Breaking News
The College of Health Sciences Congratulates Dr. James Alan Neff
Please join the College of Health Sciences in congratulating Dr. James Alan Neff, Professor of Community Health, and his research team on their new two year, $900,000, grant award from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). Their project is designed to take existing Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral and Treatment (SBIRT) protocols for alcohol abuse which have demonstrated effectiveness in other health care settings and to tailor them for use in dental practice settings. The study team will work with a number of local dental practices to examine factors which influence adoption of these brief intervention approaches by the practices and their staff as well as examining their effectiveness in reducing alcohol use and problems among heavy drinkers. As over 60% of the U.S. population visits a dentist every year, the study can have important implications for reducing personal and societal costs of alcohol abuse by using the dental visit as an opportunity to intervene with problem drinkers.
The grant is nationally significant as it is one of roughly 200 awards funded out of 20,000 applications submitted for funding under the federal government’s recent American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) of 2009 ‘Research Challenge Initiative’. Other members of the research team include Ms. Michele Darby, Professor of Dental Hygiene, Dr. Michelle Kelley, Professor of Psychology, the ODU Social Science Research Center, and Dr. James Paulson, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at EVMS. The project also includes collaborators at the VCU College of Dentistry, the University of Texas School of Public Health, and the University of California-San Francisco.
Dr. Richardean Benjamin, President of the Virginia Partnership for Nursing
Dr. Richardean Benjamin, Associate Dean in the College of Health Sciences, has assumed the position as president of the Virginia Partnership for Nursing (VPN).
The Virginia Partnership for Nursing, established in 1998, is a part of the Colleagues in Caring initiative through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It is a statewide nursing workforce initiative. VPN’s membership is comprised of educational institutions, governmental agencies, healthcare providers and professional interest groups. The Mission of the organization is to “transform health care in the Commonwealth of Virginia by creating a nursing workforce responsive to consumer health care needs”. VPN serves as the policy generating group representing all segments of nursing. Dr. Benjamin’s active involvement in nursing education and workforce issues at the national and local levels have prepared her for this position. At the national level she served as a legislative aide to Senator Inouye of Hawaii during President H. W. Bush’s administration. Within the Commonwealth, she led the development of the Diversity Task Force of the Virginia Association of Colleges of Nursing (VACN) while also serving as the Grassroots Liaison to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. She has been selected to serve on the Health Advisory Committee of Representative Glenn Nye. Dr. Benjamin’s educational background and experiences have prepared her to be an advocate for nursing education and health professions workforce issues. Goals of VPN include: establish a permanent organization for analyzing health workforce issues and propose solutions to need, supply and demand issues; develop a nursing workforce recruitment model for Virginia; implement educational mobility models among the various levels of educational programs; reduce barriers to educational mobility ;develop practice models that meet the nursing needs of Virginians and; coordinate information and data within the state to assure public policy that fosters the health of Virginia's citizens.
Alice Keosann Wins National and State Scholarship
Ann Keosann, a senior in the Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene (BSDH)-entry level program in the school of dental hygiene won The American Dental Hygienists’ Association Institute for Oral Health 2009-2010 Colgate “Bright Smiles”, Bright Future Minority Scholarship” nationally and the Alice Hinchcliffe Scholarship, statewide. She also won the Gene W. Hirschfeld Dental Hygiene Scholarship, which is given through the School of Dental Hygiene.
Ms. Keosann plans to continue as a Master of Sciences in Dental Hygiene (MSDH) student once she graduate with her BSDH degree.
Michele Darby Wins the Fulbright Scholarship Award
Congratulations to Michele Darby on receiving the Fulbright Scholarship Award. Darby, an eminent scholar and professor in the School of Dental Hygiene and the author of two dental hygiene textbooks, was chosen by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board (FSB) as the recipient of the Fulbright scholar grantee to Jordan. Prof. Darby's Fulbright award builds on the collaboration with the Jordan University of Science and Technology. Darby will start her term at the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) from Jan 1 to May 15, 2010. Darby is the first faculty member in the College of Health Sciences to be a Fulbright Scholar.
Congratulations to Dr. Harry Zhang
The College of Health Sciences congratulates Harry Zhang, assistant professor in the school of Community and Environmental Health, on the research paper he co-authored titled "The Effect of Comorbid Illness and Functional Status on the Expected Benefits of Intensive Glucose Control in Older Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Decision Analysis". The research paper won the Best Published Research Paper of the Year Award by the Society of General Internal Medicine. This award is given to its members to highlight their outstanding scholarships. The award is based on the contribution the paper has made to generalist research. The award will be announced at the Society of General Internal Medicine 32nd Annual Meeting on May 13-16, 2009 in Miami Beach, FL.
