Making the Rounds- Summer 2020

MAKING THE ROUNDS SUMMER 2020

SIMULATION & MEDICAL EDUCATION T he Simulation Center will help develop clinical skills and teamwork behaviors that are

residents and nursing staff the ability to gain experience performing difficult procedures in a safe environment. Virtual Reality offers the ability to bring the chaos and ‘realness’ofasituationintoalearning environment. It helps evoke the emotional and hormonal response in a person similar to what an individual would experience in a real situation. Please contact Erica Easton at (661) 489-5253 or Erica.Easton@KernMedical.com to see how you can support the Sim Center Fundraising Campaign. Recognition opportunities are available.

room, emergency room, operating room, intensive care unit (ICU), obstetric operating room, and neonatal intensive care (NICU) room. In addition, a training room, pharmacy, and a High Tech Virtual Reality (VR) room were added to the center. The High Tech VR room will provide a space for participants to engage in a variety of VR activities. This room will resemble a typical high-acuity room in a hospital ICU and will offer We envision the Simulation Center being a resource for our entire Kern County Healthcare community.

best learned actively under realistic conditions. The Kern Medical Simulation Center is officially open! The center features state-of-the- art simulation equipment that focuses on teaching communication, collaborationandcrisismanagement. Simulation sessions will be recorded and immediately available for playback in either of the multi- media conference rooms. Each of the center’s training areas are designed to reflect the realities encountered in actual care settings. The center is a contiguous system designed to simulate the patient flow process with a trauma

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Beneficiaries of Simulation The Kern Medical Simulation Center trains a wide array of professionals throughout the healthcare continuum, including medical students, residents and fellows, and nursing staff from all clinical areas, as well as our surrounding community partners. Our clinical programs incorporate the latest technology by simulating a real clinical environment. Training also emphasizes essential safety aspects such as teamwork and communication.

This simulation center will also be available to our Mujeres en Medicina Health Career Pathway Program. This program works with schools in underserved areas of Kern County to bring students into our hospital where they are exposed to various healthcare jobs and professionals in our organization. These students will now have the opportunity to participate in hands- on simulation workshops, increasing career interest in the medical field.

Sage Wexner, MD, RN Director of Simulation Center Kern Medical

Dr. Wexner began his medical career when he was a teenager, as a Certified Nursing Assistant. Prior to medical school, he completed nursing school and became a registered nurse. He graduated medical school at the University of California, Davis and completed an internship in General Surgery in Phoenix. He completed his Emergency Medicine Residency at Kern Medical where, in his 4th year, he served as Chief Resident. After completing his Residency, he completed a Fellowship in Simulation Medicine and began working at UC Davis as an Assistant Professor and Assistant Clerkship Director.

In 2019, Dr. Wexner returned to Kern Medical to build a Simulation Program and serve as Director of Simulation where he directs and oversees resident, fellows, nursing and medical student training and education using simulation. In addition, he works regularly as an Emergency Medicine physician and Assistant Professor for the Emergency Residency Program.

Dr. Sage Wexner is a board-certified physician with more than 20 years of medical experience in urgent care,

emergency and nursing. As the Director of Medical Simulation, he oversees the use of simulation to instruct Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine, OB/ GYN, Psychiatry, Nursing and Pharmacy residents, fellows, and students. medicine

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2020 GRADUATING RESIDENTS & FELLOWS

Obstetrics & Gynecology Alicia Hitch, MD Dr. Hitch will be working at Enloe

Sundeep Grandhe, MD Dr. Grandhe will begin his Palliative Care Fellowship programat Harvard Medical School in July. Nosheen Hasan, MD Dr. Hasan was the Chief Resident for the 2019-2020 academic year and the recipient of the 2019-2020 Chairman’s Award for the Internal Medicine Department. Dr. Hasan will be working at Dignity Health

Simmerdeep Kaur, MD Dr. Kaur is one of the recipients of the 2019-2020 Robert S. Mosser Award and has received Scholar of the Year for her cohort all three years of Internal Medicine residency. She will begin her Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at Loma Linda University in July. Gowri Renganathan, MD Dr. Renganathan is one of the recipients of the 2019-2020 Robert S. Mosser Award. She will be practicing Primary Care at the Texas Tech University in El Paso. Hussien Saab, MD Dr. Saab will be working as a Hospitalist in Southern California.

