Tag: Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences

DO/MPH Student Awarded Good Skin Knowledge Grant

Marina Handal, a third-year Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine and Master of Public Health student, has been awarded a 2025 Good Skin Knowledge grant from the American Academy of Dermatology.

Her project created a four-module lesson plan using arts and crafts to teach students about skin health and sun safety at the Fuller Center in Boca Raton, Fla. Handal and her sister, Jenna, a senior biology major in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, built models of the skin, drew pictures of the sun and created UV bracelets that changed color with sun exposure.

“We feel very humbled to have represented NSU public health through this service activity,” the sisters said. “We are thankful to our mentors from public health who have set fantastic examples of what it means to be an active team player in the community.”

Posted 04/07/24

Audiology Students Participate in Guatemalan Service Trip

NSU Audiology team: Catherine Regan and Alexis Sullivan, second-year student Katelyn Jacobsen and Professor Jackie Davie, Ph.D.

NSU Audiology students were invited to take part in the Florida State University Communication Science and Disorders’ 10th annual service trip, titled
“Help Guatemala Hear.”

The team, including fourth-year students Catherine Regan and Alexis Sullivan, second-year student Katelyn Jacobsen and Professor Jackie Davie, Ph.D., spent the last week in January in Sololá, Guatemala. The trip involved conducting hearing evaluations, examining outer and middle ear health, cleaning ear canals and fitting hearing aids.
The team assessed 211 patients, including several who were referred for further medical evaluation. Forty-six repeat and 134 new users of hearing aids were given amplification devices donated by Signia and ReSound Hearing Aid, while other supplies were funded by private sponsors. The team gave more than 50 Aquaphor creams and 25 Eucerin shampoos to two individuals suffering from harlequin ichthyosis, a genetic skin disorder.

The doctoral students said they appreciated the opportunity to mentor undergraduate students. The team noted how grateful many of the people were for their help.

Posted 02/18/24

Professor Teaches Asset Mapping in Rural Alabama

Moya L. Alfonso, Ph.D., MSPH, gave participatory asset mapping training to the Blackbelt Community Foundation in Camden, Ala., as a part of a community-based participatory research project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The training was part of the foundation’s Interdisciplinary Research Leaders Program. Alfonso is the program director of the Ph.D. and DHSc doctoral programs in health science and an associate professor of health science in the Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences. Her expertise includes community-engaged research, program evaluation, addiction and recovery, and adolescent health.

Alfonso was invited to teach coalition members to use asset mapping, which is the mapping of resources in local communities with the intent of building on the assets to create change. Her workshop was a part of a series to educate coalition members on a variety of topics, including racism, decolonizing nutrition, accessing resources and advocacy. Asset mapping is being used to reframe the narrative around childhood obesity – focusing more on health than body size and weight – and identify the structural causes of health problems. Coalition members learned how to use asset mapping with community members to identify local resources that could contribute to addressing obesity and racism in rural Alabama.

You can read more about the project here: https://irleaders.org/team/centering-the-lived-experience-of-head-start-families-to-investigate-intersections-of-structural-racism-rurality-and-childhood-obesity/.

Posted 02/04/24

NSU Receives Approval by Top University Accrediting Body

Dr. Belle Wheelan, President of SACSCOC with NSU President and CEO George L. Hanbury II

Nova Southeastern University received notification from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) that our Fifth-Year Interim Report has been successfully accepted with no additional reporting requested.

SACSCOC is the body for the accreditation of degree-granting higher education institutions in the Southern states. It serves as the common denominator of shared values and practices primarily among the diverse institutions in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Latin America and certain other international sites approved by the SACSCOC Board of Trustees that award associate, baccalaureate, master’s, or doctoral degrees.

The Commission also accepts applications for membership from domestic institutions in the other 39 states, as well as international institutions of higher education around the world.

Congratulations to all for this recognition of NSU as a preeminent university of quality and distinction!

Posted 12/05/23

FY2025 PRG and QOL Grant Cycles Now Open

The FY 2025 President’s Research Grant (PRG), formerly the Presidents Faculty Research Development Grant (PFRDG), and Quality of Life (QOL) grant cycles are now open! This year the application process will take place on Cayuse Sponsored Projects, NSU’s new grant management system. Applications are due via Cayuse no later than January 22, 2024, 5:00 p.m.. More information, as well as application instructions, can be found on the PRG and QOL websites, linked below. Through these programs, eligible faculty may apply for internal grants of up to $15,000 in support of a variety of research and scholarly activities. PRG and QOL are tremendous opportunities to obtain support for research and scholarship at NSU, and to build faculty research capacity that can be leveraged toward external funding pursuits.

