Celebrating the Legacy and Retirement of Distinguished Physicians at GBMC

This summer, we’ve had the bittersweet opportunity to celebrate three long-serving and influential physicians at GBMC HealthCare as they head into retirement: Dr. H. Alexander Munitz, Dr. Robert Palermo, and Dr. Frank Rotolo. Their decades of service and pioneering contributions have profoundly shaped our health system – earning each of them recognition as GBMC HealthCare Physician Titans of Care during our 50th anniversary celebrations in 2015. We are fortunate that these incredible physicians spent their careers with us. 

Dr. H. Alexander Munitz, MD 

Dr. H. Alexander Munitz retired this June after 38 years at GBMC. As Chair of the Department of Radiology from 1992 to 2020, Dr. Munitz's visionary leadership advanced our radiology services into the 21st century. Under his guidance, GBMC became a trailblazer in adopting spiral CT technology and performing advanced radiologic studies, such as virtual colonoscopy and CT coronary arteriography. His efforts also attracted top interventional radiologists, establishing one of the region’s premier interventional radiology departments. Among Dr. Munitz's notable achievements is the creation of the Sandra and Malcolm Berman Comprehensive Breast Care Center, a groundbreaking collaboration between surgery and radiology. This center was the first of its kind in a community hospital in the Baltimore metropolitan area and became a national leader in percutaneous breast biopsy. Dr. Munitz’s dedication to advancing biopsy needle technology further highlights his innovative spirit.

Dr. Robert Palermo, MD 

Dr. Robert Palermo, Chair of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, joined GBMC 42 years ago in 1982 and has served as the Chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Director since 1990. Dr. Palermo's expertise has elevated our pathology services, paving the way for significant strides in areas such as chemistry, surgical pathology, laboratory informatics, and immunology. Our laboratory is known for its high reliability and adherence to regulatory standards – which is a direct reflection of Dr. Palermo’s leadership. Dr. Palermo has been a vital member of numerous committees, including the GBMC Cancer Committee and the Precision Medicine Task Force. His leadership in the Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee and the Breast Program Leadership Committee has been pivotal in enhancing patient care and safety. Additionally, his involvement with the GBMC HealthCare Epic Advisory Council and the Infection Prevention Committee has driven significant improvements in our systems and processes. 

Dr. Frank Rotolo, MD 

Dr. Frank Rotolo, Division Head of General Surgery and iconic surgeon for the Baltimore community, is retiring after 34 years at GBMC. Starting his journey with us in 1989, Dr. Rotolo has been instrumental in advancing general surgery, including the introduction of laparoscopic and robotic surgery and the implementation of sentinel lymph node biopsies for breast cancer and melanoma detection. Dr. Rotolo has played a crucial role in elevating GBMC's surgical and cancer quality programs. He was instrumental in GBMC’s membership in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program and served as the cancer liaison physician for the Commission on Cancer, as well as the Maryland State Chair for Cancer Liaison Physicians. 

Thank you, Alex, Bob, and Frank, for your remarkable contributions to GBMC and to the healthcare industry as a whole. We wish you all the best in your retirement!

Celebrating Success: GBMC's 36th Annual Father’s Day 5K and 1-Mile Fun Walk

On Sunday, June 16, we hosted our 36th Annual Father’s Day 5K and 1-Mile Fun Walk. I am thrilled to share that this year’s event was our most successful yet, raising over $145,000 for our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Thank you to everyone who participated, donated, and supported this event. We have a tremendously generous community!  

Whether you walked, ran, or donated, your support has impacted GBMC’s tiniest patients, their families, and the dedicated staff who treat them like family. Contributions from the event directly support advanced education for our staff and enhance the experience for families navigating through challenging times. 

I always look forward to participating in the event, not just because I enjoy running (slowly), but also because it is heartwarming to see our NICU families as well as our staff and community come together in such a meaningful way. I’m always humbled by the showing of support every year. 

I’m grateful to Morgan Varley, Director of Annual Funding, and Alissa Smith, Community Relations and Events Manager, for all their work to make this event so successful! 

Save the date for the 37th annual Father’s Day 5K and 1-Mile Fun Walk on Sunday, June 15, 2025! 

