Q&A: 5 Questions for UAB’s Sports and Exercise Medicine Fellows
Fall sports are in full swing in Birmingham, and UAB Sports and Exercise Medicine fellows Matthew Miesch, M.D., and Christian Muller, D.O., are in the middle of it all, whether courtside in Bartow Arena, on the sidelines at high school football games or at the ice rink with the Birmingham Bulls.
Miesch and Muller are in the first year of the two-year UAB-Cahaba Sports and Exercise Medicine Fellowship, which is supported by Cahaba Medical Care and the UAB Department of Family and Community Medicine. Fellows receive comprehensive training in all areas of sports medicine, including sports cardiology, ultrasound, concussion management, exercise as medicine and more, while also completing a Master’s of Science in Exercise and Nutrition.
Joined by providers and faculty members, fellows provide sideline coverage at a huge range of sporting events all over Birmingham, including youth and high school sports, UAB varsity and club teams and professional teams such as Birmingham Legion soccer, Birmingham Bulls hockey and Vulcan Rugby. They will also be part of the UAB Sports and Exercise Medicine team providing medical coverage for both athletes and spectators at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham.
We caught up with Miesch and Muller ahead of UAB men’s basketball’s first home game on Monday to learn how the fellowship is going so far.
Q. What drew you both to sports medicine?
Muller: I swam for more than 14 years, including in college for the University of Buffalo. I love being in sports environments, dealing with athletes and coaches. Athletes typically have a special kind of drive. If they do get injured, they work very hard to get better and to come out stronger on the other side of the injury. They make for exciting patients and are just a lot of fun to work with.
Miesch: I was raised around a lot of sports – basketball, baseball, football, etc. – and played a few years of college baseball before going to medical school. I love that, as sports medicine providers, we get to be out in the community, on the sidelines, enjoying all sorts of matches and games. I wanted to choose a profession that would not feel like “work” every day because I enjoy it. For me, sports medicine offers that. The teams that we cover are a breath of fresh air, and we get to spend lots of time outside, at great events, with great teams and coaches. I love that environment and the sense of teamwork and camaraderie that comes with athletics.
Q. What sports are you covering right now?
Miesch: Along with professional teams like the Legion, Vulcan Rugby and the Bulls, we are working with a lot of UAB varsity athletics teams, including football, basketball, volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer and cross country, as well as UAB club sports. We just finished up a club lacrosse tournament, for example. We also cover high school football every Friday night, which is a lot of fun. Going every week, you really get to know the athletes and their families. At all of the high school and club events, Christian or I serve as the primary attending physician on the sidelines, which gives us really great experience in that leadership role.
Q. What have been some of your favorite parts of the fellowship so far?
Muller: I knew that I was going to have a great experience working with the current staff. Dr. [Ian] McKeag [assistant professor and fellowship director] was a big reason I came to UAB. I really enjoyed meeting him during our virtual interviews and he is a very easy person to work with. He creates a productive, friendly learning environment, where it is easy to discuss and ask questions. I love all of the hands-on work that we have been able to do, and the trust placed in us as they continue to let us step into leadership roles. We get to make a lot of calls and decisions, and are really able to make a difference.
Miesch: I agree with all Christian said, and I have also really enjoyed the procedures we have learned to do, particularly ultrasound procedures. Ultrasound is a huge aspect of the sports medicine fellowship and I think it is a big part of our niche as nonsurgical sports medicine physicians. We also gain experience reviewing hundreds of CT scans and MRIs, but ultrasound is fairly unique in its use in sports medicine and mastering that really increases our value when we step into practice.
Q. What types of ultrasound treatments or services are you able to provide?
Muller: One of the most common uses is for joint injections, injecting corticosteroids, hyaluronic acid or gel injections, or PRP [platelet-rich plasma] injections to promote healing and joint function. We can also use ultrasound to diagnose rotator cuff tears or muscle injuries and identify fluid collections or even fractures. It can be both therapeutic and diagnostic and can be done on site, so that the patient does not have to go to another clinic for an MRI or CT scan.
Q. UAB basketball is about to tip off. What are you looking forward to?
Muller: I have not worked with the team much yet, but I’ve heard a lot of good things. I am excited to experience the energy in Bartow – you can probably feel it on your skin when you are there with the crowd. I am looking forward to experiencing that and watching the team play.
Miesch: It’s just great to be right there on the sidelines, really getting to know these Division I athletes and understand how to treat them and help them be their best. I also enjoy being around Dr. [Heath] Hale and Dr. [Amit] Momaya and watching how they interact with the team and the coaches.
Telehealth and Nutrition Counseling: Pandemic Reveals Advantages to Talking About Nutrition Virtually
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), use of telehealth visits increased 50% at the beginning of 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way that many providers offer care, and it has created new ways for patients to connect with care teams from their homes.
While telehealth presents certain challenges, such as connectivity or access, it has broadened the ability for specialists and other care providers to reach patients who might not ordinarily make it to an urban area for a one-on-one visit. One provider in the Department of Family and Community Medicine believes this new pandemic precedent improves her ability to work with patients during nutrition counseling appointments.
Caroline Cohen, Ph.D., R.D., assistant professor and clinical dietitian, has found several advantages to having her nutritional counseling sessions via telehealth visits. Patients are able to show her their kitchens and the types of foods they can easily integrate into meal plans, and Cohen can quickly give resources by sharing her screen with patients. Cohen is also able to look at patients’ nutrition tracking apps which help facilitate individual recommendations for their nutrition plans.
“Telehealth visits give me increased access into a patient’s world,” noted Cohen. “This can really help with providing individualized dietary interventions and maximize the benefit of nutrition counseling.”
Nutrition counseling appointments allow for individualized conversation about health goals related to weight management, sports nutrition, and dietary management of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and more. Cohen is also available for counseling surrounding pregnancy and lactation nutrition needs. She works with patients of all backgrounds and ages to counsel them on the best ways to integrate optimal nutrition into their diets.
For more information about nutrition services or to schedule an appointment, visit the UAB-Highlands Family Medicine portal.
Storytelling in Medicine Gives Students Opportunities to Reflect, Provide Better Care and Advocate
Claire Wilson, MS2At the same time that the world was reckoning with widespread outcry after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and dealing with the growing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Claire Wilson was experiencing a number of changes in her personal life. During her first year of medical school, a stressful and stretching time by itself, Wilson was managing family challenges and working through her own reactions to COVID-19 as an emerging medical provider and the racial injustice conversations happening around her as a multiracial woman.
It was a time marked by protests, personal reflection and increasingly honest storytelling surrounding racism in America, and Wilson’s own story began to unfold in a way she never imagined.
Months after these experiences, Wilson opened up to share her story with peers and mentors as part of a practical summer anti-oppression experience led by the Department of Family and Community Medicine’s Office of Identity, Inclusion and Collective Conscience (I2C2). I2C2 works to celebrate diverse identities, support inclusion and belonging of multiple stakeholders, and increase understanding and action around achieving health equity and social justice. Brandi Shah, M.D., MPH, director of I2C2, and Shyla Fields, program manager, work closely with U2P students to cultivate brave spaces for the students to learn how to elevate diverse voices and recognize and address social determinants of health in primary care and broader community.
A child of a multiracial family and resident of Birmingham, Wilson created a digital story during the culminating mini-storytelling workshop of the summer I2C2 program. The students were challenged to explore their and reconcile their own lived experience and personal connections to present-day anti-oppression and social justice issues that they learned about during the week. Wilson’s digital story demonstrates the brave and clear voice of a burgeoning physician committed to health justice, as well as the accessible skills-building of digital storytelling for health, all while weaving personal history into the critical conversations she is having as part of the CU2RE Urban Underserved Pathway (U2P) program.
I2C2’s week-long anti-oppression course took U2P students on tours of Birmingham and Montgomery Civil Rights locations, integrating the story of the southern cities into the broader story of the impact of racism, intersecting social determinants, and health inequity. The group focused on the complicated history of race and medicine, and how the students' own stories, past and future, could contribute to healing and equity. Shah and Fields provided creative support and mentorship for the students as they grew new understanding of each other and their practice community to engage in courageous self-reflection and personal and professional story sharing.
“Spending an intentional, mutually-enriching week with the inaugural CU2RE medical student cohort—and my emerging colleagues—provided some of the rejuvenating transformative power that sustains me in my own career,” said Shah. “I am grateful to the entire group for bringing all of themselves to the experience, and especially grateful to Claire for encapsulating the experience in her equally transformative digital story and reflections.”
