My mother in law, Edith, is 98 years old. I recently looked up her life expectancy and ac-

cording to some actuary her average life expectancy is 2.6 years. Impressive but less so

when you remember that George Burns continued to work until shortly before his death in

1996 at the age of 100. Must have been the cigars that did him in. He was married to

Gracie Allen who died at the age of 62 after only 36 years of marriage. George was grief

stricken and continued to talk about Gracie for the next 32 years. (It was good for the act.)

Burns remained in good health for most of his life, in part thanks to a daily exercise regi-

men of swimming, walks, sit-ups, and push-ups. He bought new Cadillacs every year and

drove until the age of 93, when he stopped, due to becoming so short that he couldn't see

over the steering wheel.

Grandma Edith never exercised a day in her life, never took a daily aspirin and never took a

statin. She has some mild hypertension and a benign tremor for which she takes medication

although doesn’t know why since her tremor is gone (think about it). Her husband, Dave,

died a year ago and grandma unlike Burns will never get over the loss of a spouse. After

my father-in-law came back from WWII, they were almost never apart. Living in NY they

did do a fair amount of walking but their diet was never healthy. Italian food is her favorite

but she will eat anything except things she is allegedly allergic to like nuts and chocolate

and eggs. Will never be able to convince her that it would be impossible to live as long as

she has and really be allergic to anything. She didn’t take a flu shot until recently because

of the egg allergy (even though she is a big cake eater.)

I found this in some ridiculous journal: “Despite advanced age, eating healthy and proper

exercise can contribute to living a significantly longer, more healthy life.” Good luck to

that as she complains if the Physical Therapist comes more than twice a week. Her life now

is pretty regimented living in an assisted living facility. She walks down to lunch and dinner

eating with the same group of women every day. That would comprise her exercise and her

healthy eating.

Her favorite for a long time has been Alex Tribeck, and if possible, she and her husband

would never miss an episode of Jeopardy, taping it if they were out. And they were out a

lot in NYC taking advantage of all it had to offer. Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson were

friends and patients of their dentist Archie who was also their good friend and unfortunately

their dentist but that is another story. When Wallach once appeared at the Kennedy Center,

Penny and I cautiously went back stage to meet him. When he learned Penny was Edith and

Dave’s daughter he couldn’t have been nicer. And of course I was in awe since “The Good,

The Bad and The Ugly” is one of my favorites.

A year before he died, Burns stated that he was looking forward to dying so he could be

reunited with Gracie. He certainly wasn’t in a big hurry. Losing her husband has taken a

lot out of Edith but imagine being married for 72 years (to the same person); how would

you feel?

Say goodnight Gracie!

June 2016 Volume 20, Issue 6

GW Medicine Notes A Monthly Publication of the GW Department of Medicine

From the Chairman

The AΩA induction dinner on May 12th was moderated by Alan Was-serman, M.D., M.A.C.P., Counci-lor of the GW Alpha Chapter of AΩA and the event was organized by Angelike Liappis, M.D., sec-retary-treasure of the GW chapter of AΩA, associate professor of Medicine at SMHS. It was exciting to see that 7 stu-dents are going into Internal Medi-cine. Housestaff Inductees: Betsy Kidder, MD, PhD, PGY2, Internal Medicine resident, Depart-ment of Medicine, Erin Vipler, MD, Internal Medicine Chief Resi-dent, and Jose Lucar, MD, Infec-tious Diseases Fellow Faculty Inductee: Dr. Jalil Ahari, Associate Profes-sor of Medicine Alumni Inductee: Dr. Lawrence R. Deyton, MD, Professor of Medicine and of Health Policy

Alan G. Wasserman, M.D.

AA Induction

Dinner

SAVE THE DATE

END-OF-THE-YEAR PARTY

FRIDAY, JUNE 10th

RITZ CARLTON HOTEL

Department of Medicine June 2016 Grand Rounds

Medicine Team Contacts

Page 2 GW Medicine Notes

WHITE TEAM (202) 715-5669 YELLOW TEAM (202) 715-6041 GREEN TEAM (202) 715-6062 RED TEAM (202) 715-6039 BLUE TEAM (202) 715-6156 SILVER TEAM (202) 715-6040 PURPLE TEAM (202) 715-6042 GOLD TEAM (202) 715-6044

ADMITTING RESIDENT 741-0161 pager

Resident Lecture Series June 2016 Noon Conference

MAR 1 Journal Club MAR 2 GME Core Lecture

MAR 3 Medicine Grand Rounds MAR 4 Chairman’s Rounds

MAR 7 “Oral Health in Primary Care”- Dr. Pierre Carter MAR 8 Mortality & Morbidity-

