporting meaningful change for our high-need patients. We continue to have success in our Diabetes Management Education program and Inpatient Diabetes Management program. We expanded into Mile Square clinic and have coordinated with the weight management and islet transplant programs.

OUTREACH We actively attend multiple health fairs and events as a diabetes team and with the Church-based Health Outreach program (CHOP), run by Olga Garcia, MD. We attend events at the Mexican Consulate, the American Diabetes Association and other churchdriven events. Additionally, our Division has a variety of grants pending to support activities, including a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) grant with Yolanda Suarez-Balcazar, PhD. RESEARCH The Division’s research dollars has continuously increased in recent years. Our research spans islet biology and transplant programs, adipose functional studies, hepatic metabolism, environmental impact on metabolism, and central nervous systems (CNS) driven mechanism of obesity and diabetes. The Divisions’ researchers are involved in numerous clinical trials, working with clinical researchers and using technology to address diabetes and metabolism questions that impact patient care and outcomes.

Diabetes and Obesity Research Day - Poster Session

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DIVISION HIGHLIGHTS

EDUCATION AND TRAINING Our two year training program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Our fellows receive educational and clinical instructions from faculty using our inpatient and ambulatory facilities at the clinics and hospital.

In addition, fellows attend weekly, monthly and annual conferences, as well as participate in national conferences. Our fellows have presented posters at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologist Illinois Chapter Meeting as well as won the National AACE Award.

We provide patient care for the treatment and management of all liver disorders. Sean Koppe, MD, director of Hepatology, leads our multidisciplinary approach to treating liver disease that provides a system of comprehensive care. Teams of expert physicians at the Bobbie and Marvin Fink Liver Clinic and the Walter Payton Liver Center bring innovative care, scientific collaboration and patient-focused methods to combat liver diseases. We provide dedicated inpatient and outpatient care to GI and liver patients of Illinois and beyond. We also provide hepatology services at four clinics outside Chicago.

GASTROENTEROLOGY AND HEPATOLOGY

Liver Transplantation The University of Illinois Hospital Liver Transplant team is one of the most experienced and innovative programs in transplant and research in Chicago and the region. Our center is a pioneer in living-donor liver transplantation. Our hepatologists work closely with a team of pharmacists and mid-level providers to take advantage of new treatments for liver disease and develop the best treatment plans for patients.

Unlike other transplant programs, we closely monitorand provide one-on-one care throughout the entire

CLINICAL The Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology gastroenterologists performed 6,565 endoscopic procedures in FY 2019, an increase from 6,183 in 2018. We assembled a multidisciplinary team to obtain designation as a National Pancreas Foundation Center, a prestigious honor only bestowed to institutions with comprehensive expert care of pancreatic disease.

GI fellows, Mitali Agarwal and Wasseem Skef, won the American Liver Debate for the Great Lakes Region on the topic of locoregional therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Pictured left to right: Mitali Agarwal, Adam Mikolajczyk (mentor), Wasseem Skef, and Sean Koppe

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transplant process, from the pre-transplant workup to postoperative care. Our team strives to provide culturally sensitive care to all ethnicities, races and religions, providing the best experience possible for the patient and their family.

RESEARCH Our research encompasses a broad array of investigations with particular focus on epithelial transport & diarrheal disorders, GI cancer research, host-pathogen interactions and gut microbiota, inflammation and nutrition and metabolism. We are fortunate to have garnered substantial extramural funding, including government and private foundations sources as well as philanthropy.

FELLOWSHIP Our Division offers 1-4 fellowship positions each year, for highly qualified applicants seeking the highest quality training in all aspects of gastroenterology and hepatology. Fellowship training is provided by full-time faculty who are clinical, translational and basic science investigators. Fellowship graduates are skilled in endoscopic procedures, as well as the art of providing consultation and expert care for complex patients.

Our program is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education. We also offer advanced fellowship training in transplant hepatology and advanced endoscopy.