Wilson shared her digital story and took time to reflect on her personal storytelling journey.
Q. What does storytelling in medicine mean to you?
A. “The practice of hearing and telling stories (even data driven stories) is, in my opinion what “makes the magic happen”. This is how we as medical professionals facilitate relationship and meaningful connection with our patients, which our curriculum teaches is the most fundamental skill to have as a physician. I think storytelling in medicine is at the heart of both the science and art of medicine.”
Q. How did the week of I2C2 summer programming meet your expectations as a U2P student?
A. “I2C2 brought an essential component to the U2P summer program. The week helped bridge gaps between classroom knowledge and real-world challenges and provided experiential context for many of the concepts that U2P focuses on, like racism in medicine and health equity. The program added important context to our medical education and connected us to the community.”
Q. What moments, activities, conversations, reflections stood out and why?
A. “One of the most impactful moments of the week for me was the spontaneous meeting with a member of the NAACP in the Civil Rights District and hearing her share stories of her experiences in Birmingham, growing up during the Civil Rights movement. It truly brought history to life and illuminated the importance of furthering the work of equality and equity in my generation. This visit was followed by a tour of the murals painted throughout the city after the violence and unrest of the summer of 2020. It was an eye-opening juxtaposition of what it looks like to be an activist then versus now. We also took a tour throughout Birmingham that included student research on different historical sites throughout the city. It was special to see the legacy of the city through the eyes of my fellow students.”
Q. The culminating activity of the week was a mini-workshop about using digital storytelling to reflect on your experience and raise awareness for change. Reflect on your experience of creating a digital story for this purpose.
A. “I thought the digital storytelling was an appropriate culmination of the week. It provided an opportunity for free expression, reflection, creativity and most importantly, was another opportunity to be radically honest with our colleagues. In a professional culture that is often fraught with burnout, high expectations, and perfectionism when the nature of medicine itself is inherently artistic and imperfect, I was thankful to have the opportunity to let my personal story and experience of the week be expressed authentically.”
Q. Overall, how did the week's programming influence you personally and professionally as you think about your career trajectory?
A. “After reflecting on all the experiences the week provided, I am more determined now to be a member of the medical community that values advocacy and healthcare policy reform. In addition to serving the underserved (especially in Birmingham), I hope my career affords me the opportunity to sponsor and support reform that affords more space for patient—doctor storytelling and reintroduces humanism and art into the culture of medicine that grows increasingly sterile, profit focused, and abbreviated.”
Q. What does an office like I2C2 provide for you as a medical trainee and other ways to meet your needs?
A. “I2C2 is a place I can ask questions about policy and advocacy, engage with the community and physician mentors, and reflect on my experiences safely. It’s a great place to find resources, support, and explore what the medical community is learning and unlearning together.”
Wilson’s digital story is available for viewing here or above. Learn more about I2C2 and their work by visiting their webpage.
Sports and Exercise Medicine Fellows Provide Comprehensive Coverage to Local Teams
Student athletes are back and ready for a new season and the Sports and Exercise Medicine fellows at the University of Alabama at Birmingham are ready to provide the care they need.
The UAB-Cahaba Sports and Exercise Medicine Fellowship is a two-year program supported by Cahaba Medical Care and the UAB Department of Family and Community Medicine. Fellows gain hands-on experience in sports medicine training as they diagnose and manage illnesses and injuries and provide coverage for professional, collegiate and high school athletes.
UAB Sports and Exercise Medicine fellows Matthew Miesch, M.D. and Christian Muller, D.O., are the sole physicians for Ramsey and Bessemer High Schools, respectively. They work closely with coaches, student athletes and parents at each school, participate in training room clinics and are on the sidelines during the games. For injured athletes, they provide non-surgical evaluations and treatment of these athletes with the goal to restore them back to their pre-injury performance level. In addition to Ramsey and Bessemer, the program works with UAB club sports, Vulcan Rugby Birmingham Legion and the Birmingham Bulls.
![Sports medicine fellows](/medicine/familymedicine/images/Miesch_Matthew_160_208.png)
Along with helping student athletes, the partnership gives Miesch and Muller firsthand knowledge and experience of what can occur during the games and allows them to develop relationships with players and coaches.
![Sports medicine fellows](/medicine/familymedicine/images/muller-christian_copy.png)
“You have to get continuity with a team meaning you want to follow them along not just for one game not for two games but a whole season,” Miesch said. “You get to know the players you work with and the athletic trainers you develop good relationships with.”
The fellows can also help families get the care that they might not normally be able to access.
“The parents are so thankful that we’re there, and for the easy, convenient access to care,” Miesch said. “That’s the biggest thing I take home from this partnership. I’m able to go to them instead of them coming to me and that’s such a huge advantage for the families.”
The UAB SEM fellows strive to help athletes excel in their sporting activities and everyday lives. UAB is invested in cultivating a stronger community and brighter future by ensuring the students have the most excellent care possible.
“There’s such a variety of healthcare opportunities within the community and I’m glad to be part of helping make a difference for those that need it,” Muller said. “We have a bunch of really great athletes at all stages of life and athletics that I enjoy taking care of and watching them grow.”
This partnership makes high school football safer each time teams take the field, and makes it possible for student athletes, no matter their economic background, to receive excellent care and keep chasing their dreams on and off the field.
Written by Kenia Hernandez
Glenda Stanley Retires After 20 Years of Serving AHEC
Glenda Stanley, MA, Associate Director of the Alabama Statewide Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Program retired in October. Stanley has served the National AHEC Organization for over 20 years.
“AHEC has been like my family, I have worked with so many fun people through the years,” Stanley said. “AHEC has a tendency to attract like- minded people.”
Glenda Stanley, M.A.
Over the course of her career, Stanley has served in various roles within the National AHEC Organization including periods in Florida and her home state of Kentucky before joining Alabama Statewide AHEC Program. The Mission of the Alabama Statewide AHEC Organization is to recruit, train and retain a healthcare workforce for Alabama. The AHEC Organization provides accredited education programs to support the needs of practicing healthcare students in rural and underserved areas.
Stanley first worked with AHEC as a student back in the 1970s at the University of Kentucky, completing an interdisciplinary team experience in a rural area. Stanley was with four other health profession students and says she is a product of the AHEC system. Stanley began working with AHEC in 1993 as a student coordinator in Kentucky and served most recently as a Center Director in Florida before joining the Alabama Statewide AHEC Program.
“I was drawn to public health because I wanted to give people an opportunity a better life,” Stanley said. “I felt like the key to improving people's lives was education.”
While at AHEC Stanley strived to implement programs, services and activities that helped underrepresented and rural Alabamians build careers in the health professions by developing partnerships and facilitating resources with other organizations.
Award presentation from early in Stanley's career. Pictured (left to right): Maureen Guthke, Edna Apostol, Congressman Bill Young, Cindy Selleck, Glenda Stanley
Stanley has dedicated her time to countless efforts to improve the health and access to care for citizens in rural and underserved populations in Alabama.
“Education is just interwoven in everything that I believe in,” Stanley said. “A good education can change not only the student's life, but a whole generation. It provides another asset to the community.”
The goal of AHEC is to provide resources that give students in rural and underrepresented areas an opportunity to train as a health professional - that opportunity can change their quality of life, transform their future and uplift their communities.
The Alabama Statewide AHEC created the Alabama AHEC Network to initiate a coalition of community partners from the entire state by providing community-based training to the teams involved with COVID-19 testing in rural Alabama. AHEC has focused on testing and vaccinating rural and underserved areas and populations, In response to COVID-19, AHEC produced the playbook “How to Establish a Community-Based Vaccination Site for the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine”. This playbook allows organizations to follow a series of steps and establish vaccination sites in the state where health care accessibility is limited. A UAB medical student led group, Equal Access Alabama (EEA), has partnered with AHEC to deliver vaccines primarily in the Black Belt region by going door to door with doses.
“AHEC was able to respond quickly; we've provided vaccinations in churches, the workplace, and all over the state,” Stanley said. “I'm very pleased that it also created a community health worker training program statewide, so we have community health workers deployed all over the state.”
Despite the COVID- 19 pandemic, AHEC continued to grow with Stanley’s quick efforts to adapt and reimagine the vision of how the organization might continue to serve Alabama. Stanley and her team were able to acquire and administer the funding that has made AHEC’s new vision attainable.
She advises health professionals and community members to show up, do their part and come together for something better. The rewards, she said, are well worth the effort. Looking back at her career, she is most proud of the way she has been able to help students, such as those in the Rural Health Club, which offers the opportunity to educate students regarding rural health issues in Alabama through volunteering, shadowing and workshops.
