Reporting Out - Northwell Health

WINTER 2015
Reporting Out
DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE / MEDICINE.NORTHSHORELIJ.COM
Division of Rheumatology
Growth, Diversification and Innovation
The North Shore-LIJ Division of
Rheumatology is making significant
advances in all three aspects of the
Department of Medicine’s tripartite
mission: clinical care, research, and
education. Its breadth and depth are
striking: innovative treatment for
common disorders and unusual cases;
a continuously groundbreaking research
enterprise; and expanding educational
offerings on all levels of physician training
and development. The Division’s unique
corps of the field’s pioneers, thought
leaders and rising stars attracts one
of the nation’s most diverse patient
populations, providing unparalleled
opportunities for research and training.
Headed by Chief Richard Furie, MD, an
internationally respected expert in lupus
and anti-rheumatic drug development,
the Division boasts sub-specialty centers
of care for the full range of rheumatic and
immunological disorders.
The Division’s research enterprise runs
the gamut of contemporary biomedical
studies, with today’s thought leaders
mentoring and collaborating with
tomorrow’s innovators. Trained as a
rheumatologist, Peter K. Gregersen, MD,
has devoted more than three decades to
understanding the molecular genetics of
Inside:
2 Message From the Chair
4 Geriatrics, Palliative Medicine, and
Advanced Illness Management
5 Conversation around Transition:
Pulmonary, Critical Care, and
Sleep Medicine
6 News and Notes
rheumatoid arthritis. Director of North
Shore-LIJ’s Robert S. Boas Center for
Genomics and Human Genetics within
the Feinstein Institute for Medical
Research, to date Dr. Gregersen has
identified more than 50 genes associated
with risk for autoimmune disorders.
Last year he shared the prestigious
Crafoord Prize in polyarthritis with two
colleagues from Columbia University and
Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute. This
prestigious award is considered the global
equivalent of the Nobel Prize and brings
significant support for future research.
A frequent collaborator with Dr.
Gregersen, Betty Diamond, MD, has
shattered paradigms and transformed
lives with her work on autoimmune and
musculoskeletal disorders, especially
systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
She played a leading role in identifying
the genetic basis for antibody production
photo by Lee Weissman, North Shore – LIJ Studio
World-class research
Richard Furie, MD
and showed that anti-DNA antibodies
can arise by somatic mutation during
the course of an immune response. Dr.
Diamond discovered that certain autoantibodies, which trigger the kidney and
related physical complications of lupus,
are likely also responsible for lupus
patients’ neurological changes, including
headaches, memory problems, and stroke.
She received the Evelyn V. Hess Research
Award from the Lupus Foundation of
America in recognition for a lifetime of
achievement in lupus research.
The Division’s strong traditions of
research and mentoring that make a
difference to people today are reflected
by the fact that rheumatologist Meggan
Mackay, MD, serves as the Department of
Medicine’s Associate Chair for Research
and co-directs, with Cynthia Aranow,
MD, the Clinical Research Unit in the
Center for Autoimmune Disease of the
(continued on page 3)
8 Department of Medicine Divisions
REPORTING OUT WINTER 2015
1
Thomas McGinn
The complex patient, up close and personal
Department of Medicine Key Contacts
Thomas McGinn, MD, MPH, Chair
(516) 562-4310
[email protected]
Lisa Alvarenga, Vice President
(516) 562-4310
[email protected]
Jonathan Meyer,
Director, Program Operations
(718) 470-7270
[email protected]
Lauren McCullagh,
Administrative Director, Clinical Research
(516) 562-2941
[email protected]
My mother recently
celebrated her 90th
birthday, with the help of
200 family members and
friends. The festivities
ran from early afternoon
to late night, moving
from church to home and
ending with an extended
sing-along by moonlight
and series of group photos that included family
members of all ages –
including her two sistersin-law, ages 85 and 90.
