September 2020

9/18: Demystifying PrEP: HIV Prophylaxis and You

Geoff Holman, MD
Family Medicine Residency of Western MT

Geoff is a current third year family medicine resident at FMRWM who completed undergraduate training in studio art at Dartmouth College and medical training at Tulane University in New Orleans. He found a niche in Men's Health that he hopes to continue building while establishing a practice in Missoula after graduation.

9/25: Collective Grief

Dr. Mary-Ann Sontag Bowman, a tenured faculty member at the University of Montana, holds a Ph.D. and an MSW from the University of California at Berkeley; she is also a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Her clinical work included serving as a hospice social worker/bereavement coordinator, developing and implementing a bereavement program at a regional pediatric hospital, providing crisis social work services to pediatric patients and their families, and being part of a team that developed a successful pediatric palliative care service. Mary-Ann's research agenda focuses on grief and loss, bereavement, pediatric palliative care, and end-of-life care.

Mary-Ann Bowman, PhD
University of MT
https://www.helpwithgrief.org

October 2020

10/2: Osteoporosis.  A Case Based Approach to Diagnosis and Treatment

Elizabeth Paddock, MD
Family Medicine Residency of Western MT

10/9: Healthcare Economics During COVID

Joyce Dombrouski; Kirk Bodlovic; and Jim McKay, MD
Providence St. Patrick Hospital

Joyce Dombrouski has been with Providence St. Patrick Hospital since April 1995.  She joined the executive team in 1999 as the Vice President of Marketing and Communications. In 2001, Joyce accepted the leadership position of Vice President of Nursing, later earning the regional role of CNO. In 2011, Joyce was named Chief Acute Services Officer and in 2016, Joyce became the Chief Operating Officer for the Western Montana Service Area of Providence Health & Services. Her current position is the Chief Executive for the Montana Service Area, which includes St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula; Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Polson; and Providence Medical Group, overseeing approximately 2,500 employees and providers.

Prior to joining Providence Health & Services, McKay had been a general radiologist with Missoula Radiology since 1999.  He was medical director of Broadway Imaging Center at St. Patrick Hospital from 2003 until 2015 and was Chairman of the Radiology Department at St. Patrick Hospital from 2007 to 2013.  He served as President of the Medical Staff at St. Patrick Hospital in 2015

10/16: COVID update

Josh Christensen, MD
St Patrick Hospital

Dr. Christensen received a BS in microbiology and BS in medical technology from the University of Montana.  He completed medical school then his residency in internal medicine at University of Colorado.  His infectious disease fellowship was also at the University of Colorado.  Since 2010, Josh has been an infectious disease physician/Hospitalist at St Patrick Hospital.  

10/23: Standardizing Care for Common Pediatric Conditions

Lauren Wilson, MD; Sarah Holexa, MD; Laurie Carter, MD; Emily Hall, MD; Liz Beil, MD; Chris Jons, MD
Community Medical Center

10/30: Rural Mental Health

Alison Brennan, PhD
MSU Extension & Health and Human Development

Dr. Alison Brennan is an Assistant Professor in Health and Human Development at Montana State University and serves as the Extension Mental Health Specialist. She received her PhD in Developmental Science from North Dakota State University and completed a social sciences postdoctoral fellowship with the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development/Michigan State University. Dr. Brennan has been with Montana State University for just over one year. She serves as PI/Co-PI on several projects, including the Montana Healthcare Foundation grant, "Working Together to Respond to Farmers and Ranchers Under Stress in Rural Montana" (Dr. Michelle Grocke, PI), as well as two Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Rural Opioid Technical Assistance grant projects addressing opioid and stimulant misuse in rural Montana.  

In this interactive webinar, “Montana Rural Mental Health Update,” Dr. Brennan will present recent statistics on mental health issues (anxiety, depression, substance use disorders, etc.) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, with attention to key areas of concern in rural communities. The presentation will include recommendations and resources—for professionals and their clients—to encourage stress management, reduce stigma, and promote help-seeking. 

November 2020

11/6:  Meanwhile in American Medicine...2020 Storylines Outside of COVID.   (This will be a set of updates from the medical literature in 2020 that aren’t about coronavirus.) 

Tim Caramore, MD
Family Medicine Residency of Western MT

Tim Caramore is a Missoula family doctor and  evidence-based medicine agitator.  He serves a core faculty member with the Family Medicine Residency of Western Montana, as a hospitalist and ethics chair at St. Pat’s, and is a founding partner with Beargrass Family Medicine, a new primary care clinic opening in December.  He is as sick of covid as you are.