“While at UAB I've been most proud of our Rural Health Club, the student chapter of the Alabama Rural Health Association, so many of our students have been admitted into medical school, dental school and nursing school, the whole the whole range of health professions,” Stanley said. “I've had the privilege of being the faculty advisor for six years.”
In Stanley’s experience, the most rewarding part has been impacting one student at a time, and she plans to always remain a mentor for many of those who follow the path she helped pave.
Written by Kenia Hernandez
Selma Faculty Leaders Promoted to Associate Professor
Tiffani Maycock, D.O.Two faculty members from the UAB Selma Family Medicine Residency Program were promoted to associate professor in August 2021. Tiffani Maycock, D.O., residency program director, and Maria Oquendo, M.D., both received the promotion based on their achievements in resident education and patient care in Selma.
Oquendo reflected on the promotion and the opportunity to share her knowledge with residents in Selma:
![Sports medicine fellows](/medicine/familymedicine/images/faculty/Oquendo_Web.png)
“Teaching residents and working in Selma has been a highlight of my career, so this promotion is very meaningful to me,” said Oquendo. “I look forward to continuing the good work we are doing on behalf of UAB and the community here in Selma.”
Oquendo and Maycock are just some of the faculty members in Selma. The unopposed residency program has operated for over 40 years and offers residents a completely rural experience, one of only a few such programs in the country. Under Maycock’s leadership, residents in the program have achieved a 100% board pass rate for the last five years.
"The four aims of our program are patient care, education, scholarly activity and research, and community engagement and service. Focusing on these areas for my own professional development as well as for the program has enabled me to grow in ways I never imagined and opened my eyes to opportunities I never knew existed,” said Maycock. “With this promotion, I feel an even greater sense of responsibility and pride in teaching and practicing medicine in Selma and extending my influence beyond.”
Both Maycock and Oquendo are part of the regional faculty of the Department of Family and Community Medicine. Maycock was recently named to the board of directors of the American Board of Family Medicine and Oquendo has been honored for several research projects at state conferences in the past few years.
“We are incredibly proud of both Dr. Maycock and Dr. Oquendo,” said Irfan Asif, M.D., chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine and associate dean for primary care and rural health. “Both of these outstanding physicians work tirelessly to provide our residents with engaging opportunities to learn and represent our department in Selma through innovative and compassionate leadership, particularly for medical students, residents and fellows.”
To learn more about Maycock and Oquendo’s work or the Selma Family Medicine Residency program, visit the UAB Selma website.
The Pandemic is Increasing Intimate Partner Violence. Here’s How Health Care Providers Can Help.
Among the hidden costs of the COVID-19 pandemic is an alarming rise in domestic violence and intimate partner violence, a form of domestic violence in sexual and romantic relationships with devastating effects that can ripple across generations.
According the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, domestic violence cases increased by 25-33% globally in 2020, compared to 2019. More locally, domestic violence calls in Jefferson County, Alabama increased by 27% in March 2020, as compared to March 2019. Parallel increases were observed in other cities around the U.S., from Portland, Oregon to San Antonio, Texas or New York City.
In the midst of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Sumayah Abed, M.D., assistant professor in UAB’s Department of Family and Community Medicine and UAB Hoover Primary Care Clinic physician, is working to raise awareness among health care providers. She is especially concerned about the risk of intimate partner violence, which is already underreported and underdiagnosed by physicians.
“Even after recognizing the problem of intimate partner violence, victims may not get the necessary support, as many healthcare workers are unfamiliar with the policies and the resources to help them,” Abed said.
Intimate partner violence, defined as violence among current or former partners that may include stalking, physical, psychological and sexual violence, is common worldwide and affects both sexes. It is more commonly reported by heterosexual women, Abed said, but is likely to be underreported in men, transgender and gender non-conforming people and same-sex relationships.
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. Intimate partner violence accounts for 15% of violent crime in the U.S., and approximately one in four women and one in nine men experience intimate partner violence.
The pandemic intensified many of the conditions that can fuel intimate partner violence. Some businesses shut down suddenly. Many families faced economic tension as well as the stress and uncertainty created by COVID-19.
“Besides the quarantine situation, the pandemic also aggravated alcohol abuse, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder,” Abed said. “All of these factors created an environment that exacerbates domestic violence.”
Sumayah Abed, M.D.
Assessing Risks
As the pandemic continues, health care providers should be especially conscious of those risk factors, including psychiatric illness, alcohol consumption, drug abuse and economic stress. Pregnant women are also at higher risk of domestic violence, which can also increase the risk of pregnancy-related complications, such as miscarriage, pre-term labor, and low birth weight in infants.
Additionally, children who come from families with a history of domestic violence are at a higher risk of replicating or falling victim to those behaviors in adulthood. All forms of domestic violence, including intimate partner violence, can have a devastating ripple effect in families and communities, something that family care providers like Abed are particularly concerned about. Early awareness, intervention and help can prevent generations of trauma.
What Health Care Providers Can Do
At the clinical level, prevention of intimate partner violence starts with consistent and accurate screening, Abed said. She and her colleagues at Hoover Primary Care and Hoover Family Medicine use several screening tools to detect domestic violence and intimate partner violence, including both self-reported information from the patient, physician-administered questions. They also follow the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommendation to screen all women of childbearing age for intimate partner violence.
Health care providers should pay particular attention to families at risk of domestic violence, Abed said, in order to protect the family and prevent future domestic violence by children in that family, who are exposed to that behavior early on.
Providers can also ask more general questions, such as, “Do you feel safe at home?”
More broadly, media campaigns, such as one launched by the World Health Organization to provide education about intimate partner violence, can also help to raise awareness and educate patients and providers. The WHO campaign aims to make that information accessible in clinics and patient settings, as well as among policymakers and researchers.
Finally, macro-level changes such as empowering women economically and creating a broad, interprofessional support network for victims can help bring about long-term change, Abed said.
“Interprofessional collaboration is key to helping victims of domestic violence,” she said. “Health care workers, social services, and legal and law enforcement officers are all essential to help victims and survivors of domestic violence.”
Anyone experiencing domestic violence or concerned about a loved one facing domestic violence can connect anonymously to a crisis counselor by texting “UAB” to 741-741 or call the Birmingham Crisis Center at 205-323-7777.
Written by Caroline Newman
Building Strong Relationships: Generations of Primary Care
Erin DeLaney, M.D. Debbie and Johnny Scogin have been UAB Family Medicine patients since the mid-1980s. The Scogins were patients of Robert E. Kynerd, M.D., for 20 years, once he retired he referred them to Erin DeLaney, M.D., a family medicine physician, vice-chair for clinical affairs and quality, assistant professor and medical director for the Department of Family and Community at UAB Medicine-Highlands.
The Scogins have been with DeLaney ever since and their relationship highlights the importance of finding and developing a strong connection with a primary care provider. Primary care physicians are a frontline resource for a stronger and healthier life and have a big impact on the health of their patients and communities.
“Over time, as we hear our patients' stories and become part of their lives, we understand better their needs, goals, determinants, and preferences, which allows us to provide the right care at the right time,” DeLaney said. “This is precision medicine at its most basic level”.
Physicians become familiar with patient medical history, lifestyle, and every day needs.
“Dr. DeLaney is family to us,” said Debbie Scogin. “My mother was a patient of Dr. Kynerd's also and is now a patient of Dr. DeLaney's, and our 16-year-old daughter is talking about switching over to Dr. DeLaney too.”
Primary care practitioners often treat several generations of the same family, as DeLaney does with the Scogins. DeLaney has built long-term relationships with the Scogins. She is aware of their daily lives, medical history and what works best for them.
“We never feel rushed or hurried when we have an appointment with her. She is someone that we can be honest and open with about anything and everything,” Scogin said.
She recalled several instances where DeLaney went out of her way to make the family feel comfortable and welcome, including after Debbie Scogin had unexpected back surgery in August 2019.
“The day after my surgery the phone in my room rang, and it was Dr. DeLaney herself calling me to check on me,” she said.
She also really listens to her patients, Scogin said.
“She is patient with us, she takes the time to listen to what we have to say or ask her,” said Scogin. “She is very caring & listens to everything you have to say and she asks you for your opinion about what you think about what she says regarding what she believes you need to do for your health.”
Relationships with patients matter, and patients will be more willing to follow care guidelines if they have a welcoming provider. Two-way communication is crucial for a strong long-lasting patient relationship.