Advanced Endoscopy Fellowship The Advanced Endoscopy Training program is a oneyear curriculum of intense immersion in therapeutic endoscopy. Each trainee maintains a junior faculty position and gains exposure to specialized procedures treating patients with pancreaticobiliary disorders and GI cancer, as well as managing the inpatient and consult service for pancreaticobiliary disorders.

Trainees complete the program with a skillset that includes ERCP, endoscopic ultrasound, luminal stent placement, resection techniques to large polyps and masses, and deep enteroscopy. Past graduates have gone on to practice in academic settings across the country.

Transplant Hepatology Fellowship The Transplant Hepatology Fellowship program at UIC offers one fellowship position each year for a highly qualified physician dedicated to obtaining high quality training in Transplant Hepatology. Fellows are exposed to ambulatory pre and post-transplant clinics, inpatient transplant hepatology, inpatient transplant surgery, interventional radiology, and clinical hepatology.

HEMATOLOGY/ONCOLOGY The Division of Hematology/Oncology has been recognized nationally and internationally in multiple areas of academic excellence. We are one of the top centers for Sickle Cell Disease in the country whose investigators are leaders in preclinical research, implementation science and clinical trials in sickle cell disease.

CLINICAL The Division continued to grow its clinical volume especially for cancer patients. Our multidisciplinary work with other members of the Cancer Center and other Departments was instrumental in UI Hospital’s rating of High Performing in Oncology by U.S. News and World Report.

Our clinical breast cancer program achieved national recognition with remarkable achievements including UI Health reaccreditation for 3 more years from the National Accreditation Program of Breast Centers, and the completed patient enrollment in the first breast cancer clinical trial conducted by the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium, led by our faculty member, Oana Danciu, MD. In addition, the breast cancer program leader, Kent Hoskins, MD, was awarded the Chicago Komen Medical Award by the Susan G. Komen-Chicago foundation for his work in health disparities, and was also an invited speaker at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Blood & Marrow Transplant (BMT) Our nationally recognized Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT) program provides innovative transplant therapies for patients with leukemia, myeloma or sickle

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DIVISION HIGHLIGHTS

cell disease, and also maintains active translational research on hematopoietic stem cells.

The BMT program has been very active in preclinical translational and clinical research, with investigator initiated clinical trials for patients with leukemia and advanced hematologic malignancies, as well as for patients with sickle cell disease. Nadim Mahmud, MD, PhD, director of the Clinical Stem Cell Lab, was elected to the Board of Directors of the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT), and to the Board of Directors of the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy (ISCT).

A translational research project in BMT was awarded to Damiano Rondelli, MD, by the Thorek Hospital Foundation. In FY2019, the Division hosted the first “GlobalBMT training course� with 5 physicians from Nigeria, Uganda, Nepal, Ukraine and Bolivia who spent 8 weeks on campus following a comprehensive curriculum on laboratory and clinical policies and procedures in BMT. These international trainees interacted with faculty, fellows and staff in the Division and expanded the network of centers actively engaged with the Division, the Urban & Global Medicine program in the Department of Medicine, and the Center for Global Health in the College of Medicine.

In recognition to UIC GlobalBMT initiative, in 2019 Rondelli was selected as chair of the Committee for International Affairs of the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT) and was awarded the 2019 Humanitarian Award by the Binaytara Foundation in Seattle, Washington.

Clinical Trials A team of clinicians and researchers in liquid and solid malignancies lead translational research projects in cancer and also focus on health disparity research.

This team are principal investigators in a phase 1 and a multicenter phase 2/3 clinical trials.

These programs are actively integrated with the Cancer Center clinical trial and research programs and

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Global Blood & Marrow Transplant (BMT) Training program participants, staff and Global BMT initiative founder, Dr. Damiano Rondelli.

researchers. The excellence of these programs are also demonstrated by 75 peer reviewed manuscripts published in FY2019 by Hematology/Oncology faculty either as first, senior or co-author, and publications in high impact journals, such as the New England of Medicine, Leukemia, or Blood.

