Plays of the Week:
Play of the week goes to Dr. Alexis Ghersi and Dr. Bailey Howard, who both got engaged last week!
Play of the week also goes to Dr. Rob Crutcher. He adapted and overcame some difficult system-based challenges while managing an extremely sick baby at CNMC to ensure that his patient received timely interventions for severe hyperkalemia and pressor-refractory shock.
Play of the week goes to the ward day and night teams (Ben Jack, Nicole Martin, Marianna Caballero, Connor Liggett, and Noelle Molter) for their teamwork in getting a heme/onc patient tucked in from the ER Tuesday night. The day team stayed late and overlapped seamlessly with the night team to get all orders and H&P completed and to assure this child’s pain was under control. Dr. Molter was also able to reassure dad that evening when he arrived with lots of questions. Thanks team!
Play of the week also goes to the Endo team for leading a fun, innovative, and interactive academic half-day session. Thank you to Drs. Hoffner, Cole, Weber, and Greenwald for covering the inpatient services while the teams were away.
Schedule:
Date | Event | Time and Location | Audience/Notes |
Monday, 10/3 National Pediatric Nurses Week Starts | MR: Ed/Reverse Ed | STAFF: 0730 - 0850 America 2525 B/C RESIDENTS: 0745 - 0850 Allergy Conf Rm 4105 | Academic/Military Advisors, Leadership, and Rotation Supervisors Only Residents Only |
| Annual Pediatric Memorial Service "We Remember" | 1600 - 1700 The USO (4565 Taylor Rd Bldg 83, Bethesda, MD 20815) | Zoom: 597 345 2914 Passcode: 8dRzrN |
Tuesday, 10/4 | MR: PI/QI, Countermeasures (Step 6) | 0745 - 0850 America 2525 B/C | PI/QI groups and stakeholders |
Wednesday, 10/5 Noelle Molter's Birthday 🎉 and Yom Kippur | Grand Rounds: Pediatric ECMO: What’s New? Maj Erika O'Neil Pediatric Intensivist, BAMC | 0745 - 0845 Zoom Only | Zoom Link ID: 999 6780 8867 Passcode: 7271775 |
Thursday, 10/6 Elise Reddington's Birthday 🎉 | MR: Wellness (Puppies & Pancakes 🐶🥞) | 0745 - 0850 America 2525 B/C | Medical Students and Residents Only |
| Candidate Recruitment Day | 0900 - 1115 Canyon Conf Room | Rotating MSIVs Only |
| Resident/Medical Student Mixer | 1800 Hello Betty (940 Rose Ave, North Bethesda, MD 20852) | Rotating MSIVs and Residents Only; RSVP below |
Friday, 10/7 First day of AAP NCE | MR: Case and Brain Tumors Lecture, Whiteway | 0745 - 0850 America 2525 B/C | All welcome |
Save the Date 🗓 | Upcoming Birthdays 🎉 |
10OCT: Indigenous People's Day | 18OCT: Rob Crutcher's Birthday |
11OCT: Graziose CPC | 6NOV: Andrew Warren's Birthday |
13OCT: Warren Journal Club | |
17OCT: Block 5 Starts | |
24OCT: Diwali | |
Announcements:
Meet our Rotating Medical Students!
All Staff Updates
Annual Pediatric Memorial Service "We Remember"
October 3rd from 1600-1700 at the USO (4565 Taylor Rd Bldg 83, Bethesda, MD 20815)
Reception to follow
Zoom meeting number: 597 345 2914; passcode: 8dRzrN

Flu Drive
Staff: October 11th
Patients: October 24th
Pumpkin Decorating Contest
The annual pumpkin contest will take place on 31OCT by the patients. Each department will have one table, and decorations can be placed the week of 24-28OCT; decorations must be removed by 1NOV. Please e-mail Ms. Putney (sabrina.l.putney.civ@health.mil) NLT 17 OCT 2022 if your department will participate in the contest this year!
Aiding Families through Deployment
We are looking to create a set of resources that can be used to support active duty families before, during, and after deployments, particularly related to the psychosocial effects of parental separation on children.
Please complete the following survey: https://forms.gle/3qG3GdkYUU6RA7Mc9
In our two-pronged approach, we hope to further educate and prepare pediatricians for assisting families during these times, as well as create a resource for families. We hope that by familiarizing pediatricians with, and educating parents on, the known effects of deployment we will be able to provide an extra layer of support for these children.
AAP SOUS Newsletter
Call for submissions: interested in essays on personal experiences, pediatric or operational expertise, description of innovative programs, and artistic endeavors, including visual or written art!
The newsletter is a great way to showcase the wonderful work going on within the section as well as assist others in creative problem-solving as they work in the military pediatrics setting.
