[domweek] DOM Week, April 7-11, 2025

[Department of Medicine weekly newsletter via domweek]

[cid:image001.jpg at 01DBA57A.42BA2450]

DOM Week
April 4, 2025
News, information, and events of interest from the Department of Medicine

(if you have items for DOM Week, please email amyf at uw.edu<mailto:amyf at uw.edu>)


DOM artificial intelligence symposium follow-up
[A series of bright blue lights meant to represent artificial intelligence.]Earlier this year we partnered with Microsoft to present an artificial intelligence symposium<https://bit.ly/4j6w7uQ> to educate the department about generative AI tools and how we could use these tools to support our goals in clinical care, research, and education. A summary of the symposium, as well as several of the presenter slide decks are currently available on our intranet<https://bit.ly/3DZxtb1>.

AI projects: We’ve also developed a survey to gauge interest in AI and collect project ideas. Our aim is to identify shared areas of interest where potential collaborations could be explored with Microsoft. If you are interested in participating in further AI interest groups or have project suggestions, please complete this survey<https://forms.office.com/r/TwwhxULX2q>.

Online AI training: Microsoft has offered to host an on-line training session for DOM employees to learn to create useful AI prompts on April 14, 12-1:30. If you are interested, please register<https://bit.ly/3YfVjWH> for this training session.


Faculty news
Filippo Milano receives inaugural Endowed Chair in Cord Blood Research
[Photograph of Fred Hutch's Dr. Filippo Milano, wearing a blue branded sweater]Dr. Filippo Milano, associate professor (Hematology and Oncology) and director of the Fred Hutch Cord Blood Program, was just awarded an Endowed Chair in Cord Blood Research by an anonymous donor. Unrestricted funding will help grow Fred Hutch’s Cord Blood Transplant Program so that ‘every patient has a donor.’

Bone or stem cell transplants require a genetically compatible donor, a daunting task for those with mixed ethnic heritage due to a lower number of available matches on national donor registries.

“Cord blood transplants are perfect for patients who don’t have a conventional donor — a matched sibling or a relative,” said Milano, who now serves as the director of the Fred Hutch Cord Blood Transplant Program<https://www.fredhutch.org/en/research/divisions/clinical-research-division/research/cord-blood-program.html>. “We use stem cells from the umbilical cord, which is considered medical waste once a child is born. These stem cells are naïve — they haven’t yet adapted in response to their environment — so we don’t need to match them as we do with other transplants. Cord blood definitely expands the pool of donors for our patients.”

Read the full story from Hutch News<https://bit.ly/42ruW2t>.


Clinical news
Harborview Mobile Health Outreach program
[A group of volunteers sitting under a tent next to the UW Mobile Health Outreach van.]
The Harborview Mobile Health Outreach (MHO) program, a partnership between Harborview and UW Health Sciences, is supported by volunteer students from various health sciences disciplines, as well as volunteer physicians, DNPs, and other interprofessional preceptors.

This program offers outreach, engagement, and free acute medical care and referral services to residents of two tiny house villages in Seattle.

The program extends its gratitude to all preceptors and would like to give special recognition to the following who volunteered for more than five outreaches in 2024: Drs. Russell Berg and Liz Snapinn (General Internal Medicine) and Laura Polito, Mariana Frias Garcia, and Martin Cahn (Dept. of Family Medicine).

Learn more in their newly released 2024 Annual Report<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D-KJRB3O1a9xMpaIQKiAcDvmUwc2g_BV/view?usp=sharing>. If you are interested in volunteering with the MHO Program, please reach out to Yana Allen<mailto:yallen at uw.edu>, Aynsley Duncan<mailto:aynsleyd at uw.edu> or Jocelyn James<mailto:jorose at uw.edu>.


Research news
Andy Hill CARE Fund Implementation and Outcomes Research Award
[Heather Greenlee]Drs. Heather Greenlee, associate professor (Hematology and Oncology) and Amanda Fretts (Dept. of Epidemiology) have received an Andy Hill CARE Fund Implementation and Outcomes Research Award for their project: “Partnering with Washington State Tribal Communities to Develop Culturally-Tailored Nutrition Resources and Reduce Cancer Health Disparities.”

