Residents, Graduates and Faculty in the News
Raquel Medina-Rodriguez, awarded the Brown Square Staff Appreciation Award.
This award was established in 2006 by the Brown Square Family Medicine residents to recognize a Brown Square staff member or clinician who has provided significant teaching and support of residents in their practices.
Dr. Jacques Cayo, awarded the Family Medicine Community Teaching Award.
We would like to recognize the teaching contributions of community physicians who volunteer their time to teach residents on a regular basis. We are very appreciative of all his contributions to the Family Medicine Residency Program.
A few resident comments:
"Dr. Cayo gave good autonomy to residents but also was approachable and listened to residents completely without disruption and still provided teaching throughout the night."
"Dr. Cayo is an exceptional educator. He uses every patient case as an opportunity to teach residents about various topics related to pediatric emergency medicine. He goes above and beyond to engage residents in evidence based medicine. He not only provides feedback on each assessment and plan, but he spends time explaining how to get the most appropriate treatment plan for the patient and gives residents autonomy when a choice could go either way. His dedication to teaching is infectious. He always makes the shifts fun and educational!"
Congratulations on your well-deserved award!
Mark Mirabelli, MD, awarded the Family Medicine Faculty Teaching Award.
This award was first given in 1978 to Dr. Don Treat, chair of the department from 1978-87. Since that time, it has been awarded to 42 faculty members (as of 2019) .This award is voted on by the PGY-3's.
A few resident comments:
"Can't say enough positive things about working with Dr. Mirabelli. He is a fantastic preceptor to work with. First, he loves his job. Second, he loves teaching and does lots of it. Third, he seeks out ways to have us either see or do procedures. If you tell him you are interested in learning how to do something, he will teach you, period. he does not mind taking extra time to discuss interesting cases or answer questions. After every single clinic session with him he asks "What questions do you have?" And if you have ten questions, that's fine because he will stay late to answer them for you!"
"Dr. Mirabelli was an exceptional teacher, always dedicating every spare moment to teaching and helping me develop useful skills for my career in primary care. his devotion to my education is much appreciated."
Congratulations on your much deserved award!
Elizabeth R. Allocco, MD, awarded the Family Medicine OB Teaching Award:
This annual award was established to honor an attending obstetrician/gynecologist at Highland Hospital. It is granted by the Family Medicine residents to the physician who best exemplifies the following qualities: excellence in clinical judgment and patient care, excellence in clinical teaching, excellence in relating to and respecting Family Medicine residents and their ideals. The award recipient is elected by all Family Medicine residents. A plaque with the names of all the recipients hands in the Attending Lounge of the Obstetrics floor and is intended to value and recognize those individuals who have made significant contributions to the Family Medicine Residency Program. We are very appreciative of all her contributions to the Family Medicine Residency Program.
A few resident comments:
"Calm, and a great teacher."
"Dr. Allocco was comprehensive and caring with all patients and supportive of family medicine residents learning OB. Would love to see her recognized for her work as a great teacher."
"Dr. Allocco is a kind, approachable, and thoughtful mentor. I especially admire that she is very accepting of non-OB resident learners, which cannot be said of all OB attendings. She spends extra time after deliveries reviewing with residents who are interested and provides valuable feedback in informal debriefs after deliveries. She takes the opportunities she is given to help educate non-OB residents instead of making them feel like a bother, especially when they are new to the service."
"Our OB department could use more people like Dr. Allocco, because this only makes non-OB residents better providers for future practice, which benefits everyone!"
Congratulations on your well-deserved award!
Kenia German, MD, awarded the Highland Family Medicine Women's Health Care Award:
This award is given to the Family Medicine resident who has contributed most significantly in the area of women's health. The resident's contributions and accomplishments may be of a clinical nature, or in research, or in teaching, or of an administrative nature.
Comments from her peers and preceptors include:
"Motivated. Hard working. Great coach to her patients."
