Your Neck of the Woods
Internal Medicine
Dr. Allison Augustus-Wallace presented her abstract, Equity & Inclusivity in STEM Environments: What Does it Mean & How Do We Achieve It? at the 2022 IFoRE Meeting powered by Sigma Xi, the international scientific research
honor society. Dr. Augustus-Wallace is an active member, serves as the Associate Director
for the Research & Doctoral Constituency Group, and was a member of the 2022 IFoRE
Meeting-Program Planning Committee.
Dr. Cathy Lazarus has been reelected as Treasurer of the National Residency Matching Program Board of Directors for a second two-year term.
Dr. Paul LeLorier (Cardiology) was recently appointed to serve on the Editorial Board for the Heart Rhythm Case Reports. Heart Rhythm Case Reports provides rapid online publication of the most important current case reports, illustrations, and educational vignettes in the field of cardiac arrhythmias and electrophysiology.
Dr. Fred Lopez gave two presentations recently at the XLV Reunion Annual Del Colegio Americano de Medicos-Capitulo de Centroamerica in Panama City, Panama. Other participants included Ryan Mire, MD, President of the American College of Physicians and Ricardo Correa, MD, from the Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. Rajesh Mohandas (Nephrology) presented a talk at the American Heart Association Meeting in Chicago entitled “CRRT in the Cardiac Critical Care Setting: An Overview for the Cardiologist.” He also moderated the session “CardioNephrology as a Career Path: What Does It Take?” at the meetings.
Dr. Efrain Reisin (Nephrology) was recently invited back to serve as a Section Editor for the “Hypertension and Obesity” Section for 2023.
Dr. Frank Smart (Cardiology) and Dr. Neeraj Jain (Cardiology) presented at the Louisiana American Cardiology College (ACC) Chapter meeting. Dr. Jain serves as the current governor for the organization.
Several members of the Emergency Medicine section recently gathered for a day-long Transesophageal Echo (TEE) workshop at UMC, led by Dr. Christy Butts (Emergency Medicine).
Three faculty were recently elected to the Ochsner-Kenner Medical Executive Committee for 2023: Vice-President: Sanjay Kamboj, MD (PulmonaryCritical Care/Allergy – Immunology); Secretary/Treasurer: Ben deBoisblanc, MD (Pulmonary-Critical Care/Allergy – Immunology); and Medicine Service Chair: Ross McCarron, MD (Hospital Medicine).
The Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine section recently hosted its inaugural "Grass roots" Tri-State Pulmonary Case Conference Seminar at UMC. The event kicked off with a book club featuring Dr. Wes Ely, the author of Every Deep Drawn Breath. The following day featured pulmonary case presentations given by visiting programs including UAB, University of South Alabama, LSU Shreveport, University of Mississippi Medical Center, and local presentations by the LSU New Orleans and Tulane programs. The event was well-attended and a huge success. The organizers thank UMC, Ochsner, and Tulane for their shared support of this academic event and express special gratitude to Dr. Steve Kantrow for his vision and effort in reviving this important endeavor.
Office of Medical Education
In November, the longstanding Medtronic Patient Safety Program within the School of
Medicine came to an end. The Medtronic Patient Safety Program was a three-day program
combining instruction, simulation, observation and in vivo training specifically designed
to develop pacemaker implantation skills. The program focused on the safe and effective
use of Medtronic products to include surgical considerations for atrial and ventricular
lead access and placement, pocket formation, and wound closure. The course also included
discussions on pacing indications and best practices, and a review of patient cases,
addressing the theoretical and practical aspects of device therapies and post-implant
patient management.
Since June 2005, the program underwent few changes while consistently making an impact on patients in Louisiana. Drs. T. Bruce Ferguson, R. Dean Yount and, most recently, Paul A. LeLorier have served as Program Directors. In total, there have been 85 three-day programs training 160 participating physicians and implanting 490 cardiac implantable electrical devices (CIEDS) in Louisiana patients.
Mr. Sid Lambert, Medtronic’s Education Coordinator, has worked on the patient safety implant training program since its inception. The program could not have been a success without his careful attention to detail – and quick wit! The SOM faculty staff within the Office of Medical Education will miss working with Mr. Lambert.
Pictured at a dinner are the three program directors (L to R: Ferguson, LeLorier, Yount and Sid Lambert)
Ophthalmology
Associate Dean and Chair Dr. Jayne S. Weiss and CHNOLA Clinical Faculty Dr. Alejandro Leon were both featured in the article "Johnson & Johnson Vision and Lions Clubs International
Partner on Sight For Kids" in the Nov/Dec edition of Vision Monday.
