New AAMC Board of Directors Announced; Surgeon General Recommends Warning Labels for Social Media Use Among Kids; University Hospitals to Cut Leadership Staff; and Other Items of Interest
The AAMC has announced its 2024-25 Board of Directors. The incoming Board’s term begins Nov. 12 and will end at the conclusion of Learn Serve Lead: The AAMC Annual Meeting in November 2025. Julie Freischlag, MD, chief academic officer and executive vice president of Advocate Health, chief academic officer of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, and executive vice president for health affairs of Wake Forest University, has been elected to serve as chair of the AAMC Board of Directors. She will succeed Lee Jones, MD, dean for medical education and professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University School of Medicine, who will become immediate past chair. Michael Waldrum, MD, MSc, MBA, chief executive officer of ECU Health and dean of the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, has been named chair-elect and will succeed Dr. Freischlag next year. Among the AAMC Board of Director members are CFAS Chair Nita Ahuja, MD, MBA; and CFAS Chair-elect Arthur Derse, MD, JD. CFAS representative Marc Triola, MD, is also a board member.
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U.S. Surgeon General Vikek Murthy, MD, MBA, announced this week he will recommend that Congress require tobacco-style warning labels on the harms of social media for kids, reported CNN. The announcement came in a New York Times op-ed by Dr. Murthy explaining his rationale. “The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency — and social media has emerged as an important contributor,” Dr. Murthy wrote. “It is time to require a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents.”
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The New York Times ran a related opinion piece including several quotes from faculty and other experts in academic medicine on how the arrival of summer creates a good excuse for a “social media reset,” offering recommendations on how to be successful in limiting scrolling among younger populations.
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H. Holden Thorpe, PhD, Science editor-in-chief, also published an editorial this week on how the science behind the negative effects of social media on kids may be “unsettled” and explores whether the recommendations from Dr. Murthy and others may in the end further fuel public suspicion of science.
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Cleveland-based University Hospitals announced it was cutting more than 300 support and leadership positions in its health system, but emphasized clinical care would not be affected, reported Cleveland.com. The system said the job cuts were a result of budget shortfalls and rising costs. Approximately 10% of the University Hospitals leadership is directly affected by the cuts.
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Emory Healthcare CEO Joon Sup Lee, MD, announced a fund of $100 million to help provide pay raises for nurses, respiratory therapists, and nutrition and environmental services staff, but not necessarily for more highly compensated staff including physicians. The set-aside comes as financials for the health system improved after years of losses and higher costs during the COVID-19 pandemic, reported the Atlanta Journal Constitution and Becker’s Hospital Review.
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University of Maryland Medical Center residents and fellows voted last week to unionize with the Maryland chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, reported Becker’s Hospital Review. According to the story, it is the first unionization of its kind in the state.
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KFF news reported on some of the most recent findings from the Women’s Health Initiative, the largest study of women’s health in the United States, that show how the health of older women in particular is studied with less intensity — leading to less understanding — than the health of older men. Interviewed in the piece is Stephanie Faubion, MD, MBA, director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Women’s Health. “This has got to stop: The FDA has to require that clinical trial data be reported by sex and age for us to tell if drugs work the same, better, or not as well in women,” Dr. Faubion said.
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NPR reported on the “harrowing” experience of clinicians across the network of Ascension hospitals during a crippling cyberattack that affected the ability to access lab results, medical records, and other critical data that helped inform everything from medication distribution to safety checks on equipment. NPR’s reporting included accounts from caregivers at all levels of the health system reflecting on close calls and lapses that affected patient care.
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Nature covered the challenges an array of educational, research, and even cultural institutions such as museums from around the world are facing from hackers who successfully upload ransomware onto networks, grinding the work to a halt. While recent news stores have focused on health care institutions, the trend has hit universities, creating challenges with everything from admissions to thesis defense to conducting ongoing research.
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The Hill reported on a poll showing broad public support in the United States for medical debt forgiveness generally, but the number spikes where cases of fraud are involved. The Biden administration announced plans last week to remove medical debt from inclusion on credit scores.
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Medscape reported on a study published in JAMA Network Open on “Physician Specialty Differences in Unprofessional Behaviors Observed and Reported by Coworkers,” which found that surgeons were most likely to receive a coworker report and those working in a pediatric space were least likely.
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Louis Miller, MD, and Andrew Yacht, MD, MSc, both faculty members with administrative roles at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, contributed an op-ed to The Hill on how abortion restrictions and laws are driving OB-GYNs from certain states, citing data from the AAMC. “Abortion-restricted states should interpret this as more than education-related data,” Drs. Miller and Yacht wrote. “It’s cause for alarm regarding medical staffing in their states and, in turn, their constituents’ health.”
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Issues in Science and Technology interviewed Elena Fuentes-Afflick, MD, MPH, committee chair for the recent report Supporting Family Caregivers in STEMM: A Call to Action, by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), released this past spring. “The [NASEM] committee,” Fuentes-Afflick said, “strongly believes that supporting caregiving represents a strategic investment in the labor force and is an important aspect to addressing and advancing equity.” Dr. Fuentes-Afflick is a professor of pediatrics and vice dean for the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and is the incoming AAMC chief scientific officer, starting in mid-July.
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Marie Bernard, MD, chief officer for scientific workforce diversity at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), released a progress report on building an inclusive research workforce. The report lists accomplishments in building, disseminating, and acting on the plan’s many elements. NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli, MD, welcomed this progress in her presentation to the NIH Advisory Committee to the Director.
