The importance of a medical college having its own teaching hospital such as LECOM’s Millcreek Community Hospital (MCH) becomes apparent through the achievements of the hospitals physicians and residents.
The role MCH residents play in the education of LECOM students was recognized by the Pennsylvania Osteopathic Medical Association (POMA) Clinical Essay judges. They selected only Millcreek residents as the winners for the 2012 Golden Quill awards, presented at the POMA 104th Clinical Assembly.
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| Michael Zal, DO, editor of the POMA Journal presents the Golden Quill Award to Fernando Melaragno, DO. |
Fernando E. Melaragno, DO, LECOM 2007, received the first place award for his essay on thyroid screening. Dr. Melaragno is a fourth-year internal medicine resident who is continuing his post-graduate training through an endocrinology fellowship at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
For the third year, Joshua A. Tuck, DO, MS Med Ed. wrote an award winning essay for the POMA competition. Dr. Tuck is a fifth-year orthopedic surgery resident at Millcreek. For the second place award, he authored a case study of Nail-Patella Syndrome in an Amish Family: A case Series and Review of Current Literature.
The judges were also impressed by three other essays from Millcreek residents and awarded all three honorable mention. Third-year orthopedic surgery resident Jeffrey L. Biehn, DO wrote An Evidence-based Review of the Therapeutic Effects of Hypothermia After Spinal Cord Injury and second-year orthopedic surgery resident Michael J. Corum, DO, LECOM 2010, authored The Socioeconomic Influence on the Prescribing and Use of Narcotic Analgesics in Orthopaedic Pain Management.
The third honorable mention went to second-year internal medicine resident, Preethi Ravichandran, DO wrote her article on Investigating Medication Compliance in Osteoporosis Patients.”
MCH residents enroll in the LECOM Master of Science in Medical Education program where they learn effective teaching methods for clinical education and research. Drs. Melaragno and Ravichandran will receive their MS Med Ed degrees in June. Dr. Tuck earned his MS Med Ed in 2011.
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| POMA Essay winners L-R: Fernando Melaragno, DO; Jeffrey Biehn, DO, Michael Corum, DO and Preethi Ravichandran, DO. |