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SHP students receive awards for leadership, service, research and clinical excellence
By Kate Hunger
Lisa Le never considered herself to be an academically strong student, but she says something clicked when she began clinical rotations. In recognition of her performance during the clinical phase of her program, the third-year physical therapy student recently won the Student Clinical Excellence Award.
PA professor still relies on her medical laboratory sciences training
Department of Physician Assistant Studies Admissions Chair and Assistant Clinical Professor Leticia Bland wasn’t sure about her path after graduating high school, so she decided to join the U.S. Air Force. When she asked the recruiter to recommend a career that paid well and offered transferrable skills to the civilian world, she was given assigned a medical laboratory science.
“It was the best decision I ever made,” says Bland, DHSc, MPAS, PA-C.
OT student is TOTA student representative and Presidential Ambassador Scholar
Occupational therapy first-year student Jennifer Sanchez decided she wanted to become an occupational therapist after her older brother suffered a spinal cord injury in a car accident. She was 13 years old.
After the accident, her brother had limited function in one of his arms. Occupational therapy services helped him make huge progress and made a big impression on Sanchez.
Physical Therapy students present at national conference
Five students from the Department of Physical Therapy presented research projects at the American Physical Therapy Association 2020 Combined Sections Meeting held in Denver in February.
Second-year doctor of physical therapy students Cat Lira and Helen Valentine Fleck gave a platform presentation on their investigation to characterize the cardiometabolic profile of more than 5,000 South Texas patients living with HIV and their risk of metabolic syndrome. The students used an online database.
OT professor co-authored one of the most-cited articles in journal
Learning that an article she co-authored is among the most read, cited and shared from the 2018-2019 international journal Spinal Cord gives Assistant Professor Ana Allegretti, Ph.D., OTR, hope that clinical care for patients with spinal cord injuries is improving.
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders to offer leveling program
Prospective students who wish to apply to a graduate speech-language pathology program but lack the required undergraduate preparation in communication sciences and disorders soon will be able to complete pre-requisite coursework through a new leveling program offered by the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders.
PA Studies professor named distinguished fellow of AAPA
Assistant Professor Meredith Quinene, DHSc, MPAS, PA-C, was recently named a distinguished fellow of the American Academy of PAs (AAPA).
Quinene is the academic coordinator for the Department of Physician Assistant Studies. She earned her undergraduate degree in education and taught biology before deciding to go to PA school. Her goal always was to return to PA education.
New MLS program director plans to continue legacy of excellence
Assistant Professor Gerardo Ramos, MS, Ph.D. MLS (ASCP), F-ABFT, officially assumed the duties of Medical Laboratory Sciences program director on Jan. 1.
“The first goal is to continue the legacy of excellence,” established by his predecessor, former Program Director and Associate Professor Cheryl Burns, M.S., MLS (ASCP), Ramos said. “She has done an amazing job.”
PA Studies graduates post 100% first-time pass rate on national exam
All of the Physician Assistant Studies class of 2019 graduates who took the national certifying exam passed on their first try, making the program’s five-year first-time pass rate average 100%.
Forty-four students took the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE) between December and Feb. 1, said PA Studies Program Director, Chair and Assistant Professor Paul B. Allen, Sr., DSc, MPAS, PA-C, FAAPA.
New MLS faculty member has worked around the world
Assistant Professor Terri Murphy-Sanchez, CSMLS, ASCP, has lived and worked in three different countries, a global experience she said was made possible by the medical laboratory science profession.
“I like to think our profession is very portable and a great stepping stone,” said Murphy-Sanchez, who joined the Medical Laboratory Sciences faculty in August 2019.
Inaugural TSAHP student leadership development program kicks off
Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs David Henzi, Ed.D., is co-directing the first student leadership program offered by the Texas Society of Allied Health Professions (TSAHP).
“The goal is to train future leaders in different health profession programs,” Henzi said, noting that the program is interprofessional by design.
Henzi’s co-director is fellow TSAHP board member Lynette Watts, Ph.D., RT(R), associate professor at The Shimadzu School of Radiologic Sciences at Midwestern State University.
School’s new Ph.D. program to launch in Fall 2020
The School of Health Professions is adding a Ph.D. in Health Sciences to help meet the demand for allied health faculty and researchers with doctoral degrees.
The program also will help support evidence-based practice and outcomes research in allied health, said School of Health Professions Dean David C. Shelledy, Ph.D., RRT, FAARC, FASAHP.
“This will be helpful for our school, other schools of allied health in Texas and for colleges and universities around the country,” Shelledy said.
Physical Therapy faculty member publishes article comparing regenerative injections to corticosteroids for treatment of tennis elbow
Regenerative injections are more effective for long-term healing of tennis elbow than corticosteroids, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis by Assistant Professor Julie Barnett, PT, D.P.T., MTC.
PA and OT departments host graduations
The Departments of Occupational Therapy and Physician Assistant Studies held their graduation ceremonies on Dec. 13.
The Occupational Therapy master’s students represented the final class of MOT students to graduate from the Department of Occupational Therapy, which has transitioned from a master’s program to a doctoral program. The ceremony represented a “culmination and a close to our MOT program,” said Associate Professor and Department Chair Bridgette Piernik-Yoder, Ph.D., OTR.
MLS students participate in interprofessional educational experience
First-year medical students and first-year medical laboratory science students learned how to improve communication between clinical staff and the laboratory during an inaugural interprofessional educational experience in November.
“We worked through a few of the common barriers to communication between the clinical staff and the laboratory,” said Assistant Professor Cordelia Kudika, MA, CHS (ABHI), who also is director of clinical education for MLS.
AARP Texas features EHS instructor in video
Department of Emergency Health Sciences adjunct faculty instructor Conrad M. Gonzales, Jr., is featured in a video by AARP Texas.
The video was posted on the AARP Texas Facebook page in September to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month. In it, Gonzales shares his personal philosophy.
“I look at it this way: If I can save a life, I have made a difference, and I think that’s my passion – to try to make a difference,” he says.
Speech-language pathology professor, students present at community engagement symposium
A professor and two graduate students from the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders’ speech-language pathology program participated in the 2019 Institute for Integration of Medicine & Science (IIMS) Community Engagement Symposium.
PT professor co-authored article that finds increased prescription of medication for patients with KOA
Physical Therapy Assistant Professor Gustavo Almeida, PT, Ph.D., co-authored an article accepted for publication in Arthritis Care and Research that shows an increase in physician prescriptions for medication and a decrease in physical therapy referrals and lifestyle counseling for patients with knee osteoarthritis.
OT alumna receives award from TOTA
Kathryn Crane, OTR, (MOT ’17) received the 2019 Horizon Award from the Texas Occupational Therapy Association at its annual conference on Nov. 2.
The award acknowledges outstanding contributions to the profession by an occupational therapy practitioner who has been in the profession for fewer than five years.
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