UNIVERSITY OF MEDICINE AND DENTISTRY OF NEW JERSEY
SCHOOL OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE
STUDENT COUNCIL
One Medical Center Drive  Suite 210  Stratford, NJ 08084
Tel: (856) 566-6981  Fax: (856) 566-6714  email: stuco@umdnj.edu
Student Council Minutes
Meeting Date: October 22, 2009
Location: Top Doc’s Cafe
Next Meeting: Thursday, November 19, 2009; 7:00 pm
Location: Top Doc’s Cafe
I. Call to Order and Attendees:
(A) The meeting was called to order at 7:11 pm
(B) Attendees:
Council
STUCO E-board: Kimberly Young, Kay Yoon-Flannery, Katherine
Cannon, Jaclyn Taupier, Karandeep Jagpal, Kirin Syed, Birju Ringwala
Class of 2010: Erin Toller, Danielle Mercurio, Bethany Cottingham, EJ
Getting, Brett Elo
Class of 2011: Tom Nappe, Elizabeth Jasolosky, Jodie Bachman, Patty
Ambrosio
Class of 2012: Amina Moghul, Ingrid Edshteyn, Nidhi Shah, Aileen Chen,
Matthew J. Ingrassia, Sarah Campeas, Farhad Modarai
Class of 2103: Wade Ng, Neiman Ramjattan, Pavli Demian, Jennifer
Ocbo, Zachary Hernandez, Natalie Hyppolite, Anna Grushevsky
Guests
Dean Cavalieri, Dean Lambert
(C) Excused: Gabriel Lerman, Patricia Ambrosio, Ryan Danowski, Matt LaPorta
(D) Unexcused:
II. Approval of Minutes
(A)
The revised September 2009 meeting minutes were unanimously
approved.
III. Special Business
(A)
Dean Lambert
There was an email sent earlier today from Dr. Krueger, please make sure you
read it. It’s a reminder from the Newark administration about UMDNJ’s influenza
vaccine policy. The influenza vaccine is required of all students and staff. The
H1N1 vaccine is also required, so long as the vaccines are available through
UMDNJ. Regarding the seasonal influenza vaccine, student health ran out, but
received more vaccines this week and will be vaccinating 3rd and 4th years.
There’s a shortage in south Jersey due to manufacturers concentrating on
producing the H1N1 vaccine. More seasonal flu vaccines have been ordered and
should be received in November. We vaccinate for the seasonal flu from
September – February because flu season extends into March. The influenza
vaccine is only 70% effective. There were 1st year students who got sick, even
though they had been vaccinated. There seems to be some concern over the
safety of the H1N1 vaccine. It has the same risks as the seasonal flu vaccine. The
seasonal flu contains 4 strains of the virus. The H1N1 is a vaccine containing
different specific strains. H1N1 should be even more effective than seasonal
influenza. When we get more shipments in, we will get everyone vaccinated.
According to UMDNJ’s policy, a student has the potential to be disenrolled if the
flu vaccines are available, but they don’t get vaccinated.
(B)
Dean Cavalieri
--Two new department head positions have been filled. On January 4, 2010, the
new chair of the Ob-gyn department, Dr. Keith Williams, will start. Dr. Ayers
stepped down from his position, but remains as faculty. Dr. Williams comes to us
from Yale, and he’s a maternal fetal medicine specialist. He will be a great
addition to our school. SOM wants to develop a maternal fetal medicine
fellowship, and Dr. Williams is going to help us start this program. Also joining
SOM is Dr. Alex Kansas. He is the new chair of surgery, and he begins February
1, 2010. He comes to us from Baltimore’s Sinai-Hopkins. He is a robotic &
bariatric surgeon.
--Dr. Krueger is stepping down in July as associate dean of academic affairs. He
will be a huge loss, but he will still be involved at our school. A search
committee has been formed to find a replacement for him. Dr. Tim Dombrowski
is heading this search committee. Kim (STUCO President) will serve on the
search committee too. It’s a national search. It may take a while to fill his
position.
-- It was announced that the Cooper/Rowan medical school will commence in
2012. It’s a long way from being a reality, as its going to require lots of funding
and LCME approval. This new medical school does not pose a serious threat to
us in terms of recruiting faculty or GME slots. SOM will be proactive and plan.