Send all submissions to candace.s.percival.mil@health.mil at your earliest convenience (NLT October 21).
Email Troubleshooting
Having CAC issues? The following guides here may help and save you a trip to the One Stop Shop
Once you have converted over to the new domain name, please make sure you update any accounts or subscription services that use your @mail.mil email address. Please make sure the following are updated:
Resident-Specific Updates
MHS Genesis Updates:

PI/QI: Next Session is 4OCT (Countermeasures, Step 6)
Please notify your stakeholders prior to the next meeting
Please view your project-specific template and assign the resident team lead
Emails
BG Protocol: glucoseprotocol@nccpeds.com
Discharge Appts: discharge@nccpeds.com
Patient Education: patienteducation@nccpeds.com
WIC: wic@nccpeds.com
Educational/Teaching Opportunities
APPD AIMS (Advancing Inclusiveness in Medical Education Scholars) Program Application Opening
Program Highlights:
AIM Scholars programming on Monday, March 27th before the APPD Annual Spring Meeting, including
Overview of careers in medical education
Panel discussions
Speed mentoring
Networking with APPD leadership and members
Paired with a faculty mentor outside of your institution who is a member of the URiM in Peds GME learning community
Attend the URiM in Peds GME learning community meeting during the conference
Eligibility:
2nd year categorical pediatric resident or child neurology resident or 3rd year resident in a combined pediatrics program in good standing at a residency program that is a member of APPD
Underrepresented in medicine: as defined by the AAMC, "those racial and ethnic populations that are underrepresented in the medical profession relative to their numbers in the general population"
Have an interest in pursuing a career in pediatric medical education leadership
Required to attend the pre-conference and spring APPD meeting
Complete online application
Application Requirements:
Demographic information
Curriculum Vitae
Short essay questions,
Why are you interested in applying for this program? How does it align with your future career goals in medical education leadership?
What specific goals or skill sets would you like to gain from this program?
What skill sets and/or perspectives do you bring to this program?
Letter of recommendation from your Residency Program Director
Letter of recommendation from another Pediatric Faculty Member at your institution
To learn more about the program, past cohorts, and complete application, click here. Applications are due by Wednesday, November 9th (11:59p Eastern). Notifications will be sent out by early December.
USU Teaching Opportunities
Clerkship Round Robin
Contact Dr. Sebastian Lara (sebastian.lara@usuhs.edu) if interested
Tentative Dates and Times:
5Jan2023 1300-1700*
3May2023 1300-1700*
30Aug2023 1300-1700*
Able to interact with students of the class who have their Peds rotation coming up in the subsequent 3 months. Designed to mimic a clinic half day, each faculty member will be in an MDL room with your particular case. The students have 30 minutes with you to go through the case/skills. Then there is a 10-minute buffer between rooms. The students will move. You stay put and will deliver the same content 5 times. There are 9-10 students per group.
Bushmaster: October 10th and 19th
Contact Dr. Sara Bibbens (sara.bibbens@usuhs.edu) if interested
Field exercise in Fort Indian Town Gap, Pennsylvania. The resident would have the option to get funded to drive up the night before and stay overnight in the barracks or could drive up early morning on the same day. MREs provided.
Introduction to Clinical Reasoning (ICR) “Neonatal Transitions”: Date TBD - usually 3rd week in January
Contact Dr. Brian Hughes (brian.hughes@usuhs.edu) if interested
3 consecutive 60-minute ICR sessions with approximately 7-10 students in each group focused on discussing common clinical presentations in the neonate transitioning from the intrauterine to extrauterine environments.
Humanities Week
Contact Dr. Sebastian Lara (sebastian.lara@usuhs.edu) if interested
Co-facilitate a variety of multi-disciplinary health humanities activities. Past sessions include painting, comics design, dance, art of observation with National Gallery of Art, improv in medicine, narrative writing.
Dates: 6MAR (0800-1300), 8MAR (0800-1300), 10MAR(0800-1300)
Research Opportunities & Upcoming Conferences
Next SOCR meeting: October 18th
We will convene from 0700-0745, assigning a 15-minute block of time to any resident who wishes to participate. If there is more interest/need, there is the potential to convene from 1200-1300 as well, but we are preferentially filling the AM slots.
Please email Dr. Nate Kolasinski directly if you would like a slot!
Reasons to request a slot include:
You have an active ARM project but have not been in contact with the SCOR committee in the past 6 months - time to provide an update!
You have an upcoming research elective that has not yet been presented to SOCR - SOCR needs to sign off!
You don't have a second ARM half-day, but want one, and would like to discuss ideas or even submit a formal proposal - let's chat!
