UCSF- Fresno Family & Community Medicine

Another post on service. As a department we aspire to do 1000 hours of community service per year, a goal we usually meet. Dr. Kulraj Dhah heads up our sports medicine curriculum, taking residents to do sideline work at games. This past year he did more than 100 hours of service doing sports physicals and sideline service. At each of these sessions, residents have contributed time as well while learning sports medicine skills. Thank you Dr. Dhah for your leadership in this area!

Congratulations to grad Fay Roepcke. She was just awarded her fellowship of the Academy of wilderness medicine (FAWM) at the World Congress on Mountain and Wilderness Medicine.

Congratulations! Fair winds! You’ll go out and do great things!

This past week UCSF Fresno put on the Internal Medicine Multidisciplinary Update. Dr. Dhah presented on Sports Medicine Update. Dr. Mortimer was a co-chair for the conference and presented on HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis. Several grads attended.

Sarah will be the new UCSF wilderness medicine fellow once she graduates. Here she is being sworn in to the Fresno County Search and Rescue Mountaineering Team. Participation on the team is part of the training. We are sure she will represent us well.

Dr Dhah and Dr Mortimer from our department will be speaking at this conference.

The annual UCSF Fresno Multidisciplinary Updates in Internal Medicine conference is returning with all new topics for 2024. Join the Department of Medicine for this two-day conference, which includes four Keynote Speakers and will feature faculty who are leading experts in their respective fields. This hybrid conference (attend in-person or virtually) will improve knowledge and proficiency in Endocrine and GI Disorders and Updates in General Internal Medicine on Friday, April 12, and Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Disease in Primary Care and more on Saturday, April 13. The event runs 7 am to 4:30 pm both days at UCSF Fresno and via Zoom webinar. Breakfast is in person from 7 am to 8 am

Register before Friday, March 15 and receive the early bird discount on Physician and Allied Health Professional registration.

Register: https://www.eeds.com/portal_live_events.aspx?ConferenceID=307566

At the 27th Annual UCSF Fresno Family and Community Medicine Research Expo on Feb. 8, UCSF Fresno residents Chase Lancaster, DO, (l) and Allison Go, DO, (r), talk with Susan Hughes, MS, UCSF Fresno research director at UCSF Fresno Family and Community Medicine, and UCSF associate professor. Since the first year of the Expo, Hughes has been involved in the scholarly activities. This year’s Expo winner was Valley Health Team Medicine Residency entry, “A Team-based Approach to Equitably Improve the HPV Vaccination Rate in a Community Health Center,” presented by Xeng X. Xiong, MD; Omar Barajas; Yi Wang, MD; and Amardeep Khushoo, PhD.

Ira Byock, 1978 UCSF Fresno FCM graduate and palliative care pioneer will be speaking in Visalia next week. Drop on by and say Hi!

The Surprising Potential for Wellbeing Through the End of Life Death teaches a lot about living. One important lesson involves mending troubled relationships and nurturing cherished connections to the people loved. Through stories drawn from years of clinical practice and his personal life, Dr. Ira Byock illuminates how four simple statements – please forgive...

Dr Mortimer takes home the hardware! Wellness at UCSF.

Exploring new models of resident education, and the pipeline to get there.

How to bring back the small-town family doctor The doctor shortage is already here, but there’s a way to fix it.

Current chief resident, Dr. Tania Zavalza was recently recognized by medical students to receive a UCSF FCM Excellence in Student Teaching Award. This award recognizes her unwavering passion for teaching, outstanding commitment to student education, and strong positive impact as a role model.

Students who nominated her explained how her teaching had made a difference in their education:

“Dr. Zavalza is an incredible physician, and an even more impressive teacher. She challenges her students, while also creating safe spaces for them to learn and grow. No matter how busy the clinic day is, she always takes the time to talk through each patient case, asking me what questions I would want to ask or how I would want to proceed. She offers me opportunities to see patients independently and perform procedures, and as a fresh F2 student, it is so comforting knowing that your preceptor is right behind you, genuinely wanting you to be independent, learn, and grow (but there for you if you fail). For situations that I am unfamiliar with, she allows me the opportunity to shadow. I have learned so much from Dr. Zavalza's navigation of difficult or sensitive conversations, and it's so apparent that she cares very much about her patients. Her passion for her work shines through in all that she does, and in turn, motivates me to do and be better. I hope all students get the opportunity to work with someone like Dr. Zavalza, and I strongly believe she is deserving of an award to recognize her teaching.”