--By 2020, NJ will be short 2500 physicians, half of these in the field of primary
care. SOM has been approved for 150 new students. Currently, an evaluation is
taking place to see if we accept 150 for the class of 2014 or keep it at 135. We
want to make sure there’s adequate space and faculty. Dr Krueger is working on
an assessment on improving needs like increased study space.
--There’s a need to look into increasing GME opportunities at SOM, Kennedy,
Lourdes and elsewhere. We are working on 2 new programs right now. Dr.
Barone is thinking of starting a neurology residency. Dr German is working on a
PM&R program. Ob-gyn is considering starting a repro-endo fellowship.
--We’re trying to recruit the AOA president and NBOME presidents here as guest
speakers to address students.
--The Neuromusculoskeletal Institute was just dedicated by Dr. German. It’s
OMM, orthopedics, a pain center, and physical therapy all in one.
IV. Executive Committee Reports:
(A)
President:
o
Get your Flu Vaccine!
o
Following the previous STUCO meeting, there was a vote via email concerning the status of several UMDNJ-SOM Organizations. I am
pleased to announce that all 3 organizations were elevated to active status:
IFMSA, SOHOA, and Pathology Club.
o
The 25th Annual University Day Celebration took place on
September 16, 2009 where 12 new members were inducted into the Stuart
D. Cook, MD, Master Educators’ Guild. Our very own professor David C.
Mason, DO, Acting Chair of the Department of Osteopathic Manipulative
Medicine at UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine was inducted as a
new member.
o
National Day of Compassion in Medicine: Monday, October 19th,
2009. SOM commemorated the 2004 crash of Flight #5966, which
caused the deaths of 13 passengers, 8 of whom were members of the
osteopathic community.
o
COSGP Meeting: From October 30th through November 1st,
Katherine Cannon (2nd VP) and I will represent SOM at the Council of
Osteopathic Student Government Presidents (COSGP) meeting in New
Orleans, LA. This year, SOM is on the Research Committee.
o
NJAOPS House of Delegates Meeting: On Sunday, October 25th,
NJAOPS will be holding its semiannual meeting at its office in Monmouth
Junction. I will be attending this meeting and presenting my report on
SOM student life to the delegates.
o
I am working with Dean Cavalieri to invite several speakers to our
campus. Some of the ideas that we discussed this week included: AOA
President, Larry Wickless, DO; NBOME President, John R. Gimpel, D.O.,
and Tyler Cymet, DO; Associate Vice President for Medical Education for
AACOM and adviser to COSGP.
(B)
First Vice President:
The club disbursements have now been made and everything is going well with clubs.
One change in the procedure is that now we are to go through Karen Miklosey for all
reservations. Also of note are the SOSA fall festival and the Diwali festival this month,
which were very successful! There’s a University-wide knitting project to support AIDS
in South Africa.
(C)
Second Vice President:
Annual Day of Compassion: On Monday, October 19, we held a memorial service to
recognize Annual Day of Compassion at the brick on the Osetopath. We are so grateful
that Dean Cavalieri, Dean Lambert, and Dean Kruger could join us for a few words in
honor of the day.
Medicine Ball: I met with Debbie Murray on Friday at the Mansion to discuss options
for the event this year. She provided me with the invoice and menu from 2008. We
currently have February 20th on hold should we decide to make the reservation. They also
have availability for February 13th, March 6th and 13th. I made sure to raise issues and
concerns Karen had communicated regarding the event in the past; Debbie was very
receptive and reassured us that we could be accommodated. We’re still looking at other
places.
COSGP/AOA: Looking forward to the conference in New Orleans next week!
(D)
Treasurer:
The disbursement figures have been established and sent out to the clubs. The last five
remaining participants in the annual book sale have been cut a check for their
reimbursement, which they should receive by the end of the month. I am happy these
issues have been settled by the third meeting. Financially speaking, STUCO is
proceeding as expected.
(E)
Secretary:
--A revision was made to the 9/17 meeting minutes. Regarding H1N1: if you are sick or
have a fever of 100.5 degrees or higher, don’t go to the hospital or doctor’s office. Stay
home so that you don’t infect the rest of the community. Get a doctor’s note for missed
school days. Stay home until you are afebrile for 24 hours.
--If you cannot attend the STUCO meeting, please submit a report anyway. I will read
your report at the meeting in your absence
--The next STUCO meeting is on 11/19. Agenda items and funding requests must be in
by 11/15 at noon, unless an extension has been granted.
(F)
Campus Relations:
No news to report.
