Sanjeev Arora (physician)

Last updated

Sanjeev Arora
Sanjeev Headshot.jpg
Arora in 2021
BornSeptember 1956 (1956-09) (age 68)
CitizenshipUnited States
Alma mater Armed Forces Medical College, Maharaja College
Awards19th Heinz Award for Public Policy, Second Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award, UNM Presidential Award of Distinction, ACP and ATA President's Award, 2021 Brock Prize Laureate, 2020 Zooomtopia Innovation Award, 2019 Distinguished Public Service Award
Scientific career
Fields Medicine, telehealth, telemedicine, telementoring
Institutions Project ECHO at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center

Sanjeev Arora (born September 1956), an Indian American physician, is the founder and director of Project ECHO, a global tele-mentoring nonprofit dedicated to disseminating knowledge in rural and under-resourced communities.

Contents

Arora is also a distinguished professor and regents' professor of medicine, director of the Office of Clinical Affairs, and executive vice chair for the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center (UNM HSC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Arora developed and implemented the Hepatitis C Disease Management Program at UNM HSC.

Education

Arora received a premedical degree from Maharajah College in Jaipur, India, followed by his medical degree at the Armed Forces Medical College in Pune and an internship at Army Hospital, Delhi. He completed several residencies, first in medicine at Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi, then for surgery at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, returning to medicine at the Sisters of Charity Hospital, State University of New York in Buffalo. He completed his fellowship in gastroenterology at the New England Medical Center in Boston. 

Career

Arora began his career in academia in 1987 as an assistant professor of medicine at Tufts University. In 1993, he moved to UNM HSC where he served in various positions, including section chief of gastroenterology, associate professor, chief of medical staff, director at the Office of Clinical Affairs, executive vice-chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, and distinguished professor of medicine. In 2019, Arora was promoted to distinguished and regents' professor of medicine.

Arora was frustrated that he could treat only a fraction of the more than 28,000 New Mexicans with hepatitis C. At the time, his clinic's wait list to see patients was eight months, and many patients lived in rural communities with little to no access to the clinic. As a result, people were dying of this treatable disease. In response, Arora created Project ECHO to share his expertise with primary care providers in rural communities. His first ECHO program resulted in 21 new centers of excellence equipped to treat hepatitis C across New Mexico.

Launched in 2003, Project ECHO is a guided-practice model that uses an "all teach, all learn" framework with videoconferencing technology and case-based problem solving to reduce disparities in underserved and remote areas. The ECHO model has a hub-and-spoke structure: Teams of subject matter experts at regional, national, and global centers ("hubs") connect with community-based participants in weekly virtual meetings that include educational briefs, case presentations, and discussion. In this way, participants create the "spokes" by mastering and passing on best practices for creating change within their own communities in multiple disciplines including health care, education, and civics.

Founded to meet the needs of New Mexicans, ECHO's current goal is to support health care and education in rural and under-resourced communities around the world. More than 800 ECHO hubs and superhubs have launched since 2003. The ECHO model has been evaluated by more than 400 peer-reviewed studies, including a landmark 2011 evaluation published in the New England Journal of Medicine.. [1]  

Awards and honors

Arora's awards and honors include: the Teresa Heinz and the Heinz Family Foundation 19th Heinz Award for Public Policy, [2]  the second Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award from the Rosenthal Family Foundation, [3]  the Presidential Award of Distinction from the University of New Mexico, [4]  and the American College of Physicians and American Telemedicine Association (ATA) President's Award. [5] 

Arora was also recognized on World Hepatitis Day 2014 at the White House as a leader in advancing efforts to address viral hepatitis and the goals of the Action Plan for the Prevention, Care, and Treatment of Viral Hepatitis. [6]

Recent awards include The Brock Prize in Education Innovation rewards ideas proven to enhance education while achieving a global impact, universal accessibility and a proven track record. Arora received this award for his founding of and work with Project ECHO. [7]

Arora and Project ECHO received the Innovation Award for Exceptional Healthcare for the use of Zoom in hospitals and clinics. [8] Since the start of the pandemic, Project ECHO has used Zoom to deliver critical information and education about COVID-19 to hospitals and healthcare clinics around the world, providing them the knowledge they need to treat the virus and save lives. Project ECHO has been leveraging Zoom to reach healthcare workers since 2013.

