UF CARES named a Medical Home

The UF Center for HIV/AIDS Research, Education and Service is the first HIV program in the state to receive an elite Medical Home recognition from a national health care quality agency. UF CARES received Level 3 Patient-Centered Medical Home recognition from the National Committee for Quality Assurance. The Patient-Centered Medical Home model encourages partnerships between individual patients and their personal physicians and, when appropriate, the patient’s family. Care is facilitated by registries, information technology, health information exchange and other means to assure that patients get the indicated care when and where they need and want it, in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner.

“Highest quality of service to our patients, be it in patient care or research, is the goal of the UF CARES team,” said Mobeen H. Rathore, M.B.B.S., a professor of pediatrics in the UF College of Medicine-Jacksonville and director of UF CARES. “Our focus is always outstanding patient satisfaction but even more important is excellent outcomes. This honor is the recognition of UF CARES team’s commitment to this basic philosophy.” — Matt Galnor

What’s your promise?

A year has passed since the I Promise initiative was launched on the Gainesville and Jacksonville campuses. To celebrate, we asked employees to submit their promises during Patient Safety and Quality Week for a chance to win a basketball autographed by Billy Donovan. The winner was Melinda Milla, a staffing associate for Shands at UF whose promise is to staff units better every time she works in central staffing. Other promises shared during the event included:

“I promise to pick up trash when I see it on the floors and to keep Shands clean.”

— Girdia Williams, a record analyst at Shands at UF

“I promise to serve all my patients with quality care and treatment.”

— Tosheibe Montgomery, a sonographer at the Malcom Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

For more information about I Promise, please visit ipromise.health.ufl.edu.

Student group offers Chinese translation service at Shands at UF

By Molly Larmie

David Zhou and Wenyan Wu/Photo by Maria Belen Farias

The patient arrived at Shands at UF for a liver and kidney transplant. He came alone. A native of China, he didn’t speak English.

Luckily for him, Shands has a new program that pairs Mandarin Chinese-speaking patients with an interpreter. Before the patient’s transplant operation and during his recovery, an interpreter helped him translate his paperwork and communicate with his doctors.

“How are you feeling?” the interpreter would ask in Mandarin. “Do you need anything? Is there anything you want to tell the doctors?”

“I’m so grateful that you are here for me,” the patient said. “I had no one to talk to.”

David Zhou, a third-year medical student and former president of the UF Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association, started the interpretation program in 2010. Believing that communication between doctors and patients is essential for quality care, he recruited two undergraduate students who spoke fluent English and Mandarin.

The interpreter who helped the transplant patient, Wenyan Wu, grew up in China. She moved with her parents to Fort Lauderdale in 2005, when she was 14. No one in her family spoke English.

Wu enrolled in an English as second language course in high school, but the rest of students in the class spoke Spanish. She had no one to talk to.

Her father developed skin problems and Wu went with him to the doctor’s office. They couldn’t understand anything the doctor said. Her father couldn’t read the label on his medication.

“And I felt like, if you don’t understand what a provider has to say,” Wu said, “it hinders your recovery,”

Today, Wu, a 21-year-old health science junior, is fluent in English language, including medical terminology. She uses that knowledge to help patients who remind her of how she used to be: unable to communicate.

“That’s why I say I can relate to the patients,” Wu said, “because I have walked in their shoes.”

With training, Wu has learned to interpret physicians’ words verbatim. Some patients try to use family members as interpreters, but untrained interpreters tend to use synonyms, which can distort the doctor’s exact message, she said.

With an interpreter, patients are more likely to open up to physicians, Zhou said. Without an interpreter, there are things a patient wouldn’t — or couldn’t — tell the doctor.

“In the hospital (the patients) are just sort of lost because they can’t communicate with the doctors. They can’t communicate with the nurses who come in and out,” Zhou said. “And so when there is someone there for them, they’re really grateful for it because there is someone who speaks their language and is familiar with their culture.”