(G)
Alumni Affairs:
Overall it has been a busy month. Some of the highlights are as follows:
MS Ride:
Two SOM students participated along with faculty/alumni at SOM for this year's MS150
bike ride. The students received a customized cycling jersey, compliments of the Alumni
Association Board. The cycling jersey is now on sale at the School Spirit store at a cost of
$80.
Golf outing:
The 12th Annual UMDNJ-SOM Golf Classic was held on Sunday, October 4th at the
Vineyard Golf Course at Renault Winery. The outing attracted 76 enthusiastic golfers,
including students, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of the School. The event featured
giveaways, on-course contests, team prizes, raffle prizes and a buffet dinner. Golf awards
were given to our first, second, third and last place teams. This event raised an estimated
$7,000 for the Alumni Association’s Student Scholarship fund.
3rd Annual Fall Festival
The festival was a successful event co-sponsored by SOSA/Alumni affairs. The theme
was Halloween. Fifteen clubs participated in the event and presented games and activities
including pie tossing and sumo wrestling. SOSA managed to collect 20 gifts from local
vendors. There were around a 100 students and faculty members present, with and
without children, including Dr. Mason, Dr. Surmay, Dr. Cavalieri and several others. The
attendance was slightly less than expected most likely because the event was held on a
Friday evening instead of a weekday as per usual. This was due to scheduling
conflicts. Dr. Carsia was awarded the SOMA's Mentor of the Year award.
ACOI Conference
The Alumni Association held a reception for alumni at the internal medicine conference
last week in Tuscon, AZ. About 45 alumni, house staff, faculty and friends attended the
event.
Alumni Phone-a-thon
5 students attended (one of the lowest turnouts). We managed to raise $4,000 in pledges.
Two more phone-a-thon events are planned for the spring
Alumni Scholarships
This week, award letters went out to 16 students for the $1250 Alumni Association
Scholarships. These students were selected among the participants from last year's phonea-thons.
AOA/ Alumni Reunion
The office of alumni affairs is gearing up for activities at the AOA on November 2nd and
also for its biennial Alumni Reunion Dinner, scheduled for November 14th.
V. Class Reports:
(A)
2010:
Over the past month, the class has been continuing with rotations, receiving interviews,
and going on interviews. The class has also formed and held two meetings for the
yearbook. Students are still able to join and help out even if they missed the first two
meetings. This year the yearbook committee has 3 tri-chairs, Bobbie Daniels, Christina
Garcia, and Erin Toller.
We also had an addition to the class on September 24, 2009. Sue Young-Novellino gave
birth to a baby girl, Evren Han-Byul Novellino. She was born at 4:51am and weighed 5lb.
11oz. Sue and the baby are both home and doing well. Congratulations to the Novellino
Family!
(B)
2011:
Track leaders meeting regularly and Fatmata has scheduled to meet with us next month to
help start planning 4th year.
COMLEX II – Cannot schedule CK yet, but can register. Third-years are encouraged to
schedule the PE ASAP.
We opted out of partaking in SOSA’s Fall Festival, but many attended to support it
Get your flu shot.
(C)
2012:
Our class finished the first module for cardio, took the exam, and also recently had SP
exams for Patient Dynamics and OMM. We have SP exams coming up in Physical
Diagnosis and are halfway done with our pulmonary module. The class council also had
fun running the pie-throwing fundraiser at the Fall Festival and is on track to host the
SOM Halloween party with the first year class council on November 5th at Stone Grille.
(D)
PBL 2012:
PBL has begun the Cardio/Renal/Pulm module. We are currently being facilitated by Dr.
Krueger.
(E)
2013:
The class has finished all three fundamentals modules and has started cardiology, the first
systems module. We also started anatomy lab earlier this month, focusing on the thoracic
cavity. The curriculum committee passed a motion to make our grades year long, rather
than by semester. Students were also assigned preceptors this month. We held our class
meeting with Dr. Krueger on October 14th.
(F)
PBL 2013:
First year PBL students are currently studying the cardiovascular and renal systems. We
have been experiencing different facilitators throughout this module. We have
supplemental anatomy sessions with Eli Levine and are making progress with our
cadaver. We also attend OMM and Professionalism courses.
VI. Committee Reports:
(A)
Curriculum:
Major Business
1. First Year Curriculum – basic science courses will now span the entire
academic year, with one cumulative grade given in the spring. Students will be
given progress reports in December. Criteria for academic probation/remediation
have been tabled until next month.
