Alicia Billington’s work offers  healing solutions for patients living with limited mobility

By Katy Hennig, USF News

TAMPA, Fla. (June 24, 2014) – By calculating movement and combining two different fields of research, Alicia Billington, M.D., is changing the way health care professionals diagnose and treat pressure sores—a common medical problem that affects millions of people each year.

“I think that a lot of the processes that we do in medicine can be optimized through engineering,” says Billington.

Billington is the first USF student to graduate with a dual M.D./Ph.D. degree in engineering, combining the two related but disparate disciplines of medicine and engineering. She is poised to become a leader for the next generation of physician scientists.

“It’s not easy,” says Dr. Peter Fabri, the academic adviser who co-designed Billington’s dual discipline research track along with William Lee, III. He describes the path as an integral connection between medicine and innovation, adding, “the shared skills and talents enrich medicine.”

Incorporating problem-solving skills from her background in biomedical engineering, Billington has invented a new method for analyzing how people move, which she is hoping one day could prevent pressure sores. The sores, commonly called bedsores, are injuries to the skin and underlying tissue that can result from pressure on the skin and muscles. They can occur in nursing home patients, who may lie in bed or remain seated for long periods of time and they may also plague patients of all ages who experience limited mobility, such as veterans in wheelchairs.

Read full story…

Graduating medical students at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine celebrated the next step in their careers at Match Day Friday – but first they and leading advocates took time out to call for increased support of graduate medical training.

Without increased federal funding for graduate medical training, the nation’s looming physician shortage will get worse, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor said Friday at USF’s Match Day celebration. With more medical school students and no increase in residency slots, it’s getting harder each year for students to “match” into a residency space.

“Medical schools expect to graduate more students, but the number of available residency training slots will not keep up with this trend unless Congress invests in developing our residency programs to meet the health care needs of our aging population,” U.S. Rep. Castor said. “Giving teaching hospitals the opportunity to grow their training programs makes sense in their mission to provide quality health care and makes economic sense for Florida because doctors tend to remain in the region where they complete their medical training.”

L to R: Dr. Harry van Loveren, interim dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, with U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor and Alicia Billington, a graduating USF Health medical student, at Match Day 2014.

Just before USF Health’s Match Day celebration began, Rep. Castor (D-FL) announced that she and U.S. Rep. Joe Heck (R-NV) introduced the Creating Access to Residency Education (CARE) Act of 2014 on Friday. The CARE bill aims to create a $25 million CMS grant program that would allow hospitals in states with a low ratio of graduate medical education (GME) training slots – including Florida – to apply for matching funds to support increases in slots.

USF Health leaders and students applauded Rep. Castor’s support of increased funding.

“We congratulate our students for reaching this milestone in their medical careers. On Match Day, we want to celebrate this culmination of their hard work and drive,” said Dr. Harry van Loveren, interim dean of the Morsani College of Medicine. “We’re also mindful today that the path they have traveled is becoming more difficult to navigate. We’re so grateful to have U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor with us today to push to increase federal funding and ensure that future medical students, both here in Florida and across the country, can enjoy this same success.”

Graduating students came to Match Day to learn their fates, finding out at Match Day where they would spend the next several years of their careers. Despite the suspense, students found time to be advocates. They chose to highlight the GME funding crisis on their Match Day T-shirts this year, which read “#save GME” across the back.

Before the Match Day celebration began, Congresswoman Castor announced the introduction of proposed legislation to support more residency training slots. Billington, right, is one of the nation’s leading student advocates for increased graduate medical education funding.

“We decided to do this after realizing, ‘What is the best present you could give to your classmates?’ A residency slot,” said graduating student Alicia Billington, one of the nation’s leading student advocates for increased GME funding.

“We stand in solidarity for your future Match Day,” Billington said Friday to future medical classes at USF. “We’ve got your back.”

Billington, who will graduate with an MD/PhD, learned Friday that she matched in plastic and reconstructive surgery – one of the country’s most competitive specialties – at her top choice, the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. Billington interned in Washington, D.C., with the American Medical Association and has focused her political efforts on increasing funding for GME.

National medical leaders thanked both Rep. Castor and Billington for their support of increasing funding, saying change is needed to avert a physician shortage that will limit access to health care.

“Match Day is a day of excitement, enthusiasm, and joy for medical students around the country,” said Dr. Darrell G. Kirch, President and CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). “While we celebrate with these students, we also look ahead to the next decade when our nation will face a shortage of more than 90,000 physicians of all types.  This makes increasing federal support for graduate medical education a critical priority. The AAMC applauds the efforts of Rep. Kathy Castor, who is a true champion on GME and physician workforce issues.  And we thank student advocates like USF medical school senior and GME advocacy champion Alicia Billington for their hard work educating their communities about these important issues.”