Sickle Cell Center The Sickle Cell Center remains a national leading center in research with 34 publications in FY19, new clinical research trials led by Victor Gordeuk, MD, Michel Gowhari, MD, Robert Molokie, MD and Santosh Saraf, MD and new basic science NIH funding (Saraf and Dan Lavelle, PhD). In addition, the Sickle Cell Acute Care Unit at UI Hospital led by Gowhari has grown its volume over 20% by expanding its time to 6 days per week.

RESEARCH Successes of clinical and research investigators in multiple other tumor sites included: Lawrence Feldman, MD, and the lung cancer team was awarded a research grant from the Coleman Foundation. Saverio Gentile, PhD, was funded by the Cronk Foundation to support his research on the role of ion channels in breast and ovarian cancer. Irum Khan, MD, was awarded a research grant from the Leukemia Research Foundation for her translational project in acute myeloid leukemia.

Extramural research NIH funding further increased in FY2019 with a new R21 grant (Wenshu Wu, PhD), an R03 (Saraf) and a specific project in a P01 grant (Lavelle).

INFECTIOUS DISEASES (ID) The Division of Infectious Diseases at UIC continues to grow and evolve in response to the needs of our community and the college. We continue to work closely with our partners to develop our research, educational, clinical and service missions with both local community and global activities.

HIV DISEASE Richard Novak, MD, is the director of the UIC Community Clinic Network (UCCN), with six community based clinics located in the highest prevalence communities in Chicago serving about 1,200 active patients with HIV. The UCCN has been in operation since 1992 with continuous federal funding. These clinics offer comprehensive services including case management, outreach, mental health, pharmacy, women’s health and clinical care. Our community presence address health disparities and offers a unique training experience for our trainees. In partnership with the Department of Emergency Medicine’s opt out HIV screening program, we provide linkage to care for all patients diagnosed with HIV in the medical center.

Project Wish is our clinical research center primarily focused on HIV prevention trials and STI clinical research working with HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN), Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID), CDC and others.

We are participating in two federally funded trials: HPTN 083, a randomized double blinded, double dummy comparison of injectable Cabotegravir vs Truvada for prevention of HIV acquisition in high risk HIV-seronegative men who have sex with men (NIH); NEST Study: Network Epidemiology of Syphilis Transmission. Andrew Trotter, MD, MPH, is directing

UCCN Clinic in Uptown

this CDC sponsored study with Novak describing the epidemiology and transmission of syphilis in high-risk men who have sex with men (MSM) in Chicago.

URBAN AND GLOBAL HEALTH Max Brito, MD, MPH, is the director of the UrbanGlobal Health program. He developed and leads an extramural Global Medicine elective, based in the Dominican Republic (DR), to educate trainees on tropical infectious diseases, social determinants of health and the practice of medicine in resourceconstrained settings. The 2 week trip includes a series of lectures on tropical medicine and global health and rounds with the ID services of two hospitals. More than 130 trainees have participated in the Department of Medicine’s Global Medicine elective over the past 16 years. This educational activity has become one of the most popular and requested elective in the department.

Olamide Jarrett, MD, MPH, has a research focus on understanding what characteristics of the female genital microbiome and immune response are related to the prevention or acquisition of HIV and STIs in women. Jarrett was appointed associate director of Academic programs at the UIC Center for Global Health and is working to expand the global health opportunities for UIC medical students and residents.

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DIVISION HIGHLIGHTS

Geri Donenberg, PhD, (Rwanda, South Africa, Chicago) is principal investigator and co-investigator on ten NIH-funded grants. She has over 105 peerreviewed publications underscoring the impact of mental and behavior health. Donenberg has also published widely on youth outcomes related to HIV prevention and sexual risk reduction interventions and has dedicated much of her career to mentoring early-stage investigators, particularly women and underrepresented minorities.

Vijay Yeldandi, MD, is a member of the urban global health team, and spends most of the year in India, where he is involved in numerous activities. He is working with three hospitals (Hyderabad, India) on design and implementation of Patient Safety and Infection Control programs. He also provides technical support to the National AIDS Control program, ministry of health and family welfare, Government of India for improving care of HIV and tuberculosis. Under a cooperative agreement with the CDC, he is developing implementation strategies for “Prevention of airborne transmission of tuberculosis” in the government hospitals in Mumbai as well as HIV treatment centers in India. He directs the “Global Health Education” program at SHARE MediCiti in Hyderabad India, which was the site for a project on “Hands only CPR” executed by UIC residents as part of the urban global health program.