Drs. Dana Kay and JoeDelio MAR 9 “Genetic Screening”- Dr. Macri and Andrew Nance, MS4 MAR 10 Medicine Grand Rounds

MAR 11 Chairman’s Rounds MAR 14 TBD

MAR 15 “Chronic Disease Prevention and Management: A Dentist’s Perspective”- Dr. Pierre Carter

MAR 16 GME Core Lecture MAR 17 Medicine Grand Rounds

MAR 18 Chairman’s Rounds MAR 21 “Special Topics in Adult Oral Healthcare: Geriatrics,

Oropharyngeal Cancer, Infectious Disease Prevention, and Women’s Health”- Dr. Pierre Carter MAR 22 Clinicopathologic Conference-

Drs. Abeer Alfaraj and Rami Al Sharif MAR 23 TBD

MAR 24 Medicine Grand Rounds MAR 25 Chairman’s Rounds MAR 28 TBD MAR 29 TBD

MAR 30 TBD MAR 31 TBD

JUNE 2 Wipplinger Lecture

Resident Grand Rounds

“The Trip May Be Over But The Mission Never Ends"

Maggie Gloria, PGY3"

“The opioid epidemic ”

Paul Blaire, PGY3

GW Internal Medicine Residents

JUNE 9 “Cardiac Oncology”

Gurusher Panjrath, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Director, Heart Failure and Mechanical Circulatory

Division of Cardiology

Department of Medicine

GW Medical Faculty Associates

JUNE 16 Tamagna Endowed Lecture

“Preeclampsia: from Science to Medicine“

Ravi Thadhani, MD

Professor of Medicine

Harvard Medical School

Executive Director, Clinical Trials Office at

Partners Health Care

Chief, Division of Nephrology

Massachusetts General Hospital

JUNE 23 “Bipolar Disorder”

Daniel Lieberman, MD

Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Clinical Director

Department of Psychiatry

GW Medical Faculty Associates

JUNE 30 “SPRINT Trial”

Dominic Raj, MD

Professor of Medicine and of Epidemiology and

Biostatistics and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Director, Division of Renal Disease and Hypertension

Department of Medicine

GW Medical Faculty Associates

The George Washington University Medical Center (GWUMC) is accredited by

the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to

sponsor continuing medical education for physicians. GWUMC designates this continuing medical education activity on an hour-for-hour basis in Category I of

the Physician’s Recognition Award of the American Medical Association.

(AMA).

Cardiology Grand Rounds 5:00 PM, Ross Hall, Room # 104

JUNE 1 Mortality & Morbidity Conference JUNE 8 Mortality & Morbidity Conference JUNE 15 Allen Solomon, MD Professor of Medicine Director, Cardiology Fellowship Director, CCU Division of Cardiology Department of Medicine GW Medical Faculty Associates TBD JUNE 22 Summer Recess JUNE 29 Summer Recess

JUNE 1 GME Core Lecture JUNE 2 Medicine Grand Rounds

JUNE 3 Chairman’s Rounds JUNE 6 “Why Medicaid Matters”- Dr. Raymond Tu

JUNE 7 Journal Club

JUNE 8 “Anaphylaxis”- Dr. Richard Nicklas JUNE 9 Medicine Grand Rounds

JUNE 10 TBD JUNE 13 “Drug Allergies”- Dr. Richard Nicklas

JUNE 14 Mortality & Morbidity Conference– Drs. Adrienne Poon and Sonia Taneja

JUNE 15 GME Orientation JUNE 16 Medicine Grand Rounds

JUNE 17 GME Orientation

JUNE 20 Program Orientation JUNE 21 Program Orientation

JUNE 22 Program Orientation JUNE 23 Medicine Grand Rounds

JUNE 24 No Conference JUNE 27 No Conference JUNE 28 No Conference JUNE 29 No Conference

JUNE 30 Medicine Grand Rounds

GW Medicine Notes Page 3

Voluntary Faculty Awards GWU SMHS 2016 Diploma Ceremony

The American College of Physicians (ACP) recognized three GW SMHS voluntary faculty members for their out-

standing contributions to medicine in 2016:

Carole Horn, MD ‘69, associate clinical profess of medicine, was awarded the Ralph O.Claypoole Sr. Memo-rial Award for Devotion of a Career in Internal Medicine

to the Care of patients

Alan Stone, MD, FACP, clinical professor of medi-cine, received the Arnold P. Gold Foundation ACPT

Award for Medical Humanism

Robert Wilkerson, MD, MACP, Professor Emeritus of Clinical Medicine, received the Outstanding Volunteer

Clinical Teaching Award.