“A strong patient-physician relationship, built on mutual trust and respect, is critical to being able to provide good primary care,” DeLaney said.
Written by Kenia Hernandez
Department to Offer Additional Prizes for UAB National Essay Contest Applicants
The American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation’s Center for the History of Family Medicine is accepting applicants for their 2021 essay contest. Essays must center on the history of family medicine but can include creative elements. Winners of the national contest can win up to $1,000 for their essay, and the Department of Family and Community Medicine is offering additional prizes for UAB applicants to encourage participation.
Students who enter the CHM essay contest and provide a video describing their storytelling process to the department by November 1 will be entered to win up to $1,500 in prizes sponsored by the Department of Family and Community Medicine. This opportunity is open to all UAB-affiliated medical students and residents. Requirements for the CHM national essay contest can be found here.
Brandi Shah, M.D., MPH, assistant professor and director of the Office of Identity, Inclusion and Collective Conscious, is willing to review and mentor interested students in as they craft their essays. Shah is a lifelong writer and creative who teaches students about the power of storytelling in medicine through elective courses and mentorship. Contact her with questions.
Interested students can submit their essay, video and a copy of the submission confirmation email to Adrienne Fowler Payne via email. Please include "essay contest - NAME" in the email subject line.
CU2RE program awarded $5.2 million in supplemental HRSA funding
The Comprehensive Urban Underserved and Rural Experience (CU2RE) program has received a supplemental award from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for $5.2 million.
The supplemental funding will be used to increase educational activities for medical students, redesign family medicine clerkship curriculum across all UAB regional campuses, provide CU2RE students with stipends to offset medical education costs and implement new faculty, staff and student development initiatives.
“This supplemental funding will help us reimagine medical student education in primary care at UAB,” said Irfan Asif, M.D., professor and chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine and associate dean for primary care and rural health for the School of Medicine. “We will be able to collaborate even more with our regional campuses and key community partners and help develop innovative models of care in clinics across the state such as telehealth suites and genomic programs.”
As CU2RE begins its second year of programming, MS1 students in the School of Medicine are encouraged to apply to be a part of the 2021-2022 cohort. Selected students will receive longitudinal mentoring from family medicine physicians, early access to clinical hours, a 10-patient panel to work with over four years, leadership and interprofessional education and more. Interested students can learn more and apply here by September 1 for consideration.
The CU2RE program is designed to enhance the recruitment, training and retention of medical students dedicated to serving as family medicine physicians to provide primary care in the medically underserved urban and rural areas of Alabama. HRSA provided the initial funding for the program in 2020. For more information, please visit the Department of Family and Community Medicine’s website.
U2P cohort finishes up engaging CU2RE six-week summer program
Summer programs are a common way for medical students to gain even more experience following their first year of medical school. Students might spend a few weeks researching alongside a faculty member, learning more about a relevant medical topic through elective seminars or working in a clinic. For Urban Underserved Pathway (U2P) students, CU2RE summer programming involved a full schedule of these activities and more.
The Comprehensive Urban Underserved and Rural Experience (CU2RE) program recently finished its first year. The initiative, funded by a HRSA grant in 2020, aims to increase the number of primary care providers interested in caring for underserved populations in Alabama.
U2P is the first pathway under the CU2RE program umbrella and connects students who are interested in serving underserved populations in urban areas to clinics and experiences designed to strengthen their ability to pursue careers in urban primary care. The CU2RE program welcomed eight students in the winter of 2020 to be a part of the first class of U2P students. These students participated in elective trainings, clinical hours, research and more to increase their ability to practice community-minded and patient-focused medicine.
So far, the program has given students access to more than 700 clinical hours, three skills labs, six educational modules informed by campus and state leaders, and financial stipends to offset the burden of a medical education. Students also spent 20 hours learning about social determinants of health and cultural humility, in addition to other core areas of focus. CU2RE leadership developed an engaging six-week summer program to complement the fall and spring portions of the pathway.
"Our intent with the planning of the summer program was to give each student full exposure to clinical opportunities, research, special topics and skills labs to create an unparalleled summer experience,” said Jill Marsh, M.D., assistant professor and director of the U2P portion of CU2RE. “These incredible students were able to experience many aspects of urban underserved primary care during their only summer in medical school and, we hope, had fun along the way.”
The six-week summer program included time dedicated to topics like research, behavioral health, telehealth, health disparities, social determinants of health, racism in medicine, intersectionality and more. Students also received training in dermatologic, sports medicine and women’s health procedures through skills workshops led by CU2RE and department faculty.
Jack Stein, a U2P student, shared his perspective on the summer program and its impact on him.
“The CU2RE summer program was an incredibly valuable experience. It went beyond the traditional approach of many summer programs by providing tons of clinical experience and hands-on procedural practice within the scope of family medicine.”
U2P students enjoying lunch during their trip to Montgomery
Students participated in discussions and immersive community experiences aimed at expanding their understanding of the impact that culture has on medical outcomes and treatment. Brandi Shah, M.D., MPH, assistant professor and director of the Office of Identify, Inclusion and Collective Conscience (I2C2), and Shyla Fields, program manager, took the students on tours of civil rights landmarks and museums in Birmingham and Montgomery. These experiences reinforced the lessons learned through the CU2RE modules on racism in medicine, anti-oppression and cultural competency.
“This summer with U2P was extremely impactful for me,” said Channing Bruce, a U2P student. “Not only did I get to spend a lot of time in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, I got to have meaningful discussions and attend sessions that are unique to this program.”
The integrated summer program challenged students to apply their knowledge through interactive interprofessional activities, leadership seminars and development of a 10-patient panel. Each student was also encouraged to choose a research focus and begin their scholarly activity with support from Kimberly Smith, Ph.D., assistant professor and director of the Alabama Practice-Based Research Network.
CU2RE’s growing team of faculty and staff members work continuously to innovate and provide the best experience for students to encourage interest and personal investment in a primary care career after medical school.
“Primary care is exciting and there are many ways that family medicine can help address the shortages and health status of our state,” noted Irfan Asif, M.D.
Asif is the chair of the department, associate dean for primary care and rural health for the UAB School of Medicine and the principal investigator for CU2RE.
“We want to showcase all the facets of primary care to our students and encourage them to become community-minded practitioners through exposure to important topics like social determinants of health, racism in medicine, telehealth, and much more. These student leaders are the future of primary care, and we believe our investment in them now will pay dividends for statewide health and wellness in the years to come,” said Asif.
The U2P students' participation in the summer program reinforced and elaborated on the lessons that they learned in the spring, beginning the longitudinal path all CU2RE students will experience throughout medical school. They will continue with supplemental programming as they begin another year of medical school.
“This summer, I expected to grow my understanding of what it means to be a future physician,” said Kristina Redd, a U2P student. “I had no idea that this summer would create memories that captured my soul and resonate with me in such a way that affirmed my work and calling as a healer.”
In addition to the summer programming, Marsh and Adrienne Fowler Payne, MPA, program director for CU2RE, worked to recruit and expand the program to accept more students in fall 2021 for its second year of programmatic offerings.
"We are expanding the program to include our regional campuses this year,” said Payne. “As CU2RE grows, so does our potential impact on the state. It is an exciting time to be involved with our department and we encourage all interested first-year medical students to apply.”
First-year medical students at UAB can apply to the program online on the CU2RE program’s webpage. Applications for the 2021-2022 cohort are due by September 1.
Become a preceptor: investing in the next generation of medical leaders
Earl Salser, M.D., is the director of medical student education for the departmentTo complete their medical school training, students in the UAB School of Medicine must train under practicing physicians in most specialties through third-year clerkships. The Department of Family and Community Medicine connects dozens of medical students with community preceptors each semester, giving medical students a chance to interact and build relationships with doctors in family medicine. Earl Salser, M.D., is the director of medical student education for the department and is a dedicated preceptor.
Salser has mentored students for more than 15 years and has encouraged many to find a deeper appreciation for patient-centered medicine. Salser, like other departmental preceptors, has built lasting relationships with some of his students. Jonathan Peters, M.D., is a graduate of UAB and a former student of the family medicine department. He is now a community preceptor for family medicine, mentoring and teaching students in his role as a physician at Cahaba Medical Center. Peters and Salser met when Peters was a first-year student in medical school, unsure of what specialty he would go into after completing school.
“Earl took a sincere interest in all of his students as people,” said Peters. “He wanted to encourage us beyond just medical training but through advice and empathizing with where we were in our medical journey.”
