Internal Medicine Residency News - February 23rd, 2026
Happy GME Week and last week of FUNBRUARY! The month truly raced by - big thanks to our incredible staff team for deep cleaning the Med Res office, to our squads for more events last week, a Funbruary run, pancake breakfast with the staff and chiefs, and music bingo at Ponysaurus!
This week there is more Funbruary fun, including fellowship night for the interns (is a zoom session fun?), trivia night at Cider works, and chief grand rounds for national Thank a Resident day! Also big thanks to the GME office for GME week hype including the famous GME (softest ever) t shirts and the grub hub bonus gift card for a dinner this week.
Kudos this week to Luderve Rosier for an awesome SAR talk, to Ian George for a terrific Cohen Conference, and to our ACRs Caitlin Womack, Averie Dickinson, and Maggie Oliver for a superb LEADS case! Also big kudos to our NF team of Larissa Lushniak, Chris Norberg, Rishabh Sehra, and Meghan Prescott from Sanjay Gadi for fantastic work and great vibes on some very busy nights (I agree, our morning admits have been really well taken care of!).
Major kudos to Hassan Raja, Ryan Cooper, and Katie Lee (with coach Mike Burt) for representing us at the NC ACP Doctor’s Dilemma competition!
This week’s pubmed from the program goes to our NC ACP poster presenters of Sydney Means, Alia Sadek, Sonum Tharwani, Shantal Jayawickreme, and Robert Watson, as well as chief Lauren Pinion for her chief presentation! Way to represent!!!
Lastly, residents—we need you! Our Habitat for Humanity Build Day still has plenty of open resident spots. Faculty and staff are already full, so this is your chance to jump in and make a real impact in our community. If you’re interested in contributing to a hands‑on service project that directly supports affordable housing in Durham, we’d be thrilled to have you join us.
Sign‑Up for Build Day Here or Contribute to the Fundraising Campaign Here - Thank you for helping us strengthen our community through service!
Have a great week!
Aimee
Medicine Grand Rounds: February 27th, 2026 at 8am
*Find out more about weekly MGR or watch previous sessions here.
| Date | Topic | Lecturer(s) | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02/27/2026 |
MGR (8AM): Annual IM Chiefs Trivia Grand Rounds NOTE: This is MANDATORY for ALL residents! |
2025-26 IM Chief Residents |
DUH 2002 & Zoom (8am) |
Noon Conference: February 23rd - February 27th, 2026
| Date | Inpatient Topic | Lecturer(s) | Location | Lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02/23/26 |
No Noon Conference |
n/a |
n/a |
none |
| 02/24/26 |
Dr. Averie Dickinson |
DUH 2002 & Zoom | Jimmy John's | |
| 02/25/26 |
Drs. Haley Cottrill and Joel Boggan |
DUH 2002 & Zoom |
Domino's |
|
| 02/26/26 |
SAR Talk - Effective & Empathetic Delivery of Devastating News |
Dr. Josh Mercer |
DUH 2002 & Zoom |
Cosmic Cantina |
| 02/27/26 |
No Noon Conference |
n/a |
n/a |
none |
Report Conference Schedule: February 23rd - February 27th, 2026
| Date | Topic | Lecturer(s) | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02/23/26 |
VA MS2 Report DUKE SAR Report DUKE MS2 Report |
Student Teaching – Acid/Base Disorders with Dr. Schneider Updates in DUH Hospital Medicine w/ Dr. Perkons MS2 Teaching |
11 a.m. 1:15 p.m. 2:30 p.m. |
| 02/24/26 |
DUKE SAR Report VA JAR Report DUKE Intern Report |
Dr. Ray Sadeq with Dr. Govert Dr. Mike Dore with Dr. Sanjana Ravi (resident) Dr. Jamie Cyr w/ Eric Pollak |
1:15 p.m. 1:15 p.m. 2:30 p.m. |
| 02/25/26 |
VA MS2 Report DUKE SAR Report |
Student Teaching with ACR Fun teaching with Dr. JVK |
11 a.m. 1:15 p.m. |
| 02/26/26 |
VA JAR Report DUKE SAR Report DUKE Intern Report VA Intern Report |
JAR Leadership Series: Clinical Reasoning with Dr. Cindy Johnson Dr. Lisette Corbin with Dr. Zaas Dr. Natalie Cohen with Dr. Callie Lilley Radiology Rounds with Dr. Heyneman |
1:15 p.m. 1:15 p.m. 2:30 p.m. 2:30 p.m. |
REMINDER: MGR Friday 8am - IM Chief Grand Rounds *REQUIRED FOR ALL RESIDENTS!