11/13: Commonly Encountered Discharge Mishaps: A Perspective from Primary Care Follow-Up 

Sarah Horne, MD
Family Medicine Residency of Western MT

Sarah is a current 3rd year Family Medicine Resident at FMRWM. She moved to Missoula from Texas where she completed undergraduate training in Mechanical Engineering at UT Austin and worked as an engineer for several years before going back to medical school at Baylor College of Medicine

11/20: Commonly Encountered Discharge Mishaps: A Look at Pain Management and Opioid Tapers

Ariel Fillmore, MD
Family Medicine Residency of Western MT

Ariel is a third year family medicine resident at the Family Medicine Residency of Western Montana.  She was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah.  She received her BA in Biology from University of Utah and my MD from University of Utah School of Medicine. Her interests include women's health, rural health, and global health. As a family resident working in both the inpatient and outpatient setting, she has a unique perspective on a patient's course after their discharge from the hospital. 

11/27: Holiday--No presentation

December 2020

12.4: The Origin and Prevention of Birth Defects

Thomas Sadler, PhD

Dr. Sadler received his Bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest University in 1971
and his Ph.D. in Anatomy and Embryology from the University of Virginia in 1976. He
has taught and directed courses in embryology and anatomy for over 40 years, primarily
at the University of North Carolina where he was Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy
for 21 years. He has conducted research on the origin and prevention of birth defects,
including the roles of environmental agents, maternal diabetes, and altered gene
expression. This work has resulted in over 100 research publications and 10 textbooks.
In addition to his laboratory research, Dr. Sadler was Director of the University
of North Carolina Birth Defects Prevention Outreach Program and Co-Founder and Co-
Chair of the North Carolina Folic Acid Council. In 2002, he was awarded the Godfrey P.
Oakley Jr. award by the National Birth Defects Prevention Network for his “significant
contributions to the field of birth defects.”
He is the author of Langman’s Medical Embryology, a clinically oriented medical
text about human development and birth defects that is used in many medical schools in
the United States and is translated into 14 languages. He now resides in Sheridan
Montana where he continues to write and serves as an embryology and birth defects
consultant, giving lectures and assisting states with their birth defects prevention
campaigns. He is also a Senior Scholar at the Greenwood Genetics Center and a Visiting
Professor at East Tennessee State University where he teaches embryology to the first
year medical class.

12.11: Center for Translational Medicine-Bridging the Gap.SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Discovery and Develpment at UM

Jay Evans, PhD
University of MT

Jay Evans, Ph.D., is Director of the Center for Translational Medicine at the University of Montana and CEO of Inimmune Corporation (Missoula, MT). Prior to joining the University of Montana and co-founding Inimmune Dr. Evans spent 16 years at GSK Vaccines (formerly Corixa Corporation and Ribi Immunochem) working on the identification, characterization and development of novel vaccine adjuvants, immunomodulators and delivery systems. 

Because of their unique ability to enhance innate and adaptive immune responses, pattern recognition receptor (PRR) ligands are being developed as both vaccine adjuvants and as stand-alone immunomodulators. Interest in PRRs has increased steadily over the past 20 years due to promising clinical data, licensed products and increased understanding of structure activity relationships among several families of PRR ligands. Our adjuvant discovery and development team is focused on the advancement of novel synthetic TLR4, TLR7/8, IL-1, STING, Mincle and Dectin-1 receptor ligands across a broad range of prophylactic and therapeutic vaccine targets including SARS-CoV-2, influenza virus, pertussis, tuberculosis, pseudomonas, cancer immunotherapy, opioid addiction and allergy.

12.18: A Pharmacologic Approach to the Treatment of Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction in Adults 

Josh Valerius, PGY1; Andrew Anderson, PGY1
Providence St. Patrick Hospital

Josh is a graduate from Drake University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Des Moines, Iowa. He is in the process of completing a post-graduate year one pharmacy residency at St. Patrick Hospital.

Andrew Anderson is a Nebraska native, who graduated from the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.  He completed his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from Arizona State University.  He is currently in the process of completing a post-graduate year one residency at St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Montana.  

12.25: Holiday-- No presentation

January 2021

1/1:  Holiday -- No presentation

1/8:  A Strength-Based Approach to Suicide Assessment and Treatment

John Sommers-Flanagan, PhD
University of MT

John Sommers-Flanagan is a professor of counseling at the University of Montana, a clinical psychologist, and author or coauthor of over 100 publications, including nine books and numerous professional training videos. His books, co-written with his wife Rita, include Tough Kids, Cool Counseling, How to Listen so Parents will Talk and Talk so Parents will Listen, Clinical Interviewing, Suicide Assessment and Treatment Planning: A Strengths-Based Approach, and more. John is a sought out keynote speaker and professional workshop trainer in the areas of (a) counseling youth, (b) working with parents, (c) suicide assessment, and (d) happiness. He has published many newspaper columns, Op-Ed pieces, and is co-host of the Practically Perfect Parenting Podcast.