These grants support innovative investigators to translate promising research and scientific discoveries into the development of tools, devices, technologies, therapeutics, or interventions that have the potential to address care across the cancer continuum that will ultimately advance cancer care, lessen the burden of cancer, and improve health outcomes.

________________________________

Hartwell Innovation Fund award
[Jennifer Huang]Dr. Jennifer Huang, fellow (Hematology and Oncology) has received the 2025 Hartwell Innovation Fund Swim Across America Pilot Award for her project “Characterization of the Biological Effects of BTK Inhibitors on in vivo CAR T-cell Function in Patients with Mantle Cell Lymphoma Undergoing CAR T-Cell Therapy.”

Dr. Huang and co-mentors Drs. Jordan Gauthier and Mazyar Shadman will be looking at the impacts of BTK inhibitor exposure on CAR T-cell expansion and exhaustion and the serum proteomic signature in patients with mantle cell lymphoma who were treated with CAR T-cell therapy.

________________________________

American Thoracic Society Awards
Peer Recognition Award
[Kristina Crothers]Dr. Kristina Crothers, professor (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine) is the recipient of the 2025 Assembly on Pulmonary Infections and Tuberculosis (PITB) Senior‐level Peer Recognition Award from the American Thoracic Society. This annual award, selected by peers, is presented to a PITB member who has shown a strong commitment to PITB (and ATS), contributed significantly to advancing its mission, and demonstrated impactful contributions in research, clinical care, teaching, or service.

Rising star award
[Taylor Coston]Dr. Taylor Coston, fellow (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine) is the recipient of the 2025 Assembly on Pulmonary Infections and Tuberculosis (PITB) Rising Star Award from the American Thoracic Society. This award recognizes early junior faculty with a trajectory of achievements in a scientific area of the PITB Assembly who demonstrate exemplary promise of future achievement. He will present his work at the Science and Innovation Center during the ATS International Conference next month.

________________________________

Spotlight on resident scholarship: Ila Nimgaonkar
[Ila Nimgaonkar]Should patients delay cancer treatment if infected with SARS-COv-2? In the latest resident scholarship spotlight, “Does SARS-CoV-2 Infection Require Delaying Cancer Treatment?” Dr. Ila Nimgaonkar, R3, used retrospective data from Fred Hutch to compare patients whose cellular therapy was delayed due to prior SARS-CoV-2 infection versus those for whom it was not.

She found that neither group experienced recrudescent SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 complications after undergoing cellular therapy. Most of the patients were vaccinated, and many received treatment for their SARS-CoV-2 infection, either with monoclonal antibodies or Paxlovid. Her work suggests that in this setting, it is not necessary to delay cellular therapy for a mild or asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection.

View spotlight<https://bit.ly/4ca5q5a>.


Education news
[Megan Mayer]Dr. Megan Mayer, fellow (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine) has been invited to serve as an apprentice on the American Thoracic Society Health Policy Committee. The Health Policy Committee serves as a resource for the staff of the ATS Government Relations Office and advisor to the ATS Executive Committee and Board of Directors on issues of policy importance and priorities for ATS action.



Recent publications
Dr. Rotonya Carr, associate professor and head (Gastroenterology) is senior author of “Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and the gut microbiome: pathogenic insights and therapeutic innovations<https://bit.ly/3FQKKTL>” in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. DOM co-author is Chrstopher Damman.

Dr. Connie Celum, professor (Allergy and Infectious Diseases) is senior author of “Doxycycline to prevent bacterial sexually transmitted infections in the USA: final results from the DoxyPEP multicentre, open-label, randomised controlled trial and open-label extension<https://bit.ly/4jButRp>” in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. DOM co-authors are Julia Dombrowski, Chase Cannon, Robert Suchland, and Olusegun Soge.

