Arizona Hemophilia Society annual Walk-a-thon

Eight Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health (ASDOH) students participated in the Arizona Hemophilia Society’s annual Walk-a-thon held October 17 at Chaparral Park in Scottsdale. Second-year ASDOH students — as their Dentistry in the Community project — are also partnering with the bleeding disorders clinic at Phoenix Children’s Hospital (PCH). The students will serve as oral health educators and liaisons for patients with bleeding disorders, facilitating dental treatment at ASDOH.

“Their efforts will be instrumental in fostering ASDOH’s new partnership with the hemophilia clinic at Phoenix Children’s Hospital,” said Rebecca Schaffer, D.D.S., faculty advisor.

Students who participated in the Walk-a-thon and helped to raise funds were:

D1
Erin Aying
Rita Hung

D2, Dentistry in the Community
Natalia Camacho
Anh Nguyen
Emily-Ann Cowlin
Kaimana Goo
Golnaz Pahlevanlou

D3
Maryam Meschi

Au.D. Class of 2013

ATSU’s Arizona School of Health Sciences (ASHS) Doctor of Audiology program celebrated its second-year students at the White Coat Ceremony held on the Arizona campus Oct. 16.

A total of 13 students received their white coats during the ceremony, which symbolizes the triumph and success of completing the first didactic year and the beginning of hands-on clinical rotations.

Students, faculty, and family listened to the keynote address delivered by Amy Ariss, Au.D., followed by the presentation of the white coats, the Oath, and dinner.

“I’ve enjoyed the opportunities I have had to interact with the student in the class of 2013,”  says Melanie Kropp, program manager, audiology. “They are a great bunch of students. I look forward to seeing them all graduate from our program and hearing about the outstanding clinicians they have all become.”

More than 130 students attended the career fair hosted by the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) at ATSU’s Arizona campus on Oct. 13.

“There was a great turnout, not only from the CHCs, but also from our University’s student body,” says Dustin Smith, student affairs coordinator, student services.  “The NACHC fair successfully supports the CHCs and ATSU’s student body each year.”

Regional Education Conference

Clinical Educational affairs on ATSU’s Missouri campus hosted its annual Regional Education Conference, held October 5-7. A record number of regional representatives were in attendance, including regional assistant deans, DSMEs, and rotation site coordinators.

Max Gutensohn Golf Classic

The annual Max Gutensohn Golf Classic was held October 8 at the Kirksville Country Club. Presented by the Sports Medicine Club, this year’s event benefitted the Adair County YMCA. The annual charity event, in honor of Max Gutensohn, D.O., included 18 holes of golf, lunch, and an awards banquet. ATSU faculty, staff, students, and alumni participated in the event.

KCOM faculty Eric Snider, D.O., and SOMA faculty William Morris, D.O.

More than 80 students, faculty, professionals, and guests gathered October 9 in the Connell Information Technologies Center on ATSU’s Missouri campus for the second annual Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Symposium (IBRS) sponsored by  ATSU’s Still Research Institute.

The IBRS 2010 gave local researchers the opportunity to present current research activity involving students and provided a foundation for promoting collaborative biomedical research between the ATSU and Truman State University campuses. The annual event consists of both research presentations and a keynote address. In total, 37 different research projects were presented.

Brian Degenhardt, D.O., SRI director , said he was impressed with IBRS 2010.

“The scientists did an excellent job presenting their cutting edge research in a manner that was easily understandable,” he said. “All of the research presented has the potential to answer questions that will affect the future of healthcare.”

William D. Pace, M.D., delivered this year’s keynote address. Dr. Pace is professor of family medicine and Green-Edelman chair for practice-based research at the University of Colorado. He is director of the American Academy of Family Physicians’ National Research Network, director of a consortium of practice-based research networks within the University of Colorado, and the Department of Family Medicine’s information services group.

“Attendees seemed engaged and willing to explore a fairly full spectrum of research activities from the molecular to the practice levels,” Dr. Pace said. “The collaborative effort to reach across universities was quite apparent, as was the interest in reaching across the two campuses of ATSU.”

Neil Sargentini, Ph.D., chair of Microbiology and Immunology at ATSU-KCOM and a member of the IBRS committee, hopes the event will grow in the future.

“We are tapping into only a small fraction of students involved in biomedical research, so we still have lots of potential to grow,” Dr. Sargentini said. “At this symposium, Dr. Degenhardt outlined a new research program to facilitate the development of clinical researchers starting with Truman undergraduate students and beginning medical students. This program can be expected to significantly increase the number of student presentations at the IBRS in the near future.”

Every year, ATSU’s Missouri campus holds a Unity Campaign that combines fundraising for the Faculty/Staff Campaign and for the United Way. To date, employees have committed $47,562 in support of the Faculty/Staff Campaign and surpassed its $12,000 goal, raising $12,107 to benefit the United Way. “As a unit, we make a positive difference for our students and for our larger community,” said ATSU President Jack Magruder. “I am proud to be a part of this great ATSU team as we become the pre-eminent health sciences university in the country.”

Julie Tilson, P.T., D.P.T, M.S., N.C.S

The Physical Therapy program sponsored a workshop entitled, “From Classroom to Clinic: How to Teach Evidence Based Physical Therapist Practice” on the Arizona campus Oct. 14-15.

Julie Tilson, P.T., D.P.T, M.S., N.C.S, assistant professor of clinical physical therapy at the University of Southern California, was the guest speaker for both days. Dr. Tilson is a leader in the international evidence-based practice (EBP) community and is a faculty member at the University of Oxford’s Center for Evidence Based Medicine.

Participants for the workshop included 40 residential and adjunct PT faculty members as well as clinical instructors who work with ATSU’s PT students.

“There were very dynamic discussions and the workshop served to inform everyone’s understanding of evidence-based practice,” says Pam Bosch, P.T., Ph.D., associate professor, physical therapy. “The workshop also offered our clinical instructors guidelines for assisting students with answering real, clinical questions that inform their decisions about interventions for patients.”

The Kirksville Tourism Board is now providing A.T. Still University guests a  $20 discount on round-trip flights or a $10 discount on one-way flights with Cape Air, the air service at Kirksville Regional Airport. Faculty/staff, students, alumni, and guests of the University can take advantage of this great offer through December 31, 2010.

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Robert Trujillo, D4

Robert Trujillo, D4, took first place at the American Dental Association’s (ADA) DENTSPLY Student Clinical Research Program Award presentations held Oct. 9 in Orlando, Fla., with his presentation titled, “Bioactive glass (BAG), the clinical application of BAG in the dental profession.”

The award recognizes Trujillo’s research in dental science and allows him to represent ASDOH at the Student Clinicians American Dental Association’s (SCADA) conference in Atlanta, Ga., in March 2011.