Bucksbaum Institute Names New Cohort of Student Scholars

September 26, 2103

The Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence has chosen four second-year Pritzker School of Medicine students to become Bucksbaum Student Scholars, the third cohort of students chosen since the institute was founded in 2011.

"The work these students are doing in the community and at the bedside represents the Bucksbaum Institute's focus on strengthening the doctor-patient relationship and on improving the care patients receive," said Mark Siegler, MD, the Lindy Bergman Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine and Surgery and executive director of the Bucksbaum Institute.

The Bucksbaum Institute expanded its outreach to the broader medical student body this year by establishing the Bucksbaum Interest Group (BIG).

BIG, a registered student organization at the Pritzker School of Medicine, will create opportunities for medical students to participate in the wide offering of Bucksbaum Institute programs in order to foster greater understanding of the doctor-patient relationship. Created and run by Bucksbaum Institute Student Scholars, BIG will bring medical students in closer contact with the nearly 60 Junior and Senior Bucksbaum Institute Faculty Scholars for mentoring, research and educational opportunities.

This year's Bucksbaum Student Scholars are:

Dara Richer Adams, MS2: Under the mentorship of Vineet Arora, MD, MPP, Dara Richer Adams has conducted research on how patient satisfaction relates to patients' views of the quality of the communication between their hospital teams and primary care physicians. Adams graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 2009 with a BA in Biological Basis of Behavior and Hispanic Studies and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Steven Bhutra, MS2: As a medical student under Stephanie Huang, PhD, Steven Bhutra developed an ongoing, IRB-approved clinical trial on treating patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. Bhutra graduated from Stanford University in 2012 with a BS in Biology with distinction and received departmental honors for his senior thesis.

Brenna Hughes, MS2: Brenna Hughes graduated from Dartmouth College in 2009 with an AB in Economics and Environmental Studies. Under the mentorship of Marshall Chin, MD, MPH, and Monica Peek, MD, MPH, a Bucksbaum Junior Faculty Scholar, Hughes conducted research on the costs of improving diabetes care and outcomes on the South Side of Chicago. She also developed and piloted "Women in Medicine," an eight-week summer course for first-year medical students supervised by Karen Kim, MD, and the Department of Medicine's Women's Committee.

Ashley Tsang, MS2: Ashley Tsang graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2010 with a BS in Public Health. Following graduation, Tsang spent two years as a CDC public health associate working in infectious disease epidemiology and harm reduction at the New Mexico Department of Health. Under the mentorship of John Schneider, MD, MPH, a Bucksbaum Junior Faculty Scholar, she conducted research on the social networks of injection drug users during an HIV outbreak in Athens, Greece.

Earlier this year, the Bucksbaum Institute named Michael Bishop, MD, professor of medicine and director of the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Program, as its second Master Clinician. The three-year appointment will enable Bishop to mentor faculty and student scholars to improve crucial doctor-patient communication skills and clinical care.

This year's Bucksbaum Junior Faculty Scholars are: Raymon Grogan, MD, assistant professor of surgery and director of the Endocrine Surgery Research Program, Olwen Hahn, MD, assistant professor of surgery, and John Schneider, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine and director of Global Health Programs.

The Bucksbaum Institute also named its second set of 12 senior faculty scholar appointees for 2013-14. They are:

Halina Brukner, MD, Department of Medicine
Linda Druelinger, MD, Department of Medicine
Scott Eggener, MD, Department of Surgery
Savitri Fedson, MD, Department of Medicine
H. Barrett Fromme, MD, Department of Pediatrics
Melissa Gilliam, MD, MPH, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Nora Jaskowiak, MD, Department of Surgery
William McDade, MD, PhD, Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care
Sonali Smith, MD, Department of Medicine
David Song, MD, Department of Surgery
Christopher Straus, MD, Department of Radiology
Monica Vela, MD, Department of Medicine

The Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence was created in 2011 with a $42 million endowment gift from the Matthew and Carolyn Bucksbaum Family Foundation. The goals of the Bucksbaum Institute are to improve patient care, strengthen the doctor-patient relationship and enhance communication and decision-making between patients and physicians.