scholarly activities
scholarly supports
The Brown Med-Peds program provides an environment rich with resources and mentorship that help residents accomplish their career goals. Whatever specialty you pursue, wherever your career will take you, the faculty at Brown are extremely supportive of resident scholarly activities, research projects, and participation in state, regional, and national organizations. Since the start of our program, our faculty and residents have been committed to not just learning within the hospital but outside of the hospital as well. Our residents and faculty have published numerous articles and abstracts. Multiple residents have been recognized with awards locally and nationally for their commitment to service, quality patient care, and research. Brown University and Lifespan have been instrumental in providing the necessary resources and opportunities that allow each individual to grow into who they want to be. We invite you to view our updated list of scholarly activities!
Check out this list of our residents’ and faculty’s recent scholarly activities.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Our program strongly supports advocacy, volunteering, and community service. Our residents and faculty participate in numerous advocacy endeavors, including antiracism efforts, resettled refugee health, transitional care for chronic disease including cystic fibrosis, LGBTQIA+ health, cancer survivorship, incarceration health, treatment of opioid use disorder, physician health, and more. Many residents have received the American Academy of Pediatrics’ CATCH grant, a competitive grant geared towards sustainable community advocacy work.
The Brown Human Rights Asylum Clinic (BHRAC) is a medical student-run human rights clinic dedicated to providing forensic medical evaluations to survivors of persecution who seek asylum in the US. The written medical testimony that physician evaluators submit to courts on behalf of asylum seekers is frequently the determining factor when judges grant asylum or other relief from deportation for survivors of torture, domestic abuse, trafficking, and other forms of persecution who present with physical and psychological sequelae of abuse. Through a partnership with Physicians for Human Rights, BHRAC is committed to helping victims of torture and abuse gain the support they need to receive refuge in the US. Betsy Toll, retired MP Core Faculty, serves as the faculty director for BHRAC. Multiple residents and faculty serve as BHRAC physician evaluators, including Justin Berk, MP Core Faculty; Matt Lorenz, MP Core Faculty; and Margret Chang, MP Class of 2014.
The Correctional Health Elective, founded by Ann Ding, MP Class of 2022, gives residents the opportunity to gain experience in caring for prisoners and former prisoners. The goal of the elective is to inform residents’ future careers in working with the prison population. Many residents might otherwise never have the opportunity to work with this especially marginalized population. Even if residents choose not to work in correctional healthcare as a career, working in correctional spaces will guide residents in caring for these patients in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Med-Peds residents have the option of individualizing their schedule based on their interests and career goals, and have the option of working in prison intake clinics, minimum / medium / maximum security prisons, the women’s prison clinic, and the Rhode Island Training School (juvenile corrective services). Residents also have the option of working in the Transitions Clinic, a weekly clinic dedicated to providing primary care for recently released prisoners, which is run by IM attending physicians Drs. Vanjani and Trimbur.
Teachfitclub.org is a non-profit organization that works to integrate a core curriculum on healthy eating and living in schools. Young Doctors Club represents one component of the curriculum and is an extension of Kristin Anderson’s, MP Core Faculty, advocacy work. Dr. Anderson serves as the co-executive director of F.I.T. Club and engages residents to contribute on curriculum and outreach.
F.I.T. Club is committed to creating collaborative curricula embedding concepts of food, fitness and farming into the classroom. Its focus on literacy to teach concepts of nutrition and physical health connects students with high quality fiction and nonfiction books. Lesson plans utilize Common Core Standards and can be taught during or after school. F.I.T. Club is applicable to any school setting and to anyone who eats!
A refugee primary care clinic is held in the Medicine-Pediatrics Primary Care Center two times per month. Founded by Elizabeth Toll, retired MP Core Faculty, and building on the successful model of the Hasbro Pediatric Refugee Program, the refugee clinic provides intake services for newly resettled refugees and facilitates their integration into the resident clinic for ongoing primary care. Supervised by Matt Lorenz, MP Core Faculty, the clinic is also staffed by residents and medical students and works closely with the Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island to provide comprehensive care to this diverse population.