Before the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association created the Mandarin interpretation program, physicians used a phone service called Language Line to communicate with Chinese patients who couldn’t speak English. Physicians and patients spoke through a headset, with an interpreter on the line to act as middle man.

Since 2010, about five Mandarin-speaking patients have been paired with an in-person interpreter. Zhou thinks the program is underused. Physicians routinely request an in-person Spanish interpretation service, he said, but they may not be aware that in-person Mandarin interpretation is available, too.

In the future, the group hopes to offer interpretation services in Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Tagalog, a language spoken in the Philippines.

For now, it’s just Wu. Her cell phone rings when a patient needs her.

Wu plans to keep interpreting for Shands until she graduates. Then she will apply to medical school, where she hopes to focus on health care disparities that affect the quality of care patients receive. One of these disparities — poor communication — she’s already helping to solve.

Student group IMPACT Autism at UF making a difference for people with autism

By Molly Larmie

Members of the UF student group IMPACT Autism

Three years ago, Ashley Giddings arrived for her first semester at UF.

She chose a premedical track and began research with Mark Lewis, Ph.D., the executive director of the UF Center for Autism Related Disabilities. CARD provides support and assistance to people with autism throughout north central Florida.

But Giddings realized there was nothing to bridge the gap between the community and students like herself, who were interested in helping people with autism.

In 2009, Giddings, along with three other students, founded IMPACT Autism at UF, a student-run nonprofit that seeks to educate the public and raise funds on behalf of people with autism. Today, IMPACT Autism has more than 300 members.

Most of the group’s energy goes into planning “Kid’s Day Out” events. Every month, about 30 volunteers meet at Westside Park in Gainesville to provide an afternoon of care for children with autism and their siblings. Sometimes it’s the parents’ only free afternoon all month.

The group provides lunch and then oversees arts and crafts and sports. Every child is paired with two volunteers.

“It’s a chance for them to have the spotlight,” Giddings said. “The volunteers so want to connect with each child. It’s their only focus for four hours.”

Making friends can be hard for people with autism, Giddings said. Some children, especially those who are non-verbal, used to cry when their parents drove away. Now, they can’t wait to get out of the car, she said.

On Feb. 11, the kids made each other Valentine’s Day cards.

IMPACT Autism also holds fundraisers to support the local autism community. Project Communicate, a yearlong effort, focused on ways to help non-verbal children communicate more effectively.

The group reached out to six local families who have children with autism. At a ceremony held in the Health Professions/Nursing/Pharmacy Complex, the group presented each family with various communication devices, including sign language DVDs, organizational supplies and picture supports.

Three children received iPads that can be used with special communication apps. If a child is hungry, for example, she can click on a list of food to show what she wants. The iPad displays a picture and says the word out loud.

At the ceremony, some of the families met for the first time.

“IMPACT Autism means to really understand the impact of autism,” said the group’s faculty adviser, Joanne J. Foss, Ph. D., O.T.R. Foss serves as director of professional programs in occupational therapy at the College of Public Health and Health Professions.

“It’s not just the impact on the kids,” Foss said, “but on the families and communities as well.”

2012 Autism Symposium in the Swamp

To celebrate Autism Awareness Month in April, IMPACT Autism will hold the 2012 Autism Symposium in the Swamp. The event will be held April 20 at the HPNP Complex Auditorium and will feature a panel of leaders in the autism field. Panel members include Krestin Radonovich, Ph. D. (neuropsychology); Greg Valcante, Ph.D. (special education); Timothy Vollmer, Ph.D. (applied behavior analysis); Ann-Marie Orlando, Ph.D. (speech/special education); and Stacey Reynolds, Ph.D. (occupational therapy). Artwork created by children during Kid’s Day Out events will be auctioned at the symposium. Proceeds will benefit the UF Center for Autism Related Disabilities. For more information about IMPACT Autism, visit www.ImpactAutismUF.org or email impact.autism@gmail.com.

