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In this Issue:
- From The Governor
- Highlights from the 2024 Tri-Service Annual Meeting
- 2024 Ohio / Air Force Scientific Meeting
- Member Spotlight
- 2025 Air Force Chapter Awards
- Interested in Fellowship (FACP®)?
- New Chapter Members
- Mark Your Calendar!
Col Angelique N. Collamer, MC, USAF, FACP, ACP Governor
From The Governor
Greetings ACP Members! Wow, time has just flown by since our incredible Tri-Service meeting in September. It was wonderful to be in San Antonio, surrounded by the smartest people I know. For three days, we brought over 330 internal medicine physicians together for education, collaboration and the presentation of scholarly activity. During our brief time together, 122 posters were presented virtually in our “go green” poster initiative, 34 residents competed in podium presentations, and we raised $1625 for the San Antonio Food Bank in addition to collecting overwhelming donations during the meeting. Congratulations to all who participated, presented, and received well-deserved awards. I am especially grateful for our dedicated planning committee members including Joseph Yabes, Herman Pfaeffle, and Jared Magee who devoted countless hours to ensure the meeting was successful. We are already in the planning process for the next meeting in 2025 and anticipate another great Tri-Service event in a new location. Want to be involved? Let me know!
As 2024 comes rapidly to a close, I am thankful for each one of you who has or is devoting your life to the practice of medicine, whether it be in a clinical, academic, research, or leadership role. As we together watch the changing landscape of healthcare, our civilian counterparts are increasingly surrounded by forces which seek to capitalize or exploit the Physician-Patient interaction. As responsibility-focused leaders, we must also guard against these tendencies, and fear not speaking up for safety, quality and for the sanctity of our fleeting time with our patients. We face a professional crisis of dissatisfaction and social media is full of ways physicians facing burnout can seek alternative sources of employment. However, these “gigs” are unlikely to bring the fulfillment possible in a lifetime of service, doing what we are trained to do. Let the core values and the patients be your guide and you will need no other compass and no one else to say where to go, even when it's dark and foggy.
As much as things change, they also stay the same. We debate many of the same issues today as we pondered when I was a medical student, resident and junior leader. Indeed, William Osler seemed to face the same over 125 years ago:
I have heard the fear expressed that in this country the sphere of the physician proper is becoming more and more restricted, and perhaps this is true; but I maintain (and I hope toconvince you) that the opportunities are still great, that the harvest truly is plenteous, and the labourers scarcely sufficient to meet the demand.
-Sir William Osler, 1897
As we reach the end of another year, I encourage you to reflect on your past accomplishments and set goals for the future. I hope to hear from you and see many of you at National ACP in April. As always, stick to the Core Values and Aim High!
Sincerely,
Angie
Highlights from the 2024 Tri-Service Annual Meeting
It was another highly successful meeting in San Antonio, Texas. I appreciate everyone who made our time together meaningful and productive. If you attended don't forget to claim your CME and MOC points.
Additionally, we appreciate your feedback and read each post-meeting survey comment, so please help us make the 2025 conference even better!
Awards
Below are only some of the outstanding accomplishments of our members who were recognized at the meeting.
Col (ret) Mark W. True, MD, FACP and Col (ret) Patrick J. Danaher, MD, FACP, FIDSA were honored with our chapter's Laureate award in recognition of their years of service to the Air Force Medical Service and to our chapter. The Laureate Award is designed to honor those Fellows and Masters of the College who have demonstrated, by their example and conduct, an abiding commitment to excellence in medical care, education, and research, and service to their community, their chapter, and the ACP.
Dr. Marc True MD
Dr. True is an Air Force Academy graduate who received his MD from the USU, completed an internal medicine residency at David Grant Medical Center and Endocrinology Fellowship at SAUSHEC. Dr. True has provided a lifetime of distinguished service to the Air Force Medical Service and continues serve in his capacity as Dean and Designated Institutional Official of the San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium, the largest graduate and allied health training platform in the Department of Defense where he oversees the training of 700 GME and graduate specialty programs.