After working with Peters at a local clinic, Salser recommended that he participate in a pathway program over the summer to gain more experience in the family medicine specialty. The summer program instilled a love of family medicine and gave Peters a clear path forward as he continued his medical education.
“Earl’s recommendation helped steer my interest in medicine,” said Peters. “No one in my family was a doctor. I knew that the relational piece with patients was something that I wanted, and I was exposed to it that summer through family medicine.”
Salser says that it was natural for him to encourage students toward a career in family medicine. While each medical specialty has its benefits, Salser and others note that family medicine is an easy fit for those who enjoy creating and maintaining relationships with patients.
Before returning to UAB to work in the department and focus on medical student education, Salser treated hundreds of patients in private practice and taught students as a preceptor. Even before he created a career educating the next generation of physicians, he was contributing to their education in his clinic.
![Sports medicine fellows](/medicine/familymedicine/images/Preceptors/JonathanPetersMDPhysician-Bessemer1.jpeg)
“I enjoyed having students at my practice and found it intellectually challenging,” said Salser. “It made me want to be a better doctor so I could help them in their journey. When I made the switch to UAB, it seemed fitting that mentorship would be a big part of my new role. I enjoy being that connector for students to learn and find a path that they can succeed in.”
After working with Salser and other family medicine faculty members at UAB and in the community, Peters graduated and began a specialty training program in family medicine in Kansas. He went on to complete an international fellowship and work in private practice in Kansas serving rural areas. Once he returned to Birmingham, he began working with Cahaba Medical Care as one of their family medicine residency faculty members. Peters and Salser connected again as Peters began accepting UAB students in his clinic, just as he had been accepted years earlier.
“Working with students showed me that you don’t know what you don’t know until someone helps make the road a little smoother for you,” said Peters. “As a preceptor and mentor, you can turn around and do the same for someone just starting their medical journey. It is amazing to invest in others in this way and see the rewards that come out of it.”
Salser and Peters were both mentored throughout their family medicine journeys and have done the same for dozens of students. They view their contributions as a way to give back to a specialty that has given so much to them. Many of the department’s preceptors are community practice physicians who volunteer their time to train and encourage the next generation of family medicine practitioners. For family medicine, training new leaders is part of the fabric of their work and energizes these physicians as they see future medical leaders in their students.
“Teaching students revives my sense of purpose and reminds me why I got into medicine,” said Salser.
To learn more or apply to become a preceptor, visit the Department of Family and Community Medicine's preceptor webpage.
A condensed version of this story appears in the Department of Family and Community Medicine's "2020 Year in Review."
Moving Forward: HRSA Grant and the Launch of the CU2RE Program
HRSA GRANT ENABLES DEPARTMENT TO TRAIN MORE PHYSICIANS FOR RURAL AND URBAN UNDERSERVED AREAS OF ALABAMA
By Julie Cole MillerThe Department of Family and Community Medicine was awarded a $7 million grant to address the need for training additional family medicine physicians to serve in rural and underserved areas of the state. The grant, from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, will enable the department to develop novel high school and college pipeline programs, medical student programming, and faculty development programs to enhance curriculum and mentoring efforts.
“Currently, our state needs more than 600 additional primary care pro-viders to meet the needs of the patients and the kinds of health conditions that we’ll be seeing by 2030,” said Irfan Asif, M.D., chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine. “To address this deficit, we must be aggressive in the family medicine and primary care programming that we develop and im-plement. This grant will go a long way toward helping us achieve that goal.”
HRSA, the primary federal agency for improving health care for people who are geographically isolated or economically or medically vulnerable, has awarded the grant for a four-year term, with an annual budget of $1,750,000. Asif has begun laying the groundwork for the department’s enriched training program—the Comprehensive Urban Underserved and Rural Experience (CU2RE)—which will address six core areas related to interprofessional education, behavioral health, social determinants of health, cultural and linguistic competency, practice transformation, and telehealth.
Alabama needs to add hundreds of additional primary care physicians in the next 10 years to meet demand. “The CU2RE program will help identify, train and retain students interested in family medicine and primary care, particularly those from urban and rural underserved backgrounds,” Asif said. “We will tap into our regional campuses across the state to help broaden our reach, as well as partner with programs such as the Alabama Area Health Education Center, Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center, Office for Diversity and Inclusion, and others to identify high school and college students with a passion for service.” Asif says the grant will help offset the challenges that the region has long grappled with, particularly in its most vulnerable populations. “With an insufficient physician workforce, Alabama struggles to adequately prevent disease; this contributes to our state ranking in the bottom five in the country for many chronic illnesses,” he said. “This HRSA grant is meant to help address the state of Alabama’s primary care workforce shortage and sets the stage for making a considerable impact on the health and well-being of the patients we serve.”
This program is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $7 million with 10% financed with non governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.
THE CU2RE PROGRAM
By Erin Slay-WilsonThe CU2RE program is an educational approach that aims to ensure that more primary and family care physicians graduate from UAB ready to serve urban underserved and rural areas across the state. The program will engage first-year medical students in activities, educational discussions, and hands-on experiences thatwill educate them on the unique challenges that underserved populations face in Alabama.
In June of 2020, the department was awarded a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration that has allowed the department to build a team and put the CU2RE plan into action. The pilot cohort of eight students, who are first-year medical students, started the curriculum in January 2021.
Through the program and the opportunities it offers, the department is poised to continue growing toward community-minded medicine over the next four years and beyond. The structure of the program will encourage regular assessment and longitudinal relationships with CU2RE students and organizations involved with the program.
Partnerships with UAB’s Huntsville, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa campuses are integral to the program’s success, as well as collaborations with organizations like Christ Health Care and Cahaba Medical Care in Birmingham. The CU2RE mission’s cornerstone isto collaborate with students and healthcare leaders across the state
to better address issues facing all Alabamians and their access to care. In considering the potential impact of CU2RE and the importance of educating providers on the need for such a program, Asif and his colleagues are ready for a busy four years as the program is implemented.
“In 2021, I am excited about the delivery of the UABSOM’s first Urban Underserved Pathway in primary care,” said Asif. “This program aims to teach students more about differences in cultures, social determinants of health, and common medical conditions in the underserved, and also potential mechanisms to improve care delivery. In 2022, we will unite our efforts with our regional campuses to deliver similar programming aimed at caring for the rural underserved. This is a game-changing opportunity for our state, and I am thrilled to be a part of this initiative.”
Looking Ahead
Another core part of the CU2RE program is working to open a pathway for students in high school and college to pursue family medicine and primary care. A pathway is being developed to give students from around the state, especially those from underserved areas, a chance to shadow family medicine physicians and receive early experiential learning from UAB faculty members. In partnership with other pipeline programs on campus, this part of CU2RE creates longevity for the program as students are exposed to the medical field and the need for primary care in underserved communities before applying to medical school.
“By collaborating with established pipeline programs on campus, we are able to move the needle for CU2RE’s mission through widening exposure to medical curriculum to underserved areas and students studying in those communities,” said Adrienne F. Payne, CU2RE program director. “It is exciting to join with other visionary organizations in increasing access to primary care in Alabama through the healthcare leaders of tomorrow.”
The Primary Care Landscape
Training the next generation of compassionate physicians is a statewide effort. In addition to UAB School of Medicine’s main campus in Birmingham, four regional campuses provide opportunities for educating physicians in family medicine and primary care, with concentrations in rural or urban underserved populations.
BIRMINGHAM
UAB School of Medicine’s Birmingham campus is home to the new Comprehensive Urban Underserved and Rural Experience (CU2RE) program for medical students, as well as the Urban Underserved Program (U2P). These programs are designed for medical students with an interest
in primary care, health equity, and a heart for serving vulnerable urban communities. Over the course of the four-year program, students will have one-on-one faculty mentorship at Christ Health Center, Cahaba Medical Care, and UAB Family Medicine–Highlands. For residents and fellows, the Department of Family and Community Medicine partners with Cahaba Medical Care to offer a residency program for both urban and rural tracks, a sports and exercise medicine fellowship, and
an emergency medicine fellowship. The physicians of Cahaba Medical Care serve as adjunct faculty members in the Department of Family and Community Medicine. The department also collaborates with Christ Health Care physicians; they are affiliated with St. Vincent’s/Ascension. A multidisciplinary faculty development fellowship is also housed within the Department of Family and Community Medicine.
