Division of Health Sciences Calendar

News (July 7, 2008)

Spencer H. Cole, MPAS, PA-C, was recently recognized as a Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Physician Assistants.

Mr. Cole is Clinical Assistant Professor and Clinical Coordinator and has spent over 35 years in clinical practice.  He has been in full-time PA education for 3 years. Previously, he served as a preceptor for 8 PA programs and was appointed as adjunct faculty at 2 PA programs.

The Distinguished Fellow Program of the American Academy of Physician Assistants recognizes AAPA members who have distinguished themselves among their colleagues, as well as in their communities, by their service to the PA profession, their commitment to advancing health care for all people, and their exemplary personal and professional development.

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Patricia Royal, EdD, MSW, Assistant Professor, Department of Health Services and Information Management and William Grobe, Department of Educational Leadership have an article published in the Community College Journal of Research and Practice, Vol. 32, Issue 7, July 2008.  The name of the article is Job-Related Stress and Sleep Disorders Among North Carolina College Presidents.

News (June 4, 2008)

Dr. Lloyd Goodwinand Dr. Shari Sias in the Substance Abuse and Clinical Counseling program, Department of Rehabilitation Studies had their journal article titled, “Substance Abuse and Clinical Counseling Students’ Characteristics and Career Goals”, published in the current issue of the Journal of Teaching in the Addictions.

News (May 29, 2008)

FELLOW AWARDED

Marianna Walker, Ph.D, Associate Professor, has received the honor of Fellow from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).

The status of Fellow is retained for life and is one of the highest honors this professional organization can bestow. It recognizes professional or scientific achievement and is given to a member who has shown outstanding contribution to the profession—contributions that are significant and would be so regarded within and beyond one's community or state.

Less than 1% of the over 130,000 members, have, by virtue of the quality and amount of their contributions, distinguished themselves sufficiently to warrant recognition by election to Fellow in ASHA.

Dr. Walker will ceremonially receive this Honor at the Annual meeting of the American Speech-Hearing-Language Association in November.

News (May 27, 2008)

The College of Allied Health Sciences would like to welcome Sue Leach, PT, MS, NCS.

Ms. Leach graduated from the University of Toledo in 1990 with a Bachelor of Education degree in Human Performance. In 1992, she completed a Master of Science degree in Physical Therapy from Columbia University.

Upon graduation, Ms. Leach worked for two years at Helen Hayes Hospital, a free-standing rehabilitation hospital, in New York State gaining clinical experience on various units including an aquatic therapy rotation and treated individuals with a variety of diagnoses including stroke, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, and amputation.

From 1994 to 2005, Ms. Leach was employed by Touro Rehabilitation Center in New Orleans and worked on the inpatient rehabilitation units specializing in the treatment of individuals with brain injuries. Ms. Leach became an APTA board-certified clinical specialist in Neurologic Physical Therapy in 2000.

Ms. Leach has two years of teaching experience in the physical therapy program at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Motor Behavior with an emphasis in Motor Learning through the Department of Kinesiology at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

Her current research interests are in establishing interventions that can improve functional outcomes for people with balance and neurologic deficits. Ms. Leach is particularly interested in the role of procedural learning, learning without conscious awareness, in recovery of function.

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Dr. Jane Painter, Department of Occupational Therapy is now a member of the North Carolina Healthy Aging Coalition (NCHAC). She has also become a Master Trainer in an evidence-based fear of falling Matter of Balance Program. She will begin training volunteer lay leaders on this program this summer.

Formed in 2005, the NCHAC is a multi-disciplinary, multi-network group comprised of key leaders from over 25 organizations from across the state with an interest in health promotion and/or aging. The NCHAC’s vision is that North Carolina will create and sustain programs, policies and environments to foster healthy aging and the health, well-being and independence of its citizens.

News (May 22, 2008)

Physician Assistant Studies student, Mr. David Propst, received the prestigious American Academy of Physician Assistants Veteran’s Caucus annual scholarship of $1250.00 on May 22, 2008. 

Eligibility for the award was based upon the student’s scholarship, service, need and the recommendation of the Department Chair, Larry Dennis, who is seen presenting the certificate. 

Mr. Propst is now in his final year of training with the Physician Assistant Program and is doing clinical rotations.  Being a new father, Mr. Propst stated that he had many immediate uses for the money.

