Winter 2011
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Mission Statement
The mission of the Texas Academy of Internal Medicine is to promote quality health care for all Texans by strengthening the practice of internal medicine.
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President’s Column
Sue S. Bornstein, MD, FACP
TXACP President
It is with humility and deep appreciation that I assume the Presidency of the Texas Chapter of the American College of Physicians for 2011. I have been fortunate to have been mentored by a number of outstanding leaders in this organization and I am mindful of the strong foundation they have created.
My tenure comes at a time of unprecedented change in our country as a whole and in Texas in particular. The first baby boomers turn 65 this year and bring with them the need for increased access to medical care. We will begin to experience the effects of the far-reaching Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act enacted by Congress in 2010. And on the state level, we are facing frightening budget shortfalls with the prospect of deep and damaging cuts in health and education funding.
There is widespread concern about the continued viability of our flagship program, the General Internal Medicine Statewide Preceptorship Program. Our organization has invested significant energy and resources in this program over the last 17 years. We have demonstrated that pairing a 1st or 2nd year medical student with an internist in the community for a month serves to increase the number of medical students considering and eventually choosing general internal medicine as a career. This essential program, which has been chronically underfunded, is in danger of even deeper cuts. To that end, the leadership of the Texas ACP has taken initial steps to create a non-profit foundation that in time will be able to help support GIMSPP along with other strategically important projects.
It is time for our organization to look inward and to bring into sharper focus what is needed for the Texas ACP to retain its relevance to internal medicine and its subspecialties. The Texas ACP and ACP Services Boards will embark on a strategic planning process this year. The process will begin formally at our February Board meeting. It is no longer enough to exhort internists and internal medicine specialists to become ACP members and to continue as members. We need to be able to articulate clearly and consistently the benefits of membership, especially in a time where multiple opportunities for continuing medical education exist. The ACP’s core values of leadership, excellence, respect, compassion, professionalism and responsibility should serve as guiding precepts for this important process of introspection and renewal.
Our organization is indeed fortunate to be led by a Board that is remarkably diverse in terms of background, experience, geographic location and professional setting. In addition, we have a talented and dedicated staff that bring energy and a positive attitude to their work. It is our obligation to strengthen our outreach to members and non-members and to bring the concerns of Texas internists and internal medicine specialists to the attention of our leadership.
This will be a challenging year for the Texas Chapter of the ACP. Of that there is no doubt. However, it is my firm belief that the membership, the leadership and the staff will see this challenging environment as an opportunity to strengthen and improve what is already a great organization. This year we will rededicate ourselves to the mission of the Texas ACP: to promote quality health care for all Texans by strengthening the practice of internal medicine.
Sue S. Bornstein, MD, FACP
suebornstein@gmail.com
(214) 709-7642
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Governor’s Message
Andrew K. Diehl, MD, FACP
Southern Governor
This is it!
Ordinarily I do not compare myself to the late Michael Jackson. But, in fact, this IS it for me, the final column of my term as ACP Governor for Texas Southern. For the past 4 years I’ve been honored to represent our state in the College’s Board of Governors. My friend Robert Jackson of Houston (no relation to Michael) will succeed me at the Internal Medicine 2011 meeting in San Diego in early April. As I prepare to step down, I can’t help but reflect on the events that have affected our Chapter since 2007.
No doubt the biggest issue that confronted us was the health care reform initiative that resulted in passage of the Accountable Care Act less than a year ago. While lacking in some areas, the bill’s provisions were in line with most of the ACP’s principles, and the College was involved in shaping the final bill. The legislation was greeted with skepticism and concern by many in the Texas Chapter, although it had many supporters as well. The success of its implementation remains to be seen given the changes in Congress. ACP will continue to vigorously promote the views of internists and their patients as events unfold in Washington. I invite you to stay current on the issues, and to become a Key Contact if you are not one already.
