Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. Ron Falk, MD, FACP, FASN Chair of the DOM presents: "De-Widgetizing" Clinical Care in the Department of Medicine- An Experiment
2023-09-07 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Dr. Falk was appointed as Chair of the University of North Carolina Department of Medicine in July 2015 after having served as Chief of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension from July 1993 through May 2015.
Dr. Falk is recognized as an international expert in vasculitis and autoimmune kidney disease. His career as a translational physician-scientist spans more than three decades. His practice and translational research focus on characterizing the cell, tissue, and physiologic changes in the development of specific autoimmune kidney diseases and developing new approaches for studying autoimmunity, inflammation, and basic neutrophil/monocyte biology. After the discovery in 1988 by Dr. Falk and colleagues of myeloperoxidase anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (MPO-ANCA), his laboratory has focused on clinical and translational science investigation of the immunogenesis, pathogenesis, and response to treatment of ANCA vasculitis and other autoimmune kidney diseases.
Dr. Falk is a highly respected scholar and mentor who has guided, for over three decades, young physicians, scientists, and physician-scientists to successful careers in academia and industry.
Dr. Falk has served in various capacities within the American Society of Nephrology, including numerous committees and the ASN Council. He served as its president from 2011-12. A notable achievement during his term as president was the founding of the Kidney Health Initiative in 2012, which is a public/private partnership of the American Society of Nephrology and the U.S. FDA. During his tenure as ASN President, the American Society of Nephrology Foundation for Kidney Research was established with a substantial endowment. He has also served or chaired numerous study sections and special emphasis panels within the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Falk continues to receive funding in a P01 Program Project Grant, “ANCA Glomerulonephritis: From Molecules to Man,” UM1, “GDCN Clinical Center—Advancing Clinical Research in Primary Glomerular Diseases,” and a T32 Renal Epidemiology Training Grant.

Medicine Grand Rounds- Professor Robert Capra presents: "How does AI/ChatGPT change how people search for information online? What are implications for health information seeking?"
2023-09-14 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Dr. Robert Capra is a Professor in the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His interests include human-computer interaction and information retrieval. His research focuses on how people search for information and on developing tools to support users’ search needs. He regularly teaches courses on programming, databases, and human-computer interaction. Dr. Capra is a recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER grant and he publishes regularly in top computer and information science conferences and journals.

Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. Janice Hwang presents: "Metabolism and Carolina in my Mind"
2023-09-21 12:00 - 13:00 | Old Clinic Auditorium
Dr. Hwang is an endocrinologist as well as an Associate Professor and Chief of the Division of Endocrinology at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Medicine. She graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University in 2001 with a major in molecular biology followed by Harvard Medical School in 2006. She completed her residency training in Internal Medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA, and also served as a Chief Medical Resident. Dr. Hwang received her fellowship training in Endocrinology and Metabolism at Massachusetts General Hospital, graduating in 2012. Between 2012-2022, she was an Instructor and then Assistant Professor in Endocrinology at Yale School of Medicine before joining the faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill in 2022.

Dr. Hwang’s academic interests are at the intersection of metabolism, neuroscience and neuroimaging. In particular, her work has focused on understanding the effects of diabetes and obesity on brain energy metabolism. She leads a highly collaborative research group specializing in mechanistic, physiology-based human studies as well as in vivo rodent models using novel neuroimaging modalities (including functional magnetic resonance imaging, 1H and 13C magnetic resonance spectroscopy, PET) coupled with classic metabolic techniques. Since 2017, she has been the principal investigator on several research awards including an American Diabetes Association Innovative Clinical and Translational Science Award, and several R-level awards (awarded in 2019, 2020, 2021)

Medicine Grand Rounds- "The 2023 Fried Lecture" presenter: Dr. Norah Terrault
2023-09-28 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Norah Terrault, MD, MPH, FAASLD, is shaping how the hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are treated nationally and internationally through her leadership and groundbreaking research in the field.

Dr. Terrault coedited Zakim and Boyer’s Hepatology: A Textbook of Liver Disease, 7thedition. She has written more than 330 peer-reviewed manuscripts, editorials, and invited reviews, along with United States national guidelines for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B and C. She recently was elected senior councilor on the executive committee of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and will serve as AASLD president in 2023.

In addition to HBV, HCV, and NASH, Dr. Terrault’s research interests include fatty liver, cirrhosis, and liver transplantation. She has led multiple National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded studies, including the HBV Clinical Research Network (CRN) and NASH CRN.

A dedicated educator, she founded ECHO-Plus, a telementoring program that trains and supports primary care physicians in California in treating patients with hepatitis.