Dr. True demonstrates excellence in many domains of physician leadership and performance including clinical practice, medical education, scholarship, and executive leadership. As a practicing endocrinologist and internist, Dr. True serves both the Endocrinology Fellowship and Internal Medicine Residency program at SAUSHEC through his clinical service in the outpatient endocrinology setting and as a ward attending on the inpatient medicine service. He is a Professor of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University and is actively involved in education to multiple communities including internal medicine residents, endocrinology fellows, the primary care community at large, GME training programs, and medical students.
A prolific scholar, Dr. True has published approximately 38 peer-reviewed manuscripts, presented nearly 100 abstracts and presentations at a wide variety of academic meetings, and contributed to numerous research projects as either a principal or associate investigator in the field of endocrinology.
Prior to his current role, Dr. True served as Program Director of the Endocrinology Fellowship as well as the Consultant to the Air Force Surgeon General for Endocrinology. He currently serves on the ACGME Institutional Review Committee and numerous other specialty medical societies. Over a 25-year career in medicine, Dr. True has impacted the career of thousands of physicians and allied health professionals and countless patients. His broad range of experience and exceptional leadership abilities still serve the Air Force well in his current role as Dean of SAUSHEC.
Dr. Patrick Danahar
Dr. Danaher is a USU medical school graduate who completed his residency at Wilford Hall Medical Center and an Infectious Disease fellowship at SAUSHEC. Dr. Danahar has consistently demonstrated an unwavering commitment to excellence. His nominator stated that he possesses a rare combination of clinical expertise and compassionate bedside manner that not only assures a positive patient outcome but also uplifts the spirits of those under his care. His clinical acumen and ability to innovate in challenging situations have set a benchmark within many institutions throughout his military career, so much so that the Infectious Disease clinic at Eglin AFB was renamed the Danaher Clinic in recognition of his excellence. Dr. Danahar has made significant contributions to the realm of Infectious Disease advancing our understanding of respiratory viruses, antifungal therapies and vaccines responses. His work is characterized by rigorous methodology and has been published in multiple high impact journals including Clinical Infectious Diseases, Vaccine, and the New England Journal of Medicine.
Dr. Danaher wanted me to share that he is extremely honored and humbled to have been selected for the Laureate Award for our Air Force Chapter of the ACP. He has recently joined the Infectious Diseases Section at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital and serves as a Professor of Medicine at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine.
He asked me to share this photo with you because it epitomizes what he holds most dear about Air Force Medicine: camaraderie and a shared love of taking care of patients. The pictures on this slide bookend two exciting times in Pat's career. On the left is a picture from the 2000 Air Force Chapter meeting. From left to right are Dr. Carey O’Bryan (Wilford Hall chief resident 1998-9) who had won the Jay Sanford Award for Outstanding Fellow Paper during his cardiology fellowship, Dr. Kevin O’Brien (Wilford Hall chief resident 1996-7) who had won the Archie A. Hoffman Governor's Award, and Pat (who adds that he was clearly out of his league, but very thankful to have won the Arthur Grollman Award for Outstanding Resident Paper). On the right is a selfie of Dr. O’Brien and Dr. Danaher during Pat's first week at the Tampa VA—Kevin had just finished teaching on a “fresh case” at the University of South Florida IM Residency noon conference, the very same thing Pat remembered him doing in the 1990's at Wilford Hall and still with an ear-to-ear grin on his face!
Pat asked that I leave you with the challenge given in Proverbs chapter 3 verse 27, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in your power to do it.” As you have opportunities to be a blessing to the patient in front of you, your leaders, and those you lead, please take it. And, as Dr. Matt Dolan, an accomplished member of the Society and long-term mentor for Pat, is fond of reminding us: practicing medicine is fun. Enjoy what you do and invest in the people around you!
We are proud to present our Chapter Laurette awards to Dr. True and Dr. Danahar and hope you will be inspired to follow in their footsteps!
