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New York (February 24, 2023) – The New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM), in collaboration with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), this year has announced an unprecedented awarding of two fellowships for the 2023-25 Jeremiah A. Barondess Fellowship in the Clinical Transaction.  Recipients include Jacqueline Birnbaum, MD, Assistant Professor, General Internal Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston for her program Developing Inter-Visit Care Curriculum for Internal Medicine Recipients, and Daniel Sartori, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, NYU Grossman School of Medicine for his program Developing a Virtual Standardized Patient Program to Teach and Assess Trainees’ Clinical Skills in the Telemedicine Era.

The ACGME will recognize Dr. Birnbaum and Dr. Sartori at its Annual Educational Conference, held in Nashville, Tennessee from February 23-25, 2023.

The Barondess Fellowship is awarded to junior faculty members in internal medicine to enhance medical students’ and residents' training in the clinical transaction, a fundamental element of clinical care. The two-year, $50,000 fellowship—awarded to each individual this year—aims to improve the patient experience by innovating and strengthening the critical skills that characterize the clinical transaction, including communicating with patients, conducting the physical exam, and applying clinical reasoning. 

“This year NYAM is honored to present the Barondess Fellowship to two individuals who are pioneering innovative ways to address the active dynamic of patient-physician collaboration,” said NYAM President Ann Kurth, PhD, CNM, MPH. “Ensuring medical education keeps pace with the post-pandemic realities of evolving clinical practice will strengthen trainees’ preparedness to address patient needs and also enhance provider satisfaction.”

“The ACGME is proud to present The Barondess Fellowship, in partnership with The New York Academy of Medicine, for the first time to two individuals, Drs. Birnbaum and Sartori. Honoring Dr. Barondess’s teaching of clinical skills at the bedside to generations of medical students and residents, this year’s awardees transform Dr. Barondess’s groundwork for the digital age," said ACGME President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas J. Nasca, MD, MACP.

Developing Inter-Visit Care Curriculum for Internal Medicine Recipients

Teaching the clinical transaction in the evolving context of inter-visit care poses unique challenges. The aim of Dr. Birnbaum’s proposal is to develop, deliver, and study multiple educational, patient-oriented, and clinical outcomes of a curriculum on inter-visit care. Additionally, the program aims to enhance the clinical transaction across telehealth and electronic communication modalities in the ambulatory setting. 

“I am delighted and honored to have been awarded the Barondess Fellowship. Carrying out effective and efficient “inter-visit” care with patients in the ambulatory setting remains a vexing challenge for fully fledged providers. This is even more challenging for resident trainees in the rapidly evolving interface among technology, society, and medicine such as increasing patient engagement on electronic health record portals and open access to notes. Helping residents to adeptly navigate this landscape to develop their clinical skills, connect and communicate effectively with their patients, and find purpose and meaning and doing so is essential, and I am grateful for the support of the University of Texas Health Scienter at Houston, The New York Academy of Medicine, and the ACGME to pursue this work,” said Dr. Jacqueline Birnbaum.

Dr. Jacqueline Birnbaum graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and earned an MD from Boston University School of Medicine. She completed her internal medicine residency training at Baylor College of Medicine, where she was selected as a Chief Resident in Ambulatory Care. In 2021, she joined the Department of Internal Medicine at McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHSC), where she was offered the position of Associate Program Director for Ambulatory Care for the Internal Medicine Residency Program. In these roles, Dr. Birnbaum has led multiple educational efforts teaching clinical reasoning and patient communication, particularly in the ambulatory setting. She has collaborated in the development of a curriculum on advanced skills in patient communication and has led the effort to formalize the system for inter-visit follow-up and patient communication at the UTHSC resident continuity clinics, which will be the area of focus of her Barondess Fellowship.

Developing a Virtual Standardized Patient Program to Teach and Assess Trainees’ Clinical Skills in the Telemedicine Era

As telehealth has expanded dramatically in the wake of COVID-19, developing trainees' virtual care skills to meet patients' evolving needs is more critical than ever. Dr. Sartori’s innovative program will build upon simulation training already in practice at NYU by informing what is known about teaching, measuring, and assessing the complexities of virtual care.

“The Barondess Fellowship will enable us to create an innovative means of teaching and assessing the clinical transaction in the telemedicine era, and we are so grateful for the opportunity to bring this to our residents,” said Dr. Daniel Sartori.

Dr. Daniel Sartori is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and an Associate Program Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program at NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn.  Dr. Sartori attended Swarthmore College prior to his medical training at NYU Grossman, where he was a medical student, internal medicine resident and senior chief resident prior to starting his current role in the residency program. Dr. Sartori practices hospital medicine at NYU’s Brooklyn campus, which blends academic medical training in a community-facing hospital setting. He is interested in using simulation as a means of teaching and assessing the unique skills trainees need for telemedicine practice. He will use the Barondess Fellowship to create a workplace-based virtual standardized patient program for residents at the NYU-Brooklyn campus. Dr. Sartori lives in Brooklyn with his wife Marissa and kids Miriam (5) and Jacob (6 months).

About The New York Academy of Medicine 

The New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM) is a leading voice for innovation in public health. Throughout its 176-year history, NYAM has uniquely championed bold changes to the systems that perpetuate health inequities and keep all communities from achieving good health. Today, this work includes innovative research, programs and policy initiatives that distinctively value community input for maximum impact. Combined with NYAM's trusted public programming and historic library, and with the support of esteemed Fellows and Members, NYAM’s Impact as a public health leader continues. To learn more, visit www.nyam.org and follow @NYAMNYC on social media. 

About the ACGME  

The ACGME is a private, non-profit, professional organization responsible for the accreditation of approximately 11,700 residency and fellowship programs and the approximately 850 institutions that sponsor these programs in the United States. Residency and fellowship programs educate approximately 140,500 resident and fellow physicians in 181 specialties and subspecialties. The ACGME's mission is to improve health care and population health by assessing and advancing the quality of resident physicians' education through accreditation.