UPMC-GME Newsletter Winter 24

UPMC Graduate
Medical Education
Alumni Newsletter
Winter 2024
In partnership with the
University of Pittsburgh
schools of the health sciences

From the Desk of Dr. Bump
Belated Happy New Year! I’m hoping that 2024 is off to a
good start for you.
Today is national Thank a Resident Day! We want to thank
you—our residents—for the important role you play in
our health care systems. Academic medical centers and
hospitals across the United States could not function
without the efforts of talented physicians like you who have
chosen medicine as your life’s work. Thinking back on my
own residency, I remember the long hours, the sometimes
seemingly impossible workload, and those times of genuine
satisfaction on a job well done. Even more, I remember
the mentors who inspired and challenged me. That’s what
resident training programs are for: to train, to inspire, and
to challenge—so that the next generation is even better
prepared for what lies ahead.
Thanks to many of you—former trainees who have made
gifts to the Graduate Medical Education Fund—we were able
to provide additional opportunities to 15 current residents.
You’ll be hearing about the financial awards we’ve made to
enable them to pursue additional opportunities. For now,
thank you for your generous support.
With gratitude,
Gregory M. Bump, MD
Professor of Medicine
Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education
Designated Institutional Official
Chair, Graduate Medical Education Committee

UPMC News
• UPMC has been recognized as a Most Wired health system by the College of Healthcare
Information Management Executives for the 25th year.
• UPMC Vision Institute opened an Urgent Eye Care Clinic, which will be one of the few clinics
nationwide dedicated to urgent care of eye problems and the only one in Pennsylvania.
• UPMC has been honored by the American Medical Association for promoting the wellbeing
of health care workers.
• A new AI tool beats standard approaches for detecting heart attacks according to a
study led by University of Pittsburgh researchers that was published on June 29, 2023,
in Nature Medicine.
• Pitt and UPMC researchers created a machine learning model that accurately identifies
high-risk surgical patients.
• In 2022, UPMC provided $4.8 billion in community benefits—read the 2022-23 Annual
Community Report.
• Watch a video about the benefits of 3D models in health care.

University of Pittsburgh & School of Medicine News
• The Pittsburgh Study won the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement
Scholarship Award. This program, which was codeveloped by a team of scientists,
parents, teachers, and students, has a goal to follow 8,000 young people in the region
from birth to adulthood in hopes to better understand what children need to thrive.
• The Gismondi Family Foundation has committed to more than $1 million to support Pitt’s
community engagement efforts.
• A Pitt study reports irritability, agitation, and anxiety in
Alzheimer’s patients are caused by brain inflammation.
• A Pitt study shares three ways to encourage flu shots in
Black Allegheny County communities.
• The Orland Bethel Family Musculoskeletal Research
Center will enable the University of Pittsburgh to elevate
its study of musculoskeletal disorders.
• The inaugural winners of the Freddie Fu Leadership Award
for High School Community Service have been announced.
Winners of the Freddie Fu Leadership
Award for High School Community Service:
Chris Como, Ben Rothrauff, Gabrielle
Fatora, Melissa Tang, and Ehab Nazzal.
• The University of Pittsburgh Departments of Neurology and Neurological Surgery and
Division of Neuropathology have been awarded a five-year NIH NINDS R25 Research
Education Grant.
Training Program News
Craig Johnson, MD, and Elaina
Anglin, MD, are residents with
top Anesthesia Knowledge
Test-1 scores who have
been honored with Chair’s
Distinction in Anesthesiology
Knowledge Awards.
Medical students
Briana Clifton and
Samir Yellapragada
shine in the Foundation
for Anesthesia
Education and
Research Medical
Student Anesthesia
Research Fellowship
program.
Todd Bear, PhD;
Nora Bridges, PhD;
and Rachel Taber,
PhD, of Pitt published
“Strategies to
recruit rural primary
care providers
to implement a
medication for opioid
use disorder (MOUD)
focused integrated
care model” in
Implementation
Research and
Practice.

