College Health Sciences Magazine 2016

COLLEGE

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MAGAZINE

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Twenty years ago, the College of Health Sciences was just an idea.Today, we celebrate two decades and 5,482 graduates.

Clinical assets

The impact of depression

Saying yes to YES

The college houses two clinics that serve the needs of the campus and the community.

A generous gift is helping Marquette scientists search for a cure.

A community-based program is changing the lives of local youth.

DEAN’S MESSAGE

I am very pleased to welcome you to the spring 2016 issue of Health Sciences magazine. It has been nearly 20 years since the formation of the college, which in 1996 brought together several clinical and professional programs with long histories at the university, such as clinical laboratory science (formerly known as medical technology), physical therapy, and speech pathology and audiology. The new college also saw the administrative relocation of the Department of Biomedical Sciences (then known as basic health sciences) from the School of Dentistry and development of the department’s enormously successful undergraduate program bearing the same name. The biomedical sciences major would quickly grow from three students to the university’s largest undergraduate major, where it remains today at nearly 700 students. Shortly after its inception, the college launched its new master’s degree program in physician assistant studies and, later, new undergraduate majors in athletic training and exercise physiology. The last decade has seen expansions to many of these programs, the transition within physical therapy from a clinical master’s degree to a doctoral degree, as well as the development of master’s and doctoral (Ph.D.) programs in clinical and translational rehabilitation health sciences.

It has been a remarkable journey to date, and I have had a particularly interesting vantage point to it all, having joined the Marquette faculty some 10 months prior to the formation of the college. While I was aware at that time of the plan to bring these units together as a new college, I never expected to have the privilege of leading it in the role of dean.

In reflecting on the past 20 years, I believe the success of the College of Health Sciences can largely be attributed to three factors: 1) a wonderful collection of enormously bright, talented and highly engaged students, 2) a deeply dedicated and accomplished faculty that truly values its interactions with undergraduate, graduate and professional students alike, and 3) an extremely supportive and passionate alumni base that has tirelessly continued to promote the college and its programs, faculty and students. I invite you to take a closer look at the history of the College of Health Sciences and its destination programs, which we celebrate in our feature story that begins on page 14.

As we move into the future together, I see many more exciting initiatives to come. Even within the uncertain landscape of higher education overall, demand for our clinical professional programs and undergraduate courses of study continues to climb. We stand poised to grow and to develop additional innovative programs of distinction to help meet a critical demand in the health care labor market, while taking great pride in the kind of practitioners our graduates will one day become: excellent, ethical, caring, compassionate professionals in whom people will place great trust. This is our mission, and we truly value your role in accompanying us in advancing, and living, what we have termed “The Science That Heals.”

With warm regards,

William E. Cullinan, Ph.D. Professor and Dean, College of Health Sciences

Marquette University College of Health Sciences 1515 W. Wisconsin Ave. P.O. Box 1881 Milwaukee, Wis. 53201-1881 414.288.5053 marquette.edu/health-sciences /MUHealthSciences

/MarquetteCHS

Dean of the College of Health Sciences William E. Cullinan, Ph.D. Departments: Biomedical Sciences Clinical Laboratory Science Physical Therapy Athletic Training Program Exercise Science Program Physician Assistant Studies Speech Pathology and Audiology

Marquette Health Sciences is published for alumni, colleagues and friends of the college.

Feedback and story ideas are appreciated.

Please send them to jesse.lee@marquette.edu.

Editorial team: Stephen Filmanowicz, Jesse Lee, Jennifer Russell Art director: Sharon Grace

C O L L E G E

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S C I E N C E S

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M A G A Z I N E

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TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S

The college celebrates two decades A look back at how the College of Health Sciences came to be and where it’s going in the future.

2 Photo Essay

4 News

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Student Showcase — A Major Score

Athletic training interns keep athletes from the

26 Practice Before Practicing

Physician assistant students undergo rigorous training with simulated standardized patients.

28 The Impact of Depression

More than 15 million Americans are affected by depression. One family and a group of neuroscientists are searching for a cure.

Brewers and Packers healthy and performing at the highest levels.

