News

The Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine (ACOM) is pleased to welcome Kristen Helms, PharmD, as Assistant Dean of Faculty Development.

Dr. Helms earned her bachelor’s degree in zoology from North Carolina State University and obtained her PharmD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She completed her pharmacotherapy residency in primary care at DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa. Dr. Helms was a 2013-2014 Academic Leadership Fellow for the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

Prior to joining ACOM, she served as Associate Clinical Professor at Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacy and as director of interprofessional education. Dr. Helms has been honored with numerous awards, including the Auburn University Interdepartmental Collaboration Award (in collaboration) and the 2009 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy National Annual Assessment Award (in collaboration).

Her research interests include professional identity development, interprofessional education outcomes, and classroom and curricular assessment.

Dario Marotta, Class of 2022, has been named ACOM’s 2020-2021 Student Doctor of the Year (SDOY). Each year, the ACOM Student Government Association requests nominations of students who demonstrate the principles of leadership, community service, dedication and professionalism. Osteopathic colleges across the country select one student from their institutions to compete for the national SDOY award.

Marotta is a non-traditional student from Normal, Illinois. After spending six years in Illinois law enforcement, serving as a Detective Sergeant of the Criminal Investigations Division and later as a United States Secret Service-trained mobile device forensic examiner, Marotta chose to attend medical school.

“I chose ACOM because I felt they valued my unique life experiences,” Marotta said. “My interview was conversational, everyone was warm and welcoming, and I felt the fact the school was relatively new gave me a chance to contribute to future ACOM graduating classes.”

Marotta has a passion for research. His career began in his second year of medical school when he was selected for an internship funded by the National Cancer Institute. He attributes this time to igniting his love for research and he has since published 15 manuscripts over the last year.

To date, much of his work has focused on cognition, health-related quality of life and access to care in the setting of advanced brain cancer. Marotta continues to expand his work to include deep brain stimulation in patients with movement disorders, vision loss in those with idiopathic intracranial hypertension and imaging modalities in patients with acute ischemic stroke.

Currently, Marotta is completing his third-year clinical clerkships at Southeast Health and in the Dothan area. He is working on multiple research projects with national and international collaboration, including a study in partnership with Southeast Health’s Comprehensive Stroke Center. Marotta’s hope is to pursue a residency in neurosurgery with the goal to become an academic neurosurgeon.

“I hope to one day teach in a medical school and/or residency environment,” Marotta said, “I look forward to mentoring future medical students, much like those who have made my medical and research career possible.”

Medical school has provided many opportunities and Marotta says his most rewarding experience is being able to work with fellow classmates and give back to the community.

“I co-founded a community garden at the Ark, a local non-profit ministry and food bank in Dothan, with classmates of mine,” Marotta said, “We turned a half-acre vacant lot into a vegetable garden and food source for the residents who are recovering from addiction, abuse and other adversity.”

As Student Doctor of the Year, Marotta will represent ACOM for the national Council of Osteopathic Student Government President’s SDOY competition.

“Being selected as ACOM’s Student Doctor of the Year is an absolute honor and means the world to me,” Marotta said. “I am deeply grateful for the unwavering confidence and support of my peers and the faculty and staff at ACOM through this award.”

The social distancing requirements of 2020 have created unique opportunities for Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine (ACOM) students to engage in community service in non-traditional and creative ways. Some student organizations have been able to conduct virtual events and mentoring sessions, while others have found ways to donate to local causes. Recently, ACOM’s Emergency Medicine Interest Group (EMIG) assembled and donated 200 hygiene kits to the emergency department at Southeast Health for the homeless population and the underserved.

EMIG, the ACOM chapter for the American College of Osteopathic Emergency Physicians Resident Student Organization (ACOEP-RSO), strives to promote emergency medicine as a “front-line specialty that interacts with the community heavily.” ACOM’s chapter wanted to find a meaningful way to bring this mission to life here in Dothan. With winter upon us and given the continued spread of COVID-19, EMIG recognized the importance of providing hygiene items to those in greatest need.

“With the COVID pandemic, there was a lot of restriction put on in-person community service, so we thought outside the box on how we could still have an impact on the community and maintain our social distance,” Kyle Cohen, OMS-II, president of EMIG.

