School of Medicine

Your Neck of the Woods

Center for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice (CIPECP)
Shane Sanne presented recently at the 4th annual Heartland Interprofessional Education Conference

Internal Medicine
UMCNO recently received accreditation as a Geriatric Emergency Department, Level 3 Bronze. GEDA was developed by leaders in emergency medicine to ensure that older patients receive well-coordinated, quality care at the appropriate level at every ED encounter. This important accreditation was achieved through a partnership between LSU Geriatrics, Emergency Medicine and UMCNO.

Infectious Diseases professor Michael Hagensee, MD, PhD, recently presented at a special Grand Rounds, Monkeypox: What we know…. What we need to know, with the latest and detailed information about monkeypox. Monkeypox has been declared a global public health emergency. The event, hosted by the SOM, provided healthcare providers with vital information, including the diseases caused by the Orthopoxvirus group, the unique clinical presentation of the recent monkeypox outbreak and how to prevent and treat monkeypox.

The Section of Emergency Medicine’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee recently met. Eighteen faculty and residents came together and several more shared topics and ideas despite not being able to attend. The group had excellent discussions regarding diversity recruitment for this upcoming residency match cycle. They reviewed the URM visiting student clerkship scholarship and the possibility of expanding this. They also had a very open exchange about workplace atmosphere and how to continue to promote inclusion and belonging especially for underrepresented residents and faculty. 

 

 

Dr. Fred Lopez (Infectious Diseases) recently presented at the Department of Pediatrics Grand Rounds at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences GranLeBonheur Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Lauren Richey, Dr. Yussef Bennani (Infectious Diseases) and Dr. Annalisa Perez (Nephrology) recently presented at the national Ryan White Conference on HIV Care and Treatment: Bennani Y, Perez A, Richey LE: Incorporation of Nested Multidisciplinary Clinics into an HIV Primary Care Clinic for Emerging Co-Morbidities and Richey LE, Darbyshire K, Chanthala V, Bennani Y. Providing HIV Care during a Natural Disaster, Experiences from Louisiana During Hurricane Ida

Dr. Gala True (Medicine, Section on Community and Population Medicine) presented on secure firearm storage to prevent firearm suicides at the following events:  

• 5th Annual Suicide Prevention Summit in Baton Rouge presented by the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs
• Caregiver Support Program Annual Caregiver Summit presented by the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System
• Annual Mental Health & Suicide Prevention Summit presented by the Veterans Integrated Service Network - 16 under the Department of Veterans Affairs 

As the director of the Veteran-Informed Safety Intervention and Outreach Network (VISION), Dr. True organized and staffed a table at the Great Southern Gun and Knife Show on Sept 17-18 and Oct 22-23 to promote secure firearm storage to prevent suicide.  
 
Dr. True also conducted training on suicide prevention to the owners and staff at Atchafalaya Arms in Port Barre. Atchafalaya Arms is now part of our Firearm Retail Partner Map (Gun Shop Partners — VISION Coalition) to help users identify the nearest location for secure, temporary firearm storage. 

Many of the Emergency Medicine section faculty and residents presented a number of talks at the recent American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Scientific Assembly 2022:

• Dr. Peter DeBlieux: How to Give a Killer Talk; MyEMCert & Maintenance of Certification Practice Advancements
• Dr. Sara Muramoto: Undifferentiated Shock
• Dr. Jay Kaplan: The Pros/Cons of Chief Wellness Officer; 5 Strategies for Reinventing Your Career in Uncertain Times; Emotional Intelligence & Mindful Listening
• Dr. Michaela Banks: Association Between Compliance with an Organized State Burn Triage Center and Burn Outcomes
• Dr. Michelle St. Romain: Impact of a Large Gathering on COVID-19 Transmission in a Community with Multiple Broad Mitigation Measures
• Dr. Randy Sorge: ACEP Wellness Section Meeting

Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology
Dr. Arturo Luna, former PhD student in the LSUHSC Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology Department, has been appointed as Minister of Science in Colombia. Dr. Luna studied under the mentorship of Drs. Aiyar, Palmer and Zea.

Orthopaedics
Dr. Jennifer Simkin had the opportunity to mentor two high school students who have been involved with Ortho Research in the lab this summer. These two students, Gabrielle Alphonse and Charlotte Raymond, placed first and third in the Virtual Poster Symposium for the High School and Undergraduate Summer Research Internship Program. The students were scored based on their posters, presentations, and their ability to answer the judges’ questions. 

Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery
Dr. Moises Arriaga presented both oral presentations and posters of "Post-traumatic temporal bone pneumatocele presenting after aggressive Valsalva" at several conferences this past quarter.

Pediatrics
Dr. Diego Aviles was recently invited to teach a course sponsored by the International Society of Pediatric Nephrology (IPNA) in Asuncion, Paraguay. He gave five lectures on "Neonatal Nephrology." Attendees participated in-person and virtually from the Caribbean and Central and South America.

