Jefferson Review - Fall 2015

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Biomedical Sciences • HEALTH PROFESSIONS • NURSING • PHARMACY • POPULATION HEALTH

Jefferson Alumni Jump to the Top of Their Fields

Inside: Family Therapy Students Focus on Serving the Underserved

Join Jefferson alumni to explore, learn and experience the world!

As part of our commitment to lifelong learning, the Jefferson Office of Alumni Relations is launching a new Alumni Travel Program.

A varied itinerary of destinations has been selected for 2016 to combine educational forums with excursions to places of historical and cultural interest. These trips offer the highest-quality experience through our partnerships with experienced travel providers.

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Trips for 2016 Atolls & Islands of French Polynesia March 25–April 4

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Waterways & Canals of Holland & Belgium April 7–15 Sorrento, Italy June 1–9 National Parks & Lodges of the Old West July 6–15

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Majestic Alaskan Beauty July 15–25 Spain: Barcelona & San Sebastian September 25–October 4 Captivating Mediterranean October 8–16 Peru: Machu Picchu, Cusco & the Sacred Valley of the Incas October 31–November 5 Additional information on each of these destinations is available at Advancement.Jefferson.edu/alumnitravel.

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If you would like an individual trip brochure for a specific destination, or if you have questions, please contact the Office of Alumni Relations at alumni@jefferson.edu or 215-955-7750.

We hope you will take advantage of these exciting travel opportunities!

Contents Features 2

Message from the Provost

4 Embracing Every Opportunity: Alumni Go Beyond the Clinic and the Lab to Become Leaders in Their Fields 12 Listening, Not Just Hearing: Family Therapy Students Provide Community Support Food Safety: Public Health Students Take a Closer Look 16 18

Student Profile: Hirsh Sharma, College of Population Health

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Alumna Profile: Sara Meshino, BSN ’12

ON CAMPUS 22 College of Biomedical Sciences 23 College of Health Professions 24 College of Nursing 26 College of Pharmacy 27 College of Population Health 30 Class Notes 33 A Fresh Face: Kim Nixon-Cave, PT, PhD, PCS

Jefferson Review Fall 2015 Executive Vice President Elizabeth A. Dale, EdD Associate Vice President, Alumni Relations Cristina A. Geso Senior Director, Communications Mark P. Turbiville Editor Karen L. Brooks Design Jefferson Creative Services

The Review is published by the Office of Institutional Advancement to encourage alumni interest and support for the Jefferson Colleges of Biomedical Sciences, Health Professions, Nursing, Pharmacy and Population Health.

Address correspondence to: Editor, the Review 125 S. 9th Street, Suite 700 Philadelphia, PA 19107 Advancement.Jefferson.edu alumni@jefferson.edu 215-955-7750 The Jefferson community and supporters are welcome to receive the Review on a regular basis; please contact the address above. Postmaster: send address changes to the address above.

CopyrightŠ Thomas Jefferson University. All Rights Reserved.

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2 Jefferson REVIEW

Message from the Provost On May 27, 2015, Thomas Jefferson University Provost Mark Tykocinski, MD, shared the following comments at Jefferson’s 191st commencement ceremony. His remarks appear here in lieu of his standard column.

Class of 2015: You’ve been trained to provide the best of care to your patients, and to do so with the utmost of teamwork.

Functioning as critical members of interprofessional teams, many of you will also be called upon to advance research and education. My parting message to you speaks to the sense of selflessness that per force goes with such multi-mission teamwork. I draw lessons from a moon-mission astronaut and a 19th-century Greek poet.

Sitting here in majestic graduation regalia, many of you may be dreaming of making a special mark on the world — without doubt, some of you in this graduating class will do so, and garner the deserved recognition. Yes, we often like to dream big. But most of the time, each of us is simply laying cornerstones and foundational bricks for edifices that others will cap off. Often, we are initiators, enablers — fated to concede the limelight to others who finalize what we introduce. You may intercept the football, run it down field to the 10-yard line, but then lateral it to a teammate to run it in for the touchdown and the hand-waving photo shot.

Understand that this enabling role, in projects and initiatives that reach beyond us in time and place, is no less noble and remains the most worthy of ambitions.

The metaphor of “the third astronaut” capsulizes this thought.

Some of my contemporaries in the audience may remember a song by the rock group Jethro Tull, entitled “For Michael

Collins, Jeffrey and Me.” Released in 1970, one year after the first moonwalk, this song was a tribute to Michael Collins, the Apollo 11 astronaut who stayed behind as command module pilot, orbiting the moon and minding the mother ship Columbia, as his two fellow astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, descended in the L.E.M., the lunar module Eagle, and stepped into the limelight of history — the image of their feet touching the moon’s surface beamed to billions back on planet Earth and imprinted forever on mankind’s collective psyche. All eyes were on Armstrong and Aldrin; few, if any, thought about Collins — the third forgotten astronaut — who piloted Columbia almost a half-million miles round-trip, came close enough to almost touch the moon, but never set foot on it. What a powerful metaphor for the enabler, for selflessness, for teamwork.

When interviewed later, Collins claimed that what preoccupied him the most was his concern that Armstrong and Aldrin would not make it back to the mother ship, leaving him in the unenviable position of returning to Earth alone. But the lyrics to the Jethro Tull song intimated a more complex psychology at work, projecting an ambivalent Collins: I’m with you L.E.M. though it’s a shame that it had to be you.

The mother ship is just a blip from your trip made for two.

I’m with you boys, so please employ just a little extra care.

It’s on my mind I’m left behind when I should have been there walking with you.

“I’m left behind when I should have been there” — a bittersweet lament, conveying the mixed emotions of a man

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forced to watch his two partners moonwalk into history. And yet, Collins played his role, dutifully.

So sometimes as agents, we are privileged to drive accomplishments that unfold quickly, and are recognized and rewarded as prime movers. But other times, we are enablers like Collins — not privileged to carry the baton on the final leg of the race, instead destined to yield the finish-line snapshot to others.

A former colleague once shared with me a profound Greek saying: “Do the good deed and throw it in the sea.”

What is the implication? That one should never expect recognition or compensation for one’s good deeds. A wise saying, but is it entirely true? Is doing the good deed a matter of selfless giving, with no personal return?

I would opine, no. There are personal returns even for the enabler. Acts of enablement yield returns to the giver. In enabling, you are growing yourself. Acts of selflessness provide a framework for, and become part-and-parcel of, your own self-development — Nietzschean self-creation, if you will.

So, Class of 2015, like Collins, be enablers, confident that even if the limelight eludes you, what you do is important, and that you will benefit in any case, as you are on an endless journey of self-creation that is powered by your giving of yourself.

One last thought. This combination of selflessness and self-creation is best coupled to self-satisfaction. Don’t drive yourselves mercilessly with unrealistic expectations, as so many professionals are apt to do — instead, derive satisfaction from your achievements along the way, today’s graduation

being one of them. The 19th-century Greek poet Constantine Cavafy reflects in his poem, “The First Step,” on the challenge of realizing one’s professional ambitions and dreams.

Cavafy writes: Just to be on the first step should make you happy and proud.

Even this first step is a long way above the ordinary world …

To have come this far is no small achievement: what you have done already is a glorious thing.

Class of 2015, today is a first step for you. Enjoy it. Take satisfaction in it. And internalize Cavafy’s wisdom: “Even this first step is a long way above the ordinary world.”

We salute all those that brought you to this point in life — your parents and family who nurtured and supported your passion for service and inquiry. As you cross this stage, it is indeed the dreams of all of us here today that go with you. You enter a long tradition that dates from 1891, the year Jefferson’s School of Nursing was founded. It is now your turn to join, to continue and to enhance Jefferson’s legacy of service, and to perpetuate that desire to make a difference that brought you to Jefferson several years ago.

Mark L. Tykocinski, MD Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Thomas Jefferson University

4 Jefferson REVIEW

Embracing Every Opportunity Alumni Go Beyond the Clinic and the Lab to Become Leaders in Their Fields

By Kate Campbell

If you could have a conversation with leaders in the fields of pharmaceutical development, physical therapy and emergency medicine technology, what would you want to know?

More than ever, Jefferson is emphasizing the importance of creativity and entrepreneurialism in redefining healthcare. But “thinking outside the box” is nothing new to Jefferson alumni, who have been forging unique career paths to the top of their fields for many decades.

The Review recently sat down with several Jefferson graduates who have applied their degrees in entrepreneurial or nontraditional ways to examine the strategies they consider integral to their success — and to improving healthcare locally, nationally and globally.

Like many Jefferson graduates, these individuals share an unwavering work ethic and a willingness to accept the risks that come with trying a new idea. But most notable is the genuine care for patients that continues to inspire their daily work. Whether they are helping someone recover from an injury or illness, spearheading the development of a new drug or traveling overseas to conduct business, each of these alumni has found ways to cultivate success through keen observation skills, a recognition of worthwhile opportunities and a fair measure of fearlessness — all while keeping the well-being of patients and communities in mind.