"Kenia is a wonderful presence on the team. She is very personable, friendly, hardworking, and eager to learn. She cares deeply about doing the appropriate thing for the patient. She understands her limits of knowledge in the field of obstetrics and does not hesitate to ask questions. She also was not afraid to get involved-when offered the chance to do a procedure (e.g. AROM, cervical balloon), she was more than happy to participate, even when it was doing it in a different style than she was used to (cervical balloon with a speculum vs. without). Something i was really impressed by was her situational awareness-she kept track of every patient on the deck, even for whom she was not involved in the care, and was conscious of where other team members work."
Congratulations on your well-deserved award!
Steven Fine, MD, Ph.D, awarded the Highland Medicine Teaching Attending Award:
The recipient of this award is chosen by majority vote of the Internal Medicine, Med/Peds, and Family Medicine residents, in recognition of outstanding teaching of residents by a physician in Medicine. The winner's name is engraved on a plaque that hangs in the Highland Hospital Library. We are very appreciative of all his contributions to the Family Medicine Residency Program.
A few resident comments:
"Dr. Fine is one of my favorite clinicians to consult. I appreciate that he thinks through the case with me and always seems happy to answer questions, even when he is busy."
"He is always polite and provides an open environment to ask questions about ID. When curious about diagnosis management, Dr. Fine always takes the time to explain and teach."
Congratulations on your well-deserved award!
David Holub, MD, awarded the Lovejoy Preceptor Award
This award is chosen by all the family medicine residents and is awarded to an outstanding academic or community faculty preceptor at Highland Family Medicine, who demonstrates the qualities like Dr. Frank Lovejoy. These qualities include: dedication to residency education, inspired teaching, and a deep compassion for patients and residents.
A few resident comments:
"I don't know how Dave does it. Despite many responsibilities, he still is able to instill passion into the residents regarding teaching and learning. He is detail oriented and always shares clinical Pearls that help us grow as residents."
"High level of positive/contagious energy. Breath of knowledge and experience, wisdom and thoughtful prospective when interacting with residents. Proactive about making eRecord work better. Thoughtful feedback during shadowing evaluation. Very encouraging."
"Excellent balanced approach to patient care!"
"Dave consistently prioritizes teaching. I learn a ton from him every time I work with him. He has a way of teaching and giving feedback while simultaneously lifting residents up and encouraging them. Dave alone is an incredibly compelling reason to want to be a resident at this program! Thank you, Dave!"
"I personally think Dave is my role model within Highland Family Medicine. The way he approaches teaching medical residents and how he thinks about patient care, is what I set my standards to. Dave sees OB patients, clinic patients (who all LOVE him and get angry when they are stuck with me), precepting medical students and residents, doing inpatient medicine and administrative duties. Saying all of that, we tend to forget that he is also a father and husband, that takes a significant chunk of his time outside of his work. I honestly do not know how he does all of this on a day-to-day basis. He probably does not realize this, but the way he handles himself and his tasks, he is truly an inspiration to us and he definitely sets the bar high on what to strive for."
Congratulations on your well-deserved award!
Sarah Hudson, MD, awarded the Program Director's Award
To an individual who fosters clinical and educational excellence, while maintaining a sense of humility and humor, and has demonstrated his/her ability to advance and support the Family Medicine Residency Program of the University of Rochester.
Congratulations on your well-deserved award!
Dominick DeFelice, MD, class of 2021, awarded the AFMRD Resident Award for Advocacy:
The award is given to a resident who has demonstrated skills and interest in advocacy.
Congratulations on your well-deserved award!
Derrick German, MD, awarded the STFM Resident Teaching Award:
The STFM Board of Directors authorized the development of an award to recognize teaching contributions by residents. Each family practice residency program can give this award annually to the resident who has best demonstrated an interest, ability, and commitment to family medicine education.