Medical Center in Chico. Shelley McCormack, MD

Dr. McCormack has joined the OB/GYN team and will serve as a member of the Kern Medical Faculty. Internal Medicine Varun Bali, MD Dr. Bali will begin his Geriatric Fellowship program at the University of Oregon in July. Jeffrey Coleman, MD Dr. Coleman will be working at Dignity Health Bakersfield as a Hospitalist.

Bakersfield as a Hospitalist. Anthony Karapetians, MD

Dr. Karapetians will be working as a Hospitalist in Southern California.

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Emergency Medicine Silva Boyajian, MD

Pharmacy Department Jagdeep Bhullar, PharmD

Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Samantha Madziarski, MD, MBA Dr. Madziarski will remain in Bakersfield and work as a psychiatrist at the Psychiatric Evaluation Center with Kern Behavioral Health & Recovery Services. Ahsan Sohel, DO Dr. Sohel continues to weigh his options, as he studies and completes his Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Boards. Sarayu Vasan, MD, MPH Dr. Vasan will remain in Bakersfield and join the UCLA-Kern Psychiatry Residency Program and work as an inpatient psychiatrist at KernMedical.

Dr. Boyajian joined EMMA and will serve at several different community hospitals in the Glendale area. Isaac Grabiel, MD Dr. Grabiel will serve at Sanford Health in South Dakota. Jason Jerome, MD Dr. Jerome will serve at Hospital Sisters Health Systems in Illinois. Adam Johnson, MD Dr. Johnson will remain in Bakersfield and work at Dignity Health. Larissa Morsky, MD Dr. Morsky has joined the Emergency Medicine team and will serve as a member of the Kern Dr. Sayani will be working at Dignity Health Bakersfield as a Hospitalist. Vikram Shankar, MD Dr. Shankar will serve as an Independent Contractor at an Arizona Indian Reservation prior to moving on to Doctors without Borders. Medical Faculty. Sean Sayani, MD

Dr. Bhullar has joined the Pharmacy team and will serve as a member of the Kern Medical Faculty. Nicole Luu, PharmD Dr. Luu has joined the Pharmacy team and will serve as a member of the Kern Medical Faculty.

Psychiatry Department Navneet Bains, MBBS, MD

Dr. Bains will work as an outpatient psychiatrist at Sutter Yuba Mental Health Clinic in Yuba City. Surag Gohel, MBBS, MD, MPH Dr. Gohel will join Pacific Coast Psychiatric Associate in Walnut Creek and will serve as an Dr. Malik will remain in Bakersfield and work as an outpatient psychiatrist at Psychiatric Wellness Center in addition to doing telepsychiatry work with Pacific Clinics in Los Angeles. outpatient psychiatrist. Ansar Malik, MBBS, MD

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2020/2021 CHIEF RESIDENTS

Thomas “Preston” Hill, MD Emergency Medicine

Angad Kahlon, MD General Psychiatry

Matthew Bryan, DO Chief Research Fellow Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Tushar Bajaj, MD Internal Medicine

Khoa Mai, MD Chief Academic Fellow Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Serghei Burcovschii, MD Internal Medicine

Minal Bhatia, MD Chief Clinical Fellow Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Moriah Edmundson, DO Obstetrics & Gynecology

Chihiro Hirai-Adachi, DO Obstetrics & Gynecology

Terrance McGill, MD Rio Bravo Family Medicine

Julia Ray, DO Obstetrics & Gynecology

Joseph Gomes, MD Rio Bravo Family Medicine

Kenneth Varnes, MD Obstetrics & Gynecology

Lisa Kay Manzanares, DO Rio Bravo Family Medicine

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KERN MEDICAL YEAR IN REVIEW: A LETTER FROM THE DIO Amir Berjis, MD, FACS, FCCP, Director of Medical Education

