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Results: 411 news stories

EHS faculty speak at regional emergency health care system conference

 

Faculty from the Department of Emergency Health Sciences served as panelists on topics including stroke response, cardiac system process improvement and pulmonary embolism during the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council (STRAC) annual conference.

Ambulance in traffic

Adult aphasia program provides opportunity to improve communication skills — and build community

 

By Kate Hunger          

A sense of isolation can be a familiar feeling among people with aphasia, a condition that affects a person’s ability to communicate. Yet this summer, 28 people with aphasia and their family members came together for a program designed to strengthen their communication skills — and their sense of community.

Asphasia program participant works with graduate students

Occupational therapy professor Kimatha Grice to retire

 

By Kate Hunger

Associate Professor Kimatha Grice, OTD, OTR, CHT, found her future profession in the library stacks at Texas A&M University.

“I was researching schools for physical therapy, and I came across occupational therapy,” she said. “I started reading up on it, and I thought, ‘That sounds really interesting — it sounds more like me.’ That’s how I ended up in OT school, and I  never looked back.”

Dr. Kimatha Grice

Speech-language pathology program offered two pediatric summer programs

 

By Kate Hunger

Two community-based pediatric speech and language programs offered this summer by the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders helped children get ready for the new school year and gave graduate speech-language pathology students valuable clinical experience.

pediatric speech and language summer program

Reeve Foundation awards impact grant to PT professor for her spinal cord injury rehabilitation research

 

By Kate Hunger

Assistant Professor Selina Morgan, PT, DPT, NCS,  has received an impact grant from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation that will help support her research and rehabilitation work with patients with spinal cord injury.

Assistant Professor Selina Morgan

ICU simulation prepares PT, OT and nursing students for work as an interprofessional team

 

By Kate Hunger

An interprofessional intensive care unit simulation activity this spring was timed just right for the 118 physical therapy, occupational therapy and nursing students who participated.

Held in April before doctoral PT and OT students began clinical rotations and the 4th-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing students graduated, the activity gave students the opportunity to learn firsthand about the roles of other health professions in the ICU — and to practice their own skills.

Embracing an interprofessional approach

Students practice IPE ICU simulation activity

Helping people is a way of life for new PA Studies professor

 

By Kate Hunger

Growing up in Khartoum, Sudan, Assistant Professor/Clinical Micheal Habeab, MBBS, MS, witnessed the effects of widespread poverty. He decided to dedicate his life to helping others.

“My aim was to help poor people as much as I can,” said Dr. Habeab, who joined the School of Health Professions on June 1 as faculty for the Master of Physician Assistant Studies program at the Laredo campus, where he will begin working in July.

Micheal Habeab, assistant professor/clinical, PA Studies

Medical sciences professor brings COVID-19 lab experience to new role

By Kate Hunger

Assistant Professor/Clinical Guillermo Nunez, MLS (ASCP)CM, has experienced UT Health San Antonio as a master’s and PhD student, a member of the COVID-19 Rapid Response Team and most recently, as a faculty member in the new Bachelor of Science in Medical Sciences program.

Assistant Professor/Clinical Guillermo Nunez

OT professor elected to RESNA board, co-presents workshop at European Seating Symposium

By Kate Hunger

Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy Ana Allegretti, PhD, OTR, ATP, has been elected to the board of the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA).

Dr. Allegretti, a long-time member of RESNA and is as an associate editor for its journal. Born and raised in Brazil, she said she will bring an international perspective to the board during her three-year term, which begins in August. One of her goals as a board member will be to increase access to the organization’s resources by clinicians around the world.

Dr. Ana Allegretti

Professor George Kudolo receives Spectrum Award

 

Department of Health Sciences Chair and Professor George Kudolo, PhD, CPC, FAIC, FAACC, received the 2022 School of Health Professions Spectrum Award.

The Spectrum Award recognizes faculty for all-around excellence and exceptional contributions in teaching, research and service.

“I am proud of the award because it takes into account all the missions of UT Health,” Dr. Kudolo said. “I’ve always tried to do my best in everything I do. There’s a saying if a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. It was a surprise, and I am very thankful for the recognition.”