For more information about how to apply and program guidelines, visit the PRG program website here and the QOL website here. For questions, please contact PRG@nova.edu or QOL@nova.edu.

Posted 12/10/23

Neuroanatomy SLP Students Take Part in 5 Acts of Kindness

Fabulous five neuroanatomy students, from left are Carly Burch, Eden Pressley, D’Shante Lightbourne, Sarah Kazden and Julie Fumero.

Jillian Yaw Ching, M.S., CCC-SLP, at the hydrocephalus walk

Tambi Braun, SLP.D., CCC/SLP, SLP associate professor, always starts her first day of the semester undergraduate neuroanatomy class with a discussion on positivity and neuromapping, and how kindness and community collaboration are essential to wellbeing. The students took part in five acts of kindness over the course of the semester. The students donated toward adjunct faculty member, Jillian Yaw Ching, M.S., CCC-SLP, participation in the South Florida Walk to End Hydrocephalus, https://www.hydroassoc.org/event/south-florida-walk-to-end-hydrocephalus/.

Yaw Ching also gave a guest lecture on hydrocephalus in the class. The students were sponsored by community members to donate items to Meals on Wheels South Florida for their holiday collection, https://www.mowsoflo.org/.

Plantation community members donated baby clothes to the students for local babies in need. A child’s bicycle and booster seats were donated to a local special needs family and the final act of kindness was groceries for thanksgiving to a local teacher. Braun and the students read inspiring quotes of gratitude and motivation in class as they discussed literacy and language in the corresponding areas of the brain.

Posted 11/26/23

Professor Presents Dementia-Related Research in England

Adithya Chandregowda, Ph.D.

Adithya Chandregowda, Ph.D., from the Department of Speech-Language Pathology at NSU presented a research poster titled “Assessment and Management of Dynamic Aphasia in the Context of Frontotemporal Dementia” at the 61st annual meeting of the Academy of Aphasia (AoA) hosted by the University of Reading, England, UK.

His research sheds light on a lesser-known manifestation of frontotemporal dementia referred to as “dynamic aphasia.” Unlike other variations of aphasia, individuals with dynamic aphasia perform well on clinical tests of naming, verbal repetition, auditory-verbal comprehension and reading, but they have substantial difficulty during conversations. They struggle to answer open-ended questions/requests (e.g., “Tell me about your hobbies”) and it is proposed that they have a breakdown at the stage where thoughts are converted into verbal messages (i.e., the thought-verbal interface).

Through his research, Chandregowda hopes to increase awareness about this clinical condition and contribute to the development of appropriate assessment and management strategies for clinical practice. His presentation at the AoA meeting was well received.

Posted 11/05/23

Sonography Department Faculty Awarded SDMS Fellow Status

Catherine Rienzo, Ed.D., RT(R) (ARRT), RDMS, FSDMS, SDMS and SDMS foundation immediate past president, congratulates Cathie Scholl after Kevin Evans, Ph.D., awards her the Fellow medal.

Cathie Scholl

Cathie Scholl, faculty member of the Bachelor of Science in Cardiovascular Sonography program, was awarded the title of Fellow of the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (SDMS) at their recent annual conference in National Harbor, Maryland.

The SDMS Fellow membership category recognizes the lifetime achievement of individual members who have made outstanding contributions to the field of sonography and to the SDMS.

This is a prestigious and much sought-after honor in the profession. SDMS has approximately 28,000 members and elevates only two members per year to Fellow, with only 80 SDMS Fellows in total.

Posted 11/05/23

Speech-Language Pathology Welcomes Former NBA Player

When Michael Kidd-Gilchrist recently sat in front of Nova Southeastern University speech-language pathology faculty and students, he made one thing clear: “I don’t like talking, and I never will.”

He told the crowd about times he spent in the principal’s office after his teacher asked him to read aloud in class and he refused.

His actions were not a product of disobedience, he says, but a part of what would be a lifetime of dealing with a stutter.

“It’s lonely,” said the National Basketball Association veteran and University of Kentucky Men’s Basketball Champion to a crowded room of students, faculty, and members of the stuttering community on Wednesday, Oct. 25, at NSU.

