Professional Notes: Summer 2023
07/18/2023
Professional Notes is a round-up of awards, presentations, papers, and the other professional achievements of SLU faculty, staff members, and students.
Faculty and Staff
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Krista Lentine, M.D. (Nephrology) and Henry Randall, M.D. (Transplant Surgery). Photo submitted. |
Krista Lentine, M.D. (Nephrology) and Henry Randall, M.D. (Transplant Surgery) attended the American Transplant Congress 2023 in San Diego. At the event, Lentine was honored at the AST Circle of Excellence reception June 6 as “Outstanding Member” of the year. The Transplant Program also received the National Living Donor Assistance Center (NLDAC) Utilization Award.
Rita M. Heuertz, Ph.D. (Clinical Health Sciences) was the recipient of a multi-investigator competitive grant renewal from the DeNardo Education and Research Foundation. This grant has been through several competitive renewals, has been continuously funded for 10 years, and has had 6 cohorts of undergraduate students receive active learning experiences through research.
Farzana Hoque, M.D. (Internal Medicine) was elected as a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) of London. Since 1518, the RCP has played a significant role in public health, medical education, and research in the United Kingdom and throughout the world. Hoque also is the President of the Society of Hospital Medicine St. Louis Chapter.
David Han, M.D. (Vascular Surgery) was recently named director of the American Board of Surgery (ABS), the national certifying body for general surgeons and related specialists. Han will serve a three-year term, which began on July 1, 2023.
Daniela Salvemini, Ph.D. (Pharmacological and Physiological Science) received a new National Institutes of Health R21 grant. The NIH/NCI awarded a $389,545 grant to Salvemini and James D. Brien, Ph.D.. Despite decades of significant progress, cancer is still one of the leading causes of death worldwide. In 2020, cancer was the second most common cause of death in the US. The deadliest types are, in order, cancers of the lung, colon, pancreas, breast, and prostate. It is obvious that there is a great unmet clinical need for more effective and better tolerated cancer treatments.
Research efforts in Salvemini's laboratories led to the discovery of a novel cancer treatment that targets a unique receptor (GPR160) that is highly expressed on colon and breast cancer. The grant, "GPR160 antibody development for cancer treatment," aims to develop and test a new biologic agent that treats cancer and mitigates cancer treatment-related toxicities. The overarching goal of the program is to develop humanized monoclonal antibodies against GPR160 and move them forward to Phase 1 and 2 clinical studies for proof of concept against a variety of cancers.
Additional members of the team include John Chrivia, Ph.D., and Karen Galen (Department of Pharmacology and Physiology) and Andreu Gazquez (Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology).
Yolonda Y. Wilson, Ph.D. (Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics) has been named the National Humanities Center (NHC) newest trustee.
Wilson is a philosopher whose work focuses primarily on African American political philosophy, bioethics, feminist philosophy, law and morality, and related topics. She currently serves as associate professor in the Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics at Saint Louis University where she also is an affiliated faculty member in the Department of Philosophy and the Department of African American Studies. She previously was associate professor of philosophy at Howard University where she also served as chair of the Division of Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences. She has also worked as a visiting scholar at Duke University and at the National Institutes of Health. Wilson’s scholarly work has been recognized and supported with fellowships from Howard University, the American Philosophical Association, The OpEd Project, and the National Humanities Center, among others.
An active public scholar, Wilson was the recipient of the American Philosophical Association’s Committee on Public Philosophy Op-Ed Award in 2021. Her writing on issues related to bioethics, race, and gender have appeared in The Hastings Bioethics Forum, The Conversation, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Salon.com, and PhillyVoice.com. Her article for The Conversation, “Why Black Women’s Experiences of #MeToo Are Different,” was republished internationally and forms the basis for an edited volume on feminist philosophy and #MeToo. Her media appearances include outlets such as Al Jazeera English and The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Radio.
Anthony Breitbach, Ph.D. (Doisy College of Health Sciences) was elected by the NAP Council to the role of NAP President-Elect. Breitbach is a certified Athletic Trainer, and Vice Dean in the Doisy College of Health Sciences at Saint Louis University. He previously served as director of the Athletic Training Program for 15 years. He has served as the Chair of the Athletic Training Academy, is a member of several NAP committees, and has extensive experience and background in interprofessional work.