Stockton Mayer, DO, co-director of the Urban Global Medicine program, has partnered with the School of Public Health and the School of Nursing to deliver care to People Who Inject Drugs, particularly related to skin and soft tissue infections in our community clinic sites and by mobile van. Mayer continues to make regular journeys to rural Guatemala to provide training for local physicians in HIV medicine, and is working to open a clinic in Guatemala.

INFECTION CONTROL AND ANTIBIOTIC STEWARDSHIP Susan Bleasdale, MD is the physician lead for infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship at the

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University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System and is a leader in related research. She is a lead investigator for a study to reduce surgical site infections as part of the CDC Epicenters for Prevention of Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs).

Her previous Epicenter work includes studies of the transmission of HAIs via healthcare workers and the effective use of personal protective equipment to prevent transmission.

Alfredo Mena Lora, MD, focuses on infection prevention, antimicrobial stewardship and antimicorbial resistance in the US and abroad. As the medical director of Infection Control and Antimicrobial Stewardship at Saint Anthony Hospital (SAH), he works with Bleasdale on implementation research.

Implementation of the Antimicrobial Stewardship program at SAH led to multiple presentations at Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and the Infectious Diseases Society of America conferences, and an implementation award by the Illinois Hospital Association. Mena Lora also works on defining antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial use in his native Dominican Republic, where he has reported on multi-drug resistant organisms in the community and in various local hospitals.

Gus Alonto, MD is the director of Infection Prevention and Control Department at Jesse Brown VA (JBVA), as well as the Antibiotic Stewardship program physician champion at JBVA. Andrew Trotter, MD has served as the director of Outpatient Antibiotic Therapy for the past 2 years.

This service allows for rapid discharge of patients on intravenous antibiotics with continued outpatient, in home management, and serves about 30 patients at any given time.

OFFICE OF HEALTH LITERACY Paula Allen-Meares, PhD is the director of the Center for Health Literacy which provides education and training to the College of Medicine and the UIC health system. One of the charges of the Office of Health

Nephrology fellows Pictured left to right: Mustafa Kagalwalla, Diana Kircheva, Anas Kizawi, Rishi Kora, Sajid Ansari, Ragad Asmaro, and

Literacy is to address workforce and pipeline issues.

The UIC Bridges to the Baccalaureate program is a NIH funded initiative (R-25) to recruit underrepresented students from the City Colleges of Chicago and enhance their basic research skills. The overarching objective of this Bridges to the Baccalaureate Research Training program is to develop a diverse pool of research-oriented undergraduates who bridge from a community college or two-year institution and complete bachelor’s degrees in STEM fields.

TELEHEALTH The HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C (HCV) telemedicine program, a partnership with Illinois Department of Corrections: Mahesh Patel, MD, and Jeremy Young, MD, MPH, direct the UIC telemedicine effort, providing telehealth to the 26 state correctional facilities in Illinois, serving 500-700 patients. This program facilitates continuity of care when our patients are released back to their communities.

PARASITOLOGY Jesica Herrick, MD, specializes in the treatment of neurologic infections, primarily neurocysticercosis.

Her research interest includes studying the processes that underly epilepsy development in patients with neurocysticercosis.

NEPHROLOGY CLINICAL The 2018-2019 U.S. News and World Report ranked the Division of Nephrology as a high performing specialty at the University of Illinois Hospital. The Division provides clinical services for the evaluation and treatment of the full spectrum of kidney diseases, hypertension, and fluid-electrolyte disorders, with a strong commitment to serving minority populations.

At the UI Hospital, the Division provides over 4,000 dialysis treatments per year. Faculty and fellow-staffed outpatient clinics accommodate up to 100 patients per week. The Division has a robust program for outpatient in-center and home dialysis which is based at the University and at a nearby Fresenius Medical Care unit. at the University and at a nearby Fresenius Medical Care unit.

