Research retreat hones ideas, honors Kudolo Award winners

Time & Date

Friday, December 16, 2016

The School of Health Professions hosted its annual research retreat on Dec. 9.  

The day’s offerings included a morning workshop, which allowed faculty to “refine and renew their research ideas,” according to Dr. Kathryn S. Aultman, Director, Research Operations for the Schools of Nursing and Health Professions.

“By developing their Programs of Science, faculty can integrate their teaching, practice and research activities and stimulate their productivity,” Aultman said.

At a luncheon during the retreat, faculty and staff celebrated the winners of this year’s Kudolo Research Award, Dr. Ana Allegretti, assistant professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, and Dr. David Wampler, assistant professor in both the Departments of Emergency Health Sciences and Emergency Medicine.

The $1,000 Kudolo Award recognizes research excellence. Allegretti’s research projects include mobility in young children and the satisfaction of ALS patients with assistive technology. Wampler’s research projects include remote ischemic cardiac conditioning, and he is the principal investigator on two randomized clinical controls in the prehospital environment.

The retreat also gave students an opportunity to compete in a research poster contest, in which they shared posters on a wide range of topics created for a class project.

The contest was open to all students, and students from Occupational Therapy, Respiratory Care and the Physician Assistant Studies programs entered a total of 22 posters, said Dr. Bridgett Piernik-Yoder, associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, from which all three winning posters hail.

The winners were:

1st place

Amber Holt, Kathryn Kubista, and Carly Peters

Poster Title: Proposal to examine phone-based program on community integration for adults with schizophrenia

2nd place

Isabella Recko, Savannah Sublousky, and Rebecca Pulliam

Poster Title: Behavioral feeding intervention: Food selectivity for children with autism spectrum disorder: A research proposal

3rd place

Amy Chang, Marili Monasterio, and Sergio Rodriguez.

Poster Title: Proposal for Study on Effectiveness of UAB Dysphagia Protocol on Treating Dysphagia in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease.