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EMORY UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE
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Fall 2017
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Researchers develop pain-free “microneedle” vaccine patch
INSIDE Chair’s Welcome New Dean Named Hospital Expansion National Rankings Remembering Alanna Stone
What if patients never had to leave their houses to get a flu shot and could avoid the unwanted stick of the needle? A new, self-administered, painless vaccine skin patch containing microscopic needles could significantly increase the number of people who get vaccinated. A phase I clinical trial conducted by Emory and the Georgia Institute of Technology has found that influenza vaccination using Band-Aid–like patches with dissolvable microneedles was safe, equally effective, and strongly preferred by study participants over a hypodermic needle and syringe. The microneedle patch is also cost-effective, easily transportable, fast-acting, and disposable. The first-in-human clinical trial of the microneedle patches began in June 2015 with 100 participants aged 18 to 49 who were healthy and had not received the influenza vaccine during the 2014–2015 flu season. The study was conducted at the Hope Clinic of the Emory Vaccine Center in Atlanta. Results were published in the June 27 issue of The Lancet. The research was supported by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health. “Influenza continues to be a major cause of illness leading to significant morbidity and mortality,” says first author Nadine Rouphael, associate professor of medicine in the Emory University Department of Medicine and principal investigator of the clinical trial. A self-administered flu vaccine could prevent outbreaks of disease and save lives across the country—by raising the number of people willing to undergo vaccination and by protecting individuals with compromised immune systems through herd immunity. Emory researchers already have started working to develop microneedle patches for use with other vaccines, including measles, rubella, and polio.
Nadine Rouphael applies the microneedle patch to study volunteer Daisy Bourassa
Read more: bitly.com/emory-flu
D E PA R T M E N T O F M E D I C I N E
Dear colleagues, As we embark on a new academic year, the Emory University Department of Medicine is proud to share with you some of our recent successes. It’s been an exciting year for the department. We have expanded our clinical reach, brought in millions of dollars’ worth of research funding, and introduced a number of innovative new programs and resources. Four Department of Medicine specialties ranked nationally or high performing in U.S. News & World Report’s annual “Best Hospitals Guide” and, as of August, we had W. Robert Taylor
253 authors of 539 publications in FY2017. We recently graduated 82 residents and 76 fellows from our internal medicine educational programs, and we have begun implementing the five-year departmental strategic plan developed for 2017–2021 (bitly.com/dom-strategic-plan). We greatly appreciate your support, and we hope you’ll continue to stay in touch via email and social media. We look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, W. Robert Taylor Interim Chair, Department of Medicine Director, Division of Cardiology
OFFICE OF EDUCATION The J. Willis Hurst Internal Medicine Residency Program recently welcomed an incoming class of 55 trainees. The class includes 43 categorical residents, two research track residents, two combined internal medicine/psychiatry residents, and eight primary care residents. The Department of Medicine received more than 5,000 applications for more than 500 interview spots. Our incoming class represents 36 medical schools from across the country, with four graduates from international medical schools. Please join us in wishing them a warm welcome to the Department of Medicine. The Department of Medicine is proud that 13 graduates of our residency program decided to continue their fellowship training here at Emory.
Emory internal medicine residents conduct patient rounds with Dan Hunt, director of the Division of Hospital Medicine
Emory University names new School of Medicine dean
Vikas P. Sukhatme
David S. Stephens
Emory University has appointed Vikas P. Sukhatme, a distinguished physician-scientist, as the new dean of Emory University School of Medicine. He also will serve as chief academic officer of Emory Healthcare and as Woodruff Professor. Sukhatme joined Emory November 1, 2017. Sukhatme served as chief academic officer and Harvard faculty dean for academic programs at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and the Victor J. Aresty Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Sukhatme was born in India and raised in Rome, Italy. He completed a bachelor’s degree and then a doctorate (ScD) in theoretical physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1979, he received an MD from Harvard Medical School in the Harvard-MIT program in Health Sciences and Technology. Following his residency in medicine and a clinical fellowship in nephrology at Massachusetts General Hospital, he spent two years at Stanford in immunology research. David S. Stephens, the Stephen W. Schwarzmann Distinguished Professor of Medicine for the Emory University School of Medicine, has served as interim dean of the school since October 2016. Prior to his appointment as interim dean, Stephens served as chair of the Department of Medicine, vice president for research for the Woodruff Health Sciences Center, and chief of medicine for Emory Healthcare. He will resume these roles in January 2018. W. Robert Taylor, director of the Division of Cardiology, has served as interim Department of Medicine chair in Stephens’s absence. In addition, Monica Farley, director of the Division of Infectious Diseases, has served as interim vice chair. Taylor and Farley will conclude their interim responsibilities in January 2018. Read more: bitly.com/som-dean
Emory Ebola grant expanded from $12 million to $24 million The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the US Department of Health and Human Services have expanded funding awarded in 2015 to Emory University and partner institutions to establish the National Ebola Training and Education Center (NETEC) from $12 million to $24 million. The co-leads of NETEC—Emory University, University of Nebraska Medical Center, and New York City Health + Hospitals/Bellevue—will use the additional $12 million to provide several expanded services, including the establishment of a special pathogens research network, additional site visits, and more education and training courses. NETEC’s new special pathogens research network will include the 10 regional US Ebola treatment centers specially equipped to treat patients with highly infectious diseases. “This grant money will help us educate and train more health care workers as well as develop a national research consortium with other centers,” says Bruce Ribner, principal investigator of NETEC and medical director of the Serious Communicable Diseases Unit at Emory University Hospital. “We are excited to expand our knowledge base to better prepare for the next outbreak.” Read more: bitly.com/dom-ebola-grant
Support Our Programs The Department of Medicine relies on gifts and partnerships in order to support the clinical, research, and educational goals of our nine divisions. Your charitable contribution can impact health care on a local, regional, national, and global scale. There are opportunities at every level of giving.