Employee Resource Group (ERG)-Led Events 

There has been no shortage of successful events for GBMC HealthCare lately! In addition to our Father’s Day 5K, two of our ERGs hosted highly engaging events this week. 

The Greater Pride ERG once again led a team at the Baltimore Pride Parade on Saturday, June 15 and participated in Pride in the Park on Sunday, June 16, providing education and information to the community.

  

On Monday, June 17, the GBMC Black Alliance ERG invited all GBMC HealthCare staff to join the GBMC Juneteenth Jubilee, a celebration to commemorate our country's second independence day and the emancipation of enslaved people in the US. Staff enjoyed live music, dance, delicious food, and speakers.

Thank you to the members of our ERGs who coordinated these efforts and to everyone who participated! 

Congratulations to our Internal Medicine Residency Program Graduates! 

Although GBMC is largely known as a community hospital, it is also a teaching hospital. I’m proud of our phenomenal Internal Medicine Residency Program, which offers excellent medical education and treatment in addition to the type of patient care experience we would want for our own loved ones.

It is an honor when providers choose to obtain their foundational training with us, and I’d like to take a moment to recognize the following recent graduates of our Internal Medicine Residency Program. I wish them the best as they continue to grow in the next phases of their medical careers.

Our Graduating 3rd year resident who have completed their residencies and are now ready for independent practice are:

• Maimoona Ali, MD: Hospitalist – CHI Health Good Samaritan (Kearny, Nebraska)
• Ibtisam Ashraf, MD: Hospitalist – Chippenham Hospital (Richmond, Virginia)
• Neha Bapat, MD: Endocrinology Fellowship – University of Wisconsin (Madison, Wisconsin)
• Alaa Diab, MD: Academic Hospitalist, Assistant Professor – Wayne State University (Detroit, Michigan)
• Akshay Duddu, MD: PGY-4 Chief Medical Resident – Greater Baltimore Medical Center
• Mohammad Haroon Hassan, MD: Hospitalist – Chippenham Hospital (Richmond, Virginia)
• Hamza Atta Khan, MD: Nocturnist – Sinai Hospital (Baltimore, Maryland)
• Amsha Ilyas, MD: Hospitalist – Raleigh General Hospital (Beckley, West Virginia)
• Azfar Niazi, MD: Hospitalist – Greater Baltimore Medical Center
• Gina Patel, MD: Critical Care Fellowship – George Washington University (Washington, DC)
• Jayashrei Sairam, MD: PGY-4 Chief Medical Resident – Greater Baltimore Medical Center
• Mir Ali Asghar Shah, MD: Hospitalist – Chippenham Hospital (Richmond, Virginia)
• Eric Thuo, MD: Infectious Disease/Immunology R38 Grant – Washington University in St. Louis- (St. Louis, Missouri)
• Fazl Wazeen, MD: Hospitalist – Chippenham Hospital (Richmond, Virginia) 

Our 1st year Preliminary residents who will go on to complete specialized training are:

• Darwish Alabyad, MD: Diagnostic Radiology – George Washington University Hospital (Washington, DC) 
• Catherine Bienert, MD: Diagnostic Radiology – Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore, Maryland)
• Katerina Havlik, DO: Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation – Sinai Hospital (Baltimore, Maryland) 

Finally, our 2 chief residents who are graduating are:

• Ayesha Khan, MD: Hospitalist – Greater Baltimore Medical Center
• Beryl Otieno, MD: Academic Hospitalist, Academic Professor – Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center

Congratulations to all and thank you to our Internal Medicine Residency Program leaders–Elisabeth Carr, MD, Program Director, and Melvin Blanchard, MD, Chair of Medicine–for ensuring our residents have rich and positive experiences that set the stage for their future successes. 

Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) Follow-Up: Addressing the Substance Use Crisis

In a recent blog post, I discussed the findings of our Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA), which highlighted several critical recurring areas of concern. 

To quickly recap, they include: 

• Behavioral Health: Addressing mental health and substance use disorders. 
• Physical Health: Tackling issues such as obesity, chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure, and cancer. 
• Access to Care: Removing barriers that prevent people from meeting their health needs. 