Criteria to be considered: a demonstrated interest in teaching/precepting medical students, participation in a patient education or residency education committee, peer teaching, consistent quality grand rounds and/or conferences presented, valued as a teacher by patients and peers, evidence of community teaching, presentations given at regional or national family medicine meetings.
A random family of evaluation comments about Dr. German's contributions as a teaching resident include:
"Derrick is responsible for designing the MED Ed AOC. He has consistently contributed to both med student and residency teaching, and even spent several sessions co-teaching an interviewing small group at the med school with Dr. King."
"Engaging teacher for medical students, works to help learners understand the why and improve decision making."
"It was a great pleasure working with Derrick."
"Transitioning to the way things work in the ED took some time and practice, but Derrick constantly offered guidance and advice during the process-whether it be doing a focused assessment (history gathering, physical exam) to triage efficiently, taking every opportunity to engage in bedside teaching and helping me refine techniques such as suturing. His teaching for passion goes above and beyond and even though I only worked with him for a week, I learned a lot during the short time. I really hope there are more opportunities to work with him in the future!" (from a med student)
"Derrick was a fantastic mentor and teacher. He gave me plenty of autonomy in the PEDS ED, but also was an effective teacher and went over my presentations in detail. He always had a positive attitude, which is something I admire as a student." (from a med student)
"Derrick was a great resident and a great teacher! he is very knowledgeable and will make a great attending. He's also very funny and leads the team well. He creates a great environment for learning and I feel lucky to have had the chance to work with him." (from a med student)
"Derrick was a great senior resident to work with. He was the perfect combination of organized (such that I always knew he had reviewed my patients and could help me out if anything was wrong) and hands-off (allowing me the autonomy to take responsibility for my patients). I appreciated how he would ask me what I wanted to do about a problem before explaining his approach or other options. This forced me to think critically about management for all of my patients, and I learned a lot that way. Derrick did a good job of organizing the team and making sure rounds were efficient. he also helped foster a supportive and fun atmosphere on the team." (from a student)
"Derrick did a nice job of fostering independent though amongst the more junior team members." (from faculty)
Congratulations on your well-deserved award!
Stephen S 
Schultz, MD, HFM Residency Director, was featured in AAFP, American Academy of Family Physicians. An article titled:
"This is what I'm meant to do, working with residents and helping patients. Someone comes to me as a medical student, and three years later they're a board-certified family physician. There's a high level of satisfaction in that." (Dr. Schultz)
Natasha Vadera, MD, Class of 2020, received the STFM Resident Teaching Award, and the AFMRD Resident Award for Scholarship.
STFM Resident Teacher Award
The resident teaching award recognizes teaching contributions by residents. Each family medicine residency program can give this award annually to the resident who has best demonstrated interest in and commitment to family medicine education. Attributes of the award recipient include: demonstrated interest in teaching/precepting peers and medical students. Valued as a teacher by patients and peers. Has presented at regional or national family medicine meetings.
AFMRD Resident Award for Scholarship
The Resident Award for Scholarship allows family medicine residency directors to recognize a resident who has engaged in scholarly activity. Scholarly activity must be, in large measure, performed by the resident. This activity includes most, but not necessarily all, of the following: the inception of the idea, development of the project, gathering data, presenting the results, writing a report or publication. Dr. Vadera researched, presented at a conference and worked to implement spirometry testing at Highland Family Medicine.
Alissa Correll, MD, Class of 2020, received the Family Medicine Women's Health Care Award.
The Family Medicine faculty recognize a resident with outstanding accomplishments in Women's Health. Comments about Dr. Correll include: consistently sought out Women's Health related activities to participate in throughout her residency, including reaching out to regional and national mentors to address educational and patient care gaps in our training program. Sustained a consistent interest and commitment to reproductive health. Is dedicated to maternal child health. Provides supportive evidence based care. Respected and valued by people in all roles related to maternity care: nurses, fellow residents, and attending physicians.
