Updates by Specialty Division
General Internal Medicine
As a specialty division of IU School of Medicine’s Department of Medicine, General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics is large, diverse, and active in the department’s clinical, teaching and research missions. Led by Greg Sachs, MD, the division was one of the first three of such specialty units in the United States. The division includes primary care, geriatrics, hospital medicine, palliative medicine and global medicine and ethics. Clinicians practice at three Indianapolis health systems and at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya. Researchers benefit from appointments at the Regenstrief Institute and other IU Centers.
The division conducts cutting-edge patient-centered research using an interdisciplinary approach to science. Long-standing strengths of the Division include aging research, biomedical informatics and health services research. This team of investigators values and celebrates the success of individuals for their research accomplishments and nurtures the research careers of junior faculty and trainees while advancing the departmental research enterprise.
The division offers two fellowship programs: a Geriatric Medicine Fellowship program, and a Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship program.
News from 2023-24
IU scientists part of NIH-funded national consortium focused on improving Alzheimer’s disease diagnoses
Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine will play key roles in a national consortium led by Wake Forest University School of Medicine to study the use, interpretation and implementation of biomarkers to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease.
The multi-institution effort is funded by a five-year, $9 million grant from the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, that will establish the Alzheimer’s Diagnosis in Older Adults with Chronic Conditions (ADACC) Network.
IU School of Medicine’s Nicole Fowler, PhD, MHSA, an associate professor of medicine at the school, will serve as co-principal investigator of the study. Read More.
Frank retires after 50 years
Kathy Frank is a firm believer in teamwork. For decades she has played an integral role in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics as the Geriatrics Program Administrator.
Having first joined the division in 2000, she has served in her position for 25 of the program’s 27 years. Her passion for patient care, teaching and mentoring have helped form the team and set the tone for the teamwork that drives it.
Frank retired in June after more than 50 years with IU School of Medicine and IU Health.
She started working at IU in 1973 as a student nurse and started working full-time upon her graduation in May 1975. She officially joined IU Geriatrics in January 2000. Her friends and colleagues say she is always striving for excellence and never shies away from a task or problem. Read More.
Are emoji helping your physician communicate better? What new research tells us about emoji use among hospitalists
You may have heard it said before that a picture is worth a thousand words, but what about an emoji?
Since emoji were first created in the 1990s, their use has evolved and increased significantly in text messaging, social media, email and more. And now, even clinicians are using them when communicating with each other at work.
Colin Halverson, PhD, along with Michael Weiner, MD, MPH, Claire Donnelly, MA, and Joy Lee, PhD, MS, published a study in JAMA Network Open about emoji use among hospitalists using the Diagnotes messaging app at IU Health. The researchers looked through thousands of lines of messages to find anything with an emoji, then analyzed the emoji use to determine what roles they played in the messages. Read More.
Professor founds Climate, Health and Informatics Working Group
IU School of Medicine professor Titus Schleyer is leveraging his skills in biomedical informatics — a field that uses information science and technology to solve problems in health care, public health and biomedical research — to address climate change challenges.
Schleyer, a professor of biomedical informatics and a research scientist at the Center for Biomedical Informatics of the Regenstrief Institute, has founded the Climate, Health and Informatics Working Group at the American Medical Informatics Association. The group is focused on leveraging informatics to help health care mitigate and adapt to global warming. Read More.
Noteworthy Awards and Recognitions
Bradley Sutter, MD
2023 Values Leadership Award, Medical Staff, Values Leadership Awards, IU Health Physicians
Patient Safety Hero Award, Indianapolis Coalition for Patient Safety
IUHP Values Leadership Award, System President Values Leadership Award
Greg Sachs, MD
Excellence in Faculty Mentoring Award, IU School of Medicine
Sylk Sotto, EdD, MBA, MPS
Scholar Educator Award, IU School of Medicine
Sacha Sharp, PhD
2024 Distinguished Young Alumna, Murray State University
Nicole Fowler, PhD
Research Frontiers Trailblazers, IUPUI
Curtis Wright, MD
Award for Advocacy and Community Service, Midwest Society of General Internal Medicine
Areeba Kara, MD, MS
2024 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Leadership Award, Society of Hospital Medicine
Daniel Pino, MD
Forty Under 40, Indianapolis Business Journal
Jennifer Gross
2024 Indy’s Most Pivotal Leaders, Open Pivot