W hat an exciting, unusual, and extraordinary academic year this has been! Our journey started in July when we welcomed 32 new residents and fellows into our residency and fellowship programs at Kern Medical. These new residents came from diverse backgrounds and cultures, including several from Kern County and the neighboring areas in the Central Valley of California. Our programs continue to meet the standards set by the Association for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Indeed, our sponsored programs in Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Psychiatry are all fully-accredited by the ACGME without warning or citations. We also sponsor a fully- accredited Clinical Pharmacy Residency program. This past year we focused our efforts in furthering our collaboration with the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (DGSOM). All of our existing residencies and fellowships, including Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry, have some degree of association with the DGSOM. In fact, our Chairs in Emergency Medicine (Dr. Rick McPheeters) and Internal Medicine (Dr. Everardo Cobos) hold Vice-Chair positions in their respective departments at UCLA. This partnership further blossomed this year as we applied for and received initial accreditation from the ACGME for a two year Infectious Disease Fellowship sponsored by Kern Medical. Dr. Arash Heidari will serve as the Program Director with our first fellow slated to start in July 2021. The fellow will have several rotations at UCLA and their affiliated sites. Finally, we continue to have UCLA medical students rotate at our institution to complete their core clerkship in Obstetrics and Gynecology and other electives. These students join our nearly 120 third and fourth- year medical students from Ross University who perform clerkships and electives at Kern Medical on an annual basis. To further enhance the education of our learners, Kern Medical recruited Dr. Sage Wexner to lead our efforts in creating a simulation program and curriculum at Kern Medical.

We are excited to have two new physicians added to our faculty. Shown are Dr. Cobos (left) with new faculty members, Dr. Rivera (center) and Dr. Lopez (right).

I am excited to announce that our new Simulation Center opened this summer! For the last two decades, Kern Medical has sponsored a local Research Forum to showcase the scholarly activity of our residents and faculty. This year, we decided to broaden our reach to a regional format and hold the Inaugural Southern San Joaquin Valley Research Forum which included digital dynamic abstracts for the first time. Over 40 graduate medical programs in the Central Valley were invited to participate along with students and faculty from the California State University of Bakersfield. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Forum was held in a virtual format. Nonetheless, we had nearly 70 participants and showcased the presentations of our four finalists digitally. You can review the digital abstracts and presentations and learn more about our research at https://www.kernmedical.com/researchforum/ . Over the last several months, our institution has been constantly adapting to the changing guidelines and demands of the global pandemic. All of our residents and faculty remain committed to providing the safest Honoring female physicians at Kern Medical during our Women Physician event: Back Row (L-R): Dr. Lopez, Dr. Rivera, Dr. Bazmi, Dr. Quillatupa, Dr. Moosavi, Dr. Morsky, Dr. Bekarev, Dr. Jones; Front Row (L-R): Dr. Madhanagopal, Dr. Eppanapally, Dr. Joolhar, Dr. Agarwal

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Internal Medicine residents at the AFMR conference: (L-R): Dr. Valdez, Dr. Shah, Dr. Sandhu, Dr. Civelli Caudillo, Dr. Gupta, Dr. Petersen, Dr. Ratnayake, Dr. Cobos, Dr. Moosavi, Dr. D’Assumpcao, Dr. Heidari (center)

Internal Medicine residents at the AFMR conference: (L-R): Dr. Sandhu, Dr. D’Assumpcao, Dr. R. Sidhu, Dr. N. Sidhu, Dr. Sandhu, Dr. Jaka

Dr. Heidari (center) and Dr. Mossavi (right) supporting medical students and their research studies at a conference.

and highest-quality care to every patient who walks through our doors. We have adopted various virtual platforms to continue to meet the need for educating our residents and increased our telemedicine capabilities. I am proud of every resident, fellow, and faculty who continue to serve as front-line healthcare workers in our fight against this invisible pathogen. Finally, we graduated 27 residents and fellows at the end of June. These graduates will join the hundreds of alumni who have been trained at Kern Medical over the last six decades. We are excited for the changes and enhancements we have made to our programs

and we look forward to this new academic year. We hope that these changes allow for even more opportunity and growth for our learners, and together we continue to be the leading academic institution we are all proud to be a part of.

To join our Alumni Association visit: http://kernmedicalfoundation.com/kern- medical-alumni/ to help us continue to be the premier academic teaching hospital in Kern County for years to come!