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6 Jefferson REVIEW

Paul R. Sierzenski, MD, MS-HQSM ’15, RDMS, FAAEM, FACEP. Medical Director, Clinician Performed Imaging and Point-of-Care Ultrasound; Chair, Government Policy & Public Relations, American College of Emergency Physicians Ultrasound Section; Director, Emergency Medicine, Trauma & Critical Care Ultrasound, Christiana Care Health System. Photo by Rod Hampton.

Saving Lives, Reducing Costs When Paul Sierzenski was 14, his mother suffered a heart attack in the family’s Northeast Philadelphia living room. The quickthinking teenager administered CPR, his mom survived and Sierzenski felt pretty certain he was destined for a career in cardiac medicine.

But years later, as a student at the Temple University School of Medicine, he realized the pace and energy of the emergency department excited him most. After earning his MD, he completed an emergency-medicine residency at Christiana Care Health System (CCHS) in Delaware, where he served as chief resident.

Today, in addition to his clinical work and research, Sierzenski heads a successful business teaching emergency-medicine physicians and other providers how to use point-of-care ultrasound technology, a bedside diagnostic tool that is steadily gaining popularity. The technology saves lives and reduces patient care costs, says Sierzenski, who graduated from the Jefferson College of Population Health last May with a master’s degree in healthcare quality and safety. “I pursued a new degree at Jefferson because I was looking to enhance the safety and quality of my work,” he says. “I was impressed by the quality of students; they are all from different strata of the healthcare system. At Jefferson, the goal is to develop healthcare leaders.”

In 1999, Sierzenski was awarded an emergency ultrasound fellowship at Christ Hospital and Medical Center, becoming the second person in the nation selected for this type of specialized fellowship. He returned to Christiana Care in 2000 and now oversees emergency, trauma, critical care ultrasound services as well as leading research faculty for the Department of Emergency Medicine.

Sierzenski felt compelled to educate his peers on the value of and technology behind point-of-care ultrasound, which his fellowship had taught him could benefit countless patients. In

2001, he and his wife, Ellen, founded Emergency Ultrasound Consultants, LLC (EUC), with the vision of expanding point-ofcare ultrasound around the country.

“We were first in the race and didn’t really recognize it,” says Sierzenski. “It was hard-charging and nonstop in the beginning.”

Despite the demands of managing a business on top of his other responsibilities, Sierzenski has remained dedicated to growing EUC. “We train other physicians to use and safely integrate the technology, and that clinical aspect is key to our success. We have 25 contracted fellowship-trained physicians nationally certified in ultrasound who are active clinically, and they are the ones out there training our clients. It’s important to stay clinically engaged, because if you don’t, your credibility is eroded.”

Sierzenski says embracing technology has helped EUC thrive.

Trainings are often done virtually, saving attendees on the costs of traveling for conferences. The company’s contracted physicians travel to hospitals to teach point-of-care ultrasound on-site, instead of having trainees fly to a different location to learn the process.

Sierzenski witnesses point-of-care ultrasound working every day. “I recently had a 50-year-old man who came into the ER complaining of shortness of breath,” he recalls. “He had a high heart rate and used an inhaler. His oxygen saturation levels were low and it was all consistent with bad asthma. But when we ordered the POC ultrasound, it showed an extremely enlarged heart. Though he had no history of heart disease, with the ultrasound we were able to make a quick diagnosis of acute cardiomyopathy. We immediately changed the therapy, which was lifesaving for what was a fairly young man.”

The importance of introducing life-saving POC ultrasound in clinical settings is obvious, says Sierzenski. And with his recent degree from Jefferson, he plans to continue teaching more clinicians and further study the safe use and integration of ultrasound to benefit patients and healthcare stakeholders alike.

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Building an Old-Fashioned Company on a Patient-First Philosophy There are moments during her feverishly paced workday that Prabhavathi (“Prabha”) Fernandes finds herself reflecting on what she calls “the good old days.” In the early years of her research career, Fernandes would pop into a small room in the offices of Bristol-Myers Squibb where a collection of some of the company’s early products, like toothpaste, made up a quaint display.

The memory serves as something of a touchstone.

“There are no companies that start big,” says Fernandes, a scientist, researcher and now CEO of a global, publically traded pharmaceutical company. “Everything starts small.”

As a PhD and the head of billion-dollar-plus business, Fernandes relishes her role at Cempra Pharmaceuticals, which she founded in 2005. The clinical-stage company develops antibiotics for the treatment of bacterial infectious diseases.

Although Cempra isn’t a patient-care institution, “it’s still a service-driven business,” says Fernandes, who remains motivated by a drive to help patients recover from illness. Much of what she learned at Jefferson — and subsequently as a pharmaceutical researcher for almost three decades — translates to operating her own successful company. A “patient-first” emphasis remains the cornerstone of her work.

“The beauty of graduate school at Jefferson was that it was patient focused,” says Fernandes, who received the Jefferson College of Biomedical Sciences’ Alumni Achievement Award in 1996. “At Jefferson, everything was about the patient’s health and well-being, and I continue to carry that with me today.”

Fernandes says maintaining a collegial office culture is an important part of any leader’s job. “We have to speak to each as friends,” she says. She has hired many young scientists straight out of post-doctorate programs but strives for an atmosphere of equality. “It’s all about relationships — you must have respect for each other.”

After Jefferson, Fernandes worked briefly as an assistant professor at Temple University but left to lead the in-vivo microbiology group at the Squibb Institute of Research. Her work throughout her career has led to the discovery and development of many drugs. As head of microbiology for Abbott Laboratories in the 1980s, she helped develop antibiotics to treat bacterial infections, which resulted in great success for the company. She then returned to Squibb, which soon became Bristol-Myers Squibb, as a vice president in drug discovery for a decade. She later served as president and chief executive officer of DarPharma, Ricera Biosciences and Small Molecule Therapeutics before founding Cempra.

“I still apply what I know as a basic scientist to the discovery of antibiotics,” she says. “And I’m still learning every day.

Making money cannot be someone’s only goal — I want to give back to society.”

At Cempra’s headquarters in Chapel Hill, N.C., the tagline reads, “Curing infections, treating chronic illnesses, improving quality of life and creating differentiated antibiotics.” The task is both profound and basic. “I was told a long time ago to ‘focus on making the best product for the patient,’” says Fernandes. And that’s what she sets out to do every day.

Prabha Fernandes, PhD ’75 (Microbiology).

Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cempra Pharmaceuticals.

8 Jefferson REVIEW

Jeff Ostrowski, BS ’86, and Joe Ruhl, BS ’86 (Physical Therapy).

Co-founders, Excel Physical Therapy, and Managing Partners, E&A Therapy.

Photo by Kevin Monko.

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“ It’s all about how you treat the patient. It starts with the service. The secret is creating relationships.” – Joe Ruhl, BS ‘86 Relationships and Education: The Keys to Success The first office that Joe Ruhl and Jeff Ostrowski shared was “literally the size of a closet,” Ruhl recalls. But cramped quarters didn’t stop the two young physical therapists from building a now-booming business.

“We were hungry and eager,” says Ruhl, in the corporate offices of Excel Physical Therapy in Plymouth Meeting, Pa. Excel, which he and Ostrowski founded in 1990, expanded over the next two decades and in 2011 merged with Apex Physical Therapy. The merger, in which both clinics have maintained their names under an umbrella known as E&A Therapy, created the largest privately owned physical therapy practice in the Delaware Valley.

Merging was scary and the process wasn’t easy — but taking risks was essential, they agree.

“There was the risk of the unknown, change and accountability.

However, it turned out to be the best decision we ever made,” says Ostrowski, who notes that Jefferson helped prepare him and Ruhl for the ups and downs of running their business. “I expected to learn the fundamentals of PT practice at Jefferson — and was not disappointed. But I also learned how to think more critically and relate to people better. These skills have been invaluable.”

With E&A Therapy’s combined 22 locations, managing partners Ostrowski and Ruhl no longer have the time to treat patients. They’ve moved to the administrative side, shouldering marketing, business development and recruiting responsibilities for the company, which now employs close to 150 people.

“It’s a pedal-to-the-metal philosophy; you can’t slow down. There is always someone else who will take your business,” Ruhl says.

That tenacious mindset has been a blueprint for success for the friends who met as Juniata College undergraduates before moving on to Jefferson. When they founded Excel, Ruhl was working as a physical therapist at Jefferson, and Ostrowski was at Temple University Hospital, where he made a connection at a health club in the Society Hill Sheraton. The idea for a business was born.

“Jeff got to know the man running the club, and we started working there,” says Ruhl. In short order, they opened a second practice at Northeast Racquet Club and Fitness Center. The fastpaced practice taught them the importance of time management, flexibility and relentless hard work.

“Almost from the beginning, we had to rotate between the two locations,” says Ruhl. “It was just us, 12 hours a day, and 12 to 20 patients a day.” They managed every aspect of their business, from patient care to administrative tasks. “I remember sitting in my living room hand-writing bills,” says Ruhl.

