Professional Notes: October 2021
A round-up of awards, presentations, papers and the other professional achievements of SLU faculty, staff members and students.
Faculty and Staff
Oscar A. Cruz, M.D. (Ophthalmology) has been appointed president of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS). Cruz is the 47th President of AAPOS. Marshall Parks, M.D. (SOM '43) was the inaugural president of AAPOS. Cruz is the first AAPOS president with ties to SLU since Parks.
Kathryn Dortch (Department of Corporate and Foundation Relations) has been chosen as the winner of this year’s Joyce Huelsmann Outstanding Staff Advisory Committee Member Award. Dortch, a development officer, received the award for her dedication to service at Saint Louis University. She has completed service initiatives such as 9/11 Day, served meals to students in quarantine and volunteered for Campus Kitchen and Gateway Greening.
She also serves on various University organizations including Women’s Commission, Saint Louis University’s Development Division Stewardship Committee, Billiken Bounty Advisory Board and Staff Advisory Committee.
Farzana Hoque, M.D., (Internal Medicine) has earned the American College of Physicians Fellowship (FACP). FACP is an honorary designation that recognizes ongoing individual excellent service and contributions to the practice of medicine. American College of Physicians (ACP) is the largest medical specialty organization in the United States.
Neal Weber (Curricular Affairs) was named the Office of Professional Oversight Excellence in Professionalism Award Recipient. Weber is the director of Instructional Design and Assessment for the Office of Curricular Affairs. Weber dedicates his time to improving the overall outcome of educational practices, learning, and instructional strategies.
Saint Louis University is a part of the regional Students and Teachers as Research Scientists (STARS) program and serves as one of five area research institutions committed to passing along a fervor for scientific inquiry. Faculty members open their labs during the summer to promising St. Louis area high school juniors. Taylor Soukup, a student working in the lab of Ajay Jain, M.D. (Pediatrics, Pharmacology and Physiology) won the Research Paper Award for their STARS 2021 manuscript. This is the top award given in the summer scholars program.
David Brinker (MOCRA) gave a juror's talk for the 8th Catholic Arts Biennial at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA.
The Learning Community hosted the Fall 2021 LC Ed Talks with featured speakers Anthony Breitbach, Ph.D. (Physical Therapy and Athletic Training), Jill FitzGerald, DPT, (Physical Therapy and Athletic Training) and Farzana Hoque, M.D. (Internal Medicine). Breitbach spoke about fostering wellness through healthy teamwork. FitzGerald talked about the importance of physical wellness and Hoque spoke about "The Power of Emotional Intelligence."
Breitbach also was the keynote presenter at the Texas Interprofessional Education Consortium's "Conversations in IPE" series on Sept. 10. His presentation, "Navigation our New 'Normal' Interprofessional Collaboration in an Evolving Education and Healthcare Paradigm" addressed the impact of the pandemic on health professions education and health care, was followed by breakout sessions and a large group discussion.
Barb Yemm, DPT (Physical Therapy and Athletic Training) presented at the American Society of Hand Therapists 2021 Annual Meeting. In a session entitled, "The Multifactorial Nature of Heath Equity," she shared, based on her expertise and experiences, the importance of considering the experience of marginalized groups and barriers to health equity. The importance of addressing structural and social determinants of health in achieving health equity based on her work at the Saint Louis University Health Resource Center.
Tobias Winright, Ph.D. (Health Care Ethics and Theological Studies), gave an invited in-person and live-streamed presentation and participated in a round table discussion of “Justice and Peace: A Radical Reconsideration of Public Safety” at Seattle University on Oct. 7, sponsored by the Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network, which is part of the Lumen Christi Institute.
Winright also was an invited panelist on Sept. 29 on the topic of: “To Respect & To Serve: Cultivating a Mission-based Culture of Campus Policing," sponsored by Conversations in Jesuit Higher Education, Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. The panel is available on YouTube.
Nori Katagiri, Ph.D. (Political Science) gave a paper presentation in September for the Offensive Cyber Working Group (OCWG), an academia-led initiative to bring together experts to examine the conceptual, policy and practical implications of offensive cyber-activity in Britain. The paper is titled "Three conditions for active-defense countermeasures under the concept of offensive cyber."
Esmeralda Aharon (School of Medicine Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) took part in a Hispanic Heritage Month panel hosted by the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The panel discussed inclusivity in the workforce.
Kris L'Ecuyer, Ph.D. (Nursing) and Margaret Bultas, Ph.D. (Nursing) gave a keynote presentation on Sept. 12 about the experience of nursing students who graduate and enter the nursing profession during a pandemic. The presentation was at the Fifth Annual Nursing Student Forum: How we fight the COVID-19 pandemic: Research, practice, and innovations and was hosted by Boromarajonani College of Nursing, Phayao, Thailand.
Michael Rozier, S.J., Ph.D., from Public Health gave a keynote address at a Breakfast with the Bishop event in Columbus, Ohio.
Tobias Winright, Ph.D. (Health Care Ethics and Theological Studies) published an article, “How Britain's Covid Strategy Puts the World at Risk," in The Tablet on Aug. 6, 2021. Another article, “’Defund the Police’ Hits a Wall of Reality in Major U.S. Cities," was published in America on June 23, 2021.
Winright also had “American Policing on Trial,” published in the May 8, 2021 issue of the The Tablet 275, no. 9401. Finally, the article “Reckoning with Violence: Police Killings of Black Americans Are a Reflection of Our Wider Culture,” was published in the May 17, 2021, edition of National Catholic Reporter 57, no. 16.
The October issue of APTA Magazine featured research from Chris Sebelski, Ph.D., (Physical Therapy and Athletic Training) on leadership competencies.
SLU Physical Therapy and Athletic Training faculty Ginge Kettenbach, Ph.D., and Anthony Breitbach Ph.D., were co-authors on an article in Nurse Education Today: "Early-learners' expectations of and experience with IPE: A multi-institutional qualitative study". This is the third publication from the IPE Research Collaborative, a multi-institutional project examining introductory interprofessional education in multiple contexts and learner levels. Members of the IPE-RC include SLU, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-New Orleans, Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of New England.
Oluwatoyosi (Olu) Owoeye, Ph.D., (Physical Therapy and Athletic Training) co-authored a paper "Burden and Risk Factors of Patellar and Achilles Tendinopathy in Youth Basketball: A Cohort Study" in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
Students
Emily Cybulla, a sixth-year M.D./Ph.D. candidate, was awarded an NCI Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research service F30 Award, which will support her graduate work in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and her clinical training upon returning to medical school.
The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the NIH, has awarded a F30 pre-doctoral fellowship to Valerio Rasi. Rasi is currently a M.D./Ph.D. candidate (G5) within the department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, and member of the laboratory of Daniel Hoft, M.D., Ph.D.
The Ruth Kirschstein National Research Service Award supports M.D./Ph.D. students by enhancing the integration of research and clinical training. Rasi's research project involves understanding how Gamma Delta T cells inhibit the intracellular replication of Mycobacterium tuberculosis within infected macrophages through the action of Granzyme A.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) awarded $5.5 million to the Assisted Recovery Centers of America to address the opioid epidemic in the St. Louis region. The team includes Aaron M. Laxton, a doctoral student in the College for Public Health and Social Justice. Laxton is the director of behavioral health at ARCA.