Closer to home, the Texas Legislature is now meeting in Austin. The state’s budget deficit is threatening programs across the spectrum, but especially those related to health and education. The Texas Chapter is particularly concerned about funding for the General Internal Medicine Statewide Preceptorship Program, which offers the opportunity for pre-clinical medical students to enjoy extended experiences with volunteer internists across our state. Many of you have served. Funding was cut substantially in 2003, and budget reductions of at least 10% are proposed for the coming biennium. Our Chapter is lobbying to preserve this valuable program. If you have a personal relationship with a Texas senator or representative, please let us know. We can use your help.
For several years our Chapter has been developing its own Council of Young Physicians. The idea is to assemble a group of ACP members of similar age and professional experience to address such issues as establishing a practice, balancing work and personal life, and planning for changes in health care organization. I expect our Texas CYP to mature rapidly in the next couple of years. The Board is beginning to consider establishing a similar group that represents internal medicine hospitalists. Let us know if you are interested.
Our Chapter simplified its name and developed a fresh logo. Our membership has been growing modestly. We are financially sound. A Texas Chapter ACP foundation is being launched this year. And we have won multiple Chapter Excellence and Evergreen awards from national ACP.
I am most grateful to the excellent staff that has assisted me over my term as Governor. You cannot imagine how important they are to our Texas Chapter. Through their work, and that of our officers and board members, I’m confident that the outstanding quality of our annual meetings and advocacy will continue. It’s been a great four years for me. But, this is it!
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On Being a Doctor
“Son on the Soil” by Anoop Sheshadri, TXACP Student Member
University of Texas Southwestern
2010 Annual Competition Winner
Son of the Soil
Jonah was a farmer and a farmer’s son and all the big-city swindlers and small-time hucksters couldn’t change that. He was born at the homestead and delivered by Father’s own big hands, because after all a boy was smaller than colt or calf and plenty of those came into the world by that same leathered strength. He grew straight and tall like sun-kissed corn and when Father plowed or sowed he ran in his shadow, from the chestnut to the sulfur-rocks, and when the bell rang for dinner he ran home the chickens. He had Father’s crooked smile, tousled hair, his straight and honest jaw, but Mother’s hands. They were soft, white-palmed, and never once shirked a day’s work.
Day came when Father reckoned it time Jonah had responsibilities that weren’t feathered and flighty and so he brought him to their broody mare. He put those soft hands on her belly’s swell and said her next foal was Jonah’s. Jonah danced with delight, for to be a farmer’s son was a fine thing but a horse was truly something to crow about. When her time came it were Jonah’s calming hands rubbing sweat from her flanks, easing the passage of the limp, knock-kneed youngling that floundered out. When he brought the colt round the stable he saw the farm-dog had been busy as well. So he rubbed down the colt, brought greens to the mare, then came back to soothe the collie as she birthed her litter. In all his days Jonah would never forget the sweat-scent and the placenta’s loose feel , watching the acrid amnios pool in the dirt and reeds while he whistled Yellow Rose.
Wherever Jonah was you could count on Brash to follow. The collie’d littered seven but six were given away, for food was hard enough to come by and Jonah ate enough for a dozen pups. Whenever Brash got rat-bit or scraped his belly jumping a fence, he’d come yelping to Jonah and Jonah’d look in his eyes and tell him “Be calm,” bandage his paw or wipe the blooded coat, and the dog would calm, and though he was in many a scrape and scarper his wounds never festered nor fouled. And when he rode Bold the clip-clop from iron on hardscrabble came from shoes he’d nailed himself, as Bold’s hide glowed from oil Jonah’d applied, as his muscles strained on fresh fuel Jonah’d swathed and bundled, and everybody knew Bold would never founder.