Visit bitly.com/dom-give to make a gift today.
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Emory University Hospital expansion nears completion Emory Healthcare recently completed construction on a 450,000-square-foot, $400 million, state-of-the-art hospital tower across Clifton Road from the current Emory University Hospital. The new tower will enable the hospital to expand its services and expert care in a spacious and integrated environment. The nine-floor tower will be one of the more high-tech facilities on campus and includes 232 patient beds, diagnostic and treatment spaces, ICU rooms, patient care units for cancer and transplant, general medical/surgery rooms, and 500 underground parking spaces. The tower is connected to Emory University Hospital, Winship Cancer Institute, and The Emory Clinic by a new pedestrian bridge concourse. Floors one and two of the tower opened on July 31, 2017. Patient floors opened in late August, and the tower is expected to be fully operational in the coming months.
Emory University Hospital and the Department of Medicine receive national rankings
New Emory University Hospital addition and pedestrian bridge
A doctor’s legacy: Training the next generation of diagnosticians
For the sixth consecutive year, Emory University Hospital has been named the No. 1 hospital in Georgia and in metro Atlanta by U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals Guide.” Emory University Hospital includes Emory University Orthopaedics and Spine Hospital and Emory University Hospital at Wesley Woods. Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital ranked No. 2 in Georgia and metro Atlanta, while Emory University Hospital Midtown ranked No. 11 in Georgia (a two-way tie) and No. 6 in metro Atlanta. The Department of Medicine’s cardiology, diabetes/endocrinology, and geriatrics specialties were ranked nationally in the same “Best Hospitals Guide.” Emory University Hospital was also ranked “high performing” in the Department of Medicine’s gastroenterology and nephrology specialties. Emory University Hospital is No. 6 in the nation for infectious diseases care, according to a Medscape survey of 2017 Top Hospitals. The division is renowned for leading advances in clinical infectious diseases, virology, immunology, epidemiology, diagnostics, and vaccine development.
Emory’s Paul W. Seavey Comprehensive Internal Medicine Clinic is helping to “fulfill a modern version of the iconic family physician—the trusted expert who spends time listening to their patients’ concerns.” The Seavey Clinic, located in metro Atlanta, is named for the late Paul Seavey, a longtime Emory internist and Department of Medicine faculty member who treated three Emory presidents as well as other prominent community members. His friendships with these Atlanta leaders led to a continued philanthropy that helps fund the clinic’s eight physicians. “Dr. Seavey epitomized the essence of the Emory physician,” said Amy Rollins Kreisler, whose grandfather, O. Wayne Rollins, was a Seavey patient and whose family foundation recently made a second $5 million gift to the clinic. “That is what we hope will be instilled in the doctors who are training here.” The Seavey Clinic has received more than $35 million in donations from grateful patients in the past 28 years. That philanthropy helps recruit great medical students regardless of their financial need, recruit and retain faculty physicians, and support research.
Read more: bitly.com/dom-rankings
Read more: bitly.com/dom-seavey-clinic
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Department News DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE HIGHLIGHTS • The Department of Medicine launched several free resources, including a clinical trials database; online continuing medical education (CME) for Grand Rounds presentations; an interactive electrocardiogram (ECG) training site; and PFTeach, an educational tool for pulmonary trainees designed to help them feel more comfortable with interpreting pulmonary function tests. • Eight J. Willis Hurst Internal Medicine Residency trainees were honored as part of the American College of Physicians’ “ACP Celebrates Young Achievers” initiative at this year’s ACP Internal Medicine Meeting in San Diego. Emory internal medicine trainees represented half of the young achievers from Georgia this year. • The Emory University Division of Cardiology participated in a “summer university” STEM program sponsored by Girls Inc., a not-for-profit organization that works to empower young women. The program consisted of discussions on the importance of heart health, activity stations, and a job shadow day featuring Emory cardiologists.