We are pleased that Dr Zavalza will be staying as faculty after her graduation where she will be able to continue her impressive teaching.

UCSF- Fresno FCM grad Dr. Raul Ayala, the president-elect of the CAFP just penned a very nice note on family physician Dr. Jasmeet Bains, recently elected to the California state assembly. Be more like Jasmeet (and Raul)!

California Family Physician - Vol. 74, No. 1, Winter 2023 The California Family Physician is published quarterly by the California Academy of Family Physicians. Opinions are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the members and staff of the CAFP. Non-member subscriptions are $35 per year. Call (415) 345-8667 to subscribe.

UCSF- Fresno FCM faculty member Dr. Roger Mortimer recently co-wrote an article on psychological first aid for search and rescue team members.

Psychological First Aid for Wilderness Trauma: Interventions for Expedition or Search and Rescue Team Members When exposed to actual or threatened death or serious injury in austere settings, expedition members are at risk of acute stress reactions, as are sea…

10 years of UCSF- Fresno Family & Community Medicine Alumni from classes of 2010 through 2020 - all still caring for Valley community members!

And UCSF Fresno grad …

A proud daughter of farmworkers, Stanford alumna, and trailblazing Latina in medicine. Dr. Katherine A. Flores is an Associate Clinical Professor in Family Medicine at the UCSF School of Medicine and the Director of the UCSF Fresno Latino Center for Medical Education and Research.

Dr. Flores has been active over the past 30 years in supporting disadvantaged youth and developing the next generation of Latino medical leaders through pipeline programs to expand training, address health disparities and provide culturally competent healthcare services to the medically underserved.

On , we highlight the inspiring story and career of Dr. Flores as she continues to serve the people of our Valley. Thank you for all that you do!

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Una orgullosa hija de trabajadores agrícolas, alumna de Stanford, y latina pionera en medicina. La Doctora Katherine Flores es Profesora Clínica Asociada en Medicina Familiar en la Escuela de Medicina de UCSF y Directora del Centro Latino de Educación e Investigación Médica de Fresno de UCSF.

Durante los últimos 30 años, la Doctora Flores se a dedicado a apoyar los jóvenes desatendidos y end desarropar la próxima generación de líderes médicos latinos a través de programas en línea para ampliar la capacitación y abordar las disparidades de salud.

En el , reconocemos la inspiradora historia y carrera de la Doctora Flores mientras continúa sirviendo a la gente de nuestro Valle. ¡Gracias por todo lo que haces!

Today everyone had a chance to get together to welcome our new interns!

At the UCSF Graduation, Jessica Wang won the intern of the year award! We are very proud of her.

At the UCSF graduation Dr Kulraj Dhah won the award for faculty teacher.

Graduating resident Julian Nguyen won the resident teacher of the year award at the UCSF graduation. Dr Nguyen will be practicing in Fremont with Sutter Health. Congratulations!

Second year resident Dr Marie Mihara just earned her fellowship of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine of the Wilderness Medical Society. Much like an FAAFP this represents many hours of continuing education, research, and service. She is now Marie Mihara, MD, FAWM. Congratulations!

UCSF and the department value service. We work to do 1000 hours of service per year. This is a roughly monthly reminder of what our faculty and residents are doing.

Dr. Roger Mortimer has been a volunteer member of Fresno County Sheriff's Search and Rescue Moutaineering Team since 2014. He participates in searches for lost persons in Fresno County and occasionally outside the County. He is now an assistant training officer, spending time teaching first aid and rope technical rescue skills. Two FCM residents are also team members, as are faculty from EM and Surgery.

Opioid overdoses have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our department has pioneered curriculum to teach future family physicians how to be part of the solution. Thanks to Dr Shoaib Khan for leading the way.