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NOW OPEN

THE VALLEY FEVER INST I TUTE

The new state-of-the-art Valley Fever Institute opened in the Summer of 2020. The Valley Fever Institute is a patient-centered specialty care clinic, designed to meet the needs of patients, families, and caregivers. The Institute has a therapeutic environment with enough space for loved ones to accompany patients during appointments and treatments. Care is tailored specifically to meet the individual needs of each patient and their loved ones, from transportation concerns and side effects of medication, to impacts on mental and emotional health that accompany chronic diseases. In addition to being California’s premiere Valley Fever clinical center, it is also house the Valley Fever Institute’s research operations. Having research conducted on-site enables patients to easily participate in research studies and clinical trials, aiding us in the search for more effective treatments, and ultimately a cure. For the first time ever, the Valley Fever Institute brings together groundbreaking research, revolutionary patient treatment and diagnostics, and comprehensive education for patients, community members, and physicians. The Valley Fever Institute at Kern Medical is the only center in the world where Valley Fever patient care, research, advocacy, medical education, public education, and awareness initiatives exist in a cohesive program . Our team is uniquely equipped to lead the charge in the minimization of the impact this disease has on patients and their families. Donor Recognition Opportunities are Available Throughout the Valley Fever Institute Interested in naming one of our rooms?

Please contact Evan Lanuza at (661) 489-5231 or Evan.Lanuza@KernMedical.com

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VALLEY FEVER INSTITUTE: UCOP GRANT AND STUDY

Pictured: Dr. Kuran (left) , Dr. Butte (center) , Dr. Johnson (right)

T here are many questions that our team at the Valley Fever Institute seeks to answer in the quest for a better understanding of the fungal infection, Coccidioidomycosis (Valley Fever.) We believe that one of the keys to paving the way for more effective therapies lies in the understanding of Valley Fever’s wide range of symptoms and severity. Most cases are benign and resolve on their own within a few weeks, but in rare cases, the infection can linger or spread to other parts of the body, resulting in disseminated disease. Why do some individuals’ bodies possess the ability to recognize and fight off a Valley Fever infection with no symptoms (approximately 60%) or mild symptoms (approximately 39%,) while one percent of infected individuals go on to develop severe or life-threatening disease? In 2018, a four-year-old boy from Santa Maria, California was diagnosed with Disseminated Valley Fever that had spread and infected his soft tissue, skull, bones, arms, legs, and spine. He failed all available antifungal therapies and was referred to Dr. Manish Butte at UCLA for specialized pediatric care. There, Dr. Butte and Dr. Maria Garcia-Lloret analyzed the boy’s T-Cells to seek the cause of his body’s inability to recognize and fight off the infection. Through this analysis, it was determined that the patient’s body recognized the infection and geared up for battle, but against the wrong enemy; his body differentiated its T-cells to fight a parasitic infection that didn’t exist, meanwhile ignoring the

Dr. Manish Butte and the UCLA team visit with the Kern Medical Valley Fever Institute team to discuss research collaboration with .

fungal infection that continued to rage. Dr. Butte and Dr. Garcia-Lloret looked further into the boy’s inflammatory pathway and through the administration of the drugs, interferon gamma and dupilumab, were able to reprogram his immune response to target the Valley Fever Infection. This case has inspired UCLA to team up with The Valley Fever Institute at Kern Medical on a state-funded grant awarded by the University of California Office of the President (UCOP.) This grant, titled “The Immune Dysregulation of Disseminated Coccidioidomycosis,” involves the analysis and comparison of the genetics and immune response of patients with disseminated disease to those who have uncomplicated Valley Fever. In this study, our goal is to identify the genetic or immunological errors at play in disseminated disease, which may lead to the ability to predict which individuals are at risk of severe disease and aid in the identification of targeted therapies that can correct immunological errors to prevent or reverse disease.

Please contact Evan Lanuza at (661) 489-5231 or Evan.Lanuza@KernMedical.com to see how you can support the Valley Fever Institute at Kern Medical. Recognition opportunities are available.

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MUJERES EN MEDICINA

K ern Medical’s Mujeres en Medicina Team was established in 2018 to help lead the Health Careers Program. The program directly focuses on providing low-income, minority students with additional resources to reach academic and career success by helping create positive relationships between students and successful professionals in healthcare. This creates an awareness and understanding in hopes of building the healthcare leaders of tomorrow. The Health Careers Pathway Program at Kern Medical gives our residents and staff a platform to share their success stories with students, while also giving them the opportunity to mentor students and help spark interest in health careers. Through our program, students belonging to underserved areas of Kern County are brought into our hospital to participate in a half day program where they get to hear from speakers, participate in hands- on training workshops, and tour different areas of the hospital, and gaining exposure to various careers in healthcare. These activities are led by our Residents and Medical Students, and is strongly supported

organized a total of 8 half day events with schools such as Taft and Arvin, among others, and having over 229 students participate in our program. Please contact Aidee Cardenas at (661) 489-5255 or Aidee.Cardenas@KernMedical.com to see how you can support Mujeres en Medicina.