Medicine Grand Rounds- "2023 Craige Visiting Professor" presenter: Dr. Michelle Albert
2023-10-05 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Dr. Michelle A. Albert, MD MPH is the Walter A. Haas-Lucie Stern Endowed Chair in Cardiology and Professor in Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), Admissions Dean for UCSF Medical School and Director of the Center for the StUdy of AdveRsiTy and CardiovascUlaR DiseasE (NURTURE Center). Dr. Albert is a graduate of Haverford College, the University of Rochester School of Medicine, and Harvard School of Public Health. She completed Internal Medicine Residency and served as Chief Medical Resident at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. Dr. Albert then completed a Cardiovascular Clinical and Research Fellowship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where she rose in the ranks to an Associate Professor in Medicine. She was previously the Vivian Beaumont Allen Endowed Professor/Chair and Chief of Cardiology at Howard University.
Dr. Albert’s clinical expertise involves both taking care of the most critically ill heart disease patients and preventive cardiology at UCSF. As a physician-scientist-epidemiologist, Dr. Albert has had a longstanding commitment to health equity and is engaged in cutting-edge research that innovatively seeks to incorporate “biology” with social determinants of health to transform CVD science and healthcare of global populations, i.e “the biology of adversity”. Her research has followed a bold, non-traditional path for cardiovascular disease research. A central component of her current work focuses on developing innovative implementation strategies to curb adversity-related CVD risk, particularly in women and diverse racial and ethnic populations with a focus on cumulative toxic stress. She is the recipient of sustained research funding as principal investigator including NIH R01 funding, funding from Robert Wood Johnson (Harold Amos Scholar), Kellogg and Doris Duke Foundations. Dr. Albert is also a recipient of the American Heart Association (AHA) COVID-19 Rapid Track Grant. Additionally, she is one of two recipients nationally of the prestigious 2018 AHA Merit award for visionary research and is the first woman and under-represented racial/ethnic person to receive this award. Dr. Albert also received the distinguished 2020 AHA Population Science Award.
Dr. Albert is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), the Association of University Cardiologists (AUC), the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and the Association of American Physicians (AAP).
She is the 86th President of the American Heart Association (AHA: 2022-2023), Immediate-Past President of the Association of Black Cardiologists, Inc (ABC: 2020-2022), the Past 60th President of the Association of University Cardiologists (AUC: 2021-2022). She is the first person in history to serve collectively and concurrently as President of these three of the most prestigious cardiovascular societies. Dr. Albert is the first woman of color and Black woman to serve as AHA President and AUC President.
Albert currently serves as a member of the federal Advisory Committee to the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (ACD), NHLBI Board of External Experts (BEE), 2019 ACC/AHA Cardiovascular Prevention Guidelines committee and previously served as a standing committee member of NIH study section – Mechanisms, Emotion, Sleep & Health (MESH.
Dr. Albert has also served/serves on multiple national AHA and American College of Cardiology (ACC) committees including on the Sarnoff Cardiovascular Medical Research Foundation Board of Directors.
Dr. Albert is a member of the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) Your Health Advisory Board and the Health/Cardiovascular Advisory Board for Women’s Day Magazine. Her research has been featured on national and international media outlets such as the BBC, Canada Broadcasting Corporation, TIME, CNN, Today Show, CBS, Associated Press, NPR, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle and Washington Post. She is a sought-after interviewee/speaker on multiple news outlets including TV, digital and print media about especially about topics pertaining to research, cardiovascular health, maternal health and health equity.
Dr. Albert enjoys mentoring trainees at all levels across the United States. She was a nominee/finalist for the competitive 2011-2012 Excellence in Mentoring Award at Harvard Medical School and the recipient of the Women in Cardiology Mentoring Award from the AHA (2016). She received the ACC Heart of Women’s Health Credo Award (2012), Woman’s Day Magazine’s Red Dress Award (2014), the 2018 Daniel D. Savage Science Award (ABC’s highest honor) and the Haverford College Alumni Award (2015) — given to an alumnus whose “work typifies the values of the college and is of outstanding service to humanity”.
Dr. Albert is named on the 2022 Forbes 50 over 50 list for her Impact.

Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. Nigil Haroon "John B. Winfield Visiting Scholar" presents: "The New Age of Spondyloarthritis Care: Unpacking Two Decades of Transformation in Ancient Disease"
2023-10-12 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Dr Nigil Haroon is a world-renowned rheumatologist and clinical immunologist located in Toronto, Canada. He is a Clinician Scientist at the University Health Network, the largest research hospital in Canada with over 17,000 active staff members (ranked top 5 in the world). He is an associate professor of medicine and rheumatology at the University of Toronto and a senior scientist at the Krembil Research Institute.
His current leadership positions include

Head, Division of Rheumatology, University Health Network and Sinai Health, Toronto
President, Canadian Rheumatology Association
Treasurer, Spondyloarthritis Research and Treatment Network (SPARTAN)

He is qualified in Internal Medicine, Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology and has a PhD in Functional Genomics and Immunology. He completed an MBA in Health and Life Sciences from the prestigious Rotman School of Business.
His area of research includes predicting radiographic progression, identifying novel therapeutic targets and understanding the immunology and genetic basis of ankylosing spondylitis. He is well-funded and has over 100 high-impact publications in this area. Dr Haroon is a Vanier Scholar and has won several awards, including the Jane Bruckel Award of the Spondylitis Association of America.

Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. Clare Mock presents: "From Just Culture to the Criminalization of Human Error: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of the current state of Patient Safety in the US"
2023-10-19 12:00 - 13:00 | NC
Clare Mock, MD, is an Associate Professor in the Division of Hospital Medicine at UNC. Her primary academic interests are in Patient Safety and Quality Improvement, with an emphasis on responding to and learning from medical errors. Her other interests are professionalism in medicine and working to create more efficient and effective processes and workflows. Dr Mock holds a BA from Miami University (Ohio) and an MD from Ohio State College of Medicine. She completed her internal medicine residency at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore in 2011. She has undergone training in Lean and Six Sigma improvement methodologies, TeamSTEPPS master training, and Human Factors Engineering and has served as an external medical expert witness. Prior to her role as Director for Safety for the Department of Medicine, she served as Medical Director for the UNC Hillsborough Campus and served as the Medical Director for the Medical Center’s Mortality Reduction Program. She has three children – 9, 7 & 2 – and her husband is also faculty at UNC with dual Pulmonary/CC and Microbiology appointments.