Excel’s mission was simple: to help injured people return to normal activity level. As their practice expanded, Ruhl and Ostrowski learned what worked (and what didn’t) in building a business.

“It’s all about how you treat the patient,” says Ruhl. “It starts with the service. The secret is creating relationships.”

The word “relationships” is carefully chosen, adds Ostrowski, and applies to both patients and referring physicians. “If physicians trust us, we develop a loyalty.”

Another key has been investing in the continuing education of their staff. Developing talent can be expensive, Ostrowski says, but has a high return on investment and leads to low turnover.

They offer an orthopaedic residency program to staff members as well as various classes. For example, last March, employees attended a conference on body movement led by Shirley Sahrmann, PhD, a renowned neurobiologist.

Ostrowski says the physical therapy landscape is changing, with a greater emphasis on high-volume care emerging at many clinics. He and Ruhl are determined to offer an alternative to those high-volume practices, where service and quality sometimes are sacrificed.

The partners believe physical therapists share a common DNA — the same DNA that is found at Jefferson. “There’s an altruistic attitude,” Ostrowski says. “We all care about people.

We are proud of the notion that our work helps people.”

10 Jefferson REVIEW

Not Afraid of Change A Jefferson education and a career in healthcare seemed fated for Susan Callery D’Amico. Her father, Gerald E. Callery, MD ’43, was an orthopaedic surgeon who served his residency under the legendary Anthony DePalma, MD ’29, and her mother, Venita Quick, was a Jefferson operating-room nurse supervisor who became DePalma’s private surgical nurse.

“I grew up around doctors and nurses,” says D’Amico. “I think if you admire your parents and their focus on caring for patients, you want to follow in their footsteps. I didn’t think of much else other than being a nurse.”

It was important to D’Amico’s father that she and her three sisters understood his work; whether in the emergency room or operating room, taking good care of the patient mattered most.

Observing her father set her goals in motion, and ultimately she enrolled at Jefferson. “I was in the third class that graduated from the nursing baccalaureate program,” she says.

Her unique path from cardiac care nursing to vice president of R&D Quality Assurance for Abbvie, a global biopharmaceutical company, required a willingness to test uncharted waters.

Today, she travels all over the world to assure the effectiveness of AbbVie’s Quality System and implement continuous improvements to the research and development of the company’s pharmaceutical products.

D’Amico echoes the “patient-first” mantra shared by so many Jefferson alumni. “The pharmaceutical world is in a constant a race to get products to the market first,” she says. “But it’s because we believe we can make a difference in patients’ lives where there is an unmet medical need.”

D’Amico directs a global department of 170 employees and says being a leader means instilling confidence and providing mentorship to the staff. “It’s about giving them guidance and support while upholding the company’s vision, health authority regulations and the company’s policies.”

The skills she honed as a Jefferson student made her an excellent nurse and have likewise helped her achieve success in the business world. In every professional endeavor, “I ask questions and anticipate all scenarios that could go wrong,” she says. “It is risk mitigation and continuous improvement and I have been doing that all my life” — starting inside the clinic and now from her North Chicago office.

While studying at Jefferson, D’Amico worked weekends as a nursing assistant. After graduating, she worked in critical care at Pennsylvania Hospital, where one of her first patients was a woman who acquired Legionnaire’s disease, a severe form of pneumonia. “I felt an enormous amount of responsibility in caring for her,” she says. “But you have to believe in yourself and your abilities.” That confidence served her well as she navigated many twists and turns in her career.

She later went to work in Jefferson’s Cardiac Care Unit and had the opportunity to work with renowned cardiac surgeon John Y. Templeton III, MD ’41. “Expectations and pressure were high,” she remembers, but she enjoyed the work, especially making a difference in the lives of the patients. “You are working with people in a vulnerable state as they undergo open-heart surgery, and earning their trust and confidence was highly rewarding. They experience an arc of emotion and it becomes a special, short relationship.”

D’Amico eventually sought a change and took a chance on a job as a drug sales representative in 1979. She shortly realized that sales in healthcare was where she should be. A chance meeting with a former Jefferson colleague at a holiday party led her to a 30-plus-year career in research within the pharmaceutical industry.

Undeterred by fear of the unknown, D’Amico accepted an offer as a consultant at Johnson & Johnson to audit research records. This quickly led to a full-time position as a clinical research associate monitoring clinical research studies across the country. She spent 23 years at Johnson & Johnson, where she became senior director clinical operations and then moved to senior leadership in clinical quality assurance. She left to pursue a business with her husband but soon realized she missed the pharmaceutical industry. She returned in her niche of quality assurance where again she held positions of increasing authority over several years.

D’Amico joined AbbVie in 2013 and continues to focus on the future. For her, success in both the clinic and the business world has been “about being willing to take advantage of opportunities that presented themselves to me and always seek continuous improvement while challenging the status quo,” she says.

Different Paths, Same Visions Service. Quality. Integrity. Compassion. Safety. Efficiency.

Whether they conceptualized and founded a business or are heading an integral section of an international corporation, these leaders all share the same philosophies: succeeding in any healthcare endeavor involves building relationships and putting the patient first. They emanate the Jefferson tenet of providing “care with caring” — while behind a desk, in front of a conference room or in the seat of an airplane, they are still constantly dreaming up ways to make people’s lives better.

When people think of Jefferson graduates, visions of clinicians and laboratory scientists abound. But a Jefferson education prepares students to branch out beyond a traditional healthcare setting and leave a profound imprint on their chosen fields.

Alumni are an extension of the university and an important asset in Jefferson’s movement to change the DNA of American healthcare — and these individuals represent just a few of the diverse graduates who are helping to lead the way.

Susan Callery D’Amico,FALL BSN 2015 ’76. 11 Vice President, Research & Development Quality Assurance, AbbVie, Inc.

12 Jefferson REVIEW

Listening, Not Just Hearing Family Therapy Students Provide Community Support

By Molly Petrilla

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Michelle Weiss, MFT ’15, with Philadelphia Interfaith Hospitality Network Executive Director Rachel Falkove.

Photos by Bill Cain.

Every Monday and Friday for nearly a year, Michelle Weiss, MFT ’15, left her home in Huntingdon Valley, Pa., and headed to an old Victorian mansion in Northwest Philly.

She’d step in, say a few hellos, then slip into her office. There was no receptionist outside the door, no stereotypical “therapy couch” tucked in the corner, but inside that room, Weiss helped people heal.

One of those people, Tanisha Carter, met with Weiss weekly.

In spite of her master’s degree, Carter found herself with no job and nowhere to live last summer. She connected with the Philadelphia Interfaith Hospitality Network (PIHN), which provides temporary emergency housing to those who need it.

Thanks to a Jefferson master’s program, PIHN is able to offer something else, too: an on-site therapist.

“She understood things that I couldn’t even explain,” Carter says of Weiss. “Her caring and compassion and spirituality have helped me discover myself. I’m not afraid to really reveal myself to her. When I cried, she cried with me.”

As she counseled Carter and others in the PIHN day center, Weiss also worked toward a Master’s in Family Therapy (MFT) at Jefferson. A collaborative effort between the College of Health Professions and the Council for Relationships, the program

sends its students out to local schools, homeless shelters and social welfare organizations as part of their requisite clinical experience. It’s often a transformational experience for both the counselors and their clients.

Kenneth Covelman, PhD, chair of the Department of Couple and Family Therapy, says students begin working with clients about three months into the program. He acknowledges that’s on the early side, but “we believe that seeing clients and being in academia at the same time is the best way to learn.”

In shelters and temporary housing facilities, “the problems are endless and the resources are few,” he adds. “This is a very underserved population. From a mental health perspective, it’s been almost neglected. We think we’re doing something important and useful for them, and the shelters in general have really welcomed our input. We also think our students learn a tremendous amount from it.”

Joining with JeffHOPE Women and their families arrive at the Eliza Shirley House in crisis.

Some have escaped abusive situations. Others are grieving — they’ve lost homes, jobs, loved ones. They have nowhere to

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Weiss speaks with client Tanisha Carter at PIHN.

live, and Eliza Shirley is their first stop on a difficult journey. They bring their children and stay for a month or two in the Center City facility, then typically go into long-term City of Philadelphia housing programs.

When a woman comes to Eliza Shirley, some of the first people she tells about her past may be Jefferson students.

Jefferson’s Sidney Kimmel Medical College has offered a weekly, studentrun JeffHOPE clinic there since 2007, providing free adult and pediatric care to shelter residents. This year, MFT students joined their medical counterparts.

“If the med students realize a woman would benefit from talking, or if she marked on her [medical] sheet that she is depressed, they recommend her to us,” says Megan Freeman, MFT ’15, who counseled women at Eliza Shirley throughout her second year in the Jefferson master’s program. “The med students were the ones who said they thought it would be helpful to get some therapists in there.”

Freeman says the shelter’s short-term status was a challenge for therapy. Often,

she’d see a woman just once for a counseling session.

“At first it feels like you want to fix it all in one session, which is impossible,” she says. “It’s also hard to gain these women’s trust in such a short amount of time.” The solution? “We listen. We spend a lot of time just hearing them out, then take some time at the end to strategize next steps and develop some positive coping skills.”

A Multi-Faceted Problem In its annual report to Congress last year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) revealed that 15,333 people were homeless in Pennsylvania on a single night in January 2014. (For comparison, that’s more than the populations of Bryn Mawr and Chestnut Hill, Pa., combined.)

Another HUD report estimates that nearly one in three people who are chronically homeless has a mental health condition. It also claims that on a single night in 2010, 26 percent of people housed in shelters had “a severe mental illness.”

Mental illness is one of the most commonly cited causes of homelessness for single people. But in some cases, mental health issues can be the effect rather than the cause.

“Living in these shelters is very difficult for people,” Covelman says. “Just having somebody to talk with about what they’re experiencing is huge. They need somebody who will sit and listen to them.”

Through the MFT program, “we’re taking the services to the people and meeting with them in settings where mental health services are not on offer,” says Sara Corse, PhD, a Jefferson professor who created and now directs the community partnership initiative.

As Covelman put it, the problems are endless. Jefferson MFT students have helped their clients work through grief and loss, parenting after violence, anger management, improving communication, trauma, abuse, depression and many other issues.

In the two years that student counselors have worked in the PIHN day center, “we see changes, and they’re big changes,”

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Jefferson MFT students have helped their clients work through grief and loss, parenting after violence, anger management, improving communication, trauma, abuse, depression and many other issues. says Rachel Falkove, PIHN’s executive director. “We see people learning from their mistakes but not flogging themselves. We see forgiveness. We see better decisionmaking across the board.”

‘A Huge Gift’ This past academic year, Anika Sawant, MFT ’15, spent her Thursday mornings running a therapeutic support group for women in the People’s Emergency Center (PEC) in West Philadelphia.

Among its social services, PEC offers emergency and transitional housing for single mothers and their young children.

When Sawant first started counseling there, she says she was lucky to have two women show up on a given week. By the end of her time, close to 10 women were turning out for each session.

She says PEC’s high turnover rate made it difficult to establish consistency or a group culture at first. On top of that, many of the women didn’t feel comfortable baring their souls to a group of strangers.

“A lot of the topics we discuss are tough issues,” Sawant says. “We’ve

Carter has received support from Weiss and in turn offers support to others in need; she works as a motivational speaker and has obtained her own master’s degree in clinical counseling.

worked hard to establish an environment that feels safe and secure, and we’ve learned to create engaging discussions through worksheets and media and hands-on materials.”

Sawant’s group focused on parenting after violence, but she says the issues extended well beyond that: grief and loss, abuse, trauma, anger and emotion regulation problems.

“I’d never worked with this population before,” she says, “and it gave me a new outlook on the complexity of their issues.

It also showed me how determined and resilient people can be.”

Covelman calls it “a huge, huge gift” for therapists to see that level of resiliency.

“I think they come away very impressed with people’s determination to make their lives better and their capacity to transcend their situations,” he says of his students.

“It stretches them,” adds Corse, “to be able to sit with much more difficult emotions than they ever thought they could.”

Stripped of the typical waiting room and receptionist and 50-minute timer,

the student therapists also learn to create their own systems in an often-chaotic setting. “That makes the students very aware of things they take for granted,” Corse says. “They have to learn about the norms of that new setting and experience themselves as the outsiders.”

Michelle Weiss says her therapy work at PIHN redefined her views of privilege, success and accomplishment. “Until you really get to know people in these situations, it’s easy to think the whole world is like you, even when you go out of your way to teach yourself that it’s not,” she says. She describes Tanisha Carter as “one of the most rewarding people I’ve worked with.”

The experience was equally valuable for Carter. She plans to continue seeing Weiss, who is launching a private practice with several Jefferson classmates.

“I was just really grateful to have that added support,” Carter says. “At the end of every session, she’d tell me, ‘take care of you.’ I finally understand what she meant by that now that I’m in a better place.”

FALL 2015 17

FOOD SAFETY

Public Health Students Take a Closer Look Last February, a patron at a Center City Philadelphia restaurant was startled by a mouse scurrying past her feet. Appalled by her server’s nonchalant reaction to this unwelcome dinner guest, she called the Office of Food Protection to report the incident.

When she visited the restaurant and saw the condition of its kitchen, Denine Crittendon wondered why there hadn’t been more complaints. “Roaches, mouse droppings, employee hygiene issues, food handlers not wearing gloves,” she runs through the list of violations she observed. “We ended up having to shut the place down.”

Crittendon is not an actual food inspector but rather a student pursuing her Master of Public Health (MPH) at the Jefferson College of Population Health. As part of her Introduction to Public Health course, she shadowed a professional inspector — called a sanitarian — from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health as he carried out a day’s work. This behind-thescenes experience gave her a new appreciation for the crucial role sanitarians play in protecting the community’s health and for the rigorous protocols food industry professionals are required to follow.

Working Together

Eyes and Ears

Beyond Classroom Walls

In their efforts to ensure that restaurants are meeting safety codes, sanitarians serve as eyes and ears for the hundreds of thousands of Philadelphians who choose to dine out. But the Department of Public Health’s Food Protection Unit “not only inspects all of the City’s restaurants but also other commercial kitchens, institutions like hospitals and schools, packaged-goods stores, mobile food vendors and special-event caterers,” says Bernard Finkel, chief of the Office of Food Protection. Sanitarians cover a long checklist of regulations related to proper food storage and temperatures; equipment safety standards; staff hygiene; and environmental cleanliness.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has written a model code for food handling, and state and local governments choose which guidelines to include in their inspection programs.

The FDA also recommends how often establishments should be inspected.

“Our goal is to inspect restaurants at least once a year. Since we respond to complaints, some establishments are inspected more often. Problem establishments may require one or more re-inspections,” Finkel says, noting that “the most frequent violations are simple things like poor hand-washing practices or failure to have a food-safety-certified worker on-site. During all hours of operation, the City requires restaurants to have an employee on-site who has completed 16 hours of professional food safety training and received certification.”

The absence of such an employee nearly resulted in the shutdown of the coffee shop whose inspection MPH student Emily Lambert attended. “We were there for almost an hour before this person showed up, and the inspector started writing up his report and explaining the problems we found. At that point he said to me, ‘Get your jacket on and get ready to get out, because sometimes this part gets uncomfortable,’” Lambert says. “You could feel the tension in the air.”

The vast majority of the time, that tension is minimal. Violations posing a grave threat to public health occur rarely, as do food poisoning outbreaks — and restaurateurs understand that sanitarians are looking to protect customers, not to cause trouble for the food establishment.

“I could tell the inspectors really don’t come in looking to shut a place down,” Crittendon says. “They want to work with people because they realize that business is their livelihood. If they see a violation, they give a chance for it to be fixed right away, while they’re still there. They advocate both for people who eat in restaurants and work in restaurants.”

Sanitarians have a dual role; in addition to evaluating a facility, they strive to educate restaurant managers and staff on safe food handling and preparation practices.

“We’re talking about people who are often business owners first and foremost, so they might be thinking more about running their business than taking all these safety precautions that are important for public health,” Lambert says. If they’ve forgotten something, she notes, the inspectors can teach them.

Participating in food inspections is not the only “non-classroom” opportunity available to Jefferson public health students.

Program director Rob Simmons, DrPH, MPH, MCHES, CPH, incorporates as much “experiential education” as possible into the MPH curriculum. Students also shadow government professionals who examine properties for lead paint and vector control issues (infestations of rodents, insects or other creatures known to transmit disease pathogens), and they recently began to accompany public health department staff on visits to stores that carry tobacco products to make sure they are not selling to minors.

Faculty in the College of Population Health aim to involve MPH students in public health policy and advocacy initiatives at both the state and federal levels. Simmons travels with them to the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg as well as to Washington, D.C., to promote engagement with policy leaders on key public health issues.

“This exposure to real-life public health experiences transforms and enriches our students,” Simmons says. “Often, the most important and effective teaching moments take place well beyond our classroom walls.”

Lambert agrees. The morning of her shadowing excursion, she met a sanitarian at a Philadelphia public health building that houses a free community clinic. “Just walking by people who were waiting in line because they needed to see a doctor — it was very humbling,” she says. “There are so many healthcare disparities and so many unmet needs … even before we left to do our inspection, shadowing a sanitarian was an eye-opening experience.”

— Karen L. Brooks

18 Jefferson REVIEW

Student Profile Hirsh Sharma Crossing the Intersection of Public Health and Clinical Practice

Photo by Karen Kirchhoff.

FALL 2015 19

Sharma at Jefferson’s 2015 Scholarship Dinner with (from left) Joseph Gonnella, MD; Michael Vergare, MD; and David Nash, MD, MBA.

Hirsh Sharma didn’t enroll in the Penn State-Jefferson accelerated BS-MD program because he wanted to limit his academic obligations and fast-track his career path. He saw the chance to complete his undergraduate and medical degrees two years earlier than most as an opportunity to conduct research or pursue additional credentials before beginning residency training.