10 Clinical Assets

The Physical Therapy and Speech Pathology and Audiology clinics serve the needs of campus and the community.

34 Alumni Voices — MU to MD

Since she was 5 years old, Jasmine Zapata

has known what she wanted to be when she grew up.

36 Saying Yes to YES

This community-based program with roots in

the physical therapy department is changing the lives of local youth.

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NEWS

AWARDS

GIFTS

GRANTS

RESEARCH

DR. MURRAY BLACKMORE RECEIVES $415,000 NIH GRANT Dr. Murray Blackmore, assistant professor of biomedical sciences, was awarded a $415,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health. Blackmore’s lab is studying the use of gene therapy involving cancer genes to treat spinal cord injury.

larger, more comprehensive projects.

Recently Blackmore received seed funding from the Bryon Riesch Paralysis Foundation. Its founder and president, Bryon Riesch, was paralyzed in an accident as an undergraduate student at Marquette nearly 20 years ago.

A key to the treatment of spinal cord injury and paralysis is promoting axonal nerve growth at the injury site. If researchers can promote the growth and connectivity of these axons past the site of injury, the mechanism for regained movement and motor control may be established in people with spinal cord damage.

“We are proud to have provided Dr. Blackmore the seed money that has helped lead to further funding from the NIH,” Riesch says. “His success is external validation that his ideas and work may eventually lead to new treatments for individuals suffering from paralysis.”

“We know there are a dozen different genes that impact axon growth,” Blackmore says. “What we realized is that 11 of those were being studied as cancer genes. Since the axon growth field is already working on cancer genes, our lab can do it systematically in order to identify the strongest gene candidates to promote axonal growth.”

Blackmore’s lab uses advanced microscope technology to systematically test large numbers of genes using a high-throughput approach. Much of the technological development for this research has been funded by seed grants — smaller gifts used to purchase equipment that make it possible to pursue funding for

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“Dr. Blackmore has three active grants from the NIH, and his lab is at the leading edge of spinal cord injury research,” says Dr. William E. Cullinan, professor and dean of the College of Health Sciences and director of the Integrative Neuroscience Research Center.

“This important and exciting work could lay the groundwork for an entirely new class of spinal cord injury treatments.”

“We’re mining cancer research to discover the mechanisms of neural repair,” Blackmore says. “An enormous investment has already been made in studying cancer genes; it only makes sense to take that knowledge and apply it to this issue.”

marquette university college of health sciences magazine 2016

“An enormous investment has already been made in studying cancer genes; it only makes sense to take that knowledge and apply it to this issue.”

— Dr. Murray Blackmore

To read more about Dr. Blackmore, visit go.mu.edu/news-blackmore.

COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCES RECEIVES $5 MILLION GIFT The College of Health Sciences received a $5 million gift from Dr. Michael and Mrs. Billie Kubly.

The gift is being used to establish the Charles E. Kubly Mental Health Research Center.

“We’re extremely grateful to the Kubly family for their enormously generous, transformative gift,” says

Dr. William E. Cullinan, professor and dean of the College of Health Sciences and director of the Integrative Neuroscience Research Center.

“We have built a team of research neuroscientists here whose work is focused on finding underlying causes of mental illness and discovering new, faster-acting and more effective ways

to treat these debilitating conditions.

The Kublys’ gift is an investment that will allow us to expand our research capabilities and accelerate the pace of discovery toward that goal.”

Read more about the gift, the reasons behind it and the science that it will support on page 28.

DR. MARIEKE GILMARTIN RECEIVES $800,000 GRANT TO FUND NEUROSCIENCE STUDY

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Dr. Marieke Gilmartin, assistant professor of biomedical sciences, was awarded an $800,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant will fund research on the mechanisms of memory creation and retention.

“The ability to create long-lasting memories of events is crucial for survival,” Gilmartin says. “Being able to predict a threat that occurs seconds or minutes after an environmental cue allows for evasive or defensive action.”

Gilmartin aims to address how brain systems function on a second-by-second basis to link events in memory, which will help identify key principles to advance understanding of more

complex methods of learning and the information retention.