by the Residency Program Directors and Administration, who often join our events and share their own personal stories. Mujeres en Medicina continues to be a huge success in our organization, allowing us to secure funding that supports having a pipeline program for children in underserved areas. Since June 2019, this leadership team has

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SICKLE CELL VIRTUAL REALITY

Dr. Issa and Dr. Grandhe have been working with Mrs. Harper, a Kern Medical sickle cell patient, using non-opiod interventions, including Virtual Reality for pain management.

A cute

Vaso-Occlusive Crisis (VOC) is the most common complication in

than 100,000 predominantly African Americans living with Sickle Cell Disease suffer from discrimination and poor care, with up to 50% longer wait times in the emergency department compared to other pain patients. With the opioid crisis at its peak, sickle cell patients in excruciating pain are far more likely to be seen as drug seekers with addiction problems, rather than patients in dire need. Recognizing the challenges that lay ahead and desperate to find a solution after witnessing these patients in pain, it is our hope that a new, affordable, state-of-the- art, portable device can provide a much needed alternative for this neglected population with the use

patients with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), a genetic disease resulting in sickle shaped red blood cells. VOC leads to pain crisis which, without adequate treatment, often results in prolonged inpatient hospitalizations and even death. A pain crisis occurs when sickled red blood cells block the small blood vessels carrying blood to the bones, resulting in sudden increased pain that may last from hours to days. Historically and nationally, there has been very little clinical research done for sickle cell patients focused on pain management. Sickle Cell Disease affects a disproportionately high number of African Americans. It is important to note that more

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SICKLE CELL CARE AT KERN MEDICAL

Everardo Cobos, MD, FACP is Chairman of the Department of Medicine & Chief Division of Hematology/Oncology at Kern Medical. He serves as Principal Investigator for the clinical research study titled “Therapeutic Virtual Reality as Complementary Pain Therapy in Hospitalized Adult Patients with Sickle Cell Disease.” Ameish Govindarajan, MD is a final year Internal Medicine resident with plans on pursuing a Hematology and Oncology Fellowship after graduating. He is an Advisory Board member for the Phase One Foundation, which specializes in clinical research and primary drug trials for Oncology patients in Southern California. Samantha Ratnayake, MD is an Internal Medicine resident with plans on pursuing a Hematology and Oncology Fellowship after graduating. She plans to continue practicing medicine locally after completing her training. SundeepGrandhe, MD is agraduate of Kern Medical Internal Medicine program. He has a great passion for providing culturally sensitive and compassionate care for medically disadvantaged and underserved populations. He is currently a Fellow in Pain and Palliative Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He intends to give back to the community of Bakersfield where he has grown up.

of Virtual Reality. Dr. Everardo Cobos, Chairman of the Department of Medicine & Chief Division of Hematology/Oncology at Kern Medical and resident physicians Dr. Ameish Govindarajan Dr. Samantha Ratnayake, and Dr. Sundeep Grandhe devised a way to implement the use of virtual reality to ameliorate pain crisis as a complementary, non-opioid, therapeutic intervention for adult sickle cell patients. We have anecdotally observed an encouraging therapeutic response in several of our patients, resulting in decreased length of stays, along with reductions in opioid demand and total opioid consumption. Of note, these findings to date are anecdotal and yet to be part of a blinded controlled study. In an effort to decrease wait times in the emergency room for sickle cell patients in VOC, we are looking for solutions exclusively designed to identify sickle cell patients with early signs of clinical deterioration for urgent intervention. We have recently partnered with KindVR, a research-based company that specializes in clinically validated virtual reality experiences in leading academic institutions across North America. We have devised a first of it’s kind study to allow patients at Kern Medical suffering from adult sickle cell pain crisis to experience customized virtual reality programs designed to alleviate pain and lower opioid consumption.

