More than 261 people attended this year’s Advocate Aurora Health Scientific Day virtual conference, which was headlined by the first ever Dennis J. Baumgardner, MD, Clinician Researcher Award.
“Scientific Day has become an important part of Advocate Aurora Health’s culture as a learning health system,” said Jessica Kram, MPH, director of Graduate Medical Education Research for Aurora UW Medical Group (AUWMG) and Academic Affairs. “It’s a chance for everyone across the organization – from residents and fellows to research scientists and system leaders to clinician investigators and health care professionals – to share their most significant work or learn from their colleagues’ research findings.”
This was the event’s 48th year and its third year taking place entirely online.
Notably, Scientific Day 2022 included the introduction of a new award created to honor Dennis Baumgardner, MD, the AUWMG family medicine physician and clinician researcher who previously served as Scientific Day Committee chair and director of research for Aurora Academic Affairs, as well as associate director for the Center for Urban Population Health and inaugural editor-in-chief for the Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews.
“Dr. Baumgardner was an integral part of Scientific Day for many years and will be greatly missed,” said Lisa Sullivan Vedder, MD, Scientific Day Committee Co-Chair. “We created this award to honor this exemplary physician researcher and highlight those clinician researchers carrying on his positive example in the research world.”
The Dennis J. Baumgardner, MD, Clinician Researcher Award will be given annually to medical residents and fellows engaged in clinical research who exemplify Dr. Baumgardner's commitment to quality scientific inquiry and collaboration to further excellent clinical care.
This year’s winner was Lauren Oberbroeckling, DO, for her study “Should we test more broadly for prenatal lead exposure during pregnancy? A prevalence study of prenatal lead exposure and lead levels in Milwaukee, WI.” Oberbroeckling is a current second year resident in the Advocate Aurora Family Medicine Residency program in Milwaukee.
Residents, fellows, students and health care professionals also listened to 15 full-length oral presentations and 16 three-minute oral presentations. The event also included dedicated time for participants to view 23 posters. Finally, the findings of two researcher teams were selected as Rieselbach Distinguished Papers, a recognition awarded to research of the highest quality and greatest impact. The event concluded with an awards presentation for best oral presentations and posters.
Scientific Day is made possible through a long-standing partnership between Advocate Aurora’s Academic Affairs, led by Jacob Bidwell, MD, vice president of Medical Education in Wisconsin and president of AUWMG, and Advocate Aurora Research Institute, led by Amit Acharya, PhD, president of the Research Institute, chief research officer and Advocate Aurora system vice president.
“With so many insightful research projects, including the first-ever Dennis J. Baumgardner, MD, Clinician Researcher Award winner, I’m proud to help host this incredibly important annual event,” Dr. Bidwell said. “The quality of the medical research produced by our presenters will truly make a difference in lives of our patients.”
Dennis J. Baumgardner, MD, Clinician Researcher Award
Awarded to a medical resident or fellow engaged in clinical research who exemplifies Dr. Baumgardner's commitment to quality scientific inquiry and collaboration to further excellent clinical care
Should we test more broadly for prenatal lead exposure during pregnancy? A prevalence study of prenatal lead exposure and lead levels in Milwaukee, WI
Lauren Oberbroeckling, DO
Rieselbach Distinguished Papers
Selected from among all submissions as the highest quality with greatest impact
Impact of the geriatric emergency department post-discharge service orders on 30-day emergency department revisit and 30-day hospital admission
Clint Sergi, PhD
Aaron Malsch, MSN
Metformin dose optimization program with common ground healthcare cooperative
Holly Dorscheid, PharmD
Oral Presentation Winners
Judged for research importance and relevance, methodology, impact, detail, purpose, clarity, organization and presentation
1st place – Hershel Raff, PhD
Lipid signatures of chronic pain in female adolescents with and without obesity
2nd place – Deborah Simpson, PhD, Wilhelm Lehmann, MD, MPH
Faculty perceptions of Diversity, Equity and inclusion (DEI) competence using a structural fluency milestone
3rd place – Anne Rivelli, MPH
Factors associated with COVID-19 breakthrough infection in a large cohort of Advocate Aurora employees
Three-Minute Oral Presentation Winners
Judged for research importance and relevance, methodology, impact, detail, purpose, clarity, organization and presentation
1st place (tied) – Elizabeth Onishchenko, MD
Transcutaneous bilirubin monitoring in the neonatal ICU
1st place (tied) – Leanne Groban, MD
Implementing Functional Testing With the Mobility Assessment Tool – Short From (MAT-sf) in Hospice and Palliative Medicine (HPM)
2nd place – Zeeshan Yacoob, MD, MPH
Addressing food insecurity in medically complex and socially at-risk patients
3rd place – Kathleen Sawasky, MD
Long-term outcomes in older patients who had a delirium diagnosis during their hospital stay: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Best of Show – Posters
Judged on how engaging the poster was and the quality and quantity of work presented
Attitudes towards safety event reporting among physicians within the Advocate Health Care system
Meghana Doniparthi, MD
To learn more about Advocate Aurora’s research, visit aurora.org/research.
