Thanks for everyone that submitted profiles over the last two weeks!  It is great to have the chance to get a sense for who we will be meeting in Aspen!  We will be doing one more blog post before the conference, so if you want to be featured please provide your info by next Wednesday!  This week, we introduce one more of our instructors, Gordon Wood and several more of our participants: 

 

 Name: Gordon Wood

Location: Chicago, Illinois

What are you working on currently: Collaborating on a project called PREP-CPC that seeks to teach multiple levels of providers across Illinois how to hold goals of care conversations and how to integrate these discussions into healthcare systems; developing a project on team-based communication skills training; serving as associate program director for the Northwestern Palliative Medicine fellowship; growing a relatively young palliative care service and applying for Advanced Certification for Palliative Care from the Joint Commission. 

Name something you love about one of your current projects: The common theme among most of the projects I do is that they give me the opportunity to think about new ideas with the really smart people I am fortunate to have as colleagues and friends.

 

Name:  Sharla Wells-Di Gregorio

Location:  Columbus, Ohio

What are you working on currently:  Analyzing data looking at a model predicting opioid misuse/substance abuse, implementing distress screening across cancer hospital to better meet patients emotional, social, spiritual and physical symptom needs; on-boarding new Psychosocial Oncology Fellow;  revising Communication Curriculum for Hospice & Palliative Medicine Fellows; working through Couch to 5K (now off of the couch, but wondering how to get beyond 6 minutes); practicing yoga and meditation for clarity

Name something you love about one of your current projects:  I love solving problems and finding solutions for challenging clinical problems and the feeling of completing a good run/yoga session/meditation practice.

 Name: Molly Feely

 Location: Mayo Clinic Rochester

 What are you working on currently:  Trying to keep my head above water after assuming the role of palliative fellowship director.  Most of my clinical and research focus is on palliative care of dialysis patients.

 Name something you love about one of your current projects:  I love working with the dialysis population as part of the renal palliative care team.  It feeds my need to practice subspecialty palliative medicine while also allowing me to cultivate longer term relationships with patients that evolve of time – something I had missed from my primary care days.

 

Name: Michael Westley MD FACP, FCCP
Location: Section of Critical Care, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, Washington

 What are you working on currently: Work to integrate palliative care into critical care, refine Palliative Care curriculum for resident and faculty education, exploring optimism bias, and continue learning to become a better clinician and ecucator.

 Name something you love about one of your current projects: I continue to be fascinated as I participate in the process patients and families use to make choices that make sense to them.  As an ICU clinician I rarely have a longitudinal relationship with the patient or family yet I am most often welcomed into the most private and personal aspects of their lives.  I experience this as both an incredible gift and humbling responsibility. 

Name: Drew Rosielle

Location: Minneapolis, MN

What are you working on currently: Medical Director of the University of Minnesota Medical Center-Fairview Palliative Care Program Program Director of the University of Minnesota Medical School’s HPM Fellowship Editing Fast Facts and Concepts

Name something you love about one of your current projects: 
Watching the slow transformation that happens with most of my fellows as they become colleagues, or near colleagues, by the end of the year. When they start teaching me things: great feeling.

Name: Simon Schrick-Senasac

Location: Chicago, IL

What are you working on currently: Site director for palliative medicine education to internal medicine residents and geriatric fellows, collaborative palliative curriculum standardization across 5 disciplines training with our section, Hospice and Palliative Medicine Certification Boards, and 100+ consult/month inpatient service.

Name something you love about one of your current projects: Looking critically at a curriculum to create and find new ways to deliver content

Name:  Jeanie Youngwerth

 Location:  University of Colorado School of Medicine

  What are you working on currently: Revising Palliative Medicine Fellowship and Medical School curriculum.

  Name something you love about one of your current projects: Learning from the learners!

More introductions for this week!  One of our Fellows René  and three of our participants - Stephanie, Joshua and Lori.

Remember to submit your profile to Lisa@vitaltalk.org so we can feature you on the blog!

Name: René Claxton

Location: Pittsburgh, PA

What are you working on currently: learning how to be a fellowship director, improving my proficiency in ACGME-ese and mentoring skills.

Name something you love about one of your current projects: I love the opportunity to get to know fellows on an individual level, help them improve their skills and start to prepare for life after fellowship.

Name: Stephanie Harman

Location: Stanford, CA

What are you working on currently: Teaching a communication skills course for interns; Building a faculty development program for our palliative care physicians.

Name something you love about one of your current projects:
The interns are a lively and energetic bunch of young folk, and I love listening to their adventures and their perspectives.

 

Name:  Lori Earnshaw

Location:  Louisville, KY

What are you working on currently:  Potty training my 3-year-old, implementing a new palliative care curriculum for fourth year medical students, revising an arts and wellness course for the fourth year medical students

Name something you love about one of your current projects:  collaborating with members of the local arts community for my wellness course; teaching students from chaplaincy, social work, and nursing, with my colleagues from other disciplines; the prospect of not changing diapers in the near future
 

Name: Joshua Fronk
 

Location: Stanford, CA
 

What are you working on currently: Learning the ropes of being in the attending physician role, expanding our reach in the outpatient palliative medicine clinic, teaching a primary palliative care clerkship to the medical students during their family medicine clerkship.

Name something you love about one of your current projects: Every time I am in clinic, I am reminded about how much I enjoy having continuity with my patients. I wish I had time to write a book about some of our experiences.