By Laura Turner
SDN Staff Writer

The Student Doctor Network, in coordination with the Student Osteopathic Medical Association (SOMA), is pleased to announce the winner of the first annual SDN Scholarship in Community and Preventive Medicine. The inaugural winner is Tamar Nazerian, a first year medical student at Western University College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Scholarship Winner Tamar Nazerian

The scholarship was launched earlier this year to provide support for students that plan to enter the field of community and preventive medicine.

Lee Burnett, physician and co-founder of SDN explains, “As a nonprofit charitable organization we have a responsibility to the greater community.  Our goal with the scholarship is to provide support to a student that also feels that sense of community responsibility. Tamar Nazerian has worked extensively in the area of preventative care. It is wonderful that she is the first recipient of this scholarship.”

Prior to matriculating at Western University, Ms. Nazerian served as the Project Coordinator for the University of Southern California/Childrens Hospital Los Angeles University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, working on two federally grant supported projects. The first was called Project Access for Pediatric Epilepsy, which used telemedicine to bridge the communication gap between pediatric primary care physicians and pediatric subspecialists in rural areas. The second project focused on providing children with special health care needs who are transitioning into adulthood with information to enable them to find appropriate medical care. She also worked at the UCLA Lili Claire Family Resource Center as a Program Coordinator.

Ms. Nazerian completed a Masters in Public Health at the University of Southern California, with a focus on Child and Family Health. She received her Bachelors of Science in Physiological Science from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a Public Affairs minor with a Social Welfare emphasis.

“I am thrilled and humbled to be the first recipient of this scholarship,” Tamar Nazerian said. “As I wrote in my application essay, I have found that the strategies that are most effective at improving the overall health of a community are not those that rely on individual behaviors or access, but instead focus on improving society’s collective health and wellness. My goal is to serve as a Pediatrician and focus on early intervention to improve the health and well being of children and society as a whole.”

A complete text of Tamar Nazerian’s application essay is available here.

“We look forward continuing to support students that are focused on community and preventive medicine with this and other scholarships in the future,” said Lee Burnett.  The annual SDN Preventive Medicine Scholarship was offered as two awards, one for SOMA and the other for the AMA-MSS.  SOMA chose to start the scholarship with the 2009 academic year.  In 2010, annual scholarships are planned for additional healthcare professions.

Setting the Goal:  A Journey Toward Innovation in Medicine

The Student Doctor Network is pleased to announce the following online presentation to our membership:

Dr. Maria Siemionow

Kaplan Publishing in conjunction with Kaplan Medical is proud to present an evening with Dr. Maria Siemionow, a medical pioneer in facial transplant surgery.

When Dr. Siemionow announced in December 2005 that she had been granted approval to perform this revolutionary surgery, she was bombarded with media attention and moving requests from people wanting to know who would be eligible for the operation. In December 2008, it was announced that she had completed the nation’s first face transplant.

Please join us for an evening with Dr. Siemionow as she discusses her journey toward innovation in the medical field through setting goals and determination.

Event Information

Date: June 3, 2009
Time: 7:00 p.m. EST

This event will take place exclusively online. Registration for this event is mandatory.  Click to register:http://kaptest.acrobat.com/face_to_face/event/registration.html

Special Offer: The first fifty registrants will receive a free copy of Dr. Siemionow’s upcoming book Face to Face: My Quest to Perform the First Full Face Transplant.

About Dr. Siemionow

Maria Siemionow, MD, PhD, was awarded her medical degree by Poznan University of Medical Sciences in 1974, after which she completed her residency in orthopedics, and then earned a PhD in microsurgery. In 1985, she completed a hand surgery fellowship at the Christine Kleinert Institute for Hand and Microsurgery in Louisville, Kentucky.