Jonah rode Bold one autumn morn, paying respects to the folk next farm over. He sauntered past the fence and Brash tumbled into a heap and a tumble of mutts. Jonah tied Bold to the post and greeted the wife at the door with the clamor behind him. It was a cool day but her brow poured sweat and her hand quivered and the curve of her belly told him why. The men were in the fields so he collared two or three brats and ran them for Doctor while he guided her to bed. His hands were firm, and after all a girl was smaller than colt or calf and he’d seen plenty of those into the world with those same, soft hands. By the time Doctor hung his coat and set aside his bag Jonah’d swung the child upside-down, slapped her rump, and set her to suckle. Doctor busied himself and blustered but he knew and Jonah knew all was well. They shared a cigar on the porch with the proud menfolk and Doctor said that Jonah ought to look to his future, but Jonah knew that he was a farmer and a farmer’s son and he tipped his hat and rode int
to the evening whistling Yellow Rose.
Time came that winds dried up and crops all shriveled and Bold was sold to stud to put food on the table, along with half the farm besides. The clouds were spare and white but Jonah’s father said they’d carry on, and sure enough on the south field by the sulfur-rocks they plowed a bubbling trench one hot night and the next day came drills and towers and men, hard men, quick to blows, slow to forgive.
Jonah was an oilman and an oilman’s son and no city-folk or rancher was going to change that. He dug in the dirt with Father in his shadow, hauled block and tackle, and kept his hands gloved. The men made fun at first but Jonah just grinned and kept on, and when they came to him it was those soft hands that splinted twisted ankles, bound cracked ribs, popped joints back into place. One night in the south field fire broke out with a boom and a blast and flames played up and down the tents. Jonah grit his teeth and while others hauled water he hauled men, cooled seared lungs and peeled skin, set coal-black bone. Doctor came round with Brash nipping his heels , took one long look at men laid out like logs, belted a stiff drink, and set to work. By morning worst was over with no man dead, and the two men shared a cigar while Jonah whistled Yellow Rose, and when Doctor rose he left his bag with Jonah.
Time came that fire broke out all the world over and Jonah became a soldier and a soldier’s son, no matter the women’s tears and hearts they left behind. He marched with mud and hard men but he’d known both and grinned and kept on. And the other soldiers made fun of Jonah’s soft hands, but it was to him they came with shrapnel and phosgene, with torn and shredded limb, with the last requests of gutshot men, echoing out of a hell of bullets and screams and steel. He’d crawl up and down the trenches, gun at his back, hands at the ready. And when he lay down to sleep, Doctor’s bag beneath his head, he thought to the future and he whistled Yellow Rose.
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Two Medical Schools and One Foundation Sponsor 2011 Preceptorships
Internal Medicine departments at two Texas medical schools and one hospital foundation provided sponsorships for 2011 so that more students will be matched for preceptorships through the GIMSPP.
Cynthia Jumper, MD, MPH, FACP, Chair of Internal Medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, provided $2,000 so that more students can benefit from preceptorships.
Randall J. Urban, MD, FACP, Chair of Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch, donated $1,300 so more students can participate in GIMSPP this summer.
W. Mark Armstrong, MD, FACP, Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine at Baylor University Medical Center, submitted $10,000 to match more students for the 2011 program on behalf of the Baylor Health Care System Foundation.
These vital sponsorships demonstrate the importance the chairs and chiefs place on academic Internal Medicine departments taking the lead in supporting students’ introduction to this critical field of medicine.
Eugene W. Stokes, MD, FACP and Karen Szauter, MD, FACP, Co-Chairs of the Medical Students Committee, Govs. Andrew K. Diehl and Clark R. Gregg and the GIMSPP staff thank Drs. Jumper, Urban and Armstrong as well as Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, the University of Texas Medical Branch and the Baylor Health Care System Foundation for their continued support of the program.
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Annual Meeting: Thank you Supporters
The 2010 annual meeting would not be possible without the help of the companies that continue to support our organization. The Texas Chapter of the ACP would like to thank the Harris Methodist Health Foundation for their generous educational grant at this year’s meeting.
Thank you to all of our 2010 Annual Meeting supporters and exhibitors.