Through it all, I marveled at their stamina,
energy, and relatively good health.
They make it look easy, but my extended
encounter with our field’s prototypical “complex older patient” has given me a personal
perspective on the immense resources
required even for healthy individuals with
strong support networks. Something as
simple as managing mild hypertension entails sophisticated logistics to schedule office
visits, arrange transportation, fill prescriptions, educate patient and family, monitor
compliance, refill prescriptions, and repeat.
A mild hearing loss complicates every step of
the process and requires its own costly interventions. My family and I are deeply grateful
to have found an internist who’s a perfect fit
for Mom, willing to juggle all this and make
it look easy.
The broad range of issues and topics covered in this issue of Reporting Out reflect
the array of challenges and strengths that we
increasingly encounter as our average patient
ages. There was a time when we could look
2
NORTH SHORE-LIJ DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE / MEDICINE.NORTHSHORELIJ.COM
to “master clinicians” – wise, experienced
veterans of medicine – to provide overarching training and insight, helping us develop
and sharpen instinct and skill. Indeed, my
late father, an internist, was one of these
treasures: a brilliant intellect, natural teacher,
and uncannily accurate diagnostician who
loved everything about his work. Sadly, as I
discussed with the incoming and outgoing
chiefs of pulmonary, critical care, and sleep
medicine (see article), the “master clinician”
is going through a fundamental change. It’s
literally become impossible to keep up with
the depth and breadth of information, insight, and analysis that constantly cascades
around us.
The timing presents a unique opportunity: as
our healthcare system continues its unprecedented transformation, and complex older
patients abound, we need the intellectual
and interpersonal skills of the master clinician more than ever. So what will replace that
model? We’re still working out the answer to
that question, but you can be sure it will still
feature an updated form of the master clinician. I’m proud that here at North Shore-LIJ,
especially in the Department of Medicine,
we’re shaping the conversation on a daily
basis. As for the specifics, stay tuned.
Thomas McGinn, MD, MPH
David J. Greene Professor of Medicine and
Chair of Medicine,
North Shore-LIJ Department of Medicine
Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine
Senior Vice President and Executive Director,
Medicine Service Line
photo by Adam Cooper, North Shore – LIJ Studio
From the
Chair
Division of Rheumatology
(continued from page 1)
Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. This Center brings together investigators across
the traditional research continuum, supporting innovative new approaches to the study of
autoimmune disease from bench to bedside and beyond.
A System-wide infusion center
A clinical cornerstone of the Division is The Center for Infusional Therapy, which takes
advantage of the Division’s unique synergy among its clinical care, research, and training
missions. The Center was launched with just two beds when the Division’s research
program started in 1995. The timing was fortuitous: a new age in anti-rheumatic drug
development was dawning, and North Shore-LIJ was at the forefront as biologics came
onto the scene. One of the first drugs to be approved was Remicade (infliximab), a
monoclonal therapeutic antibody that was extremely successful. The Center soon
expanded from clinical research on Remicade to administering it to patients more broadly.
As other biologics were approved, the two-bed unit, designed solely for clinical research,
was shared between clinical-research infusion for studies and administration of the new
biologics as they were approved, with two beds, three nurses, and a research coordinator
packed into approximately 100 square feet. In 2012, a move to a new site at 2800 Marcus
Avenue with about 10,000 square feet of clinical space allowed construction of an eightbed unit for both research and commercial infusions.
Today, the program has transitioned into the non-oncology biologic infusion center for the
North Shore-LIJ Health System. Under the leadership of Coordinator Ann McCally, RN, a
team of four nurses and seven research coordinators has amassed an unequalled range
of experience and expertise in infusing patients with disorders beyond rheumatic, such as
inflammatory bowel disease and ulcerative colitis, and infusing immunodeficiency patients
with intravenous gamma globulin for allergists.