Show and Tell: Addressing the Opioid Epidemic with A Harm Reduction Clinic Curriculum - California Academy of Family Physicians By M. Shoaib Khan, MD, AAHIVS A 17-year-old died of a fatal opioid overdose in our rural California town, and I felt responsible. Medication assisted therapy (MAT) with buprenorphine has been shown to be a lifesaving treatment for opioid use disorder in that it stops patients from having cravings an...

Educational Half Day with procedural skills! Taking advantage of in person teaching while we can.

UCSF Fresno puts on an annual wilderness medicine conference at Bass Lake. Dr Mortimer helped to teach and several recent grads attended.

UCSF and the FCM department value service. Our aspiration is for residents and faculty to do 1000 hours of community service each academic year, a goal we have met through our faculty and residents. I'm going to try to highlight some of the work that department members have done as much of it is hidden. If any of our graduates have stories of service They'd like to share, please contact us!

Service and fun can go hand in hand. If you follow your passion, it doesn't have to feel like work, but it's still just as valuable. Did you know that Susan Hughes is an international weightlifting judge? She is now Olympic qualified. We'll let her explain in her own words.

"I got involved with weightlifting through my husband. After he retired in 2009, he started working with a former Olympic weightlifting coach to learn how to lift. It is a great whole-body workout even when you lift light weights. His coach invited him to attend some local meets in Sacramento and San Francisco. I went along for fun. I found the whole experience different than I expected. Unlike wrestling meets I attended when my kids competed, the weightlifting experience was much more supportive and encouraging for all participants. Yes, they compete against each other, but in the end, everyone tries their best to lift as much weight as they can (personal bests are a big deal). Like many sports there is a shortage of people who volunteer to help with all the jobs needed to run a meet. I became a referee because that was the biggest need. There are three referees who decide for each lift if it's good or bad (majority decision) so there isn't quite as much pressure if you make a mistake. I learned the rules, took a written test, and started as a local referee in 2010. Local in this case meant Visalia to Northern California. Two years and 10 meets later my husband and I increased our qualifications to the national level (USA Weightlifting part of the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee). This was another written test on the rules and a practical exam demonstrating competence adjudicating lifts. We were active enough, attending lots of meets, that we were allowed to volunteer for positions with more responsibility at the national level; Competition Secretary in charge of technical official assignments and all weigh-ins. National meets are held all around the US. We took advantage of the travels and almost always arrived early to sight see in the location. We've been a lot of fun places, New Orleans, Palm Springs, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, Chicago, Austin, Anaheim, Spokane, Grand Rapids and more. After 5 years of experience at the national level, we were encouraged to try for the international level. More testing, both written and practical, that required higher scores to be certified. In February 2018 we became International Weightlifting Federation Category 2 Technical Officials. We qualified to do international meets, but not the Olympics yet. Walt died in August of 2018, and we never did do an international meet. I still volunteer at local and national meets, but COVID19 required many of the events to go virtual. Unfortunately, my Wi-Fi does not have the capability for me to make in-the-moment decisions, so I was not able to participate. I recently got back from the American Open Finals held in-person in Denver, my first since the pandemic. I was eligible to test for IWF Category 1 TO in February 2020, but it didn't happen until this recent meet. I'm proud to say I have now reached the highest level of technical official and will be eligible to officiate at Olympics in the future. There is a hierarchy for who gets chosen, so no telling if I'll get to do it."

This is a new mural in Fresno, across from the hospital, celebrating all of the health care heroes over the past two years.

Dr. Mortimer continues to do research in wilderness medicine topics. Here he was a co-investigator on a study of search and rescue teams in the West and the medical care that they provide.

https://www.wemjournal.org/article/S1080-6032(21)00206-4/fulltext?dgcid=raven_jbs_etoc_email

Search and Rescue in the Pacific West States The training practices and the level of medical oversight of search and rescue (SAR) organizations in the US National Park Service (NPS) Pacific west region is not known.

Welcome to our new interns!

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Welcome to our incoming Family Medicine class!!!!
🥳🤩😍 #2022