School of Medicine

The Pulse

Congratulations to the following faculty and staff for achieving special distinction this quarter:

 

Internal Medicine

  • The Internal Medicine Student Clerkship received five stars from the Aesculapian Society for the Fall 2020-Spring 2021 academic year. Students noted faculty fostered a professional learning environment (96.9% agree or strongly agree (A or SA)) and received adequate supervision from faculty when performing patient care (90% A or SA). Many faculty and residents were highlighted as excellent teachers across the three campuses.
  • UMC has named the following faculty as Difference Makers: Dr. Murtuza Ali (Cardiology); Dr. Matthew Carlisle, Dr. Elizabeth Clement, Dr. Casey Hastings, Dr. Victor Tuckler (EM); Dr. Brian Boulmay (Heme-Onc); Dr. Andrew Burke, Dr. Jacob Dubuc, Dr. Lee Engel (Hospital Medicine); 
  • Dr. Kristi L. Anderson, Assistant Professor of Research and Director of Medical Education, Lafayette Campus was selected the Dillard's Scholar in Residence. The aim of this program is to bring the arts and public health together to address our region's longstanding health disparities through creative, cross-disciplinary mentorship to focus the energy and passion of Dillard art students towards fostering health equity.
  • Dr. Agustin Garcia (Hematology-Oncology) was selected to serve on the Conquer Cancer Grants Selection Committee from the American Society of Clinical Oncology. This work will include review of the 2022 Young Investigator Award (YIA) applications with 203 applications being moved forward for further review by the YIA Review Panels. 
  • Dr. Lisa Moreno-Walton (Emergency Medicine) was selected for the INDUSEM Award - WACEM Leader of the Year. The recipient of this honor is an academician who has made a niche by conducting research and education across the world thus fostering and growing emergency medicine at an International Level. This award was given for Dr. Moreno-Walton's work in advancing Global Emergency Medicine, Academic Education and Innovation Research with a focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. 
  • Dr. Randy Sorge (Emergency Medicine) was named an Emergency Medicine Residency Association's 25 under 45 influencers in Emergency Medicine. Dr. Sorge is Assistant Program Director for the EM residency program.

 

Ophthalmology

  • Ophthalmology Chair Jayne S. Weiss, MD was appointed Associate Secretary for Research, Regulatory and External Scientific Relations of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
  • Dr. Weiss was awarded the Castroviejo medal from the Cornea Society and gave the annual lecture at the American Academy of Ophthalmology's annual meeting in New Orleans in November.

March 2022_SOM Achievements_Weiss with faculty

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Alejandro Leon, MD was appointed as a member of the Research, Regulatory and External Scientific Relations committee of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.


Orthopaedic Surgery

  • Dr. Anna Cohen-Rosenblum was accepted as a 2022-2023 AAHKS Health Policy Fellowship. The Fellowship is a two-year program that provides exposure to the various legislative and regulatory bodies that impact our members' ability to render healthcare services to their patients.

 

Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery

  • Celeste Gary, MD and Stephen Hernandez, MD have been accepted as new members of the Society of University Otolaryngologists (SUO).
  • Jill D'Souza, MD and Joel Jones, MD both passed the American Board of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Complex Pediatric Otolaryngology certification exam.
  • Laura Hetzler, MD and her cleft team at Our Lady of the Lake RMC have been redesignated for another five years by the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association (ACPA), meeting the standard of approval for cleft palate and craniofacial teams.
  • The department announced newly appointed senior positions:
    • Laura Hetzler, MD - Vice Chair
    • Rohan Walvekar, MD - Vice Chair for Head & Neck Oncology Services
    • Andrew McWhorter, MD - Vice Chair for Development

 

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Pediatrics

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  • Dr. Jessica Patrick-Esteve was selected as an abstract reviewer for the 2021 Nexus Summit Conference (national interprofessional education and practice conference). Dr. Patrick-Esteve has been a champion of interprofessional education and practice, assisting with the Team Up curriculum for the past five years, as a facilitator, a grader and researcher. She recently published an article with the Center for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice on student stereotypes of their own profession.  
  • Dr. Colleen LeBlanc will take on the role of Program Director of the Gastroenterology Fellowship Program. Dr. LeBlanc has served as the Associate Program Director since 2019.
  • Dr. Lolie Yu has been selected and voted to be the Vice-Chair of the COG NCORP committee. This is a great honor where LSU/CHNOLA is represented. The mission of the NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) is to serve as the primary platform to represent the interests of the NCORP sites, not only in the COG's administrative and scientific activities but also at the national NCORP level. The NCORP committee monitors and develops mechanism to ensure strong accrual from NCORP sites and has a prominent role in assisting with the development and conduct of studies in cancer prevention and control, disparities, and cancer care delivery research. The NCORP committee also develops strategies to support accrual from NCORP community and Minority/Underserved sites in all types of clinical trials. 

 

Physiology

  • Dr. Lisa Harrison-Bernard was recognized as an APS Star Reviewer for Advances in Physiology Education. 
  • Dr. Harrison-Bernard was also selected as the Distinguished Alumnus of the Department of Physiology at Tulane University School of Medicine. She is scheduled to give a seminar titled “Promoting Diversity in Graduate Education“ on March 14, 2022 at noon.
  • Dr. Tekeda Ferguson was appointed Program Director for Epidemiology in the School of Public Health.
  • Dr. Elizabeth Avegno won the ACNP travel award & ESBRA Young Investigator Symposium travel award.
  • Dr. Patricia Molina was selected as an American Heart Association and Entergy “Women in STEM” Honoree.

 

Psychiatry

  • John Wells, MD, was named Fellow of The Kleros Fellowship of Justice. For his participation in the Fellowship, Dr. Wells will research a novel application of local governance around a common treasury to better align patient engagement in clinical objectives.
  • Nathan Brown, PsyD became Co-Chair of the Convention & Continuing Education Committee for the Louisiana Psychological Association.
  • Marty Drell, MD, is the newly appointed chair of the Education Committee for the Young Audiences Charter School Board. The organization manages schools in Jefferson Parish and Orleans Parish.
  • Dr. Drell also now serves on a planning committee for the AACAP (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry) that develops zoom-based programs for trainees, as well as on the Diversity Committee for the AADCAP (American Association of Directors of Child And Adolescent Psychiatry).
  • Ronja Tripp-Bodola, PhD, received a Presidential Citation from the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH) in recognition of her services. She is currently serving on ASBH's “Career Development Task-force,” and was a juror for the 2021 Ethics Essay prize.