Graduate students and faculty present at ATS International Conference

Faculty, residents, fellows and graduate students participate in the American Thoracic Society International Conference in San Francisco.

Representatives from the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine and USA Health attended the American Thoracic Society (ATS) International Conference, held last month in San Francisco, to present and learn about the latest advances in pulmonary disease, critical illness and sleep disorders.

Numerous faculty, residents, fellows and graduate students participated in the meeting, which drew nearly 14,000 physicians, scientists and healthcare professionals from around the globe.

The following Ph.D. students in the Basic Medical Sciences Graduate Program were poster presenters: Aritra Bhadra, Grant Daly, Meredith Gwin, Jenny Hewes, Jennifer Knighten, Sunita Subedi Paudel, Pallavi Sen and Reece Stevens. Viktor Pastukh, Ph.D., pharmacology instructor; Nida Ahmed, M.D., pulmonary fellow; and Taylor Cook, M.D., internal medicine resident, also presented posters at the conference.

Natalie Bauer, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmacology, was selected as co-chair of the Assembly on Pulmonary Circulation planning committee and will serve as chair for 2023-2024. She also organized the ATS Science and Innovation Center (SIC) reception, hosted the SIC/Ph.D., Basic and Translational Scientists Working Group reception, chaired a faculty development session, and facilitated a poster discussion session.

Karen Fagan, M.D., professor of internal medicine and pharmacology and director of the pulmonary and critical care division, facilitated a poster discussion session. Troy Stevens, Ph.D., professor and chair of physiology and cell biology and director of the Center for Lung Biology, organized an endothelial workshop.

Also in attendance were Phillip Almalouf, M.D., assistant professor of internal medicine; Mark Gillespie, Ph.D., professor and chair of pharmacology; Raymond Langley, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacology; Ji Young Lee, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of internal medicine, physiology and cell biology; and Robert Petrossian, M.D., pulmonary fellow.

Meet a Med Student: Sarah Blackstock

Sarah Blackstock

Age: 24

Class of: 2025

Hometown: Gadsden, Alabama

Undergrad institution: Auburn University

Degree earned: Bachelor of Science in biomedical sciences

Interests, hobbies: Traveling, baking and listening to true-crime podcasts

Something unique about me: I was almost stuck in Peru when COVID-19 first broke out. We were the last plane to leave the country, and we left just 30 minutes before they closed the borders.

Three of my favorite things: I love traveling to new places, spending time with my family and dogs at the lake, and eating anything chocolate.

What I enjoy most about being a student at the Whiddon College of Medicine: I really appreciate that South offers us so many opportunities to get involved on campus and in our community.

USA Health residents, fellows compete in 2022 scholarship exposition

Chaitra Manjunath, M.D., right, a third-year pediatrics resident, discuses her research with Mimi Munn, M.D., professor and chair of obstetrics and gynecology. Manjunath won first place in the Clinical and Translational Research category for her poster presentation. 

Residents and fellows at USA Health presented scholarly works at the USA Resident and Fellow Scholarship Exposition on Thursday, June 16, at the Strada Patient Care Center. The expo was held in person after being held virtually in 2021.

The expo provides an opportunity for residents and fellows to display their scholarly activities from research projects, quality improvement projects, and patient safety, education and advocacy projects, as well as case reports. This year featured an oral presentation competition in addition to the poster competition.

“It’s important for us to share our knowledge to add to the overall body of medical knowledge that helps advance care for all patients,” said Judy Blair-Elortegui, M.D., associate dean for graduate medical education, associate professor of internal medicine and pediatrics, and program director of the internal medicine residency program. “In particular, our projects in quality improvement and patient safety have a specific, measurable impact on the care we provide to our patients at USA Health.”

Elizabeth Ekpo, M.D., a third-year resident in emergency medicine, presented a poster outlining a case in which Double Sequential External Defibrillation (DSED) was used in a 36-year-old patient who was admitted to the emergency department with refractory ventricular fibrillation from thyrotoxic periodic paralysis, a rare condition that causes severe muscle weakness. Ekpo concluded that DSED could have value in an in-hospital setting. 

“This event allows us to showcase all of our hard work,” Ekpo said. “When I see a rare case, I want to know how the physicians solved the case, and how I can do better. Hopefully, people can learn from this and save someone’s life.”

Winners were announced in these categories:

Poster sessions

Quality Improvement and Performance Improvement, Patient Safety, Patient Education, and Patient Advocacy: Jonathan Jones, M.D., a third-year resident in OB-GYN, who presented “Financial toxicity of gynecologic oncology patients undergoing treatment in the Deep South.”

Clinical and Translational Research: Chaitra Manjunath, M.D., a third-year resident in pediatrics, who presented “Multivariate analysis of the use of Quetiapine in delirium among hospitalized children.”

Clinical Vignettes: Katie Vines, M.D., a second-year resident in surgery, who presented “Traumatic Aortic Injury: Is the seatbelt to be blamed?”

Oral presentation session

1st place (tie): Benjamin Eisenman, M.D., a second-year resident in family medicine, who presented “One step at a time: Addressing COVID hesitancy in patients who received one out of two recommended doses.”

1st place (tie): Jorge Sucar-Marquez, M.D., a second-year resident in pediatrics, who presented “Retrospective review of accidental toddler drug ingestion; the clinical manifestations and length of stay.”

2nd place: Joseph Anderson, M.D., a third-year resident in orthopaedic surgery, who presented “Clavicle mass in a competitive CrossFit athlete.”

See more photos from the expo on Flickr.