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Cancer researcher Huang aims to chart new era of education as Senior Associate Dean, Center Times Plus, UT … – UT Southwestern

As an intern, Sherry C. Huang,M.D., discovered a pathway to become one of the worlds leading genetic experts on inherited colon cancer syndromes. Her determination to help others was driven by painful and personal experience.

I diagnosed my father with colon cancer when he was in his mid-50s, said Dr.Huang, who joined UTSouthwestern as Vice Provost and Senior Associate Dean for Education on Feb.1. It cannot get any more personal than having to diagnose your own parent. Its why I went into early-risk colon cancer research.

After concentrating on cancer research and patient care for more than two decades, Dr.Huang will now shift her emphasis to education leadership, an area she had expanded into during her tenure at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD), then Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS), now known as Rutgers Health.

At Rutgers, she served as Vice Chancellor for Graduate Medical Education and Enterprise Wide Designated Institutional Official (DIO) and also as Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Gastroenterology at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. As Vice Chancellor and DIO, Dr.Huang provided executive leadership and management of an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Sponsoring Institution that spanned two medical schools, 13 hospitals, and 125 ACGME residency and fellowship programs with oversight of 1,700 trainees encompassing 70% of GME learners in the state of New Jersey.

Dr.Huangs proven strategic planning and leadership record, her deep understanding of the continuum of instruction, and her demonstrated skills enabling collaborations across distinct institutional entities will help chart the next era of education at UTSouthwestern, said W. P. Andrew Lee,M.D., Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Provost, and Dean of UTSouthwestern Medical School.

Among her accomplishments, Dr.Huang successfully consolidated all GME programs at RBHS under one Sponsoring Institution while honoring the distinct traits of the diverse campuses and hospital systems. She guided the implementation of innovative curricula and training paradigms in the clinical learning environment to ensure alignment with institutional missions and priorities. Dr.Huang also designed health education programs and interprofessional training models to foster collaborative teaching, which increased opportunities to train health care learners in a team modeled approach to mitigate health care workforce shortages while improving health access and equity.

In her new role at UTSouthwestern, Dr.Huang succeeds Charles Ginsburg,M.D., who is retiring after 50 years of dedicated service to UTSW including, since 2016, as Vice Provost and Senior Associate Dean for Education. Dr.Huang said her primary responsibility will be to further enhance the academic excellence that has positioned UTSouthwestern nationally as a leading institution for medical education.

I was incredibly impressed by the potent and available opportunities here for real change, said Dr.Huang, who will also be Professor of Pediatrics at UTSW. UTSouthwestern represented the be-all of learning institutions for promoting new and better ways to teach medicine and redefine health equity and access.

The granddaughter of physicians, Dr.Huang has for more than two decades led research funded by the National Institutes of Health and the American Gastroenterological Association focused on tumorigenesis in early-onset colon cancer. Her laboratory career at UCSD and most recently at RBHS has included working to identify families at risk and creating a regional registry for polyposis syndromes. Dr.Huangs latest research employed computational models to predict genetically predisposed colon cancer patients who can benefit from targeted prevention.

Ive had the privilege of helping families specifically young children with rare diseases related to early-risk colon cancer syndromes. Because of the hereditary nature of these syndromes, over time, my young patients have become parents themselves, and I have been humbled to also manage their children medically, Dr.Huang said.

A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr.Huang earned her medical degree at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1994. She completed residency training in pediatrics at UCSD, followed by a fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition, and postdoctoral research training with a focus on cancer genetics. Dr.Huang then joined the faculty of UCSD, pursuing a career as a physician-scientist while promoting medical education in progressive leadership roles at UCSD and then Rutgers.

I always wanted to follow in my grandparents footsteps, Dr.Huang said. I recall visiting them as a little girl and being so fascinated. There was no way for me to escape but to become a physician myself.

As for her latest career move, she said the decision to join UTSW was easy and related to her finding a genuine collaborative and innovative spirit from the people she met in the academic community.

What is most exciting for me about UTSouthwestern is how well positioned it is to lead the state and our nation in defining new educational paradigms to train tomorrows leaders, Dr.Huang said.