Medicine Grand Rounds- "2023 Merrimon Lecture" I. Glenn Cohen presents: Integrating Artificial Intelligence Into Health Care: Ethical and Legal Challenges
2023-10-26 12:00 - 13:30 | NC
Prof. Cohen is one of the world’s leading experts on the intersection of bioethics (sometimes also called “medical ethics”) and the law, as well as health law. He also teaches civil procedure. He has advised the U.S. Vice President on reproductive rights, discussed medical AI policy with members of the Korean Congress, and lectured to legal, medical, and industry conferences around the world. His work has been frequently covered by or appeared in PBS, NPR, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, Mother Jones, the New York Times, The Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and many other media venues.
He was the youngest professor on the faculty at Harvard Law School (tenured or untenured) both when he joined the faculty in 2008 (at age 29) and when he was tenured as a full professor in 2013 (at age 34), though not the youngest in history.
Prof. Cohen’s current projects relate to medical AI, mobile health and other health information technologies, abortion, reproduction/reproductive technology, the therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs, research ethics, organ transplantation, rationing in law and medicine, health policy, FDA law, translational medicine, medical tourism and many other topics.
He is the author of more than 200 articles and chapters and his award-winning work has appeared in leading legal (including the Stanford, Cornell, and Southern California Law Reviews), medical (including the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA), bioethics (including the American Journal of Bioethics, the Hastings Center Report), scientific (Science, Cell, Nature Reviews Genetics) and public health (the American Journal of Public Health) journals, as well as Op-Eds in the New York Times, Washington Post, New Republic, Time Magazine, and other venues.
Cohen is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of more than 18 books. They include: Reproductive Technologies and the Law (Caroline Academic Press, 2022);The Future of Medical Device Regulation (Cambridge University Press, 2022) Consumer Genetic Technologies: Ethical and Legal Considerations (Cambridge University Press, 2021); Readings in Comparative Health Law and Bioethics (Carolina Academic Press, 2020); Disability, Health, Law, and Bioethics (Cambridge University Press, 2020); Transparency in Health and Health Care in the United States (Cambridge University Press, 2019); Health Care Law and Ethics (Aspen, 2018); Big Data, Health Law, and Bioethics (Cambridge University Press, 2018); Law, Religion, and Health in the United States (Cambridge University Press, 2017); Specimen Science (MIT Press, 2017); Nudging Health: Health Law and Behavioral Economics (John Hopkins University Press, 2016) The Oxford Handbook of U.S. Health Care Law (Oxford University Press, 2016); FDA in the Twenty-First Century: The Challenges of Regulating Drugs and New Technologies (Columbia University Press, 2015); Identified Versus Statistical Lives: An Interdisciplinary Perspective (Oxford University Press, 2015); Patients with Passports: Medical Tourism, Law, and Ethics (Oxford University Press, 2014); Human Subjects Research Regulation: Perspectives on the Future (MIT Press, 2014); The Globalization of Health Care: Legal and Ethical Issues (Oxford University Press, 2013).
For his law school teaching he was awarded the HLS Student Government Teaching and Advising Award in 2017. He also sometimes teaches courses at Harvard College and Harvard Medical School. For the public he created the free online Harvard X class Bioethics: The Law, Medicine, and Ethics of Reproductive Technologies and Genetics, which was nominated by Harvard for the Japan Prize. More than 97,000 students have taken the course so far. You can also watch his Tedx talk, Are There Non-Human Persons? Are There Non-Person Humans? He is also the faculty lead on Zero-L, an online course to help law students transition to law school that has been used by more than half of all U.S. law schools.
Prior to becoming a professor he served as a law clerk to Judge Michael Boudin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and as a lawyer for U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Appellate Staff, where he handled litigation in the Courts of Appeals and (in conjunction with the Solicitor General’s Office) in the U.S. Supreme Court. In his spare time (where he can find any!) he still litigates, having authored an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court for leading gene scientist Eric Lander in Association of Molecular Pathology v. Myriad, concerning whether human genes are patent eligible subject matter, a brief that was extensively discussed by the Justices at oral argument. Most recently he submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt (the Texas abortion case, on behalf of himself, Melissa Murray, and B. Jessie Hill). He also provides expert testimony in health law and bioethics litigation.
Cohen was selected as a Radcliffe Institute Fellow for the 2012-2013 year and by the Greenwall Foundation to receive a Faculty Scholar Award in Bioethics. He is also a Fellow at the Hastings Center, the leading bioethics think tank in the United States as well as being a fellow of the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation. He leads the Project on Precision Medicine, Artificial Intelligence, and the Law (PMAIL), which is part of the larger Centre for Advanced Studies in Biomedical Innovation Law (CeBIL). He co-leads the Regulatory Foundations, Ethics, and Law Program of Harvard Catalyst | The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center program. He is also the lead on the Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation (POPLAR). He previously served as one of the key co-investigators on the multi-million dollar Football Players Health Study at Harvard which is committed to improving the health of NFL players (for more on this work click here). He is also one of three editors-in-chief of the Journal of Law and the Biosciences, a peer-reviewed journal published by Oxford University Press and serves on the editorial board for the American Journal of Bioethics. He served on the Steering Committee for Ethics for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Canadian counterpart to the NIH, and the Ethics Committee for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). He currently serves on the Ethics Committee of the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). He has also served on the bioethics advisory groups for life sciences companies like Otsuka, Illumina, and Bayer.

Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. Thomas Nasca presents: "Discussion of Professionalism"
2023-11-02 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Thomas J. Nasca, MD, MACP is president and chief executive officer of the ACGME; Professor of Medicine, Jefferson Medical College; and senior scholar in the Department of Medical Education, University of Illinois at Chicago School of Medicine.
Dr. Nasca graduated from the University of Notre Dame with High Honors and is an Alpha Omega Alpha graduate of Jefferson Medical College. Prior to joining the ACGME, Dr. Nasca served as senior vice president for Academic Affairs at Thomas Jefferson University, and as the Anthony and Gertrude DePalma Dean of Jefferson Medical College. Dr. Nasca left the deanship at Jefferson to assume the leadership of the ACGME in December 2007. In May 2009, Dr. Nasca became the founding president of ACGME-International.
Dr. Nasca is board-certified in internal medicine and nephrology. He has been a member and leader of a number of organizations with a mission of advancing excellence in medical education. He was a member of the Council of the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine (APDIM), having served as both secretary-treasurer and president. He served as associate editor of the Nephrology Medical Knowledge Self-Assessment Program for the American College of Physicians and was a member of the Internal Medicine In-Training Examination Steering and Writing Committees, the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine, and the Federated Council for Internal Medicine. He is a former chair of the ACGME Review Committee for Internal Medicine and a former member of the Board of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates. Dr. Nasca served on the Initiative to Transform Medical Education of the American Medical Association and on the Committee to Evaluate the US Medical Licensing Examination and is a past member of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. Dr. Nasca was a member of the Council on Graduate Medical Education of the Department of Health and Human Services and the US Congress. He is a Co-Chair of the Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience of the National Academy of Medicine.
Dr. Nasca was elected a Master of the American College of Physicians in 2006, received the Dema C. Daley Founders Award for Excellence in Internal Medicine Education from APDIM, the Rev. Clarence Shaffrey Award from St. Joseph’s University, the John C. Leonard Award from the Association of Hospital Medical Education, the Jefferson Medical College Alumni Achievement Award, the Founders Award from the Dr. Thomas Dooley Society of the University of Notre Dame, the Weinberger Award for Leadership from the American College of Physicians, the Miller Award from the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, and the Federation of State Medical Licensing Board’s Distinguished Service Award. He was named one of the 50 Most Powerful/Influential Physician Executives in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 by Modern Healthcare. He is the author of over 200 peer-reviewed articles, chapters, and other publications, and has delivered more than 500 invited lectures on topics related to medical education to national and international audiences.

Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. Furman McDonald presents: "Evidence Based Education: Medical Knowledge, Acquisition and Associations with Patient Relevant Outcomes"
2023-11-09 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Dr. McDonald, a board-certified internist and Senior Vice President for Academic and Medical Affairs at the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) provides physician leadership for the effective functioning of the ABIM Council and Specialty Boards, graduate medical education (GME)–related leadership, and oversight for the consistent quality/integrity of ABIM’s certification programs. In these roles, he supports the development and implementation of integrated policy and standards for the Certification programs of the specialty and subspecialties of Internal Medicine and discipline-specific aspects of Maintenance of Certification (MOC).

Prior to joining ABIM, Dr. McDonald held numerous GME-related positions. He was program director of one of the largest internal medicine residencies in the nation at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where he led the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Educational Innovations Project. Dr. McDonald was also a member of the Residency Review Committee for Internal Medicine (RRC-IM) during the transition to the Next Accreditation System (NAS) and remains on the RRC-IM ex officio.

Dr. McDonald’s career-long scholarly passion has been to study the links between graduate medical education and patient-relevant outcomes using sound evidence-based methods. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and has won numerous awards for medical education research and teaching, including the 2019 Alliance for Academic Medicine (AAIM) Special Recognition Award “…presented to an individual who has contributed most to helping the Alliance meet its mission which “promotes the advancement and professional development of its members who prepare the next generation of internal medicine physicians and leaders through education, research, engagement, and collaboration.”

He holds the rank of Adjunct Professor of Medicine at both the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Rochester, Minn, and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. McDonald remains clinically active as a supervising physician for the resident continuity clinic in the J. Edwin Wood Clinic of the Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia PA.

Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. Samantha Meltzer-Brody presents: "Developing Precision Medicine Approaches in Psychiatry-- Research Innovation to Improve Treatment of Perinatal Depression"
2023-11-16 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Dr. Samantha Meltzer-Brody, MD, MPH is the Assad Meymandi Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also directs the UNC Center for Women’s Mood Disorders. As Chair, Dr. Meltzer-Brody directs one of the largest public university departments of psychiatry in the United States and collaborates with UNC Health and the state of North Carolina on broad-based initiatives to improve mental health.
She is a passionate advocate for innovation and transformation of mental health care. She has also served in leadership roles in physician and health care worker mental health and well-being in the School of Medicine and UNC Health. Dr. Meltzer-Brody is an internationally recognized physician-scientist in perinatal depression. Her research investigates the epidemiologic and biological predictors of perinatal depression and innovative treatment approaches (pharmacologic and psychotherapeutic), which have taken her across the globe including sub-Saharan Africa. She had led the MOMS GENES study—the largest global genetic study of postpartum depression (PPD) using app-based tools. She also served as the academic PI for the novel psychopharmacologic clinical trials developing the first FDA-approved medication for postpartum depression (brexanolone) and also served an investigator for the newly approved oral drug (zuranolone) for PPD.
Dr. Meltzer-Brody has received numerous awards for her work. She was awarded the 2023 NIH Clinical Center Distinguished Clinical Research Scholar and Educator in Residence, and the 2020 UNC O Max Gardner Award, a UNC System Award (17 universities) for the highest faculty honor. Dr. Meltzer-Brody is also the recipient of the 2019 American Psychiatric Association Alexandra Symonds Award in Women’s Mental Health. She was named to the 2022, Forbes List of 16 Healthcare Innovators You Should Know, the 2021 Forbes The Visionary List: Women Over 50 Shaping The Future Of Science, Technology And Art, and the Forbes List of ‘Women over 50 Working to Improve our Collective Mental Health”. She was also ranked in 2021 by Expertscape, as the number one expert in the world for postpartum depression.

