NEWS

Brendan Kelly, MD Recipient of TUSM Award for Excellence in Teaching Physical Diagnosis

Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM) has named Brendan Kelly, MD the recipient of The Mark Aisner, MD Award for Excellence in Teaching Physical Diagnosis for 2010.

Dr. Brendan Kelly, Associate Program Director of the Medicine-Pediatrics Residency Program, has presided as course director for the Physical Diagnosis Course for second year TUSM medical students at Baystate Medical Center for the past 5 years. Under his guidance, the Baystate program has continually received some of the highest rankings among all of the clinical sites and is held in high esteem by the students who have attended.

Dr. Mark Aisner served as the TUSM course director for Physical Diagnosis from 1946-1977. In 1988, family, friends, and colleagues of Dr. Aisner initiated this award to foster and enhance the teaching of physical diagnosis at TUSM and its affiliated hospitals.

TUSM Class of 2010 Bestows Teaching Awards

Tufts University School of Medicine Class of 2010 has selected the following Baystate Medical Center faculty and housestaff to be honored with teaching awards.

Award to Faculty for Excellence in Teaching

• Bryant Benson, MD, Department of Pediatrics

Award to Housestaff / Fellows for Excellence in Teaching

• Clayton Wood, MD, Department of Emergency Medicine

• Sabha Ganai, MD, Department of Surgery

The awards will be presented at the TUSM Senior Class Dinner on May 19 at the Marriott Long Wharf Hotel.

Harry Hoar III, MD Wins Society of Hospital Medicine Poster Competition

Dr. Hoar, Internal Medicine Department, won the Pediatric Hospital Medicine poster competition with his poster entitled, "A Teen with Varices: An Unusual Presentation of a Familiar Disease" at the SHM annual meeting held in Washington DC April 8 - 11, 2010. Of the approximately 20 projects invited to the oral presentation sessions, 2 of them were from Baystate. The other, "Why Do Physicians Prescribe Stress Ulcer Prophylaxis to Hospitalized General Medical Patients?" was by Mihaela Stefan MD, also of the Internal Medicine Department.

Dr. Stefan also presented, "Using ABIM Performance Improvement Modules to Simultaneously Improve Care Set Usage, Quality-Care Indicators and Enhance Resident Education in Quality Improvement." In addition, Tara Lagu, MD, MPH, Center of Quality of Care Research, gave an oral presentation entitled, "Higher Hospital Spending Does Not Result in Lower Adjusted Mortality in Sepsis."

Heather Sankey, MD's Oral Abstract Wins Prize at Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology Meeting

Dr. Sankey, Program Director of the Obstetrics-Gynecology Residency, won third place for her presentation entitled “Faculty Development through creation of a PGY1 Boot Camp” at the annual meeting of the Council of Residency Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Association of Professors in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Ellen Brassil, MS, AHIP, Appointed New Director of Health Sciences Library

Ms. Ellen Brassil joins Baystate Medical Center from Sacred Heart University where she has served as the Librarian for Health Sciences. Previously, she served as Director of Libraries for Mount Sinai Hospital in Hartford, Library Manager for the Hospital of Central Connecticut, Reference Librarian at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, and as Head of Information Management Education Services at the University of North Carolina Health Sciences Library in Chapel Hill, NC. Ms. Brassil has a BS from Drew University in Madison, NJ, and an MS in Library and Information Science from Simmons College in Boston.

Her office is located within the Health Sciences Library and she can be reached at 413-794-1866.

Sandra Bellantonio, MD Appointed Vice Chair of American Geriatrics Society's Education Committee

Dr. Bellantonio's appointment as Vice Chair of  the Education Committee, an important leadership position within the AGS, is national recognition for her past contributions to the Society. She will serve a 2-year term starting in May 2010.

Baystate Medical Center Awarded Full Institutional Accreditation for 4 Years

At the April 13, 2010 meeting of the ACGME Institutional Review Committee, Baystate Medical Center received continued full institutional accreditation for 4 years as the institutional sponsor of ACGME-accredited residencies and fellowships. Currently there are more than 300 residents and fellows in 10 residencies and 15 fellowships that are approved by ACGME at Baystate. Hal Jenson, MD serves as the Designated Institutional Official and Heather Sankey, MD is the current Chair of the Baystate Graduate Medical Education Committee.

Medicine-Pediatrics Residency Receives Maximum 5 Year Accreditation

Baystate's Medicine-Pediatrics residency program was awarded continued accreditation for the maximum of 5 years at the ACGME Residency Review Committee's April 13, 2010 meeting. This is the first cycle of independent ACGME accreditation for the combined Medicine-Pediatrics residency programs. Sam Borden, MD, serves as the Program Director for this residency program, which has 8 residents in each of the 4 years of the program.