Wayne State University Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences (DFMPHS) takes first place in the Michigan Family Medicine Research Day Conference!
The annual Michigan Family Medicine Research Day was held on May 22, 2025, in Lansing, Michigan. This regional meeting provides departmental trainees and members of the faculty to network with family medicine and public health professionals from around the state. Five Universities participated in this event with four family medicine physician/foundation organizations as sponsors and over 43 platform presentations and 39 poster presentations.
This year, two trainees from the DFMPHS were recognized for their excellent scholarly work: Preventive Medicine Resident Samar Haroun, MD, and Post-Baccalaureate Research Volunteer Maha Albujuq, BS.
First place was awarded to Dr. Samar Haroun, selected to deliver an oral presentation of her research project entitled “Depression Screening and Remission Trends at Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs): A Comparative Analysis of Michigan and Other US Regions Post-COVID-19”. This is the most notable project because lifetime and current depression rates are steadily increasing and is a chronic condition that places one of the greatest burdens on society regarding cost and lost productivity. The primary objectives of this study were to describe the prevalence of depression screening and 12-month remission trends nationally and within the State of Michigan. She used data from the Uniform Data System (UDS) provided by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration. She found that the screening rate of depression in Michigan was variable, ranging from a low of 42.1% (in the Southeast region) to a high of 77.5% (the west region), with an average of 59.6%. There was little change in Michigan and across the country from 2019 to 2022, with a mild decrease during COVID-19 pandemic. The screening rate was the lowest in Michigan compared to those rates in other U.S. regions. Remission rates were similarly variable in different regions in Michigan (5.2% to 18.4%) and the US ranging from 9.0%-39.0%, with Michigan demonstrating the lowest rate, averaging 11.6%. These results indicate that while we need to improve our efforts to screen for depression in FQACs, the priority at present should be identifying the best practices for improving remission rates. Dr. Haroun's excellent delivery of this topic allowed her to receive the first-place award for the oral presentation in the resident category at the conference. Dr. Samar Haroun’s research was conducted under the supervision of Dr. James Blessman, MD, MPH, Director of Preventive Medicine Residency Program, Dr. Youcheng Liu, MD, ScD. MPH and MS, Associate Director of Preventive Medicine Residency Program, and Dr. Elizabeth Towner, PhD.
A strong showing was also delivered by Ms. Albujuq who was honored with second-place award amongst the poster presentations for her project titled “Google Street View vs. In-Person Neighborhood Coding: Assessing the Reliability of Both Methods. Ms. Albujuq and her collaborators compared neighborhood assessments conducted in-person with those conducted using Google Street View, a more feasible assessment strategy requiring fewer resources. Findings from this project suggested Google Street View was a reliable alternative to in person assessments of neighborhood quality with a few exceptions (e.g., noise volume which cannot be assessed with Google Street View) and limitations (e.g., some areas Google Street View photographs were quite outdated which might not be an accurate reflection of current neighborhood quality). This research was conducted under the supervision of Dr. April Idalski Carcone, PhD, Principal Investigator of the parent study from which this sub-study was drawn, and Dr. Deborah Ellis, PhD, the DFMPHS Associate Chair for Research, Co-Investigator on the parent study. Ms. Albujuq conducted this research in collaboration with MPH Student Kristin Murphy and IDEA Project Manager Abigale Vaquera, MPH.
Overall, the department was well represented at the event with 10 presentations including the two presentations receiving awards and the following 8:
1. MPH Student and Lighthouse Scholar Dunya Al-Souri delivered an oral presentation entitled “Patient Impressions of NAOMI, a Neural Agent for Obesity Motivational Interviewing” prepared under the supervision of Drs. April Idalski Carcone, PhD, DFMPHS, Elizabeth Towner, PhD, DFMPHS, Alexander Kotov, PhD, WSU College of Engineering, and Christopher Mann, MD, DFMPHS, and in collaboration with Computer Science PhD Student Yermakhan Magzym.
2. MPH Student Shaurel Valbrun delivered an oral presentation of her research, “Optimizing Community Engagement: Evaluation of a 3-Part Workshop for Academic Researchers and Community Members” conducted under the guidance of Drs. Rhonda Dailey, MD, DFMPHS, Vicki Sapp, PhD, SUNY Fredonia, and Phillip Levy, MD, WSU Emergency Medicine, and with support from members of a WSU Community Advisory Board, Henry Cade, Ray Grady, and Antoinette Dozier, and DFMPHS Research Assistant and recent MPH Alumni, Brandon Crittenden.
3. Residents Hardeep Garcha, MD, and Marcus Wong, MD, presented their quality improvement project conducted in collaboration with fellow resident Steve Nguyen and under the supervision of DFMPHS Physician Eleanor King, “Integrating Community Agencies in Residency Education (ICARE): A Family Medicine Outreach Curriculum” during the poster session.
4. Resident Breanna Ramsey, MD, presented a case study, “A Case of Asymptomatic Necrotizing Pneumonia and Vertevral Osteomyelitis”.
5. WSU Medical students Heather Sun, MD, and Michelle Yi, MD, presented a case study, ““Case of a 40-Year-Old Female with Polycystic Liver and Kidney Disease Diagnosed with Breast Carcinoma” conducted under the supervision of DFMPHS Chairperson, Jinping Xu.
6. Resident Mujeeb Hussaini, MD, delivered and oral presentation of a quality improvement project, “Improving Rates of Mammogram Completion at Rochester Academic Family Medicine” conducted in collaboration with fellow residents Leen Alrashed, Brandelyn Kelly, Yousif Slim, and under the direction of DFMPHS Faculty Member Dr. Andrea Milne, MD.
7. Residents Candis Jarbo, MD, and Jacob Rubin, MD, delivered an oral presentation of their quality improvement project “Pocus Bingo” conducted in collaboration with fellow residents Jodi Hastings, MD, Sara Dervishi, MD, Oladipupo Dehinbo, MD, Simon Galkin, MD, and Kathryn Cox, MD.
8. DFMPHS Faculty Member Julie Gleason-Comstock, PhD, presented research conducted in collaboration with Erik Yzeiri, Tasnim Begum, DFMPHS Faculty Member Audrey Fu, and Department Chairperson Jinping Xu entitled “Detroit HeartB: Analysis of Knowledge increase from Heart Health Education Conducted by Community Health Workers in an African American Community” during the poster session.