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Save The Date! Abstracts Now Being Accepted | 2021 Research Symposium & Colloquium

I’m excited to share our all virtual Research Symposium! 

Mark your calendars now for the 2021 MedStar Health—Georgetown University Research Symposium and CENTILE Colloquium for Educators in the Health Professions hosted by the MedStar Health Research Institute, MedStar Health Academic Affairs, CENTILE, and Georgetown University Medical Center. The virtual event launches on Monday, May 10 at 1 pm, with remarks from both Kenneth A. Samet (President and Chief Executive Officer, MedStar Health) and John J. DeGioia (President, Georgetown University).  


The MedStar Health—Georgetown University Research Symposium is open to all members of the research and education community at MedStar Health and Georgetown University. This three-day event brings together the MedStar Health and Georgetown University academic communities to celebrate the great work of our colleagues. The Symposium include opportunities for moderated poster sessions, workshops on a variety of topics, and networking sessions to collaborate with those across MedStar Health and Georgetown University. 

And abstract submissions for the virtual 2021 MedStar Health—Georgetown University Research Symposium and the Colloquium for Educators in the Health Professions are now being accepted. All MedStar and Georgetown physicians, nurses, researchers, staff, residents, and fellows are encouraged to submit abstracts for the Research Symposium.  

In partnership with the Center for Innovation and Leadership in Education (CENTILE) at the Georgetown University Medical Center, the Research Symposium will host the Colloquium for Educators in the Health Professions during this three-day event. The CENTILE Colloquium is an opportunity to learn more about educational programs and curricular innovations across the system and to hear from experts within the MedStar and Georgetown communities. The Colloquium will feature oral and poster presentations, symposia, and workshops. All faculty, staff, and trainees are encouraged to submit abstracts for the Colloquium. 

Submissions close at 11:59 pm on Tuesday, March 30. 

For more information and to submit your abstract, visit bit.ly/MSH-GUMC  

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Diabetes Alert Day with GHUCCTS in the (Virtual) Community

American Diabetes Association Diabetes Alert Day is March 23rd and observed on the fourth Tuesday in March every year.  It’s used as a one-day, “wake-up call” asking the American public to take the Diabetes Risk Test to find out if they are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes. The Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science (GHUCCTS) invites you to attend ‘GHUCCTS in the (Virtual) Community’ on Tuesday, March 23rd from 6-7pm. GHUCCTS in the Virtual Community aims to promote clinical research awareness, diversity in research, and community-engaged research through virtual outreach efforts that will be held monthly.

Join GHUCCTS on Diabetes Alert Day to focus on the seriousness of diabetes and to talk about research to assess if monitoring glucose levels with a continuous glucose monitor may be helpful. Take part in discussing a research study that may help us find out if this is true. If you are interested in learning how research studies can help us find answers and what questions you should ask before joining a research study, register today.


Guest Speakers include our very own Jean Park, MD, Endocrinologist, Diabetes and Metabolism Specialist at MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital and Carine Nassar, MS, RD, Registered Dietitian and Diabetes Care and Education Specialist who serves as a Program Director at the MedStar Diabetes Institute in Washington, DC. Also, Joe Verbalis, MD, is the Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at Georgetown University. 

Register Here.

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Re-Learning the History of Medicine

Below is my monthly message for the March 2021 edition of the MHRI newsletter, Focus. You can view Focus online at MedStarResearch.org/FOCUS.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

In recognition of the crossroads of Black History Month in February and Women's History Month in March, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists designated Feb 28-March 1st as days to recognize the sacrifices of Anarcha, Betsey, Lucy, and other enslaved Black women in the name of medical science. Are you not familiar with these women? I wasn't either until Dr. Tamika Auguste, from MedStar Washington Hospital Center Department of OB/GYN, brought this to my attention. And it was eye-opening.

Like most physicians, I did not have formal training in the history of our profession nor how its history contributed to the current health care disparities. Meanwhile, the public health crisis of racial injustice has come front and center in the United States over the last year and is finally shining a light on our understanding of how the medical field is painfully intertwined with slavery and other injustices. We may never know the names of most of the enslaved Black women and men who underwent repeated experimental surgeries. However, the names of Anarcha, Betsey, and Lucy remain. As documented by Deirdre Cooper Owens in Medical Bondage, between 1844 and 1849, Anarcha, Betsey, Lucy, and nine other unidentified enslaved women worked in the slave hospital founded by Dr. J. Marion Sims. Dr. Sims repeatedly operated on them without anesthesia to perfect his techniques. Anarcha underwent 30 experimental surgeries in a period of four years without anesthesia.

Last week, MedStar Washington Hospital Center Department of Women and Infants' Services/OBGYN, D.C. Safe Babies Safe Moms, MedStar Research AIDE and the Research Institute hosted a virtual gathering "Betsey, Lucy, and Anarcha: Recognition and Remembrance" to honor and remember the lives of these enslaved women. You can read more about the event here. Nearly 200 people joined us to watch an educational video and then take part in an open discussion.

I am a man of science. I grew up in an era of evidence-based medicine, meaning we practice medicine based on fact and not based on opinions. Those facts and evidence come from scientific experiments and clinical trials to create new knowledge, which subsequently gets incorporated into medical practice. That is the profession I grew up in and we all benefit from in our healthcare system. That is the life I have dedicated my career to. However, what I never had conscious awareness of was that we all benefited from a body of medical research that happened off the backs and bodies of unwilling victims. What is more, these victims of atrocities in the name of science lived here in the United State, perpetrated by US citizens and not by people thousands of miles away in another country.

Learning about Betsey, Lucy, Anarcha and other enslaved victims who shaped so much of what we know in medicine was a reminder about the moral imperatives we have today in healthcare. It is not always what we do, but how we do it. It's caring and how we treat people that make a difference and will put us on the road to truly advancing health for all.

Neil 

Read Focus online at MedStarResearch.org/FOCUS.
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"Betsey, Lucy, and Anarcha: Recognition and Remembrance" with MHRI

On Monday, in collaboration with MedStar Washington Hospital Center Women and Infants' Services OBGYN Department, MHRI Senior Leadership, D.C. Safe Babies Safe Moms, and MedStar Research AIDE, we hosted a virtual gathering "Betsey, Lucy, and Anarcha: Recognition and Remembrance" to honor and remember the lives of enslaved women that suffered in the name of science and medical discovery. We chose this day as the overlap of Black History Month and Women's History Month.

After opening remarks from several MedStar Health leaders, we viewed two educational videos together: The Disturbing History of American Medicine | Racist American History and The US Medical System is Still Haunted by Slavery. The videos discussed Dr. J.Marion Sims,and the  experimental surgeries he performed on enslaved women, including Betsey, Lucy, Anarcha and others. Sims performed 30 surgeries on Anarcha alone, without anesthesia or other pain management practices typically offered to white patients. While Sims cemented his reputation as the “father of modern gynecology” with the discoveries he made at the expense of Anarcha, Betsey and Lucy, many of his enslaved subjects did not receive the new treatments his discoveries afforded.  Despite this, the celebration of J. Marion Sims and his work continued into modern times.  A statue celebrating J. Marion Sims stood in New York's Central Park until it was removed in 2018 amid growing controversy, and is discussed in the article "The Surgeon Who Experimented on Slaves", published in the Atlantic. As a research community, we still have work to do in recognizing the unethical standards that protected physicians like Sims.

Dr. Bryan Buckley (Research Fellow, MedStar Health Research Institute) led a meaningful discussion in which associates shared their thoughts, experiences and opinions. There were over 170 MedStar Health associates from across the system that attended this event and I am MedStar Health Proud of their courage to speak up and let their voices be heard in the chat, the audience response questions or live discussion. 

As a man of science, this horrific torture of enslaved women done in the name of science can not be forgot or forgiven - science should never be used as an excuse for how we behavior nor for doing the right thing.  I am glad our associates brought this part of history to my awareness so I and our entire community can learn from it and ensure it never happens again.

If you missed the presentation you may view the materials here:

Sli.do Responses

 


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