Research & Scholarly Activity
Scholarly Activity Overview
All of our residents participate in case reports and creating quality improvement projects during their tenure here at Piedmont Macon. As Research Director, my job is to assist residents with creating ideas for projects, finding faculty mentors, creating project designs, obtaining appropriate approvals, overcoming obstacles, manuscript edits, manuscript development, and submissions for publication. I also track and report on resident scholarly activity progress and completion to our GME leadership team and hospital leadership.
Prior to beginning any scholarly activity, residents complete the CITI research, ethics, and compliance training and must remain current until they graduate. Residents can then choose a case report, a quality improvement project, original research project, or literature review as a project, but the focus of the project is individualized since residents are free to choose the topic. The ultimate goal is for each resident to present at the PMM Resident Research Day at least once during residency. Residents are also encouraged to present their work at external conferences and/or publish their manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals. Resources available to our residents include IRB support through Piedmont, librarians and library resources from both Piedmont and Mercer University School of Medicine, biostatisticians from Mercer University School of Medicine, potential for financial assistance for projects, conferences, and publication fees, and the opportunity for collaboration with Mercer University faculty and students.
Scholarly Activity Projects
Many of our residents choose to publish and/or present case reports externally. Our residents have published in Cureus, Photodermatology, Photoimmunology, and Photomedicine, Journal of Neuroimaging, Advances in Clinical Medical Research & Healthcare Delivery, American College of Radiology Case in Points, IDCases, EMResident, Emergency Medicine News, Journal of Investigative Dermatology, BMC Neurology, Military Medicine, International Journal of Emergency Medicine, HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine, and the Journal of Cannabis Research. Additionally, our residents routinely present at ACP and have placed at the Georgia Chapter ACP and National ACP Poster Competitions. We have also had presentations at the APA Annual Conference, the American Thoracic Society, and the HCA Healthcare Summit Conference. See our list of most recent publications for more information.
Resident Research Day
Every year in May, our Piedmont Macon GME program gives the residents an opportunity to show off some of the great scholarly work they have created over the last year at our Resident Research Day. The presentations may be in the form of a PowerPoint presentation or a poster presentation. Mercer faculty, Piedmont faculty, students, and residents always enjoy coming together to share ideas and knowledge and of course a good lunch!
For our 2023 Poster Day, the top posters belonged to Dr. Daniel Berrebi for his poster titled “Selective JAK-1 Inhibitors in the Treatment of Oral Lichen Planus” and Drs. Whitnee Otto and Chase Tenewitz for their poster titled "Global Longitudinal Strain: A "Bulls-eye" in the Screening of Cardiac Amyloidosis."
Journal Club
One of the ways we help residents review the foundations of evidence-based medicine and explore research design is through regular journal club sessions. Each program participates in dedicated journal club sessions monthly in which residents choose a research article and present it to their peers and faculty. The goal of journal club is to not only review recent (or seminal) research and its contribution to medicine, but also to learn how to objectively analyze the study design and results and apply it to current practice. Residents are encouraged to interact with the audience, and this gives them an opportunity to practice professional presentations. The residents are also asked to cover a teaching point that might be included on the board exam, thereby allowing for additional review of important concepts and providing another teaching experience in a classroom setting. As Research Director, I can assist with the evaluation of the journal article, research design and stats review, and/or feedback on the presentation beforehand.
2022-2023 Publications
- Akbani S, Ademiluyi AO, Dean J, Mathur V. A Case Report of Pulmonary Actinomycosis: A Diagnostic Quagmire. Advances in Clinical Medical Research and Healthcare Delivery. 2022; 2(2). doi: 10.53785/ 2769-2779.1094.
- Alyass, Fadi, and Laura A. Ray. "Surgical Excision Versus Medical Management of Primary Breast Lymphoma: A Case Report." Cureus (Palo Alto, CA), vol. 14, no. 12, 2022, p. e32802
- Cook, M. K., et al."688 Use of Low-Level Light Therapy in Management of Central Centrifugal Cicatricial Alopecia." Journal of Investigative Dermatology, vol. 142, no. 8, 2022, p. S118
- Kartiko, Michael, and Aisha Miller. "A Case Report of Secondary Spontaneous Pneumomediastinum Induced by Vaping." Cureus (Palo Alto, CA), vol. 15, no. 2, 2023, p. e35153.
- Otto, Whitnee, et al. "Management of a Suspected Renal Cyst Infection With Intracystic Hemorrhage in a Patient With Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease." Cureus (Palo Alto, CA), 2023, https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.39319.
- Piao, Xuanzhen, et al. "Cardiothoracic Surgery Management of Giant Bullous Lung Disease Initially Misdiagnosed as Pneumothorax: A Case Report." Cureus, vol. 15, no. 3, 2023, pp. e36313–e36313
- Zohbi, Najdat, et al. "Cranial Nerve Abnormalities in Spontaneous Intracranial Hypotension and Their Clinical Relevance." Journal of Neuroimaging, 2023.