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DEPARTMENT UPDATES

Emergency Medicine Emergency Medicine has added Dr. Karina Sanchez as faculty. Dr. Sanchez graduated from Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center EM Residency Program in April 2020. Dr. Karina Sanchez serves as Speaker of the Council for

EMRA (Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association). EMRA is the largest and oldest independent resident organization in the world and its mission is to be the voice of emergency medicine physicians-in-training and the future of our specialty.

OB Residents & Faculty enjoying some much needed yoga relaxation in Santa Barbara for their annual retreat.

OB/GYN The OB/GYN department has been working with Dr. Sage Wexner, Director of Medical Simulation, to enchance their FLS skills. Our residents are excited for this training, as it helps with their board examinations. In addition to training and development activities, our department has directed a lot of its focus on the wellness of our residents. Our department held its annual retreat, focusing on teamwork and creating a work/ life balance. We are excited for this upcoming academic year and are looking forward to more activities.

Pharmacy Dr. Isabel Fong, PharmD, BCIDP, AAHIVP, has been added to the clinical infectious disease team, where she will serve as a pharmacist for the Valley Fever Institute. She will be leading our antimicrobial stewardship activities and has been an

integral part of the hospital’s COVID-19 taskforce. Both our residents’ research projects are being featured on the California Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ webinar, available here: https://www. cshp.org/page/CSHP_GESHP_Webinar6-16-2020 The Pharmacy’s 2019 publication, Meds-to-Beds: The impact of a bedside medication delivery program on 30-day readmissions (Lash DB, Joson JL, Jolliff, JC, et al., J Am Coll Clin Pharm 2019;1-7. https://doi.org/10.1002/ jac5.1108 ) was among the top 10% most downloaded papers.

Psychiatry The department has also made some exciting staffing changes this year. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Sara Abdijadid for her new role as ProgramDirector for the Psychiatry Residency Program. We are excited to welcome two new faculty members to

the Psychiatry Department, Dr. Timothy Kiong and Dr. Sarayu Vasan. Both started their positions with Kern Medical earlier this summer and will be working at the Behavioral Health Unit and C&L.

OB Residents & Faculty on the beach in Santa Barbara.

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MEDICINE

Internal Medicine Residency program will have three new Associate Program Directors. Beginning July 2020 Dr. Greti Petersen, Dr. Ayham Aboeed, and Dr. Sabitha Eppanapally will be sharing the role of Associate Program Director.

Dr. Greti Petersen

Dr. Sabitha Eppanapally

Dr. Ayham Aboeed

Pictured above (L-R): Dr. Grewal, Brian Loor, Dr. Mendoza, Dr. Upple, Dr. Gill, Dr. Karapetians, Dr. Bajaj, Dr. Burcovschii

Infectious Disease Fellowship

In the spring of 2020, the Department of Medicine received ACGME accreditation for a new Infectious Disease Fellowship Program. Beginning July 2020, Dr. Arash Heidari will transition into the new role of Program Director of the Infectious Disease Fellowship Program. The program is expected to welcome its first fellow in July 2021. Fellows will develop expertise in managing patients with bacterial, viral, and fungal infections including

Coccidioidomycosis, HIV, viral Hepatitis, parasitic infections, and tuberculosis. Fellows will also be well- trained in the fundamentals of infectious diseases in transplantation, epidemiology, microbiology, infection prevention, and Public Health at our participating sites. Our Faculty-to-Fellow ratio fosters solid mentoring in an atmosphere of camaraderie and teamwork.

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KERN MEDICAL FOUNDATION HIGHLIGHTS

Kern Medical Foundation is proud to partner with our community to secure funds and resources necessary to support Kern Medical’s life-changing and life-saving programs. Kern Medical Foundation has helped establish many notable projects this last year, including the purchase of medical equipment, improvements to different areas of the hospital, and funding major events that support our patients, staff, Faculty and Residents.

Here are just a few Kern Medical Foundation funded projects.

Reach out and Read: The Reach out and Read program promotes early reading and provides reading books to all pediatric patients during well check appointments.

Southern San Joaquin Valley Research Forum: Supports research efforts from around the central valley.

Behavioral Health Garden: The garden gives our behavioral health inpatients a safe and relaxing environment to do activities that help promote healing.

VFI walk: The Valley Fever walk brings awareness about Valley Fever to our community.

