2020 is over, but we aren't yet in the clear. I remain inspired by the care you show to patients, to learners, and to each other. We have weathered tremendous challenges, unfortunately with more to come. Yet our innovative and transformative research continues. We're all in this together and I'm proud to serve beside you.
In the midst of all that 2020 threw at us, I feel gratitude. I am tremendously thankful for everyone’s efforts this year in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, advocating for antiracism, and working to support each other. In this month’s double-feature edition, please enjoy impressive updates on our work in research, education, clinical care, and outreach.
Photo: Dunwoody FM staff socially distance while delivering cupcakes to Dunwoody FM.
How proud I am of the strong work that our faculty and staff in the Department have done in advocacy, research, education, outreach, and clinical care. You can see this incredible accomplishment and industrious activity in our newsletter this month. These are trying and challenging times. But these awesome colleagues have risen to the call.
Photo: Family Medicine Residency retreat at Piedmont Park
Science will help us during these very challenging times. Please read the recentJournal of the American Medical Association commentary by our own Dr. Rick Goodman. He and two other Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports (MMWR) editors assert the need for freedom from political influence during the publishing process.
Photo: Drs. Anne Dunlop, Jodie Guest, and Susy Alfonso at a monthly COVID-19 testing event with the Mexican Consulate.
Our COVID-19 numbers have grown to staggering numbers while our divisiveness grows at an equal rate. This time calls for us to put our best selves forward as we answer the call ‘what are we willing to do for each other?’ If ever there was a time to commit to each other, now is it.
Photo: Led by Dr. Jodie Guest, a team of researchers at Emory University has partnered with the Mexican Consulate of Atlanta to test members of the Hispanic community for COVID-19. The Emory team was joined on-site by Consul General Javier Diaz de Leon.
Georgia’s surge in numbers and increased Emory patients. August 1st starts University student testing. Contact tracing, isolation and quarantine. Campus compact with masks, distancing and limited dorms. Student Health ARC (SH-ARC!) set up. Faceshields and N-95s ready. Dr. Sharon Rabinovitz leads the Student Health Clinic and calms nervous parents. Ready or not, here they come.
Photo: Dr. Javier Valle was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander, US Navy Medical Corps. Dr. Valle serves as a Medical Officer for CLR-45 and has been overseeing COVID-19 mitigation efforts as well as ensuring deployment medical readiness for the regiment.
In the University’s circle of life, our health professional trainee calendar rings in a new year each July 1. This month, we wished in online ceremonies our palliative medicine fellows (4) and our podiatry (5), family medicine (8), and preventive medicine residents (6) all the best. We look forward to continued partnership in important work.
Photo: Family Medicine faculty, residents, and staff at Emory's White Coats for Black Lives event at Emory University Hospital Midtown on June 5, 2020.
These unimaginable, uncertain times have highlighted the Emory community’s creativity and selflessness. Notably, many in DFPM have leaned in to provide clinical, research, educational, and administrative support locally and globally. In this fast-evolving landscape, let’s continue to be proud of our multi-talented efforts, kind to ourselves, and ready to face a (likely) new normal ahead.
Photo: Dr. Jodie Guest and her Emory COVID-19 testing team in North Georgia.
Virtual Match Day. Virtual Graduation. Who would’ve known when you gathered last, that you would not see your classmates again? Moving during a pandemic. Meeting colleagues virtually. Anxiously stepping into roles as doctors, knowing that this is what the years of studying, rounding and testing were for. These are extraordinary times. You are extraordinary students.
Photo: Dr. Emily Herndon extends a virtual welcome to Emory medical students who matched with Family Medicine residency programs.
Patients first. A great rule every day, but particularly now with COVID-19. As a medical school department in a large, academic medical center, we face heavy, sometimes harrowing clinical tasks. What will carry us through? Yes, clinical work, but that along with the other parts of our academic mission- research, education, and advocacy. Be well.
Photo: PYG-3 Family Medicine Residents at Research Day 2020
If you’ve been keeping track, you’ll recognize the 2019-2020 academic year as a banner year for our Department. This month? Dr. Dio Kavalieratos officially joins us on March 1, 2020, adding significantly to our research capacity. Our outreach activities are tremendous going on nearby (farm-workers) and far away (Black Lion Hospital in Ethiopia).
Photo: Dr. Jenny Mascaro presenting her innovative spiritual health research
Settling into our new Department home…warm welcomes abound! Good news opens 2020 - HPM Fellowship 100% match - 5 positions AY20; expansion approved 5 to 7 positions AY21. Recruitment of Dr. Dio Kavalieratos as Director of Research for the Division. Palpable excitement. New work friends and family joined. Joy and success to all in 2020!
Photo: Preventive Medicine residents with Leslie Marshburn, MPH, MBA,Executive Director, Strategy & Population Health at Grady Health System