Medicine Grand Rounds: Dr. Alex Duncan presents: “The Clap is back: Challenges and Progress towards a Gonorrhea Vaccine that is Needed Now More Than Ever.”
2023-11-30 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
My lab focuses on studies of the molecular mechanisms by which pathogens interaction with host immune responses influence infection pathogenesis. Our lab began with studies of the activation of the family of innate immune signaling proteins known as NOD-like receptors (NLRs) by bacterial pathogens. Our lab has focused on studying the molecular mechanisms of NLR protein ligand recognition and activation, particularly NLRP3 which forms a Caspase-1 activating, IL-1 processing complex known as the inflammasome upon activation. In addition to biochemical and molecular work focused on mechanisms of innate immune signaling, we have studied the host innate and adaptive immune responses that influence N. gonorrhoeae infection pathogenesis. My lab discovered that N. gonorrhoeae suppresses host antigen presenting cells’ ability to stimulate T lymphocyte proliferation and has ongoing studies to understand the mechanisms that support this immune evasion. Our studies of N. gonorrhoeae pathogenesis and immunity have been bolstered by the use of a human challenge model for N. gonorrhoeae infection. I have worked in collaboration with Dr. Marcia Hobbs here at UNC running unique experimental human gonococcal infection program for nearly a decade. We have used this model to study N. gonorrhoeae pathogenesis comparing isogenic mutant strains of N. gonorrhoeae. We collaborated on a study of the efficacy of a novel antibody-based therapeutic in the prevention of N. gonorrhoeae infection using the human challenge model. We also have ongoing research projects studying the cross-reactive immune responses against N. gonorrhoeae that are induced by outer-membrane vesicle-based vaccines against the related pathogen, N. meningitidis using a combination of mouse and human infection models.

Medicine Grand Rounds: Dr. Anthony Comuzzie presents: "Beyond the Bench or Bedside: Advocating for Access to Evidence-Based Obesity Care."
2023-12-14 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Dr. Comuzzie is the CEO of The Obesity Society, the leading professional scientific organization devoted to obesity. He is a world-renowned obesity researcher and scientist, having previously spent nearly 25 years on the faculty of Genetics at Texas Biomedical Research Institute where his research focused on the genetic epidemiology of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, and has over 30 years of experience in the obesity space. In addition, to his role as CEO for The Obesity Society, he currently serves as a Co-Chair for the Obesity Care Action Network (OCAN) as well as serving on the board of the Obesity Action Coalition (OAC), and the external advisory board for the Obesity Policy Engagement Network (OPEN). He has published over 250 articles and chapters, with the majority of these focused on the genetics of cardiometabolic-related phenotypes. Dr. Comuzzie received his BS degree in Biology in 1981 and a MA degree in Anthropology in 1987 from Texas A&M University and his PhD in Biological Anthropology in 1992 from the University of Kansas.

Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. Amanda Nelson presents: " A discussion on the application of AI tools to answer clinical questions around diagnosis, phenotyping, prognosis, and precision medicine using examples from investigators at UNC."
2024-01-04 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Dr. Nelson is a board-certified internist and rheumatologist with a Masters in Clinical Research in Epidemiology. She spends one day per week in the clinic, divided between general rheumatology and musculoskeletal ultrasound, and is involved in fellow education and mentoring. Her research is focused on a variety of aspects of imaging in osteoarthritis (OA), including the contribution of bone shape to OA risk, novel methodologies for the analysis of large and complex datasets including machine learning, and assessment of the whole-body burden of OA. Also, Dr. Nelson is co-PI of the Johnston County OA Project, a 30-year community-based prospective cohort of OA, multiple chronic conditions, pain, and disability in Black and White men and women, and its new enrollment phase, the Johnston County Health Study. Last but not least, she is also the Director of the Phenotyping and Precision Medicine Resource Core of the UNC Core Center for Clinical Research (CCCR).

Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. Samuel Wilson presents: “Transformative therapies for Sickle Cell disease are here: Where do we go next?”
2024-01-11 12:00 - 13:00 | Old Clinic Auditorium
Dr. Samuel Wilson is a clinical assistant professor in the Division of Hematology at UNC. His research interests include understanding and improving the health outcomes of people living with sickle cell disease (SCD), with a focus on young adults. He is currently studying how to better manage iron overload in SCD, and is developing biomarkers of accelerated aging in SCD, which may yield additional insight into individuals living with SCD that are at risk for future complications.

Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. Brian Jensen presents: "Do alpha-blockers incur cardiovascular risk in patients with BPH? Recent collaborative ventures in translational and clinical research"
2024-01-18 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Brian Jensen is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Dr. Jensen is a physician-scientist with a clinical and investigative focus on heart failure. He has clinical certification in Advanced Heart Failure/Transplantation and directs the UNC Cardio-oncology clinic. His laboratory uses mouse and cell culture models to study the molecular response to myocardial injury with a focus on adrenergic receptor biology and the cardiotoxicity of targeted cancer therapies.

Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. Kevan Herold presents: Finding, Preventing, and Reversing Type 1 Diabetes
2024-01-25 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
My background and research are in translational immunology. I am interested in understanding the basis for autoimmune diseases and developing new therapies based on our understanding of disease mechanisms. My focus has largely been in the field of autoimmune Type 1 diabetes. The work encompasses basic laboratory work as well as clinical studies to understand the regulation of autoreactive T cells to clinical trials that involve novel therapeutics. As part of these studies, my lab has been very interested in the analysis of beta cell function in Type 1 diabetes and identifying the cellular mechanisms that can protect them from immune killing. We have also been studying the development of autoimmune diabetes in patients with cancers who are treated with checkpoint inhibitors. Our clinical and basic studies are focused on understanding how beta cells are destroyed and react to inflammation. Finally, with the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been studying the immunologic basis for responses in children and adults who are hospitalized with COVID-19 to understand the mechanisms that can lead to disease protection.

Medicine Grand Rounds for February 1, 2024 is cancelled.
2024-02-01 12:00 - 13:00 | NC

Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. Sascha Tuchman presents: "Nimbly Bounding Over the Hills? Multiple Myeloma in 2024."
2024-02-08 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Dr. Tuchman is an expert in managing patients with multiple myeloma, amyloidosis, and other plasma cell disorders. His clinical research focuses on treating multiple myeloma in patients who are at high risk for toxicity due to advanced age or other medical problems; developing novel drugs for treating all patients with multiple myeloma; and optimizing management for amyloidosis. Here at UNC, he leads the clinical and research multiple myeloma and amyloidosis program, as well as serving in a number of administrative and research oversight roles. He is a member of international myeloma and amyloidosis working groups that formulate guidelines for treating these disorders, and his research has been funded by NIH, pharma partners, and private philanthropic organizations.

Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. David Weber presents: “Prevention of Respiratory Tract Infections: Focus on Vaccines for COVID-19, Influenza, RSV, and Pneumococcus.”
2024-02-15 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Dr. David Jay Weber is currently the Charles Addison and Elizabeth Ann Sanders Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics and Epidemiology, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. Dr. Weber received his Medical Degree from the University of California, San Diego in 1977, a Master’s in Public Health from Harvard University in 1985, and completed his medicine residency and infectious disease fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1985. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Infectious Disease, Critical Care Medicine, and Preventive Medicine. Dr. Weber serves as an Associate Chief Medical Office, Associate Chief Quality Officer and Medical Director of Infection Prevention for the UNC Medical Center. He is the President-Elect of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and the Deputy Editor of Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. He is an Associate Editor of the journal Vaccine. Dr. Weber has published more than 550 scientific papers in the peer-reviewed literature cited in PubMed and more than 700 total papers and chapters. He is a member of the CDC Hospital Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) and on the following working groups: National Health Surveillance Network (Chair), Dental Water Lines (Chair), and Occupational Health for Healthcare personnel. He Chairs, the NC Dept. of Health, TB Advisory Committee. His research interests include the epidemiology of healthcare-associated infections, disinfection and sterilization, new and emerging infectious diseases (highly communicable pathogens including SARS-CoV-2, newly emerging pathogens including Candida auris), response to biothreats, nontuberculous mycobacteria, control of drug-resistant pathogens, immunization practices, zoonotic diseases, and epidemiology of tuberculosis.

Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. Scott Donaldson presents: "A Revolution in Cystic Fibrosis Care"
2024-02-22 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Dr. Scott Donaldson is the Hubert E. Hatcher Family Distinguished Professor of Medicine and co-Director of the UNC Adult CF Care Center. He has 30 years of experience in CF research and care. He was trained at the University of Michigan (BS, MD), Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hospitals (Internal Medicine) and UNC (Fellowship). He established the multidisciplinary adult CF clinic at UNC in 1998 and has been active in basic, translational, and clinical CF research throughout his career. He is currently the Director of Mucociliary Clearance National Resource Center; Chair of the “Clinical Research Award +” grant review committee (CF Foundation); co-PI of the UNC Therapeutic Development Center; Associate Medical Director of the UNC CTRC; and an Associate Editor for the Journal of Cystic Fibrosis.

Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. Ciara Zachary presents: "Medicaid Expansion: How Policy Impacts the People of North Carolina"
2024-02-29 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Ciara Zachary, MPH, PhD is a public health professional whose work focuses on health policy research and policy advocacy to increase access to affordable, high-quality health coverage, especially to underserved populations. Prior to joining the UNC Department of Health Policy and Management, she led several policy advocacy initiatives and lobbied state and federal lawmakers to improve health care programs. She frequently worked with grassroots and grasstops partners across North Carolina on policy issues, such as Medicaid Transformation, Medicaid Expansion, and the Affordable Care Act. In addition to her advocacy work, Dr. Zachary has extensive experience in state and federal health policy analysis.
Dr. Zachary also worked in program evaluation for diverse communities—including projects focusing on reducing the rate of high school noncompletion by students residing in low-resource communities, and injury prevention programs with American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and tribal organizations. Her evaluation work has addressed health programs, such as school-based behavioral health services and older adult injury prevention. Through her experiences working with diverse stakeholders, Dr. Zachary is passionate about understanding how health policy impacts health equity and health disparities.