Christine Rose (Communication Sciences & Disorders) was recently awarded Spero Stuttering, Inc.'s Ally of Stuttering Speech-Language Pathologist designation for her advocacy efforts. The designation is an acknowledgment of 1) active and intentional training in the area of stuttering, 2) a commitment to continued training in the area of stuttering, and 3) involvement in the stuttering community via conferences, camps, or support groups for people who stutter.
Saneta Thurmon, Ph.D., (Communication Sciences & Disorders) recently received a certificate of recognition from Governor Michael Parson, recognizing "May Better Hearing and Speech Month in Missouri."
Benjamin Looker, Ph.D. (American Studies) gave a lecture at Kalamazoo College titled “The Past and Possible City: How St. Louis Urban History Can Help Us Interpret Neighborhood Landscapes of Today." The May lecture was jointly sponsored by the institution’s Mellon-funded Humanities Integrated Locational Learning project and its American Studies Program.
Rita M. Heuertz, Ph.D. (Clinical Health Sciences) presented research results at the national conference for the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. The Discover BMB conference was held in Seattle WA in March 2023. Swarming behavior of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. There is a poster abstract associated with this research presentation which can be found in the Journal of Biological Chemistry 299 (Issue 3 Supplement), 2023. Abstract 2164. DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2023.103134.
Chezna Warner (Physician Assistant Education) presented "Spiders, Ticks and Poison Leaves" at the American Academy of Physician Assistants National Conference in Nashville, TN, on May 23.
Saint Louis University's unique and innovative alignment between the University Core Curriculum and an Interprofessional Education Concentration was recently featured with presentations at national conferences. SLU Director of the University Core Ellen Crowell Ph.D. (English), Anthony Breitbach, Ph.D., (Doisy College of Health Sciences) and David Pole, Ph.D. (Center for Interprofessional Education and Research) presented "Advancing Quality and Sustainability, Aligning University Core with Interprofessional Education" at the Higher Learning Commission Annual Conference in Chicago on March 26.
Anthony Breitbach, Ph.D., Sarah Oerther, Ph.D.(Nursing) and Sarah Manspeaker, Ph.D. (Duquesne University) also presented "Collaborative Process to Develop and Assess an Introductory Interprofessional Course Aligned with University Core Curriculum" at the National Academies of Practice Annual Meeting and Forum in Washington, DC on March 31.
Mitzi Brammer, Ph.D. (Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences) was honored to be an invited speaker at three interprofessional health conferences during the 2022-2023 academic year. She presented her published research on interprofessional practice between speech-language pathologists, otolaryngologists, and gastroenterologists related to dysphagia assessment and management to a wide range of medical professionals in Paris, Rome, and Barcelona. She has also been invited and will present this research at two additional medical conferences in Osaka, Frankfurt, and Dubai. Interprofessional practice (IPP/IPE) is one of Brammer's research interests.
Genevieve DelRosario (Physician Assistant Education) gave a presentation, "The Kids are (Not) All Right: The Psychosocial and Educational Impact of the COVID Pandemic on Children and Adolescents," at the American Academy of Physician Associates National Conference in Nashville, TN on May 20.
Whitney Linsenmeyer, Ph.D. (Nutrition and Dietetics) delivered an invited national presentation, Sex and gender data collection in nutrition science: Inclusion, visibility, and accuracy, to the American Society of Parental and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) 2023 Annual Conference.
Craig A. Boyd, Ph.D. (General Studies) delivered the annual Thomas A. Perry Faith and Science Lecture at Central Methodist University on April 19. His address titled, "Evolution and Ethics: A Way Forward," addressed the various challengers normative ethics in the theistic tradition faces when confronted with the challenges of Darwinian and neo-Darwinian evolution theory.
David Brinker (MOCRA) gave a talk for the High Noon series at the High Low Literary Café titled, "Meet MOCRA: 30 Years in 35 Minutes" Brinker also served as juror for "Beyond Belief," a new exhibition at the St. Louis Artists' Guild.
For the past two years, cardiology fellows have represented Saint Louis University at several National Meetings, including the American College of Cardiology (ACC), American Heart Association, Heart Rhythm Association, Society of Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics, and many others. Cardiology fellows have also presented their research in several forms (posters and moderated posters) at the National ACC meetings over the past years under the leadership of Kishore Harjai, M.D. (Internal Medicine). Other accolades: Young Investigator Award at the American Association of Cardiologists of Indian Origin in March 2023, focusing on global health, and the award presented for research in bystander resuscitation with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in India. Cardiology fellows are also vested in promoting the future of Cardiology through the American College of Cardiology's Young Scholar Program, where Dr. Amar Shere participated in mentoring such brilliant students and presenting their research on Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation at the recent ACC 2023 Scientific meeting.