Dr. George Kudolo, 2022 Spectrum Award winner

UT Health San Antonio holds second rehabilitation research day

Third-year Doctor of Occupational Therapy students Tina Bittle, Paige Beeney and Cristina Martinez developed their interest in research while working on a project with a local high school to provide modified ride-on toy cars to young children with physical disabilities.

The three presented “Partnering with community organizations to address early mobility,” one of 39 research posters at UT Health San Antonio’s second annual Rehabilitation Research Day, held May 13 on campus.

Third-year occupational therapy students present their research post at UT Health San Antonio’s Rehabilitation Research Day.

SHP students inducted into allied health professions honor society

Fifty School of Health Professions students were inducted May 5 into the campus chapter of the Alpha Eta Society, the national honor society of the allied health professions.

The induction ceremony was held virtually, said chapter president and Associate Professor of Physical Therapy Martha M. Acosta, PhD, PT, GCS.

The Alpha ETA Society emblem

PT students perform health screenings at senior center

Third-year physical therapy students performed health screenings on April 27 during a health fair at the District 2 Senior Center in San Antonio.

The screenings were part of a Lifespan course PT students take in the final semester of their program, said Associate Professor of Physical Therapy Martha M. Acosta, PhD, PT, GCS.

Student helping an elderly patient at a senior center

PA students don white coats, take oath

The 61 students in the Physician Assistant Studies Class of 2024 donned their white coats and received their pins during a May 18 ceremony recognizing both their entrance into the profession and their new responsibilities.

“Physician Assistants are not physicians, but practice medicine under the supervision of licensed physicians, and necessarily our training program follows that of the medical model of education,” said Paul B. Allen, Sr., DSc, MPAS, PA-C, FAAPA, associate professor, program director and chair of the PA Studies program.

PA student receiving her white coat on stage

At all-school commencement, graduates walk across stage and into health care workforce

National occupational therapy conference held in San Antonio

By Kate Hunger

The American Occupational Therapy Association held its annual conference in San Antonio March 31–April 3, the first time the annual gathering has included an in-person option in three years.

Attendees of the American Occupational Therapy Association Annual Conference held in San Antonio in spring 2022.

PA Studies Class of 2021 posts 100% first-time pass rate on national exam

By Kate Hunger

Every student in the Master of Physician Assistant Studies Class of 2021 passed the profession’s national certifying exam on the first try.

The 100% first-time time pass rate on the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE) is well above the national average of 93%, said Associate Professor Paul Allen, Sr., DSc, MPAS, PA-C, FAAPA, program director and chair of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies at UT Health San Antonio. “Our personal benchmark is that we want to score at or better than the national average,” Dr. Allen said.

PA student practices clinical skills

Doctor of Physical Therapy students receive white coats and pins

By Kate Hunger

The Doctor of Physical Therapy Class of 2023 received its white coats and pins in a ceremony marking the transition from classroom learning to caring for patients.

“The students are deemed ready to start seeing patients during their full time clinical rotations,” said Department of Physical Therapy Chair and Associate Professor Greg Ernst, PhD, ECS. “They will complete a total of 34 weeks of full time rotations in a variety of settings, including inpatient, outpatient, neurologic rehabilitation, musculoskeletal rehabilitation and others.”

Doctor of Physical Therapy students wear their white coats at ceremony

Physician Assistant Studies department chair receives Presidential Award

By Kate Hunger

Thirty years ago, Paul B. Allen, Sr., DSc, MPAS, PA-C, FAAPA, FSAPA, associate professor, chair and program director of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies at UT Health San Antonio, would not have guessed his future included leading an effort to increase the number of health care providers in the Laredo area.

In fact, Dr. Allen wasn’t expecting to work in health care at all. When he joined the U.S. Army, he was selected for training as a Special Forces medical sergeant, not as a Special Forces weapons sergeant, as he had hoped.

Paul B. Allen, Sr., associate professor, chair and program director of the Department of PA Studies

MLS student earns spot in public health program at the University of Michigan

By Kate Hunger

 

Three days after Alana Rubio graduates this May with her bachelor’s in medical laboratory sciences, she will begin a 10-week program at the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan.

Medical laboratory sciences bachelor's student Alana Rubio

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