Office of VA Affairs 

The Office of VA Affairs serves as the link between the Department of Internal Medicine and the teaching and clinical activities of the VA Medicine Service at the New Mexico VA Health Care System operating from the Raymond G. Murphy VA Medical Center in Albuquerque and other locations.   

The Office promotes the Department’s academic mission and expands its research portfolio, develops educational curricula and provides unique clinical training opportunities. 

Research 

• Recognition: New Mexico VA Health Care System Medicine Service is one of the top 15 research facilities in the national VA system by the size of the FY 2019 Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation (VERA) Research funding.  Along with San Diego VA and West Los Angeles VA, New Mexico VA Health Care System is one of the top research centers of VISN 22, the Pacific Region in the VA System with VERA Research funding >$10 million per year. 
• Center of Excellence in Cellular and Molecular Medicine: Faculty members have received nearly $20 million in extramural grant support. 
• The VA Center for Health Informatics and Outcomes Research: The Center has >15-year track record of innovation using medical informatics to transform outpatient health care. 

Education 

The Office of VA Affairs has helped implement and participate in multiple educational activities related to the Department of Medicine: 

• Hospitalist Curriculum: The Office implemented comprehensive curriculum covering foundational internal medicine topics and skills to educate residents and students. 
• VA Medicine Chief’s Rounds with all learners:  Case-based tutorials on clinical reasoning and pathophysiology of disease given by the Chief of Medicine 
• VA Medicine Chief’s Rounds with medical students: Case-based workshop on internal medicine analytical skills given by the Chief of Medicine 
• Tricky Cases: Chief of Medicine joins hospital medicine teams to discuss challenging cases.  
• Quality-Related Research: We incorporated QI projects related to inpatient care into a curriculum for house-staff education.  
• Medical Informatics: We are developing a revised curriculum for ambulatory internal medicine residents to incorporate medical informatics and population registry-driven care. 
• Outcomes and Translational Medicine research:  Opportunities are available for all learners to work with VA-based faculty in developing and conducting project to improve outcomes. 
• Rural Health Initiatives: These educational efforts dovetail with population-based programs. 
• Telemedicine: VA-based faculty members mentor learners in the skills necessary to provide effective remote health care. 
• Inter-professional Team Training: Medical, PA, nursing and pharmacy students and all residents and fellows receive training to work together as a team.