Making the Rounds- Summer 2020

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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