Upcoming Conferences:
Conference on Military Perinatal Research (COMPRA): November 4-6, 2022
The 41st Conference on Military Perinatal Research (COMPRA) will be held from November 4-6, 2022 in San Antonio, with the theme of "Periviability: Ethics and Outcomes."
AMSUS Annual Meeting 2023: February 13-16th at the Gaylord National Resort & Conference Center, National Harbor, MD
Poster Presentations
AMSUS is currently accepting poster abstracts at https://www.amsus.org/2023-poster-submission-information/
The first 100 approved submissions will be invited to present at the in-person Poster Session on Wednesday 15 February. Space is limited; early submissions have the greatest chance of acceptance. The submissions portal will be disabled as soon as the first 100 submissions have been approved—long before the 15 October hard deadline. REMINDER: Before submitting your abstract to AMSUS, be sure to get USU presentation approval through ServiceNow
Awards
AMSUS honors the contributions of outstanding federal healthcare professionals each year through the Awards Program. Fifteen awards are available. The AMSUS Awards portal is now open! Visit https://www.amsus.org/professional-development/amsus-awards-program/ to learn more about the AMSUS Awards and begin the nomination process. The Awards portal closes on October 15.
Registration
Registration rates for the 2023 AMSUS Annual Meeting will be posted on the AMSUS website by mid-August. The registration portal will open in mid-September. If you have any questions, please contact the USU POC for AMSUS, Ms. Tiffany Helling tiffany.helling.ctr@usuhs.edu
Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) Conference 2023: April 27-May 1st in Washington, DC
Open call for scholarly sessions, workshops, SIGs, ancillary events, and volunteers
ARMY
- Planning on going on leave? There is a new DA31 form. You can find the most updated leave forms here: https://www.nccpeds.com/army-leave
AIR FORCE
PT Tests:
To schedule a test at Walter Reed, please contact SSgt Talia Johnson (talia.l.johnson2.mil@mail.mil). Please allow a few business days for a response.
If there is no availability at WRNMMC, you must test at Andrews AFB. Contact Ms. Laurie Creel (laurie.a.creel.civ@mail.mil)
Leave
Complete an updated Travel Assessment for any leave requests and send to Brittany Bumgardner or Dr. Zanetti for signature.
Upload the signed TRA to your LeaveWeb request, and designate Brittany Bumgardner and Dr. Zanetti as your primary and backup approver.
If you have a negative balance, submit requests to Col Rieker.
Ensure you are up to date with your Individual Medical Readiness
For Fellows: Fill out TRA, send to fellowship director/specialty chief for signing, submit leave to Maj Mary Hoffman and backup is AF personnel within specialty
NAVY
Operational Trainings POCs:
- For BLS/ALS/PALS/ATLS/TNCC Training Credits contact: HM1 Ogboru at onojakpor.g.ogboru.mil@mail.milonojakpor.g.ogboru.mil@mail.mil
- For HMSB/TCCC Registration and Training Credits contact: HM2 Borst (TCCC) and HM2 Roman (HMSB) at dha.bethesda.j-11.mbx.tacmed@mail.mil
- For TNCC registration contact: Dr. Richards, HEAT Dept, wanda.c.richards.civ@mail.milwanda.c.richards.civ@mail.mil
- For ATLS registration contact: Mr. Duggan, SIM Dept, at richard.w.duggan.ctr@mail.milrichard.w.duggan.ctr@mail.mil
- For BLS/ALS/PALS Registration contact: dha.bethesda.wrnmmc.mbx.resmed@mail.mil
- For GMT inquiries or certificate approvals, please contact your Directorate Training LPO and state your Directorate at dha.bethesda.j-11.list.nmrtc-training@mail.mil
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
- All trainings are assigned to each Sailor via the Relias Learning Management System which will allow for timely and early completion of all trainings.
- You can access the Relias LMS here: https://dha20433.training.reliaslearning.com/
- If you do not see assigned trainings in your profile, please email your name and Directorate to: LT Talab at hosameddine.b.talab.mil@mail.mil
- In the event that you do not have a Relias account email LT Talab, NMRTC Relias Administrator: hosameddine.b.talab.mil@mail.mil
-Sailors are individually responsible for completion of all GMT requirements per the attached command and BUMED instructions. Assigned GMTs are due each month to allow for timely completion by the end of the Fiscal Year.
-Separate to GMTs, all Sailors are required to maintain current readiness certifications and reflected in FLTMPS in accordance with their rate, corps, and specialty codes to include:
BLS, TCCC, HMSB, ALS, ATLS, PALS, TNCC. Please see the attached applicable Instructions for further guidance. Identified personnel have been assigned through Relias LMS.