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Drs. Joseph Kalinowski and Andrew Stuart and former doctoral student, Tim Saltuklaroglu are featured in special magazine edition on fluency.  “Altered Auditory Feedback, Another Tool for the Fluency Toolkit”, appeared in the May 12, 2008 issue of Advance, Vol. 18, Issue 19.  Link to the article:

http://speech-language-pathology-audiology.advanceweb.com/Editorial/Search/AViewer.aspx?AN=SP_08may12_spp10.html&AD=05-12-2008 

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The second edition of Principles of Healthcare Reimbursement, authored by Dr. Elizabeth Layman, chair, Department of Health Services and Information Management,and Anne B. Casto, Ohio State University, has been released.  The book was published by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).

AHIMA calls the book “the go-to text for healthcare reimbursement.”  According to AHIMA, this single authoritative source contains new information on: the latest changes to CMS 1500, UB04, DRGs, and CMS; pay for performance issues and quality assurance, HIM knowledge clusters, subdomains, and tasks; and new areas like pay for performance and quality assurance.

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Robert J. Campbell, Ed.D, assistant professor, has an article published in the June 2008 issue of the Home Health Care Management & Practice, Vol. 20, No. 4, titled “Meeting Seniors’ Information Needs: Using Computer Technology”.

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The Department of Physical Therapy would like to welcome a new faculty member, Jacob N. Thorp, DHS, PT, MTC, clinical assistant professor.  He will be teaching in the  orthopedic curriculum with a focus on spine examination and intervention.

Dr. Thorp received a Doctor of Health Science in August 2006 from the University of Indianapolis, a Physical therapy degree from Des Moines University-Osteopathic Medical Center (1999), and a Bachelor's degree in Biology from Trevecca Nazarene University (Nashville, TN).

Before coming to Greenville, Dr. Thorp was an outpatient orthopedic therapist and clinic director with Physiotherapy Associates in Nashville, TN as well as a staff therapist at Vanderbilt Medical Center. 

His focus of clinical practice has been with the spine/chronic pain and TMD population.  Clinical practice was manual therapy and functional exercise based, although he also has extensive experience with adult clients in a variety of orthopedic settings.  Dr. Thorp also oversaw the financial portion of his clinic and was responsible for all the marketing/growth.

Dr. Thorp also has a Manual Therapy Certification from St. Augustine University (February 2006).

His research interests include kinetics of the TMJ and its relation to the cervical spine and posture. 

Dr. Thorp is married and has one daughter.

News (May 6, 2008)

Three collaborative projects involving faculty members in the College of Allied Health Sciences are the recipients of 2008-2009 Research Development Awards from the Vice Chancellor’s office:

The Determination of Reasons and Solutions for Low Quality ICD-9-CM Coding in Cardiovascular Cases: A Qualitative Approach
Paul Bell and Xiaoming Zeng, Department of Health Services and Information Management

Sources of Abnormal Sensory Reweighting in Fall-prone Older Adults
Leslie Allison, Department of Physical Therapy
Sherri Jones, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders

Motivate, Adapt, and Play (MAP): An Engagement Model of Physical Activity for Students with Intellectual Disabilities
Kathryn Davis, Boni Boswell and James Decker, Department of Exercise & Sport Science, College of Health and Human Performance
Pat Hodson, Department of Physical Therapy
Guili Zhang, Department of Curriculum & Instruction, College of Education

These awards fund pilot projects that permit the collection of feasibility data necessary for subsequent extramural grant submissions.

Congratulations to all and thanks to the Division of Research & Graduate Studies for providing the funds to seed new projects!

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Dr. Gregg Givens, Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders was recognized for his significant contribution toward the development of the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing Position statements and the establishment of early hearing detection and intervention programs. The Joint Infant Hearing Committee is a committee with membership from the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Speech-Language and Hearing Association, Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing , American Academy of Audiology, American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Council of Education of the Deaf.

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Dr. Robert Kulesher presented his paper, entitled “Transformation of the Urban Healthcare Safety Net: The Devolution of a Public Responsibility” at the Urban Affairs Association Annual Meeting in Baltimore, April 24. In addition he served a panel moderator for the session on Public Health and the Urban Environment.

The Urban Affairs Association (UAA) is the international professional organization for urban scholars, researchers, and public service providers. UAA exists to:

• Encourage the dissemination of information about urbanism and urbanization
• Support the development of university education, research, and service programs in urban affairs
• Provide leadership in fostering urban affairs as a professional and academic field

Today, UAA includes almost 600 institutional, individual, and student members from colleges and universities throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Among its other activities, UAA sponsors the Journal of Urban Affairs, a refereed annual journal, publishing manuscripts related to urban research and policy analysis of interest to both scholars and practitioners.

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The Department of Occupational Therapy welcomes Denise K. Donica, DHS, OTR as a new assistant professor! She started on May 5, 2008 and will be teaching this summer with the professional master’s degree students in one of the intervention courses.

Dr. Donica earned her Doctor of Health Science in December 2007 from the University of Indianapolis. Her occupational therapy degree is from Indiana University (1999) and she also has a bachelor's degree from Indiana University in psychology and criminal justice. Before coming to Greenville, Dr. Donica was an instructor at the University of Indianapolis in the professional master’s degree program in occupational therapy as well as a staff therapist at Ball Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Donica's focus of clinical practice has been with the pediatric population, although she also has extensive experience with adult clients in a variety of settings. She is Level 1 certified in Handwriting Without Tears® and is currently a consultant and workshop presenter for Handwriting Without Tears®. She has implemented community-based programs to facilitate handwriting development in children from low-income families and worked with children individually and in small group settings. Her current research includes the completion of a historical research study on the development of handwriting instruction and a current outcomes research study on a handwriting enhancement program she developed at a local public school.

Dr. Donica is married and has one daughter. We welcome Denise Donica to the Department and to Greenville!!

News (April 30, 2008)

Professors Xiaoming Zeng and Paul Bell have been awarded a $50,000 grant from the UNC General Administration to develop a new online graduate-level certificate program in Health Informatics at ECU. This innovative online certificate program will be one of the first of its kind in this rapidly expanding field.

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Dr. Anne Dickerson, Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Allied Health Sciences, has been awarded a $15,000 grant from the State Farm Good Neighbor Citizen program for Research in the Older Adult Driver Initiative (ROADI). She will develop a series of on-line distance education courses designed for occupational therapists that work with older adults and must consider driving safety as part of their discharge planning. These courses will help address the acute need, in North Carolina and nationwide, to train more occupational therapists as driving evaluators.

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Dr. Timothy Reistetter, Assistant Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Allied Health Sciences, has been appointed as a K12 Scholar in the Rehabilitation Research Career Development Program sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. This K12 appointment provides resources for Dr. Reistetter to devote 75% effort for up to three years to a research project mentored by Professor Kenneth Ottenbacher. This K12 Scholar Award is structured as a subcontract from the Rehabilitation Research Career Development Program, which is administered jointly through the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and the University of Florida.

News (April 17, 2008)

Larry P. Dennis, MPAS, PA-C,  Receives National Recognition as AAPA Distinguished Fellow

Larry P. Dennis, Chair, Physician Assistant Studies, has been recognized as a Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Physician Assistants.

Mr. Dennis earned the recognition due to his outstanding contributions to patient care and the profession during his 24 years in clinical practice and 9 years in full-time PA education. His clinical experiences were in family medicine, occupational medicine and orthopedics.  He helped open and operate three rural health clinics, one of which was in a remote mountain area.  Mr. Dennis has been Program Director at two different institutions, and Chair at ECU since 2003.  His academic interests lie in administration and curriculum and faculty development.

All Distinguished Fellows of AAPA have also demonstrated exceptional contributions to their communities.

AAPA is the only national organization representing physician assistant in all medical and surgical specialties and is one of the largest medical societies in the U.S. Founded in 1968, the Academy works to promote quality, cost effective health care and the professional and personal growth of PAs. For more information about the Academy and the PA profession, visit the AAPA’s Web site, www.aapa.org.

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The following was submitted by Candace Canavan, a student in the College of Allied Health Sciences Student Leaders' Council. Candace is a graduate student in the speech-language pathology masters program.

(The event was taped and can be found here. This requires a PirateID to log into the server to view the presentation.)

On the evening of April 8, 2008 the College of Allied Health Student Leaders' Council held their Inaugural Issues Forum with keynote speaker Mr. Robert Greczyn.   Mr. Greczyn, CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield North Carolina presented on "The Future of Healthcare".  Mr. Greczyn's primary focus was on prevention of health, and the effects prevention can have on healthcare both statewide and nationally.

Various Allied Health professionals served as a response panel to Mr. Greczyn's presentation.  Panel members included Dr. Beth Velde, representing OT, Dr. Gregg Givens (CSDI), Flo Moses and Jeff Hathaway (PT), Carey Unger (HSIM), Karen Sullivan (CLSC), and Larry Dennis (PA).  This panel of respondents provided an allied health emphasis that added depth to Mr. Greczyn's more general presentation and educated the non allied health audience to the uniqueness and importance of our respective professions.

