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The Physician Assistant Studies program at UT Health San Antonio celebrated its 20 th anniversary this month at a dinner attended by alumni and special guests. “Over the last 20 years, we have matriculated 822 students, adding significantly to the pool of available providers who enable access to care for patient populations across the nation,” Associate Professor, Program Director and Chair…
School of Health Professions Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs David Henzi, EdD, was inducted as a Fellow of the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions (ASAHP) at its annual conference in October. Henzi was one of five Fellows selected this year. Fellows are active ASAHP members whose selection is based on their contributions to the health professions through…
The Department of Occupational Therapy recently welcomed two new faculty members. Associate Professor Chinyu Wu, PhD, OTR, and Assistant Professor Angela Benfield, PhD, OTR, joined the department in August. Each brings research interests that will add to the department, said Department of Occupational Therapy Chair and Professor Bridgette Piernik-Yoder, PhD, OTR, FAOTA. “They are both…
One of two student teams fields by the Division of Medical Laboratory Sciences placed second in a medical laboratory science bowl competition at the Texas Association of Clinical Laboratory Science Conference. “It’s testing everything they learn in the MLS program in the core areas of immunohematology, chemistry, microbiology and hematology,” said Assistant Professor Tiffany Roerich Wafford ,, , MSTM, MLS(ASCP) CM , SBB CM , who served as the teams’ adviser, along with Associate Professor Cheryl Burns, MLS (ASCP) CM . “The actual competition was nerve-wracking at first because we had never done it before,” said second-year master’s student Molly Chapa, one of the students who competed on the team that placed second to a team from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. “We…
Faculty from the Division of Respiratory Care were well represented at the 68 th American Association of Respiratory Care (AARC) International Congress in New Orleans in November. Professor Ruben Restrepo, MD, RRT, FAARC, FCCP , Assistant Professor/Research Rain O. Rueda, MD, MS, RRT, RRT-NPS, and recent program graduates Mohanad Hasona, Kamy Walck and Morgan Newton presented a combined total…, also participated on the International Council for Respiratory Care as Governor at Large and on the Latin American Board for Respiratory Care. Also at AARC: Second-year Master of Science in Respiratory Care student Alex Bui was one of three Texas students selected to attend the AARC House of Delegates as part of the HOD Student Mentoring Program. “I wanted to attend the AARC HOD to gain more…, Two faculty inducted as American College of Chest Physicians fellows, Two members of the Division of Respiratory Care faculty were officially inducted as fellows of the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) in October at the organization’s national conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Formally inducted were Respiratory Care Program Chair and Associate Professor Rick Wettstein, MMEd, RRT, FAARC, FCCP , and Assistant Professor and Director of Clinical Education…
When she graduates from the Master of Physician Assistant Studies program in December, Carolina Gomez-Salinas will head home to give back to the community she loves. Gomez-Salinas plans to return to practice in Laredo, where she earned her bachelor’s in biology at Texas A&M International University and participated in a program that enabled her to obtain early acceptance to the PA Studies…, The appeal of the PA profession, Although Gomez-Salinas comes from a family with multiple generations of physicians, she didn’t always plan on a career in health care. “For the longest time, I thought health care was not for me,” she said. “However, by the end of high school, after exploring the different options in the health care field, I came across the Physician Assistant field. I was immediately drawn to the way that PAs…, Choosing Laredo, For Gomez-Salinas, it’s both the big things and the little things that make Laredo special — being near her family, being able to more easily visit relatives in Mexico and the all-but-guaranteed likelihood of running into someone she knows when grocery shopping, for example. “I love the culture of Laredo. You have so much of the Mexican traditions and American traditions combined throughout the…
Associate Professor Michael Geelhoed, DPT, OCS, MTC , was reelected to a second term as president of the Texas Physical Therapy Association at the group’s annual conference, held in Irving, Texas, in October. Geelhoed, who also is director of clinical education for the Department of Physical Therapy, has a range of goals for his three-year term. “My main goals are membership growth and…
UT Health San Antonio researchers will be launching two pilot studies to learn whether specific interventions help older adults build stronger neural pathways and recover better from hip fracture surgery. The two separate pilot studies each received a $50,000 grant from the San Antonio Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center., Does blood-flow restriction exercise boost neuroplasticity?, One of the pilot studies aims to determine whether the use of blood-flow restriction training affects neuroplasticity in older adults. The study is led by principal investigator Gustavo Almeida, PT, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and the Department of Orthopaedics, who has been researching the impact of blood-flow restriction exercise in older adults with…, Seeking better outcomes for hip-fracture surgery patients, Almeida is a co-investigator on a second Pepper-funded pilot project led by principal investigator, Professor Boris Zelle, MD , in the Department of Orthopaedics in the Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine. The pilot study, which will be conducted over the course of one year, seeks to determine whether a comprehensive nutritional intervention with supplementation of conditionally-…
Speech-language pathology and dental students participating in a recent interprofessional pilot project explored how their professions complement each other and how they can better care for patients with special needs. Jessi O’Brien, a second-year Master of Speech-Language Pathology student, said she has already used strategies she learned during the pilot program. “I am at a clinical placement…
Physician assistants in Texas — and all who want to learn more about the PA profession — can now listen to a monthly podcast series hosted by a UT Health San Antonio professor and created with them in mind. Launched in November, TAPA Talks is produced by the Texas Academy of Physician Assistants (TAPA) and hosted by Assistant Professor Steven “Tony” Skaggs, PhD, MPAS, PA-C ., A podcast for Texas PAs and anyone interested in the PA profession, Skaggs serves on TAPA’s public relations committee and is associate program director of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies in the School of Health Professions. He said the podcast will address topics related to Texas PAs, the PA profession and clinical care, through interviews with “Texas PAs who are dynamic within the profession, the movers and shakers in the PA community.” “For the…