School of Health Professions News

School’s new Ph.D. program to launch in Fall 2020

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

By Kate Hunger 

The School of Health Professions is adding a Ph.D. in Health Sciences to help meet the demand for allied health faculty and researchers with doctoral degrees.

The program also will help support evidence-based practice and outcomes research in allied health, said School of Health Professions Dean David C. Shelledy, Ph.D., RRT, FAARC, FASAHP.

“This will be helpful for our school, other schools of allied health in Texas and for colleges and universities around the country,” Shelledy said.

PA and OT departments host graduations

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

By Kate Hunger

The Departments of Occupational Therapy and Physician Assistant Studies held their graduation ceremonies on Dec. 13.

The Occupational Therapy master’s students represented the final class of MOT students to graduate from the Department of Occupational Therapy, which has transitioned from a master’s program to a doctoral program. The ceremony represented a “culmination and a close to our MOT program,” said Associate Professor and Department Chair Bridgette Piernik-Yoder, Ph.D., OTR.

MLS students participate in interprofessional educational experience

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

By Kate Hunger 

First-year medical students and first-year medical laboratory science students learned how to improve communication between clinical staff and the laboratory during an inaugural interprofessional educational experience in November.

“We worked through a few of the common barriers to communication between the clinical staff and the laboratory,” said Assistant Professor Cordelia Kudika, MA, CHS (ABHI), who also is director of clinical education for MLS.

Physical Therapy faculty member publishes article comparing regenerative injections to corticosteroids for treatment of tennis elbow

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

By Kate Hunger

Regenerative injections are more effective for long-term healing of tennis elbow than corticosteroids, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis by Assistant Professor Julie Barnett, PT, D.P.T., MTC.

OT alumna receives award from TOTA

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

By Kate Hunger 

Kathryn Crane, OTR, (MOT ’17) received the 2019 Horizon Award from the Texas Occupational Therapy Association at its annual conference on Nov. 2.

The award acknowledges outstanding contributions to the profession by an occupational therapy practitioner who has been in the profession for fewer than five years. 

PA students research the impact of a smartphone app on patients’ health insurance literacy

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

By Kate Hunger 

Health insurance can be complicated and intimidating, says Ana Diaz, a Physician Assistant Studies student set to graduate in December. 

That’s why Diaz, along with nine Physician Assistant Studies students, two medical students and four pharmacy students, participated in an interdisciplinary, community service-learning project aimed at increasing community health literacy.  Their goal: To test the effectiveness of a smartphone app designed to improve community health insurance literacy in a clinical setting. 

Speech-language pathology professor, students present at community engagement symposium

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

By Kate Hunger 

A professor and two graduate students from the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders’ speech-language pathology program participated in the 2019 Institute for Integration of Medicine & Science (IIMS) Community Engagement Symposium.

PA students present at international healthcare communication conference

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

By Kate Hunger 

Health insurance can be complicated and intimidating, says Ana Diaz, a Physician Assistant Studies student set to graduate in December. 

AARP Texas features EHS instructor in video

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

By Kate Hunger 

Department of Emergency Health Sciences adjunct faculty instructor Conrad M. Gonzales, Jr., is featured in a video by AARP Texas.

The video was posted on the AARP Texas Facebook page in September to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month. In it, Gonzales shares his personal philosophy.

“I look at it this way: If I can save a life, I have made a difference, and I think that’s my passion – to try to make a difference,” he says.

PT professor co-authored article that finds increased prescription of medication for patients with KOA

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

By Kate Hunger

Physical Therapy Assistant Professor Gustavo Almeida, PT, Ph.D., co-authored an article accepted for publication in Arthritis Care and Research that shows an increase in physician prescriptions for medication and a decrease in physical therapy referrals and lifestyle counseling for patients with knee osteoarthritis.