The Division excels in providing care to transplant patients. Our transplant program is known for its expertise in obese and high immunological risk patients. Led by David Perkins, MD, PhD, and four fulltime faculty members, the transplant nephrology service provides comprehensive care staffing both outpatient and inpatient services. In 2019, the transplant program performed over 200 kidney transplants and 19 simultaneous kidney pancreas transplants.

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DIVISION HIGHLIGHTS

EDUCATION AND TRAINING The Division has a strong commitment to training the next generation of clinicians and researchers in nephrology. The nephrology fellowship program is one of the largest in Chicago. The program has four general nephrology positions and one transplant nephrology position per year. Clinical rotations take place at the University of Illinois Hospital and Jesse Brown VA Medical Center. In addition, trainees rotate at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, which has had a long-standing academic affiliation with the Division.

These three large public hospitals provide trainees with exposure to the full spectrum of clinical nephrology.

Nephrology fellows have consistently been first place winners at the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois Controversies in Nephrology annual debates. Research fellows have access to a T32 training program in health disparities and enrollment in the School of Public Health Master of Science in Clinical and Translational Science program. The Division has had significant success in transitioning trainees to academic positions.

RESEARCH The Division of Nephrology operates the largest clinical research program in kidney disease in the Chicago area with a prominent focus on health disparities. Ongoing research studies include the NIH sponsored Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (CRIC) Study, Hispanic CRIC, Mexican CRIC, and the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos. The Division also has active basic and translational research programs focused on cell biology, autoimmunity, acute kidney injury, integrative systems biology and bioinformatics.

PULMONARY, CRITICAL CARE, SLEEP & ALLERGY The Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Sleep, and Allergy has advanced the mission of the Department of Medicine along multiple fronts in 2019, including clinical care, scholarly activities, educational endeavors and service.

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Celebrating the impact and achievements of nurse leaders in the state of Illinois. Pictured left to right: Drs. Susan Corbridge, Steve Dudek, Patricia Finn, and Jeff Jacobson

CLINICAL The Division provides valuable and essential clinical services to our institution’s patients and is honored to participate in the care of the underserved patient population that comprises the majority of those receiving healthcare at UI Health and the Jesse Brown VA Hospital. An important priority is expanding access to the medical services we provide for these patients.

Patient volumes have increased across all aspects of our clinical operations over the past 5 years, which include specialty clinics in sleep medicine, allergy, pulmonary hypertension, lung nodules, bronchiectasis, sarcoidosis, COPD, and others.

In the Sleep Medicine center led by Bharati Prasad, MD, MS, a new sleep medicine consult service has been established to facilitate evaluation for inpatients at UI Health. Home sleep testing has been greatly expanded to improve access for our patients, with a 93% increase in the number of these tests performed in FY 2019 compared to 2018.

The inpatient Allergy consultation service similarly saw an increase in patient volumes over the past year.

The pulmonary function testing laboratories at both UI Health and the Jesse Brown VA are led by Min Joo, MD, MPH, and continue to experience increasing demand. In FY 2019 over 7,300 pulmonary function testing procedures were performed at UI Health alone,

representing a further 1.8% increase over the rapid growth of the past several years. Our interventional pulmonology program led by Kevin Kovitz, MD, MBA, at UI Health and Kevin Haas, MD, at the Jesse Brown VA has state-of-the-art navigational and thoracoscopic equipment that optimizes patient care by providing the full spectrum of procedural approaches. Initiatives to improve patient outcomes are a major emphasis in the UI Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU), and our MICU director, Jeffrey Jacobson, MD is spearheading hospital-wide efforts to improve the diagnosis and treatment for patients suffering from sepsis.

EDUCATION The educational mission of the Division is to train and develop leaders in the fields of pulmonary medicine, critical care, sleep medicine and allergy. To this end, the Division houses two high quality fellowship programs that are fully accredited by the ACGME—Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine (directed by Sunit Singla, MD), and Sleep Medicine (Prasad)—as well as a new Interventional Pulmonology fellowship program that began in FY2019. These training programs are thriving in terms of demand, curriculum growth, and graduate success. The Sleep Medicine fellowship program has now expanded to three annual fellowship positions because of increased demand.

In FY 2019 the Division renewed our highly successful NIH T32 training program for developing future leaders in pulmonary-related research. Our vibrant T32 environment has produced four NIH K awardees among our recent MD fellow graduates and is a leader in training the next generation of impactful physicianscientists. The educational success of the Pulmonary Division is also reflected in the multiple teaching awards earned by our faculty over the past several years. As a recent example, in FY 2019 Dr. Dustin Fraidenburg was voted the “New Attending of the Year” by the Internal Medicine house staff.

along multiple fronts. Our faculty are nationally and internationally recognized as leaders in their respective fields. We have a very active portfolio of research projects, funded by the National Institutes of Health, VA system, PCORI, AHA, RHA, and various other private foundations or pharmaceutical companies. In FY 2019, the total amount of research funding earned by members of the Division was approximately $4.6 million (including ~$3.8 million in direct funding), which represents a 20% increase compared to the prior year. The highly productive members of the Division published 100 original scholarly works in FY 2019, including multiple publications in high impact journals.

Our research portfolio is exploring a broad array of investigations that span the gamut across the full spectrum of pulmonary, critical care, sleep and allergy.

We are particularly proud of our success in training and nurturing the next generation of pulmonaryfocused scientists, with our Division earning five NIH K level Career Development awards in the past several years. These include one K01, three K08s, and one K23 award, which are pursuing important research questions relevant to a diverse array of clinical problems—asthma, ARDS, pulmonary hypertension, and COPD. SERVICE Our faculty serve on numerous committees and other service and leadership positions that positively impact the Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, University, and the community at large. Some specific examples include the following: Irena Levitan, PhD, is an elected member of the UIC Campus Appointments, Promotions, and Tenure Committee, and Min Joo, MD, MPH, is an elected member of the UIC Senate and Senate Executive Committee. In terms of external service, Patricia Finn, MD, is president-elect of the Association of Professors of Medicine, and Dean Schraufnagel, MD, is the executive director of the Forum of International Respiratory Societies.

SCHOLARLY ACTIVITIES The Division participates extensively in scholarly pursuits and has exceled in advancing research

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DIVISION HIGHLIGHTS

RHEUMATOLOGY FY2019 was a year of transition for the division of Rheumatology. With the retirement of William Swedler, MD, Subhash Kukreja, MD, assumed the role of interim division chief. Following a national search, Nadera Sweiss, MD, was appointed division chief in May of 2019.

The Division of Rheumatology is dedicated in promoting excellence in clinical care, research, and education. We are fully dedicated to our mission of service to patients and educating future rheumatologists while pursuing scholarly activities.

CLINICAL Our physicians and scientists focus on clinical care of patients with complex rheumatologic disorders and on research for the discovery of cures for sarcoidosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

The division provides patient care and management for all rheumatologic disorders including rheumatoid arthritis, system lupus, inflammatory eye disease, vasculitis, myositis, systemic sclerosis, osteoarthritis, crystal arthropathies, and sarcoidosis.

Nadera Sweiss, MD, founder and director of the Bernie Mac Sarcoidosis Translational Advanced Research (STAR) Center, leads a multidisciplinary approach to treating systemic sarcoidosis, providing a system of comprehensive approach. A team of experts work together to care for patients with sarcoidosis from various sub-specialty clinics at the University of Illinois Hospital. The sarcoidosis team of experts are motivated through innovative care and collaboration to provide the best experience for a patient.

RESEARCH The Division is involved in basic science, clinical research, and translational research programs funded through the National Institute of Health, Department of Veterans Affairs, the Foundation of Sarcoidosis Research, Bernie Mac STAR Center, national research organizations, industry, and endowments.

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Shiva Shahrara, PhD, leads the efforts of translational research in the field of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

These studies determine novel targets that inhibit neovascularization, leukocyte migration and bone erosion in the RA joint and identify biomarkers that reflect RA disease severity and/or response to effective treatments including several landmark studies in rheumatoid arthritis and sarcoidosis.

