Message from the Senior Director of Online Education

tcapshawJanuary 22, 2020August 28, 2020Leave a comment

Happy 2020! Health Sciences has greeted the new decade with enthusiasm and a flurry of activity. Our new Dean Barbara Bass is onboard and the spring semester is off to a great start. We are already hard at work planning for future programs and initiatives in the upcoming years.

Our strategic plan will inform much of our work this year as we look to embody our four focus areas – Investing in People; Living Our Social Mission; Influencing Heath Professions Education, Healthcare Policy, and Practice; and Catalyzing Innovation and Entrepreneurism. Many faculty and staff are already working on key initiatives identified in the strategic plan for this first year. In the coming month, you will learn about an HS-wide service event, activity around recruiting and retaining diverse students, interdisciplinary collaborations in research and education, and the development of new strategic partnerships.

There is much to celebrate this new year: we have a new provost, a new dean, a new strategic plan, and a faculty and staff committed to drive innovation and quality in health and health care delivery through education, scholarship, and service. All the pieces are in place for us to lead in transforming health and health care delivery – locally, nationally, and globally. Let’s greet 2020 with excitement and anticipation of great things to come.

Amy King
Senior Director, Online Education

Pediatric PT

tcapshawNovember 22, 2019August 28, 2020Leave a comment

Marisa Birkmeier and colleagues made two presentations at the Academy of Pediatric Physical Therapy Annual Conference earlier this month in Anaheim, California. The presentations were titled, “Pediatric Clinical Instructor Toolkit: What every clinical instructor can use to build a foundation of teaching and learning for clinical education” and “Describing Excellence in Pediatric Physical Therapy Education.” Birkmeier also successfully renewed her specialist certification as an advanced practitioner in pediatric PT practice as recognized by the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialists of the American Physical Therapy Association. Birkmeier is with HHFR.

High-Quality Undergraduate Education

tcapshawNovember 22, 2019August 28, 2020Leave a comment

A university High-Quality Undergraduate Education Strategic Planning Committee is generating recommendations for a five-year strategic plan with measurable outcomes to attract and retain high quality-students and to guide what educational opportunities should be available to students. In remarks at a recent SMHS Faculty Assembly, President Thomas LeBlanc added his call that GW increase the percentage of GW undergraduates pursuing STEM majors. LeBlanc also challenged SMHS faculty to lead efforts in shaping new undergraduate pathways in pre-medicine and health professions at GW, which are prevalent among top research universities. To that end, an interdisciplinary faculty committee within HS met extensively and designed a proposal for a residential BSHS with an emphasis on preparing students for numerous graduate programs and careers in health care. This proposal has been reviewed with the university provost, SMHS leaders, and the architects of the MD program curriculum. We have also offered our colleagues in the School of Nursing the opportunity to explore collaborative undergraduate pathways. Next steps include integrating curricular enrichments and new elective options to ensure that the proposal meets the needs of a pre-medicine population. Then, the goal is to present the revised proposal to the university’s new provost, M. Brian Blake, who joined GW this month. HS is already leading outstanding undergraduate programs across several disciplines, and this proposal would grow our capacity through a proposed residential option, support regional pipeline efforts, foster excellent candidates for SMHS graduate programs in the health professions, and prepare graduates with a strong foundation in teamwork and health equity principles. Further, a distinctive residential BSHS program that blends science and health sciences education could help GW achieve its goal to increase STEM majors and produce graduates that are highly competitive for numerous careers in the ever-expanding health care market. Dean Barbara Bass was briefed on the proposal in September and looks forward to supporting our efforts to shape a cutting-edge curriculum and new options for distinctive, high-quality undergraduate education within SMHS.

Controlled Terminologies

tcapshawNovember 22, 2019August 28, 2020Leave a comment

The Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Children’s National is sponsoring a one-day workshop, “Using Controlled Terminologies in Health Data Analysis,” on Tuesday, Dec. 3 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Gelman Library Room 101. Seyed Miran, Stuart Nelson, and Yijun Shao of the Biomedical Informatics Center (BIC) are leading the workshop. They will review the major terminologies used in health sciences and provide an opportunity to work through common problems that arise in data analysis. ICSs, CPT, SNOMED-CT, LOINC, RxNorm, and MeSH will be reviewed. Clinicians, researchers, and graduate students are welcome. Lunch will be provided. Register here. For more information, contact ssalazar@gwu.edu.

