Dr. Keifer named editor of Journal of Agromedicine
Matthew Keifer, M.D., M.P.H.
NFMC director
The director of the National Farm Medicine Center (NFMC) has been named editor of the peer-reviewed Journal of Agromedicine.
Matthew Keifer, M.D., M.P.H., who most recently was associate editor, said one of his goals is to introduce the Journal to a broader audience.
"The research and relevant literature that we publish in the Journal of Agromedicine has value for researchers, clinical practitioners and health and safety professionals who work with the many hundreds of millions of people associated with agriculture worldwide," Dr. Keifer said. "The Journal has a unique place in the health and safety literature, and we need to make ourselves better known."
Dr. Keifer takes over as editor-in-chief from Steven Kirkhorn, M D., M.P.H., who brought the Journal to the National Farm Medicine Center in 2004, rescuing it when its previous editorial home lost funding. Dr. Keifer is assisted by Scott Heiberger, managing editor/NFMC communications specialist, and Kathie Smith, editorial assistant/NFMC administrative secretary.
Drs. Kirkhorn and Keifer both see patients in the F.A.R.M. (Farm, Agricultural, Rural Medicine) Clinic, part of the Marshfield Clinic Occupational Health Department directed by Dr. Kirkhorn.
Dr. Keifer, Dean Emanuel endowed chair and senior research scientist, joined NFMC in 2010 and started the Wisconsin Dairy Workers Safety and Health Initiative. Dr. Keifer has extensive clinical, research and programmatic expertise in agricultural health and safety.
His professional efforts for the past 20 years have largely focused on Hispanic farm workers, both in the United States and in Latin America. His current job titles include co-director of the Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center, funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
The Journal is published by Taylor & Francis Group and is indexed by the National Library of Medicine. For information on subscriptions and manuscript submission - as well as a searchable database of all abstracts, current and archived - go to the Taylor and Francis online site. You may also contact the Journal editorial staff via email at Agromedicine@mcrf.mfldclin.edu or call 1-800-662-6900.
The Journal can be accessed free through the Magnin Medical Library. Click on "Find an Article" and it will bring up a list of journals, including the Journal of Agromedicine.
Tony Waisbrot
Retiring Marshfield Center social worker marvels at advances in patient care, technology
After a pioneering 41-year career in social work, Tony Waisbrot is ready for the next chapter of his life.
He worked his last day in Behavioral Health at Marshfield Clinic Marshfield Center on February 15.
Hired in August 1970 as one of the Clinic's first clinical social workers, Waisbrot worked in developing the Clinic's community mental health centers. He also pioneered the Employee Assistance program at the Clinic and in the community; and witnessed firsthand how technology has improved patient care - even in a specialty considered "low tech and high touch," Waisbrot noted.
"Our hiring was partly in response to the Kennedy administration's Community Mental Health Center's Act," said Waisbrot. This law set into motion a model for rural mental health and psychiatry. The Clinic staffed mental health centers in southern Wood, Portage, Taylor and Clark counties, as well as provided community outreach to outlying counties. This continued until the centers hired their own staff.
Waisbrot is struck by how technology has changed the face of health care. "When I started, we had a dictation machine on our desks with a wide belt that was then sent to Transcription. The paper was sent back to be signed. Now it's all electronic. We carry our notebook tablets with us, and send notes immediately to the electronic record. All of these resources over time have helped improve our delivery of care."
What he most enjoyed about his long career in psychotherapy was "providing sophisticated care for people in a unique setting. The support and teamwork in our department and the resources of the Clinic organization is what makes it work.
"When you first join the Clinic, you don't realize you're part of a larger structure until you go through orientation. Then you find out how it all complements one another."
Waisbrot has tried to live by the motto of former Clinic Executive Director Fritz Wenzel, who always reminded staff that "The patient is No. 1."
As he looks forward to moving to his lake home in St. Germain, he jokes that, "I've heard that in retirement, you never get a day off from it."
Waisbrot and his wife Ann, former director of the Clinic's New Visions Gallery, have been preparing for this day for several years. They've added a studio to their Northwoods home to accommodate Ann's oil painting business and to live there fulltime. Parents to two adult sons, Jim and Paul, the Waisbrots' first priority now is to get "resettled in our permanent home up north."