Today she is director of Plastic Surgery Research and the head of Microsurgery Training in the Plastic Surgery Department of Cleveland Clinic. She is on staff at the Clinic’s Transplantation Center and in the orthopedic surgery and immunology departments. For her research on facial transplant, she received the 2004 and 2007 James Barrett Brown Awards from the American Association of Plastic Surgeons. Dr. Siemionow has been featured in the media including ABC News, CNN, BBC and the New York Times.

Plato said, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” But, just having a good idea is not enough. Transitioning an invention from idea to marketable product takes something more—an entrepreneurial spirit, as well as a little confidence.

Three Washington State University PharmD candidates have taken an idea, their entrepreneurial spirit, and the confidence gained from winning the 2006 NCPA Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition and launched a much-needed product for pharmacy students.

Flash Forward is a company that produces flash cards of the top 250 drugs. Jason Doss had the idea for the cards in his first year of pharmacy school. “I knew I was going to have to make flash cards for class and I wanted to make it easier by purchasing a set of flash cards instead,” he said. Not finding any for purchase, he realized that there was a need that was not being met.

Doss and Corinne Gavrun were members of Washington State’s winning team of the business plan competition, along with Josh Fancher and Daniela Beilic. Linda Garrelts-MacLean was the team’s advisor.

“The experience of having written a business plan convinced us that it was possible to start a business and succeed,” Doss said. So, in the fall of 2007, Doss and Gavrun joined with fellow pharmacy school student David Villeneuve to launch Flash Forward. Doss is the company’s chief executive officer. Gavrun serves as chief financial officer, and Villeneuve is the chief technology officer.

“The NCPA Business Plan Competition inspired our entrepreneurial spirit and motivated us to take action,” Gavrun said. “After our competition win, we were eager to start up a business that we could run in our spare time while completing our last two years of pharmacy school.”

The trio used lessons learned from the business plan competition in developing and launching Flash Forward. “We went through a process similar to the one we did for the competition,” Gavrun said, “brainstorming creative ideas, assessing idea feasibility, researching the market potential, developing a product prototype, and writing a business plan.”

Not wanting to just produce cards like those students make for themselves, the team spent time developing the cards and including extra features to make them stand apart. “We spent a while researching and designing the look of the cards. We wanted to make sure that the cards would be functional and easy to use for students,” Doss said. “We believe that it is important to put out a quality product that is going to help students and we wanted to get it right.”

Flash Forward is selling sets of the flash cards to pharmacy student organizations, which in turn can sell them to raise funds. The sets include cards for the top 250 drugs to account for differences in top 200 lists and to bring greater value to their customers.

Now that the team has successfully launched the business, they are not content to sit on their laurels. They continue to work to evolve the company and improve their product. “We’ve got some great ideas for the future,” Doss said. “We are developing supplemental cards for specialty areas of pharmacy, as well as updating the cards to reflect the new top 200 lists. We are also in the process of updating our Web site (www.PharmacyFlashCards.com) to get a newer look and take online orders.”

Equipped with the experience of winning the business plan competition and successfully launching Flash Forward, the trio continues to look for new opportunities where they can use their skills. In the summer of 2007, Doss began working for the Community health Association of Spokane (ChAS), a clinic for low income/no income patients in Spokane, Washington.

ChAS leadership was aware of the NCPA business plan win, Doss said. So, they asked him to write a business plan for opening an anticoagulation clinic. “I wrote it in December and January, and presented it to ChAS, and they were very happy with it. They are now in the process of training pharmacists and will be opening the clinic soon,” Doss said. For more information, visit www.PharmacyFlashCards.com.

“This article originally appeared in the June 2008 issue of America’s Pharmacist, published by the National Community Pharmacists Association, Alexandria, Va. Reprinted with permission.”

The Student Doctor Network is pleased to announce a partnership with the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA).

Founded in 1898, NCPA continues to be the leading voice in support of independent community pharmacists, especially for legislative change. In addition to supporting current pharmacy owners, NCPA also provides resources for pharmacy student members, including scholarships, lower interest student loans, internships, mentors, and career guides.