Cathleen A. Fleck, Ph.D. (Art History and the Chair of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts) recently published a book entitled "Reimagining Jerusalem's Architectural Identities in the Later Middle Ages" (Brill, 2022). The book examines how Jerusalem was creatively represented and reimagined in several intriguing Christian and Islamic artworks in the later Middle Ages (c. 1187 to 1356). The book considers how European Catholic crusaders, Eastern Christian sects, and diverse Muslim factions displayed Jerusalem’s architecture to express their interpretation of the holy city’s sanctity and influence, illuminating our understanding of its status into the modern era.
Breitbach, Pole, Crowell, Kathy Kienstra, MAT (Clinical Health Sciences) and Jessica Barreca, DPT (Center of Interprofessional Education and Research) authored a paper "Transforming Interprofessional Education Through Integration with a University Core Curriculum." The paper was published in the Journal of Allied Health in December 2022.
Kitty Newsham, Ph.D. (Physical Therapy and Athletic Training) and colleagues published a novel approach to treating medial tibial stress syndrome in intercollegiate athletes. Patients realized early, effective, and sustained relief of symptoms, Intrinsic Foot Muscle Training for Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome. Clinical Practice in Athletic Training. 2023; 6(1):1-12
Newsham also published findings from a study of different methods to train individuals in intrinsic foot muscle exercises. The addition of electric stimulation lead to faster gains, though traditional methods demonstrated similar improvements over four weeks of training. Several athletic training students assisted with this study. Newsham KR. Intrinsic Foot Muscle Exercises With and Without Electric Stimulation in the Journal of Sport Rehabilitation.
Nori Katagiri, Ph.D. (Political Science) published an article titled, "The soft underbelly of cyber defence in democracy: how interest groups soften Japan’s cyber policy" in the Journal of Cyber Policy. In it, Katagiri discusses how interest groups shape cyber strategy of democratic countries. Japan's case shows how its strategy corresponds to the powerful interests of business and lobbyist groups.
Whitney Linsenmeyer, Ph.D. (Nutrition and Dietetics) authored an invited article in the AMA Journal of Ethics: Linsenmeyer, W. Should Clinicians Care About How Food Behaviors Express Gender Identity? American Medical Association Journal of Ethics, 25(4):E287-293.
Juliet Iwelunmor, Ph.D. (Behavioral Science and Health Education) and colleagues published the research publication titled 'Tracking adaptation strategies of an HIV prevention intervention among youth in Nigeria: a theoretically informed case study analysis of the 4 Youth by Youth Project' in the Implementation Science Communications publication.
Iwelunmor and colleagues also published the research publication titled 'Sustaining HIV Research in Resource-Limited Settings Using PLAN (People, Learning, Adapting, Nurturing): Evidence from the 4 Youth by Youth Project in Nigeria' in the 'Current HIV/AIDS Reports publication.
Enbal Shacham, Ph.D. (Behavioral Science and Health Equity) and recent doctoral graduates Stephen Scroggins and Matthew Ellis, recently published the research article 'Implementing Geospatial Science and Technology to Get to Zero New HIV Infections' in the journal Current HIV/AIDS Reports.
Shacham and other researchers also collaborated to link together geospatial science and health in the research article 'A practitioner's guide to geospatial analysis in a neuroimaging context' published in the Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring (DADM) journal.
Keon Gilbert, DrPH (Behavioral Science and Health Education) and colleagues published the research publication titled "Racial Discrimination of Adolescents With Special Healthcare Needs" in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
Harold Braswell, Ph.D. (Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics) co-authored article with Dr. Mathias Schütz, "Ethicizing history. Bioethical representations of Nazi medicine." The article can be found in the May issue of the journal, Bioethics.
Terri Rebmann, Ph.D. (Epidemiology and Biostatistics) published the manuscript “Assessing classroom and laboratory spread of COVID-19 in a university after elimination of physical distancing."
Rebmann published the study 'Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Infection Prevention and Control Field: Findings From Focus Groups Conducted with Association for Professionals in Infection Control & Epidemiology (APIC) Members in Fall 2021' in the American Journal of Infection Control.