Major General Archie Hoffman Awards
This year's Major General Archie Hoffman Awards for excellence were awarded to Maj Kelsey R. Wilson, DO from Wright Patterson Medical Center and Lt Col Alexis A. Beauvais, MD, MPH from Keesler Medical Center.
Dr. Wilson showcased exceptional teaching skills to a diverse set of learners while leading an Air Force joint military & civilian program for 83 residents, as the WPAFB Medical Director and Associate Program Director. For her efforts, she received both the WSU Inpatient and Outpatient 2024 Educator of the Year awards and the 2024 Wright-Patterson (WP) Inpatient Faculty Teaching Award.
Dr. Beauvais served as Branch Chief of Global Health Engagement for USSOUTHCOM. She is now a staff endocrinologist at Keesler Medical Center where she serves as Core Faculty and a member of the Clinical Competency Committee. Alexis has demonstrated ongoing dedication to research as evidenced by her numerous publications, presentations, and oral presentations.
Congratulations to both!
Dr. Kelsey R. Wilson
Dr. Alexis A. Beauvais
Lieutenant General (Dr.) Monte Miller Award
The Lieutenant General (Dr.) Monte Miller Award recognizing an early career physician for contributions to the Air Force Medical Service in clinical investigation was given Maj Joseph E. Marcus, MD from the SAUSHEC Infectious Disease program. Dr. Marcus has served as primary mentor for 30 trainees, leading to considerable scholarly activity: 12 publications, 17 national and 34 local presentations, and 9 awards. In total, he has authored 29 peer-reviewed manuscripts, including a first-author review of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) infections that garnered significant attention and on which he teamed with multidisciplinary investigators from Mayo Clinic, University of Florida, and the National University of Singapore. Nearly half of his publications have been on ECMO infections, and over a quarter have addressed infection mitigation in military trainees. Additionally, he serves as the USAF Infectious Diseases Representative to the DHA Monkeypox Response Emergency Working Group.
Dr. Joseph E. Marcus
Dr. George Crawford Distinguished Medical Educator Award
The Dr. George Crawford Distinguished Medical Educator Award was presented Lt Col Kelvin N.V. Bush, MD, FACC, CCDS, Associate Program Director, Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship and Chief of Cardiac Electrophysiology, SAUSHEC. Dr. Bush directs more than 120 hours of trainee didactics. He was recently involved with an updated curriculum design including “procedure-focused” heart anatomy dissections, a cardiac device boot camp for new cardiology fellows, and a cardiovascular DEI lecture series. He reports he is continually grateful for the opportunity to mentor and continue learning with the country's best cardiology fellows, residents, and medical students. He recently mentored fellows to receive research grant funding from the American Heart Association to explore “Racial and Ethnic Differences in Catheter Ablation of Typical Atrial Flutter”.
Dr. Kelvin N.V. Bush
Col Rechell G. Rodriguez Award for Mentorship of Women in Medicine
The Col Rechell G. Rodriguez Award for Mentorship of Women in Medicine was presented to Lt Col Kathyrn Burtson, MD, FACP, WPAFB. Dr. Burtson has served as an Internal Medicine Program Director at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and a co-Program Director at Wright State University since 2016. In that time, she has mentored, advised, coached, and sponsored 245 Internal Medicine residents. As a research mentor, she has 22 peer-reviewed publications, 29 local presentations, and 21 national presentations. Dr. Burtson creates individualized learning plans with all Internal Medicine Residents and developed an Academic Coaching Program with 13 cadre to develop learning goals, monitor progress towards goals, anticipate obstacles to learning, and co-create action plans.
Dr. Kathyrn Burtson
Of the many fantastic plenary sessions at the meeting, two exceptional plenary speakers were recognized by our chapter. This year the Philip G. Kiel award, presented to a senior active duty or recently retired physician to commemorate that individual's leadership in a particular field, was awarded to Col (Ret) Matthew J. Dolan, MD, MACP, FIDSA for his lecture The Impact of Gender Based Violence on Patient Care, Clinical Case Series. The Malcolm C. Grow Memorial Lecture award is presented annually to an eminent civilian consultant chosen by the Chapter. This year we were pleased to award Peter N. Fish, MD for his lecture: Defense Against Flanking Maneuvers: When you are feeling overwhelmed providing care for your kids and your parents.