Dr. Ginsburg holds the Marilyn R. Corrigan Distinguished Chair in Pediatric Research.

Dr. Lee holds the Atticus James Gill, M.D. Chair in Medical Science.

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Cancer researcher Huang aims to chart new era of education as Senior Associate Dean, Center Times Plus, UT ... - UT Southwestern

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High school females get hands-on orthopaedics experience at WVU’s Perry Initiative event – West Virginia University

More than 30 young female high school students were able to work alongside West Virginia University orthopaedic clinicians and educators to participate in a transformative experience at the School of Medicine through The Perry Initiative.

Michelle Bramer, M.D., led the team of volunteers (see full list at the bottom of the article) to orchestrate a one-day career exploration event on Saturday, Dec. 9, as part of the Perry Outreach Program.

The Perry Initiative collaborates with medical centers, universities and high schools to organize Perry Outreach Programs for high school girls. These day-long events, conducted at over 45 locations nationwide, involve participants in simulated orthopaedic surgeries, biomechanical engineering experiments and insightful sessions with accomplished women engineers and surgeons.

Organizers say that the event benefits the faculty as much as the students.

In dedicating our time, expertise and passion to this initiative, my team and I firmly believe that the benefits extend beyond the students, positively impacting the faculty as well, said Dr. Bramer, M.D.

Organizers say students become mentors and role models, guiding attendees through the intricacies of suturing, casting, surgery and more, fostering confidence and opening doors to STEM-related careers for young women.

For more information on the WVU Department of Orthopaedics, visit medicine.wvu.edu/orthopaedics.

Full list of volunteers:

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High school females get hands-on orthopaedics experience at WVU's Perry Initiative event - West Virginia University

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New Professors in the Department of Internal Medicine – Yale School of Medicine

Education:

BS, Pennsylvania State University

MD, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University

This is truly an honor and a culmination of decades of work dedicated to advance the field of cancer genetics. To have this appointment at an esteemed place such as Yale is even more meaningful, which has global reach and impact. I think the work I have done in collaboration with so many colleagues nationally and globally regarding cancer genetics, cancer disparities, and access to genetics care is critical at this time in oncology. Having the appointment based on this work really feels fulfilling and inspiring to continue this important work.

I contacted my husband, young adult kids, and parents who all congratulated me. Having that level of appreciation from my family, especially my children, was so moving.

I have been blessed to work with so many expert colleagues this really is a team approach to advance cancer care! I am honored to have mentored and continue to mentor the next generation of physicians and physician-scientists. Ultimately, I am deeply grateful to all of my patients who inspire my work. When I hear of even one patient who has been touched by my work, that is all I need to feel that it is all worth it.

I truly enjoy the opportunities to work with colleagues across disciplines, geographic regions, and expertise. I appreciate the ability to have creative freedom to explore new lines of research based on patient needs, which have led to some of the most impactful contributions. I also enjoy teaching and mentorship to build a legacy to carry forward for generations.

My high school mascot was the bulldog and now my career mascot is also the bulldog! I have come full circle here at Yale.

BA, BS, Trinity University

MD, PhD, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School

It is helpful to contextualize the promotion by placing it into a sequence of ~100-month blocks from (1) grade school through middle school, (2) high school and college, (3) MD-PhD education, (4) internship, residency, and fellowship training into K08 award, (5) first R01 grant through associate professorship, and (6) tenure until professorship. It is with a gentle sigh of relief, as I approach my 660th month on this planet, that I have at long last completed my "official" training. It is with much excitement, humility, and sentimentality that I look forward to the centennial blocks to follow this time without training wheels or institutionalized goals. It is in these segments where I hope finally to perform what I have been educated to do. I am told it is during these times when wisdom starts to engraft. Fingers crossed.

It still hasnt quite hit that I have been promoted. Seriously. I am actually a bit afraid to do or say anything for fear that it is just a dream and will disappear when I awake. While I had a perfect evening getting takeout with my lovely wife, Ania (I got to choose the pizza toppings!), I wont let loose until after learning the secret handshake and receiving the key to the clubhouse. That said, we did pop some bubbly with our neighbor Katie, who, coincidentally, was promoted to professor the same day big news for our block!

An awkward and stubborn persistence. Somewhere along the way, my great discovery was an internal doggedness that was supported by a loving family and absolutely amazing team. This doggedness was woven into a network of remarkable colleague-friends and sustained by sage mentors, serene gurus, and sentient leaders. Everything else follows.

The science, equations, and relationships.

Both my parents have full heads of hair.

The Department of Internal Medicine at Yale School of Medicine is among the nation's premier departments, bringing together an elite cadre of clinicians, investigators, educators, and staff in one of the world's top medical schools. To learn more, visit Internal Medicine.

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Nobel Laureate and World-Renowned Geneticist to Speak at 2024 Commencement – News Center – Feinberg News Center

Michael S. Brown, MD, director of the Jonsson Center for Molecular Genetics and the Regental Professor at the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical School, will address graduates and their guests at Feinbergs 165th commencement ceremony on Monday, May 13.

Brown, along with his long-time colleague, Joseph Goldstein, MD, Chairman of the Department of Molecular Genetics at UT Southwestern Medical Center, discovered the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor, which controls cholesterol in blood and in cells, and showed that mutations in this receptor cause Familial Hypercholesterolemia, a disorder that leads to premature heart attack.

Their work laid the groundwork for the development of statins that block cholesterol synthesis, increase LDL receptors, lower blood cholesterol and prevent heart attacks. Their discoveries earned them the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology in 1985 and the U.S. National Medal of Science in 1988, among many other awards.

Brown earned his MD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1966 and completed an internship and internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1968. He then became a Clinical Associate at the National Institutes of Health and in 1969, he joined the laboratory of Earl Stadtman at the National Institutes of Health as a postdoctoral fellow. In 1976, Brown was named the Paul J Thomas Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center for Genetic Diseases at UT Southwestern Medical School.

Brown and Goldstein have shared a laboratory for more than 50 years. The two scientists worked with scientists at Merck to develop the first statin drugs, which cause the liver to produce more LDL receptors, thereby removing more LDL from blood and lowering LDL levels. In 1987, Merck received FDA approval for the first statin drug, which was shown to effectively treat high blood cholesterol, reduce heart attacks and extended survival in adults with coronary heart disease. Today, statins are taken by more than 20 million Americans.

Brown is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he is a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in London. Brown served for 16 years on the Board of Directors of Pfizer and is currently director of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, where he chairs the Technology Committee.

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Nobel Laureate and World-Renowned Geneticist to Speak at 2024 Commencement - News Center - Feinberg News Center

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SEMO and St. George’s University start partnership to support medical students – The Arrow

SEMO medical students practice injections.

Photo by Polina Kondrashova

SEMO students who are considering a career in medicine now have more opportunities for academic and personal development. SEMO has just entered a partnership with St. George's University, a school in Grenada, West Indies, that will allow outstanding medical major students to continue their studies and advance their progress.

SEMO executive director of International Education Kevin Timlin shared more information about the partnership and its benefits for students.

St. George's agreement gives SEMO pre-medical students an automatic admission into their [St. Georges University] MD program, if they complete our pre-medical program with a 3.4 GPA and a 3.5 GPA in their science courses, Timlin said.

This agreement was established to help students get a medical degree, which is usually challenging. The partnership aims to attract hardworking students to offer them financial and moral support.

I think U.S. medical schools are very, very strict. They're rigorous, they're stressful, and they have a model in which people burn or weed out, Timlin said. In St. George's University, they have a much more student-centric model, in which they provide counseling, they provide support, they provide a different kind of environment where they're not trying to get people burnt out.

St. Georges University is interested in recruiting and supporting students who are motivated to become qualified physicians or veterinarians. Their main goal is to help students successfully finish medical programs.

They take care of their students, and they really monitor their progress, Timlin said. And what I would say is they've developed a process for their medical schools that helps them identify people who are going to be qualified and good physicians, and a model to support them in their program in order to get them through the medical school.

For SEMO, this agreement means more opportunities for pre-medicine and pre-veterinarian programs. The dedication of SEMO students and staff became a fundament for building this partnership.

I want to stress we are the only university in the state of Missouri that has an agreement with St. George's, and one of only approximately 40 in the entire U.S., Timlin said. They vetted our pre-medical program and biological sciences program, looked at the faculty members, courses, qualifications, outcomes, and recognized our program as being one that successfully prepares people for this environment.

According to the SEMO website, accepted students will receive a $10,000 scholarship to complete their studies at St. Georges University.

Sophomore biomedical science major Vanesse Mungate, who recently applied for the program, says that it will help her achieve her professional goals.

I'm an international student here in the U.S., and it's very hard for international students to get placements. You need to have extremely, extremely high GPA, and medical school is expensive, so you need to have a good financial status, Mungate said. Compared to schools in the U.S., you're getting education, but at a more affordable price.

Getting experience in and outside of the United States is another benefit of the program.

The biggest factor for me is that a lot of upcoming doctors here in the U.S. can be coming from St. George's, which is a good thing because if you get into the medical field, you might need some references. And that would be a good start. Mungate said.

According to the SEMO website, SEMO and St. Georges University entered the agreement in December 2023. As the partnership is new, a limited number of students are participating.

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Relationship between individual and country-level socio-economic background, USMLE step scores, and … – BMC Medical Education

In this study of 744 IMGs applying for the 2022 residency match, we found that younger age, higher USMLE scores, higher-income country of origin (including the United States), fewer match attempts, applying to fewer specialties, having parents with college degree or higher, and coming from higher-than-average or lower-than-average family income were associated with increased odds of matching. Gender, personal income, and visa status did not demonstrate significant associations with residency match.

According to the NRMP in the 2022 residency match 5,048 US IMGs and 7,864 non-US IMGs submitted rank lists [2]. Thus, surveys for this study were sent to 38% of all IMGs who applied to the 2022 match with 5% of all IMGs participating in 2022 residency match responding. To our knowledge, only a limited number of studies focusing on IMGs residency match exist. Most of the data comes from the annual NRMP report.. This information is limited to data such as USMLE scores, research publications, work and volunteer experiences, and number of specialties applied. There are, however, papers focusing on specific economic and cultural challenges of IMGs demonstrating that IMGs from more developed countries match to more competitive specialties and residency programs [13, 14].

Our study cohort had a higher proportion of successfully matched applicants (87.3% of US IMGs, 70.5% of non-US IMGs) compared to the total population of applicants per the NRMP which reported a match rate of 61.4% for US IMGs and 58.1% for non-US IMGs in the 2022 residency match. Similarly, our rate of match to the preferred specialty was higher with 68.9% of US IMGs and 63.8% of non-US IMGs matching to their preferred specialty compared to the 2022 match rate to preferred specialty which was 54.8% for US IMGs, 53.5% for non-US IMGs [2]. Despite these differences, we still had a substantial proportion of unmatched non-US IMGs which allowed us to perform a multivariable analysis of factors associated with matching. Other than a higher match rate in our cohort, the rest of the reported variables, including Step scores and percent of female applicants, were similar to national average based on the NRMP data. This suggests that the data likely can be generalized to the other residency programs in the US. Our analysis of US IMGs was limited due to the small number of unmatched applicants in our cohort. Findings demonstrated that graduates from countries with high or upper middle income were more likely to secure residency position, and applicants with at least one parent with a college degree or higher were more likely to match to a program listed in one of the top-3 spots on their rank list.. IMGs from higher income families were also more successful in residency match. This supports our theory that IMG applicants from higher socio-economic backgrounds were more likely to secure residency positions even when accounting for other variables. Higher socio-economic status is also associated with medical school matriculation among American medical students. A 2018 AAMC study of 126,856 1st year US medical students from 1988 through 2017, the top two household income quintiles contributed between 73 and 79% of all US medical school matriculants each year. Interestingly, matriculants in higher-income quintiles were also more likely to be children of parents with at least a bachelors degree [5]. Regarding parental education, there are similar findings among US medical students. In 2022 only 21.5% of US medical school matriculants had parents with less than a college degree [15].