Dr. Stephan Fihn, professor (General Internal Medicine) is lead author of “Veterans Affairs Research Under Threat<https://bit.ly/4iTkhDD>” in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Dr. William Grady, professor (Gastroenterology) is co-author of “Gastric (Foveolar) Dysplasia in Barrett's Esophagus: A Clinical, Molecular and Long-Term Outcome Study<https://bit.ly/4lk1G5u>” in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Dr. Nicholas Johnson, associate professor (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine) is co-author of “Patient- and Community-Level Characteristics Associated With Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccination<https://bit.ly/3XKzX3E>” in JAMA Network Open.



In the news
Dr. Vishesh Kapur, professor (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine) is quoted in “More Screen Time in Bed Can Lead to Insomnia<https://bit.ly/3E63Jcq>” in Everyday Health.


Events of interest
Quiet week: April 7-11
As we continue to rebuild resilience and focus on mental health, we would like to preserve department-wide quiet weeks throughout the year. During these weeks, we hope that individuals can limit non-essential meetings to recharge and reflect, as well as thoughtfully minimize emails. We realize that this will not be possible for everyone but encourage all to take breaks when they are able.

Upcoming 2025 quiet weeks:
August 4-8
November 24-28
December 22-26


Weekly Calendar, April 7-11, 2025
Our events calendar is posted on our website<https://medicine.uw.edu/news/trumba-calendar>.



________________________________

Amy Fields, Editor
amyf at uw.edu<mailto:amyf at uw.edu>


[cid:image020.png at 01DBA57A.42BA2450]<https://bit.ly/3WsMqs5>[cid:image021.jpg at 01DBA57A.42BA2450]<http://www.facebook.com/UWDeptMedicine>[cid:image022.jpg at 01DBA57A.42BA2450]<https://www.instagram.com/uwdeptmedicine/>[cid:image023.png at 01DBA57A.42BA2450]<https://www.linkedin.com/company/department-of-medicine-university-of-washington/posts/?feedView=all>[cid:image024.png at 01DBA57A.42BA2450]<http://www.youtube.com/uwdeptmedicine>


To subscribe/unsubscribe from this list, go to:
https://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/domweek


________________________________

Privileged, confidential or patient identifiable information may be contained in this message. This information is meant only for the use of the intended recipients. If you are not the intended recipient, or if the message has been addressed to you in error, do not read, disclose, reproduce, distribute, disseminate or otherwise use this transmission. Instead, please notify the sender by reply e-mail, and then destroy all copies of the message and any attachments.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 22120 bytes
Desc: image001.jpg
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 35041 bytes
Desc: image002.jpg
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0001.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 3386 bytes
Desc: image003.jpg
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0002.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image004.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 29708 bytes
Desc: image004.jpg
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0003.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image005.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 1706 bytes
Desc: image005.jpg
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0004.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image006.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 130218 bytes
Desc: image006.jpg
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0005.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image007.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 36712 bytes
Desc: image007.jpg
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0006.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image008.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 16067 bytes
Desc: image008.jpg
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0007.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image009.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 1678 bytes
Desc: image009.jpg
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0008.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image010.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 15253 bytes
Desc: image010.jpg
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0009.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image011.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 1975 bytes
Desc: image011.jpg
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0010.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image012.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 12453 bytes
Desc: image012.jpg
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0011.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image013.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 1464 bytes
Desc: image013.jpg
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0012.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image014.png
Type: image/png
Size: 45066 bytes
Desc: image014.png
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image015.png
Type: image/png
Size: 8223 bytes
Desc: image015.png
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image016.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 16873 bytes
Desc: image016.jpg
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0013.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image017.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 1579 bytes
Desc: image017.jpg
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0014.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image018.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 12008 bytes
Desc: image018.jpg
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0015.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image019.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 1562 bytes
Desc: image019.jpg
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0016.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image020.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1238 bytes
Desc: image020.png
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0002.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image021.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 5443 bytes
Desc: image021.jpg
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0017.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image022.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 7566 bytes
Desc: image022.jpg
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0018.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image023.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1852 bytes
Desc: image023.png
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0003.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image024.png
Type: image/png
Size: 3421 bytes
Desc: image024.png
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/domweek/attachments/20250404/152a674b/attachment-0004.png>