Mike LaMantia receives Medical Group prize

Congratulations to Michael LaMantia, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, who was named Junior Investigator of the Year by the UVM Medical Group (in a tie with Alissa Thomas, MD Assistant Professor of Neurological Science). The prize comes with a cash award to support Mike's research!

van Eeghen accepted to UVM Teaching Academy

Congratulations to Connie van Eeghen, DrPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine on her designation as a Member of the Teaching Academy at the Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at the University of Vermont.

From their website:
The Teaching Academy sustains and supports an interdisciplinary community of educators who value the scholarship of teaching and learning while facilitating educator development; improve the efficiency and quality of medical education through collaboration and scholarship; and promote an academic environment that increases the value and impact of educators locally, regionally, and nationally.

- Ben Littenberg

Clinical Research Oriented Workshop (CROW) Meeting: Dec 9, 2016

Present:   Marianne Burke, Nancy Gell, Juvena Hitt, Kairn Kelley (phone), Ayodelle LeBruin, Mike LaMantia, Liliane Savard, Adam Sprouse-Blum, Connie van Eeghen

Start Up:  Little Kaia Oshita Sprouse-Blum is a QT! Also, check out this Gawande commencement speech on identifying and responding to pseudo-science: http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-mistrust-of-science

1.                   Marianne Burke: Update

a.       Completed data collection on study testing whether clinical evidence technology improves patient skin problem outcomes in primary care.  Marianne would like feedback on presentation of results.

b.       Design of the study was discussed passionately: the inclusion of diagnoses that might not be amenable to treatment may mask the actual effectiveness of the tool.

c.       Possible follow up study based on provider characteristics: baseline use of technology, use of Visual Dx by the intervention arm, use of other technology by the control arm

d.       What is the story: in an information-rich environment, one resource is unlikely to make a difference

                                                   i.      The story may be in the provider’s feedback re: technology assessment, not in the PROs

e.       Next step:

                                                   i.      Identify the questions that need to be answered next: establishing a methodology for studying the value of health information resources

2.                   Spring Semester schedule: No change; keep to Fridays, 2p – 3:15p.  Let Kairn, Marianne, or Connie know if this presents a problem for you.

3.                   Next Workshop Meeting(s): Fridays, 2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m., at Given Courtyard South Level 4 until end of Dec.   

a.       Dec 16: TBA

b.       Jan 6: Kairn (no Connie, Marianne)

c.       Jan 13: CvE manuscript review

d.       Future topics:

a.       Juvena: protocol development

b.       LaMantia: predictors of successful R01 applications: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0155060

Recorder: Connie van Eeghen

Atul Gawande's checklist for recognizing and responding to pseudo-science

Referenced at today's "lunch and learn" sponsored by Dr. Irwin as a thoughtful response to the prevalence of pseudo-science...
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-mistrust-of-science

Enjoy!

Clinical Research Oriented Workshop (CROW) Meeting: Dec 2, 2016

Present:   Marianne Burke, Juvena Hitt, Kairn Kelley, Mike LaMantia, Ben Littenberg, Gail Rose, Liliane Savard, Connie van Eeghen

Start Up:  (Not sure… wasn’t there in time!)

1.                   Book Club: Weapons of Mass Destruction, Cathy O’Neil 

a.       Well-supported criticisms; not so well-supported solutions

b.       Prescient, with respect to the use of big data models and the experience of the past election season

c.       How does this relate to our work?

                                                   i.      Identifying a group of people (e.g. high volume consumers of alcohol) can be used by health care providers to aid those in need… and by insurers to restrict coverage

d.       Mediating alternatives

                                                   i.      Require individual oath-taking/personal responsibility

                                                 ii.      Develop methods of identifying bias

                                               iii.      Establish consequences to “crossing the line,” such as civil court or class-action remedy

                                               iv.      Re-engineer algorithms so that they are:

1.       Transparent: the features of the algorithm are packaged in a message that is delivered to each case (person) whenever the algorithm is run, including how that case came to be included in the algorithm

2.       Feedback of success/failure: study false positives, build in feedback either through the algorithm or the system in which it is used

3.       Does not increase harm or decrease benefit, thereby intensifying the categorization that again increases harm/decreases benefit

4.       Not scaled until tested

2.                   Spring Semester schedule: No change; keep to Fridays, 2p – 3:15p.  Let Kairn, Marianne, or Connie know if this presents a problem for you.

3.                   Next Workshop Meeting(s): Fridays, 2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m., at Given Courtyard South Level 4 until end of Dec.   

a.       Dec 9: Marianne’s data

b.       Dec 16: Nancy Gell’s manuscript

c.       Jan 6: Kairn (no Connie, Marianne)

d.       Jan 13: CvE manuscript review

e.       Future topics:

a.       Juvena: protocol development

b.       LaMantia: predictors of successful R01 applications: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0155060

Recorder: Connie van Eeghen