In a Department of Medicine special study to find ways to decrease the burden of electronic health documentation on physicians, Katherine Romp, MD (GIM) reports initial success in recovering time spent in computerized physician order entry. By hiring a Patient Encounter Specialist to master all the ins and outs of entering orders, physicians are able to offload the computer interaction and spend more time with their patients. Positive results include improved order entry accuracy and increased wRVUs for physicians. Learn more about this exciting pilot program here.

Jennie Hamilton (Graduate Student, Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology) is one of six people awarded a Gina M. Finzi Memorial Student Summer Fellowship by the Lupus Foundation of America. She works in the lab of John Mountz, MD, PhD. Her research looks at Type 1 interferon induction of B cells that react to the body’s apoptotic cells, a reaction that is one of the hallmarks of systemic lupus erythematosus.

Greer Burkholder, MD (Infectious Diseases) recently earned a career development award from the NIH to study “Enhancing information, motivation, and behavioral skills to promote antihypertensive medication adherence among persons living with HIV.” Her mentor is Mike Mugavero, MD.

Craig Hoesley, MD (Infectious Diseases) continues to lead efforts to find safe and effective HIV-prevention methods with a new study in female U.S. teens. The latest study is evaluating the safety and acceptability of a vaginal ring containing an antiretroviral (ARV) drug called dapivirine among teenage girls ages 15-17 in the United States. The study is being conducted at six sites to collect critically important information in support of the ring’s potential regulatory approval as a method for preventing HIV in women. Read the UAB story here.

Andres Forero-Torres, MD, (Hematology and Oncology) recently presented promising findings from a small study at the 13th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma in Lugano, Switzerland. He noted that outcomes with the novel PI3Kδ inhibitor INCB040093, alone or in combination with the investigational JAK1 inhibitor INCB039110, compared favorably with approved treatments in patients with relapsed/refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL).

Monica Baskin, PhD (Preventive Medicine) has been invited to serve as a Member of the Obesity Committee of the American Heart Association’s Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health (LIFESTYLE) Council for a two-year term.

Monika Safford, MD (Preventive Medicine) was part of the National Diabetes Education Program’s Medication Adherence Task Group over the past year. The group has developed a resource on the NDEP website to help patients and clinicians with the challenge of medication adherence in diabetes. Learn more here.

UAB Benevolent Fund is building its second house with Habitat for Humanity this fall. The School of Medicine is scheduled to volunteer on the first weekend of the build—Friday, September 18, and Saturday, September 19. Saturday morning is now filled, but you can still sign up for Friday and Saturday afternoon. Shifts are four hours each. Follow the link to register before Wednesday, August 12.

Coming Next Week: David Randall, UAB Health System Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning and Business Development, will present “AMC21 Reload” with Department Chair Seth Landefeld, MD.

View this week's slides here.

Do you have Good News to share? If so, please email the Department of Medicine's Director of Communications, Carolyn Walsh.