Medicine Grand Rounds- Ambassador William Taylor presents: "Why Ukraine Must Win."
2024-03-07 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Ambassador William B. Taylor is vice president, of Europe and Russia at the U.S. Institute of Peace. In 2019, he served as chargé d’affaires at the U.S. embassy in Kyiv and as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009. During the Arab Spring, he oversaw U.S. assistance and support to Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Syria. He served in Jerusalem as the U.S. government’s representative to the Mideast Quartet. He served in Kabul in 2002 and Baghdad in 2004.
In the 1990s, Ambassador Taylor coordinated U.S. assistance to the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. He earlier served on the staff of Senator Bill Bradley.
Ambassador Taylor is a graduate of West Point and Harvard’s Kennedy School and served as an infantry platoon leader and combat company commander in the U.S. Army in Vietnam and Germany.

Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. Scott Commins and Dr. Eleanor Saunders presents: The Puzzle of Post-Infection Syndromes
2024-03-14 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Dr. Scott Commins is the William J. Yount, MD Distinguished Professor at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he is a member of the UNC Food Allergy Initiative, the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, and the Southeastern Center of Excellence for Vector Borne Diseases. Dr. Commins maintains an active clinical practice and research program related to the alpha-gal mammalian meat allergy syndrome and the human immune response to tick bites.
Dr. Commins received his M.D. & Ph.D. (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology) from the Medical University of South Carolina (Charleston, SC). Following a residency in Internal Medicine, Scott completed a fellowship in Allergy and Clinical Immunology at The University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA). He is an author for UpToDate (Food allergy in adults; Allergy to meats) and serves as the Chief Editor for the Drug, Venom & Anaphylaxis section of Frontiers. Dr. Commins is the current President of the Southeastern Asthma, Allergy, and Immunology Society and was a member of the Congressionally-appointed Tick-Borne Disease Working Group (2018-2020) where he was co-chair of the alpha-gal syndrome and public comment subcommittees.

Dr. Eleanor Saunders is a third-year Infectious Diseases fellow at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is spending this research year studying the epidemiology of alpha-gal syndrome under the mentorship of Dr. Scott Commins at UNC and Dr. Johanna Salzer in the Rickettsial Zoonoses Branch at CDC. Her funding comes through an ORISE Fellowship with CDC.
Dr. Saunders received her MD & MPH from the UNC School of Medicine and UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health (Chapel Hill, NC), and completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Bellevue Hospital/NYU Langone Health (New York, NY).

Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. Gustavo Heresi presents:" Spectrum and Evolution from Acute to Chronic Pulmonary Embolism"
2024-03-21 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Gustavo A. Heresi, M.D., M.S. is the Head of the Pulmonary Vascular Disease Section of the Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Respiratory Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio. He is board certified in Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine. After receiving his medical degree from the University of San Agustin Faculty of Medicine in Arequipa, Peru, Dr. Heresi completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Medical Center in Miami, Fl. He completed his fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical care medicine at The Cleveland Clinic. He then received a Master Degree in Clinical Research from Case Western Reserve University. He is Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University.
Dr. Heresi’s clinical interests are in pulmonary hypertension, acute pulmonary embolism, and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). Dr. Heresi has focused his research efforts on his specialty interests, including risk prediction, non-invasive biomarkers and metabolic dysregulation in pulmonary arterial hypertension, management of acute pulmonary embolism, and diagnosis and treatment of CTEPH. He is an NIH-funded investigator. He is the author of more than 95 peer-reviewed articles and is Assistant Associate Editor for CHEST.
Dr. Heresi has been the recipient of many awards including The Medical Student Inpatient Teaching Award, University of Miami School of Medicine 2004; Distinguished Medical Resident Award, Department of Medicine, University of Miami 2005; Gilead Sciences Research Scholars Program Award in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension 2009; Young Investigator Award, American College of Chest Physicians 2012; and Teacher of the Year Award, Cleveland Clinic Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship 2013-2014.

Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. Stephanie Duggins Davis presents: "Spectrum and Evolution from Acute to Chronic Pulmonary Embolism."
2024-03-28 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Dr. Davis is a pediatric pulmonologist whose research is focused on diseases that affect the lungs of infants and children such as cystic fibrosis, primary ciliary dyskinesia, and lung disease related to premature birth. Specifically, by gaining a firmer understanding of the early pathogenesis of these diseases, developing new ways of assessing or predicting developing disease, and testing new therapeutics in the youngest patients, Dr. Davis’s research group aims to slow or prevent disease progression at the earliest stages of development. Dr. Davis is a world-renown expert in pediatric pulmonology, with extensive expertise in infant and preschool lung function testing, who has been a member of many national and international consensus groups responsible for establishing guidelines for the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of infants and children with pediatric respiratory disease.
Some of Dr. Davis’s research initiatives have included:

Evaluating and allowing for the expanded use of preschool lung function testing for monitoring lung disease progression.

Gaining a better understanding of the links between the various genetic mutations which cause primary ciliary dyskinesia and the resultant structure/function of the respiratory cilia play in the severity and progression of disease.
Investigating the role that viruses may play in the early disease trajectory of infants with cystic fibrosis.
Characterizing the spectrum of respiratory disease observed in children born extremely premature and developing tools useful for clinicians to predict and allow for closer follow-up of those at higher risk of worse lung disease.
Testing the efficacy of inhaled hypertonic saline as a therapy in infants and preschoolers with cystic fibrosis.