Dr. Dolan receiving his award.
Dr. Peter Fish
The winner of the Arthur Grollman Award, awarded to the outstanding resident research podium presentation, was Capt Zachary K. Matthews, MD from SAUSHEC for his podium presentation, Low adherence to institutional antibiotic clinical practice guideline in patients diagnosed with Clostridioides difficile infection.
The winner of the Jay Sanford Award for the outstanding fellow research presentation, was Capt Justen Despain (SAUSHEC Infectious Disease) for his work: 10 Years of Tuberculosis – Descriptive Study of the Manifestations, Epidemiology and Clinical Characteristics of Tuberculosis Cases at a US Military Hospital.
The Tri-Service Meeting hosted a variety of resident, fellow, and ECP competitions and presentations. The winners of our Air Force resident events are recognized below:
Resident Clinical Vignette Podium: Dr. William Ketterer, WPAFB - The many faces of Erdheim-Chester Disease
Resident Process & Quality Improvement Podium: Dr. Rachel Cox, WPAFB - Impact of faculty and resident education on quality of narrative feedback in residency
Resident High Value Care Podium: Dr. Robert Buntyn, WPAFB - Patient Perceptions of Health Following Diabetes Self-Management Goals
Resident Clinical Research Podium: Dr. Zachary K. Matthews, SAUSHEC - Low adherence to institutional antibiotic clinical practice guideline in patients diagnosed with Clostridioides difficile infection
Resident Physician Well Being and Professional Fulfillment Podium: Dr. Kyle Roe, Keesler MC - Improving Resident Well-being via Changes to the Night Float System at an Internal Medicine Residency Program
Congratulations all, well deserved!
Doctor's Dilemma 2024
The motivated AF team from Wright Patterson AFB won our Air Force residency Doctor's Dilemma competition and was the Tri-Service champion! We look forward to great things at National ACP!
The WPAFB Doctor's Dilemma Team: Dr. Robert Buntyn, Dr. William Ketterer and Dr. Erin Curry
2024 Ohio / Air Force Scientific Meeting
The Annual Ohio/AF Scientific Meeting was held October 17th and 18th at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in downtown Columbus. As always, it was filled with outstanding educational opportunities and our Air Force team was strongly represented. I very much appreciate Lt Col Kathryn Burtson for taking the Air Force lead for our chapter!
Highlights from the meeting:
Member Spotlight
I'm looking to highlight more of our accomplished members in all stages of their careers, so if you would like to see your mentor, student, trainee, colleague, or even you featured, please let me know!
2025 Air Force Chapter Awards
Our chapter is full of talented individuals and as your Governor I will do my best to recognize as many of you as possible. Please contact me with your ideas and nominations for the distinctions of Master of the ACP and for 2025 Laurette awards for our chapter.
One of the goals of the ƹϵεapp is to “recognize excellence and distinguished contributions to internal medicine.” As a way of achieving this goal, the College offers 23 national awards and a number of Masterships each year.
Nomination information can be found here.
Thank you again to Dr. Derek Smith for heading up our awards committee. Like to be involved next year? Let me know!
Interested in Fellowship (FACP®)?
Please check out the ACP webpage for more information about fellowship. Fellowship in the College is an honor. Being an FACP® is a distinction earned from colleagues who recognize your accomplishments and achievements over and above the practice of medicine. The most important considerations for ACP Fellowship are excellence and contributions made to both medicine and to the broader community in which the internist lives and practices.
The basic requirements to apply for fellowship are board certification, licensure, clinical practice for 3 years out of residency, and being a dues paying member for the previous 3 years. In addition, additional requirements include other professional activities – teaching, community service, leadership, scholarship, etc. Please contact me if you have any questions about how to achieve fellowship.