“Despite considerable progress toward understanding how memories are formed, many questions remain,” Gilmartin says. “For example, how does the brain learn about events separated in time? These are the questions we seek to answer.”

“Dr. Gilmartin’s research is important not only for the understanding of brain function and memory creation specifically, but also as a complement to the broader field of neuroscientific research,” says Dr. William E. Cullinan, professor and dean of the College of Health Sciences.

“For example, many mental disorders are accompanied by memory disruption, and her work will likely answer questions critical to understanding cognitive dysfunction in a range of mental illnesses.”

DR. DON NEUMANN RECEIVES INTERNATIONAL SERVICE AWARD Dr. Don Neumann, professor of physical therapy, received the World Confederation for Physical Therapy Award for International Service in Education in recognition of his four Fulbright teaching awards in Lithuania, Japan and Hungary and his internationally renowned kinesiology text.

According to the WCPT, “Awards for international service are to honor individuals who have made a significant contribution to physical therapy nationally or within their region.”

Awardees are nominated for their demonstrations of leadership and impact on the profession of physical therapy.

Neumann received the award earlier this academic year.

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AWARDS

GIFTS

GRANTS

RESEARCH

Photo by Jesse Lee

NEWS

DR. SANDRA HUNTER RECEIVES $2.8 MILLION NIH GRANT FOR AGING STUDY Dr. Sandra Hunter, professor of exercise science, received a $2.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

The grant will fund research on decreased muscle mass and increased fatigue in aging populations and how a novel exercise program can address these effects. Dr. Robert Fitts, professor of biological sciences in the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences, is a co-investigator on the grant.

“A decline in limb muscle mass and capacity for movement combined with increased fatigability collectively result in reduced ability to carry out daily tasks and are significant problems for older adults, especially women,” Hunter says.

According to Hunter, the study will use cutting-edge techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation and magnetic resonance spectroscopy, two noninvasive methods to study areas of the brain and muscle to determine neural and muscle causes of age-associated power loss. They will also use

biopsies to extract single muscle fibers from young and older people.

The project will include an exercise training program with the goal of improving muscle performance, resistance to fatigue and quality of life for older adults.

In addition to Hunter and Fitts, the study is supported by Dr. Alex Ng, associate professor of exercise science; Dr. Carolyn Smith, clinical professor of physical therapy; and Dr. Mehdi Maadooliat, assistant professor of mathematics, statistics and computer science.

“The project combines expertise in whole-body performance coupled with cellular neurophysiology in order to understand the detrimental effects of aging and the benefits of exercise,” says Dr. William E. Cullinan, professor and dean of the College of Health Sciences. “Dr. Hunter has assembled a powerful collaborative team that is taking an innovative and integrative approach to this important health issue.”

To learn more about this initiative, read the article in the 2016 issue of Marquette University’s Discover magazine by visiting go.mu.edu/next-wave

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PHYSICAL THERAPY FACULTY KONTNEY, SIMONEAU RECEIVE NATIONAL RECOGNITION Drs. Laurie Kontney and Guy Simoneau received national awards from the American Physical Therapy Association.

Kontney, a clinical associate professor, received the Education Section President’s Award, recognizing her contributions to the organization, including serving as program chair.

DR. JENNIFER EVANS RECEIVES $1.7 MILLION NIH GRANT Dr. Jennifer Evans, assistant professor of biomedical sciences, was awarded a $1.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. The grant will fund research on the effects of biological rhythms on human health, specifically related to neuropsychiatric disorders like schizophrenia and depression.

“Nearly every biological process in our body fluctuates over the course of the day,” Evans says. “All these rhythms are controlled by a master clock located in a very small region of the brain.”

According to Evans, this “master clock” is made up of a network of about 20,000 neurons that need to synchronize to ensure that biological processes happen at specific times in the day. Disruption of this network is linked to a vast number of diseases, including depression, obesity and cancer.

These diseases and health problems are prevalent in shift workers, representing 15 percent of American wage earners.

But Evans says the issue has even wider relevance because clock dysfunction is also incurred during aging, jetlag and nighttime light exposure from increased use of computers and smartphones.