Today, I want to focus more specifically on the “behavioral health” area, particularly the substance use crisis. This is weighing on my mind because I am reflecting on an article published in The New York Times in late May that echoes the findings from our CHNA that substance use disorders remain a key concern in our community. The NYT article highlighted the situation in Baltimore as particularly dire, with nearly 6,000 lives lost to drug overdoses in the past six years, driven primarily by the synthetic opioid fentanyl. This overdose death rate is nearly double that of any other large American city during the same period, underscoring the urgent need for action. 

According to the article, despite early efforts to combat the opioid crisis – including widespread distribution of Narcan and innovative treatment programs – these initiatives have not been maintained at the necessary scale due to competing priorities and resource constraints. Given what we learned from our CHNA as well as what national data shows, it is important that we, alongside all our community partners and leaders, renew our commitment to addressing this public health emergency. 

While GBMC alone cannot fix the problem, we look forward to being part of the solution as our community health leaders all come together to address it. Our health system has taken steps to make behavioral health services more accessible to our people. For example, through our partnership with Sheppard Pratt, we have integrated behavioral health services into our advanced primary care model, ensuring that our patients receive comprehensive care that addresses both physical and mental health needs. 

This continued crisis is a reminder of the importance of sustained effort and resource allocation in tackling issues like this. Working together, we can make significant strides in reducing substance use and improving the overall health and well-being of our community.

Balancing Community Needs and Financial Viability in Healthcare

Strategic planning in healthcare is a multifaceted challenge, especially when trying to serve the community's needs while maintaining financial stability. At GBMC HealthCare, our vision is to provide every patient with the care we would want for our own loved ones, and this principle is at the heart of our strategic planning. First and foremost, we prioritize our aims of better health and better care as our guide to achieving this vision. At the same time, we must ensure our least waste aim is also top of mind so that we can provide what the community needs in a way that is sustainable for our health system. 

One of the most significant challenges in the current healthcare landscape is the growing influence of private equity. While private equity investments can inject much-needed capital, they often prioritize short-term financial gains over long-term patient care. This can lead to increased prices and diminished competition, as highlighted in a recent Wall Street Journal article. The article discusses how private equity acquisitions in healthcare can drive up costs without necessarily improving care quality, creating challenges for both patients and providers. 

At GBMC, we have chosen to remain an independent not-for-profit organization to better align our operations with our vision and community needs. Unlike many private equity-owned healthcare facilities that may focus on profitability, our strategic planning emphasizes patient-centered care, health equity, and sustainable growth.  

Our strategic moves are carefully designed to address both health outcomes and financial viability over time. These include expanding advanced primary care and improving access to care for underserved populations. By focusing on these areas, we aim to reduce hospital admissions, manage chronic diseases more effectively, and control costs while delivering the best possible health outcomes. In the long term, we know that efforts to better manage chronic conditions and keep the population healthier facilitate better health outcomes, less waste within the health industry, and lower costs to patients. Unfortunately, the need for healthcare transformation is paramount to make this a widespread focus across the healthcare industry.  

I am hopeful that the primary care-related incentives that will be afforded by the new AHEAD Model in the future will be a small step toward this much-needed transformation. While it doesn’t solve some of the bigger problems like private equity’s role in healthcare costs, it does support health systems like ours who are focused on doing the right things to keep our communities healthier. 

There is no one simple answer to this very complex issue. However, one key component is recognizing that strategic planning in healthcare requires a thoughtful approach that balances community health needs with financial sustainability. At GBMC HealthCare, we are dedicated to this balance, continually refining our strategies to ensure we provide the best health outcomes and care experience while maintaining our financial health. This commitment allows us to remain true to our mission and vision, being the one true system of care in the community that can provide the care we would want for our loved ones.

Save the Date: Father’s Day 5K and 1-Mile Fun Walk 

Father’s Day is a special time to honor the incredible fathers in our lives. At GBMC HealthCare, we celebrate this day with our annual Father’s Day 5K and 1-Mile Fun Walk, benefiting our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). I hope you’ll join us on Sunday, June 16, for this meaningful event. Whether you run, jog, or walk, your participation supports our mission to provide exceptional care to our NICU patients. 

Click here to register or donate. Thank you for supporting us in caring for babies born too small, too sick, or too soon.