Arora received both the New Mexico Distinguished Public Service Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. [9] The awards recognize outstanding service by both public employees and private citizens who volunteer their time to public service.

Selected articles

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telehealth</span> Health care by telecommunication

Telehealth is the distribution of health-related services and information via electronic information and telecommunication technologies. It allows long-distance patient and clinician contact, care, advice, reminders, education, intervention, monitoring, and remote admissions. Telemedicine is sometimes used as a synonym, or is used in a more limited sense to describe remote clinical services, such as diagnosis and monitoring. When rural settings, lack of transport, a lack of mobility, conditions due to outbreaks, epidemics or pandemics, decreased funding, or a lack of staff restrict access to care, telehealth may bridge the gap as well as provide distance-learning; meetings, supervision, and presentations between practitioners; online information and health data management and healthcare system integration. Telehealth could include two clinicians discussing a case over video conference; a robotic surgery occurring through remote access; physical therapy done via digital monitoring instruments, live feed and application combinations; tests being forwarded between facilities for interpretation by a higher specialist; home monitoring through continuous sending of patient health data; client to practitioner online conference; or even videophone interpretation during a consult.

The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth – HSC, Health Science Center, Health Science Center at Fort Worth – is an academic health science center in Fort Worth, Texas. It is part of the University of North Texas System and was founded in 1970 as the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, with its first cohort graduating in 1974. The Health Science Center consists of six schools with a total enrollment of 2,338 students (2022-23).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvey J. Alter</span> American medical researcher

Harvey James Alter is an American medical researcher, virologist, physician and Nobel Prize laureate, who is best known for his work that led to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus. Alter is the former chief of the infectious disease section and the associate director for research of the Department of Transfusion Medicine at the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. In the mid-1970s, Alter and his research team demonstrated that most post-transfusion hepatitis cases were not due to hepatitis A or hepatitis B viruses. Working independently, Alter and Edward Tabor, a scientist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, proved through transmission studies in chimpanzees that a new form of hepatitis, initially called "non-A, non-B hepatitis" caused the infections, and that the causative agent was probably a virus. This work eventually led to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus in 1988, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2020 along with Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of California, San Diego School of Medicine</span> Medical school of UC San Diego

The University of California, San Diego School of Medicine is the graduate medical school of the University of California, San Diego, a public land-grant research university in La Jolla, California. It was the third medical school in the University of California system, after those established at UCSF and UCLA, and is the only medical school in the San Diego metropolitan area. It is closely affiliated with the medical centers that are part of UC San Diego Health.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leonidas Berry</span>

Leonidas Harris Berry was an American and pioneer in gastroscopy and endoscopy. He served as the president of the National Medical Association from 1965 to 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of New Mexico Hospital</span> Hospital in New Mexico, United States

The University of New Mexico Hospital is a public teaching hospital located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, immediately north of the main campus of the University of New Mexico. The hospital is the only Level I trauma center in the state of New Mexico, and also houses the only certified burn unit and designated stroke center in the state. In addition, UNMH also contains the only children's hospital in New Mexico, and is the state's sole source of 13 pediatric sub-specialties. As a safety net hospital, UNMH serves a large percentage of the uninsured and under-insured population of the state. The hospital is the main teaching facility for the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of New Mexico School of Medicine</span>

The University of New Mexico School of Medicine is a division of the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The UNM School of Medicine is home to a variety of degree-granting programs, including the only MD program in the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hashem El-Serag</span> Palestinian-American physician

Hashem B. El-Serag is a Palestinian-American physician and medical researcher best known for his research in liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the hepatitis C virus. He serves as the Margaret M. and Albert B. Alkek Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine as well as the co-director of the Texas Medical Center Digestive Disease Center. El-Serag previously served as president of the American Gastroenterological Association and Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Muhamad Aly Rifai is a Syrian American internist and psychiatrist who was accused by the government with fraud but exonerated in a jury trial. He is a clinician researcher known for describing the association between psychiatric disorders and hepatitis C. He co-authored a clinical report detailing the association between hepatitis C infection and psychiatric disorders. He is the President and CEO of Blue Mountain Psychiatry which has locations in Pennsylvania.

Thomas D. Schiano is an American specialist in liver transplantation, intestinal transplantation and in the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic liver disease. He serves as associate editor for the journals Hepatology and Liver Transplantation and has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and abstracts and more than 20 book chapters.