HUNTSVILLE
The Huntsville regional campus includes a family medicine residency program and a rural medicine program. With one of the premier family medicine residencies in the Southeast, an accredited internal medicine residency program, and the UAB Health Center Huntsville, the north Alabama anchor of UAB Medicine has the largest multi-specialty physician practice in the region. They offer required and elective clinical experiences necessary for third- and fourth-year medical students. The Huntsville Rural Medicine Program is a primary care curriculum for students with rural backgrounds, and they offer other rural pipeline programs.
MONTGOMERY
This accredited campus in Montgomery is home to programs for medical students and physicians training in internal medicine, family medicine, and hospital medicine. With 11 faculty members, 40 staff members and 82 students and residents, the Montgomery campus provides crucial clinical care and medical education within the region. A collaborative partnership between UAB, the city of Montgomery, and Baptist Health, this campus aims to help stem a shortage of physicians in underserved rural areas across the state and improve access to health care in central Alabama.
SELMA
UAB School of Medicine’s Selma location hosts a family medicine residency program and family medicine fellowship. The UAB Selma family medicine residency program has been training family physicians in Central Alabama for more than 35 years and is one of the few truly rural family medicine residency programs in the country. This program combines knowledge and resources from a world-class academic medical center with a hands-on community setting, and our residents treat a diverse patient population with a wide range of medical needs.
TUSCALOOSA
As the dedicated home for the primary care track, the Tuscaloosa Regional Medical Campus, housed in the College of Community Health Sciences at The University of Alabama, provides students with a strong foundation in clinical medicine through longitudinal experiences and special programming on population health. Primary care track students spend their third year in a longitudinal integrated clerkship (LIC). In a LIC, students work closely with physician instructors to build mentoring relationships; they also develop longitudinal relationships with patients.
Asif appointed to national Physical Activity Alliance board of directors
Irfan Asif, M.D., chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine and associate dean for Rural Health and Primary Care at the UAB School of Medicine, has accepted a position on the national board of the Physical Activity Alliance (PAA). Asif will take his board position as part of his leadership role within the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine and as a leader in the sports medicine community.
The PAA aims to improve the lives of all Americans by championing physical activity through advocacy, policy and system changes, and community support. As a board member, Asif will join 11 other leaders in the physical fitness and health space to determine the strategic direction of the PAA and enact its national action plan.
“It has been amazing to see all of our partner organizations come together to be collaborative and unified in promoting physical activity,” said Monte Ward, PAA board president. “We are excited to have Dr. Asif join us and know that he will play a critical role in decision-making for the alliance.”
Much of Asif’s career has focused on providing safe, accessible opportunities for his patients and communities to become more physically active.
“Whether through Exercise is Medicine, volunteering with community teams, or being active myself, it is always exciting to promote physical activity as a physician and athlete,” said Asif. “The PAA is an awesome platform to educate people about the fun, rewarding side of daily activity.”
Learn more about Asif’s work and what the Department of Family and Community Medicine is doing to promote sports and exercise by visiting our website.
The mission of the Physical Activity Alliance (PAA) is to lead efforts to create, support, and advocate policy and system changes that enable all Americans to enjoy physically active lives. The PAA envisions an active and healthy nation where the opportunity for physical activity is easily available in the daily lives of all Americans. To learn more about their work, please visit paamovewithus.org.
Crockett awarded five-year NIH grant
Kaylee B. Crockett, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, recently received a Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development (K23) award from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The $662,578 award will fund Crockett’s research for five years. Crockett is the first full-time faculty member in the department to serve as a principal investigator for an NIH-funded career development award.
Crockett’s K23 research project focuses on the adaptation of a behavioral physical activity intervention with peer support for women with HIV and co-occurring hypertension. The NIH award gives researchers like Crockett salary and research support for a period of protected time to complete longitudinal and comprehensive research studies.
“This award is an enormous opportunity to develop my scientific skills with greater focus on health behavior intervention and implementation,” said Crockett. “Moreover, I get to apply these skills to understanding daily decisions women make about physical activity behavior and the social and psychological factors - like stress, social support, and self-efficacy - that affect those decisions.”
Hypertension is the most common comorbidity among women with HIV. Crockett’s research will utilize lifestyle behavior interventions to provide support for women with HIV and hypertension. Crockett aims to measure the feasibility and impact of introducing lifestyle behavior interventions, such as physical activity prescription, blood pressure self-monitoring, and peer support.
According to Crockett, the intervention is sorely needed.
“In my research leading up to this application, many women express wanting more support related to ‘whole-person health’ from providers and their communities,” she said.
Awards like Crockett’s are part of the department’s larger goal of improving physical health and mental wellness through primary care and lifestyle medicine-centered research.
“Our department is dedicated to increasing the quality of life for all patients through preventive methods, particularly through physical activity and lifestyle medicine,” said Irfan Asif, M.D., chair and professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and associate dean for primary care and rural health in the UAB School of Medicine. “We are proud to support and work alongside clinical scientists like Kaylee and look forward to the ways that our patients will benefit from her work.”
Abed Translates Medical Education Documents for Arabic-Speaking Patients
Many nights after she finished treating patients at UAB’s Hoover Family Medicine clinic this spring, Sumayah Abed, M.D., assistant professor and family physician, sat down with a stack of documents and painstakingly translated them into Arabic, often emailing her father in Iraq to double-check her work.
Language barriers create issues at all levels of health care for both patients and providers. Miscommunication is common and important health markers can be missed when a patient and their care team cannot communicate properly. Abed, M.D. set out to improve the way that Arabic-speaking patients receive care at UAB clinics and hospitals.
Abed is originally from Iraq and attended medical school in Mosul. Her first language is Arabic but she learned English at school and began using it regularly while working in Qatar as a women’s health physician in 2006. When she moved to the United States to complete her residency in Birmingham, she began noticing a gap in communication between Arabic-speaking populations and their health care teams.
Beginning in early 2021, Abed began a project to address these communication gaps. For more than three months Abed has used her time off to translate common patient-facing documents into Arabic. Abed worked closely with her father, Khalid, who still lives in Iraq to ensure the documents included correct grammar and sentence structure. He is an Arabic literature teacher for high school students.
So far, Abed has translated more than 10 educational documents commonly given to patients with illnesses like hypertension, diabetes, respiratory diseases, and many others. Abed’s translated documents are available to any UAB physician or care provider in the electronic medical record (EMR) system supported by UAB.
“The idea came to me because of the increasing number of Arabic-speaking patients in our clinics,” said Abed. “I wanted to create these Arabic educational materials to help our patients better understand their medical conditions.”
The greater Birmingham area is home to many Arab immigrants and Abed sees several each week in her clinic. For physicians treating these populations, many of whom speak Arabic as their first or only language, the language barrier can create issues in providing quality and comprehensive care in the clinic. Abed’s translated documents will ensure future interactions with physicians will be more accessible for Arabic-speaking patients.
The Department of Family and Community Medicine strives to build bridges to underserved populations through access to medical care and improving resources.
Unified in Pride: Interview with Jess Jernigan
The Department of Family and Community Medicine works to educate students and faculty on the importance of elevating diverse voices and addressing health disparities, social determinants of health, racism, and access to care issues within the primary care space. As part of the School of Medicine’s Unified in Pride series, Brandi Shah, M.D., MPH, and Program Manager Shyla K Fields spoke with Jess Jernigan, web content coordinator for the department, to discuss her experiences related to identity, access to healthcare, and more.
Shyla: Please tell us who you are, your profession, your age if you'd like, and how you identify in the LGBTQ+ community.
Jess: I'm Jessica Jernigan. I'm 24, a web content coordinator for UAB, and I identify as bisexual.
Shyla: How open are you about your sexual identity or gender identity at work, at school, at home, or with new acquaintances?
Jess: In a professional setting, it doesn't come up in a natural conversation, but with my friends and family, they all know. When I meet new people, it's not something I just go up and tell them. I've worked with a lot of bisexual women. It just determines not necessarily a romantic relationship. But say I was in a relationship with a man, it's not something that I would outright disclose, but I'm pretty ‘out,' and my bosses know just because of personal conversations you have with your coworkers. But yeah, I would say I'm as out as can be.
Shyla: That's excellent. What does bisexuality mean to you?
Jess: Many people I've come across and even discovering my own identity, it's not even so much your romantic preference. It's so much of who you are embedded in your personality and your character. It's how you see the world, and you treat other people. So even if I didn't have a relationship with a woman or a man. It would still be so much of my identity. It's kind of ingrained in my character if that makes sense.
Shyla: Yeah. What identity do you prefer to be addressed as in your professional and personal community?