1/15: Things We Do for No Reason and Choosing Wisely in Primary Care

James Jennings, DO
Family Medicine Residency of Western MT

1/22:  Social Determinants of Health & Medical Legal Partnerships

Megan L. Dishong, JD
Montana Legal Services Association

Megan L. Dishong is a medical legal partnership (MLP) attorney with Montana Legal Services Association.   The MLP, which was started in May 2020, is a partnership with Providence St. Patrick Hospital.  Prior to working as an MLP attorney, Megan was an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Montana from 2014-2020, focusing on civil enforcement and health care law.  Megan was an associate attorney at Garlington, Lohn and Robinson, PLLP from 2010-2014.  She was a law clerk for both the Honorable Donald W. Molloy and the Honorable Justice John Warner after graduating from the University of Montana School of Law in 2007.

1/29:  Vaccine Safety in the U.S.

Sophia Newcomer, PhD
University of MT

Sophia Newcomer, PhD, MPH is an assistant professor of epidemiology with the University of Montana's School of Public an Community Health Sciences. Prior to joining the UM faculty in 2018, Dr. Newcomer worked for ten years at Kaiser Permanente Colorado's Institute for Health Research.  There, she contributed to national vaccine safety surveillance and research through a partnership with the CDC's Vaccine Safety Datalink program.  In 2017, Dr. Newcomer received the Margarette S. Kolczak award from the CDC's Immunization Safety Office for outstanding performance in epidemiology and biostatistics and dedicated contributions to the Vaccine Safety Datalink.  Here in Montana, Dr. Newcomer leads research focused on identifying and addressing barriers to vaccination, particularly in rural populations, and including strategies for improving public confidence in vaccines. 

February 2021

2/5:  Hepatitis C Management in Primary Care

Amy Matheny, MD, MPH, FAAFP
Family Medicine Residency of Western MT

Dr. Amy Matheny is a Family Physician and serves as the Associate Program Director of the Family Medicine Residency of Western Montana in Missoula. She completed medical school at Brown University and her residency training at the Family Medicine Residency of Idaho in Boise.  She also completed a Master of Public Health from Harvard University.  Before coming to Missoula, she practiced at the Southwest Montana Community Health Center in Butte as a National Health Service Corps Scholar. She currently practices at Partnership Health Center, caring for a broad panel of primary care patients with an additional interest in Hepatitis C and HIV care. 

2/12:  Evidence-based Nutrition in Cardiovascular Disease

Kelsey Morgosh, MD
Family Medicine Residency of Western MT

Kelsey Morgosh is a third year family medicine resident at FMRWM born and raised in Montana. For undergraduate, she traveled to Williams College in Massachusetts double majoring in religion and biology. She attended medical school at University of Arizona in Phoenix. She particularly enjoys continuity with her patients and caring for the family at every stage of life with a focus on preventative medicine. This summer after graduating from residency she will be joining North Country HealthCare in Flagstaff, AZ.

2/19:  Preventing Stroke: What's New, What's Best, and Will Surgery and Stenting Be Needed as Much in the Future?

Robert L. Minor, Jr., MD, FACC
Billings Clinic Heart and Vascular
Community Medical Center

Robert L. Minor, Jr., M.D., F.A.C.C. grew up in North Carolina, and went to Duke University for his undergraduate degree and medical school.  He completed residency and served as Chief Resident in Internal Medicine at the University of Iowa Hospitals, where he also finished his training in cardiology in 1992, followed by completion of interventional cardiology and endovascular training in 1993.  

Prior to moving to Missoula, Montana in June 2017, Rob worked for 24 years as an interventional cardiologist and endovascular specialist in Rockford, Illinois where he developed a multi-disciplinary endovascular program focusing on new device technologies.  He served as an investigator in the first U.S. clinical trials evaluating stents for coronary, peripheral and carotid artery disease.  During this time, he initiated a “hands-on” training program offering first operator experiences in advanced endovascular interventions to visiting physicians from around the U.S.  Rob was then asked to extend this “hands-on” training to Asia, and over a 4-year period, made trips to train vascular specialists in Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Korea and India.  While in Illinois, he also developed a new program for venous interventions, with a focus on stent-graft therapies for dialysis patients with central venous obstruction.  He has published in numerous medical journals, and continues to provide education for vascular specialists by speaking as faculty at U.S. and international meetings.  He serves as a consultant for endovascular industry device engineers and product managers. 