HCOP Award

tcapshawNovember 22, 2019August 28, 2020Leave a comment

GW was named Distinguished Academic Partner for 2019 by NOVA Foundation for our Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP). Reamer Bushardt, professor and senior associate dean, accepted the award from Russ Ramsey, former chair of the GW Board of Trustees, at a dinner and awards ceremony Nov. 13 in Falls Church, Virginia. The honor recognized GW Health Sciences for its leadership in health professions education, commitment to living its social mission, and partnerships across the Commonwealth to advance statewide health workforce priorities. Attendees included leaders from across Virginia business, higher education, and government sectors, such as Virginia Gov. Ralph S. Northam and Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw in the Virginia House of Delegates. During the event, Anne M. Kress was also honored as the incoming president of Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC). The strong collaboration between GW and NVCC was lauded as an exemplar of public-private partnerships that make a positive difference for students in Virginia. HCOP, supported through a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), provides an array of stipends, scholarships, mentoring, and career counseling to students from economically and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds who are interested in health careers. Besides Bushardt, who is the principal investigator on the HRSA grant, the HCOP team includes others from HS: Marcia Firmani, Catherine Golden, Blake Harrison, Joyce Maring, Carmen Session, Maranda Ward, and Maggie Zhu. Co-investigators also include Alison Hall (SMHS Research Workforce Development), GSEHD faculty Russ Korte, and Ellen Scully. Firmani is with the Department of Biomedical Laboratory Sciences (BLS); Golden, Harrison, Session, and Zhu are all with HS Administration; Maring is with the Department of Health, Human Function and Rehabilitation Sciences (HHFR); and Ward is with the Department of Clinical Research and Leadership (CRL).

Message from the Senior Associate Dean

tcapshawNovember 22, 2019August 28, 2020Leave a comment

My wife, children, and I recently attended a community event focused on food insecurity and hunger issues within Virginia. Many volunteers came together around this important issue, representing diverse sectors like business, local government agencies, community volunteer organizations, churches, and others. One of the speakers, who shared a personal story of homelessness and hunger, offered a surprising message that has stuck with me. He talked about one of his former high school teachers that made a positive impact on his life. He said this teacher was one of the few people in his life that offered him care and support, and her encouragement had helped sustain him even during the most difficult times in his life. He then directed the crowd to think about someone who had made an impact in our lives, encouraged us to pen a note or craft an email to let them know. To honor his request, let me first say “thank you” to each of you for your dedication to your work, our students, and the important scholarly work we do in Health Sciences. I am inspired by the talent, altruism, and passion that HS faculty and staff display every day. Thinking more about the speaker's comments, did you know that one in three college students in the U.S. experiences food insecurity, among numerous other life stressors that disproportionately impact collegiates? Did you know that food insecurity is higher than the national average at GW? A 2018 report revealed nearly 40 percent of GW students face food insecurity, at its highest rates are among graduate students. As we near Thanksgiving, let us remember the important roles we play in the lives of our students–from supporting their academic success to serving as caring advisors who they can trust with their aspirations and personal challenges alike. We can make a positive difference in their lives, and how we engage them can have lasting beneficial effects. Every day, I see HS faculty and staff advocating for our students, and this is a part of the HS culture that I am particularly proud of this holiday season. Thank you for all that you do for GW Health Sciences. I wish you and your families a happy, healthy holiday season.

PAEA Presenters

tcapshawOctober 29, 2019August 28, 2020Leave a comment

Three faculty members from PA Studies made presentations at the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) 2019 Education Forum held in Washington, D.C., earlier this month. Susan LeLacheur presented, “Genomics and Precision Medicine - More than Skin Deep.” Tamara Ritsema gave two presentations: “Barriers/Facilitators to Integration of British PAs into Hospital Services” and “A Novel Method to Identify Aberrant Patient Logging.” Karen Wright and LeLacheur presented “Reevaluating Student Evaluations.” LeLacheur is professor, Ritsema is assistant professor, and Wright is assistant dean of student life and academic support, director of the PA Program, and assistant professor in PA Studies.

PT Service

tcapshawOctober 29, 2019August 28, 2020Leave a comment

This year marked the fifth year that the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program participated in PT Day of Service and the third year for helping with the Days for Girls project. Ninety people, including PT students and alumni from GW and Howard University and faculty and friends of the programs, took part in the event. The volunteers' work helped create 50 sustainable feminine hygiene kits, which will aid girls in South Sudan so they can remain in school during their monthly menstrual cycle. Special thanks to Holly Jonely, assistant professor in the Department of Health, Human Function and Rehabilitation Sciences (HHFR) and associate director of the DPT program, who helped organize the event.

Health Equity Pt. 3

tcapshawOctober 29, 2019August 28, 2020Leave a comment

The next event in the professional development series on health equity takes place Thursday, Nov. 14 from 10 to 11 am in Ross Hall 116. “How to Address Root Causes of Health Disparities in Teaching & Research” will be presented by Karey M. Sutton, PhD, director of Health Equity Research Workforce with the Association of American Medical Colleges. The session will address how to move beyond the traditional disease-focused approach to health disparities teaching and research to include an analysis of populations and interactions among cross-cutting inequities. Maranda Ward, assistant professor in CRL, has organized the five-part series that runs through January 2020. CRL is sponsoring the series. To attend, register here.

Prison Terminal

tcapshawOctober 29, 2019August 28, 2020Leave a comment

The VSTC Health Professions Film Series is featuring two screenings of Prison Terminal, a documentary about the aging prison population and a hospice run by inmates at Iowa State Penitentiary. The film's director, Edgar Barens, will lead a discussion following the showings that take place Wednesday, Nov. 13 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm in Ross Hall 101 and Thursday, Nov. 14 from 4 pm to 6 pm on the GW Virginia Science and Technology Campus, Innovation Hall 105. WebEx will be available for both screenings. Please RSVP. Lisa Schwartz, associate professor with BLS, and Newton Kendig, clinical professor of medicine and director of the Correctional Health Administration Program in CRL, organized the event, which is open to all faculty, staff, students, and alumni of SMHS.