As a student in the Jefferson College of Population Health, he is doing both.

During clinical rotations in his third year at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College (SKMC) at Jefferson, Sharma developed a drive to go beyond helping individual patients. “We would see many patients who had trouble with things like medication compliance, or they would return with the same concerns over and over again,” he says. “It seemed like there had to be a way to improve the way we take care of people — a way to maximize overall gain by considering the social, behavioral and economic determinants of health.”

Sharma’s interest in better understanding barriers to adequate healthcare inspired him to spend the next year in Jefferson’s Master of Public Health program. The experience has particularly fueled a new passion for health policy.

“For our policy and advocacy class in the spring semester, we went to go to the State Capitol in Harrisburg and met Pennsylvania’s health secretary and many other government employees. It was fascinating,” Sharma says. “At the time, I was working on a project for which I was trying to emulate a policy adviser for a vaccine-oriented non-governmental organization. Speaking with someone whose job actually is to improve vaccination rates really served me well.”

Jefferson students pursuing both an MD and an MPH are eligible to receive the Joseph S. Gonnella Scholarship, named for the former dean of the medical college and founder and director of its Center for Research in Medical Education and Healthcare.

Thanks to his hard work and enthusiasm, Sharma was the beneficiary for the 2014-15 academic year.

“I met Dr. Gonnella at the scholarship dinner in March, and being able to discuss how he sees the medical and public health landscapes changing was an honor. He has a lot of wisdom, and I appreciated it,” says Sharma, who also appreciates the wisdom of his parents, both physicians — his mother a gastroenterologist, his father a cardiologist. “They are my heroes. Neither was born in the United States, and they worked tirelessly and endlessly to get where they are today.” A lure toward a career in healthcare hooked Sharma as well as his siblings; his sister is currently earning her combined MD-MPH degree in New Mexico, and his brother plans to enter medical school in 2016.

Sharma has returned to SKMC for his final year at Jefferson and says he is committed to pursuing a residency in internal medicine — so it is fitting that he served his MPH clerkship with Jefferson Internal Medicine Associates. There, he primarily worked on expanding Jefferson’s telehealth initiatives, explaining virtual appointment options to patients to help them avoid the cost and inconvenience of returning to the hospital for followups they could instead “attend” from home using simple technology.

As he moves forward with clinical rotations and considers residency programs, Sharma is also working on his MPH Capstone project, through which he has been researching the impact of the Affordable Care Act and its effects on insurance and health markers in Pennsylvania.

“There is such an intersection between public health and medicine, and I am confident that in my future career I will be able to combine the two by being both a clinician and an advocate to the government,” he says. “I hope that as a doctor and a holder of a public health degree, someday I will be able to have a real impact on the political process.”

— Karen L. Brooks

20 Jefferson REVIEW

Alumna Profile Sara Meshino, BSN ’12 The ‘Rising Star’ Nurse When she moved from Tokyo to Philadelphia in 2006, Sara Meshino, BSN ’12, didn’t plan to become a nurse. Then a brief meeting in 2009 changed her mind — and re-routed the path she’d envisioned. Now a graduate of Jefferson’s Nursing Baccalaureate Program, Meshino has spent the last three years as a staff nurse in Jefferson’s oncology unit. Here’s how she got there and where she plans to go next.

Drawn to Help Meshino graduated from Temple University in 2009 with a degree in public health; during her last year, she served an internship in Fox Chase Cancer Center’s research department. One day, she walked into a nurse-led educational session for patients, and everything changed.

“I liked how hands-on it was,” she recalls. “It was very practical knowledge, and it felt more like the right fit for me. I liked public health, but I wanted to contribute to people affected by cancer more directly.”

She decided to enroll at Jefferson.

Professional Turns Personal Two years later, just after completing a nurse externship on Jefferson’s oncology floor, Meshino learned that her mother had been diagnosed with head and neck cancer. Her father had died from cancer when Meshino was a baby, and with her mother’s diagnosis, her new career felt even more personal.

“I think being on the other side gave me a different perspective,” she says. “I saw how the type of nurse my mother had shaped her day and impacted how she felt. Most of the nurses at Jefferson have a personal reason like that for being in oncology.

It makes us all very passionate.”

Advocating for Patients — and Their Families As a first-year staff nurse at Jefferson, Meshino completed the Nurse Residency — a 12-month program for new-to-practice nurses. She swapped stories with her peers and heard from highlevel clinical experts and administrators. She used each bit of feedback to fine-tune her approach, working to become the type of nurse she admires most: one who advocates for patients.

“We’re bedside nurses,” she says of her work in oncology.

“Once we meet [patients and families] in the morning, we start to share many intimate moments and emotions with them. The doctors know them, too, but we’re at the bedside 24/7. Having someone between the doctors and them makes patients feel like it’s easy to voice what they want, I hope.”

Meshino says advocacy is especially important when it comes to end-of-life care. She recently treated a patient who had limited time left and wanted to die at home rather than in a medical facility. Meshino helped lead a family training and brought the family’s concerns to their doctor.

“Every patient affects me in a different way,” she adds. “Above all, I remember that no matter how confused they are, how sick they are, how violent or unconscious they may become, they’re somebody’s parent or child.”

A Rising Star Jefferson recognized Meshino this year with a “Rising Star Award” for her work. The annual honor goes to a clinical nurse who demonstrates commitment to the profession through exemplary patient care.

The award also celebrated Meshino’s efforts throughout the hospital: guiding new nurses as a member of the Nurse Residency Advisory Committee; spreading the hand-washing gospel with the infection control resource group; and even stopping by to interpret for Japanese-speaking visitors.

Her supervisors say Meshino cares deeply about her patients and is highly engaged in their medical care. “The patient doesn’t care about a particular task we do — giving them their medication, for instance,” Meshino says of her nursing approach. “It’s the bedside manner, emotional support and transition of care between shifts that matter to them.”

Staring into the Future Meshino is working on her oncology nurse certification now and plans to pursue a nurse practitioner degree in the future.

As treatments advance and nurses’ roles expand, she wants to be prepared.

One of her bosses warned Meshino that nurses can face burnout from the difficult work they do — a feeling that may increase as the work becomes more complex. “My boss noted that nurses burn out because they’re passionate, and that resonates with me,” Meshino says. “I feel it on a weekly basis.

I get physically tired and it affects my emotional status. But all it takes is a little flame, and I get the fire back.”

FALL 2015 21

Photo by Karen Kirchhoff.

22 Jefferson REVIEW

OnCampus Aplin

Languino

Rawool

College of Biomedical Sciences Forensic Toxicology MS Program Launched

Languino Appointed Program Director

Jefferson and the Center for Forensic Science Research & Education have launched a new MS program in forensic toxicology, a full-time, two-year program with courses taught both on Jefferson’s campus and at the Center’s Willow Grove, Pa., location. This partnership provides students with expertise in all areas of toxicology including workplace drug testing; post-mortem analysis; human performance toxicology; legal procedure and ethics; and business and management. The program also gives students hands-on training through the Center’s internship program.

Lucia Languino, PhD, has been named director of Jefferson’s PhD program in genetics, genomics and cancer biology.

Languino came to Jefferson in 2010 and is a professor of cancer biology and member of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center. With

Aplin Leads Basic Science at SKCC Andrew Aplin, PhD, has been appointed to lead basic science for the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson. Already leader of the cancer cell biology and signaling program, Aplin heads a research lab that focuses on melanoma. Since 2002, he has identified downstream targets of mutant BRAF-MEK-ERK signaling in melanoma, demonstrated the contribution of these targets to the malignant traits and analyzed the influence of the tumor microenvironment. More recently, his lab has analyzed the determinants of response and mechanisms of resistance to BRAF inhibitors. Aplin and his team are currently extending their studies into ocular melanoma.

over two decades of research supported by continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health and other agencies and a current focus on the biology of prostate cancer, Languino has made important contributions to the understanding of the role of integrin-mediated cell signaling in cancer progression.

Jefferson Hosts Postdoctoral Research Symposium The Jefferson Postdoctoral Association and the Jefferson College of Biomedical Sciences Office of Postdoctoral Affairs hosted the 10th Annual Jefferson Postdoctoral Research Symposium on June 16, 2015. The event highlights the breadth and depth of the research done by postdocs at Jefferson.

Dennis Discher, PhD, the Robert D. Bent Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania, served as keynote speaker.

Congrats to all the award winners from this year’s symposium!