Medicine Grand Rounds- DOM Psychological Safety Training with Facilitator Dr. Ashalla Freeman
2024-04-04 12:00 - 13:00 | Virtual via Zoom
Ashalla Freeman, PhD, is the Director of Access and Engagement in the Office of Graduate Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine (UNC SOM) and has served as Director of the UNC Initiative for Maximizing Student Development since 2014. She develops, administers, and oversees the evaluation of programs and services that support the success of under-resourced students in biomedical research. She mentors graduate students to aid their successful navigation of higher education, manages diverse graduate student recruitment, and supports admissions for UNC’s biomedical PhD programs. Dr. Freeman also serves as Director of Postdoctoral Access & Success in the Office of Inclusive Excellence and Community Engagement at the UNC SOM. She works to elevate IE priorities from the basic sciences, and to develop and deliver IE educational workshops/trainings, and enhance the recruitment, retention, and success of BIPOC across the SOM. Dr. Freeman has significant pedagogical training and preparation in mentoring, professional/career development, and broad background in biomedical research, science education, and IE education and training.

She holds a BS degree in Chemistry from Tougaloo College, a PhD in Microbiology/Immunology (bacterial pathogenesis) from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and she completed her postdoctoral training in UNC’s SPIRE Program and the Department of Microbiology/Immunology (bacterial genetics & protein biochemistry).

Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. Jonathan Sorah & Tammy Triglianos, DNP presents: UNC Undiagnosed Cancer Clinic (UCC): Rapid Oncology Access
2024-04-11 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Dr. Sorah is a Medical Oncologist with the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center where he specializes in the care of patients with GI malignancies and advanced melanoma. He did his undergrad at Virginia Tech, medical school at Virginia Commonwealth University, before doing his residency and fellowship in Medical Oncology here at UNC. Within the Department of Medicine, he serves as the service leader for the inpatient oncology and medical oncology consult teams and has several roles focused on trainee education including the Hem/Onc Fellowship Education Committee and a career goal advisor for MS4 medical students. His professional interests are in medical education, goals of care, and inpatient medical oncology. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his wife and two rambunctious young sons, running, and hiking

Tammy Triglianos, DNP, ANP-BC, AOCNP, is an experienced Adult Oncology Nurse Practitioner and has provided care for cancer patients at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center since 2007. Tammy is a member of the gastrointestinal oncology team and the Undiagnosed Cancer Clinic. She is also a clinical assistant professor at the UNC School of Nursing. In partnership with the UNC Lineberger Cancer Network, she coordinates a monthly APP-centric Grand Rounds.

Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. Onyinye I. Iweala presents: "Allergic Effector Cell Activation: From Alpha-gal syndrome to Mast Cell Activation"
2024-04-18 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Dr. Iweala’s primary research interests include 1) the mechanisms of pathogenesis behind alpha-gal mammalian meat (red meat) allergy and 2) the regulation of IgE antibody responses. Dr. Iweala also enjoys caring for individuals with allergic conditions and/or immune dysfunction at the UNC Allergy Clinic. She has a particular interest in patients with alpha-gal allergy, chronic urticaria, and mast cell disorders.

Medicine Grand Rounds 2024 Blythe Lecturer- Dr. Josie Briggs presents: "Uncertainty and the Practice of Evidence-Based Medicine"
2024-04-25 12:00 - 13:00 | Room 4008 Old Clinic Auditorium, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Dr. Josephine Briggs is an internationally recognized nephrologist and researcher.
She is a graduate of Radcliffe College and Harvard Medical School and did post-graduate internal medicine and nephrology training at Mount Sinai Medical School in NYC, where she served as the first woman chief medical resident. Her research training continued at Yale University and the University of Munich. From 1985 to 1997 she was a member of the faculty at the University of Michigan where she was Professor of Internal Medicine, Professor of Physiology and Associate Chair of the Department of Medicine.
She served for approximately 20 years in leadership positions at the National Institutes of Health, including serving as Director of the Division of Kidney, Urology and Hematology in the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases from 1996 to 2007, and Director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, the leading U.S. Federal agency for research on integrative and complementary health practices, from 2008 to 2017. While at the NIH she was the founding director of the Precision Medicine Initiative and founding co-director of the NIH Health Care Systems Research Collaboratory. For six years she was a member of the NIH Steering Committee. From 2019 to 2020, she served as Interim Executive Director of the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), and she continues to serve as a consultant to PCORI and Associate Editor for PCORI’s peer review process.
Her research interests include health policy related to kidney disease, chronic kidney disease and circadian regulation of blood pressure and renal hemodynamics. She is an expert on clinical research oversight and policy. She has published approximately 220 research articles, book chapters, and other scholarly publications.
She is an elected member of the Association of American Physicians and the American Society for Clinical Investigation and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a recipient of many awards including the Volhard Prize of the German Society of Nephrology, the Alexander von Humboldt Scientific Exchange Award, and NIH Director’s Award for her direction of the NIH Collaboratory. Dr. Briggs also received the American Society of Nephrology John P. Peters Award in recognition for her wide-ranging contributions to improving the lives of patients and to furthering the understanding of kidney in health and diseases and was also the recipient of the Department of Health and Human Services 2014 Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service, the Department’s highest award.
She served as Editor in Chief of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN) from 2018 to 2023. During her six-year term, the journal intensified the rigor of its peer review process and established a highly successful Editorial Fellowship program that integrates early career scientists into the editorial review.
She is currently and Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the University of Michigan.