The Center is a critical component of the Division’s wide-ranging clinical research
program, the Program in Novel Therapeutics. In one outstanding example, the team
played a pivotal role in developing Benlysta (belimumab), a monoclonal antibody that
lowers levels of a growth factor essential to the growth of B cells, which play a pivotal
role in lupus. Division team members conducted a phase 1 study in 2000, with Dr.
Furie as lead author in the groundbreaking paper reporting the results. Phase 2 and 3
trials followed, with FDA approving the drug in 2011, the first time a drug for lupus was
approved through the traditional route of randomized controlled trials.
Looking ahead, Dr. Furie sees the landscape continuing to shift. “Biologics are changing
the field,” he says. “This immunology revolution, the transition from lab to bedside, has
sparked a lot of interest among trainees. Twenty to twenty-five years ago, if you went to a
rheumatology meeting, the exhibit halls were dead. Now,” he continues, “there’s so much
drug development it’s really exciting: not just for rheumatoid arthritis but lupus and all the
other inflammatory diseases.”
As a result, the Division’s fellowship program has grown, from a single fellow each year
to two, and is now directed by Anne Davidson, MBBS. Adds Dr. Furie, “in a sign of the
times, they’re focused on research careers in clinical medicine, not just laboratory-based
work, largely because of the remarkable clinical exposure here at North Shore-LIJ. They see
interesting case after interesting case.”
Dr. Furie adds that his strategy for this encouragement includes providing each physician
with a niche to develop, in the form of a center. [See sidebar.] “Not that they see those
patients exclusively,” he explains. “For example, my focus is on lupus and antiphospholipid
syndrome. I do see other patients, but I do research in lupus and I follow the literature in
lupus. That’s important to the division because we’ve gotten so specialized.” He notes
that this broad-based sub-specialization is no doubt responsible for North Shore-LIJ’s
appeal to doctors and even more so to patients. “Here they can come and see someone
with very specific expertise rather than just a general rheumatologist.”
Division of Rheumatology
Richard Furie, MD, Chief,
Jacqueline Mazzeo, MBA, Administrative Director
Program in Novel Therapeutics
Director, Richard Furie, MD
The SLE Treatment Center
Director, Richard Furie, MD
Clinical Research Unit, The Center for
Autoimmune Disease
Co-Directors, Cynthia Aranow, MD and
Meggan Mackay, MD, MS
Center for Autoimmune and Musculoskeletal
Disorders, The Feinstein Institute for
Medical Research
Director, Betty Diamond, MD
Center for Performing Arts Medicine
Director, Maria-Louise Barilla-LaBarca, MD
Gout and Crystalline Arthritis Center
Director, Maria-Louise Barilla-LaBarca, MD
Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Program
Director, Maria-Louise Barilla-LaBarca, MD
Clinical Skills Center for Hofstra North Shore –
LIJ School of Medicine
Medical Director,
Maria-Louise Barilla-LaBarca, MD
Fellowship Program Director
Anne Davidson, MBBS
The Arthritis Center
Director, Diane Horowitz, MD
Rheumatology Continuing Medical Education
Director, Diane Horowitz, MD
The Center for Vasculitis and Inflammatory
Muscle Disease
Director, Galina Marder, MD
Psoriatic Arthritis and
Spondyloarthropathy Program
Director, Julie Schwartzman-Morris, MD
Housestaff and Medical Student
Education Program
Director, Julie Schwartzman-Morris, MD
The Center for Infusional Therapy
Ann McCally, RN, Coordinator
Lupus Center of Excellence at Lenox Hill Hospital
Co-Directors, Cynthia Aranow, MD and Meggan
Mackay, MD, MS
Fibromyalgia Wellness Program
Director, Christine Stamatos, NP
Would you like to write for
Reporting Out?