See you next year in Austin, November 12-13th.
The following companies provided financial support as well for the meeting. Our chapter is extremely grateful for all of their assistance and for every company that contributed to this year’s meeting success!
Platinum Sponsor
Harris Methodist
Silver Level Exhibitors
Lilly Diabetes
Bronze Level Exhibitors
American College of Physicians
Amgen
DARS (Dept. of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services)
GIMSPP
PedsPal
TMLT (Texas Medical Liability Trust)
Novo Nordisk
Texas Department of State Health Services
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Sanofis – Aventis
Tethys Bioscience
Reckitt Benckiser
Houston Sleep Center
Scott & White Recruiting
Texas Medical Association
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Annual Meeting: Medical Students and Associates Compete at Annual Meeting
The Associates clinical vignette competition featured five residents who were selected in their regional competitions to compete at the statewide meeting. Outstanding presentations were made by Sandra Barrow, Methodist Hospital; Sameer Islam, TTUHSC – Lubbock; Amy Kalina, Methodist Dallas Medical Center; Jinyi Ling, Texas TTUHSC – El Paso; and CPT Tedmond Szeto, San Antonio Uniformed Health Education Consortium.
Sameer Islam won first place in the competition with his vignette, “My Eyes are Bouncing”. Sameer will automatically advance to San Diego to compete at the national level during the ACP Annual Session in April.
In a dramatic conclusion to the annual Doctor’s Dilemma, the team from Scott & White emerged as champions. Congratulations to team members Jonathan Ramirez, Shannon Ward and Scott Swendsen. The team will represent the Texas Chapter in the Doctor’s Dilemma competition at the ACP Annual Session in San Diego this April.
Congratulations to the Texas Tech University Health Science Center in Amarillo team that took second place. This competition would not have been possible without the help of Drs. Suma Pokala, FACP, Temple and George Crawford, FACP, San Antonio, for organizing this event. A special thank you to Drs. Hari Raja, FACP, Dallas and Jose Perez, Jr., FACP, Houston, for their assistance with the competition.
Of the fifty nine abstracts that were submitted for the competition, 15 were chosen to participate in the Associates’ Poster Competition. The submissions came from eight residency programs and medical schools.
Thanks to the work of dedicated TXACP volunteers who judges the posters. The competition would not be possible without your help. The following winners were announced during Saturday evening’s reception:
Medical Students
Clinical Poster Winners:
1. Claire Randall, UTHSCSA
2. Shirley Osadebe, UTHSCA
Associates
Clinical Poster Winners:
1. Miranda Boucher, MD, Scott & White
2. Vikesh Khanijow, MD, UT - Houston
Associates
Clinical Research Poster Winners:
1. Farshad Forouzandeh, MD, Methodist
2. Aditi Shastri, MD, Baylor College of Medicine
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Chapter Honors Members
Two distinguished members were honored with the Texas Chapter highest awards during November 2010 Annual Chapter Scientific Meeting in Houston.
Texas Chapter Laureates for 2010 are W. Mark Armstrong, MD, FACP, Dallas; George E. Crawford, MD, FACP, San Antonio.
The Laureate Award honors those Fellows and Masters of the College who have demonstrated a life of commitment to excellence in medical care, education, or research and in service to their community, the Chapter, and the ACP.
The Texas Chapter of the ACP Services Chumley/SynderAdvocate of the Year award was presented to Howard R. Marcus, MD, FACP, Austin for his outstanding leadership in legislative advocacy and grassroots activism on behalf of medicine and the patients of Texas.
The Awards committee welcomes and accepts nominations from the membership year round. Nominations from the chapter should include a detailed letter of recommendations and curriculum vitae (CV). Additional letters of support are welcome and may strengthen the nomination.
Send nominations, CVs, and letters of support to: Texas Chapter of the American College of Physicians, Awards and Recognitions Committee, 401 W. 15th St., Austin, Texas 78701; or email to Gena-dot-Girardeau-at-texmed.org.