Professor Simoneau received two awards — the Paris Distinguished Service Award and the Catherine Worthingham Fellowship, the APTA’s top honor. He joins only 190 PTs to ever receive this honor, in recognition of his work as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy.

“Nearly every biological process in our body fluctuates over the course of the day. All these rhythms are controlled by a master clock located in a very small region of the brain.”

“The link is there, but we need to better understand how this coordination behavior adjusts in a changing environment,” Evans says. “To do this, it is imperative that we identify the mechanisms and molecules through which these neurons communicate.”

“Dr. Evans’ research could prove critical for our understanding of a number of neurobiological diseases,” says Dr. John R. Mantsch, professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences. “There is a fundamental gap in understanding how neurons communicate to coordinate biological activity, and her study aims to close that gap.”

To learn more about this initiative, read the article in the 2015 issue of Marquette University’s Discover magazine by visiting go.mu.edu/ discover-jennifer-evans.

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STUDENT SHOWCASE

Greg Signorelli on the field at Packers practice

A MAJOR SCORE

By Jesse Lee

It is said that quarterbacks get the glory while the line wins games and that home runs are exciting but pitching wins championships. What is not in doubt is that neither glory nor a championship occurs unless athletes are capable of performing at or near their peak. Enter athletic trainers.

These men and women work to keep athletes healthy and performing at maximal levels from high school through elite professional sports.

Admission to Marquette’s athletic training program is among the most competitive on campus, having a 2 percent acceptance rate. The program has a 100 percent certification exam pass rate and a 100 percent job placement rate. Before entering the professional world, though, Marquette students have the opportunity to participate in high-level internships. Chris Geiser, athletic training program director, helps place students with college and professional sports

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teams, including the Milwaukee Brewers, Milwaukee Bucks and Green Bay Packers.

“These internships are optional, but they give students the opportunity to learn and network and to have some great experiences for their resumes,” Geiser says. He adds that the internships are highly competitive, much like the athletic training program itself.

When senior Greg Signorelli heard about the internship offerings, he knew he had to take a shot. A peer was interning with the Bucks and relayed to Signorelli that the team was seeking a “qualified, interested” candidate.

“Only an hour after the interview, they called me and told me I had the job,” he says.

Signorelli did a lot of organizational work for the Bucks, including pre-competition preparation and fulfilling special player needs for rehabilitation treatments.

This led to his being able to do hands-on work with the players, helping with exercises and assisting with ultrasound and laser treatments

“I wasn’t sure I stood a chance, but I had to try,” he remembers. “I got a phone interview, and they invited me to spend a day in Green Bay, where I met the training staff and a few of the players. A week later, they called and told me I got the spot.”

Signorelli’s work with the Packers has proven to be even more hands-on than his previous internships.

“It works well for our students to help them since we’re in such close proximity,” Geiser says. “Once something like this is set in place, it generally continues. Our faculty thought Connor was the best candidate for the position, so we recommended him.”

As only the second Marquette student to have an internship with the Packers, Signorelli “networked early on in his academic career, and that ultimately got his resume out of the big pile and into the little pile.”

“We help with rehab exercises and generally prepare the guys for practice,” he says. “During practice, we make sure the players are hydrated and handle injury evaluations and wound care.”

“Each day I get to run the guys through rehab exercises in the pool and set up and operate equipment like the ultrasound and bone stimulators,” says Leichtle, who says his dream job is to work as an athletic trainer with a major college football team.

Geiser continues to push students to experience as much as they can in as many settings as possible before entering the profession.

“Athletic trainers practice in all kinds of settings,” he says. “These opportunities are among the elite, so if students have career goals that include working in professional sports, these internships make it possible for them to learn, practice and grow.”

As only the second Marquette student to have an internship with the Packers, Signorelli “networked early on in his academic career, and that ultimately got his resume out of the big pile and into the little pile,” says Geiser. “He’s doing a great job, and he’s also opening the doors a bit wider for the next Marquette student who would like to work with them.”

Senior Connor Leichtle understands how important it is to foster and maintain those professional relationships. He started his internship in April with the Brewers, an organization with a long history of partnering with Marquette’s athletic training program.