Timothy Smilnak, MD, Chief Resident, Class of 2020, received the Jacob Holler, MD, Annual Resident Award.
This award was established by the Highland Hospital Board of Directors in 1983 and is presented annually to a Highland Hospital Resident from Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, or Med/Peds, selected by his/her peers, who best demonstrates the qualities of Dr. Holler. These qualities include deep and caring concern, kindness, integrity, understanding, good humor, and above all, inspired teaching and dedication to resident medical education. Dr. Holler faithfully served Highland in a variety of leadership positions from 1950 to 1982.
Alexis D
Davis, MD, Family Medicine Class of 2023, featured in an article in Forbes.
Reflecting on joining the front lines amid COVID-19.
Katie Harmer Named STFM Student Scholar.
University of
Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry fourth year student
Katie Harmer has been selected as Student Scholar for the 2020 STFM Medical Student Education conference. Harmer was nominated by
Dr. Elizabeth Brown and the UR Department of Family Medicine and was one of 20 students nationwide selected for this honor. She presented her poster entitled “Perspectives of Teenage Girls on Conversations with Primary Care Providers (PCPs) About Weight, Eating, and Exercise,” at the recent conference in Portland, Oregon. Her poster detailed research she had done while a medical student in a pediatric practice in Rochester. She found that teenage girls often had preconceptions about their bodies, their behaviors, and their readiness to change. Many felt uncomfortable during the conversations and valued specific recommendations. Harmer is hoping to continue this work in her family medicine residency. Her poster won one of 10 blue ribbons at the conference.
Celeste Song, MD, Associate Residency Program Director, former Faculty Development Fellow 2014 and Yuan Yao, MD, Class of 2019, present their work on Pediatric Development Screening at the STFM Conference on Practice and Quality Improvement, in Phoenix, AZ, in December 2019.
Dr. Sophina Calderon, featured in Smithsonian Magazine, in an article published by Jade Begay, titled: "How Navajo Physicians are Battling the COVID-19 Pandemic".
Sophina Calderon, MD, Class of 2014, completed her MD degree at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, and her Family Medicine residency at HH/URMC Family Medicine Residency Program.
After training, Dr. Calderon entered practice at the Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation, Tuba City, Arizona, in Navajo Nation, where she now serves as Deputy Chief of Staff.
The article features photos and interviews with Dr. Calderon and four of her Dine colleagues on Navajo Nation. Please view: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/healers-navajo-nation-pandemic-covid-19-180976994/
Choosing Wisely Guidelines
Read the article "Choosing Wisely Guidelines - Geriatrics and Aging" by Mary Bonnet, MD, PGY3, Jocelyn Young, DO, PGY3 and Colleen Fogarty, MD, MSc, Class of 1995 (in Family Doctor – A Journal of the New York State Academy of Family Physicians, vol 6, no 3,Winter, 2018)
Read the article "Choosing Wisely Guidelines – Ethics" by Sonya Narla, DO, PGY2, Lauren Nicholls, MD, PGY3 and Colleen Fogarty, MD, MSc, Class of 1995 (in Family Doctor – A Journal of the New York State Academy of Family Physicians, vol 6, no 2, Fall 2017)
Read the article "Choosing Wisely Guidelines - Controlled Medication" by Lauren Nicholls, MD, PGY3, Sonya Narla, DO, PGY2 and Colleen Fogarty, MD, MSc, Class of 1995 (in Family Doctor - A Journal of the New York State Academy of Family Physicians, vol 6, no 1, Summer 2017)
