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Grecia Almanza Castaneda wants to be a cardiothoracic surgeon, and she enrolled in the new Bachelor of Science in Medical Sciences program at UT Health San Antonio as one step toward that goal. The BS in Medical Sciences program, which welcomed its first class in August 2022, is designed to prepare students for competitive application to professional graduate school programs including medicine…
Assistant Professor Selina Morgan, PT, DPT, NCS , is the 2022 winner of the School of Health Professions’ Shirlyn McKenzie Teaching Excellence Award — but to hear her tell it, a big part of the honor goes to her students. “I love my students because they are the cream of the crop,” Morgan said. "They are so motivated to learn and that makes it all so rewarding." Morgan, who joined the faculty…
The newest faculty member in the Division of Respiratory Care encourages her students to learn as much as possible about their patients’ overall condition. “I want my students to understand that respiratory care encompasses more than just looking at a patient’s lungs,” said Assistant Professor/Research Rain Rueda, MD, MSHS MSRC, RRT, RRT-NPS. “The clinical assessment of a patient helps us…
The Department of Physical Therapy has received a $10,000 gift from Helping Empower a Life: Spinal Cord Injury (HEAL SCI) toward the purchase of a specialized piece of equipment for rehabilitation therapy for patients with spinal cord injury. Given in January, the gift supports the PowerStep SCI Research Program led by Assistant Professor Selina Morgan, PT, DPT, NCS. The PowerStep is a body-…
Carmela Delacruz was teaching English to preschoolers in Seoul, South Korea, when she realized she wanted to be a speech-language pathologist. Teaching was already a second act of sorts for Delacruz, who had taken a job with a startup company curating corporate snack programs following her graduation with a bachelor’s in telecommunications studies with a minor in business from Texas A&M…
Concussions can cause long-term deficits in communication, according to findings from a study conducted by Assistant Professor Rocío Norman, PhD, CCC-SLP. Norman and her research team wrote an article on their study findings, “ Self-Perception of Cognitive-Communication Functions After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury ,” that was published in the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology in…, , sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research, Economic Development, and Knowledge Enterprise at UTSA. Norman is part of the collaborative team led by Nicole Wicha, PhD, at the UTSA Wicha Lab: Brain, Language and Cognition , that is working to develop an electroencephalography/event-related potential paradigm to measure subtle language comprehension differences after mTBI in the…
Third-year Doctor of Physical Therapy student Kaliea Green has been selected as one of 25 APTA Association Leadership Scholars from across the country. APTA Association Leadership Scholars include PTs, PTAs and students, each of whom is paired up with a mentor and sponsored by the national APTA. The goal of the program, which runs from January through December, is to help build a diverse pool…, Q: Why did you choose to become a PT?, A:, Physical therapy has a profound effect on a person's life. The first time I saw the pure joy on a patient’s face after they were able to achieve something they hadn't been able to before, I was hooked. PTs truly make monumental changes in a patient's ability to move or function the way they want to. I always was inclined toward a medical career, but once I saw the independence PT can restore to a…, Q: What specialty/area of practice most interests you?, A:, There is a noticeable scarcity of pelvic floor physical therapists and a large patient population that would immensely benefit from PFPT. This gap between supply and demand, combined with an ability to provide care to people across known health disparities drives my interest in pelvic floor therapy. , Q: What do you hope to gain from your experience as an APTA Association Leadership Scholar?, A:, With this program, I will have access to networking opportunities, expanded awareness of issues related to physical therapy on a national level and additional leadership skills that can be passed on to future graduating DPTs. As a soon-to-be new graduate, I hope to absorb information that will help jump-start my ability to provide accessible health care to a larger population with the help of…
Fifty bachelor’s and master’s respiratory care students received their white coats this month in ceremony symbolizing the transition from classroom to clinical rotations. “The white coat ceremony is always a special event on our academic calendar as it marks the point at which our students enter clinical practice and begin changing patients’ lives for the better,” said Division of Respiratory…
Department of Occupational Therapy Professor and Chair Bridgett Piernik-Yoder, PhD, OTR, FAOTA , is a member of the Leadership Women Texas 2023 cohort. The leadership program includes women leaders across a variety of industries and aligns with her professional and personal priorities, Piernik-Yoder said. “I have dedicated my academic career to being an educator and leader at a state-supported…
Dozens of medical laboratory sciences students attended a recent professional development seminar featuring a graduate of the School of Health Professions’ Medical Laboratory Sciences program. Candice Laljer, MLS (ASCP CM ), earned a master’s in medical laboratory sciences in 2019. She works as an intermediate medical laboratory scientist at the Mays Cancer Center, home to UT Health San…