Rob is currently an interventional cardiologist and endovascular specialist for Billings Clinic Heart and Vascular, at Community Medical Center in Missoula, Montana.  His clinical interests include transradial access with same-day-discharge for coronary and endovascular interventions, and innovative therapies for critical limb ischemia using embolic filter protection.   Rob’s hobbies include downhill skiing, scuba diving, hiking, and collecting Western art.  He enjoys traveling with his wife Sandy, and spending time with his four adult children and their growing families.

2/26:  End of Life: Understanding Cultural Conceptions of Mortality

Rebekah M Skoog, MA
University of MT

Skoog is a doctoral candidate in the department of anthropology at the University of Montana and works as UM Health & Medicine program coordinator. She has five years of teaching French, Theatre, and Global Studies at the secondary level and a MA from Middlebury College CV Starr program in Paris. Her Master’s thesis focused on grieving practices in French society and her undergraduate thesis examined the relationship between grief and persistent vegetative state patients. For Skoog, the focus on death allows for a different understand of the cultural understandings of life. 

March 2021

3/5:  To Code or Not to Code: Improving Conversations About Resuscitation 

Chris Jons, MD
Providence St. Patrick Hospital

Chris Jons, MD is a palliative care physician and pediatrician in Missoula, Montana. He graduated from Dartmouth Medical School, completed pediatrics residency at Maine Medical Center in Portland, ME, and fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine in Rochester, NY. He lives with his wife and two boys in Missoula.

3/12:  FAQ about Contraception

Carey Downey, MD
Family Medicine Residency of Western MT

Carey Downey, MD. Born and raised in Idaho. Moved to Montana where I obtained a degree in microbiology. After this I spent time doing infection disease research. Attended medical school at University of Utah School of Medicine. After completion of a residency in family medicine this summer, I will be starting my career in FMOB at the Montana Southwest Community Health Center in Butte, MT. 

3/19:  Health for a Better World: Providence - Carbon Negative by 2030 

Elizabeth Schenk, PhD, RN, FAAN
Providence St Patrick Hospital

Elizabeth Schenk has been a pioneer of environmental stewardship in health care for over 25 years. Through conservation of resources, by improving practices and processes, and through education and research, she has inspired many, while building award-winning environmental stewardship programs. Her research and education focus on the environmental impacts of healthcare. Her studies have led to a better understanding of caregiver awareness of the environmental impacts of healthcare, and of their engagement with climate change and health.

Dr. Schenk is an assistant research professor at Washington State University College of Nursing. She developed the Nurses’ Environmental Awareness Tool, measuring nurses’ awareness and behaviors related to healthcare pollution, which has been used in numerous countries and translated into 4 languages. Additionally, she led the development of CHANT: Climate, Health and Nursing Tool, measuring nurses’ awareness and engagement with climate change globally. She developed the WE ACT Framework to provide an easy-to-follow guide to reducing the environmental impacts of healthcare.

Dr. Schenk is active in her communities, serving on the national board of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, as treasurer of  Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate, and as board chair of Climate Smart Missoula. She hosts the Nurses for Healthy Environments Podcast.

She has received numerous recognitions for her achievements, including: The Charlotte Brody Environmental Health Award (2017), induction as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing (2018); and Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Montana (2019.)

3/26:  Topics in Cardiology for the Primary Care Physician

Morgan Kellogg, MD
Community Medical Center

Morgan Kellogg initially hails from White Plains, New York.  His undergraduate training was at Colgate University in Hamilton, NY where he studied molecular biology.  After spending a winter teaching skiing at Jackson Hole Mountain resort in Jackson, WY, he completed his medical degree at Tel Aviv University in Tel Aviv, Israel.  He returned to the United States for internal medicine training at the Columbia University internal medicine program at Stamford Hospital in Stamford, CT.  He then headed north to Portland Maine for 3 years of general cardiology fellowship in the Maine Medical Center/Tufts program.  His final fellowship was in interventional cardiology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School program in Boston, Massachusetts before falling in love with Missoula.  He currently holds board certification in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, and interventional cardiology and sees patients as a part of the Billings Clinic system in Polson, Ronan, Missoula, Billings, and soon in Sheridan, MT. 

