GLMF 2006 Annual Report:Layout 1 - Gundersen Health System

We are all at our best when fully engaged in
a journey toward established goals.
For Gundersen Lutheran Medical Foundation, our
mission is the road map; each new year gives us reason
to pause and contemplate the milestones your gifts
make possible.
2006 marked the first accreditation site visit for the
Foundation’s Minimally Invasive Bariatric Surgery
Fellowship program, which earned full accreditation
for three years. The Surgical Review Corporation
recently designated Gundersen Lutheran as a “Bariatric
Center of Excellence.”
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical
Education (ACGME) conducted its site visit to review
the Transitional Year Residency program in late 2006,
granting temporary permission to increase the program
size from 10 to 12 residents per year.
Clinical Research expanded in 2006 with the addition
of a new research site at the Gundersen Lutheran
Onalaska Clinic. Patients have access to more research
trials through a wide variety of participating departments.
The UW-La Crosse/Gundersen Lutheran/Mayo
Physician’s Assistant (PA) Training Program
graduated its first Master’s level class in May, 2006.
All of this year’s graduates passed their certification
exam on the first attempt.
As the Western Clinical Campus for the University
of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
(UW-SMPH), the Foundation provided undergraduate
“core clerkships” for 125 third-year medical students in
2006. UW-SMPH medical students also completed 59
elective clinical rotations at Gundersen Lutheran.
An innovative program to encourage UW-SMPH medical
school graduates to practice in rural areas is being developed
with participation of Gundersen Lutheran staff
physicians Kimberly Lansing, MD, and David H. Chestnut,
MD, Director of Medical Education for the Foundation.
The new Wisconsin Academy for Rural Medicine
(WARM) is targeted to address the projected future
shortage of physicians in the state.
In 2006, the Foundation’s Continuing Medical Education
program offered over 360 CME hours through weekday
conferences, and hosted 30 postgraduate symposia which
drew 1200 attendees from throughout the region.
Foundation sponsored-research, under the leadership
of William Agger, MD, produced a broad range of research
and scholarly activity in 2006. Seventy-six papers
and eight books or book chapters were published, and
82 local, regional, and national presentations were made
during the year.
Editorial leadership of the Foundation’s research publication,
the Gundersen Lutheran Medical Journal, changed
hands in 2006. Richard Reynertson, MD, who served as the
Journal’s editor and champion since the 1991 inaugural
issue, was succeeded by David Hartman, PhD, BC-NCD(A).
The Foundation’s PharmD Residency program
continues to thrive and will be expanded to include one
additional resident, beginning in July of 2007.
Twelve students were selected for the Foundation’s
Summer Research Fellowship program in 2006; one
Fellow published two original research articles in 2006,
a second Fellow’s research has been accepted for
publication in 2007.
Microbiology Research staff formalized an agreement
with scientists at the University of Arkansas in 2006 to validate
and market a Lyme disease test for point-of-care use.
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