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KERN MEDICAL FOUNDATION

Pediatric Emergency Room: Design and construction of a Pediatric unit within our existing Emergency Department. This will allow for our pediatric patients to be cared for in a specially designed unit. Currently, pediatric patients account for approximately 20% of Kern Medical’s overall volume in the Emergency Department. Columbus Pediatric Outpatient Clinic: Renovation of the existing clinic space will provide a refresh of the space and update all of the clinical areas with new equipment. The improvements will improve workflow that will allow us to increase the number of children we serve by more than 15% annually.

The Kern Medical Foundation has been awarded a grant of $9,289,941.38 from the California Health Facilities Financing Authority for the Every Kid program at Kern Medical. The Every Kid program includes projects throughout both the inpatient and outpatient pediatric clinical areas. The following items highlight the impact of the funding. Inpatient Pediatric Unit: Relocation of the Pediatric Unit to 4C, where it will be designed and equipped with new, efficient technology and equipment to better serve our pediatric patients and their families. The unit will feature 11 pediatric beds, including an isolation room.

The include expanding our waiting room areas, which will allow for better physical distancing for our critically and chronically ill patients. Equipment and Technology: New specialtyequipmentfortheNeonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), surgical equipment for our ENT specialists, simulation equipment for education and diagnostic equipment. Several software applications will be funded for our telehealth program, breast milk program, and the sepsis and antimicrobial stewardship programs. renovation will

Grant

Project

Amount

Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine & OB/GYN: Residency Program Support - Medical Education

$1,335,000

CalMedForce

University of California, Office of the President (UCOP)

$25,000

UCOP Study - Valley Fever Research

Alfred Harrell Foundation

$100,000

Outpatient Pediatric Clinic Remodel

California Department of Public Health

$100,000

Highly Infectious Disease Program

Safe Streets: Helmets, Bike Safety Equipment, & Community Education

$65,000

Office of Traffic Safety

Adverse Childhood Exeriences (ACEs)

$50,000

Trauma Informed Care: Physician Training and Education

Mujeres en Medicina: Health Careers Education for High School Students

$7,500

Bank of America

HealthNet

$100,000

Telemedicine: Information Technology

Networking California for Sickle Cell Care

$492,000.00

Comprehensive Sickle Cell Program

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Kern Medical’s COVID Relief Fund and the Kern Medical Auxiliary

Kern Medical’s COVID Relief Fund has helped donate over 500 homemade masks to our staff and has provided meals to various departments throughout the hospital.

HIGHLIGHTING A FEW OF OUR NEW PHYSICIANS

Introducin Helen A. Davis , MD, FACS B oard Certified Ophthalmologist, Eye Physician & Surgeon Diseases Treated Include:

Dr. Davis Enjoys: Humanitarian Medical Missions | Golf Volunteering & Mentoring | Family Visiting Historical Sites | Museums OutdoorTravel | Theatre | Sailing • Cataracts • Glaucoma & Diabetic Eye Exams • Pterygiums & Eyelid Growths • Plaquenil Clearance • Thyroid Eye Evaluation • Blurred Vision • Red Eye • Painful Eye • Dry Eye • Eye Allergies

Make an Appointment with Dr. Davis Kern Medical Eye Institute 2920 FStreet,Ste.B2 | (661)862-8175

We’ve Expanded Our Pediatric Services! Our Outstanding Providers Parameswaran Aiylam, MD, Chair *Kehvon Bekarev, MD *Rehana Rafiq, MD Lulua Mandviwala, MD Thiagarajan Nandhagopal, MD Abu Taher, MD

CALL TODAY *Now seeing patients at our Truxtun location. N o w O p e n 5 D a y s a W e e k

Margaret Aten, PA Rod Clamonte, NP Gabriel Garcia Barajas, NP Kenneth Hutchins, PA Janice Ray, NP

6001TruxtunAvenue | Suite210 Bakersfield,CA93309

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Welc e Kern Medical Alumni! Benefits of Membership

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All funds raised will support Medical Student & Resident Education at Kern Medical Learning opportunities that include CME credit lectures & events Invitations to Alumni Society social events Stay up to date on Kern Medical news Membership fee is 100% tax deductible

The Kern Medical Alumni Society is open to all current faculty & former residents, fellows & physicians »

Yes! I want to join the Kern Medical Alumni Society.

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Questions – please contact Erica Easton at (661) 489-5253 or Erica.Easton@kernmedical.com

Alumni

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