New concentration links human, animal and environmental expertise

By Jill Pease

The College of Public Health and Health Professions’ department of environmental and global health will offer a One Health concentration in its Ph.D. program in public health beginning this summer. It is the first One Health academic program of its kind. The One Health approach seeks to involve human, animal and environmental health expertise in public health problem solving. Such collaboration is required in solving difficult problems like zoonotic diseases and food safety.

“We are really excited about this new program,” said Gregory Gray, M.D., M.P.H., chair of the department. “The University of Florida is one of the few places in the world where such diverse science training can occur, and interest in the program already seems great.”

For more information on the UF One Health program, visit egh.phhp.ufl.edu/academic-programs.

New inductees to the Chapman Society/Photo by Maria Belen Farias

The College of Medicine’s Chapman Chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society honored medical students, residents and faculty who exemplify compassion and caring in medicine during an annual ceremony Feb. 27. The society inducted 25 fourth-year medical students, five residents and two faculty members. Dean Yamaguchi, M.D., recieved the Hugh A. Walters, M.D., Humanitarian Award at the event. “We have a long-standing history of developing humanism in our medical students,” said College of Medicine Dean Michael L. Good. “It’s an explicitly stated educational guiding principle. Please remember the ability you have as a physician to be compassionate.” … The College of Nursing recently received an educational development grant from the Jonas Nurse Leaders Scholar Program that will allow one student to receive a $10,000 scholarship for financial support in doctoral studies. Faculty members selected doctoral student Anastasia Albanese-O’Neill to receive the scholarship based on her leadership experience in diabetes education, treatment and advocacy, as well as her research interest and career goals as a potential nursing program faculty member. … Carole Daniel, a doctoral student and a U.S. Navy commander, has received funding from the TriService Nursing Research Program for her grant, “Effect of Psychosocial Factors on Acute and Persistent Pain Following Childbirth.”

Medical students make their residency matches

 By Christine Velasquez

Josh and Jennifer Sbicca celebrate her match to the University of Southern California for dermatology./Photo by Jesse S. Jones

Standing on stage, Patrick Duff, M.D., lobbed a ball to UF softball player Stacey Stevens. It was a ceremonial first pitch to kick off Match Day — held at the J. Wayne Reitz Union and viewed around the world as family and friends tuned in to celebrate the UF College of Medicine class of 2012 and watch as they uncovered where they would be spending the next several years of their medical careers.

“I think I’m having a heart attack … I’m feeling tingly,” said Patrick Buchanan, a fourth-year medical student who bravely approached the lectern, reading his letter for the first time in front of the crowd, including his mother and sister, who were watching online. He took a deep breath and announced where he will train in plastic surgery.

“The University of Michigan. Go blue!”

Buchanan was one of 129 soon-to-be graduates of the UF College of Medicine who learned where they matched for their residency training during the college’s annual ceremony, held March 16. The decision, devised by a mathematical algorithm that matches students’ and institutions top choices, is about more than location: It determines the trajectory of students’ careers. Across the country, more than 16,000 medical students matched to residencies this year.

This year, the top three specialties were medicine, emergency medicine and pediatrics. Nearly one-quarter of the class will stay in Florida for their residencies.

Cheryl and Daniel Lodwick along with their two sons Thomas and Isaiah celebrate their couple match to Ohio State University./Photo by Jesse S. Jones

With her parents by her side and her grandparents watching from Iraq, Avan Armaghani learned that she received her first choice: a residency in internal medicine at UF.

“I couldn’t have wished for a better school,” she said. “I was born and raised in Gainesville, and I know that this program is the best fit for me. I know I will receive the best training.”

