In the News
Cross-Division Expertise on Display at SGIM Meeting
Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Faculty and trainees from five DOM Divisions and both residency programs were among several thousand healthcare professionals, researchers who attended the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) annual meeting. The meeting highlighted the importance of General Internal Medicine practitioners’ using their individual voices to advocate for excellence in academic medicine.
Our faculty and trainees presented work on a wide range of topics:
Charlotte Blumrosen, MD, and Robert Fortuna, MD,
with their poster.
Charlotte Blumrosen, MD, Medicine/Pediatrics resident, presented the poster "The Impact of Social Vulnerability and Race on Colorectal Cancer Screening," which she also recently published in Population Health Management. Robert Fortuna, MD, MPH, of Primary Care, is a coauthor.
Robert Fortuna, MD, MPH, of Primary Care, presented “Artificial Intelligence, Faculty Structure and Clinical Operations in Residency Practices: Insights from the 2026 Medical Directors Survey.”
Catherine Glatz, MD, of Hospital Medicine, organized and participated in a workshop called, "From Article to Advocacy: Harnessing Digital Media to Amplify Academic Voices."
Sara Gianfagna, DO, with her poster.
Sara Gianfagna, DO, of General Medicine, presented the poster “Behind the Screens: Ten-minute teaching session for electronic medical record optimization, enhancing efficiency and decreasing stress in ambulatory medicine,” detailing implementation of her “Epic Tip of the Week” curriculum for residents.
Greg Russo, MD, Internal Medicine resident, presented the poster "Pulmonary Embolism Discharge Order Set Implementation to Improve Anticoagulation Adherence and Follow Up." DOM coauthors include Internal Medicine residents Genevieve Medina, MD, and Bisher Sultan, DO, as well as Dominick Roto, DO, of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, and Sarah Rusnak, MD, of Hospital Medicine.
Elizabeth Pope-Collins, MD, of Hospital Medicine, organized and participated in a workshop called, "Bridging the Gap: Medicine Consultation Care of Psychiatrically Ill Patients"
Mahala Schlagman, MD, and Elizabeth Pope-Collins,
MD, on Capitol Hill.
Mahala Schlagman, MD, of General Medicine, took advantage of the meeting’s location near Washington, D.C., to meet with Rep. Joseph Morelle’s office on Capitol Hill to advocate for support for primary care in an upcoming physician payment reform package.
Jared Walsh, MD, our new chief of General Medicine, participated in a workshop called, "Taking the Pain Out of Chronic Opioid Prescribing: Coaching Residents in the Complexities of Long-Term Opioid Therapy" and presented the poster, "Scholarship Without Burnout: A Win-Win QI Model for Residents and Faculty."
Ava Wexler, MD, posing at one of her posters.
Ava Wexler, MD, Internal Medicine resident, presented two posters: "When STEMI is Not Atherosclerotic: A Case of catastrophic Antiphospholipid Syndrome" and "The Peritoneal Carcinomatosis Mimic: Peritoneal Lymphomatosis Complicated by Spontaneous Tumor Lysis Syndrome." DOM coauthors includeKevin McGrody, MD, of Cardiology, Jainulabdeen Ifthikharuddin, MD, of Hematology & Oncology, Internal Medicine residents Sarah Choudhury, MD, Ashleigh Manktelow, MD, Manali Shah, DO, and Cardiovascular Disease Fellow Shamroz Farooq, MD.
Yousaf Ali, MD, of Hospital Medicine, Robert Fortuna, MD, MPH, of Primary Care, Rashmi Jasrasaria, MD, of General Medicine, and Kim Parkhurst, PhD, of Highland Hospital, also attended the meeting to learn from and support their peers and colleagues.
Jared Walsh Appointed Chief of General Medicine
Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Jared P. Walsh, MD, a former Department of Medicine faculty member, will return to the Medicine Center as the next chief of General Medicine, starting May 18. As chief, Walsh will focus on faculty development and wellness, fostering resident training, retaining graduates, and supporting a culture of equity.
Walsh’s appointment comes after a national search, during which time Catherine Gracey, MD, deftly steered the division.
“I’m delighted to welcome Dr. Walsh back to the Medical Center,” said Department of Medicine Chair Ruth O’Regan. “His previous experience in educational scholarship and quality improvement here and at Rutgers make him a great fit for chief of our General Medicine Division and I’m excited to see him take on this leadership role.”
Walsh completed his internal medicine residency here in 2017, was chief resident the following year, and served as faculty in our Division of General Medicine from 2018 to 2022. During that time, he chaired the Treatment Subcommittee of the Opioid Task Force, developed a primary care addiction medicine program, helped develop the Internal Medicine Residency Program’s ambulatory curriculum, and received the Marshall Litchman Dean’s Teaching Fellowship.
“It's incredibly meaningful coming back to the place that made me the physician I am,” said Walsh. “I have so much respect for the division and everything it's accomplished in its educational mission, clinical mission and academic mission, to be able to be a part of taking that to the next step is really very exciting.”
Walsh is an assistant professor of Medicine and associate program director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. As program director, he has redesigned the residency program to foster individualized learning and mentorship training, and to reduce the burden on faculty mentors. He has also directed quality improvement, research curriculum redevelopment, and integrated behavioral health and addiction medicine in primary care.
Walsh cares deeply about the community and has a long history of service. At Rutgers, Walsh established several community partnerships, including one between primary care and community organizations that provide food assistance that helped reduce community members’ cardiovascular risk.
When he rejoins the faculty as chief of General Medicine, he plans to repeat that trend by expanding existing community partnerships and having a greater presence in the community. He envisions developing partnerships that allow care to be delivered in the community while also partnering with community groups to address social determinants of health in our patients.
He is also dedicated to supporting faculty development and wellness. He hopes to foster collaboration across divisions, enhance development opportunities like those offered by the Harvard Macy Institute, and streamline opportunities for quality improvement and medical education scholarship.
“Rochester is a very unique place in its culture and its values,” said Walsh. “The culture really supports the idea that whatever we do, the patient's best interest must come first. That's the kind of culture and mission I want to support, because it leads to amazing care for patients, educational experiences for trainees, and faculty success.”