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Chapter Elects Officers, Directors
Officers and board members for Texas Chapter of the ACP and Texas Chapter of the ACP Services, the Texas Chapter’s advocacy arm, were elected during the annual awards and business meeting luncheon November 13, 2010, in Houston.
TXACP President
Sue S. Bornstein, MD, FACP, Dallas
TXACP President-elect
Felicia Austin-Tolliver, MD, FACP, Sugar Land
TXACP Secretary-Treasurer
Stephen J. Sibbitt, MD, FACP, Temple
TXACP Services President
Roger S. Khetan, MD, FACP, FHM, Dallas
TXACP Services President-Elect
Alejandro Moreno, MD, MPH, JD, FACP, Austin
TXACP Services Secretary-Treasurer
Temple Howell-Stampley, MD, FACP, Dallas
Directors
Laura DeMoya, MD, Dallas – Northeast Director
Maureen Francis, MD, FACP, El Paso – Northwest Director
Lechauncy Woodard, MD, Pearland – Southeast Director
Edward Sargent, MD, FACP, San Antonio – Southwest Director
Robert Goldsteen, DO, FACP, Dallas – At-Large Director
If you are interested in serving on the TXACP or TXACP Services board of directors in the future, e-mail Gena Girardeau, TXACP executive director, at Gena.Girardeau@texmed.org. Be sure to include your curriculum vitae.
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Congratulations to our Newest Fellows
Fellowship recognizes personal integrity, superior competence in internal medicine, professional accomplishment, and demonstrated scholarship.
Kelvin A Baggett, MD FACP, Dallas
Everardo Cobos, MD FACP, Lubbock
Andrey E Manov, MD FACP, Burleson
Suresh Prasad, MBBS FACP, Odessa
Kalpana K Prasad, MBBS FACP, Odessa
Harvey M Richey, III DO FACP, Amarillo
Janet L Tornelli-Mitchell, MD FACP, Dallas
Brian Charles Weis, MD PhD FACP, Amarillo
Adebola Olufemi Adesanya, MD FACP, Irving
SM Golam K Alam, MD FACP, McAllen
Amer Beitinjaneh, MD FACP, Houston
Naifa Busaidy, MD FACP, Houston
Arsenia Koh-Guevarra, MD FACP, El Paso
Sanjay B Patel, MD FACP, Plano
Ather J Siddiqi, MD FACP, The Woodlands
Maher Ahmad Abbara, MD FACP, Spring
Faisal A Arain, MBBS FACP, League City
Rima B Bolte, MD FACP, Waco
Ravi Botla, MD FACP, San Antonio
Lara M Colton, MD FACP, Houston
Lisa A Davis, MD FACP, San Antonio
Erin E Dunnigan, MD MBA FACP, Dallas
Nadia J Ismail, MD FACP, Houston
Dana F Mitchell, MD FACP, Houston
Luis F Morales, MD FACP, Brownsville
Stephen P Oines, MD FACP, Brownwood
Louis H Roddy, MD FACP, Houston
Aaron Lee Samsula, MD FACP, Frisco
Advancement to Fellowship applications are available:
• At the ACP Web site (link)
• From the ACP Customer Service Department at (800) 523-1546, ext. 2600
• By e-mail at custserve-at-mail.acponline.org
Member Kudos
Herbert L. DuPont, MD, FACP, Houston, has been awarded the IDSA 2010 Alexander Fleming Award.
Cynthia L. Peacock, MD, FACP, Houston, has been selected for the Mayor’s Disability Advocate of the Year 2010.
Patricia I. Wathen, MD, FACP, San Antonio, has been named a Distinguished Teacher Professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Send news of your accomplishments, or that of a colleague, to: Gena Girardeau, TXACP Executive Director, 401 W. 15th St., Austin, TX 78701; fax to (512) 370-1635; or e-mail to Gena.Girardeau@texmed.org.
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