Kidd-Gilchrist calls himself lucky, though, despite his stutter. His towering height and athletic abilities have not only brought him success, but often provided a way to mask his condition. When his family was looking at colleges, he said, they sought out campuses with clinics. UK was a perfect fit, allowing Kidd-Gilchrist to play basketball for legendary Wildcats Coach John Calipari, and also have an opportunity to work with his first speech-language pathologist.

“I remember a time when I didn’t want anyone to know about my stutter,” he said. “When I entered speech therapy at the University of Kentucky, I told my therapist that I didn’t want anyone to know.”

As his connection with his therapist grew, Kidd-Gilchrist learned how to use a metronome to time his speech and also developed ways of overcoming adversity both physical and mental.

“My speech-language pathologist helped me start to understand that I wasn’t broken,” he said. “She was always there for me.”

Yet there still were struggles. Being good at basketball meant being in the spotlight. And being in the spotlight meant the dreaded microphones and interviews.

“I felt like I was teased in the media and couldn’t say anything back,” Kidd-Gilchrist said.

After being drafted in 2012 by the NBA as the second overall pick of the first round, Kidd-Gilchrist played in the NBA for nine years, mostly with Charlotte. While spending time in the NBA “bubble” in 2020, Kidd-Gilchrist began reflecting on his journey as a person who stutters. He wanted to turn his knowledge and experience into something that would help others who stutter.

“I have a responsibility to speak out for others,” he said. “Not because I have to do it, but because I want to do it.”

In 2021, he founded Change & Impact, Inc., a stuttering initiative with a mission to improve access to health care and expand services and resources for those who stutter.

NSU speech-language pathology Professor Rachel Williams, the facilitator of Kidd-Gilchrist’s university visit, explained that often stuttering sessions are not covered by insurance, because stuttering is a condition that has no definitive end point.

Since Change & Impact’s inception, Kidd-Gilchrist has been on a national speaking circuit visiting universities, hospitals, stuttering camps, and support groups. His goal is to raise awareness about gaps in the health care system for those who stutter, and the medical need to improve speech therapy insurance coverage for stuttering.

Kidd-Gilchrist shared his life as an SLP patient, student, father, husband, and basketball player during his visit to NSU. Besides his speaking engagement, he met with top administrators with the Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences, received a tour of the Davie Campus, and also toured NSU’s speech-language pathology clinic. He closed his visit at NSU by thanking the students and faculty who have pursued the speech-language pathology field.

“I appreciate that you wanted to get into this field,” he said. “In doing so, you have an opportunity to help someone.”

To learn more about Change & Impact, visit www.changeandimpactinc.org

Posted 11/05/23

Faculty Elected State President of Athletic Trainers Association

Pradeep R. Vanguri, Ph.D.

Pradeep R. Vanguri, Ph.D., LAT, ATC, professor in the Department of Health and Human Performance (HHP) in the Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences, was elected president of the Athletic Trainers’ Association of Florida (ATAF). Having previously served as the education committee chair, secretary, and vice-president, Vanguri is currently serving a one-year term as president-elect before officially entering the role of President in January 2024.

ATAF is the fourth-largest state association, by membership, in the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) and the largest state association within the Southeast Athletic Trainers’ Association (SEATA). The president of ATAF serves as the leader of the state association and a member of the district (SEATA) board of directors. Through these leadership roles, the ATAF president directly supports the practice of over 2000 athletic trainers in Florida and influences policy at the district level.

Pattie Tripp, Ph.D., LAT, ATC, current ATAF president, states, “I started serving within ATAF as a member of the Education Committee, chaired at the time by Dr. Vanguri. During the past 15 years our organization has expanded membership support, recruited diverse individuals, and provided evidence-based information through our symposium educational sessions and committee resources.”  During his time on the ATAF Board, Vanguri also contributed to the revision and update of the rules and regulations for the Florida Board of Athletic Training which affected the practice for athletic trainers working with lobbyists, lawyers, and state government officials.

NATA Hall of Fame member Frank Walters, Ph.D., LAT, ATC states, “The role of the incoming ATAF president carries great significance, and Dr. Vanguri past service, leadership, and experience serves as a testament to his commitment and dedication to advancing our profession. He is an individual with a strong track-record of clinical, administrative, and professional organization knowledge.” As president, Vanguri can pave the way for innovation, professional growth, and improved professional standards in Florida for athletic trainers.

Posted 11/05/23

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