This new partnership will be especially beneficial to pharmacy students on SDN who are considering becoming an independent community pharmacist, will provide all SDN members with the opportunity to learn about the role of the community pharmacist, and will provide a vast resource and support network to NCPA student members.

“The partnership between NCPA and SDN will be beneficial to both parties, because we share the same objectives,” said John Stelmachowicz, NCPA Associate Director of Student Affairs. “Together we can reach a broader audience of current and future pharmacy students, and also foster the type of online information sharing and discussions that will enhance their knowledge and opportunities for growth.”

To learn more about NCPA’s resources for students, please visit the NCPA Student Affairs page.

Upcoming NCPA events of interest include:

• The 110th Annual Convention and Trade Exposition October 11-15, 2008 in Tampa, FL
• Pharmacy Ownership Workshop November 7-9, 2008 in Cleveland, OH
• The NCPA Foundation’s Spring 2009 Student Loan Application Deadline November 17, 2008

For more information, see the NCPA website at www.ncpanet.org or contact your local student NCPA chapter.

About the Student Doctor Network

The Student Doctor Network (SDN) is an independent community of students, advisors, educators, and practicing health care professionals. With over two million page views per month and an online forums community of nearly 150,000 registered users, SDN is one of the internet’s leading resources for professionals and students in nearly every area of health care.

The Student Doctor Network is operated by the Coastal Research Group, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization. For more information, visit http://www.studentdoctor.net.

Continuing with its mission of representing doctoral-level healthcare fields, the Student Doctor Network (SDN) has recently added four new partners to its growing list of partners that span the health professions.

GlobalRPH is a useful website designed and operated by David McAuley, Pharm.D. & R.Ph., of the Detroit VA Medical Center. McAuley launched this practical resource in 2000 and has developed it into a valuable tool that is a comprehensive drug library. It features dosage guidelines, calculators, and many other information sources that will be able to aid pharmacists and other healthcare professionals that come in contact with patient medications daily. 

OpNotes is a web blog that highlights new, emerging medical technologies, procedures and products in the surgical specialties. Although less formal than medical journals, OpNotes does require every user submitting a post to provide his or her name and affiliation. All posts are approved by an editor before being made public.

Podiatry Arena is an online community designed for podiatric specialists and aspiring foot healthcare professionals. The main page is similar to a blog setup, featuring articles about varying topics that link to forum posts. Along the top of the site are links to several other features including forums, a marketplace, gallery and events list. Users are encouraged to register so that they can participate in forum discussions and experience ad-free postings in the forums.

radRounds is a social network for radiologists around the globe. The site was created by radiologists and designed for those that are already practicing or are interested in pursuing radiology after medical school. The site has a plethora of available functions including but not limited to a case of the day, online storage for academic physicians, perks system for referrals, and forum for communicating with site members. RadRounds will help any medical student applying for residency, and offers confidential mentoring and advice regarding their application and rotations. Overall, the site is designed to connect and create networking opportunities among soon-to-be and established radiologists.

In addition to these four, SDN maintains relationships with many partners that span the health professions. To access this list, please click on the Links tab from any page on SDN. Happy Surfing!

The Student Doctor Network would like to welcome its newest organizational partner, the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology. The National Register is the largest credentialing organization for licensed psychologists, serving over 12,000 providers. Their mission includes credentialing licensed psychologists, promoting credentialed psychologists to consumers, providing distinction and value to its Registrants, guiding psychology students toward credentialing, and enhancing psychologists’ contributions to integrated health care.

To learn more about the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology and the benefits of credentialing, please visit http://www.nationalregister.org/ .

The Student Doctor Network would like to welcome its two newest site partners, Medpod101 and My Medical Career.

Medpod101 is a physician run podcast site which offers medical students a new way to
learn medicine – on the go. Case-based podcasts can be downloaded for play on your iPod or computer.