Ready to quit smoking? There are many good reasons, including lowering your risk of cancer and premature death, reducing your blood pressure and improving how your lungs function. The UF Area Health Education Centers offers free quit-smoking aids and group or individual counseling sessions to support you on your journey. “Quit Smoking Now” sessions are open to all UF faculty, staff, students, patients and members of the general public who are 18 or older. Participants can also get free nicotine patches, gum or lozenges. You can also take part in six-week group sessions, which are held at regular intervals throughout the year, or have individual counseling sessions. For more information, call Gillian Eagle in the UF College of Medicine department of community health and family medicine at 352-392-4541, ext. 239, or email geagle@ufl.edu.

The College of Public Health and Health Professions’ Research Day turns 25 this year. Join the college in recognizing outstanding graduate and undergraduate student research April 18. Research Day poster presentations will be up throughout the first floor of the HPNP Complex from noon to 1:45 p.m. Lucille B. Beck, Ph.D., the chief consultant for rehabilitation services and director of audiology and speech pathology for the Department of Veterans Affairs, will provide the keynote address from 1:55 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. in the HPNP auditorium. The awards ceremony follows at 3 p.m.

Özlem Yilmaz’s work as a dentist and scientist is shedding light on periodontal disease

By Allyson Fox

Özlem Yilmaz (second from left) with members of her research team./Photo by Jesse S. Jones

Özlem Yilmaz, D.D.S., Ph.D., thinks outside the box.

A clinician-scientist and associate professor in the UF College of Dentistry, Yilmaz has spent her career studying a bacterium linked to severe forms of periodontal disease and thought to play a role in heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and stroke. In 2006, her lab uncovered how this microbe, p. gingivalis, spreads through epithelial cells inside the mouth, causing infection and slipping under the radar of the immune system.

But long before she had papers published in journals such as Infection and Immunity, Nature Reviews Microbiology and PLoS ONE, Yilmaz was a dental student at Istanbul University in Turkey. She was drawn to science, so she decided to follow an intense training route after earning her dental degree.

Interested in the cause of periodontal disease and how to cure it, she left her native Turkey to study at the University of Washington, Seattle, School of Dentistry. There, she earned her Ph.D., followed by postdoctoral training at the School of Public Health and Community Medicine.

Early in her career, she received a clinician-scientist K08 grant from the National Institutes of Health. This grant let her earn a salary and perform independent research, surrounded by people studying different topics.

“I was able to do oral research in an environment without many oral researchers during my postdoctoral years,” Yilmaz said. “It made me think outside the box. They were learning from me, and I was learning from them.”

During her time at the University of Washington, Yilmaz received the prestigious Warren G. Magnusson Excellence Award in Health Sciences. Her research into the interactions of p. gingivalis with gingival epithelial cells took her to the Institut Pasteur in Paris and subsequently to the UF College of Dentistry as an assistant professor in the departments of periodontology and oral biology.

Prior to joining UF, Yilmaz received an RO1 grant from the NIH, which she brought to UF in 2006. She has received additional NIH grants since then and moved her lab to the Emerging Pathogens Institute in 2010. Being in a multidisciplinary center has allowed her to team up with researchers from other disciplines and tackle problems in a new way.

“She has been an outstanding faculty member and major contributor to the EPI,” said Glenn Morris, M.D., M.P.H., a professor and director of UF’s Emerging Pathogens Institute. “She knows the importance of interdisciplinary research.”

Morris said he is impressed with Yilmaz’s lab work as well as with her ability to interact with patients.

“It’s important to maintain clinical linkage because it helps you understand why you are doing research,” Morris said. “She’s incredible. She is very strongly committed to her work and research.”

In addition to her work with patients and her research, she teaches and supervises dental students and residents and mentors undergraduate and graduate students in her lab. She enjoys mentoring students and playing a part in their success.

“I hope some will follow in my footsteps,” Yilmaz said. “I like seeing my students motivated and excited about science.

“Even though becoming a clinician-scientist was not the easiest path,” she said, “research can indeed be rewarding and make the hard work worth it.”

Yilmaz attributes her scientific achievements to the support she received from the NIH, her early mentors, her collaborators, as well as her lab members.

“I was extremely motivated, and continue to be,” she said.