2. Evaluation Focus Groups – now requirement for all 2nd & 3rd year students to
attend 1-2 groups per year to evaluate the previous year’s courses.
3. Thanksgiving Break, November 2009 – all 1st & 2nd year students will have off
from Thursday to Sunday, while all 3rd & 4th year students will have off ThursdayFriday, but are required to work over the weekend if scheduled.
4. Final Grade Challenges – students may challenge any course/clerkship final
grade up to one year after the date that the final grade for the course is submitted
to the registrar.
Class Updates
1. 2010 – Just started 6th rotation, putting us at the halfway mark. Interview season
has started. Students are allowed 3 interviews per 4 week rotation. Dean’s letters
will be released at the beginning of November. Students also completing both
components of COMLEX II.
2. 2011 – Continuing rotations, and registering for COMLEX Step II & PE exams.
The 4th year planning meeting with Fatmata is scheduled for next month to start
organizing/planning schedules. Now have Google Docs Forum up and running for
students to use to provide feedback about rotations.
3. 2012 – Just finished Cardio Module, now into Pulm. Recently received Kaplan
Boards Prep Books, much earlier than previous years. Many groups have finished
their CIPC projects. Dr. Bertanoglli is considering a formal presentation of the
projects to faculty, students, and community members. Anxious to register for
COMLEX registration to open so that they may schedule their Step I dates.
4. 2012 PBL – has begun the Cardio/Renal/Pulm module, facilitated by Dr. Krueger.
5. 2013 – Just finished Fundamentals module. Transitioning much better now.
Students having difficulty with OMM, as it does not correlate with the rest of the
material of the module, generally gets over-looked. Labs & lectures have been
rushed. Students requesting lecturers get training for Camtasia to save class time,
and also suggest alternative powerpoints with no background color be provided to
students for printing.
6. 2013 PBL
(B)
Student Affairs:
Last week, we met with Dr. Krueger about the student handbook. Remediation for 1st
years has been an issue. The next meeting will be next week.
(C)
Honor Code:
The Honor Council continues to meet monthly to address honor code issues that arise and
review the new Honor Code. No other news to report.
VII.
VIII.
Club Affairs: None.
Old Business:
(A)
Student Council policy on attendance - Several members, including
EJ Gettings, Danielle Mercurio, Iuniu Chen, and Nidhi Shah listed their
reasons for disagreeing with the current policy. The current policy states that
members may miss 2 meetings in the academic year without repercussion
(there are 8 total). For this academic year, attendance will only count for 7
of the 8 meetings (attendance at the August meeting will not count). Nonvoting members are required to stay for only the first hour of the STUCO
meeting. If a member were to miss a 3rd meeting, STUCO could potentially
remove the member from his/her position. Kim explained that this is not a
situation STUCO would take lightly. STUCO would not remove a member
from his/her position unless it was obvious that the member did not take
his/her responsibilities seriously. This decision would be voted on and talked
over with Dean Lambert.
Some of the reasons given for discontent over the attendance policy include,
but are not limited to:
-members feel they had no say in the creation of the policy
-members feel absence from STUCO meetings does not mean they are not
fulfilling their roles as class council officers
-the members have several other meetings to attend each month
-members do not feel it is fair to threaten their position because of attendance
to the meeting
-non-voting members feel they have no role at STUCO meetings and it is not
useful to them.
Kim Young, Kay Yoon-Flannery, Katherine Cannon, and Jaclyn Taupier
expressed their support for the enforcement of the STUCO rule. Their
reasons included that the deans share valuable information at these meetings
and that it is beneficial to have the student leaders present. They also
explained that this is not something this STUCO council voted on and that it
has actually been in the STUCO Constitution for many years, but hadn't been
enforced until last year. Dean Lambert also spoke in support of the rule,
pointing out that class council members are leaders for their respective
classes and for the school as a whole.
It was suggested to the discontent members that they create an amendment to
the STUCO Constitution, revising the attendance policy.
IX.
New Business
(A)
Mena Mirhom Funding Request (Britney Zafonte was a proxy).
Mena was granted $210 total ($30/7 nights) for his mission trip to Africa. It is
expected that he provide the names of hospitals and physicians worked with on
the trip. The voting results were - 8 yes, 3 no, and 2 abstentions.
X. Motion to adjourn
(A) The meeting was adjourned at 9:22 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Jaclyn Taupier
STUCO Secretary