Jeevin Shahi, M.D. (Radiation Oncology) and Alexander Piening (SLU MD/PhD medical student) had their national cancer database study published in Advances in Radiation Oncology. The study found that stage IV kidney cancer patients treated with combined stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) and immunotherapy had improved survival compared to those who received immunotherapy alone. This work will advance further research in the potential benefits of combining ablative SBRT with systemic therapy in the treatment of various cancers.
Eleonore Stump, Ph.D. (Philosophy) was mentioned in New York Times in a column by Ross Douthat.
Katie Sniffen (Health and Clinical Outcomes Research) was featured in an article in the National Athletic Trainers' Association's April publication of the NATA News about the work of the NATA Athletic Training and Public Health Taskforce. Sniffen also served on two panels during the NATA COPACon virtual conference (March 31st) and the NATA Student Leadership Committee's Spring Event (April 26th) about the intersections of athletic training and public health practice.
Yolonda Y. Wilson, Ph.D. (Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics) was quoted in the article, "Artificial intelligence and medicine: Mounting risks amid the promise." The article can be found in the ACS Journal: Cancer Cytopathology (Volume 131, Issue 7 - Jul 2023).
Projects
Artful Observation is a project spearheaded by the Saint Louis University Art History Program to establish curricular and research programs based on evidence-based methods about utilizing the visual arts to help students and professionals develop their awareness of issues related to attentiveness, empathy, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Facilitator Cathleen Fleck, Ph.D., used Artful Observation techniques to enhance bias and observational awareness and facilitate conversation about diversity, equity, and inclusion with members of the St. Louis chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsels in a session at the Saint Louis Art Museum on March 31.
Students
Students in Ilene Berman's VPA 2000 class did a project focused on SLU’s allocation of funds and where students think their money goes versus where they want their money to go. The title of the project was Petals for Change: Planting the Seed for Financial Accountability. The students tabled inside the Busch Student Center for a day and asked students to place petals in two different vases: one dedicated to where a student think their money goes and where they want their money to go. Each petal’s color correlates to a different category of money allocation. Students were encouraged to write on tags explaining their reasoning for voting. The results were presented to University President Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D.
Contributors to this project were SLU students: Shelby Poore, Anthony Cova, Elsa Blaszak, Gaby Rodriguez, Jackson House, Jayden Westbrooks, Katie Knapp, Lauren Morby, Maya Kavuri, Mya Bestman, Nate Reyes, Noah Cutter, Savina Purewal, Sonny Alvarado, Tara Sabih, and Zaire Payton.
Kendyl Schmidt (Ph.D. candidate, American Studies) was invited to present a dissertation chapter the Missouri Regional Seminar on Early American History at the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy at the University of Missouri–Columbia. Schmidt also presented research at the Midwest Junto for the History of Science held at Truman State University in Kirksville, MO.
Zackary Davis (Ph.D. candidate, American Studies) presented a paper titled “King Sacrifice: Hero Worship and Individualism in US Chess Culture” at the Popular Culture Association’s national conference in San Antonio, TX.
Emily Dodson Quartarone (Ph.D. candidate, American Studies) presented a paper titled “Obscuring the Blame and Shifting the Other: The Americanization of Godzilla” at the Midwest Popular Culture Association (MPCA) conference in Chicago, IL. Quartarone won one of the MPCA’s four Gary Burns Travel Grants based on the paper.
Darby Ratliff (Ph.D. candidate, American Studies) received a competitively awarded Hilltop Fellowship for research at Georgetown University’s special collections in Summer 2023, for a proposal titled “Education, Empire, and Americanization: Native American Boarding Schools & Catholic Education in the 19th Century.” Ratliff also gave the conference paper titled “Divergence & Development: Thinking Expansively about School Archives and Native American Boarding Schools” at the NEH-Sharp Grant Conference of the American Catholic Historical Association, held in Tuscon, AZ.
Amelia Flood (Ph.D. candidate, American Studies) held a competitively awarded Margaret W. Moore and John M. Moore Research Fellowship this year for archival research at the Swarthmore College library in Pennsylvania.
Bryonie Carter (Ph.D. candidate, American Studies) was promoted to the rank of full professor in English at St. Charles Community College in St. Charles, MO.
Michael Brickey (Ph.D. candidate, American Studies) became editor of the new St. Louis–based journal Informal History, which aims to “promote the study of history through collective discovery and individual creative expression.” Brickey was featured in St. Louis Magazine with other editorial-team members.