Oral Presentation Winners John Patton, PhD (Laboratory of David Abraham, PhD) David Booth, PhD (Laboratory of Gyorgy Hajnoczky, MD, PhD) Early Discoveries Poster Presentation Winners Natalie Chernets (Laboratory of Theresa Freeman, PhD) Hisham Qosa, PhD (Laboratory of Davide Trotti, PhD) Poster Presentation Winners Curtis Kugel, PhD (Laboratory of Andrew Aplin, PhD) Elisabeth Mari, PhD (Laboratory of Abdolmohamad Rostami, MD, PhD) Alexia Vite, PhD (Laboratory of Glenn Radice, PhD)

FALL 2015 23

College of health professions Jefferson Signs Agreement with Kitasato University In March, the College of Health Professions welcomed colleagues from the School of Allied Health Sciences at Kitasato University in Tokyo, Japan, for the signing of a memorandum that continues a longstanding exchange program. The new agreement covers the entire College of Health Professions and encompasses possibilities for a longer duration of exchange. This partnership promotes mutual understanding and friendship as well as cooperation and progression in the education and research of health sciences at Kitasato and Jefferson. More than 100 students have participated in this interprofessional, international exchange since 1997.

Jefferson’s Department of Bioscience Technologies and Kitasato University’s School of Medicine first collaborated in 1992. In 2005, the program expanded to include Jefferson’s occupational therapy, physical therapy and radiologic sciences departments.

Rawool Elected to Board Nandkumar Rawool, MD, RDMS, associate professor in the Department of Radiologic Sciences and program director for diagnostic medical sonography and cardiovascular sonography at Jefferson, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the International Foundation for Sonography Education and Research (IFSER). The organization provides educational resources and products to ultrasound practitioners and aims to expand the practice of diagnostic medical sonography throughout the world.

Stromer and Elson with the Simple Stitch.

Jefferson and UArts Students Partner to Help Individuals with Disabilities In 2012, Department of Occupational Therapy assistant professor Kimberly Mollo, MSOT ’06, OTD, OTR/L — an alumna of both Jefferson and the University of the Arts — initiated an independent study program through which students from both institutions could work together to improve quality of life for people with challenges such as arthritis, cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis. Early collaborations between occupational therapy and industrial design students yielded results like kitchen modifications to make cooking easier for clients and toys for special-needs children.

During the spring 2015 semester, OT students Meagan Stromer and Briana Elson partnered with two UArts juniors as well as Liberty Resources, Inc. — a nonprofit that supports Philadelphians with disabilities — to create a customized sewing machine for a woman who’d lost use of her legs and could no longer operate the foot pedal on standard models. Their invention, the Simple Stitch, featured a forearm-activated controller that allowed the sewing enthusiast to resume her favorite hobby for the first time in nearly a decade.

“In the end, we knew what we needed was the simplest feasible solution,” says Stromer, who graduated with her master’s degree in May. “We’re taught to be client centered.” The woman who received the Simple Stitch reports that she is thrilled to be able to make dresses for her two great-granddaughters and is considering starting her own sewing business.

24 Jefferson REVIEW

health professions Student News CFT Students Awarded Fellowships Luis Guzman and Zem Chance, both students in Jefferson’s Couple and Family Therapy Program, have been selected by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy to receive Minority Fellowships. These highly competitive fellowships are designed to expand the delivery of culturally competent mental health and substance abuse services to underserved minority populations as well as to increase cultural competency in marriage and family therapists.

ALS Hope Foundation Highlights Jefferson Program In its April 2015 newsletter, the ALS Hope Foundation — which provides funding for clinical and research programs related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease — highlighted the partnership between the Department of Occupational Therapy at Jefferson and the Muscular Dystrophy Association/ ALS Center of Hope at Drexel University. Each year, two students from Jefferson’s Environmental Competence course are matched with a Center of Hope patient whose environment they assess for adaptations that will make everyday life easier. The experience allows students to translate the lessons they’ve learned in the classroom into real-world practice.

To read more about the partnership, visit www.alshopefoundation.org/ ul/E_Newsletter/April_2014_ eNewsletter.pdf.

Swan

Manning

Jack

College of nursing JCN Is NLN Center of Excellence in Nursing Education

Manning Invited to White House Forum

The Jefferson College of Nursing has been named a National League for Nursing (NLN) Center of Excellence in Nursing Education for the period 2015-19. NLN recognition as a Center of Excellence distinguishes institutions that demonstrate sustained, evidence-based and substantive innovation in a selected area; conduct research to document the effectiveness of such innovation; set high standards for them­ selves; and are committed to continuous quality improvement. The category for Jefferson’s designation is Creating Environments That Enhance Student Learning and Professional Development.

Associate professor Mary Lou Manning, PhD, CRNP, participated in the One Health Forum on Antibiotic Stewardship at the White House in June 2015. This forum brought together key human and animal health professionals involved in the development, promotion and implementation of activities to improve antibiotic stewardship nationwide.

Participants exchanged ideas on ways public and private sector stakeholders can collaborate to ensure responsible use of antibiotics.

Manning, who is president of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Prevention, also was named to the Becker’s Hospital Review 2015 list of “50 Experts Leading the Field of Patient Safety.”

Swan Named ACE Fellow Dean Beth Ann Swan, PhD, CRNP, was named to the American Council on Education Fellows Class of 2015-16. The ACE Fellows Program ensures that higher education’s future leaders are ready to take on real-world challenges and serve the capacity-building needs of their institutions. Fellows participate in meetings and events; conduct special projects under the mentorship of experienced campus or system leaders; engage in team-based case studies; visit other campuses; and develop a network of higher education leaders across the United States and abroad.

Jack Recognized by Cribs for Kids Associate professor David Jack, PhD, MSN, RN, CPN, CNE, was selected as an awardee of the 2015 Cribs for Kids Mini-Grant Program sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The grant will enable Jack to provide “Safe Sleep Survival Kits” to 10 families in need of safe sleeping environments for their infants. Cribs for Kids awards 20 of these grants annually in Pennsylvania.

FALL 2015 25

Nursing Student News Students Awarded Carpenter Community Nursing Fellowships

Heck

Shaffer

Heck Receives Research Grant Instructor Carey Heck, MS, MSN, ACNP-BC, CCRN, CNRN, has been awarded a critical care research grant from the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses to support her doctoral dissertation, “A Study of Moral Distress in Novice and Experienced Nurses.”

Shaffer and Feil Selected for Leadership Program Kathryn Shaffer, BSN ’97, MSN, EdD, instructor and director of clinical education and faculty development, and Marian Feil, CRNA, nurse anesthetist, were selected to participate in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s Leadership for Academic Nursing Program. This fellowship is designed to develop and enhance leadership skills in up-and-coming executive administrators in baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs.

Nursing Researchers Focus on QR Codes Jefferson College of Nursing researchers recently published an article in the Journal of Nursing Education describing a doctoral-level practicum experience for nursing students that focused on the creation of patient resource guides using QR codes. Jennifer Bellot, PhD, RN, MHSA, CNE, associate professor and

Bellot

director of Jefferson’s Doctorate of Nursing Practice program, and her co-authors found that QR codes provide a unique opportunity for patient education by linking directly to trusted content rather than requiring the patient to type in URLs or search online. QR codes have the ability to link directly to a webpage, updated pharmaceutical specifications or videos and to call a phone number directly.

For those patients with limited tactile or visual abilities, scanning a QR code may be easier than typing in small text.

Pogorzelska-Maziarz Leads C. Diff Study Faculty member Monika PogorzelskaMaziarz, PhD, MPH, recently designed a study that found that hospitals using single-use sharps disposal containers had significantly lower rates of clostridium difficile (often called C. diff), as compared to those using reusable containers. C. diff, a bacterium commonly acquired in hospitals or long-term-care facilities, can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening inflammation of the colon.

Infection rates are at an all-time high, and Pogorzelska-Maziarz’s results showed a nearly 15 percent reduction when single-use sharps containers were used.

The study was published in Infection Control Today.

Jefferson nursing students Tanya Bronzell-Wynder, Theresa Moran and Sung Whang were awarded 2015 Carpenter Community Nursing Fellowships, which provide an introductory and competitive fellowship program in community-based and public health nursing for current and recently graduated nursing students of all levels. The program introduces Fellows to newly emerging career opportunities, develops leadership skills and provides mentors to support their future career paths.

Nurse Anesthesia Students Recognized by AANA Nicole Irick, a nurse anesthesia student, was selected by the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) Foundation Board as a 2015-2016 AANA Foundation Student Advocate.

Irick will serve as a liaison between the AANA Foundation and fellow students and will have the opportunity to attend state and national meetings as well as participate in AANA Foundation conference calls and events. She is one of 10 students selected for this prestigious position.

Amanda Paul, also a nurse anesthesia student, was selected to participate in the AANA PR Committee’s Student Mentoring Program, which aims to provide a positive, welcoming, motivational and educational experience to student leaders through mentoring by experienced Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists.

26 Jefferson REVIEW

Pizzi

Meyer

College of Pharmacy Pizzi Elected to Key ISPOR Post Laura Pizzi, PharmD, MPH, associate professor of pharmacy practice, has been named chair-elect of the Student Chapter Faculty Advisor Council for the International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). The post entails identifying and implementing initiatives across ISPOR’s student chapters in collaboration with peers from chapters around the globe. ISPOR currently has 72 student chapters in 12 countries and 1,300 student members in total. Pizzi’s priorities during the next two years involve increasing student memberships and global interaction among the chapters.

Did you know?

Jefferson aims to honor longtime pharmacy educator Gerald Meyer, PharmD, MBA, FASHP, with a new scholarship fund bearing his name.

The Gerald E. Meyer Scholarship Fund will pay tribute to an exceptional pharmacy profession leader while helping Jefferson attract top-tier applicants and alleviate the burden of debt felt by many students.

To learn more about the Meyer Scholarship Fund or to make a contribution, please contact Greg Schmidt, Director of Development, at gregory.schmidt@jefferson.edu or 215-955-0435 or visit Advancement.Jefferson.edu/Meyer.

JCP Represents at Pharmacy Legislative Day A group of Jefferson student pharmacists converged on the State Capitol on April 13 for the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association (PPA) Pharmacy Legislative Day. The students and their faculty advisers helped to “paint” the Capitol white, wearing their lab coats and pushing the importance of “Pharmacists: Your Medication Experts!”

More than 275 pharmacy students from the seven schools of pharmacy across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and more than 80 pharmacists walked the halls of the Capitol, participated in a rally and made legislative visits throughout the day.

pharmacy Student News Doctor of Pharmacy Students Recognized • For the second year in a row, student Jamie Salvador was among the nation’s best in the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) National Patient Counseling Competition. In 2014, Salvador was a Top 10 finalist, and in 2015 she took fourth place. Students representing more than 100 pharmacy schools participate in the competition, which promotes professional development and to reinforce the role of the pharmacist as a healthcare provider and educator.

• Student Jenna Fancher is one of 12 pharmacy students from across the country to receive a 2015 American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Student Leadership Award. This award recognizes achievements in campus leadership and pharmacy practice in hospitals or ambulatory-care clinics. Fancher also was appointed vice chair of the 2015-16 Pharmacy Student Forum Executive Committee.

• Student Elizabeth Cannon-Dang received a poster finalist ribbon at the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research 20th Annual Meeting. Her poster, “Cost of Canalicular Laceration Repair in Different Hospital Settings: A Decision Analysis,” compared cost-effectiveness for two approaches to a type of eye surgery called canalicular repair. The project employs a health economics model called decision analysis that measures the costs and cost effectiveness of pharmaceuticals, devices, diagnostic tests and other interventions such as surgery. Cannon-Dang’s poster was judged in the top 8 percent of the 1,750 posters presented. Her research mentor is pharmacy professor Laura Pizzi, PharmD, MPH, and the project is part of a collaboration between Jefferson and Wills Eye Hospital.

• In June, student John Pitsakis was a contributing writer on philly.com’s Healthy Kids blog. Pitsakis co-authored a post called “Dextromethorphan: Why It’s Not Just Cough Medicine,” about the dangers associated with misuse of DXM.

FALL 2015 27

College of Population Health New Population Health Programs Launched Jefferson now offers the nation’s first graduate programs in population health.

The Certificate in Population Health provides experienced health professionals a comprehensive foundation in the essentials of population health — new care-delivery structures, socioeconomic determinants of disease, data analytics, health finance/risk and the basics of healthcare quality and safety. The Master of Science in Population Health (MS-PopH) offers additional skills required for leadership positions — healthcare policy development, epidemiology, outcomes analysis, coalition building and stakeholder management.

Master’s students also develop proficiency in the application of population health skills and principles, culminating in a Capstone project during which theory and lessons learned are applied in real-world settings. All coursework taken for the certificate can be applied to the master’s degree.

For more information on these new programs, contact Caroline Golab, PhD, associate dean for academic and student affairs, at caroline.golab@jefferson.edu.

MPH Students Win City Competition Master of Public Health students Amber Bowie, Brittany Haltzman and Rachel Powell won the 2015 Philadelphia Public Policy Case Competition, which was open to undergraduate and graduate college students in the Greater Philadelphia area. Participants in this annual competition create proposals that address some of the greatest challenges facing the City.

The 2015 topic was, “What can the City of Philadelphia do to best improve outcomes for boys and young men of color?” Bowie, Haltzman and Powell presented an initiative called “Building a Resilient Future” that targets young men of color ages 11-18 and educates them on practices that promote self-esteem, dealing with stress through humor, coping skills, safety and security and effective communication.

The project aims to improve participants’ overall mental health and quality of life. In order to make their proposal a reality, the team is applying for a grant for three years of funding through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

“If we get the grant funds, we plan to reach out to the local YMCA and/or Boys and Girls Club to partner with them. We also plan to connect with members of Power Corps for aid in further developing the initiatives,” Haltzman says.

Their prize included seats in the Mayor’s box for a Philadelphia Phillies game and the opportunity to meet with Mayor Nutter to further discuss their project.

JCPH Partners with Rutgers The Jefferson College of Population Health and Rutgers University-Camden (RUC) have signed an agreement that facilitates priority admission of RUC students to the Jefferson’s Master of Public Health program. RUC students graduating with a bachelor’s degree who meet certain criteria will be assured a space in the MPH program and will automatically be considered for meritbased scholarships. Eligible RUC students also have the opportunity to take certain MPH courses during their junior and senior years at a reduced tuition rate and can transfer these courses into the MPH program, thereby cutting both the time and cost of completing their graduate degree.

Students Present at College of Physicians Jefferson students participated in the College of Physicians Section on Public Health and Preventive Medicine Student Poster Session on May 5. Left, MPH student Elizabeth deArmas shares her poster about human papillomavirus vaccination.

Right, MPH student Connie Choi and her co-presenters from La Salle University share their research into whether academic discipline affects college students’ health behaviors.

28 Jefferson REVIEW

Forward Thinking A planned gift is simple to do and ensures your values and legacy live on.

Making a planned gift is a deeply meaningful way to support Jefferson while obtaining long-term financial benefits for you and your family. We can help you create your own legacy, uniquely tailored to your philanthropic and financial goals.

Your gift will entitle you to membership in the exclusive 1824 Society, recognizing those generous donors who have included Jefferson in their legacy plans.

To learn more about planned giving options, please contact:

Lisa W. Repko, JD Senior Director, Planned Giving 215-955-0437 • lisa.repko@jefferson.edu

Society

FALL 2015 29

Leaping A Letter from Elizabeth A. Dale, EdD There’s a wonderfully evocative image on the cover of this issue of the Review: a goldfish leaping out of a little fishbowl and into a bigger one. It represents Jefferson graduates leaving the more secure world of their alma mater and plunging into the waters of professional practice and the ever-changing and ever-challenging field of healthcare. The picture illustrates our feature story about alumni pathbreakers and entrepreneurs, graduates who are shaking up old models of healthcare careers, finding new solutions to new problems — and to old ones — and transforming the future of healthcare.

Our $2 trillion industry is undergoing enormous change. Jefferson is not just running to keep up with change: we’re leading the transformation. We’re out in front of it, reimagining what will be obvious to everyone in 10 years — and doing it now.

Our new Institute of Emerging Health Professions is already identifying what kind of education will be needed for rising health professions. Drawing on the resources of Jefferson’s colleges, the Institute will train professionals to carry out the tasks and roles an evolving healthcare system requires. It’s a window as well as a doorway into the future of healthcare.

At Jefferson, we say “health is all we do” — and these days, healthcare gets “done” by interdisciplinary, inter-professional teams. Jefferson is one of the leaders in bringing together health-science disciplines and training professionals in teams that provide not only great care but, with our emphasis on listening and communication, also great caring.

As an academic medical center, we drive new ideas through research and translate them into products, strategies and ventures that help patients and consumers. The Jefferson Accelerator Zone provides facilities and programming where our students and scientists team up with investors, inventors and other partners to create and launch ventures in biotech, medical technology, health IT and more. We’re also delivering the right level of Jefferson care anytime and anywhere to anyone who needs it through JeffConnect, our pioneering telehealth initiative.

Jefferson has been pushing boundaries, breaking paradigms and inventing better ways of training doctors and healing patients since 1824. Medical firsts are in our DNA. Our rich history of thought leadership, clinical innovation and medical discovery positions Jefferson as a leader in healthcare and healthprofessions education today and a

pioneer of breakthroughs tomorrow. Our graduates take this DNA with them when they make the leap from Jefferson and then leap again into some new venture or innovative direction in healthcare.

It’s an exciting time to be a part of healthcare, and it’s thrilling to be involved with your alma mater, innovating and leading the way to the future of healthcare. As Jefferson alumni, you are that future, and we need you with us reimagining what can be and building a healthier tomorrow.

Elizabeth Dale, EdD Executive Vice President, Institutional Advancement

30 Jefferson REVIEW

ClassNotes Katie Cranston, MPH ’12, CHES, was selected by the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) for its 2015-16 Faculty Scholars Program at the UAB Geriatric Education Center. The cohort includes 23 individuals from 11 health professions disciplines and 22 universities and colleges in five states.

Cranston — who is an instructor in the Department of Health and Kinesiology at the Mississippi University for Women — will participate in an interdisciplinary faculty training program that will provide tools to enhance teaching activities related to the care of the older adults with complex healthcare needs. She will attend five workshops at UAB, complete an interprofessional teambased continuing education module and complete 84 hours of independent study activities.