 

Dana LeBlanc and Maria Velez (Hem/Onc) recently attended the annual conference for the Foundation for Women and Girls with Blood Disorders. The department Clinic for Girls and Adolescents with Bleeding and Sickle Cell (GABS) is the only clinic of its type in the Gulf Coast region that serves females with both bleeding disorders and sickle cell disease.

 

 

 

Dr. Amanda Dumas participated in the annual Child and Adult Core Set Review Workgroup. This is her second year participating. The Core Sets are important tools that states use to monitor and improve the quality of health care provided to Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries. Each year this workgroup is charged with reviewing the measures included in the Child and Adult Core Sets, identifying gap areas, and recommending changes. The final report for 2023 is available here. 

Dr. Dumas was also one of two Louisiana Medicaid representatives interviewed for the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) podcast on the topics of health equity measurement and Louisiana's own approaches to health equity in Medicaid. NCQA is a non-profit organization that develops HEDIS measures, accredits health plans, and certifies patient-centered medical homes. Dr. Dumas currently serves as the Interim Chief Medical Officer for Louisiana Medicaid: https://www.ncqa.org/blog/inside-health-care-89-louisiana-medicaid-moving-health-equity-into-the-states/

Dr. Elizabeth Wisner was featured on Fox 8 Live recently to discuss procurement of art for the new Ronald McDonald House which will be open later this year on Children's Hospital's campus. Dr. Wisner is a board member for RMH and Chair of the Arts Subcommittee. You can watch the full interview here.

NOLA.com featured Renette Jones, RN, Colleen Bodet, NP, and Ryan Pasternak, MD of our Adolescent Medicine Division in an article highlighting the school-based health clinic at New Orleans Charter Science and Mathematics High School (Sci High). “When we think about a safety net of care, School-Based Health Centers provide some of the threads to ensure students and youth receive health care services without falling through the cracks,” said Dr. Pasternak. You can read the article here. The article also illustrates the efforts of Nurse Jones who was responsible for data tracking during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Pasternak says, “She is constantly putting students and staff above herself.” 

Dr. Luke Wall of the Allergy/Immunology Division is featured on a recent cover of New Orleans Magazine's Top Doctors edition. He is also featured in Beth D'Addono's two-page article inside the magazine titled "Answering the Call: Treating the Most Vulnerable During the Most Unpredictable Time." The article highlights Dr. Wall's familial roots in Ponchatoula, his love of Allergy/Immunology, and how the COVID pandemic has affected his home life and patient population. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LCMC Health and CHNOLA joined forces with nearly 150 health systems and children’s hospitals representing over 1,000 hospitals around the country on the issue of gun control. This national healthcare campaign is focused on making gun access part of an everyday conversation to secure health and safety in homes. LCMC and Children's Hospital New Orleans were listed in a full-page print ad in the New York Times on Sept 28 and Oct 2. You can support this issue by liking/commenting/resharing future social media content regarding this conversation.

Multiple faculty and house officers participated in the American Academy of Pediatrics annual meeting CME Conference with oral and poster presentations:

• Oral Presentations:
  • Caroline Straatmann: Hematuria and Proteinuria in Children
  • Colleen LeBlanc: Eosinophilic Esophagitis: What Is It and How Do We Manage These Patients?
  • Andrew Abreo: Peanut Allergy: Past, Present, and Future
  • Ashley Farge and Julie Gallois: What Pediatricians Want to Know about the Use of Supplementary Feedings in the Healthy Term Breastfed Infant
  • Marcie Houser: Incorporating Anti-Obesity Medications into Pediatric Practice
  • Rachelle Daris, Resident Presentation: The Puffiness You Don't Want to Miss
  • Kyle Fulton: Head Shape Evaluation in Infants and Young Children
• Poster Presentations:
  • Devyn Rohlfs-Rivera and Jay Hescock: A Case of Wernicke Encephalopathy in a Patient with Autism Disorder and Restrictive Eating
  • Rachel Lambert, Elizabeth Alonso-Rubiano, Zach LeBlanc, Andrew Abreo, Ricardo Gomez: An Unexpected Potentially Fatal Diagnosis In A Child With Nephrotic Syndrome: Impact of Genetic Testing

Multiple faculty represented the department at the annual AAP national conference in October: 

• Dr. Esteban Gershanik presented "Designing Pediatric Value-Based Payment Models Centered on Health Equity."
• Dr. Alexis Morvant participated in a panel discussion titled "Advocacy and Improving Access to Hospice and Palliative Medicine: Stories from the Field" where she shared her Louisiana advocacy story.
• Dr. Morvant also authored an abstract that was accepted as an oral presentation.
• Former Resident Dr. Casie James presented "Keep Your Eyes on the Long Game: Advice from Pediatric Palliative Care Program Leaders on Outpatient Development."
• Dr. Ryan Pasternak presented "Tools to Deliver Reproductive Health Care to High-Risk Teens" along with Dr. Errol Fields from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. 

