Each month, the Dean’s Office recognizes and celebrates the achievements of our students, faculty, and staff with this summary.

Janice Gilden, MD, MS, FCP, FACE, FAAS, director of the CMS endocrinology fellowship program and professor of medicine, received a lifetime achievement award from the American Autonomic Society (AAS) for her work in autonomic nervous system disorders. She received this honor at the AAS’s International Symposium on the Autonomic Nervous System, held November 6-9 in Santa Barbara, CA. As part of the award, Dr. Gilden was invited to deliver a plenary lecture at the symposium, where she spoke on the topic “Exploring the Autonomic Nervous System Through an Endocrine Lens.”

Dr. Gilden is involved in teaching medical, pharmacy, and physician assistant students as well as interns, residents, fellows, and practicing providers. She is world-known for her research on diabetes care and complications and autonomic nervous system disorders, as well as being actively involved in patient care. In addition to her work at CMS, Dr. Gilden is active in research and clinical care at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center, where she serves as staff endocrinologist, section chief of endocrinology, and chair of the Research and Development Committee.

Antwione Haywood, PhD, associate dean of student affairs, has been invited to India by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) for an event connected to the HLC’s upcoming accreditation visit to Future Generations University’s residential learning experience at Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. In advance of the full evaluation, the university has invited Dr. Haywood, as chair of the HLC accreditation team, to participate in a portion of the residential experience so as to more fully understand the scope, process, and impact of the university’s curriculum.

Fifteen CMS students, representing the Interprofessional Community Initiative, attended the Society of Student-Run Free Clinics (SSRFC) Annual Conference, held October 18-20 at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. A total of 14 projects were presented across both posters and oral presentations.

Brianna Lau, CMS ’27, was awarded 1st Runner Up for the Collaboration Award at the Society of Student-Run Free Clinics (SSRFC) Annual Conference for her abstract titled “Breakfast and Breast Exams: A Template for SRFC Community Outreach.” Delaney Griffiths, CMS ’27, was elected as the Finance Chair-Elect, and Mia Fidanze, CMS ’27, was elected as a Technology Chair for the SSRFC Operating Committee for the upcoming year.

Elliot Levine, MD ’78, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, was first author on an article titled “Exploration of Real-World Obstetric Data Regarding Cesarean Delivery Rate Since the ARRIVE Trial,” published in Archives of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Lin Lu, MD, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry, who specializes in child and adolescent psychiatry; Shannon Lanza, MS, CMS ’25; and Andrew Trandai, MHS, CMS ’25, attended the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) Annual Conference, held October 14–19 in Seattle, WA. The team presented a workshop titled “Beyond Ears: The Art of Whole-Body Listening.” During the workshop, the CMS team used the evolutionary journey of the Chinese character for Listening — which shows that true listening is an authentic endeavor that engages various parts of the body — to illustrate the whole-body listening framework and provide insight into how to listen to children intentionally and holistically. 

Ligaya Marasigan, MD, FACOG, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, was recently recognized as a distinguished speaker by the Philippine Medical Association in Chicago (PMAC), where she shared her work titled “Fractals in Biology and Nature” at the 2024 PMAC Gala.

Dr. Marasigan was recently nominated by a student for recognition in the CMS newsletter for her clinical career and her work as chapter adviser of the CMS Philippine Medical Association (PMA). Read her Faculty Spotlight.

Amanda Simanek, PhD, MPH, associate professor and director of the Michael Reese Foundation Center for Health Equity Research, moderated an invited panel titled “Moving Beyond Checking the Community Engagement Box: Innovative Community-Partnered Approaches for Putting ‘Research into Action’ to Address Health Equity in St. Louis, MO” at the Interdisciplinary Association of Population Health Sciences (IAPHS) annual meeting, held September 10–13, 2024 in St. Louis. The panel was organized by the IAPHS Research to Action Working Group, of which Dr. Simanek is co-chair.

She also gave an invited talk titled “Using Health-Related Data, Identifying Health Information Needs, and Navigating Health Misinformation at the monthly meeting of the Lake County Digital Equity Coalition on October 29.