GME Award Winner Has Passion for Research, Obesity Medicine

“I loved the concept of an accelerated program,” said Kibera, a member of Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine’s first cohort in its Transformative Care Continuum program, which combines medical school with family medicine residency at Cleveland Clinic in a six-year program. “I felt mature and ready to go through the program because of my graduate school experience. I knew the amount of work it would take.”

Kibera earned an undergraduate degree in social work in her native Kenya before coming to the United States. She earned a master’s degree in social work from Portland State University, and a second master’s degree in public health and a doctorate in social welfare from the University of Washington in Seattle.

To prepare for medical school, she completed an undergraduate degree in health sciences at Cleveland State University. Kibera had nearly two decades of experience in social work, education and research by the time she started the six-year TCC program.

“People kept telling me that I would make an excellent primary care physician because I saw the connection between individual health and social determinants of health,” she said. “Personally, I thought I could make a decent clinician because my background in social work and public health positioned me well to do primary care work. I got a lot of cheerleading along the way and finally decided to go to medical school.”

Kibera already knew which specialty was right for her. 

“I enjoy one-on-one interactions and building relationships,” she said. “I am passionate about helping not only individuals, but families and communities on a broader level. I appreciate the link between health care delivery and health policy and how they shape people’s health outcomes. Family medicine is the specialty that has such a lens, and, therefore, it was a natural fit and made the most sense for me.”

Joining the accelerated TCC program guaranteed Kibera a residency spot.

“It was very useful, from the get-go, to have that reassurance and to get immersed in the system in which I’d be completing my residency,” she said. “This allowed me to start building relationships with faculty and gain knowledge of the patient population.”

The accelerated program also allowed Kibera to take a deep dive into research. During her final year of medical school, she designed and led a capstone project involving local community partners that focused on promoting healthy eating to prevent and manage chronic diseases. She was able to build on that work as a resident when she was awarded a Cleveland Clinic Catalyst Grant of nearly $90,000 to conduct a randomized control trial to investigate the effect of healthy food interventions on chronic disease markers, food insecurity, diet quality and depression among patients at Cleveland Clinic’s Akron General Family Medicine Residency.

Her research led to articles published in 2021 and 2023 in The Ohio Family Physician. A manuscript based on the study's protocol is scheduled to be published this winter in the Primary Health Care Research and Development Journal.

Kibera, who will be one of 12 residents recognized with the AAFP’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Medical Education this week during the Family Medicine Experience in Chicago, said she would not have been able to accomplish the work without the support and structure of the accelerated program.

“The TCC program created space for me to develop a community project, from conception to execution, and to build on it,” she said. “Being integrated in the Cleveland Clinic Health System as a TCC student allowed me to tap into the system’s resources to undertake my community project and research. This was a highlight of the program for me. It gave me a larger vision of what one can do as a family physician.”

Nutrition, exercise and obesity are issues that are personal for Kibera, whose mother died of complications from type 2 diabetes. She also witnessed many people suffer the effects of poor nutrition during her career in social work.

“There is an immense need to address the root causes and comorbidities of obesity,” she said. “Community partners in my project and research were thrilled to see a health system reaching out to community organizations to address such an important health issue.”

Kibera will graduate in the spring and, in addition to board certification in family medicine, plans to become board certified in obesity medicine next fall. She already has a job lined up with the Cleveland Clinic’s Endocrinology & Metabolism Institute, where she will practice obesity medicine. Her role will include clinical practice, research and community engagement.

“It’s a passion of mine, and there is such need,” she said. “And it’s not just an issue to address in the confines of clinical practice. We need to reach out and engage communities to address obesity and the factors that contribute to it and related chronic diseases. I have ideas I’m working on now to have something up and running when I start in August.”

The application period for the 2024 Award for Excellence in Graduate Medical Education will open in January.