EDUCATION The Division of Rheumatology has a strong education program for fellows, residents, and medical students.

We offer two fellowship positions each year exposing fellows to aspects of clinical rheumatology and clinical and translational research.

PHILANTHROPY The Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism received a philanthropic gift from one of the University of Illinois College of Medicine’s medical school alumni, Lester B. Salans, MD. Salans is internationally recognized in the fields of diabetes mellitus, obesity and endocrinology.

He has held faculty, executive and administrative leadership Lester Salans, MD roles in academic health centers, government and the pharmaceutical industry.

In 2016, the University of Illinois College of Medicine honored Salans with the Distinguished Alumnus Award in recognition of his influential career. We are thankful to Salans for his kind gift which will be used as research support in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetese and Metabolism.

The Cronk Foundation, founded by Estella and Mike Cronk, has a philanthropic interest in supporting cutting edge research in the field of cancer. Mike and

Estella became interested in the scientific developments achieved in Dr. Gentile’s lab in which he is testing the effects of pharmacological manipulation of potassium channels in cancer cells. Over the years, the support of the Cronk Foundation have contributed to the discovery of important mechanisms linking specific members of the potassium channel family to cancer biology and to the development of a new anticancer strategy against breast and ovarian cancer.

Richard Weber, MD, a 1976 College of Medicine alum and gastroenterologist, shared his story on the reason he chose gastroenterology as his specialty. A guest speaker in gastroenterology had such an impact on him while he was a resident that this Richard Weber, MD speaker became his mentor.

This experience is at the core of why he generously established a gift for education and learning in the Department of Medicine over a 5 year period. Weber believes this will add value and impact to our institution, specifically the Department of Medicine.

Thanks to the generous gift to the DOM donated by Richard Weber, MD, we formed the Life Long Learning committee which has been instrumental in developing the Richard Weber lecture series. The mission of the Richard Weber Lecture Series is to elevate the DOM as a leader in training our replacements and enhance the experience of our students, faculty and trainees.

The lecture series provides ongoing access to world class speakers as a way to stay attuned to the latest information, cutting edge advancements in medicine, and provide the best care for all.

FY 2019 Lectures • “What does CaMKII oxidation have to teach us on the good and bad actions of oxidant stress?” Mike Anderson, MD, Feb. 2019 • “Update in Ischemic Heart Disease in Women: Monet Vs. Manet( or why women have more adverse IHD outcomes” C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, Feb. 2019

• “Building the Bridge Between Implementation Research and Implementation Practice” Lisa Saldana, PhD, Feb 2019 • “Food as Medicine for Chronic Kidney Disease” Deidra Crews, MD, March 2019 • “Innovative Strategies to provide medical services to the underserved population” Jim Withers, MD, April 2019 • “Sacoidosis Diagnosis and Therapy: What is New” Robert Baughman, MD, April 2019 • “Narrative Medicine, Patients as Stories” Craig Klugman, MD, April 2019 • “Juvenile Justice Reform: Seeking to Improve Procedural Justice for Youth” Mathew Aalsma, MA, PhD, HSPP, May 2019 • “Age in Place or Move your parents in?” Lee Lindquist, MD, MPH, MBA, June 2019 • “Medium and Large Vessel Vasculitis, From Bench to Bedside” Cornelia Weyand, MD, June 2019 • “The Many Faces of Myopathy” Chester Oddis, MD, June 2019

Thank you to all of our donors for your continuing support.

GIVING The University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Medicine is committed to high-quality care for all, scholarly activity, and education. The Department of Medicine is dedicated to increasing the diversity of the clinical, research and educational workforce.

We invite you to visit our giving website. Your gift to the UIC Department of Medicine brings us closer to our goal of providing state of the art medical care to all, excellent training to the next generation of physicians, develop innovative programs and conduct groundbreaking research. Please consider making a gift today.

To give please visit our website at https://go.uic.edu/ givedom.

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University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Medicine 840 South Wood Street Suite 1020N, MC 787 Chicago, IL 60612 (312) 996-7700 dom.uic.edu