Contact Jonathan Meyer at
[email protected]
REPORTING OUT WINTER 2015
3
Geriatrics, Palliative Medicine and
Advanced Illness Management
In a world of complex patients
with multiple chronic illnesses, and
increasingly fragmented medical care
incorporating sophisticated technology
and hyper-specialization, coordination
of care is essential. We do that through
our Division of Geriatric & Palliative
Medicine [GPM] and our Advanced
Illness Management [AIM] Programs.
They have become indispensable to
help patients, families, physicians,
nurses, and payers connect the dots.
Our Advanced Illness Management Program works closely with the
Division of Geriatric & Palliative Medicine in serving their similar,
but distinct populations. AIM is designed to serve home-bound
individuals, mostly seniors whose multiple illnesses leave them
with functional impairments making access to care difficult. As a
result, care is provided to them by our House Calls Program, where
doctors, nurse practitioners, social workers and pharmacists visit
the patients at home. GPM provides outpatient primary care office
visits, collaborative inpatient services (e.g., Geriatric Hospitalist program) and a Geriatric and Palliative Consult service. The
two services work together, and the care follows the patient. With
teams of providers in multiple settings, caring for the most frail
and complex patient, we strive to achieve compassionate, smooth
and seamless transitions.
The range of services and resources available include the outpatient Geriatric Medical Group, for an older adult population
often needing a comprehensive assessment and multidisciplinary
primary care, and teams of physicians at the Stern Family Center
for Rehabilitation and the Orzac Center for Rehabilitation, for those
with a goal of getting home but unable to be cared for there, right
after a hospitalization.
For those able to remain at home, we provide care through AIM’s
House Calls Program. With more than 1,000 patients and a lengthy
waiting list, this innovative program makes an interdisciplinary,
specially trained team available around the clock to homebound
patients. Team members focus on rapid response to patient and
family concerns, and when higher levels of care are necessary,
they ensure optimal transitions, smoothing challenging transfers
among providers. The team focuses on identifying high-risk patients before their discharge from the hospital.
With North Shore-LIJ’s extensive resources, patients have ready
access to the broadest range of sub-specialists. And by partnering with the Division of Geriatric & Palliative Medicine fellows, as
4
well as medical student on rotations, the House Calls Program is
expanding and strengthening critical partnerships while attracting and preparing tomorrow’s leaders and experts in dealing with
this growing population. The result is improved quality of care,
increased patient satisfaction, and reduced utilization of scarce
resources.
House Calls is helping to pioneer this service delivery model using
home-based primary care teams that meet stringent quality standards. It was one of 18 individual practices and consortia selected
in 2012 to participate in the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation’s demonstration project, Independence at Home. House
Calls was the first in the nation to offer paramedic home visits.
Since AIM patients are often in the last several years of life, AIM
physicians focus on understanding patient and family preferences,
managing symptoms, and helping patients remain in the home.
But House Calls is very different from hospice care, according to
Director Kristofer L. Smith, MD, MPA: “We provide primary medical care, not just palliative or end-of-life care.”
The Chief of the Division of Geriatric & Palliative Medicine, Dr. Maria Torroella Carney, agrees. “Our two programs work very closely
together, serving some of the most frail and complex patients in
the community. Together, we try our hardest to provide the best
care so that our patients can live with independence and dignity in
their remaining years.”
A key element of the North Shore-LIJ
effort to integrate care for complex,
older adults across the system is a
needs assessment recently conducted
in collaboration with the New York
Academy of Medicine, the North ShoreLIJ Foundation, the Advanced Illness
Management Program, and the Department
of Medicine’s Division of Geriatric and
Palliative Medicine, The Aging of Eastern
Queens and Nassau County. To read
the report, go to the North Shore-LIJ
Publications page:
https://www.northshorelij.com/about/news/
aging-eastern-queens-and-nassau-county
NORTH SHORE-LIJ DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE / MEDICINE.NORTHSHORELIJ.COM
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine
Conversation Around Transition
Dr. Steinberg: When I started I was the
sole pulmonologist at LIJ. Today we have
35 faculty. We’re as big as some departments of medicine in small hospitals.