RESEARCH AND MAJOR GRANTS • The Georgia Clinical & Translational Science Alliance, formerly known as the Atlanta Clinical & Translational Science Institute, is celebrating 10 years of research advancement by expanding across the state through a five-year, $51 million award from the NIH. The Emory-led Georgia CTSA will focus on transforming the quality and value of clinical research and translating research results into better outcomes for patients. W. Robert Taylor (Interim Chair, Department of Medicine) will serve as contact principal investigator at Emory. • The Department of Medicine received more than $103 million in research funding for FY17. • Roberto Pacifici, director of the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Lipids, and a team of Emory University and Georgia State University researchers are conducting the first clinical trial to determine if probiotics prevent postmenopausal bone loss in humans. • An international clinical trial led by Emory Heart and Vascular Center researchers reports excellent outcomes for the world’s smallest, minimally invasive, and leadless cardiac pacemaker, the Micra Transcatheter Pacing System. Mikhael El-Chami, associate professor of medicine, presented the results of the study at the 2017 Heart Rhythm Society Scientific Session. • Shanthi Srinivasan and Jennifer Christie, associate professors of medicine in the Division of Digestive Diseases, received an
R01 grant from the NIH to study how a high-fat “western” diet can lead to gastrointestinal complications, including increased morbidity and mortality. • John Merlino, assistant professor of medicine (Division of Cardiology), and Susan Ray, professor of medicine (Division of Infectious Diseases), were inducted into Emory’s “MilliPub Club,” an honor reserved for authors of published articles that are cited at least 1,000 times.
CLINICAL HIGHLIGHTS • Emory University Hospital, Emory University Hospital Midtown, and Emory Johns Creek Hospital have received the 2017 Mission: Lifeline Gold Receiving Quality Achievement Award. Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital has received the 2017 Mission: Lifeline Silver Receiving Quality Achievement Award. • Emory Healthcare is expanding its primary care services with the opening of nine new clinics and adding extra providers to a tenth to meet the growing demands of patients in need of primary care providers. • Emory University Hospital became the first medical center in the United States to use a new 3DHD endoscopic imaging system. Nelson M. Oyesiku, professor of medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Lipids, and his pituitary center team used the new system on August 17 for a pituitary removal.
FACULTY HONORS, AWARDS, AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS • Renal Medicine Division Director Jeff Sands has been named president-elect of the American Physiological Society. He will assume the role of president in 2018. • David Murphy, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, has been named the Patient Safety Officer for Emory Healthcare. • Rheumatology Division Director Ignacio Sanz was elected as a member of the Association of American Physicians. • Emory alumna and faculty member Joanna Bonsall 09MR 06M 06PhD 94C, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine, has been named chief of service of hospital medicine at Grady Memorial Hospital. • Douglas Morris, professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology, was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Georgia Hospital Association. • Jonathan Kim, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology, is serving as head cardiologist for the Atlanta Braves, Hawks, and Falcons sports teams. • Camille Vaughan, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of General Medicine and Geriatrics, was named section chief of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology at Emory University.
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Remembering Alanna Stone
Alanna Stone
The Emory University community honors the life of alumna and faculty member Alanna Carolyn McKelvey Stone, a rising star in the Emory Division of General Medicine and Geriatrics and a renowned global health scholar. After earning her master’s of public health and medical degrees at Emory, Stone completed an internship and residency at University of California–San Francisco’s prestigious primary care internal medicine program, followed by a one-year general medicine clinician-educator fellowship. In 2015, she joined the Emory faculty as an assistant professor of medicine at Grady Memorial Hospital. School of Medicine leaders remember Stone as a student with extraordinary promise who grew to be a beloved, respected colleague. “Alanna’s commitment to medical education and clinical excellence made a lasting impact on her patients, colleagues, and students,” said David S. Stephens, interim dean of the Emory University School of Medicine. “Her service to Emory and her commitment to improving global health are an example to us all.” Stone served as associate medical director for resident education in the Primary Care Center at Grady. Shortly before her passing, she was named associate program director. In this role, she hoped to expand opportunities in global health and medical education for faculty and residents. Stone’s family has partnered with Emory University to establish the Alanna McKelvey Stone Memorial Fund for Medical Education. The goals of the fund are to support research opportunities for residents in global health and development opportunities in medical education for residents and promising young faculty such as herself. To support the Alanna McKelvey Stone Memorial Fund, visit engage.emory.edu/Stone to make a gift in her honor.