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Walnut Creek, CA 94598
Fax: (925) 263-5300
Medicine is two things to me: It’s a science, which can be taught, and an art, which is very hard to teach. The art of medicine is taking care of people and truly listening to them.
What I really love most about my job is working with patients and their families. Even though there are many times where I can’t change the situation or take the disease away, I want families to know that I’ll always be there to walk them through tough situations and to support them. Knowing that someone truly cares about your child makes all the difference.
I feel so blessed that I get to make such a positive difference in a young person’s life. One of my patients who had a kidney transplant just graduated from eighth grade. I went to her graduation ceremony, and she thanked me for always being there for her and supporting her. Knowing that I’m able to help in that way is truly rewarding. It doesn’t get much better than that.
University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City, KS, 2002
Children's Hospital of Oakland, Oakland, CA, 2005
Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Palo Alto, CA, 2009
Pediatric Nephrology, American Board of Pediatrics
Pediatrics, American Board of Pediatrics
BACKGROUND: The Stanford Pediatrics Advancing Anti-Racism Coalition (SPAARC) was created to promote a culture of anti-racism through immediate action, development of nimble systems, and longitudinal commitment towards equity.OBJECTIVE: Evaluate gaps in the Stanford Department of Pediatrics (DoP) efforts to advance anti-racism and form a coalition of faculty, staff, and trainees to prioritize, design, and implement targeted activities with immediate and long-term measurable outcomes.METHODS: A needs assessment was conducted across all DoP members in July-August 2020 to identify gaps in anti-racism efforts. Listening sessions were recorded and transcribed to extrapolate key themes and two rounds of consensus surveys were done to identify and prioritize actions. Actions teams were created and co-led by faculty-staff dyads with trainee representation. A final activity survey was conducted in January 2021 to determine the specific activities (i.e., interventions) each team would design and implement.RESULTS: Ten small group listening sessions (70 participants) and three surveys (1005 responses) led to the creation of seven action teams with associated activities (1) training (2) community engagement and research (3) communication (4) faculty and staff recruitment and advancement (5) leadership representation (6) human resources, and (7) staff engagement. 443 (41%) DoP members were directly involved in SPAARC through participation in the needs assessment, action teams, and/or implementation of activities.CONCLUSION: SPAARC can serve as an adaptable framework for how a DoP can create a coalition to identify gaps in anti-racism efforts and create and implement targeted activities with associated outcomes.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.acap.2022.10.003
View details for PubMedID 36216211
Introduction: Families with limited English proficiency are at risk for poor outcomes and medical errors due to barriers in communication. The use of professional medical interpretation has been linked to improved access to care, improved patient satisfaction, and better outcomes. However, medical interpretation remains underutilized, and the literature lacks guidelines for training health care workers in its use. This workshop aims to teach the skills needed to access and appropriately use professional medical interpretation.Methods: Our team included two residents, two fellows, two faculty members, and two fellowship coordinators. This 90-minute workshop targeted at health care workers included a warm-up activity, role-play with three different types of interpretation, and large-group discussion. Anonymous evaluations were collected at the end of the workshop.Results: The workshop was presented at six academic conferences (three local, one regional, and two national). Postworkshop evaluations were collected from 53 participants from multiple health care backgrounds (including medical students, residents, and physicians). The majority of participants reported that the workshop met learning objectives (98%), represented a valuable use of time (98%), and included useful handouts (92%). In addition, 90% of participants reported that the information shared in the workshop would be applied to their medical practice. Themes that emerged from postworkshop evaluations included participants' intentions to change their practice, to augment training for other providers, and to pursue institutional change.Discussion: This workshop fills an important gap in medical education and provides a comprehensive orientation to interpretation resources and best practices.
View details for DOI 10.15766/mep_2374-8265.11017
View details for PubMedID 33204841
View details for Web of Science ID 000518328803371
View details for Web of Science ID 000518328903372
Proliferative glomerulonephritis with monoclonal IgG deposits (PGNMID) is a glomerular disease defined by non-organized glomerular deposits of heavy and light chain-restricted immunoglobulin and israrely reported in children.We characterized a series of nine pediatric patients from two academic centers with biopsy-proven PGNMID and additionally describe two patients with monotypic IgG in the setting of IgM deposition.Each patient presented with hematuria and/or proteinuria; however, only five had elevated serum creatinine. Prodromal or concurrent infection was identified in six patients, low C3 in five, and alternate complement pathway gene variants in two. No monoclonal serum proteins were identified in five tested patients. Seven patients had monotypic deposits composed of IgG3-, two showed IgG3-, and one each IgG1 and IgG3 with lambda dominance in the setting of IgM deposition. The glomerular pattern was predominantly mesangial proliferative or membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN). Treatment and outcomes were variable; four patients have recent PGNMID diagnoses and therefore minimal follow up, one had relatively stable kidney function for over a decade, and six experienced kidney failure, with four receiving transplants. Recurrent deposits of the same isotype were identified in five of six transplanted kidneys, corresponding to three of four transplanted patients. One of these patients developed PGNMID recurrences in three separate kidney allografts over a 20-year disease course.Our study emphasizes the need for upfront IgG subclass investigation in pediatric mesangial or MPGN with IgG deposition and monotypic or biased light-chain staining. Furthermore, this pediatric experience suggests expanded pathogenic considerations in PGNMID. Graphical abstract.
View details for DOI 10.1007/s00467-020-04763-5
View details for PubMedID 33044675