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News

Retirement Celebration for Dr. Schwenk

The Department of Family Medicine celebrated the retirement of the Goerge A. Dean, M.D. Chair of Family Medicine, Thomas L. Schwenk,M.D. this summer. Dr. Schwenk accepted the position of Dean of the Universy of Nevada School of Medicine and Vice President for Health Sciences at the University of Nevada, Reno and left his position as Chair after 25 years with the Department. While his faculty, staff, peers, and patients are sad to see him leave, they are excited for his new opportunity. Dr. Schwenk was honored with several events prior to his departure including a health system-wide celebration from Dean Woolliscroft; a fire side chat with the the research faculty and staff; a party at Briarwood Family Medicine, where Dr. Schwenk practiced; and a meaningful farewell celebration put on by the entire Department. To say Dr. Schwenk was touched by these events is an understatement. He was honored, grateful and humbled by the outpouring of support for him. To see photos of these events, please view the slideshow below. Photo captions can be viewed by clicking on the photos.

Created with flickr slideshow.

 

August 22, 2011: Olidia Thomas Wins First Anual Work/Life Champion Award

Olidia Thomas, health care manager at Briarwood Family Medicine, was recently honored with on of the first annual Work/Life Champion Awards for Supervisors. She was nominated by members of her team at Briarwood and selected by a university-wide committee. Her team noted, "She encourages tem work, respect, and is very sensitive to staff professional and personal needs. She encourages us to be open to changes, education, and best practices. Olidia is positive in her leadership style and role as she empowers our staff to be the best they can be." Olidia will formally accept the award at the annual "Connecting the Dots" Conference in October. Congratulations Olida!

August 9, 2011: Dr. Djuric Named Chair of the Obesity & Cancer Section

Congratulations to Zora Djuric, Ph.D., research professor, who has been appointed as Chair of the Obesity & Cancer Section for 2011-12. Dr. Djuric's research focuses on cancer prevention and lifestyle interventions to be used to reduce cancer risk. Her research is highly interdisciplinary and translational engaging behavioral, clinical, and basic science. She is recognized for her lifestyle intervention research with cancer survivors as well as overweight adults. She currently serves on the NIH chemo and dietary prevention study section. She has an established funding history in lifestyle interventions including weight loss, Mediterranean diets and low-fat interventions in breast cancer survivors. See more about the Obesity & Cancer Section.

 

 

July 5, 2011: Why Family Medicine?

Michigan Academy of Family Physicians asked family physicians why family medicine is so important to them, why they chose this specialty, and why family medicine is so important to them and future of health care in Michigan. They created a video featuring the many varied answers. Anne L. Kittendorf, M.D., assistant professor, is featured in the video which can be seen on YouTube.

 

 

July 5, 2011: Family Physicians Around Town

Mack T. Ruffin IV, M.D., M.P.H., professor, and Sara L. Warber, M.D., assistant professor, were featured in an article in the Chelsea Standard about the reopening of Chelsea's Mission Market. Read the complete article at the Chelsea Standard online.

 

June 30, 2011: Faculty Featured Following Work in Japan

Michael D. Fetters, M.D., M.P.H., M.A., associate professor and director of the Japanese Family Health Program, was featured in the Spring 2011 issue of the IUC Newsletter, which focused on documenting the IUC response to the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. The article reads: “Dr. Michael Fetters (’83-’84), Director of the University of Michigan’s Japanese Family Health Program, has been working with Shizuoka Prefecture since 2009 to establish the Shizuoka Family Medicine Program, a family medicine residency training program. According to Dr. Fetters, the health care system in Japan funnels specialists into offices where the majority of their work is in general care, and many doctors do not hold family medicine in high regard. In March, two of his Japanese colleagues from the SFM program visited the disaster zone in Tohoku. They found that while many people needed ordinary medical care, many of the volunteer doctors on hand were specialists who did not know how to treat such patients. The Japanese Family Health Program spearheaded by Fetters has thus contributed to meeting the primary care needs of patients in Tohoku, where the importance of training more Japanese doctors in family medicine became particularly clear.” Unfortunately, the newsletter is not available online at this time.

