Campus Tidbits

On November 20th, Alyssa Palmer, OMS II, and the ROAD Club planned and organized a skin cancer screening clinic at the Doctors Volunteer Clinic at no cost to the community. About 40 walk-in patients were seen by SD Palmer, David Crimin, DO, Director of Medical Education at the Southern Utah Veterans Home, Adrian Tinajero, DO, Dermatologist at Cedar Dermatology, and several RVU students. Students learned how to screen lesions such as compound nevi, suspicious atypical dysplastic nevi, basal cell and squamous cancers, sebaceous hyperplasia and keratosis, and more.

Back in December, RVUers (including Dr. David Forstein and Dr. Heather Ferrill) donated funds (that would have otherwise been spent on holiday gifts) to provide lunches to the front-line workers at HealthONE's Sky Ridge Medical Center and St. George Regional Hospital. A total of 95 boxed lunches from Newk's Eatery in Colorado were donated to Sky Ridge and 78 boxed lunches from Jersey Mike's in Utah were donated to St. George Regional.

Kalon Morgan, OMS IV, and his wife, Aubrey, welcomed a baby boy. Koda was born on February 2nd at CHOC Children's Hospital. This is their second son.

To assist students in keeping their relationships healthy, RVU's Department of Student Affairs hosted a DIY Valentine's Day Card and Art Project on February 11th. Students made homemade cards for their loved ones and practiced their painting skills during a Pour Paint Art session.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a landmark piece of legislation for gender equity. The Office of Institutional Effectiveness would like to recognize this significant law, which ensures that "all education programs and activities receiving federal funding must protect students and employees from sex-based discrimination and bans many aspects of gender inequality that had been previously been tolerated or overlooked in education."

On February 5th, Medical Students For Choice hosted their annual Reproductive Health Workshop on the Colorado campus for over 50 students. Nishani Abeydeera, OMS II, MSFC President (2021-2022), Sarah Caplan, OMS I, MSFC President and Vice President (2022-2023), and Samantha Klaas, OMS I, presented "Family Planning and Reproductive Injustice in Native American Communities," which shed light on the historical and current injustice occurring in indigenous communities in the US, and explored different contraception and family planning options. The workshop portion of the event taught students how to perform and suture IUD insertions and Manual Vacuum Aspirations

The COVID-19 Response Team organized a Get Boosted Challenge in February to support the public health vaccination efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Employees and students submitted proof of their booster shot and were entered into a drawing for prizes that included RVU swag and gift cards. In all, a total of 395 RVUers participated.

The Student National Medical Association (SNMA) hosted its third annual MC^Squared event in February. Seventy high school students from across the Denver Metro Area participated in the day-long virtual event. These students come from diverse backgrounds and are traditionally underrepresented in the field of medicine. The event allowed them to don white coats and stethoscopes and participate in cross-departmental workshops including a SIMS Scholars intubation session, an Osteopathic Principles and Practice HVLA, a heart prosection in the Anatomy Lab, and an intro to suturing and proper ultrasound techniques. Later, the high schoolers were paired with a current medical student for continued mentorship.

RVUCOM's Academic Medicine and Leadership Track hosted the Building the Next Generation of Academic Physicians (BNGAP) Academic Medicine Career Development Conference. It was a hybrid event with both inperson and virtual discussions, including such topics as career portfolios, scholarships, diversity and inclusion, and leadership development. "The conference had a great turnout and we hope to keep this a yearly tradition," said Preetha Rajkumar, OMS I.