Many Med-Peds residents and faculty volunteer at the Rhode Island Free Clinic, a collaboration between Rhode Island Hospital, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and a community health foundation to ensure access to medical care for uninsured or indigent individuals. Sybil Cineas, MP Core Faculty, serves as a member of the Rhode Island Free Clinic medical advisory board.
TRAINING PATHWAYS
GLOBAL HEALTH
- BRIGHT
The Brown Residency International and Global Health Training (BRIGHT) pathway is the designated track for those interested in furthering their interest in global health. Med-Peds residents are eligible to apply during their second year of training. This track includes online modules, quarterly meetings, journal clubs and a capstone project on a global health topic. Core program advisors include Mike Koster MD (pediatric infectious disease) and Natasha Rybak MD (combined adult and pediatric infectious disease); Dr Rybak founded BRIGHT as a Med-Peds resident.
- Current Med-Peds participants: Fritz Siegert, PGY4
- INTERNATIONAL CHILD HEALTH
The goal of the International Child Health (ICH) Track is to understand general principles related to health of children in developing countries and how these principles apply to underserved populations in the US. The 2-year curriculum includes a didactic lecture series, dedicated research focused on ICH, advocacy, and a 2-week domestic and 4-week international rotation in ICH.
- Current Med-Peds participants: Ruth Cadet, PGY3
- INTERNATIONAL ROTATIONS
Brown residents receive call-free electives during their training that can be used towards rotations in another country. In the past, Med-Peds residents have gone all over the world including four sites where Brown has established programs for rotations: Cambodia, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Kenya. Depending on particular interests, each of these locations will provide a different experience for the learner. Residents who go abroad will then share their experiences in a morning report. While away from campus, the hospital will continue to pay their salary.
CLINICIAN EDUCATOR
Through the Department of Medicine, Med-Peds residents interested in medical education and academics can participate in the Clinician Educator Track. This program is a grassroots effort started by residents and faculty members that allows interested trainees to develop their didactic skills and teaching portfolios. Med-Peds residents are eligible to apply in their second year of residency. Once accepted into the track, residents are assigned a faculty mentor and will start developing a teaching portfolio that will include a capstone scholarly project in medical education. Participants complete observed teaching sessions in a variety of venues.
- Current Med-Peds participants: Chelsea Boyd, PGY4; Cam Ulmer, PGY3; Madeleine Ward, PGY3
WOMEN'S HEALTH
Brown’s Women’s Health Track, based in the Department of Medicine, helps prepare residents who want to be future leaders in clinical and academic women’s health. As residents within the track, they are matched with a faculty mentor and provided resources to create a research project. Med-Peds residents are eligible to apply in their first year of residency. Participating residents have specialized outpatient experiences in a women’s health clinical site starting early in residency. During the third year of the program, participating residents lead didactic sessions on a women’s health topic of their choice.
- Current Med-Peds participants: Ashley Nguyen, PGY4; Julia Solomon, PGY4
Research
The Brown Residents Interested in Advancing Research (BRIAR) track, cofounded by Janaki Vakharia, MP Class of 2019, aims to provide an opportunity to develop a deeper skillset in areas of research and scholarship. The four “pillar” experiences of the track include mentored scholarship in research, curriculum in research methodology, scholarly project development and execution, and research dissemination through publication and conference presentation. The experience includes protected research time and core didactics. This program also benefits from contributions by the Lifespan Biostatistics Core Team.
ARTS & MEDICINE
Brown’s Arts & Medicine Track, founded by Madeleine Ward, MP PGY3, is a 2-year curriculum that explores the intersection of creativity and medicine via visual arts, narrative medicine, music, photography, drawing, and more.
- Current Med-Peds participants: Anu Goel, PGY2; Cam Ulmer, PGY3; Madeleine Ward, PGY3