Friday and your NCMS Morning Rounds have arrived!

April 16, 2021

Navigating COVID-19 Vaccination Efforts

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) held an emergency meeting Wednesday to look more closely at the thromboembolic events associated with the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) COVID-19 vaccine. Review the presentations and updates from that meeting here.

The committee did not make a recommendation, indicating they will continue to assess the data and risks and will reconvene in a week to 10 days. In the meantime, the CDC’s and Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recommended pause in the administration of the J&J vaccine will continue. North Carolina officials suspended use of the J&J vaccine earlier this week.

American Medical Association President, Susan R. Bailey, MD, recently hosted a webinar with Peter Marks, MD, PhD, Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the FDA. The conversation focused on the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccine. View the webinar at this link.

In North Carolina, health care practices continue to combat vaccine hesitancy, strive for equity in vaccine administration and address the logistics of ensuring everyone in the community is vaccinated against COVID-19.

On Tuesday, April 27 at 6 p.m. NC AHEC is bringing together physicians who are in the thick of this effort to share their experiences in getting their patients vaccinated.

Speakers include Garett Franklin, MD, Cary Medical Group/Raleigh Medical Group, Greg Adams, MD, Blue Ridge Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine in Watauga County and Rasheeda Monroe, MD.

Click here to Join the Zoom meeting room on your computer, or dial-in at (646) 558-8656 using webinar ID 131 899 801.

Kanof Institute for Physician Leadership Now Accepting Applications

The NCMS Foundation’s Kanof Institute for Physician Leadership is now accepting applications for its 2022 classes of scholars for its Leadership College and Health Care Leadership and Management programs. The application deadline is June 30.

If you would like to learn more about these programs, please submit an interest form (see below) or email Aubrey Cuthbertson at [email protected].

Submit a Leadership College interest form here.

Submit a Health Care Leadership and Management interest form here.

Learn more about the Kanof Institute for Physician Leadership and all its programs.

Project OBOT Supporters Receive Glaser Award

Blake Fagan, MD, and Eric Morse, MD were both recently awarded the Frederick B. Glaser Award at the Addiction Medicine 2021 conference. The biennial award, given by the Governor’s Institute and the NC Chapter of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), honors addiction medicine physicians for achievement and meritorious service in the domains of substance use disorder treatment, education, research and leadership.

Dr. Fagan, a family physician at the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) in Asheville and a professor in the Department of Family Medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill, has served as the co-director of the Office-Based Opioid Treatment (OBOT) services provided at MAHEC’s Family Health Center since its inception in 2015. He is part of the NCMS’ Opioid Task Force and supportive of the NCMS Foundation’s Project OBOT. Dr. Morse, an addiction and sports psychiatrist, is the medical director for two Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs) and a program physician at five Morse Clinics across the Triangle.

Both physicians have been pivotal in increasing access to medication assisted treatment for opioid use disorder in NC through extensive training, mentoring and technical assistance to other physicians and advanced practice providers.

Congratulations Drs. Fagan and Morse!

In the News

The US Paused Use of J&J’s Vaccine. What Happens Next? Health Care Dive, 4-14-21

Learning Opportunity

Navigating Ahead on Vaccinating Your Patients with COVID Vax, Tuesday, April 27 | 6–7 PM
Now that the vaccine-eligible population has grown to include nearly all adults, and a childhood vaccine is on the horizon, it is likely that more and more medical practices will be administering vaccines, either in partnership with community partners or in their own offices.

Come hear from your colleagues who are thinking through the “nuts and bolts” of patient vaccinations.

Join meeting here. Or dial in at (646) 558-8656 using webinar ID 131 899 801.

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