Gianluca DeLeo, Medical Laboratories and Radiation Sciences, to Help Develop Mobile-Phone Software for Autistic Childre
A program is being developed by Gianluca DeLeo of Old Dominion University and Gondy Leroy of Claremont Graduate University with financial and technical support from Microsoft’s External Research Group to develop software for mobile phones that uses pictures to help autistic children communicate. The software is available under an open-source license and let’s kids form visual sentences by touching the phone’s screen to select pictures and moves them around. The program takes advantage of the already established Picture Exchange Communication System, which is more commonly used with laminated paper cards.
People with iPhones or BlackBerries will not be able to use the software for now, the application works only on Windows Mobile devices.
Microsoft publicized the application in conjunction with World Autism Awareness Day, April 2, 2009.
ODU Dental Hygiene Students Assists with Colgate Bright Futures, Bright Smiles Program
Senior dental hygiene students and graduate students assisted the Colgate Bright Futures, Bright Smiles Program in October. The Colgate Dental Van visits various dentally underserved areas in the nation each year. In October 2008, they visited eight elementary schools in Norfolk, Virginia. Senior dental hygiene students Lena Lecklider and Ashley McClain assisted in the oral screenings of nearly 5000 Norfolk elementary school students. The children are screened for any oral health problems by local dental volunteers and provided with oral health education.
The Bright Smiles, Bright Futures program reaches millions of underserved children. Mobile dental vans staffed by volunteer dentists, visit local communities throughout the U.S. in urban and rural areas. These volunteer dentists conduct free dental screenings, distribute multicultural educational materials, and educate children and their families about the importance of maintaining good oral health. By the year 2010, Colgate is expecting to reach 100 million children.
Continuing Dental Hygiene Education Winter Weekend Event
The 4th annual Gene W. Hirschfeld School of Dental Hygiene Continuing Dental Hygiene Education Winter Weekend held at the Sheraton Oceanfront Hotel in Virginia Beach February 22-24, 2008 attracted 250 participants.
Over 100 Old Dominion University dental hygiene alumni attended the event. Alumni enjoyed camaraderie with fellow classmates and reminiscing with faculty during the event and proudly wore the Old Dominion University pins that the Office of the University Alumni Association sent out to the event. The 2009 Winter Weekend is scheduled for February 27, 28, and March 1.
Please visit www.odu.edu/dental for more information.
An International Conference in Personalized Health Technologies was a Success
The College of Health Sciences at Old Dominion University and Regensburg University Medical Center in Germany, successfully organized an international conference on pHealth: Personalized Health Technologies and Comparative Effectiveness on September 18-19, 2008 . Dr. Andrew Balas, Dean of Health Sciences and Dr. Michael Nerlich, Prodekan at Regensburg University Medical Center, actively chaired in organizing the conference.
Acting President, John Broderick welcomed the participants in his opening speech. Several distinguished speakers addressed the summit including, Dr. Jonathan C. Silverstein, President of HealthGrid US Alliance, Scientific Director of Chicago Biomedical Consortium, Associate Director of Computation Institute Argonne National Laboratory and The University of Chicago Research Institute, who broadly addressed Advanced Computation for Personalized Surgical Treatment Planning. Another speaker, Dr. Peter Elkin, Vice President of biomedical and translational informatics, the Charles Bronfman Institute for personalized Medicine, the Mount Sinai Medical Center, discussed detailed issues related with eQuality (Patient controlled Electronic Quality Solutions). Dr. Wayne Rosenkrans Jr, who is a Distinguished Fellow of Health Sciences and Technology & Center for Biomedical Innovation at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Chairman and President of Personalized Medicine Coalition and Chief Applications Officer at SciTech Strategies, spoke on crucial elements of the Learning Healthcare System. In addition, Nancy Grden, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer of AMERIGROUP Corporation addressed the summit on the trends in eHealth from an industry point of view.
The conference also attracted academic and business leaders, researchers, and clinicians from Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, all with common interest in commercially viable personalized health technologies and the substantial challenges of evaluating them. Presentations particularly highlighted the value of pHealth technologies in the present demographically changing society, the Internet, and in creating sustainable business models. In addition state-of-the-art emerging technologies for patient monitoring including, wearable sensors, Lexicon camera, camera phones, Virtual Reality Technologies, drug monitoring systems, and other neursocientific signal monitors were presented and discussed in the conference. An academic-industry panel also addressed the issues of embedment of intelligence into pHealth system, impact of personalized health systems on quality of care and strategies for deployment, interoperability and integration issues in pHealth, and a long list of popular services in personalized health information.
The event took place at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside. Participants also enjoyed reception and dinner at the Cavalier Golf Club sponsored by the Virginia Beach Economic Development.