Dr. Greenberg: I remember a story you
told me: the chair of Medicine came to
you and said, “you’re pulmonary – what
are you going to do?”
Dr. McGinn: He’s found plenty to do.
Dr. Steinberg: Harly did his residency at
North Shore in Internal Medicine and
went back to NYU for pulmonary fellowship training.
Dr. Greenberg: Then I was hired as fulltime faculty at North Shore by the first
pulmonology division chief there, the late
Mark Schiff, whom we still honor every
year at our grand rounds. But I always
wanted to develop a sleep medicine
program, and I knew that Harry had an
interest in that and would be an excellent
mentor to me. He turned out to be better than I could have imagined.
Thomas McGinn, MD, MPH, Harry Steinberg, MD, Harly Greenberg, MD
Dr. Steinberg: We knew that he was at
North Shore, so we wrote an advertisement to entice him. And who answered
it? His wife, also a pulmonologist: Dr.
Greenberg at LIJ and his wife at our then
affiliate Queens Hospital Center. We
hired them both. We worked together to
grow the program in sleep medicine. We
provided clinical care, and we had a very
active research program in pulmonary
physiology as it related to disorders of
breathing during sleep. That was our
start.
Our first sleep lab was a bronchoscopy
suite during the day. When the day
ended, we opened a futon and put out a
little night table and lamp, and it became
a sleep lab.
Dr. Greenberg: Harry has been my mentor now for 24 years. I’m very happy
that he’ll still be here to guide me with
decisions and different processes along
the way.
Q: So you’re going to continue on
faculty?
photo by Adam Cooper, North Shore – LIJ Studio
Early November saw a change in the
leadership of North Shore-LIJ’s Division
of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep
Medicine. The outgoing and incoming
chiefs have been colleagues for almost
25 years, most of that at North ShoreLIJ (or a pre-merger precursor). Trained
as a pulmonologist, Harry Steinberg,
MD, was the division’s first chief and
served as acting chair of the Department
of Medicine for a year. He mentored
incoming chief Harly Greenberg, MD, as
the two built North Shore-LIJ’s pioneering program in sleep medicine from the
ground up. Dr. Greenberg was selected
as division chief after an intensive
search. To mark the transition, the two
sat down with Department of Medicine
Chair Tom McGinn to talk about their
shared history, the field, and their shared
history and the field of pulmonary, critical
care and sleep medicine.
Dr. Steinberg: Yes.
Q: What’s the best thing about being
able to hand off your work product to a
mentee?
Dr. Steinberg: Saturdays and Sundays.
[laughs] Having had a hand in developing this, it’s very important to me to
hand it off to someone who will grow it
even more, and I feel very confident that
Harly can take on everything that we’re
doing and make it even better. I actually
want to hang out and see how it turns
out.
Q: Dr. Greenberg has focused on sleep
medicine. Dr. Steinberg, what would you
say has been your area of interest?
Dr. Steinberg: That’s kind of hard to
answer because in the beginning I had to
do pretty much everything. Much of what
(continued on page 7)
REPORTING OUT WINTER 2015
5
Highlights, News, and Notes from the Department of Medicine
Send your news and notes for this section to Jonathan Meyer at [email protected]
Publications
Kanti R. Rai, MD, and Jacqueline C.
Barrientos, MD, made news with a recent
editorial comment in New England Journal of
Medicine on a German study of a new drug
therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia
(CLL), one of the most common forms of
blood cancers.
Also in New England Journal of Medicine,
Dr. Barrientos published on the resistance
mechanisms for the Bruton’s tyrosine kinase
(BTK) inhibitor ibrutinib and on RESONATE,
a multicenter, international, phase 3 study of
daily ibrutinib monotherapy versus the antiCD20 antibody ofatumumab in previously
treated CLL.