Anna Suk-Fong Lok is a gastroenterologist who studied in Hong Kong and moved to the United States in 1992. She is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and helped the World Health Organization (WHO) and American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) develop guidelines for medical professionals and recommendations for the general public on who should be treated and how treatments should be administered to persons with hepatitis B infections.

Howard Waitzkin is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology and Health Sciences Center at the University of New Mexico and adjunct professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Illinois.

Rakesh Aggarwal is an Indian gastroenterologist, who is currently the Director of Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER), Puducherry, India. He was previously a Professor of Gastroenterology at the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences. Known for his studies on Gastrointestinal diseases, Liver diseases, and Viral Hepatitis, Aggarwal is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies, namely National Academy of Sciences, India, the Indian Academy of Sciences and the Indian National Science Academy, and of the National Academy of Medical Sciences. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Satish SC Rao</span>

Satish Sanku Chander Rao is the J.Harold Harrison Distinguished University Chair in Gastroenterology at the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University. He served as the former President of the American Neurogastroenterology and Motility Society and as Chair of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute Council, Neurogastroenterology/Motility Section.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robin Patel</span> Canadian microbiologist

Robin Patel is a Canadian born microbiologist and Elizabeth P. and Robert E. Allen Professor of Individualized Medicine, a Professor of Microbiology, and a Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic. She is widely recognized as a leader in the field of clinical microbiology and has held a variety of leadership positions including 2019–2020 President of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and Director of the Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group (ARLG) Laboratory Center of the National institutes of Health. She is currently the Vice Chair of Education in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the Mayo Clinic, and Director of the Mayo Clinic's Infectious Diseases Research Laboratory, where she studies biofilms, antimicrobial resistance, periprosthetic joint infection and diagnostic testing of bacteria.

Joseph C. Kolars is an American physician who is the Senior Associate Dean for Education and Global Initiatives, the Josiah Macy Jr. Professor of Health Professions Education, and Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Tracie C. Collins is an American academic, physician, and government official serving as the Secretary of Health of New Mexico. Prior to her confirmation by the New Mexico Senate on February 19, 2021, Collins was the dean of the University of New Mexico College of Population Health.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheryl Willman</span> American cancer researcher

Cheryl Lynn Willman is an American cancer researcher and executive director of Mayo Clinic Cancer Programs at the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Dominik Alscher</span> German physician

Mark Dominik Alscher is a German physician, managing director of Bosch Health Campus Stuttgart and distinguished professor at University of Tübingen. He is known for his work in the field of peritoneal dialysis, acute renal failures and medical expert systems.

Patricia W. Finn is an American pulmonologist and academic administrator specialized in the microbiome and immune-mediated pulmonary diseases. She has served as the fifth dean of the University of New Mexico School of Medicine since 2022.

References

  1. Arora, Sanjeev; Thornton, Karla; Murata, Glen; Deming, Paulina; Kalishman, Summers; Dion, Denise; Parish, Brooke; Burke, Thomas; Pak, Wesley; Dunkelberg, Jeffrey; Kistin, Martin (June 9, 2011). "Outcomes of Treatment for Hepatitis C Virus Infection by Primary Care Providers". New England Journal of Medicine. 364 (23): 2199–2207. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1009370. ISSN   0028-4793. PMC   3820419 . PMID   21631316.
  2. "Sanjeev Arora receives 19th Heinz Award for Public Policy". August 12, 2022. Retrieved August 1, 2022. Sanjeev Arora, M.D. received the 19th Heinz Award in Public Policy for his dedicated work increasing access to life-saving health care for people living in rural and medically underserved areas.
  3. "Richard and Honda Rosenthal Award". August 12, 2022. Retrieved August 1, 2022. The second award is given "to that individual or organization whose recent original approach in the delivery of health care or in the design of facilities for its delivery will increase its clinical and/or economic effectiveness."
  4. "Arora to receive Presidential Award of Distinction". August 12, 2022. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
  5. "American Telemedicine Association". August 12, 2022. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
  6. "White House Announcement about World Hepatitis Day 2014". August 12, 2022. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  7. "Sanjeev Arora".
  8. "Our 2020 Innovation Awards Winners Are Making an Impact Using Zoom". October 15, 2020.
  9. "Governor's NM Distinguished Public Service Awards winners announced - Albuquerque Journal".