Our study did also demonstrate an association between being from a lower-than-average income family with higher chances of matching. While this result seems to contradict another finding of our study, it is possible that both are true. Admittedly it is very difficult to compare between residents of different countries since family income is self-reported and potentially subjective. However, with an increasing focus on diversity, resilience and grit in the residency selection process, applicants from lower-income families may have an advantage in demonstrating these qualities. The true association between family income and residency match success requires further study.

Per our data, age was significantly associated with chances to match, match to preferred specialty, and top-3 programs. Younger applicants do better in all three outcomes. The average age of a first-year medical resident in the US is 29.8years [16], the average age of matched IMG in our dataset was similar (28.9years).

In addition to the finding of applicants from higher income countries being 66% more likely to secure residency position, there is another observation. Approximately 10% of the worlds population comes from low-income countries [17]. Among our non-US IMG respondents only 5.7% reported being from a country classified as low-income by the World Bank. This underrepresentation could be due to financial barriers faced by these applicants.

There are programs in the US medical education, such as VSLO (Visiting Student Learning Opportunities) which charge different annual fees depending on a countrys income level [18]. The ECFMGs fees, however, are the same for every IMG. The fees are lower for IMGs residing in the US because they do not pay an international surcharge for the USMLE exam administration. In addition, USMLE examinations are less likely to be available in low-income countries, requiring applicants from these countries to travel internationally to sit for each exam which further increases the relative cost of the match for them [17]. The COVID-19 pandemic likely widened the gap between IMG applicants from different countries even more, starting with economic damages disproportionally affecting low-income countries and ending with new regulations complicating international travel especially for nationals of countries where Western vaccines are not readily available and those requiring US visas [19, 20].

We found that the increased number of specialties applied to was associated with a decreased odd of matching. This finding is consistent with NRMP reports demonstrating that applicants applying to a higher number of specialties have lower chances of matching. This finding may be due to residency programs perceiving applicants with multi-specialty CVs as having lower commitment to any given specialty. Alternatively, applicants applying to more competitive specialties are more likely to use less competitive specialties as a secondary option. Further specialty-specific studies are needed to analyze these findings.

Visa status was not associated with odds of matching. This is likely because our institution sponsors all types of visas for IMGs, however, this finding may not be generalizable to other institutions where only particular types of visas are sponsored.

To improve access to US graduate medical education for international applicants from lower socio-economic backgrounds, consideration of a sliding scale payment system for the variety of fees associated with the entire process could be introduced. Additional studies are needed to survey larger number of international applicants regarding the financial barriers they experience to entering the US graduate medical education system prior to developing this type of system.

Based on our data, any IMG applying to the NRMP would be advised to put their absolute best application forward the first time rather than taking a shot and seeing how they fair. Age was also a significant predictor of match success so waiting many years to apply could offset some of the gains in other areas. For those applicants who are further out from their primary medical training, they may need to find additional ways to connect with or highlight their value to programs to demonstrate how their prior experience is an asset and not a liability, since our data suggests a preference for younger applicants. We acknowledge that this finding could be the result of older applicants having more attempts due to weaker applications within our data set. It is also possible that applicants from lower socio-economic backgrounds are not able to apply shortly after medical school graduation as they might need to work for several years to be able to afford the USMLE and NRMP cost.

This was a retrospective study in order to comply with ERAS policies. Our response rate was relatively low at 15.13% but does represent 5% of all IMGs applying for 2022 residency match. This is still a relatively small sample compared to the number of IMGs applying for residency match each year. An unmeasured confounding is a potential limitation of this study. Due to difficulties with comparing socio-economic characteristics of people from different countries, we had to use subjective variables such as personal perception of the participants of their level of income growing up in comparison to other families in the same city. The match rate of our respondents was higher compared to the total population of applicants per the NRMP which could represent self-selection bias. There is a small chance all associations identified were due to statistical error.

We used contact information provided by the applicants as a part of NRMP. Based on our sample, more than 1/3 of all IMGs applying that year applied to our institution, they also likely applied to hundreds of other programs, and therefore, we do not believe that competitiveness of our institution was a significant limiting factor of this study, although it is a possibility.

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