Keith Sultan, MD, Daniel R. Budman, MD,
and Peter K. Gregersen, MD, collaborated
with colleagues to publish in the British
Journal of Cancer on circulating biomarkers
for detection of ovarian cancer and
predicting cancer outcomes.
Maria T. Carney, MD, and colleagues
published “A Community Partnership to
Respond to an Outbreak: A Model that Can
Be Replicated for Future Events,” in Progress
in Community Health Partnerships: Research,
Education, and Action.
Sherry Farzan, MD, Assistant Professor
of Medicine and Attending Physician in
the Division of Allergy and Immunology,
was awarded the ACAAI Young Faculty
Support Award for her study, “The role
of glucocorticoid receptor beta in steroid
insensitivity among obese atopic asthmatics”
by the American College of Asthma, Allergy
and Immunology at their most recent
meeting in November.
Maria Torroella Carney, MD, Chief of the
Division of Geriatric and Palliative Medicine,
was appointed to the New York State Health
Research Science Board. The board advises
the Governor on matters of breast cancer
research and environmental health.
Michael Diefenbach, PhD, joined the
Department of Medicine in November.
Dr. Diefenbach is a social/health research
psychologist who holds a joint appointment
in Medicine and Urology. His research
interests focus on improving health behavior
among patients with serious illnesses, such
as cancer. His newest project, to be funded
by the National Cancer Institute, investigates
the usefulness of a decision aid that explains
the risks and benefits of undergoing
chemotherapy before having radical bladder
surgery among patients with metastatic
bladder cancer.
David E. Bernstein, MD, collaborated on
two recent papers published in New England
Journal of Medicine: one on ABT-450/r-
6
ombitasvir and dasabuvir with or without
ribavirin for HCV and the other on ledipasvir
and sofosbuvir for 8 or 12 weeks for chronic
HCV without cirrhosis.
Though officially retired, Donald Margouleff,
MD, continues to be very active, including
a recent review paper in Clinical Nuclear
Medicine: “Blood Volume Determination, A
Nuclear Medicine Test in Evolution”.
A paper by Jonathan Kolitz, MD, was featured
on the cover of a recent issue of Cancer, a
journal of the American Cancer Society that
reaches over 20 million people worldwide.
The title: “Recombinant Interleukin-2 in
Patients Under 60 Years with Acute Myeloid
Leukemia in First Complete Remission:
Results from CALGB 19808”.
Larry S. Miller, MD, recently collaborated
with Anil K. Vegesna, MD, on two articles in
Neurogastroenterology & Motility, “Nicotinic
Receptor Subtypes Mediating Relaxation
of the Normal Human Clasp and Sling
Fibers of the Upper Gastric Sphincter” and
“Enhanced Nicotinic Receptor-Mediated
Relaxations in Gastroesophageal Muscle
Fibers from Barrett’s Esophagus Patients”
and a third, “Defective Mucosal Movement
at the Gastroesophageal Junction in Patients
with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease,” in
Digestive Diseases and Science.
“Outcomes of Temporary Interruption of
Rivaroxaban Compared with Warfarin in
Patients with Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation”
was published in Circulation by Alex
Spyropoulos, MD, and colleagues on behalf
of the ROCKET AF investigators.
David J. Rosenberg, MD, and colleagues
published “The Hospitalist Perspective on
Treatment of Community-Acquired Bacterial
Pneumonia” in Postgraduate Medicine.
Cynthia Lien, MD, John Raimo, MD, Jessica
Abramowitz, MD, Sameer Khanijo, MD,
Christopher Mason, MD, Charles Jarmon,
MD, Ira Nash, MD, and Maria Carney, MD,
collaborated on an article for the Journal of
Community Health describing experience
and lessons learned from North Shore-LIJ’s
mobile health unit after “Superstorm” Sandy.
Honors and
Appointments
Congratulations to Nicholas Fitterman, MD,
on being named Chair of the American Board
of Internal Medicine’s Internal Medicine
Board Exam Committee for a two-year term
beginning July 1, 2014. The appointment
occurs during a historic transition in
governance structure for ABIM.