Jess: I’m bisexual. I’m part of the LGBTQ+ community, and a lot of times, people just assume I'm straight, but I'll correct them if I need to.
Brandi: How do you do that? Jess, can you give an example of how you correct people?
Jess: If I'm out with new people or friends and they say something like, when was the last time you went on a date with a guy. I'll say, actually I don't just go out with men, I also go out with women, or I'll try not to put emphasis, so they don't feel embarrassed for assuming. Or I'll slip in; you know, I went out with a woman, or I was interested in her too just, so they're aware, and it doesn't draw too much attention to it because I don't want them to feel they've messed up. I keep it casual, and if they have more questions, obviously, I'll answer.
Brandi: How do people usually respond to that?
Jess: Usually, the times it's happened they'll respond, ‘I didn't know,’ or they just get past the conversation really fast. And I don't think it's because they are, against it or anything. It's just their own personal feeling, like, I didn't mean to slip up or feel dumb for assuming.
Brandi: And have you always been this comfortable talking about your sexuality, or can you recall a change, a moment or threshold when you were just like, this is just how I'm going to talk about it, and the people are going to come along.
Jess: I knew I was bisexual when I was really young. Obviously, I didn't know the term because I was probably 10 or 11, but I really felt comfortable when I got to college. I was surrounding myself with people who I just never really knew before. I remember specifically working for a magazine in college. My boss identified a lesbian woman and talked to me about her experience. It wasn't something that I necessarily talked with my friends about. We would just say it in passing, but I never really looked at it as something that I would label myself as, and I think I felt really comfortable with her (my boss). I would ask my boss questions about it because we were researching LGBTQ members and sororities. It's something that wasn't talked about. She told me about her experience, and it just made me reflect on how I present myself and how I actually wanted to be seen by the world, and how I want to see myself. And then I slowly started to come out to people in my life. I told my family 1st, then my friends. The more people I told, the more comfortable I would say it with myself. I feel like I kind of spoke it (identity) into existence, something that I always felt for myself, but it was more personal. The more I talked about it, the more accepting I felt of myself and accepted by other people. Yeah, it was my boss that helped me the most.
Brandi: Now that was that was beautiful. That really is. I think that's very important to say here.
Jess: And it was because it was in a professional environment too. In my experience at other jobs, they don't necessarily treat me differently, but they can make small comments, not necessarily support. It's more of an interest. Because we live in the South, and you don't see bisexual people a lot, at least in my experience.
Shyla: Do you feel the comments are microaggressions?
Jess: Well, I think bisexual women are hyper-sexualized in a lot of situations. That is a huge part of why I don't share my identity until I feel comfortable. There's a really big stigma around that, and I want to control how people view me. It's not that I'm not proud. I just think there is a lot of power in controlling your narrative and who you want to share information with. I think about this all the time. Letting people know that you're very intentional with the information you share. It's not that I'm disrespecting my community. It's how I want to operate in my professional world and my personal relationships.
Shyla: Yeah, that’s totally understandable. What I hear is, it's a form of protecting yourself professionally and personally.
Jess: Yes, exactly.
Shyla: Yeah, and a form of advocating for yourself.
Jess: And I would never hide or anything. I also don't think there is any shame in hiding, and any opportunity I have to correct someone or educate them a little more, I'm happy to do that.
Brandi: Have you had an experience you can compare where one was a more affirming and appropriate encounter medically and then compare it to one where it wasn't?
Jess: Well, I've never had a bad experience in a clinical setting because, as a bisexual woman, we have that straight passing ability. Everything that I would be checked for would be the same, there is no crossover. In a medical setting, I've never really had to disclose my sexual identity for my health. It's never been a conversation that's been brought up because I am a woman. But I know it's different for, non-binary or bisexual men.
Brandi: Well, from my experience working with young people, for adolescents and young adults, some of the evidence that we always try to stay on top of is understanding the spectrum of sexuality and gender identity, particularly for bisexual-identifying people. Sometimes I think what you just described can be more invisible in terms of their health care needs, and often what we see at the population level is higher unintended pregnancy rates and higher STI rates. When you look at the population level at the individual level. One of our challenges is, what are we not doing right to make them more visible? Make them still more comfortable talking about their sexual identity and the sexual behaviors that we can help. To help reduce risk or and offer them all of the services that they should have access to. So do you have any sort of thoughts on that?
Jess: Being very selective with your language and, of course, never implying their sexuality. If I'm with my doctor and they asked me if I'm sexually active. Half the time, a lot of women will say this too; They'll say they are not sexually active because they think they can't get STIs if they are sexually active with a woman. I think physicians should share that you can contract STI’s without having penetrative sex or have open conversations about it. Half the time, people wouldn't disclose anything like that because maybe they weren’t necessarily in a relationship with a man, they think that that doesn't correlate if you're with a woman.
Brandi: Ok. I'll tell you what I do with my patients, and you can tell me that's if it's ok, or not ok, alright? This is what's recommended through CDC guidelines and all sorts of policy statements about how we should be engaging with people around, taking sexual history, especially with young people. I ask, have you ever been sexually active, or are you having sex currently? I also ask, are you at risk for anything right now that we should talk about? Then I'll say, are your partners male, female, or non-binary? If I know something else about the patient where I know it's not just on the binary. I say that quickly, and it opens the conversation up for them to say, well, most of my partners are male, but I've had some female partners in the past. And then I'll ask, what is sex for you? Is sex, Penis in the vagina? Is sex penis in mouth? Is it mouth on some other body part? Something in the anus? I've learned to use anatomical language because it's the anatomy that I need to be screening. So if all of those sites are involved in sex, I want to offer you screening for all of those sites in the case. And like bisexual women or women who identify as lesbian, some other things come up. There's certainly a risk of throat infections, but also we see higher rates of BV. There are moments where we could be doing individualized counseling about particular sexual health. Based on this sexual behavior, and I know that that doesn't happen with everybody. That's what I do because I know that how someone actually identifies is not the same as what kind of sex they're having and what I can provide as a clinician.
Jess: No, that's perfect, I wish more doctors would do that. When speaking with my physician, going over the standard list of questions (are you sexually active? chance of pregnancy?) and saying no, the questions stop there. Too often, conversations carry out with no space to convey that someone may be bisexual or have partners of the same sex. It is important for the patient to disclose their sexual history for their doctor to perform an accurate clinical assessment for health needs. And part of doing that is leaving space for that conversation between the lulls in the questions. As someone who identifies as bisexual, that means that my medical assessment could change, and having my physician know that is critical. A way for both the patient to feel comfortable and for the doctor to receive a clear understanding of the patient’s needs would be to have an open and comfortable conversation to ask questions that don’t necessarily assume one’s sexual orientation based on the gender of current partners.
Shyla: Yeah, so it's more of the general questions that speak to the anatomy that Brandi spoke of and the education on different sexual practices.
Jess: Exactly. Show the person how to properly protect themselves even when they’re not sexually active with another person's body.
Shyla: When we talk about being within the community, people know that you're Jess, your sexual identity. Are you also an advocate? What title do you hold?
Jess: It's so much ingrained in me. It's just something that I carry around with me. Part of being an ally is, yes, it's educating others. But it's also checking yourself, and because often, we'll all have some internalized negative thoughts about ourselves. I'll have to keep in check with my own mindset as well as with other people.
Jess: It's just so much of who I am. I don't know how to explain it. It's just supporting people when they need support and lending a hand before they even ask.
Shyla: If this was your Ted talk, speaking to health care providers, what would be the one-liner of what affirming care looked like for the LGBTQ+ community?
Jess: Being more intentional with how they bring up the conversation about it (sexual identity). I would feel more comfortable if, say, I was in a clinic setting or in the waiting room and see a sign to let me know they are inclusive. Even if it was just an LGBTQ pride flag or the bisexual symbol, I would immediately feel comfortable with them. It's also being unbiased as possible, like how Brandi talked about it. You're looking at the person's anatomy. You're not looking at their interior life. You're looking at how you can help them. It's who they are as a person. You're there to help them health-wise. I would feel more comfortable if my doctor was less involved in my interior life and more involved in how I view myself as a patient, better my health, and not look at my identity or my identifier.
Shyla: That's a perfect one-liner, "looking at me as far as how you can best serve my body versus how I identify or my identifier." How have you found, formed, and kept your community or communities together?