Faculty, Alumni, and
Development News
Pitt and UPMC
announced Anne Marie
Lennon, MD, PhD,
as the new chair of
medicine.
Shyam Visweswaran,
MD, PhD, a biomedical
informatics professor
and vice chair of
clinical informatics
in Pitt’s School of
Medicine, was appointed to a National
Academies of Sciences, Engineering,
and Medicine committee.
Andrea Ibarra, MD,
was elected as an
associate member
of the Association
of University
Anesthesiologists.
Carol Rose, MD, former
faculty member of
the Department of
Anesthesiology and
Perioperative Medicine,
passed away in
October 2023.
Dario A.A. Vignali,
PhD, was appointed
as new chair of
the Department of
Immunology.
Olja Finn, PhD,
received a three-year,
2.2-million-dollar grant
from the Breast Cancer
Research Foundation to
test her MUC1 vaccine
in women newly diagnosed with
ductal carcinoma in situ, a precursor
to invasive breast cancer.
Raul G. Nogueira,
MD, FAHA, FSVIN,
received the World
Stroke Organization’s
Presidential Award.
Benjamin Ma, MD,
a former University
of Pittsburgh
Department of
Orthopaedic
Surgery resident,
has been appointed as the chair
of the Department of Orthopaedic
Surgery at the University of
California, San Francisco.
George V. Russell,
MD, MBA, was named
the new chief of
orthopaedic trauma for
Pitt and UPMC.
Pitt’s Board of Trustees
elected Louis Cestello as
its chair.
Several of the University of Pittsburgh
Department of Anesthesiology and
Perioperative Medicine advanced practice
providers (APPs) were recognized during
UPMC’s APPreciation Week.

Philanthropy Spotlight
On behalf of our current residents and fellows, faculty, and staff, we want to thank everyone
who has generously supported the Graduate Medical Education (GME) Enhancement Fund over
the past two years. Since the inception of the fund in 2022, we have raised more than $15,000.
We are thrilled to announce that 15 current residents and fellows from various specialties each
received a $1,000 supplemental travel award to help cover out-of-pocket costs to attend
additional conferences to present their research.
While these trainees haven’t traveled yet, two of them share their gratitude after learning they
would receive additional travel funds from the UPMC GME office.
Aditi Zaveri, MD, a PGY-6 pediatric pulmonology fellow, shared, “I am so excited
and enthused to get your support towards this! Thank you very much for this
opportunity once again. I am extremely grateful.” Dr. Zaveri will present a
research study that she has been working on during her fellowship; her study
was accepted for presentation at the American Thoracic Society International
Conference in May 2024.
Nicholas Harris, MD, PhD, a PGY-3 fellow in adolescent medicine, shared, “Thank
you all! This is very exciting! As I’m putting together presentations and talks on
this work, I’m getting more excited about being able to share it with others and
look forward to this awesome opportunity to do so. I am going to present this
summer at both the SLEEP and Research Society on Alcoholism conferences on
my work looking at early life stress effects on sleep and addiction.”
We look forward to sharing firsthand accounts from Dr. Zaveri, Dr. Harris, and our other trainees
when they return from their travels.

We want to hear from you!
Share your own professional updates with Lyndsie Malobabich at lyndsie.malobabich@pitt.edu.
You can also contact Lyndsie for information about giving back to a program or initiative.
Her phone number is 724-462-6423.
Educational and Administrative News
Continuing Medical Education (CME) News
• The Center for Continuing Education in the Health Sciences is one of the largest CME providers
in the United States, offering a variety of activities for physicians across the country. A list of
our upcoming formal courses can be found online.
• Of particular interest to our alumni and other colleagues is the physician resources site, which
features a large variety of modules on timely clinical topics.
• The UPMC Presbyterian weekly Medical Grand Rounds can be accessed online.
• Within the last year, the Center for Continuing Education in the Health Sciences has provided
CME credit for Doximity’s point-of-care learning activities. Physicians can join this network,
which offers many services, free of charge.
• Credit transcripts for activities certified by the Center for Continuing Education in the Health
Sciences can be accessed anytime online.
About UPMC Physician Journal
UPMC Physician Journal is a video news program that dives into innovations across UPMC and the
University of Pittsburgh. Hear directly from the physicians leading the charge as they walk you
through their clinics, operating rooms, and labs to share their work. View all available episodes
on the Physician Journal website.

Contact Information
Patient Referrals
Immediate Referral: 412-647-7000 | Telemedicine Operations: 412-864-2106 | www.upmc.com/telemedicine
Updated Alumni Personal Medical Record and Training Verification Request Process
Please note these important contact processes that are now done centrally, not at departmental level.
Employee Medical Record Requests
Employee Health has established a system for providing medical records and it is the preferred method of
receiving requests.
Medical Record Requests can be sent to UPMCemployeehealth@upmc.edu. Please include the following:
•First and last name (indicating if a different name was used while at UPMC)
•Last four digits of the social security number
•List of specific records being requested
Additional questions can be sent to the email above or by calling 412-647-3695 (option 2).
Verification of Residency and Fellowship Training Requests
Requests for verification of training are collected via an online site. The process along with fee structure is
outlined on the webpage. Requests will be processed once all the information, a signed release form, and paid
invoice is received. Questions can be sent to gme_verifications@upmc.edu.