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House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) released a framework of recommendations last week for reforming the NIH, including a request for information for invested parties. The framework includes recommendations to combine the current 27 institutes and centers into 15; initiate a congressionally mandated commission to review the NIH’s performance, missions, objectives, and programs; and limit the number of grants per investigator, among others. Science covered the recommendations.
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William Mallon, EdD, AAMC senior director of strategy and innovation development, joined the “Faculty Factory” podcast of Johns Hopkins Medicine to discuss the AAMC’s recent study on promotion and tenure at U.S. medical schools and the relevance of academic freedom for medical school faculty in today’s social and political environment.
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A new collection in the AAMC Virtual Communities features resources from the AAMC and across academic medicine on creating accessible presentations, web content, teaching materials, and other resources on fostering an inclusive learning environment. The collection also highlights information about joining fellow educators, leaders, and disability resource professionals in the new Disability Inclusion community, along with related scholarship, virtual events, podcasts, and videos. A Virtual Communities account is required; an account can be created on the login page.
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Registration for the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) Conference 2024 is now open. The conference focuses on board certification assessment, lifelong learning, improvement, and professionalism, and will be held Sept. 24-26 in Chicago. Programming is of particular interest to ABMS member boards and associate members; medical specialty societies; health care credentialing organizations; and others interested in assessment and evaluation, credentialing, data sharing and informatics, health policy and research, medical education, professional regulation, and quality improvement.
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The AAMC will host a webinar on June 25 at 2 p.m. ET to explore how the academic medicine community is implementing artificial intelligence to support administration and business decisions and create efficiencies.
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Nathan Selden, MD, PhD, has been named dean of the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine. He had been serving as interim dean since February. A 2023-24 Council of Deans fellow, Dr. Selden previously served as the Mario and Edith Campagna Chair of Pediatric Neurological Surgery and as professor of neurological surgery at the OHSU School of Medicine.
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David Guzick, MD, PhD, was appointed dean of LSU Health Shreveport School of Medicine, effective June 7. Dr. Guzick will continue to serve as chancellor of the university and as a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the medical school. He formerly served as dean of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry from 2002-09. Dr. Guzick succeeds David Lewis, MD, MBA, who has served as dean of the medical school since June 2018.
Robert Grossman, MD, has announced plans to retire as dean of NYU Grossman School of Medicine and CEO of NYU Langone at the end of August. Dr. Grossman has served in the role since 2007. A neuroradiologist, Dr. Grossman helped create NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine, the only medical school in the United States that offers a three-year M.D. degree focused on primary care and full-tuition scholarships.
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William Wertheim, MD, MBA, who has been serving as the interim executive vice president of Stony Brook Medicine, has been promoted to executive vice president. Dr. Wertheim is additionally president of the Stony Brook Medicine Community Medical Group.
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Margaret “Maggie” McDonald, PhD, MFA, associate vice chancellor for academic and global affairs, health sciences, at the University of Pittsburgh, has announced plans to retire in January 2025. Jessica Griffin Burke, PhD, MHS, vice dean for the university’s School of Public Health, will assume the role of associate vice chancellor for global affairs, health sciences, effective Sept. 1, partnering with Dr. McDonald through a transition period. Dr. McDonald, who also holds appointments as associate professor of epidemiology at the school of public health and associate professor of psychiatry at the school of medicine, joined the University of Pittsburgh 40 years ago after a career as a science and medical journalist in Washington, D.C.
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The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) named Dan Voth, PhD, as vice chancellor for research and innovation. He will be responsible for defining the strategy and vision for research and seeking to enhance research activities across all UAMS colleges. Dr. Voth joined UAMS in 2009 and has served as chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.
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Robert Ferris, MD, PhD, a head and neck surgical oncologist, has been named executive director of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and UNC system chief of oncology services, effective Oct. 1. Dr. Ferris comes to the University of North Carolina from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where he was the director of the Hillman Cancer Center.
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Joshua Gordon, MD, PhD, the departing director of the National Institute of Mental Health, will return to Columbia University as chair of Psychiatry at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute, and psychiatrist-in-chief of the NewYork-Presbyterian campus at Columbia, effective Aug. 15.
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Oh, good. Just when you thought the state of the world couldn’t get any worse, Fordham University postdoctoral researcher Mai Fahmy, PhD, and colleagues have shown that bloodsucking leeches have surprisingly exuberant jumping skills. And they brought video receipts to prove their point.
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And finally, be careful as you consider the ick factor of jumping leeches because it could cause you to irrationally wreck the planet. Researchers in Sweden have published a paper in PLoS ONE demonstrating how disgust, shame, and cleanliness norms can cause people to unnecessarily wash clothes that are hardly in need of laundering, even when weighed against personal knowledge that the laundry isn’t needed and the environmental impact of doing yet another load of wash is negative. In other words, the notion of “disgust sensitivity” wins the day in the battle over that marginally dirty shirt you wore for 15 minutes before changing your mind.
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Visit the CFAS Resources page for an archive of the previous edition of CFAS News as well as our People of Academic Medicine page, which features a running list of academic promotions, appointments, and departures.
Your comments and news tips are always welcome. Please email them to Eric Weissman at eweissman@aamc.org.
Read the previous edition of CFAS News.
Eric Weissman
Senior Director, Faculty and Academic Society Engagement
AAMC
eweissman@aamc.org
www.aamc.org/cfas