Interdisciplinary Collaboration at Wash U Advances Understanding of Immunology, Rheumatology

“John is a premier medical educator, and our residents and junior faculty who came from Barnes Hospital all talk about how much they learned from morning report and participating in rounds with him. He has that quality of taking any patient interaction and turning it into a wonderful teaching experience,” says Dr. Karp.

Professor Richard Brasington, MD, who has garnered multiple medical school teaching awards (Clinical Teacher of the Year in 2014 and recipient of many distinguished service teaching awards), is among other stellar clinicians at Wash U. Dr. Brasington is director of the Rheumatology Fellowship Program and a key mentor of fellows during their clinical training. He is also an associate editor of The Rheumatologist and will receive the Distinguished Fellowship Program Director Award at the 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting.

Maria Gonzalez-Mayda, MD, who recently joined the Wash U program as an assistant professor, says she chose to stay at Wash U after finishing her fellowship because, “The variety of cases at our institution on the inpatient and outpatient services continues to challenge me on a regular basis. I appreciate being able to discuss these cases with our senior faculty members at grand rounds and in the clinic.”

Dr. Holers

In addition, notes Dr. Karp, the intentional involvement of community rheumatol- ogists in monthly edu- cational meetings and training for residents has always been very strong.

Deborah Parks, MD, professor of internal medicine in the Division of Rheumatology, was recruited by Dr. Atkinson in 2011. She initiated a comprehensive, immersive musculoskeletal ultrasound training program (“ultrasound boot camp”) for the fellows, designed to teach guided and unguided synovial joint injections, as well as diagnostic musculoskeletal ultrasound. She is expanding that program for medical residents to learn point-of-care musculoskeletal ultrasonography.

Dr. Parks is also augmenting the division’s clinical services and, using administrative skills she acquired in the private sector, helping the division streamline its service delivery and reimbursements. She anticipates opening an additional outpatient rheumatology clinic in south St. Louis in 2016. Asked why she came back to the university after working in private practice, Dr. Parks said she welcomed the opportunity to devote time to expanding her ultrasound educational program. “And, when I trained here, Bevra Hahn, MD [now head of the Division of Rheumatology at UCLA and a lupus researcher], was my attending in internal medicine. It was she who turned me onto rheumatology. So coming back here is a chance to give something back.”