Twenty-two UMass Medical School faculty graduate from early career development program

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The Junior Faculty Development Class of 2018 is pictured with Office of Faculty Affairs leaders Luanne Thorndyke and Robert Milner (back row, second from right and far right) and Susanne Muehlschlegel (front row, far right).

While the campus was abuzz with commencement activities, another group of UMass Medical School “students” graduated from a program designed to enhance their future success. The 22 members of the Junior Faculty Development Program (JFDP) Class of 2018 received certificates of achievement at a celebration held May 24. Each completed a mentored scholarly project. Projects represented all mission areas of education, research and service, ranging from clinical trials to outcomes-based research to educational initiatives and planning for new clinical services.

Graduates accepted their certificates in the presence of family members, mentors, department chairs and division chiefs from program co-directors Robert Milner, MD, associate vice provost for professional development and professor of neurology, and Susanne Muehlschlegel, MD, MPH, associate professor of neurology.

Launched at UMass Medical School in 2010 and sponsored by the Office of Faculty Affairs, the year-long program is an intensive professional development experience for junior faculty designed to empower them and facilitate their success in academic medicine. Developed at Penn State College of Medicine by Dr. Milner and Luanne Thorndyke, MD, vice provost for faculty affairs and professor of medicine, it is regarded as a national model for the development of junior faculty in academic medicine.

“The Junior Faculty Development Program at UMass Medical School has a proven and measurable record of success, both for junior faculty and for the institution,” said Dr. Thorndyke. “Each project is a substantial step along an academic career path of achievement, resulting in important contributions to our academic health sciences center.”

Graduates of the program have generated more than 500 publications and have obtained more than $35 million in grant funding; have a higher rate of retention at both UMMS and UMass Memorial Health Care; have a higher rate of promotion to associate professor compared to all assistant professors for the same years; and are moving into leadership positions including department chair, division chief and residency director.

Senior faculty mentors were also recognized at the event. Thorndyke thanked the department chairs for their support of their faculty to participate in the program, and recognized the junior faculty for their commitment, dedication and work on their projects.

“These graduates are the future leaders of UMMS and academic medicine,” she said.

Class of 2018 Junior Faculty Development Program

Junior faculty member	Project	Mentor
Idanis Berrios Morales, MD assistant professor of neurology	The role of shared decision making and clinical outcomes on patients with multiple sclerosis	Kathleen Mazor, EdD professor of medicine
David Choi, MD, PhD assistant professor of radiology	Resting state fMRI study of concussion in collegiate athletes	Bruce Barton, PhD, professor of quantitative health sciences
Deepika Devuni, MD assistant professor of medicine	Does sustained virological response (SVR) alter gut microbiome in patients with chronic hepatitis C without cirrhosis?	Beth McCormick, PhD vice chair and professor of microbiology & physiological systems
Amna Diwan, MD assistant professor of orthopedics & physical rehabilitation	Orthopedic trauma patient discharge—standardization of process, facilitating early rehab and decreasing length of stay	Alok Kapoor, MD associate professor of medicine
Tina Dumont, MD, PhD assistant professor of obstetrics & gynecology	The protein/creatinine ratio versus 24-hour urine protein for the prediction of adverse outcomes in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy	Bei-Hung Chang, ScD associate professor of quantitative health sciences
Misha Faustina, MD assistant professor of ophthalmology	Developing and submitting an application for a new residency program in ophthalmology	Ty Fraga, PhD associate program director for obstetrics & gynecology
Stefanie Gauguet, MD, PhD assistant professor of pediatrics	Improving communication skills of pediatric health care providers through a simulation-based program	Scott Wellman, MD associate professor of family medicine & community health
Kristina Gracey, MD, MPH assistant professor of family medicine & community health	Do you want to be Barre FIT?	Judith Ockene, PhD, MEd, MA the Barbara Helen Smith Chair in Preventive and Behavioral Medicine and professor of medicine
Farid Hamzei-Sichani, MD, PhD assistant professor of neurosurgery	Functional connectome of high-frequency networks in human epilepsy	Brian Silver, MD professor of neurology
Mayuko Ito Fukunaga, MD assistant professor of medicine	Improvement of awareness and access to lung cancer screening at UMass Memorial Medical Center	Roger Luckmann, MD, MPH professor of family medicine & community health
Hillary Irons, MD, PhD assistant professor of emergency medicine	Trailside screening for neurocognitive impairment in hypobaric hypoxia	Susanne Muehlschlegel, MD, MPH associate professor of neurology
Frances Lagana, DPM assistant professor of orthopedics & physical rehabilitation	Development and implementation of a specialized foot wound center at UMass Memorial Medical Center	Gregory Volturo, MD chair and professor of emergency medicine
Evan Lau, MD assistant professor of medicine at UMMS-Baystate	Cardiogenic shock and an acute mechanical circulatory support registry	Robert Goldberg, PhD professor of quantitative health sciences
Theodore Macnow, MD assistant professor of pediatrics	The role of screen time in recovery from concussion	Kavita Babu, MD associate professor of emergency medicine
Payal Modi, MD, MPH assistant professor of emergency medicine	Diagnosing pediatric pneumonia with point of care lung ultrasound in low resource settings	Suzanne Cashman, DSc professor of family medicine & community health
Matthew Parker, MD, assistant professor of medicine	Ventricular reverse remodeling following aortic valve replacement in the elderly	Robert Goldberg, PhD professor of quantitative health sciences
Victor Polshin, MD assistant professor of anesthesiology & perioperative medicine	Acute pain management after video-assisted thoracic surgery	Louis Messina, MD professor of surgery
Caridad Ponce Martinez, MD assistant professor of psychiatry	Evaluating outcomes of initiating medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder during an acute psychiatric hospitalization	Kate Lapane, PhD professor of quantitative health sciences
Valerie Sharpe, MD assistant professor of psychiatry at UMMS-Baystate	Maternal stress associated with breastfeeding: Identification of risk factors and strategies for management	Nancy Byatt, DO, MBA associate professor of psychiatry
Jennifer Smith, MD assistant professor of anesthesiology & perioperative medicine	Creation of edidermolysis bullosa pathway for perioperative care: A comprehensive guide	Karen Wiss, MD professor of dermatology
Katherine Sullivan, MD, MS assistant professor of pediatrics	Defining novel urinary markers for prolonged apnea of prematurity	Tiffany Moore Simas, MD associate professor of obstetrics & gynecology
Sakiko Suzuki, MD instructor in medicine	AON-induced alternative splicing as novel therapy with hematologic malignancies	Michelle Kelliher, PhD professor of molecular, cell & cancer biology

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