NORTH SHORE-LIJ DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE / MEDICINE.NORTHSHORELIJ.COM
Alex C. Spyropoulos, MD, Director of the
System-wide Anticoagulation and Clinical
Thrombosis Service, is co-chair of the
Executive Committee of the MARINER
study, including a site at Lenox Hill Hospital
(Bradley Flansbaum, MD, site director)
and North Shore University Hospital
(David Rosenberg, MD, site director). The
international phase 3 study is designed to
evaluate the efficacy and safety of a new
drug, rivaroxaban, in reducing risk of deep
vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolisms
in hospitalized patients. The study includes
approximately 8,000 patients in 26 countries
and over 750 medical centers.
Two DoM physicians have been named to
National Quality Forum (NQF) steering
committees: rheumatologist Mark Jarrett,
MD, senior vice president and chief
quality officer of the health system, to
the musculoskeletal and surgery steering
committees; and Jacqueline Moline, MD,
chair of the Department of Population
Health, to the health and well-being steering
committee. The NQF Forum, based in
Washington DC, is a non-profit group
partially funded by Congress that reviews and
works on the standardization of healthcare
performance measures.
Endocrinology fellow Rodolfo Galindo, MD,
received a FLARE travel/mentorship award
from The Endocrine Society to attend its
FLARE Workshop in February, 2014, in New
Orleans.
For the fourth consecutive year, the
Nephrology Fellowship Program had 2
winning papers in the 2014 North Shore-LIJ
Annual Academic Competition. Chinmay
Patel, MD, a fellow, and Hitesh H. Shah, MD,
Director of the Fellowship Program, took
first prize in the case report category for their
paper “Response to Oral Corticosteroids
in Relapsing Membranous Nephropathy
with Acute Kidney Injury following Influenza
Vaccination”.
Aditya Kadiyala, MD, a fellow, Kenar D.
Jhaveri, MD, and Dr. Hitesh Shah took
second prize in the educational outcomes
research category for “Nephrology Elective
Experience during Medical Residency: A US
Nephrology Fellowship Training Program
Directors’ Survey”. Both papers were also
presented at: ASN Kidney Week in Atlanta in
November 2013. The division had a total of
12 (fellow) submissions for the competition
this year, of which 5 were chosen as finalists.
Congratulations to Deyun Yang, MD,
recipient of the 2014 Candee Award
for Excellence in Education, Jacqueline
Barrientos, MD and Anna Mathew, MD,
MPH, recipients of the 2014 Spielman Award
for Excellence in Research.
Conversation Around Transition
Congratulations, Dr. Rai
(continued from page 5)
Congratulations to Kanti R.
Rai, MD, who will receive
the highest honor of the
American Society of Hematology (ASH), the 2014
Wallace H. Coulter Award
for Lifetime Achievement in
Hematology, celebrating his
50-year career combining
landmark clinical leukemia
research, steadfast commitment to education and
mentoring, and exceptional
patient care.
I do now wasn’t there when I started. The whole of medicine,
the whole model – everything has changed dramatically during my generation. My teachers were all TB docs. And as the
field has evolved, I’ve tried to stay interested in everything
along the way.
Dr. McGinn: We’d call it “the master clinician/leader” – taking
on the complex patient and putting it all together.
Q: What’s the future of the master clinician?
Dr. McGinn: We have this conversation all the time. You lose
it and you regret it. On the other hand, these narrow, focused
models can really be great but also extremely detrimental if
people aren’t able to see the big picture.
Dr. McGinn: Harly and I have a foot in both histories: I
remember some great master clinicians, but on the other
hand, I don’t want to role model it, because as you just said,
Harry, it’s impossible. What we want to role model is how you
get the information so you can figure out how to fix it, rather
than know it all. Because that’s gone. You can’t know it all.
