Finally Friday and time for your NCMS Morning Rounds!

Jan. 8, 2021

COVID-19 Vaccine Resources

The NC Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) offers this webpage to quickly reference who is currently eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccinations as well as a list by county where the vaccine is currently being administered. NCDHHS continues to caution that supplies of the vaccine are limited, slowing the vaccination process. Learn more here.

For a bit more information from individual county health departments, check out this compilation of vaccination locations and instructions put together by North Carolina Health News, an online news source.

To familiarize yourself more fully with the currently available vaccines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers COVID-19 Vaccine Self-Study Online Courses with Free Education Credits. The ‘COVID-19 Vaccine: What Healthcare Professionals Need to Know’ training is offered in two sections:

One for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, available here. And one for the Moderna vaccine available here.

NCMS Accreditation Program Welcomes New Director

The NCMS welcomes Russet Rogers, EdD, as the consulting director of the Society’s Accreditation Services Program. Dr. Rogers succeeds Harry Gallis, MD, who directed the program for many years.

The NCMS Accreditation Program does not provide Continuing Medical Education (CME); rather, it ensures that accredited organizations demonstrate they meet requirements for delivering independent CME that accelerates learning, change and improvement in health care. Learn more about the program here.

Dr. Rogers received her Doctor of Education in Adult and Community College Education with an emphasis in the health professions in 2016 from North Carolina State University. She earned her Master of Library Science degree in 1993 from North Carolina Central University. Dr. Rogers completed faculty development programs in Interprofessional Education and Health Literacy and Aging. Since 2009, she has served as a site surveyor for the NCMS Accreditation Program. In September 2020, after 28 years of service, Dr. Rogers retired from Southern Regional Area Health Education Center (AHEC) in Fayetteville, NC.

Dr. Rogers will work alongside Dr. Gallis as she assumes responsibility for assisting 10 NC accredited organizations with meeting CME programming requirements.

After retiring from Duke University and Carolinas HealthCare System, Dr. Gallis remained active in the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and as director of the NCMS program. He is known nationally for his expertise in CME accreditation and for his devotion to meaningful, continuous learning for physicians. An Infectious Disease specialist, Dr. Gallis was featured in an NCMS ‘Community Conversation’ article in which he shares his perspective on the COVID-19 epidemic. Read that piece here.

Kudos to the NCMS’ Pam Highsmith

NCMS Vice President for Advancement and Donor Relations Pam Highsmith, MEd, CFRE was recently named President of the Board of Directors for the Triangle chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP). AFP’s mission is to empower individuals and organizations to practice ethical fundraising through professional education, networking, research and advocacy.

A native of Burgaw, NC, and graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Citadel, Highsmith has been with the NCMS for 17 years in a variety of roles. Congratulations, Pam!

In the News

How LatinX Health Care Providers United to Spread Information about COVID-19, Indy Week, 1-6-21

Learning Opportunity

Don’t forget to tune in to today’s (Friday, Jan. 8) Kanof Institute for Physician Leadership’s Power Hour from noon to 1 p.m. Today discussion will focus on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among minority communities. Guests include:

Chamaine Brooks-Locklear, MD – Family Medicine Physician, Pembroke Family Practice, Pembroke, NC
Artina Dawkins, PhD, MPA – Program Manager and Co-Director of Diversity & Inclusion, Orthopaedic Surgery, Wake Forest Baptist Health
Bryant A. Murphy, MD, MBA – NCMS Board Member and Anesthesiologist with UNC Healthcare
George Pride, PhD – Founder, Black Doctors USA
Karen L. Smith, MD, FAAFP – NCMS Board Member and Family Physician, Karen L. Smith, MD, PA, Raeford, NC

Learn more and register here.

If you have policies you’d like your NCMS Board of Directors to consider, please complete the Board input form here. Thanks for reading!