The event had a great turnout with students, faculty, and administrators from Allied Health, Medicine, Nursing, and the MPH program.  The Student Leaders' Council would like to thank everyone involved in creating the success of this event, and we look forward to bringing the entire Allied Health community together with more events like this in the future.

News (April 9, 2008)

The College of Allied Health Sciences is pleased to announce the following student awards.

First year physician assistant student, Jeffrey Bonito (Class of 2009), is the recipient of the 2008 Bunting Scholarship. The scholarship is funded by Mr. Michael L. Bunting and is a one-time award of $1000.00. Criteria for selection are financial need and scholarship. A presentation was made by Mr. Bunting on March 25, 2008, in the Department of Physician Assistant Studies.

Sarah Parker Womack was chosen as one of five recipients of the Robert H. Wright Alumni Leadership award. Sarah is from Washington, NC., and will graduate in May with a bachelor of science degree in Health Services Management. She will be honored with the prestigious award during the spring commencement exercises on May 10 and the Senior Salute dinner on May 9. In addition to being honored during graduation, this award comes with a $250.00 stipend to be used at the discretion of the award recipient. The Robert H. Wright Alumni Leadership award recognizes academic achievement, service to the university and community, and leadership qualities.

Kristal N. Mills, an audiology doctoral student, is a recipient of the Berbecker Foundation Fellowship valued at $3000.00. Kristal is from Trenton, NC, and received her undergraduate degree in Communication Disorders from Appalachian. Her parents are Ken and Wanda Mills. The Berbecker Foundation Fellowship is awarded on the basis of exceptional accomplishment, commitment and skill toward a career in allied health sciences.

Amanda R. Mahaffee, second-year Doctor of Physical Therapy student from Raleigh, NC, is a recipient of the Gravely Foundation Scholarship valued at $500.00. She is the daughter of Mary Mahaffee and Gary Kuzkin and Jim Mahaffee. The Gravely Foundation Scholarship is awarded on the basis of academic excellence, financial need and qualities of good citizenship within the university and contribution or dedication to the enhancement of the professional major.

The Clinical Laboratory Science Department has selected a student to receive the first-ever W. James & Susan T. Smith Student Scholarship.  The recipient is Amber Crystal Smith.  Amber is from Mt. Airy and attended North Surry High School prior to coming to ECU as a freshman.  Amber is the daughter of Mr. Steve Smith who is an independent business owner in Mt. Airy.

One scholarship is awarded to a rising-senior student in CLSC for the senior academic year beginning in summer.

The W. James & Susan T. Smith Student Scholarship recognizes the over 30 years of academic contribution to ECU by Dr. Susan T. Smith who is the retired department chair and a professor emeritus in Clinical Laboratory Science, and her husband, Dr. W. James Smith, who was a faculty member in the Department of Biology.

News (March 28, 2008)

Leonard G. Trujillo, Ph.D., OTR/L, has been named the new Chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy, and will assume his new duties starting April 1, 2008. 

Dr. Trujillo has been an occupational therapist for 30 years, with the majority of his clinical experience in the United States Air Force.  He holds the distinction of being the only USAF Officer to have held the position of Program Director for the Tri Service OT Assistant Program at the Army’s Academy of Health Sciences, Ft. Sam Houston Texas.

Prior to his arrival at ECU, he was an Associate Professor and Associate Dean at the School of Occupational Therapy at Texas Woman’s University, Dallas Campus. He earned his BS degree in Occupational Therapy from Colorado State and his PhD in Educational Administration from Texas A&M.  In between those degrees, he earned a Master of Arts in Computer Resources and Information Management.  He is well versed in assistive technology, serving as the director of the OT Assistive Technology Certification program, and also conducts research in the area of older adult drivers.

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Dr. Leslie Allison, Department of Physical Therapy, and Dr. Jane Painter, Department of Occupational Therapy, have been invited by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to participate in a meeting of leaders from public health, aging, healthcare and related industry to plan a statewide falls prevention initiative.  Both Allison and Painter were identified as strategic leaders in advancing this initiative, and will provide leadership in developing an effective North Carolina Falls Prevention Coalition.  The meeting will be held in April at the Division of Public Health in Raleigh.

Kristal Mills, a doctoral student in CSDI has received one of only two national 2008 Student Investigator Awards from the American Academy of Audiology. The purpose of the proposed research is to assess auditory function in Nox3 and Noxo1 mouse strains. Research protocol includes the measurement of auditory brainstem response and otoacoustic emissions at various ages for homozygotes, heterozygotes and wildtype controls.