In recent years, medical school enrollment has increased, while the federal funding that is the main funding source for the nation’s residency programs has remained capped. Last year, 528 medical students did not match – more than double the number of unmatched students the prior year.

“Not every medical student in the United States is going to get a spot this year,” Dr. van Loveren said to the USF Health students assembled for Match Day Friday. “Can you imagine going through all this and no residency training?”

Castor flashes the USF “Go Bulls” sign as Billington, recipient of the first match letter, finds out she’ll be doing a residency in plastic and reconstructive surgery at her first choice — the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

Florida has only 19 medical residents per 100,000 state residents, well below the national average of 26.8 residents, according to a 2012 study by the Association of American Medical Colleges. While Florida is the 4^th most populous state, it ranks 42^nd in the number of graduate medical residents per Florida residents.

With 3,898 medical students but only 3,769 residency and fellow positions, Florida also doesn’t have enough slots to go around. That means Florida is a “net exporter” of medical students – many students train here, but must go elsewhere for graduate training. Because so many students stay where they receive graduate training, exporting students means Florida loses future physicians.

That needs to change, Castor said Friday to USF Health’s Match Day crowd.

“It doesn’t take a brain surgeon,” she said, pointing to Dr. van Loveren, “to know we need talented doctors here in the state of Florida.”

Of the 121 USF Health students participating in Match Day, 39 percent will stay in Florida; 30 percent of the class matched at USF Health. Other students scattered across the country, going everywhere from Massachusetts General Hospital to UCLA Medical Center.

Every USF Health Morsani College of Medicine student participating in this year’s Match was matched to a residency slot. On the flip side, the College of Medicine also filled every one of its available residency slots with graduating medical students.

Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

New doctors tend to practice in states where they conduct their residency specialty training. Where will this year’s graduating USF Health medical students do their residencies?

Find out Friday, March 21, at 2014 Match Day, when the 125 senior medical students from USF, joined by family and friends, pack into Skipper’s Smokehouse, where the students’ residency assignments will be announced beginning at Noon.

Before the students start unsealing their match letters, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor will visit USF’s Match Day to give the latest news on her work to improve funding for graduate medical education and help the future physician workforce.   She will be joined at 11:40 a.m. by Dr. Harry van Loveren, interim dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, and graduating USF medical student Alicia Billington, a leading national student advocate for graduate medical education.

Friday’s ceremony will be broadcast LIVE on streaming video via Facebook, so family and friends worldwide who can’t be there in person can watch the celebration in real time.

WHO:  USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Class of 2014

WHAT:  National Match Day/Media Announcement by U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor

WHEN:  This Friday, March 21, 2014, 11:40 a.m. to 2 p.m.

WHERE: Skipper’s Smokehouse, 910 Skipper Road, Tampa, FL, or view LIVE from your computer, tablet, smartphone at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/usf-health-live

Here’s a link to the email invitation inviting students’ family and friends to watch the celebration live on Facebook: http://health.usf.edu/nocms/publicaffairs/announcements/match_day2014.htm

USF senior medical student Alicia Billington spoke at a congressional briefing after the Association of American Medical College (AAMC) announced record-breaking medical school enrollment and the need to expand graduate medical education (GME) support.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSsWivkYOgM

The AAMC hosted the briefing Oct. 24, shortly after its release of this year’s medical school applicant and enrollment numbers.   Billington shared her perspective as a medical student about the increasing national demand for more physicians.  The solution, she said, must address the shortage of residency training slots for the growing pipeline of MD graduates.

“Quite frankly, I could go into engineering or a variety of other fields with my MD degree.  I’m here because I want to help patients, but if I don’t have a job in a residency program it will be impossible for me to do that,” said Billington, who is also a PhD candidate at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. “We need to increase the number of residency positions so that our patients can have doctors.”

Alicia Billington, MD-PhD candidate at USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, with Atul Grover, MD,PhD, AAMC chief public policy officer

Billington joined panelists Atul Grover, MD, PhD, chief public policy officer, AAMC, and Suanna Bruinooge, director of research policy, American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Her concerns that graduating students will not be able to match to residencies, despite the impending shortfall of physicians across various specialties, were also highlighted by Dr. Grover in his widely-read AAMC column Second Opinion. 

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSsWivkYOgM