LECOM Research Day 2020

EXCEPTIONALISM FLOURISHES

DURING LECOM RESEARCH DAY 2020

Rounding out the deeply penetrating purpose of a superlative education, unmatched clinical care, and unflagging community service, research comprises a key component of the LECOM mission.

The LECOM Interprofessional Research Day, held in late October of 2020, boasted 120 abstract submissions offered by participating resident physicians, faculty, and students. The College takes great pride in the assiduously honed scholarship put forth by the student participants as well as by their mentors.

LECOM extends its hearty congratulations to the winners of the LECOM Research Day 2020 Poster and Lecture Sessions and it offers grateful acknowledgement to Dr. Speelman, the College of Medicine Director of Research, for organizing the sessions; to the judges of the poster and the oral presentations; and especially, to the students and resident physicians for their quality submissions.

Many compelling, probative, and revealing pieces of work were showcased during the event with the following presentations being awarded prizes:

STUDENT PRESENTATIONS Lecture Session Winners 1st Prize ($500)

Alyson Burchell Investigation of a Long-Range Glycinergic Projection from Brainstem Interneurons to the Thalamus Alyson Burchell; Yusra Mansour; Randy J. Kulesza Jr., PhD 2nd Prize ($250) Prutha Mehta Liver Metabolic Dysfunction in PCOS Rats Prutha Mehta; Patrick Pasqualicchio; Diana Speelman, PhD

3rd Prize ($100)

Zachary Weisner, MS Association of Pre-Hospital Hypocarbia and Hypercarbia with Outcomes with Severe Traumatic Brain Injury Patients Zachary Weisner, MS; David D Salcido, PhD; Francis X Guyette, MD; Christian Martin-Gill, MD; Hinnah Siddiqui, MPH; Jessica Salerno, MPH; and Jonathan Elmer, MD

Poster Session Winners 1st Prize ($500)

Ian Koch Characterization of the Auditory Brainstem Response in Hyperandrogenic Rats Ian Koch; Michael Furey; Diana Speelman, PhD; and Randy J. Kulesza Jr., PhD

2nd Prize ($250)

Aaron Grossberg Diagnosing Coronary Artery Disease by Palpation Aaron Grossberg OMS-II, MS; and Kevin Thomas, DO

3rd Prize ($100)

Yusra Mansour Virtually the Same? The Comparison of InPerson and Virtual Drawing Sessions on the Structural and Clinical Anatomy of the Vagus Nerve Yusra Mansour; Randy J. Kulesza Jr., PhD

CLINICIAN PRESENTATIONS Lecture Session Winners 1st Prize ($500)

Farhan Ali, DO Metformin as Adjunctive Therapy in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease Farhan Ali, DO; Sowmyia Srinivas, MD; Dayakar Reddy, MD; and Pallavi Kamjula, MD

2nd Prize ($250)

Shane Lohss, DO Improving Colorectal Cancer Screening Compliance Rates Through Marketing and Performance of a 2 for 1 Combined Colonoscopy-Prostate Screening Exam Shane Lohss, DO; Dustin Wong, OMS-III

– Continued on page 26

Shining the Light of Hope

LECOM Institute for Behavioral Health The Achievement Center of LECOM Health Corry Counseling Services of LECOM Health

One’s present circumstances do not determine where one may go, they merely determine where one may start. Every day begins with an act of courage and hope; and it is during one's darkest moments that one must focus upon the light.

It is that light, illuminated by LECOM Health, that has been the focus of the LECOM Institute of Behavioral Health and its newest affiliate, The Achievement Center of LECOM Health.

In January of 2020, LECOM Health consolidated many of its mental health services; and with the opening of the LECOM Institute for Behavioral Health, outpatient psychiatric care and medication management became readily accessible from a team of nine psychiatrists, as well as from expert counselors and compassionate support staff.

Services at the Institute include medication stabilization, individual therapy, electroconvulsive therapy, medication, and diagnostic education for patients and families. The LECOM Institute for Behavioral Health offers extensive expertise and services for children, adults, and seniors; and each offering is designed to meet and exceed expectations in addressing behavioral health challenges and to support the journey toward health and recovery.

An established leader in behavioral health care, LECOM Health began providing the needed services at Millcreek Community Hospital in 2001.

Today, the LECOM Institute for Behavioral Health is the third largest mental health care facility in Pennsylvania and the largest provider of inpatient behavioral health services in the region, offering comprehensive services and care. Qualified professionals pride themselves on delivering evidence-based medicine. Knowledgeable support staff are available to assist the patient and family with questions regarding scheduling, medication, and the host of concerns attendant to emotional rehabilitation. The support staff functions as a liaison between the patients and the psychiatrists.

As an affiliate of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM), the Institute is engaged in the education of future behavioral health providers. Fellows, residents, and students work closely with care teams to gain specialized knowledge in the clinical practice setting.

Institute psychiatrists specialize in mental health care; they do not treat or manage physical illnesses. All care, in addition to medications including labs, EKGs, and imaging, is ordered in support of the psychiatric treatment that is received by the patient.

Continued enhancement and development of behavioral health services has been an ongoing theme at LECOM. Construction is now complete on a 10-bed residential psychiatric health facility for children and adolescents. Situated in Millcreek Community Hospital (MCH), the short term residential behavioral health offering is designed to assist youngsters between the ages of seven and seventeen who are navigating emotional difficulties. The typical length of stay in the facility will be no longer than 60 days.

The unit is networked with family-based mental health organizations throughout the community that will assist in directing the young patients toward success upon their reentering the community setting.

Indeed, this new LECOM offering highlights the importance of advancing whole-body health by delivering the full spectrum approach to mental health services and care. The ability to empower this segment of the population to live their young lives in a more healthful and vibrant way underscores the way in which LECOM is ever seeking the betterment of the communities that it serves,” commented Dr. Danielle Hansen, Vice President of Acute Care, Behavioral Health, and Quality at MCH.

Further augmenting the wide range of behavioral healthcare offerings at the Institute, the newly affiliated Achievement Center of LECOM Health provides quality therapeutic services to children and families throughout the region. Achievement Center programs are designed to meet the unique needs of children and adolescents who are experiencing emotional, social, physical, or behavioral challenges.

For 95 years, the Achievement Center has sought to maximize the potential of each of the more than three thousand children they serve each year.

The Achievement Center helps children and young adults to thrive. A variety of therapeutic services for children, from birth to age 21, allow children and families in Erie, Crawford, Forest, and Warren, Pennsylvania to move forward to experience a stable and emotionally fulfilling life.

“The LECOM Institute, as one of the largest providers of mental health services in Erie County, offers an integrative mold that allows us to collaborate better for psychiatric and therapeutic services, offering resources from the Achievement Center and psychiatrists there too,” expounded Dr. Gianpiero Martone, Child Psychiatrist at the LECOM Institute for Behavioral Health.

The alliance bolsters the ability of the organizations to better serve the needs of residents throughout Pennsylvania.

The light of hope entails a seamless continuity of care for the most vulnerable, young men and women, often who require multiple professionals from a variety of disciplines to address a wide range of needs.

The paired organizations provide hope, healing, and support to those in crisis, delivering high-quality, therapeutic care, and advancing complementary objectives to bring about life improvements.

“Welcoming the Achievement Center into our fold of affiliates and partners allows LECOM Health to further its mission of delivering wholeperson care and wellness to the communities we serve,” noted Danielle Hansen, D.O., Millcreek Community Hospital Vice President of Acute Care, Behavioral Health and Quality. “By combining our efforts, our organizations can build a cohesive continuum of care that uses collaboration and coordination to deliver improved family experiences and patient outcomes,” emphasized the caring physician.

The integration of the array of communitybased services offered by the Achievement Center paired with LECOM Institute for Behavioral Health psychiatry services solidifies the LECOM position as the undisputed mental health leader in the region.

Further enhancing the array of mental health options and the range of behavioral healthcare services, LECOM Health and Corry Counseling Services have announced a partnership that will strengthen the capacity of the organizations to meet the behavioral health needs of residents throughout the Northwestern Pennsylvania region. The collaboration is pending approval from the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General.

Through this partnership, the combined resources of LECOM Health and Corry Counseling Services will further expand behavioral healthcare options, particularly in rural and under served locales.

For more than four decades, Corry Counseling Services has assisted children and adults with mental and developmental disabilities throughout Erie, Warren, and Crawford Counties. Services include outpatient mental health services, family-based mental health services, medication support, family preservation services, blended case management, as well as offering two residential community homes for adults with developmental disabilities.

“LECOM Health was our first choice partner, based not only upon presence of the health system in southeastern Erie County, but also based upon the reputation of LECOM Health for providing quality services to patients in the Corry region and beyond,” noted Karen Croyle, Corry Counseling Services Executive Director.

For decades now, LECOM and its network of partners have been the foundational bulwark that has reinforced a powerful and purposed healthcare mission. LECOM has been solidly at the epicenter of that mission, championing the vision of healthful living, and advancing the educational and medical core of a growing and ever-expanding network of medical exceptionalism.

LECOM takes great pride in its union with the Achievement Center and with Corry Counseling Services; and the whole of LECOM Health looks forward with resplendent enthusiasm to continue to lead the way in the field of behavioral healthcare offerings.

"By combining our efforts, our organizations can build a cohesive continuum of care that uses collaboration and coordination to deliver improved family experiences and patient outcomes." – Danielle Hansen, DO