Our Wellbeing
The Department of Medicine is keeping an updated list of wellbeing resources during this extraordinary time. Click here for more information.
Employee Health Hours!
- My COVID Link - Report new or worsening COVID-19 symptoms or new exposures.
- Employee Occupational Health & Wellness (EOHW) COVID Hotline, (919) 385-0429, option 1 (8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday - Friday, and 8 a.m. - noon on weekends), After hours call the Duke emergency operator for the exposure nurse on call at (919) 684-8115.
Feeling down? Need to talk to someone? Opportunities for Wellness
All trainees at Duke have FREE access to Personal Assistance Services (PAS), which is the faculty/employee assistance program of Duke University. The staff of licensed professionals offer confidential assessment, short-term counseling, and referrals to help resolve a range of personal, work, and family problems. PAS services are available free of charge to Duke faculty and staff, and their immediate family members. An appointment to meet with a PAS counselor may be arranged by calling the PAS office at 919-416-1PAS (919-416-1727), Monday through Friday between 8:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M. Prioritized GME appts are now available also at 6 pm and 7 pm! For assistance after hours, residents and fellows can call the Blood and Body Fluid Hotline (115 inside DUH, 919-684-1115 outside) for referral to behavioral health resources. Another resource is Duke Outpatient Psychiatry Referrals at (919) 684-0100 or 1-888-ASK-DUKE. Home | Personal Assistance Service (duke.edu)
- ACR Teach Blog
- GME Mistreatment Reporting Site
- Duke Health Influenza Policy
- http://duke.exitcareoncall.com/
- Main Internal Medicine Residency website
- Main Curriculum website
- Department of Medicine
- Confidential Comment Line Note (All submissions are strictly confidential unless you chose to complete the optional section requesting a response.)
- Updates from the Division of Hematology
- The Scope
Did you know that Duke Health now has three ways to make appointments and access health information in Spanish. Click HERE for information.
Hi there, Neighbors!
Happy Black History Month! This is Victor again with engagement opportunities for February.
As a reminder, the goal of these events is to help people know and love the Durham community for as long as we're here, and hopefully create a lot of fun activities that let residents bond with each other.
Here's what we have left for this month:
-
🥪🧤Lecture by Dr. Jim O’Connell on Homeless Care!👨⚕️🗣
-
Not a “service” opportunity, but the Theology, Medicine, and Culture (TMC) Program at Duke will be hosting Dr. Jim O’Connell, the founder and president of the legendary Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program! This program has provided exemplary care for Bostonians experiencing homelessness for over 40 years, and if you have any interest in street medicine or care for those experiencing homelessness, this is a great event to attend!
-
Time: Wednesday, Feb 25 from 6-8pm
-
Location: JB Duke Hotel (230 Science Dr, Durham, NC 27708)
-
Sign-Up: Fill out this interest form
-
BONUS: Here's a list of concrete ways to help those experiencing homelessness that I just got from the city
-
Finally, for those who can’t make it to these events but want to help out, the group we’re highlighting for donations this month is Families Moving Forward! This is a well known Durham nonprofit that helps families experiencing homelessness find temporary housing. It also supports them through case management, skills training, and holistic counseling including in health and emotional needs. Particularly in the brutal winter weather, they’re doing a lot of great work and could use your financial support!
If you have any ideas at all about community volunteering events, or about happenings in Durham that could help others get to know the city better, please reach out to me to get it added to the next email. I’m also hoping to step down from this leadership role by the end of the year, so if you’re interested in helping with community engagement coordination next academic year, please let me know!
Yours in neighbor-ing,
Victor