June 16, 2011: Family Medicine ‘Keeps You Running’

Department participants gather after the race to share their experiences. From left: Thomas L. Schwenk, M.D., the George A. Dean, M.D. Chair of Family Medicine and professor; Eric P. Skye, M.D., assistant professor and associate chair for educational programs; Philip Zazove, M.D., interim chair and professor; Kristi L. Vanderkolk, M.D., house officer I; Joanna T. Lee, M.D., house officer I; Kei Miyazaki, M.D., house officer III; and Heather Bidgoli, M.D., house officer I.

A group of U-M Department of Family Medicine faculty and residents participated in the annual Dexter-Ann Arbor Run on Sunday, June 5, 2011. Many wore maize colored shirts emblazoned with the iconic block “M” and the words, “Family Medicine Keeps You Running!” The course started in Dexter and followed Huron River Drive into downtown Ann Arbor. 
  
Half marathon runners:
David J. Alvarez, D.O., assistant professor; Grant M. Greenberg, M.D., M.H.S.A., M.A., assistant professor and medical director at Chelsea Family Medicine; Masahito Jimbo, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor and inpatient service director; Anne L. Kittendorf, M.D., assistant professor; Thomas A. O’Neil, M.D., house officer III and co-chief resident; and Margaret A. Riley, M.D., lecturer.

10K runners:
Heather Bidgoli, M.D., house officer I; Scott A. Kelley, M.D., lecturer; Joanna T. Lee, M.D., house officer I; and Thomas L. Schwenk, M.D., the George A. Dean, M.D. Chair of Family Medicine.

5K runners and walkers:
James M. Cooke, M.D., assistant professor and residency director; Heather L. Holmstrom, M.D., lecturer; Kei Miyazaki, M.D., house officer III; Audrey B. Richardson, M.D., house officer I; Eric P. Skye, M.D., assistant professor and associate chair for education programs; Jamie Szelagowski, M.D., house officer III; Kristi L. Vanderkolk, M.D., house officer I; and Philip Zazove, M.D., professor and interim chair.

You can see a great photo of Drs. Bidgoli and Lee finishing the race as well as read more general details on annarbor.com. Photos from race day are also available on our Facebook page.

May 26, 2011: Research Growth at the U

Thomas L. Schwenk, M.D., the George A. Dean, M.D Chair of Family Medicine, professor, was quoted on AnnArbor.com in an article entitled, “New University of Michigan health care innovation institute to bring 500 researchers to ex-Pfizer site.” Dr. Scwhenk was featured as the head of a committee to make recommendations on the mission, governance and organization of the institute.  Read the complete article at AnnArbor.com.

May 12, 2011: Family Medicine in the News

Anne L. Kittendorf, M.D., assistant professor, is featured on AAFP News Now in an article entitled, "Delegates Send Message to AAFP Leaders: Withdraw From the RUC."

Dr. Kittendorf voiced support for a resolution adopted by delegates at the AAFP's National Conference of Special Consitituencies which called for the AAFP to to formally withdraw its representative from the RUC and to create a task force to identify alternative means of valuing primary care services. The resolution also asks the AAFP to make this task force's recommendations available to CMS and other payers. Many family physicians are convinced RUC recommendations tend to undervalue primary care services and they were deteremined to have their voices heard at the conference.

Read more at AAFP News Now.

May 12, 2011: Dr. Green Consults in Canada
 
The Canadian province of Alberta is restructuring its healthcare system. And they have decided to bring in Lee A. Green, M.D., M.P.H., professor and associate chair for information management, as a consultant.

The Department's expert in building primary care research networks, Dr.
Green, will be in Edmonton for one week every five weeks with a fourteen-month appointment with the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
 
“It’s a great opportunity. The province is quite committed to making changes. It’s a chance to do something with a really big impact,” says Dr. Green.
 
Dr. Green is passionate about changing and improving primary care practices, making practices more effective, and putting research into practice. Working closely on a task force with the University of Alberta, Alberta Health Services, and the Deputy Minister for Health and Wellness, he will be helping develop an infrastructure for primary care research and support for practice change in health care, advising the University of Alberta and the provincial government on building research capacity, recruiting and training researchers to do the work of changing and improving primary care practice, and navigating funding for this work.
 
“It’s exciting! It’s doing research in the course of, and in the service of, making a difference,” notes Dr. Green.

