Program Update – Volume 32 – Spring/Summer 2025
2025 Graduation:
Congratulations to our recent graduates Dr. Ayanna Vasquez and Dr. Kandarp Shah!
Our graduation celebration took place at the Memorial Union and we were joined by the families of Ayanna and Kandarp. Dr. Vasquez is moving on to the Advanced Fellowship in Women’s Health at the William S. Middleton VA, and Dr. Shah has joined Kaiser Permanente in Sacramento. We’re excited to see all they accomplish in their careers!
We also honored faculty: Dr. Jill Denson and Dr. Laura Phillips received the Excellence in Teaching Awards, nominated by graduating residents for their outstanding mentorship and support.
Finally, Dr. Henry A. Anderson received this year’s Distinguished Service Award for his decades of leadership in occupational and environmental health and his lasting contributions to our residency program.
Welcome to our new residents!
Dr. Kate Bell is originally from Michigan brings a strong background in health equity, multidisciplinary program design, and qualitative research methods. She earned a dual undergraduate degree in biomedical sciences and gender studies before completing her medical degree at Trinity College Dublin School of Medicine, Ireland. She just completed her transitional year at Henry Ford Jackson Hospital in Michigan before joining the Preventive Medicine Residency at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dr. Josh Hood is originally from Raleigh, NC where he went to undergraduate school at North Carolina State University. He attended medical school at VCOM-Carolinas in Spartanburg SC before completing one year of Family Medicine residency at UTHSC in Memphis TN. He describes having a love of the public health field from since undergraduate. He spent the last year and a half after completing his intern year working for the St. Louis MO County Department of Public Health in the STI division as a Communicable Response Investigator.
Program Update
As part of our effort to enhance coordination across the medical school path of distinction in public health (POD-PH), the PMR, and the Public Health Leadership in Teaching and Engagement (PHLITE) program, we hosted an event where Dr. Manish Shah, Chair of the Berbee Walsh Department of Emergency Medicine, presented a session titled “A Path Less Traveled: Integrating Public Health, Research & Leadership in Academic Emergency Medicine.” Medical students, preventive medicine residents and PHLITE participants attended this evening session.
Alumni Update
ACPM Annual Conference (May 2025): The UW PMR was well represented at the annual American College of Preventive Medicine conference in May, in Seattle. Highlights included:
- Ayanna Vasquez (2023-2025) presented a poster entitled “Lessons Learned: Improving Outbreak Readiness in the Outpatient Setting.”
- Trevor Cooper (current 2nd year) presented a poster entitled “Enhancing Trust in Healthcare through Community Health Workers.”
- Our alumni Lia Kostiuk (2017-19) and Odi Ezenwanne (2017-19) joined Maggie Nolan (2018-20) as an official Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine (FACPM).
- Former program director and Emeritus Professor Patrick Remington received the ACPM Distinguished Service Award
Wisconsin Medical Society Doctor Day (June 3, 2025) –Ayanna Vasquez (2023-2025), current resident Trevor Cooper, PMR Program Director Elizabeth Salisbury-Afshar, and PMR alumna Sabrina Murphy attended Wisconsin Medical Society “Doctor Day” at the Capital in Madison. Dr. Salisbury-Afshar led a breakout session titled “Good Samaritan Legislation: Where We’ve Been and Where We’re (hoping to be) Going.” Attendees then met with their elected officials in the Capital building.
Drs. Jain, Pillai and Remington recently published a paper in the Wisconsin Medical Journal titled Evaluation of an Innovative Medical Student Course Integrating Medicine and Public Health that examines a medical student public health elective. They conclude that “Courses aiming to inspire medical students to integrate public health into their career should consider a similar storytelling approach.” Read the paper at:
Dr. Maria Mora-Pinzon was interviewed on Wisconsin Public Radio, talking about a new partnership between health care groups aims to better serve Latinos suffering from dementia. Latinos are 1.5 times more likely to develop dementia than white Americans, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. A new partnership between UW Health and Wisconsin’s only bilingual memory clinic aims to boost doctor training, prevention and treatment to help with dementia in Latino communities.