New Chapter Members
Let's extend a warm welcome our newest members:
Our Newest Fellows:
Dr. Ashley Mills
Dr. Kelsey Wilson
Dr. Francis Essien
Dr. Abimael Jose Velez Velez
Our Newest Members:
| Dr. Benjamin Bailes | Dr. Matthew Silverman | Dr. Kava Afu |
| Dr. Ethan Arnold | Dr. Ashley Barasa | Dr. David Batistig |
| Dr. Jacob Burlew | Dr. Jason Corless | Dr. David Demasters |
| Dr. Yonatan Dollin | Dr. James Kang | Dr. Shawn Kim |
| Dr. Chungting Jimmy Kou | Dr. Howard Lee | Dr. Peter Li |
| Dr. Katherine McCroary | Dr. Raymond Mrozek | Dr. Kevin O’Gorman |
| Dr. Mayank Patel | Dr. Krista Shaw | Dr. Lauren Sweet |
| Dr. Aaron Wolbrueck | Dr. Graey Wolfley | Dr. Taylor Faulk |
| Dr. Robert Landry | Dr. Olivia Vaughan | Dr. Trung Vu |
| Dr. Stephen Mazurkivich | Dr. Ryan Carfi | Dr. Fath Kelly |
Our newest Resident/Fellow Members:
| Dr. Shreya Jain | Dr. Jonah Costello | Dr. Jacob Mansfield |
| Dr. Conner Stauder | Dr. Dyese Moody | Dr. Joy Abraham |
| Dr. Christian Bittner | Dr. Daniel Butz | Dr. Alexander Cahoon |
| Dr. Victoria Chapman | Dr. Abraham Cooper | Dr. Franchesca Cosme |
| Dr. Erin Gulden | Dr. Christian Hernandez Zegada | Dr. Elizabeth Kiriri |
| Dr. Victor Lalwani | Dr. Grace Larew | Dr. Samuel Light |
| Dr. Harvey Lin | Dr. Kegan Main | Dr. Taylor Martin |
| Dr. Lindi Newton | Dr. Sara Noguera | Dr. Christopher Pittman |
| Dr. Chhouen Prach | Dr. Rachel Pray | Dr. Sarah Rodriguez |
| Dr. Gabrielle Schlain | Dr. Donovan Trudeau | Dr. Kristen Valaas |
| Dr. Benjamin Curry | Dr. Baxter Murray | Dr. Yesol Oh |
| Dr. Spencer Renne | Dr. Kristie Roberts | Dr. Nicholas Tyndall |
| Dr. Tyler Worthington | Dr. Allison Molstad | Dr. Adam Sanderson |
| Dr. Eric Williamson | Dr. John DiModica | Dr. Roshin Papaly |
| Dr. Korosh Saedian |
Our newest Medical Student Members:
| Breanna Skinner | Andrew Tarlton | Prai Dutt |
| Cole Kiser | Caroline Loftus | Juliana Pitzer |
| Emily Schwartz | Amanda De Vos | Victor Diaz |
| Allan Hanna | Kara Jones | Gopika Prakash |
| Rachel Stout | Andres Toledo | Corey Boltz |
| Thomas Brower | Hannah Heskin | Tassawwar Khan |
| Jiho Lee | Alyssa Marcum | Stephen Moore |
| Hao The Nguyen | Eric Torres Gutierrez | Fevic Garcia |
| Nikita Lee | Nicholas McLaughlin | Fatima Sofia Bojorquez Ruiz II |
| Pallavi Malladi | Claudia Studebaker | Jeffery Bouma |
| Flor Carcamo | Brendan Carmody | Victor De Leon |
| Jennifer Phan | Jinbum Dupond | Muhamed Faour |
| Gillian Miller | Jack Greve | Eungjae Kim |
Our Newest Physician Affiliate Members:
Andrew Markiewitz
Martin Oberg
Mark Your Calendar!
3-5 April 2025 – ACP Internal Medicine Meeting, New Orleans, LA
U.S. Air Force Governor's Newsletter November 2024