Each donated kit includes a bottle of water, snack bars, toothbrush and toothpaste, body wipes, lip balm, deodorant, lotion, tissues, hand sanitizer and socks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) maintain that washing hands can help prevent the spread of disease. Through the distribution of these kits, EMIG hopes to maintain an impact on the underserved community while promoting the simplest form of safety during these times, hygiene.

“The emergency department is a contact point for those in most need of assistance, and this involves a high volume of homeless patients,” Cohen said, “We thought that providing these hygiene items may help to ease some burden, provide some comfort for these patients, and promote hygiene and wellness within the community.”

ACOM believes in inspiring medicine through human touch. With the ingenuity of groups such as EMIG, ACOM students continue to impact Dothan and the surrounding communities despite the challenges of 2020.

“My hope is that this project continues and provides meaningful goods for people within our community,” Cohen said, “With the restrictions that we currently have, it is difficult to have any type of personal interaction and community education type events. With this project, we were at least able to promote good hygiene in a time that it is of utmost importance.”

The SIMps have won the 2020 ACOM Simulation Competition!

Eight teams (a total of 40 students) competed on Friday and Saturday for a chance to advance to the National SimChallenge.

Teams were presented with an emergent clinical scenario, which required medical knowledge, clinical skills, teamwork, communication, and calm nerves to overcome the challenges. One ACOM team advances to the national competition each year.

In 2017, a team of second-year ACOM students won the national SimChallenge event and represented the United States at the International SimChallenge in Paris, defeating the French team in the final round to become international champions.

In 2020, the ACOM team won the first National Virtual Patient Simulation Challenge hosted by AMSA. ACOM hopes to recapture the national title again this year, with this local tournament serving as an important step in that journey.

The SIMps are a team of first-year students led by student Elizabeth Vandervort.

Vandervort, who has interest in emergency medicine, is a former EMT and Emergency Department Tech.

Through their wide range of medical skills the team accomplished success in order to represent ACOM on the national level.

Brian Lewis is a former EMT and field training officer. During the competition he was responsible for talking to the patient in order to gain an in-depth history to determine a diagnosis.

Teammates included, Arianna Serrano a former ER scribe and medical assistant, Will Laidig, former emergency department scribe and tech, and Connor Willis, a former medical assistant and scribe in primary care.

John T. Giannini Jr. MD, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Simulation expressed pride in each of the ACOM teams that competed.

“If you could have seen these teams when we began, you wouldn’t even recognize them today. Everyone did a great job.”

Today is National Rural Health Day. Rural communities are home to approximately 57 million people across the U.S. with one in five Americans calling a rural community home. With increasing populations in the countryside, unique healthcare needs have arisen.

In rural states like Alabama the shortage of primary care physicians is higher than in other parts of the nation. Twenty percent of the U.S. population lives in rural areas and yet only nine percent of all physicians practice there.

According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, 55 of Alabama’s 67 counties are considered rural, with only seven counties being identified as having enough primary care physicians to provide the minimum of care.

The Southern Rural Access Project conducted a multi-state evaluation of rural health care in the south and found that more than 1 million Alabamians are without access to primary care. The project pinpointed deficiencies in Alabama’s ability to maintain or recruit physicians.

Addressing this shortage was the central focus in the creation of the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine (ACOM). As one of 37 colleges of osteopathic medicine and the first in the state of Alabama, the institution is the only osteopathic medical school that is an academic division of a county healthcare authority. ACOM’s relationship with Southeast Health has empowered it to impact the local community in a unique way.

In January 2020, the Southeast Health ACOM Ashford Clinic opened, increasing access to healthcare for citizens with a focus on the education of ACOM students. The clinic services include internal medicine, pediatrics and osteopathic manipulative medicine. Justin Hovey, MD, FAAP, Medical Director of the clinic, believes it has brought much needed care to an underserved area.

“The clinic provides care to a large swath of Wiregrass residents who no longer have to drive long distances to be seen by a provider. Access to care has been increased for this population tremendously.  We continue to work to improve that access as we move forward,” Hovey said.

The incorporation of ACOM students into the clinic is one way the college continues to pursue its mission of producing primary care physicians to serve the medically underserved areas of Alabama, the Tri-State region and the nation.