Outside of clinical medicine, his interests include medical education, skiing, mountaineering, and flying.  He is an active pilot.  He comes to Montana with his wife Sarah, and their 2 kids: Oliver (1 y/o) and Eli (2) and their mutt: Hayden (5).

April 2021

4/2: Culturally Sensitive, Trauma Responsive Care for Tribal Communities

Maegan Rides At The Door, PhD, LCPC
Director, National Native Children's Trauma Center
University of MT

As Director of the National Native Children's Trauma Center for the past five years, Magegan Rides At The Door, PhD, LCPC, has had a key role in designing and implementing a range of training and technical assistance initiatives in tribal communities.  This work has focused on co-developing trauma responsive systems of care with various child serving agencies across the nation, implementing community-wide youth suicide prevention efforts, and supporting child advocacy centers in service to tribal communities.  She is an enrolled member of the Assiniboine-Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation and a descendent of the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma.  

Common Drug-Drug Interactions 

Brieana Goods, PGY1; Kelli Pavlicek, PGY1
Providence St Patrick Hospital

Brieana graduated from Washington State University College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Spokane, WA.  She is currently completing a post-graduate year one pharmacy residency at St. Patrick Hospital.  

Kelli graduated from North Dakota State University College of Pharmacy in Fargo, ND, and is currently completing a post-graduate year one pharmacy residency at St. Patrick Hospital. 

4/16:  Deprescribing in Elderly Adults

Christina Richards, MD
Providence St Patrick Hospital

Christina attended the University of Minnesota Medical School, completed residency at the Family Medicine Residency of Western Montana here in Missoula, and has been working as a hospitalist at St. Pat’s since 2018.  She's also adjunct faculty for FMRWT currently.

4/23: Beyond LDL-C: Lipoprotein(a), The Other "Bad" Cholesterol 

Matthew Weiss, MD
Community Medical Center

Dr. Weiss is originally from Maine where his interest in the Great Outdoors, and skiing in particular, was born --  two passions which brought him to Montana. He pursued his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College and medical studies at Dartmouth Medical School before completing training in Internal Medicine at New York University and Bellevue Hospitals in New York City. He stayed at NYU as a Fellow in Preventive Cardiology before completing a Fellowship in Cardiovascular Disease at The Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC where he served as Chief Fellow. He currently practices at Billings Clinic Heart & Vascular at Community Medical Center in Missoula where he is a Non-Invasive Cardiologist and the state's only board-certified lipidologist. 

4/30: Chronic Cough in Children

Deborah Liptzin, MD
Community Medical Center

Deborah Liptzin, MD MS is a pediatric pulmonologist about to start Community Medical Center, previously of University of Colorado School of Medicine/Children’s Hospital Colorado.  She graduated from Yale with a degree in Geology and Geophysics and earned her medical degree at University of Massachusetts School of Medicine.   She subsequently completed her pediatric residency at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine/Children’s Hospital Pittsburgh and her pediatric pulmonary fellowship at University of Colorado School of Medicine/Children’s Hospital Colorado. She cares for children with common respiratory issues such as asthma and has expertise in rare pediatric lung disease, including high altitude pulmonary edema, pulmonary complications of patients with congenital heart disease, and children’s interstitial and diffuse lung disease. 

May 2021

5/7:  Things We Do For No Reason, Continued. More from Choosing Wisely 

 Emily Anderson, DO
Family Medicine Residency of Western MT

Emily Anderson, DO is a third year family medicine resident at the Family Medicine Residency of Western Montana here in Missoula. She completed her undergraduate degree at Evergreen State College in Washington and medical school at Western University, College of Osteopathic Medicine in Oregon. 

5/14: Next Generation Genetic Medicine: Practical Pearls for Pediatrics

Tara Wenger, MD
University of Washington 

Dr. Tara Wenger is an Associate Professor at the University of Washington in the Division of Genetic Medicine. After graduating from the University of Washington with degrees in Neurobiology and Psychology, Dr. Wenger moved to the east coast for her medical education. She received her MD/PhD from the University of Rochester with her PhD in Toxicology and a focus on prenatal exposures and later development of neurodevelopmental disorders.  She completed a combined residency in Pediatrics and Medical Genetics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and then joined the faculty at the University of Washington at Seattle Children’s Hospital in 2014. She currently serves as the Associate Director for Inpatient Genetic Services at Seattle Children’s, Associate Program Director for the Pediatrics residency program for Research, Scholarship and Pediatric Genetics, and is an Associate editor for the American Journal of Medical Genetics.  Her areas of scholarly focus include improving care for children with genetic disease through rapid testing, interdisciplinary collaboration and precision medicine therapies.