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By Kate Hunger When the Department of Health Sciences Chair and Professor George Kudolo, Ph.D., CPC, FAIC, FAACC, was in college, he had a professor who delighted in delivering detailed lectures on the nervous system of the cockroach. The professor was so enthusiastic about his subject, he made a lasting impression on Kudolo. “I also wanted to be the person to make every subject I teach as…
By Kate Hunger The Speech-Language Pathology program is hosting CONNECT, a summer teletherapy program for pediatric patients. Enrollment is underway for the program, which includes two, 60-minute teletherapy sessions per week and runs through July 31. Patients in the program will be assigned to two graduate students from the speech-language pathology program. The students, who are in their…
By Kate Hunger When Rebecca Jasso reflects on what persuaded her to enroll in the clinical laboratory science program at UT Health San Antonio, she credits two people: her father and Cheryl Burns M.S., MLS (ASCP) Associate Professor. “My father, who is a fellow UT Health San Antonio graduate, led me to the degree, as he recognized my strengths in the field of science,” Jasso says. “He found the…
By Kate Hunger Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders Assistant Professor Rocío Norman, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is beginning the second year of a three-year research project through the Mentored Research Career Development (KL2) Program in Clinical and Translational Science. Norman is using the grant to continue her program of research related to language in people with mild traumatic brain…
By Kate Hunger School of Health Professions students and faculty were inducted this spring into the Alpha Eta Society, the national honor society for the allied health professions. Because of COVID-19, the campus chapter has not held its traditional in-person ceremony. A virtual induction ceremony is being discussed as a possible alternative, said campus chapter president, Physical Therapy…
By Kate Hunger When third-year Physician Assistant Studies student Kaitlyn Corbett learned about the need for volunteers to screen people entering UT Health San Antonio campus buildings for symptoms of COVID-19, she signed up to help. She ended up working about a dozen shifts. “At the time the PA clinical rotations were suspended, so I was seeking opportunities to serve in the community during…
By Kate Hunger Carrie Bartosh is a laboratory supervisor in the Microbiology Department at University Hospital in San Antonio, where she oversees day-to-day operations and performs testing within the Immunology, Virology, and Molecular sections. She earned a bachelor’s degree in clinical laboratory sciences from UT Health San Antonio and is certified as a medical laboratory scientist (MLS) with…, The role of the medical laboratory scientist, MLS provides essential data to aid diagnosing patients and is a vital member of the health care team. They use sophisticated instrumentation as well as intricate manual processes to perform complex tests on a variety of patient specimens including blood, urine, CSF, and other body fluids. They work in a range of settings, from hospital and physicians’ office laboratories to veterinary clinics,…, MLS education, training, and certification, Medical laboratory scientists earn a bachelor’s or a master’s degree and have a solid background in biological and chemical sciences. • The last two years of their education are specialized studies of human physiology and the disease processes and external factors that affect them. • Following their coursework and clinical rotations, they take a comprehensive certification exam to…, The role of MLS in COVID-19 testing, I have been involved in the initial testing of the COVID-19 assays to prove that they work as we anticipate they will (validation) and have written the standard operating procedures and training materials to pass along the knowledge and intricacies of the assays to additional staff. Before we began running any of the assays, I built the test in the laboratory information system so that we would…, A range of tests performed, As far as molecular testing in the microbiology department, we have rapid testing that can produce a result in an hour or less on our Biofire and Cepheid GeneXpert platforms. Biofire runs multiplex syndromic panels to detect and differentiate up to 27 targets (organisms and antibiotic resistance genes) that are common pathogens for that specimen type. We run the Respiratory Panel, the…
By Kate Hunger Spring and summer graduates from the School of Health Professions programs are beginning their careers at a time of significant challenge. Faculty and department leaders share their accomplishments and reflect on their hopes for the students as they launch their careers in the health professions., Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Thirty-five students graduated from the Speech-Language Pathology master’s program this spring — the second graduating class of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. “We are grateful for the Class of 2020 and the resilience and tenacity shown particularly during these unprecedented times,” said Assistant Professor and Clinical Coordinator Angela Kennedy, SLP-D, CCC-SLP. “May…, Department of Emergency Health Sciences, The Department of Emergency Health Sciences graduated students in the following programs: • Emergency Medical Technician: 23 students • San Antonio Fire Department Paramedic Class 54: 27 students • Civilian Paramedic Class: 23 students • Bachelor of Science: 10 students graduated in May; three will graduate in August and 12 in December “The COVID pandemic delayed the Department of…, Division of Respiratory Care, Seven students graduated from the Respiratory Care bachelor’s program this spring. “I am excited to have these highly trained professionals graduate and join the frontlines fighting disease and death in our community,” said Respiratory Care Program Director and Associate Professor Richard Wettstein, MMEd, RRT, FAARC. “I pray they maintain their enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge to become…, Division of Medical Laboratory Sciences, The Division of Medical Laboratory Sciences will graduate one bachelor’s student in June and 25 master’s students in August. Most of the summer graduates have found positions in San Antonio laboratories, while several have been trained in high-complexity testing and are part of a hospital’s SARS-CoV-2 testing team, said Medical Laboratory Sciences Program Director and Assistant Professor Gerardo…, Department of Physical Therapy, Thirty-nine DPT students graduated this spring, and a ceremony and reception are scheduled for Aug. 1 if restrictions permit, said Associate Professor and Interim Department Chair Greg Ernst, PT, Ph.D., ECS. The members of the graduating class have “provided thousands of hours of community service, demonstrated professionalism and altruism while taking care of patients, produced quality research…
By Kate Hunger Associate Professor Fang-Ling Lu, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, has been named chair of the Department of Communications Sciences and Disorders, effective June 1. Lu joined the School of Health Professions in 2017 as founding program director of the five-semester speech-language pathology master’s program. The program welcomed its first cohort in the spring of 2018 and graduated its second…
By Kate Hunger Asante Sebastian Contreras, a student in the Department of Emergency Health Sciences Paramedic Certification Program, died in a traffic accident one week before he was to have completed the program. The accident occurred as Contreras was driving home May 3 after finishing his shift as an emergency medical technician for an ambulance service in San Antonio. He had been scheduled to…