Dr. Alexis Morvant has been invited to speak at a number of events this past quarter. She was part of a panel discussing advocacy efforts in the Gulf States Region for AAP NCE Section of Hospice and Palliative Medicine in Anaheim. She also spoke on Pediatric Hospice and Concurrent Care at the Southeast Regional Pediatric Hospice and Palliative Care Forum, which was held virtually. In November, Dr. Morvant invited faculty to join the Southeast Institute for Innovation in Palliative and Supportive Care Annual Conference, where she was selected to be a plenary speaker to discuss advocacy efforts in Louisiana for pediatric serious illness. 

Dr. Morvant received the AAMC Humanism in Medicine LSU Nominee Award and presented a moving speech at the 2026 LSU Class White Coat Ceremony recently. You can view her speech at this link; her talk starts around the 45:00 mark.

 

 

Dr. Pinki Prasad will serve as Vice-Chair of the Education Committee of  the International Society of Pediatric Oncology-North America (SIOP). She was also recently named an invited member of the Alliance Health Disparities Committee.

Dr. Chelsey Sandlin presented "Program Organization 101: Basics of Day-to-Day Program Leadership" with a panel that included other Pediatric Program Directors from around the country at the Association of Pediatric Program Directors' Annual Fall Meeting last week in Arlington, Virginia. 

Halloween at CHNOLA was a success, with Endocrinology winning CHNOLA’s group costume contest as characters from the board game Clue.

The CHNOLA Office of Medical Education dressed up as the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus. 

Physiology
Scott Edwards and Wojnar M. Chaired the Symposium Intersection of Pain and Alcohol Use Disorder Risk at the Joint meeting of the ISBRA and ESBRA at Cracow, Poland, earlier this quarter. 

Edwards gave an oral talk, Analgesic Efficacy of Alcohol in the Context of Chronic Pain at the Symposium. 

Patricia Molina and Simon L. chaired the Symposium Alcohol-associated Dysbiosis; Contribution to Frailty Comorbidities. Joint meeting of the ISBRA and ESBRA at Cracow, Poland earlier this quarter.  

Simon L, Bourgeois B, Levitt DE, and Patricia Molina presented a poster (virtually). Differential regulation of alcohol-mediated decreased skeletal muscle stem cell differentiation in SIV-infected female macaques: Implication of microRNAs and bioenergetics. Joint meeting of the ISBRA and ESBRA at Cracow, Poland, September, 2022. 

Smith AA, Fontenot C, Lau F, Phelan H, Carter J, Hobden J. Cytokine profile of adipose-derived stem cells from patients with severe burn injuries. Poster presentation. Shock Society. June 2022.

Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery
Dr. Rohan Walvekar gave a virtual presentation at the 12th International Robotic Surgery Symposium on October 22-23, 2022. Presentation title was “TORS Sialolithotomy.”

Pediatric Otolaryngologists at CHNOLA participated in Halloween dressed up as the characters from the Despicable Me movies. 

 

Psychiatry
Drs. Shane Bierma and Ronja Roxane Bodola launched the Special Interest Group, “Sexual and Gender Minorities” at the Department of Psychiatry, a hub for interdisciplinary learning and collaborative research. If you are interested in joining, please contact rbodol@lsuhsc.edu.

Dr. Erika Rajo spoke on behalf of the UMC Trauma Recovery Team at a recent City Council meeting which brought together stakeholders for mental health services around the New Orleans area.

Dr. Shane Bierma presented "A Kernbergian Perspective on Gender Dysphoria" at the Appalachian Psychoanalytic Society Conference in September.

Department of Psychiatry faculty and staff attended the National Medical Association conference in Atlanta, August 1-3, 2022:

• Drs. Maeghan Davis, Jennifer Creedon, and Jennifer Velander participated in a panel on “Access to Care for Opioid Disorders”
• Ms. Victoria Sacco and Ms. Chikira Barker participated in a panel on race-based traumatic stress.
• Department Chair, Dr. Rahn K. Bailey, participated in a panel on Violence and Racism, and presented on “COVID-19: The Pandemic of the 21st Century”

Radiology
Hector Ferral, MD, FSIR, IR, Vice Chair of Research, was the Scientific Coordinator for the SIDI Conference held in Guadalajara, Mexico, earlier this year. Dr. Ferral also served as a moderator and speaker for this event. While in attendance, he was presented two awards. One award was from the SIDI Board of Directors for his leadership and efforts of IR in Latin America. He received a second award from SIDI and his colleagues expressing their gratitude for his talent and dedication to IR in Ibero-America.

Dr. Ferral also recently participated in the Vista Course: Embolization and TIPs procedures, sponsored by Cook Medical in Chicago, Ill. He will also participate in the course next year in March along with our Chief Resident, Dr. Andrew Ea.
https://intervencionismosidi.org/wp-content/uploads/Programa-SIDI-Guadalajara_v6_12_09_22.pdf