She tries to share that message with her students.

“If they continue (on a clinician-scientist path), they will be rewarded,” she said.

Making a difference for patients (and students)

Nancy Hardt (second from right) recently received the Spirit of Gainesville Award.

The UF College of Medicine’s Mobile Outreach Clinic and the Alachua County Library District may seem like an unlikely match. But Nancy Hardt, M.D., the college’s director of health disparities and service learning programs, needed locations for the new mobile clinic, while the library wanted to diversify its role in the community. The library agreed to host the clinic at its various branches, and the result has been improved health care access for residents, more learning opportunities for students and national and local kudos for the creative collaboration. Hardt was recently named a 2011 Spirit of Gainesville Award winner by the Gainesville Sun, while the library district was one of five libraries nationally to win the 2011 National Medal Award for Museum and Library Service in December. Hardt was recognized for her medical contributions, including launching the clinic in January 2010. Fashioned out of a bus, the clinic visits locations around the county, offering primary care and other services for free or a reduced fee.

Hardt has long held a passion for helping underserved populations and incorporating this into medical education. Her own experiences during her residency, working with patients from Appalachia, showed her how social determinants can impact patient behavior. “There is very little in medical school curriculum about literacy or poverty,” Hardt said. “That’s one of the things the medical school is trying to do — we’re trying to make sure our students know about the social determinants of health.” — Melanie Stawicki Azam

A research honor

Carole Kimberlin

The American Pharmacists Association has presented its 2012 Research Achievement Award in the Pharmaceutical Sciences to Carole Kimberlin, Ph.D., a professor of pharmaceutical outcomes and policy at the UF College of Pharmacy. A member of the American Psychological Association, her research examines patient attitudes about following medication advice from health care providers and their choices and behavior in using medications. “My research interests have focused on the relationship and communication dynamics between a health care provider and patient that are therapeutic or helpful to the patient,” Kimberlin said. She was the principal investigator on an FDA-funded project to evaluate consumer medication information leaflets commonly dispensed by pharmacies with prescriptions they fill. Her research focused on the quality of the written medication information provided. — Linda Homewood

College of Dentistry

Teresa A. Dolan, D.D.S., M.P.H, dean of the college, has been appointed to serve on an American Dental Association Board of Trustees Taskforce on Dental Education Economics and Student Debt. The task force was created to address the House of Delegates Resolution 66H-2011 and the ADA Board of Trustees Resolution B-204-2011.

College of Nursing

Jeanne-Marie Stacciarini, Ph.D., R.N., an assistant professor of nursing, was selected to receive the Southern Nursing Research Society Research in Minority Health Award. Stacciarini was honored for her research on the mental health of rural Latinos and her mentorship of minority students. The SNRS governing board gives the Research in Minority Health Award to an individual or a group whose research has considerably improved the health care of minorities in the southern region of the United States.

College of Pharmacy

Olihe Okoro, a third-year doctoral student in the department of pharmaceutical outcomes and policy, is the recipient of the 2012 Marilyn Little Scholarship from the International Committee of Altrusa International of Gainesville. The scholarship supports deserving international students in graduate school studies with a major of particular need in their home country. Okoro, who is from Nigeria, also received the 2012-2013 Faculty for the Future Fellowship Program Award from the Schlumberger Foundation. The program was established in 2004 to award fellowships to women from developing economies. Lastly, she also recently received the 2012 Walgreens Diversity Scholarship.

William H. Riffee, Ph.D., dean of the college, has been named speaker-elect for the American Pharmacists Association’s House of Delegates. The House of Delegates, represented by more than 450 elected members from 50 state associations, meets each year at the APhA annual meeting for discussion, consensus building, and policy setting for the pharmacy profession. “We bridge between what is being done now in patient care and what will happen in the future as educators for the next generation of practitioners,” Riffee said. “Next year, as speaker, I will serve two years on the Board of Trustees of the APhA, which actually implements the policies developed in the House of Delegates.”