 

March 28, 2011: Philip Zazove, M.D., Named Interim Chair of Family Medicine

The Department is pleased to announce that Philip Zazove, M.D., professor, has accepted the position of interim chair. Dr. Zazove has had an extensive and impressive career, and brings a wealth of clinical, education, research, community service and administrative experience to the position.

Wanting to be a physician from a very young age, Dr. Zazove realized his dream in 1978 when he earned his medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., and completed his residency training at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah (1981). Continuing his pursuit of education, he conducted a Federal Research Fellowship in Epilepsy at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn. (1972), as well as earned a Masters in Science (1974), and a Masters in Business with honors (1994) both from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

Helping people has long been a passion for Dr. Zazove. He has spent his career advocating for health services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people; improving the quality of health care; integrating genetics in primary care, which includes a 2003 trip to London, England, to meet with some of the world’s leaders in genetics; solving managed care issues; overseeing complex health care management; addressing rising health care costs; and working for ways to engage people in healthier behaviors. He continues to conduct research on health services for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing people, continuous quality improvement, and ways to incorporate genetics into primary care settings, and has been well funded and published in these areas. Furthermore he is active in teaching medical students and residents. He sees patients at Dexter Family Medicine, and has received numerous awards for his efforts including being listed among America’s Top Doctors.

In addition to authoring a number of academically oriented clinical and research journal articles, and serving as consultant for a wide variety of institutions, he has held positions with several editorial, boards and peer-reviewed services. An accomplished writer, Dr. Zazove’s first book, When the Phone Rings, My Bed Shakes, is a widely acclaimed autobiography. His second, a novel entitled, Four Days in Michigan, is a well-received drama.

Community service is a passion for Dr. Zazove. He has helped to settle Russian immigrants into the community, been on the boards of directors for the Center for Independent Living in Ann Arbor and SafeHouse, and was appointed by a former governor to one of the Michigan Department of Labor’s Advisory Boards. He has also been on other statewide and national boards of directors, and is one of the founders of the Louise Tumarkin Zazove Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides scholarships for students with hearing loss. In 2004 he ran for a seat in the Michigan House of Representatives, and, although he lost in the primary election, he continues to stay active in the issues. Additionally, Dr. Zazove is on the Board of Directors for the American Medical Professionals with Hearing Loss, has served as chair of the Medical Benefits Advisory Committee for Premier Health Care, and is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Michigan State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.

Dr. Zazove has held a number of leadership positions, including serving as Chair for the Family Practice Department at the Jordan Valley Hospital (1983-85) and President of the West Jordan Medical Center (1988-89) in West Jordan, Utah. Since joining U-M in 1989, he has served as Assistant Chair of Clinical Programs for the Department, Associate Medical Director for Ambulatory Care and Associate Medical Director of MCare. Most recently, he led the implementation of electronic prescribing (ePrescribe) across the UMHS ambulatory care network.

"I view this as both an honor and a responsibility. It is an honor to be associated with so many capable and caring people. It is a huge responsibility to ensure that the excellence of the Department continues and grows in all its missions and activities: clinical, education, research, and community service. To this I am totally committed," says Dr. Zazove.

Over the coming months, he will be working with Thomas L. Schwenk, M.D., the George A. Dean, M.D. Chair of Family Medicine and professor, to ensure a smooth transition. Dr. Schwenk is stepping down at the end of June to assume the role of Dean of the University of Nevada School of Medicine and Vice President for Health Sciences at the University of Nevada Reno.

Dr. Schwenk comments, "I am so pleased with the appointment of Dr. Zazove as the Interim Chair, as well as with the speed with which the Dean’s office has made this appointment so as to have the smoothest possible transition. Philip’s seniority and long experience within U-M and the Health System will serve the Department well. I know I am leaving the Department in very capable hands."

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Zazove as he assumes this responsibility.

 

March 15, 2011: Dr. Nease Accepts New Position with Cielo

After nearly 13 years with the Department, Donald E. Nease Jr., M.D., associate professor, is leaving the University to be a Senior Director for The Advisory Board Company, a research, consulting and technology services firm focused on the health care and higher education industries, which recently acquired Cielo MedSolutions™ (Cielo). Dr. Nease has been serving as Chief Medical Officer and on the Medical Advisory Board of Cielo since it acquired the licensing for the Department-developed ClinfoTracker software five years ago.

