Internal Medicine Residency News - September 8th, 2025

IM Residency

September is in full swing - another busy week here as the SARs crush it in the interview scene, advisor meetings are starting up, the ITE is complete and people are really settling into the year.  Thanks to all who are helping with the many needs for coverage for colleagues during interviews and to the chiefs for keeping things organized.

 

STEAD TREAD is almost here! Excited to see a record turnout to a great event! It’s not too late to register! Have family or friends in town that weekend?  Sign ‘em up! 

 

Many thanks to the Division of Nephrology for a night out with the residents last week at High Wire!  

 

JARs, please watch your calendars for your “+2” Stepping in For Respect upstander training at my house, with DOM trained facilitators! We look forward to seeing the “+2 Group B” on SEPT 9th at 6 pm, with dinner.   We also have our first week of intern +2 Durham tours with Dr. Jeff Baker! Many thanks to Dr. Frazier-Mills for helping make this possible. 

 

Kudos this week to Kaushik Puranam for a great SAR talk and to Shane Clark and David Stevens from Nathan Hirshman for helping with the MS1 procedure hands-on course (arranged by Chief Sandra!)

 

This week’s pubmed from the program goes to Sam Menegas for her upcoming presentation at the ACG meeting "Improving Helicobacter pylori Eradication Testing Rates through a Dedicated Pharmacy Clinic: A Quality Improvement Initiative"

 

Have a great week

Aimee 

 

Medicine Grand Rounds: September 12, 2025

*Find out more about weekly MGR or watch previous sessions here.

Date Topic Lecturer Location
09/12/2025

 

Department Medicine Year in Review

 

 Dr. Kathleen Cooney

 

DUH 2002 & Zoom

 

Noon Conference: September 8-12, 2025

Date Inpatient Topic Lecturer Location Lunch
09/08/25 PT/OT in the Inpatient Setting 

Kayla Swaringen OTD

 DUH 2002 & Zoom

-
09/09/25

GLP-1 Receptor Agonists for Cardiovascular Benefit

Dr. Neha Pagidipati 

 DUH 2002 & Zoom Enzo's
09/10/25 Cohen Conference 

Dr. Christopher Norberg

DUH 2002 & Zoom

Guasaca
09/11/25

SAR Talk: Acute Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure

Dr. Maggie Oliver 

 DUH 2002 & Zoom

Chick-fil-A
09/12/25

No Conference 

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Report Conference Schedule: September 8-11, 2025

Date Topic Lecturer Time
09/08/25

VA MS2 Report

VA JAR Report

DUKE SAR Report

Student Teaching 

Dr. Brian Schneider (Preceptor) & Dr. Joanna Assadourian (Presenter)

SAR Empathy Focus Group: Dr. Kathryn Pollak and Dr. Shantal Jayawickreme

11 a.m.

1:15 p.m.

1:15 p.m.
09/09/25

DUKE SAR Report

DUKE Intern Report

VA JAR Report

Dr. Govert (Preceptor) & Dr. Westley Ongtengco (Presenter)

Epic Tips and Tricks: Dr. Maria Paz

Radiology Rounds: Dr. Laura Heyneman 

1:15 p.m.

2:30 p.m.

2:30 p.m.
09/10/25

VA MS2 Report

DUKE SAR Report

VA JAR CAT

Student teaching w/ Chief

Dr. Ghasem (Preceptor) & Dr. Adriana Bracho (Presenter)

Dr. Daphne Jones (Preceptor) & Dr. Joshua Barton (Presenter)

11 a.m.

1:15 p.m.

1:15 p.m.
09/11/25

DUKE SAR Report 

VA JAR 

VA Intern Report 

DUKE Intern Report 

Dr. Aimee Zaas (Preceptor) & Dr. Luderve Rosier (Presenter)

JAR Sim Session: Dr. David Fear

Dr. Jennifer Green (Preceptor) & Dr. Max Oscherwitz (Presenter)

Dr. SHikha Kapil (Preceptor) & Dr. Elgin Yalin (Presenter)

1:15 p.m.

1:15 p.m.

2:30 p.m.

2:30 p.m.

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)

Hi there, Neighbors!

 

This is Victor again with more community engagement opportunities for September! Many thanks to people who donated to the West End/Lyon Park fundraiser- they appreciated the $200 donation a lot (they requested I wear my white coat for the photo… I may or may not have a Stead Tread shirt underneath...)

 

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 for the coming month:

 

  • 🏫👨‍🎓City of Medicine: Science Fridays 🥪👨‍⚕️

    • One of our classic community engagement opportunities! This is a monthly event at City of Medicine Academy, a magnet high school on the DRH campus that prepares high schoolers from largely underrepresented backgrounds in medicine to pursue health careers. Come for even just an hour to talk about any topic in medicine, from POCUS to healthcare emergencies to just describing your path to becoming a physician!

    • Time: Friday, September 12 from 3:15-4:15pm

    • Location: City of Medicine Academy (200 Wisteria Ave)

    • Sign-Up: email Jennifer Watson at jennifer_watson@dpsnc.net to sign up! If you’d like to have space in your outpatient schedule to attend future Science Fridays but forgot to fill out the form, reach out to me at victor.ayeni@duke.edu

    • Contact: Jennifer Watson at jennifer_watson@dpsnc.net 


 

  • 🏃‍♀️👟 Stead Tread 5K!!!🚶‍♂️👩‍⚕️

    • The month is finally here for the Stead Tread 5K! Now is the time to sign up- sign up by September 1 to guarantee a t-shirt! We’re tracking well to our fundraising goal for Lincoln Health Center but can’t make it without more help.

    • Time: Saturday, September 20 at 9am

    • Location: Solite Park (4704 Fayetteville Rd)

    • Sign-Up: Register or donate at this link

    • Contact: E-mail Victor Ayeni, Fiona Splaine, David Stevens (JARs) or Katelyn Rennyson (SAR) with questions (or if you’d like to help the day of)

 

  • 🏫👨‍🎓BOOST Science Saturdays 🥪👨‍⚕️

    • BOOST, a program at Duke that encourages middle schoolers from historically underrepresented backgrounds in medicine to pursue health careers, is now in full swing! Sign up to do a talk about something cool in healthcare/science for the students, and if you have the time feel free to chat with some of them over lunch!

    • Time: Saturday, September 13 at some time from 10am-2pm (flexible)

    • Location: Trent Semans Center (“TSCHE”)

    • Sign-Up: email the program coordinator, Alexandra Valladares, at alexandra.valladares@duke.edu

    • Contact: Alexandra Valladares at alexandra.valladares@duke.edu

 

 

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 (hopefully to no one’s surprise), Lincoln Community Health Center! Lincoln really has a special history in Durham, and the work they do uplifts a lot of people through low cost, high-quality healthcare, especially immigrants and non-native English speakers who otherwise struggle in our healthcare system. Whether you get involved with the Stead Tread 5K or not, I really hope you donate to this worthwhile cause.

 

 

As always, these events are all ones suggested or led by fellow members of the IM residency. 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.

 

Yours in neighbor-ing,

Victor

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