Ms. Mills’ study will provide a better understanding of auditory function in two mutations known to cause congenital vestibular deficits. The findings will further the understanding of normal and abnormal inner ear development, genetic factors that may affect development, and will expand our knowledge of genetic hearing and balance disorders. Ultimately, the findings may lead to better diagnosis and treatment for inner ear disorders.

Kristal will be studying under the direction of Dr. Sherri Jones.

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Dr. Robert Kulesher, assistant professor and director of the Health Services Management program, and Margaret G. Wilder, professor in the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Delaware, have published an article in the January/February 2008 issue of Journal of Healthcare Management, Vol. 53, No. 1, titled “The Impact of PPS on Hospital-Sponsored Post-Acute Services: A Case Study of Delaware Medicare Providers”.

News (January 29, 2008)

Congratulations to Dr. Xiaoming Zeng, Department of Health Services and Information Management, upon being named one of the East Carolina University Scholar Teachers for 2007-2008! 

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Susie T. Harris, MBA, RHIA, CCS is a PhD student in the Department of Rehabilitation Studies and a clinical instructor in the Department of Health Services and Information Management at ECU. As part of her studies during the summer of 2007, Mrs. Harris conducted program evaluation research at the North Carolina Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (NCDVR) state office in Raleigh. While at NCDVR, Mrs. Harris analyzed data from a client satisfaction questionnaire to assist the Research, Planning and Program Evaluation Department (RPPED) to improve services for the citizens of North Carolina. On Wednesday, 11/21/2007 Mrs. Harris presented the results, Analysis of NCDVR Client Satisfaction Survey Data, to the NCDVR Director, Linda Harrington, RPPED staff and fellow doc students. Mrs. Harrington commented about the “usefulness of this data” and the professionalism of Mrs. Harris. This collaboration is an excellent example of how the Department of Rehabilitation Studies is able to collaborate with NCDVR to deliver more effective services and advance student learning.

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Susie T. Harris, MBA, RHIA, CCS and Xiaoming Zeng, MD, PhD of the Department of Health Services and Information Management, have a new publication titled, "Using Wiki in an Online Record Documentation Systems Course" which will be published in Perspectives in Health Information Management.

News (January 23, 2008)

Ann McConnell, Clinical Laboratory Science Department, graduated December 15, 2007 from East Carolina University with a Master’s Degree in Adult Education, and also a Certificate in Community College Instruction. Ann has over 27 years of experience in the Clinical Laboratory Science profession, including employment at Shands Teaching Hospital and Clinics at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and at the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. She currently serves as the Student Laboratory Manager for the CLSC department, and teaches Normal Hematology Lab (CLSC 3410) and Introduction to Clinical Laboratory Science (CLSC 2000).

News (January 16, 2008)

Lloyd Goodwin, Ph.D., Director and Professor, Substance Abuse and Clinical Counselor education program, Department of Rehabilitation Studies, has a new publication out today titled, “A Comprehensive Substance Abuse Counselor Education Program: From Specialty Certificate to Ph.D.” published in the current issue of the Journal of Teaching in the Addictions.

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Shari M. Sias, Ph.D., of the Department of Rehabilitation Studies, has a new publication out today titled, “A Scholarly Writing Resource for Counselor Educators and Their Student” published in the current issue of the Journal of Counseling and Development.

News (January 4, 2008)

Dr. Stephen W. Thomas, Dean, College of Allied Health Sciences, was elected Vice-Chair of the Council for Allied Health in North Carolina (CAHNC). Following the two-year appointment, Dr. Thomas will assume leadership of the Council as Chair in 2009.

The Council for Allied Health in North Carolina was formed in 1991 by allied health practitioners, educators and employers as a mechanism to ensure that North Carolinians will have access to a well-prepared, well-distributed allied health workforce that is representative of the diversity of our state's communities.

News (January 3, 2008)

Dr. Paul D. Bell in the Department of Health Services and Information Management recently had a book published. Self Regulated Learning and Epistemological Beliefs- A Predictive Model for Undergraduate Asynchronous Web-based Learning was published in October 2007 by VDM Verlag Dr. Mueller e.k., and is scheduled to hit the bookshelves very soon. The book is addressed to post secondary education professionals as well as researchers who are involved in the planning, design, and administration of asynchronous web-based (AWB) undergraduate courses.

3rd Annual Rehabilitation and Allied Health Research Day
Held Friday, November 16, 2007 in the Health Sciences Building

College of Allied Health Sciences 40th Anniversary Alumni Celebration 
Held Saturday, October 27, 2007 in the Health Sciences Building
The 40 Distinguished Alumni were honored at this event.