My Medical Career is an online career planning portal for Australian medical students and junior doctors. Created by young doctors with the input of senior clinicians, My Medical Career aims to provide users with up-to-date information about different career options. Their goal is guide you through the process of selecting and achieving a career which best suits your interests, skills and lifestyle needs.

Learn more about the important upgrades to Kaplan’s Qbank and see how you score on a Qbank Challenge at www.qbankchallenge.com.

Only on SDN – Enter to win Kaplan’s new Step 1 Qbank!
Kaplan is giving away a Step 1 Qbank to the first 100 SDN members who respond to our post. Check the Step 1 forum on Monday, December 10 to learn how to win a FREE 3-month Step 1 Qbank!

As a web-based resource, BOM has assembled the most high yield resources on the topics of Debt Management, Insurance/Policy, Malpractice, and Career Development. Each of the links provided have been screened and reviewed by medical students to provide only the most concise and accurate information. As a student-based organization, local BOM organizations recruit local business leaders and experts to lead small group discussions, organized panels, and Q&A sessions at medical schools. Topics covered include Reimbursement, Financial Planning, Healthcare Management Organizations (HMO), Medicare/Medicaid, Physician Income, and many more. Given the increasing financial pressures on the practice of medicine and the growing medical student debt load, medical students have begun to respond. Students are no longer passive recipients of these forces.

In closing, Brill mentioned his enthusiasm at becoming an SDN partner site, “We would like to reach prospective members and help fellow medical students find appropriate resources through SDN.”

For more information, including how to start a chapter at your school, please visit www.businessofmedicine.org or their newly created forum here on the SDN forums.

The Student Doctor Network would like to welcome its newest partner, the American Medical Association Alliance. The mission of the AMA Alliance is to partner with physicians to promote the good health of America and support the family of medicine. The Alliance network of physicians and physicians’ spouses represents all stages of the medical lifestyle, from the training years to retirement.

The President of the AMA Alliance, Dianne Fenyk, has a message for SDN users.

A Message from AMAA President Dianne Fenyk

The American Medical Association (AMA) Alliance is an organization of opportunities. As Alliance members, we can choose how to take advantage of these opportunities. Studies show that people join an organization for three main reasons:

1.To belong
2.To develop themselves personally
3.To make a difference for the greater good

Alliance membership satisfies all of the above criteria. The AMA Alliance offers a multitude of opportunities with programs, conferences, resources and projects that allow you to choose involvement in an area of personal interest to you. Are you ready to learn leadership skills? Are you interested in contacting your legislators regarding access of care for all Americans? Are you ready to take a stand against tobacco products in movies aimed at children? Do you feel it’s time to get involved with schools to help stop bullying and prevent violence? Are you looking for a project that educates parents on adolescent body image? Are you seeking scholarships or during the training years or a place to stay during residency interviews across the country? Do you want to take care of yourself by participating in a healthy walking challenge? Are you looking for friends with similar goals or similar challenges? The Alliance has it all!

The Alliance’s grassroots program, Screen Out! is designed to make movie studios aware of parental concerns about the harmful effects of tobacco product placement in movies aimed at children. Resources like Hands Are Not For Hitting and You Don’t Have To Be Bullied workbooks teach kids how to deal with conflict, while fact sheets like Childhood Bullies and Victims help children make healthy lifestyle choices. By signing up to join the Alliance’s “One Step at a Time” walking challenge, you’ll be joining physicians and physician spouses across the country who are walking their way to better health.

No matter what you choose to do with the opportunities the Alliance offers, I guarantee you’ll be doing it with like-minded individuals who care about you as much as they care about the health of America.

I promise you I care! Please let me hear from you – I’d love to know what Alliance opportunities may interest you as a resident physician or medical student. My e-mail address is diannefenyk@prodigy.net.

Fondly,
Dianne Fenyk
AMA Alliance President

SDN users who wish to join the Alliance may click here.