“Having students in this rural setting is unique as well,” Hovey said. “Their presence really changes the dynamic and experience that the local patients have. By seeing a student and provider during an appointment, the patients get a very thorough visit.”

The exposure to primary care disciplines during clinical training and rotations is an important part of inspiring medical students to consider these fields for their future careers. According to a 2018 American Osteopathic Association report, approximately 57 percent of DOs pursue a career in primary care, specializing in family medicine, internal medicine or pediatrics. ACOM has observed this trend among its graduates with at least 50 percent of its four graduating classes pursuing primary care, and is hopeful that many these physicians will return to the state to practice in rural communities.

“Rural health clinics are paramount to the changing rural population and dynamics of population health,” Hovey explained. “We need more in order to provide critical evidence-based care to an underserved population.”

The Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine and the Society of Hospital Medicine’s Wiregrass Chapter jointly hosted the fifth annual Poster Day on November 6 and 7, 2020.

This event, held virtually for the first time due to COVID-19, gave participants the opportunity to post their research posters through Twitter. Categories included original research, quality improvement (QI) and innovation, Clinical Vignette, Population Health and Literature Review. In addition to the poster presentations, the event featured virtual talks by Paul Erwin, MD, DrPH, on the health of rural populations in Alabama and Eileen Barrett, MD, MPH, SFHM, FACP, on wellness in medical school and residency. Other speakers included Devesh Dahale, MS, MBA, on using QI science to improve processes and outcomes in healthcare, and Aziz Ansari, DO, SFHM, FAAHPM, FACP, on prognostication in serious illness.

We are excited to announce the following Poster Day winners:

Quality Improvement:

1st place: A Quality Improvement Project: Evaluation of the Effect of Community-based REVIVE! Trainings on Medical Student Attitudes Towards Addiction – Authors: Hninn Lwin, MS, OMS-I; Jonathan Taylor-Fishwick, MS4; Stephanie L. Peglow, DO, MPH

2nd place: Cardiovascular and Other Diseases as Risk Factors for Opioid Overdose – Authors: Saad Mohiuddin, OMS-II; Robert W. Parker III, PharmD

3rd Place: Obstructive Sleep Apnea Screening and the Potential for Healthcare Cost Savings – Authors: Cherie Shuler, OMS-IV; Victoria Phillips, DO; Amith Skandhan, MD; James Robeson, MD; Kyle Jones, MD

Clinical Vignettes:

1st place: Vitamin C Deficiency Masquerading as a Vasculitis – Authors: Ariail Gilbert Schmitz, DO; Nowoghomwenma Ibie, MD; Vindhya Katpally, MD; Amith Skandhan, MD; Sri Valasareddi, MD

2nd place: Short-Term Antifungal Treatment in the Setting of Oropharyngeal Mucormycosis – Authors: Alyssa Pace-Patterson, OMS-III; Britni Smith, MPH, OMS-IV; Pooja Patak, MD; W. David Hewitt, MD

3rd place: Geniculate Neuralgia: Herpes Zoster, a virus that surpasses time – Authors: Pooja Patak, MD; Erica M. Roman, MD; Mamatha Kondapalli, MD

Original Research:

1st place: In silico and In vitro experiments analyzing novel human variants of the GALT gene yield contradictory results – Authors: Travis Mitchell, MS, OMS-II; Eric Johnson, PhD

2nd place: Increased Microtubule Density in PAH Endothelial Cells – Authors: Veronica R. Davidson, OMS-II; Jonathan R. Brown, PhD; Audrey A. Vasauskas, PhD; and Caleb Hamilton, PhD

3rd place: Medical simulation-based learning outcomes in pre-clinical medical education – Authors: Maxwell Jabaay, MA, MS; Dario A. Marotta, BS; Stephen Aita, PhD; Dianne Walker, BS; Leah Grcevich, BS; Victor Camba, BS; James R. Nolin, MSN, NP-C; James Lyons MD; John T. Giannini Jr., MD

The ACOM Student Osteopathic Medical Association (SOMA) recently achieved success on the national level, with the passage of a resolution and the election of students to national positions. The Dean’s Cabinet is proud of these students and their contribution to the profession.