Jess: I don't know, this out of pocket to say, but I gravitate toward people who, you can just tell when someone is a gentle and open-minded person. I feel like because you know my identity and how I identify sexually, even though I think bisexuality and any sexual identity, again, has nothing to do with sex. It's so much of who you are as a person. I feel like it's very easy to gravitate to other people like that. So, even with my friends and my family, who are also part of the community somehow, we just check in with each other and see how the other person is constantly doing. If my friend says someone made an offhand comment to me at work today, they made a gay joke. We'll talk about it, and we'll think of how you can approach it the next time a comment was made. Just constantly checking in, and that sounds obvious, but so many times because there is no conversation, people just assume that something is being done when it's not. Even if it's something small, keep the conversation going. I've read and have seen much backlash about corporations "putting on" for Pride Month and its performative allyship. Still, even if it's performative, even if it's a capitalist gain, I would have loved to see that when I was a child. I would have loved to have gone into Target and see a rainbow flag! Is it disingenuous? Maybe, but does it make me feel comfortable? Yes! I would have loved to have seen that. It makes a huge difference. Even if it is performative, it's something.
Shyla: Yeah, representation matters.
Shyla: Brandi, do you have any more questions?
Brandi: I don't think so, but I feel like I could talk to you like all day, Jess, because representation does matter and visibility matters, and I really appreciate you. We talk about seeing others, and there's action and intention in that. But it also takes what you were describing earlier. It is a form of self-advocacy to decide if and when you're going to disclose something and how you want to be seen by the rest of the world. There's empowerment in that. And the openness and thoughtfulness that you clearly have with just this one part of your identity and how it interacts with all the other parts that we haven't even been able to talk about. It's critical for people and clinicians to hear that to know and understand how to check bias and check stigma that we intentionally or unintentionally bring into the exam room.
Shyla: What else should we know about you? How do you feel about Pride Month, healthcare, your profession, and how that intertwine?
Jess: These identifiers, they're just facets of a larger person. I can say my name is Jess, I'm bisexual, and I'm a communications coordinator. But if more people would look at people as a whole person and not just corners of their being, acceptance would come a lot easier. I think pride month is about supporting others, fighting for what's right in your own way. But it's also taking stock of your own mental health and taking stock of how comfortable you feel when you go to bed at night and how you think about yourself. It's such a personal thing, and if you feel comfortable sharing with other people, that's your right. There's a lot of power in knowing these things about yourself. You don't necessarily have to shout it to the world. It looks different for everyone, and people need to understand that. It would have helped me as a child and even going into a young adult. If I had known that. I would have been a lot easier on myself because there's just a lot of pressure. To speak up, but speaking up looks different for a lot of people.
Shyla: That is a beautiful way to end the interview. Thank you so much.
Hello, Goodbye 2021: Sports and Exercise Medicine Fellows
As the summer heats up, it's time to welcome our new sports and exercise medicine fellows and say goodbye to our graduating trainees as they move forward in their careers. In partnership with Cahaba Medical Care, the Department of Family and Community Medicine's Sports and Exercise Medicine Fellowship program is a unique two-year fellowship that offers individuals an opportunity to gain hands-on, comprehensive sports and exercise medicine experience while also obtaining a master's degree in exercise and nutrition. Each fellow plays an essential role in caring for athletes of all ages, including organized sports at the professional, collegiate, and high school levels.
Learn more about the new class and graduating fellows below.
Hello:
On July 1, the program will welcome two new fellows, Matthew Miesch, M.D., and Christian Muller, D.O., to the team.
"I'm excited to have such a great pair of fellows coming in to help us take this fellowship to the next level," said Ian McKeag, M.D., sports and exercise medicine fellowship director. "They both come from great programs and have fantastic attitudes. It's going to take some hard work and grit, but I believe these two can help us get there."
![Matthew Miesch, M.D.](/medicine/familymedicine/images/education/Sports_Family_Medicine_Fellowship/Miesch_Matthew_160_208.png)
Matthew Miesch, M.D.
Hometown: Mount Pleasant, Michigan
Medical School: Ross University School of Medicine
Residency: Family Medicine, University of Connecticut, Hartford, CT
Why I chose UAB: You cannot beat training in the southeast for football sideline coverage! The Division 1 athletic coverage was a huge draw for me. I also love how the program emphasizes research as a key part of the fellowship training.
Looking ahead: I'm most looking forward to honing and sharpening my ultrasound skills (injections, diagnostic, etc.). I am also very much excited to begin working with Dr. McKeag!
![Christian Muller, D.O.](/medicine/familymedicine/images/education/Sports_Family_Medicine_Fellowship/muller-christian_copy.png)
Christian Muller, D.O.
Hometown: Pine Bush, New York
Medical School: Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, Middletown, New York
Residency: Family Medicine, Rowan School of Medicine, Stratford, New Jersey
Why I chose UAB: I find the sports and exercise medicine program to have incredible leadership, ample opportunities to help me grow as a doctor, and all I need to reach my goal of being a sports medicine physician.
Looking ahead: I'm most looking forward to the sideline coverage that is in my near future — high school, club, college, and professional. UAB has a great mix of it all, including the 2022 World Games!
Goodbye:
Pictured left to right: Mallory Lewis, D.O., Ian McKeag, M.D., Patrick Ouzts, M.D.Congratulations to graduating fellows Mallory Lewis, D.O., and Patrick Ouzts, M.D., as they enter the next chapter in their professions. As fellows during the COVID-19 pandemic, Lewis and Ouzts were able to adapt and provide continuous quality care to their patients despite the selective pressure.
"I have loved having the opportunity to expose [Lewis and Ouzts] to the various experiences we have here at UAB," said McKeag. "My favorite of these were the initial Birmingham Legion FC games when they had just begun fellowship, and the coverage at the Birmingham Bulls hockey games, which was a unique atmosphere compared to the rest of the coverage we provide."
Both Lewis and Ouzts have accepted positions across the country, practicing a mix of sports and family medicine care.
"Mallory and Patrick hold the potential to make a huge impact in their respective communities as their careers grow," said McKeag. "They both have their own style, gifts, and swagger."
![Mallory Lewis, D.O.](/medicine/familymedicine/images/education/Sports_Family_Medicine_Fellowship/mallory1.jpeg)
Mallory Lewis, D.O.
Hometown: Fort Worth, Texas
Residency: Family Medicine, University of Oklahoma
Favorite fellowship memory: The opportunity to work with Division 1 athletes
Favorite sport to cover: Football and soccer
Next steps: Ascension Sacred Heart in Pensacola, Florida. I will be in a private practice clinic doing a combination of family medicine and sports medicine.
![Patrick Ouzts, M.D.](/medicine/familymedicine/images/education/Sports_Family_Medicine_Fellowship/patrick.jpeg)
Patrick Ouzts, M.D.
Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio
Residency: Family Medicine, Rutgers University, New Jersey
Favorite sport to cover: I love all sports, but especially covering soccer and football.
Next steps: I will be relocating to Tucson, Arizona to work for Northwest Medical in an outpatient practice doing both sports and family medicine.
Faculty Development Fellowship applications open for 2021-2022
The Department of Family and Community Medicine, in partnership with the UAB Center for Teaching and Learning and the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, began offering a 10-month primary care faculty development fellowship in 2019. Since then, 17 fellows have completed the program and 16 more are set to graduate on June 11, 2021.
The fellowship invests in senior residents and junior faculty who are interested in academic medicine and educating medical students. Focus areas include teaching, scholarship, leadership, and practice transformation. Michael Wiederman, Ph.D., director of the Office of Leadership and Professional Development, and Irfan Asif, M.D., department chair and associate dean for rural health and primary care, co-direct the fellowship alongside Becky Reamey, Ph.D., program director for the Center for Clinical and Translational Skills Training Academy, and Scott Phillips, Ph.D., director of the Center for Teaching and Learning.
“When I first came to UAB, many faculty members on campus and at our regional campuses wanted more training and professional development,” said Asif. “This fellowship offers participants the chance to grow in a rigorous and collaborative program.”
Fellows attend monthly training sessions on Fridays each month, conduct a group study project, develop a teaching philosophy and leadership statement, and learn from primary care and professional development experts throughout the fellowship.
“The fellowship enriched my professional skills, my teaching techniques, and uplifted my capacity in research writing,” said Sumayah Abed, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and 2021 graduate of the fellowship. “Most importantly, it expanded my professional network through the monthly opportunities to meet with leaders in my field, mentors, faculty members, and others who widened my scope of vision as a faculty member.”
The fellowship is open to family medicine and primary care senior residents, junior faculty, and faculty members. The 2021-2022 fellowship application is now open.
Learn more about the Faculty Development Fellowship here or by contacting Michael Wiederman, Ph.D.