Grateful Patient Discovery Fund

Patients made a gift in the physician’s honor to the Grateful Patient Discovery Fund, which supports crucial priorities for GW’s Department of Medicine. Dr. David Parenti, Infectious Diseases Dr. James Gehring, Hospital Medicine Dr. Brad Moore, General Internal Medicine Dr. Chavon Onumah, General Internal Medi-

cine Dr. Robert Jablonover, General Internal Medi-

cine Dr. Caitlin Mingey, PGY 1

Master Teacher Leadership Development

Program Graduation

June 15th- Weingold Conference Center

Chavon Onumah, MD, MPH- General Internal

Medicine

Nora Taylor, MD- Rheumatology

Sara Wikstrom, MD- Hospital Medicine

The GWU SMHS 2016 Diploma Ceremony was held at the Lisner Auditorium on May 15th, 2016. Presentation of the Graduates: Medicine Richard J. Simons, MD Senior Associate Dean for MD Programs Professor of Medicine W. Scott Schroth, MD, MPH Associate Dean for Administration Associate Professor of Medicine

Dr. Akman noted that this will be Dr. Schroth’s last graduation as he is retiring and thanked him for his many years of service to GW.

The Department of Medicine was represented with 5 of our faculty receiving Emeritus Status: Dr. James K. Cooper Clinical Professor Emeritus Dr. David Goodman Clinical Professor Emeritus Dr. Frederick Rickles Clinical Professor Emeritus in Residence Dr. W. Scott Schroth Associate Professor Emeritus Dr. Manuel Velasquez Clinical Professor Emeritus in Residence Department of Medicine Student Awards: Phillip S. Birnbaum Award in Primary Care Sarah Elizabeth Knapp Jorge C. Rios Award in Internal Medicine Noah Quinn Haroian Mark Millen Memorial Award in Rheumatology Caitrin Margaret Coffey

Student Honor Societies: Alpha Omega Alpha Nathaniel Duong Khoa Nguyen, 4th year student and will be PGY 1 starting June 23rd.

Chairman’s Rounds GWU Hospital Auditorium, 12:00 Noon

All Faculty Invited to Attend

June 3 Dr. Sruti Chintamaneni Dr. Katie Cramer

The George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates

Department of Medicine, Suite 8-416

2150 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

GW Medicine Notes Page 4

Rheumatology Academic Conference Schedule June 2016

2300 M Street, Suite 3-332

8 AM– 11:30 AM Questions? Call (202) 741-2488

JUNE 2: Intra-City Rheumatology Grand Rounds NOTE LOCATION: WHC NOTE TIME: 7:30 AM JUNE 2: Didactic Sessions JUNE 9 : Radiology Conference Dr. Kathleen Brindle, Associate Professor of Radiology Chief, Musculoskeletal Radiology NOTE LOCATION: GWU Hospital Radiology Conference Room JUNE 9: Didactic Sessions JUNE 16 : “Quality Improvement Project” Dr. Miller and Dr. Almanabri JUNE 16 : Faculty Meeting JUNE 23: Summer Recess JUNE 30: Summer Recess

Kudos and Congratulations Kudos… to Dr. Katalin Roth, Geriatrics, as she received a letter of

praise from a patient, “…she makes you want to be involved in your care,

she’s the best doctor I’ve ever had and I’m 81!”

Kudos... to Dr. Pedro Jose and Dominic Raj, Division of Renal Diseas-

es and Hypertension, on being nominated to the National Heart Lung

Blood Institute (NHLBI) Working Group that will critically evaluate the

“The Role of Microbiota in Blood Pressure Regulation”.

Kudos… to Drs. Juan Reyes, Hospital Medicine, Steven Zeddun, Gas-

troenterology, Paul Silver, General Internal Medicine, and the green team

as they received a letter of praise from a patient for the great care and

treatment he received during his stay at the hospital.

Kudos… to Dr. April Barbour, General Internal Medicine, as she has

been asked to join the Editorial Advisory Board of Internal Medicine

News.

Congratulations… to Dr. Marco Mercader, Cardiology, on being hon-

ored by the University of Puerto Rico. The Association of University of

Puerto Rico Alumni and Friends Abroad (UPRAA) presented Dr. Mercader

the UPRAA’s Excellence and Achievement Award for outstanding accom-

plishments in in Medicine.

Congratulations… to Dr. Dominic Raj, Renal Division, and his family

on his daughter, Elizabeth Dominic, recent wedding.

See you next month! The Editor