Resident and Faculty Publications
Alisa Liu, MD, PGY2 and Arthi Chawla, MD, for the publication "White Coat Hypertension, Diagnosis and Managment" in (Family Doctor-A journal of the New York State Academy of Family Physicians, vol 9, no 2, Fall 2020)
Liu-and-Chawla-White-Coat-Hypertension-Family-Doctor-Fall-2020
Sandy Wang, MD, PGY 2 and Sachiko Kaizuka, MD, for the publication "Addressing Hypertension through Integrative Medicine Approaches in the Clinical Setting" in (Family Doctor-A journal of the New York State Academy of Family Physicians, vol 9, no 2, Fall 2020)
Wang-and-Kaizuka-Hypertension-and-Integrative-Medicine-Family-Doctor-vol-9-no-2
Jasdeep Bajwa, MD, PGY2, Sandy Wang, MD, PGY2 and Arthi Chawla, MD, for the publication "Consideration of Comination Therapy for Treatment of Hypertension in the Clinical Setting" in (Family Doctor-A journal of the New York State Academy of Family Physicians, vol 9, no 2, Fall 2020)
Bajwa-Chawla-Wang-Consideration-of-Combination-Therapy-for-Hypertension-Family-Doctor-vol-9-no-2
Sandy Wang, MD, MPH; Sachiko Kaizuka, MD; Holly Russell, MD, MS and Michael Mendoza, MD, MPH, MS, FAAFP, for the publication "The Under Utilization of Sleep Medicine for the Treatment of Chronic Pain and Opioid Use" in (Family Doctor-A journal of the New York State Academy of Family Physicians, vol 8, no 3, Winter 2020)
www.nysafp.org/NYSAFP/media/PDFs/Family%20Doctor/69608-Family-Doctor-Winter20_WEB.pdf
Elizabeth Loomis, MD; Andrew Hayes and Holly Ann Russell, MD, MS, for the publication "Overcoming Barriers to Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder in Primary Care" in (Family Doctor-A journal of the New York State Academy of Family Physicians, vol 8, no 3, Winter 2020)
www.nysafp.org/NYSAFP/media/PDFs/Family%20Doctor/69608-Family-Doctor-Winter20_WEB.pdf
Scott Hartman, MD, FAAFP and Kristin E. Smith, DNP, FNP-C, AAHIVS, for the publication "HIV: What Family Medicine Clinicians Need to Know" in (Family Doctor-A journal of the New York State Academy of Family Physicians, vol 8, no 3, Winter 2020)
www.nysafp.org/NYSAFP/media/PDFs/Family%20Doctor/69608-Family-Doctor-Winter20_WEB.pdf
Sachiko Kaizuka, MD; Gale Johnsen, MSN, PhD, FNP-C; Yoshiko Tamura, MD; Traci Salter, RN-BC, MS, FNP-BC; Wade Turnipseed, MS, LMFT and Arthi Chawla, MD, for the publication "Lessons Learned from Taking Over Chronic Pain Management with Opioids from Other Clinicians" in (Family Doctor-A journal of the New York State Academy of Family Physicians, vol 8, no 3, Winter 2020)
www.nysafp.org/NYSAFP/media/PDFs/Family%20Doctor/69608-Family-Doctor-Winter20_WEB.pdf
Sarah Hudson, MD and Caroline Donohue, MD, for the publication "Cervical and Anal Cancer Prevention for the LGBTQ Population" in (Family Doctor-A journal of the New York State Academy of Family Physicians, vol 7, no 3, Winter 2019) www.nysafp.org/NYSAFP/media/PDFs/Family%20Doctor/Family-Doctor-Winter2019-WEB.pdf
Mike Hudson, MD and Caroline Donohue, MD, for the publication "Good Family Medicine is Good LGBTQ Care" in (Family Doctor-A journal of the New York State Academy of Family Physicians, vol 7, no 3, Winter 2019) www.nysafp.org/NYSAFP/media/PDFs/Family%20Doctor/Family-Doctor-Winter2019-WEB.pdf
Resident Advice to the Community
Dominick DeFelice, MD, discussed how to keep pounds off during the holidays. Click on the text to view his video: Healthy Holiday Eating.
Hannah Root, MD, explains what parents need to know about RSV: RSV Cases in the Community.