Fculty participated in the Accounting Dpartment 5K Rce
College of Health Sciences faculty participated in the Accounting department 5K race held on campus on September 20. There were 187 runners and walkers. From left to right: Ann Campbell, Nursing, placed 4th in her age group; Tom Somma, Medical Technology, placed 4th in his age group; Scott Sechrist, Nuclear Medicine, placed 5th in his age group and Martha Walker; Physical Therapy, placed 2nd in her age group and won a certificate.
Successful Industry-Academia Summit on Translational Research in Rehab Care
The College of Health Sciences organized and hosted the second annual summit of the Allied Health Research Institute (AHRI) September 8-9, 2008, here at ODU.
This year's theme, Translational Research in Rehabilitation Care, has addressed recent scientific advances in rehabilitation care. About 30 institutions were represented by distinguished speakers and panelists including Dr. Gail Wilensky, Senior Economist from Project HOPE, Bethesda, MD, Dr. Andrew Schwartz, Professor of Neurology from the University of Pittsburgh, PA, Dr. Richard Oliver, Board President of the AHRI and Dean, MU School of Health Professions, Dr. Kurt Hofelich, Vice President of advanced imaging and rehabilitation, Sentara, Dr. John H Short, President and Chief Executive Officer, RehabCare. Dr. Martha L Walker, Chair and Program Director, School of Physiotherapy, Old Dominion University and Dr Jean Shelton, Chair, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Eastern Virginia Medical School and Director of Rehabilitation at Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters.
Presentations extensively elaborated the challenges and outcomes associated in rehab care with a particular focus on effectiveness, cost and clinical applicability of intervention programs. A Deans-CEO panel also discussed the clinical and policy issues in selecting the most effective rehabilitation services for patients following acute care. The conference is organized by Dr. Andrew Balas, Dean of the College of Health sciences and the actual event took place at the Ted Constant Convocation Center.
The AHRI is a non-profit organization comprised of employers, academia and other members aiming at promoting the field of allied health by unifying stakeholders, qualified professionals and efficient models of care in order to develop better and effective health care. The objectives of AHRI include,
- Creating a central data repository to collect and analyze clinical outcomes for the purpose of establishing industry and academic-supported, evidence-based practice patterns
- Promoting awareness and advocacy of public and private sector policies that support growth, effective and higher quality standards of care
- Advancing education and training to better integrate curriculum and accreditation requirements with the needs of patients and employers.
More information about the AHRI is available at (www.theahri.org)
College of Health Sciences New Appointments
The College of Health Sciences is pleased to announce the appointments of Jim English as the Interim Chair of the School of Community and Environmental Health and Dr. George Maihafer as the new director of the College of Health Sciences PhD program.
Jim has been a part of Old Dominion University for many years and has helped improve educational programs. He has also served as an active member of the Faculty Senate and earned an excellent reputation in the public health community in this area.
Dr. Maihafer, former chair of the School of Physical Therapy and current chair of the University Institutional Review Board, will serve as the new PhD program director. His professional background and familiarity with the program will be valuable in the advancement of the PhD program.
College of Health Sciences Nursing Professors Receives a $765,000 Grant for Research in Cultural Competency
Nursing professors Carolyn Rutledge and Laurel Garzon received a $765,000 grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to revise the Masters Level Nurse Administrator program and enhance the post masters Nurse Educators Program in order to address issues of Cultural Competency, Health Disparities, and Barriers to care.
With this research, both groups will develop the interpersonal knowledge and skills needed to work with diverse co-workers, staff and/or students. The project will address problems such as large portions of the populations that do not receive adequate healthcare. This is partially due to the shortage of qualified clinically trained Nurse Educators and Administrators that are prepared to address the needs of the underserved and culturally diverse populations.
College of Health Sciences Now Offers a Post-baccalaureate Certificate in Molecular Diagnostics
Old Dominion University College of Health Sciences is now offering a new post-baccalaureate Certificate in Molecular Diagnostics beginning this Fall Semester, 2008. The certificate program is designed to provide the fundamental principles, advanced applications and laboratory skills needed for molecular diagnostic and molecular biology procedures conducted in a clinical or research environment. It is intended for those individuals with a baccalaureate degree in Medical Technology, Cytotechnology, Biology, Bioengineering or related health disciplines who wish to enhance their lab expertise and knowledge in molecular-based methods.
The program will provide solid didactic preparation for qualified professionals seeking certification in molecular pathology by the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) or in molecular biology by the National Credentialing Agency (NCA) for Laboratory Personnel. It will also convey valuable background foundation and training for graduate or BS level students in biology and related fields who seek employment in basic science, industrial and pharmaceutical research labs.
The 12-15 credit certificate can be completed in 2 semesters. Classroom lectures and lab sessions will be offered in the evening to accommodate schedules of working professionals.