Dr. Weiss also moderated a symposium “Questions and Answers with the FDA” and presented a poster created with Nicole Legare, MD (2022 House Officer Graduate & Co-Chief) and Zhide Fang, PhD (Biostatistics Faculty) entitled “Musculoskeletal Pain Among Resident and Practicing Ophthalmologists.”
Dr. Weiss will be serving as the 2023 John L. Montgomery Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Hamilton Eye Institute at The University of Tennessee later this month.
The Louisiana Lions Eye Foundation held their annual Lions Day with a ribbon cutting ceremony and speakers from the Ophthalmology Department including Dr. Weiss, Dr. Jon Williams (PGY4 & Co-Chief Resident), and Dr. Harsh Chawla.
The Dr. George S. Ellis, Sr. Endowed Lecture Day presentation was given by Audina Berrocal, MD, Professor of Ophthalmology at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Miami Florida in October.
Drs. Michael Gemayel and Aravinda Rao attended the Telluride Retina Film Festival in February where Dr. Gemayel, Senior Vitreoretinal Fellow, presented.
Dr. Taylor Phelps, LSUHSC Ophthalmology Resident Alumna, completed a glaucoma fellowship at NYU and
joined the LSU Department of Ophthalmology as a Clinical Assistant Professor and Glaucoma
Subspecialist.
The LSU School of Medicine Ophthalmology Interest Group conducted two free eye screening clinics, one at Dolores T. Aaron Academy (Stacey Umeozulu, Alaa Malik, Hannah Schwartzenburg, Jason, Kim, Chloe Sterling) and the second at Schaumburg Elementary (Cade Nelson, Alise Aucoin, Jason Kim, & Alaa Malik.)
Assistant Professor Dr. Christine Connolly, PGY4 & Co-Chief Dr. Chris Lasecki, and PGY3 Dr. Harsh Chawla conducted a free eye screening clinic at Lakeside Mall in August.
Pediatrics
Children's Hospital invited the department to ride on their LSU float in the Christmas parade in December.
Dr. Alexis Morvant has been selected to serve as the Chairperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics Section of Hospice and Palliative Medicine Advocacy Subcommittee. This committee assists the Executive Committee and AAP Advocacy team in increasing awareness of policy impacting children and families with hospice and palliative care needs, creating opportunities for advocacy education and training for pediatric palliative medicine providers, and bridging communication and collaboration between AAP and other national organizations with vested interest in legislation pertinent to pediatric palliative medicine.
Annie Martin (Neonatology), Kelly Gajewski (Cardiology), Lexy Morvant (Palliative Care) and Zach LeBlanc (Heme-Onc) represented subspecialty pediatrics at a recent Pediatric Interest Group meeting. First and second year medical students were able to learn from these physicians about their career choice, training, professional activities, and work-life balance. These opportunities serve an important role in shaping career choices of medical students and their views on our profession and department.
Dr. Amanda Dumas was an invited speaker at the Partners for Health Equity 2022 Summit hosted by the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, where she joined Dr. LaShawn McIver, Director of the Office of Minority Health at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and Dr. Jennifer Avegno, Director of the New Orleans Health Department, in a panel discussion on the topic of "Promoting Healthcare Equity Through the Medicaid Program." A link to a recording of the discussion can be found here.
Dr. Regina Zambrano presented two posters at the American Society of Human Genetics annual conference in Los Angeles. Her posters were titled "Expanding the Phenotypic Spectrum of SMARCA5-related Neurodevelopmental Disorder" and "Maternally Inherited Novel SUMO2 variant Associated with a Complex Phenotype."
Physiology
Nicholas Gilpin co-organized the International Drug Abuse Research Society (IDARS) meeting in Nice,
France. Dr. Gilpin also co-chaired the Gordon Research Conference meeting on Alcohol & Central Nervous
System in Oxnard, CA.
Robert Siggins chaired the 2022 LSUHSC-NO Committee for Graduate Research Day.
Physiology family celebrated the holiday season with cheer!
Psychiatry
Stuart S, Beiter K, Conrad E. presented the poster Perceived Barriers to Outpatient Mental Health Access in Hospitalized Traumatically
Injured Patients at the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Annual Meeting in November.
Dr. Ronja Bodola and Dr. Jay Mussell (Anatomy) presented their medical humanities talk, “Posthumanism and Ethics of Care” as part of a panel on “Care Ethics in Literature and Film” at the annual SAMLA conference in November.