ACOM SOMA Resolution Passed through the AOA House of Delegates

The Student Osteopathic Medical Association (SOMA) holds a House of Delegates twice a year where SOMA members are able to submit resolutions to be voted upon by delegates from each chapter. These resolutions, if passed, are then adopted as official SOMA policy and are eligible to be submitted to the AOA House of Delegates. ACOM SOMA is proud to announce that resolution S-20-26, SUPPORT THE BOLSTERING OF VETERAN HEALTH ADMINISTRATION RESOURCES THROUGH PROVIDER PAY REFORM was approved both at the Spring SOMA House of Delegates and Fall AOA House of Delegates. This resolution aims to support and advocate for provider pay reform and staff management within the VHA system to efficiently and effectively meet the health needs of the United States veteran population. This resolution was authored by ACOM OMS-III students Benjamin Duong, Rebecca Stoll, E’Joven Reed, Amir Khiabani, Alexis O’Connel, Katherine Beyer, Brandon Newell and Morgan Bivens as well as Nicholas Harriel from NYIT COM at Arkansas State University and Jacqueline Chung from PNWU COM. This is the first time that an ACOM SOMA resolution was submitted and passed by both the SOMA and AOA House of Delegates.

ACOM students elected to National SOMA Board of Trustee Positions

ACOM OMS-II student Melanie Weyers was elected as Region II Trustee and ACOM OMS-III student Amir Khiabani was elected as National SOMA Treasurer. Both Students were elected to serve on the National SOMA Board of Trustees in their respective positions.

As Region II Trustee, Weyers will oversee the largest SOMA region including 15 SOMA chapters from Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. She will support SOMA chapters in Region II by facilitating region-wide events and guiding chapter leaders to improve chapter engagement. Her current plan is to expand Region II involvement with the National SOMA Opioid Overdose Prevention Taskforce and to facilitate Naloxone training events. Weyers is the third consecutive ACOM student to serve as the National SOMA Region II trustee.

As National Treasurer, Khiabani will be a senior National SOMA leader that will be overseeing a large budget for SOMA. This position includes working closely with the AOA as well as the SOMA Convention Director to ensure that funds are appropriated strategically. Khiabani will also have the ability to work on projects with other SOMA leaders and has current plans to further develop needs-based funding for students. Khiabani is the first ACOM student to be elected to be a part of senior National SOMA leadership.

ACOM is pleased to announce that Leah McKnight-Haas, DO, will serve as keynote speaker for the Class of 2024 White Coat Ceremony.

Dr. McKnight-Haas is a board certified family medicine physician with a specialty in Obesity Medicine. She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from Judson College and went on to study medicine at the Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine (formally known as Pikeville College of Osteopathic Medicine). She completed residency at the University of South Alabama where she served as Chief Resident.

Dr. Leah McKnight-Haas is currently a partner in private practice at Southern Clinic and serves as a clinical faculty preceptor for the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine. She also serves as Medical Director for Encompass Hospice and Southeast Alabama Home Health Care. Dr. McKnight-Haas is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians, Alabama Medical Association, and the Obesity Medicine Association. She is dedicated to providing quality, individualized care for her patients.

White Coat Ceremony is an annual celebration that represents a rite of passage for a first-year medical student and an important step in the journey toward becoming an osteopathic physician. This year’s event will be presented virtually to promote the health and safety of our students, their families and the ACOM community in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virtual pre-recorded ceremony will include footage of students being coated by ACOM faculty members. The virtual White Coat Ceremony will air on ACOM’s Facebook page and YouTube channel on Sunday, November 8, 2020, at 2 p.m. CT.

The ACOM Student Diversity Council, Institutional Diversity Council and Muslim Student Association will host Diversity Week beginning Monday, October 12.

The planned activities will provide educational and fun opportunities to learn about various diversity topics.

ACOM recognizes, values, and affirms that diversity contributes richness to the College and enhances the quality of education. Students, faculty, staff, and administrators are valued for their diversity. ACOM is committed to providing an academic and employment environment in which students and employees are treated with courtesy, respect, and dignity.

The week will include a Muslim student panel, poetry and painting night, pride day, and a screening of Marvel’s Black Panther.