Moazzum Bajwa, MPH ‘12

Julian L. Ambrus, Sr., MD, PhD ’54, is a professor of internal medicine at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He writes that his wife, Clara M. Ambrus, MD, PhD ’55, a research professor of obstetrics and gynecology, died in a house fire in 2011 at age 86. Their son, J.L. Ambrus, Jr., MD ’79, recently was promoted to full professor of internal medicine at SUNY Buffalo.

Moazzum Bajwa, MPH ’12, (pictured above with family), recently graduated with top honors from Ross University School of Medicine in Dominica, West Indies, and delivered the valedictory speech at commencement.

He is now in a family medicine residency program at the University of California, Riverside. His goal is to practice full-spectrum family medicine in underserved areas, with an additional focus on maternal and child health initiatives abroad.

Catelyn Coyle, MPH ’14, had an article, “Identification and Linkage to Care of HCV-Infected Persons in Five Health Centers — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2012–2014,” published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on May 8, 2015.

Heather Howell, BS ’14 (general sonography), RT(R), RDMS, had an article, “First Trimester Diagnosis of Omphalocele: Differentiating between Omphalocele and Normal Physiologic Gut Herniation,” published in the Journal of Diagnostic Medical Sonography. Traci B. Fox, EdD, RT(R), RDMS, RVT, assistant professor and clinical coordinator of the Diagnostic Medical Sonography Program in Jefferson’s Department of Radiologic Sciences, was co-author.

FALL 2015 31

Kristina Zarzecki Kulak, BS ’95 (occupational therapy), has been working as an occupational therapist for 20 years and is currently focusing on early intervention with children. She and her husband, Charles, live in Conshohocken, Pa. Stephanie Komura, PharmD ’14, lives in Nutley, N.J., and is serving a residency in the emergency medicine department at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital.

Katlyn Kristeller, DPT ’15, had an article, “A Focus on Function after SCI,” published online by Advance for Physical Therapy and Rehab Medicine in April 2015. The piece outlined research involving the long-term effects of spinal cord injury in adults who sustained their injuries as children.

Michelle Ottey, PhD ’03, HCLD (AAB), ALD, came to campus for the Jefferson Graduate Student Association’s 2015 Women in Science seminar in March. Ottey gave a presentation titled “From Graduate Student in Cancer Biology to Lab Director of a Cryobank — It Is All about Transferable Skills.” She lives in Philadelphia and is laboratory director at Fairfax Cryobank and Cryogenic Laboratories, Inc.

Lori Pietrowski, DNP ’14, CRNP, was quoted in a March 2015 Nursezone.com article called “Confusion about POLST (Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment) May Affect End-of-Life Care.”

Pietrowski, who lives in Clarks Summit, Pa., noted that POLST is not widely recognized in Pennsylvania, and training is necessary to ensure patients’ end-of-life wishes are carried out.

Robert (Bobby) Walsh, MS ’11 (occupational therapy) was accepted as the first occupational therapist in the country to participate in the Johns Hopkins Hospital Mental Health Occupational Therapy Residency Program.

This year-long residency encompasses advanced clinical practice, evidencebased service delivery, advocacy/marketing opportunities, teaching/ mentorship opportunities and research. Walsh previously worked as a faculty member in the Department of Occupational Therapy at Jefferson.

Lisa Wus, DNP ’14, had a manuscript titled “Left Ventricular Assist Device Driveline Infection and the Frequency of Dressing Change in Hospitalized Patients” accepted for publication in Heart & Lung: The Journal of Acute and Critical Care. This subject was the focus of Wus’ DNP Practice Inquiry Project. John Entwistle, MD, and Mary Lou Manning, RN, PhD, CRNP, CIC, FAAN, co-authored the manuscript.

In Memoriam Anna Elizabeth Alexander Krall, DN ’42, of Eldred, Pa., died March 25, 2015. While studying at Jefferson, Krall met her husband, James, who graduated from the medical college in 1944. The couple celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary three weeks before Anna’s death and two months before James’ death. They are survived by their two sons, James (MD ’76) and Robert; three grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

Savanna Ellora Endicott Meyer, DN ’40, of Mill Valley, Calif., died Jan. 23, 2014. After finishing her degree at Jefferson, she served in the U.S. Army during World War II and was stationed in North Africa and Italy. She later worked in public health and eventually became chief public health nurse for the State of New Jersey. She also received her BSN and MSN from the University of Pennsylvania and specialized in adult health.

She and her husband, Fred, raised their family in Trenton, N.J., and relocated to California after they both retired from the New Jersey State Department of Health. Their retirement years were spent traveling, enjoying the California beaches, participating in cultural activities and spending time with their six grandchildren.

Keep us in the Loop!

Please send class notes or alumni obituaries to: Editor, The Review 125 S. 9th Street, Suite 700 Philadelphia, PA 19107 alumni@jefferson.edu Be sure to include your name, program, degree(s), Jefferson class year and city of residence along with your personal or professional news.

The Jefferson College of Nursing is turning 125 in 2016 — and we’ve come a long way since 1891!

As part of this anniversary celebration, the College is coordinating an oral history project to expand its archival record of Jefferson nursing students. Alumni who participate will share their reasons for pursuing a nursing degree, their memories from campus, their career paths since graduation and their advice for today’s nursing students. Previously conducted oral histories can be found at jdc.jefferson.edu/oral_histories.

Interested in being interviewed? Kelsey Duinkerken, Special Collections and Digitization Librarian at Jefferson, would love to hear from you. If you live in the Delaware Valley or plan to visit in the near future, please contact Kelsey at 215-503-3123 or kelsey.duinkerken@jefferson.edu to set up a 30- to 60-minute interview.

If you are unable to come to campus but would like to share your story, please write to us with answers to the following questions:

Nursing graduates from 1894 (courtesy of the Archives and Special Collections, Thomas Jefferson University).

• When did you attend Jefferson Nursing?

• Why did you choose nursing?

• How would you describe your time at Jefferson?

• What was your first professional position after nursing school?

• What has your career path been like?

What are you doing now?

• Are any of your family members also nurses?

• What advice would you give current and future nursing students?

Written responses can be sent to: Beth Ann Swan, PhD, CRNP, FAAN Dean, Jefferson College of Nursing 901 Walnut Street, Suite 804 Philadelphia, PA 19107 beth.swan@jefferson.edu

We look forward to hearing from you!

Nursing graduates from 2015.

A Fresh Face Kim Nixon-Cave, PT, PhD, PCS

Photo by Karen Kirchhoff.

E

very issue of the Review closes with an introduction to a new faculty member from one of the Jefferson Colleges. In January 2015, the Jefferson College of Health Professions welcomed Kim Nixon-Cave, PT, PhD, PCS, as associate professor of physical therapy and program director for the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program and postprofessional experiential learning (residency and fellowship education for physical therapists in specialized areas of practice).

Nixon-Cave earned her bachelor’s degree in physical therapy at the University of Pittsburgh and her master’s degree in neurology and PhD in education psychology at Temple University.

She came to Jefferson from the Department of Physical Therapy at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and continues to serve on dissertation committees for Education PhD candidates and teach at local DPT programs, most recently at Arcadia University and the University of the Sciences.

What brought you to Jefferson?

Opportunity! The opportunity to continue my goal of educating and developing physical therapists both in the clinical and academic setting; to work with the chair of the PT department, Dr. Susan Wainwright, who is raising the level of education and experience for our DPT students; and to grow my clinical practice working with children along with a faculty appointment.

What were your first impressions?

That the leadership here — from the president down — clearly understands the changing healthcare environment and the need to be innovative in educating healthcare professionals. The concept of developing residency and fellowship education in the Jefferson environment is in line with the mission and goals of the broader university and health system.

Describe your role here in two sentences.

I focus on curriculum development and building new postprofessional programs — residencies and fellowships for

physical therapists. I aim to create a model for post-professional experiences for other programs in the College.

Tell us about your research.

My interest is cultural competence and pediatrics and overall therapy care and services for infants, young children and their families. Recent projects have included assessing the PT evaluation of children suffering from post-concussion syndrome and assessing the frequency and duration of PT services for pediatric patients. Currently, I’m conducting mixed-method research to obtain a complete picture.

What about your work excites you?

The opportunity to develop future physical therapists as lifelong learners and to impact the practice of physical therapy and the profession as a whole.

What is your highest priority for the coming years?

To develop residency and fellowship programs with the goal of admitting the first participants by July 2016 and ultimately to see my model applied to new residencies and fellowships in other areas of the College.

Any personal heroes?

My maternal grandfather. He was a janitor for an elementary school, but he was the heart and soul of the school. He was dedicated to each and every student and teacher and took great pride in giving his job his all. His smile was warm and inviting, and he encouraged his family to do our best — and to do it with love and caring for others.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I spend time with my husband and sons. We love going to movies and vacationing to different parts of the country.

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Stay Connected!

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