It’s impossible. People who try to keep it in the old model are
destined for failure.
Dr. Steinberg: I think the goal is to teach inquisitiveness if you
can. Curiosity is going to lead people to answer the questions,
hopefully.
Dr. McGinn: Yes, we need to be spreading curiosity
Dr. Greenberg: Harry has grown the division in so many areas,
and established an academic-based, quality division that’s
excelled, akin to the major university pulmonary divisions
around the country. That’s a model that’s wonderful to build
on. I don’t need to make any drastic changes.
Dr. Steinberg: It’s like watching my grandchildren grow and
see how it turns out. I enjoy taking on challenges, as Harly
will. Fortunately, we have a phenomenal group of colleagues.
We can reach in to that group and say, “you’re going to be
responsible for this.” That is extraordinarily valuable – to be
around younger colleagues who excel in what they do, and
watch them develop. I enjoy coming to work, to be around all
of them.
Dr. Rai is an international leader in the clinical evaluation
and management of patients with chronic lymphocytic
leukemia (CLL), and has been involved in diagnosing
and treating CLL for almost 40 years. His research pioneered contemporary approaches to the disease, and his
publication of the Rai prognostic categorization of CLL
in Blood in 1975 was a seminal paper incorporating basic
clinical findings into a powerful prognostic schema that
is still widely used by physicians and clinical investigators. Through a longtime collaboration with Nicholas
Chiorazzi, MD, and other Department of Medicine
researchers, CLL scientists at the Feinstein Institute, Dr.
Rai and colleagues helped to establish the importance of
fludarabine, now a standard-of-care treatment for CLL.
Dr. Rai is Professor of Medicine at Hofstra North ShoreLIJ School of Medicine, where he also holds the title of
Professor of Molecular Medicine. He is Chief of the CLL
Research and Treatment Program at North Shore-LIJ
Cancer Institute, an investigator at the Peter Karches
Center for CLL of The Feinstein Institute for Medical
Research and Joel Finkelstein Cancer Foundation.
In Memoriam
With sorrow we note the passing of Dr. Milton Levine,
one of the first gastroenterologists to practice on Long
Island. Dr. Levine trained at Harvard Medical School,
practiced on Long Island, and led the Division of
Gastroenterology at Franklin Hospital for a number of
years. He was a leader in the treatment of achalasia and
developed the Levine Achalasia Balloon Dilator, long used
in treating achalasia. He was an active member of this
Department of Medicine for many years and his death
represents a significant loss to the medical profession
and those whom we serve.
REPORTING OUT WINTER 2015
7
Thomas McGinn, MD, MPH
Chair, Department of Medicine
North Shore-LIJ Health System
300 Community Drive
Manhasset, NY 11030
northshorelij.com
Department of Medicine Divisions
Allergy & Immunology
Chief: Vincent Bonagura, MD
[email protected]
Hematology / Medical Oncology
Chief: Daniel Budman, MD
[email protected]
Nephrology
Chief: Steven Fishbane, MD
[email protected]
Endocrinology
Interim Chief: Yael Harris, MD, PhD
[email protected]
Hepatology
Chief: David Bernstein, MD
[email protected]
Pulmonary, Critical Care, & Sleep Medicine
Chief: Harly Greenberg, MD
[email protected]
Gastroenterology
Chief: Larry Miller, MD
[email protected]
Hospital Medicine
Chief: David Rosenberg, MD
[email protected]
Rheumatology
Chief: Richard Furie, MD
[email protected]
General Internal Medicine
Chief: Joseph Conigliaro, MD, MPH
[email protected]
Infectious Disease
Chief: Bruce Farber, MD
[email protected]
Geriatric & Palliative Medicine
Chief: Maria Carney, MD
[email protected]
Medical Ethics
Chief: Samuel Packer, MD
[email protected]
GH/Creative Svcs - 18470-12-14