Anita Vanka, MD
Anita Vanka, MD
Rabkin Fellow in Medical Education
Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Attending Physician, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Hospitalist, Division of General Medicine & Primary Care, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Fellowship Project:
Development of a Transitions in Care Curriculum for Medical Residents
Dr. Anita Vanka is an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School, a hospitalist for the Department of Medicine at BIDMC, Associate Program Director for the BIDMC Internal Medicine Residency Program, and interim Associate Ambulatory Training Program Director. Dr. Vanka received her bachelors of science in Molecular & Integrative Physiology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She attended medical school at the University of Illinois where she was awarded the Charles Spencer Williamson Award for Excellence in Internal Medicine and graduated with Honors in 2005. Dr. Vanka subsequently completed her internship and residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in 2008, followed by her chief residency year in the primary care program from 2008-2009. She joined the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care at BIDMC in 2009, and spends part of her clinical time as a provider in the post-discharge clinic at Healthcare Associates. During academic year 2011-2012, Anita served as the Co-director of the Primary Care Track at BIDMC. At Harvard Medical School, she teaches in both preclinical and clinical courses, and has been recognized with several Excellence in Tutoring awards.
As a Rabkin fellow, Dr. Vanka developed a novel curriculum for teaching Transitions in Care for medical residents. This curriculum focuses on issues central to the safe discharge of hospitalized patients and was implemented as a 2-week pilot elective in the spring of her Rabkin year. Currently, there are few training programs which teach issues in transitions in a formalized curriculum, despite national focus on readmissions & safe discharges. This 2-week elective combined a mix of didactics, small-group discussions, practical experiences in various post-acute care settings, and independent projects to effectively improve the knowledge, attitude, and skills of medical residents towards transitions in care. Dr. Vanka continues to direct this elective yearly and plans to incorporate components of the curriculum into the overall residency program.