Additionally, he has accepted a position with the Colorado Health Outcomes Center at the University of Colorado-Denver. There he will be working to integrate Cielo Clinic into the Distributed Ambulatory Research in Therapeutics Network, or DARTNet, a clinical practice network that is beginning to perform large-scale comparative effectiveness research studies.
 
Dr. Nease comments on his transition, “I have enormously enjoyed my years in the Department, and I hope to continue to maintain many professional and personal ties. I’m excited that this new path in my career will allow me to oversee further development and dissemination of the Cielo software into medical practices all over the country.”
 
Dr. Nease earned his medical degree from the University of Kansas (1987), where he also completed a fellowship in faculty development (1991). He completed his family medicine residency training at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, S.C. (1990), where he also served as chief resident. Prior to joining U-M, Dr. Nease practiced in Kansas and Texas. He has special interests in mental health, health promotion, and doctor-patient relationship issues.
 
The Department would to thank Dr. Nease for his many years of service, and wishes him well with his new endeavors.

 

March 3, 2011: Dr. Brown Departs

Kristy K. Brown, D.O., lecturer and assistant residency director, will be leaving the Department to move with her family back to the New England area at the end of July.

Residency program director, James M. Cooke, M.D., assistant professor, says, "Dr. Brown has been critical to our success through her dedication to outpatient and obstetric teaching, residency leadership through her role as Assistant Residency Director, support of residents and through her many contributions to the curriculum and recruitment efforts. Her commitment to providing residents with a clear vision for Patient Centered Medical Home and future primary care practice at Ypsilanti Family Medicine has made a lasting impact upon residents and alumni, and will serve them well throughout their careers."

Dr. Brown earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts (UMass) in 1999. She received her medical training at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine (2002), and then returned to UMass for her residency training (2005). She served on the UMass faculty for two years before joining the Department in 2007. Her clinical interests include women’s health, obstetrics, and pediatrics.

The Department wishes to thank Dr. Brown for her years of service.

 

January 24, 2011: One of Our Own Assists Local Vets 

The University of Michigan Department of Family Medicine is proud to announce that Timothy D. Morris, B.A., M.S., information technology manager, is a volunteer with “Buddy-to-Buddy,” a program that helps veterans of the Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) wars cope with returning to civilian life in Michigan. The Program is based on the idea that military service is like no other experience, and those best equipped to assist are other veterans. Program volunteers, called “Buddies,” receive training in communication skills and community resources, and come from a variety of backgrounds and military service organizations.

Mr. Morris is a Marine Veteran who served in the Vietnam War in 1967 and 1968 as an Airborne Weapons System Technician on A6-A aircraft. He has been with the Department since 1993 and has worked on a variety of patient care quality improvement projects in addition to supervising a number of staff. He is active with the Marine-sponsored program Toys for Tots, woodworking, church, and family, including 13 grandchildren.

Reflecting on why he joined the Program in November 2010, Mr. Morris says, “In the past year there have been several suicides in southeastern lower Michigan. It is such a tragedy to lose these soldiers whose lives are just getting started. I want to do what I can to help prevent another death, and assist other veterans find employment, financial and other resources or just lend a friendly ear.”

The Buddy-to-Buddy Volunteer Veteran program is part of the Welcome Back Veterans initiative sponsored by Major League Baseball Charities and the McCormick Foundation to raise public awareness about the issues facing today’s veterans and their families, and to raise funds to support programs and services that these veterans need as they reintegrate back to civilian life and particularly the Michigan National Guard. Program supporters are the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Welcome Back Veterans, McCormick Foundation, and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. 

For more information, visit the program website: http://www.buddytobuddy.org.

 

January 7, 2011: Dr. Richardson speaks with Harmony about childhood obesity

Caroline R. Richardson, M.D., associate professor, was quoted in Harmony. The focus of the article entitled "Is Your Child Too Heavy?" is encouraging parents to teach and model healthy eating habits while allowing children to grow into their weight. Dr. Richardson explains the importance of balancing screen time with physical activity.