Photo by Scott Paulus

Photos by Jesse Lee

— which led to his desire to become a trainer at the level of professional sports. After working with the Bucks for a year, he set his sights on an internship with the Green Bay Packers.

Connor Leichtle at Miller Park

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Clinical Assets Offering students invaluable clinical experience, the college’s physical therapy and speech and hearing clinics also serve as important community resources.

By Ann Christenson

The L-shaped, light-filled room is stocked with equipment — an anti-gravity treadmill, an elliptical machine, free weights, exercise balls, high and low tables — but only a few patients. It’s the end-of-semester lull for the Marquette Sports Rehabilitation Clinic.

Normally, says Clinic Director Jeff Wilkens, PT ’99, there wouldn’t be a piece of unoccupied equipment in the place.

Located on the second floor of Cramer Hall, the 4-year-old clinic is a quiet campus success story.

There’s no signage outside the building, and patients mostly come by “word of mouth,” says Wilkens, who estimates that 90–95 percent of patients are students, faculty, employees and the families of Marquette employees.

But the facility is open to anyone and accepts all forms of insurance except Medicare/Medicaid.

Services offered range from full physical therapy and athletic training to X-rays, bone density scans and free injury evaluations.

“It’s a huge benefit to employees, most notably that the time to get an appointment is significantly reduced,” says Wilkens, who treats patients in addition to running the clinic.

Photo by Jesse Lee

It’s staffed by three licensed physical therapists, including Wilkens, and one part-time physical therapist. Marquette PT students are huge

contributors to the clinic’s day-to-day operations.

Each semester, about a dozen undergrads work four to five hours per week as PT aides or technicians. They perform ultrasound treatments and assist with basic tasks under the direct supervision of a physical therapist. Learning from a professional in a clinical environment is only one of the advantages for students. “(They) get the experience of interacting with patients,” says Wilkens. “Sometimes the hardest thing is to be with someone and talk.”

It’s not unusual for a student to work at the clinic for more than a semester. Kim Alkock, a 5th-year student in the 6-year doctor of physical therapy program, says the clinic is a perfect opportunity to “see and learn a lot from physical therapists who know their stuff.”

Alkock also works at the clinic’s pro bono offshoot: the Community PT Clinic, which operates in the same space. This PT student-run clinic serves people in the surrounding community who don’t have private health insurance. The hours are determined by the students’ semester schedules.

Because the students aren’t licensed PTs, they’re supervised by Marquette clinicians such as Wilkens, who also serves as faculty adviser.

Spanish skills of students such as Alkock are important at the clinic, which receives referrals

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“ It showed us how important communication is in establishing a relationship with a patient.” from medical clinics, including from those on Milwaukee’s near south side Hispanic community.

Case in point: Alkock was able to help a patient who hadn’t been compliant with her treatment goal in the past because of problems communicating with the PT staff.

“It showed us how important communication is in establishing a relationship with a patient,” she says.

A Powerful Learning Experience Professor Jacqueline Podewils oversees operations at the Marquette University Speech and Hearing Clinic, a year-round service to the local community that treats children as young as 2 years old up to older adults.

The space in Cramer Hall includes numerous therapy and language rooms where graduate students in speech-language pathology help deliver clinical services while being closely supervised by staff from the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology.

“We do a lot of work with kids with autism, kids with sensory problems and adults with aphasia,” says Podewils, director of clinical services for the department. The state-of-the-art facility is a first-rate training ground for students. “Our clinic exists to be a working lab,” Podewils adds, explaining the extensive array of diagnostic equipment used to prepare students for their careers.

Graduate students in speech-language pathology spend their first year fulfilling clinical requirements.

Second-year students spend their fall and spring semesters doing a school practicum in the medical community and in public schools.

Podewils shows off a therapy room for children, equipped with an observation space so parents and a student supervisor can observe the student’s interaction with the child. Some of the rooms on

the clinic’s first floor have props — bean bags and kitchen play sets — to help children respond in a more natural setting.

One of the clinic’s larger labs is the Adult Language Room. Here, clinicians offer therapy to patients with aphasia, a language disorder caused by damage to the brain. It’s a warm, welcoming gathering place with comfortable seating and tools to help stimulate communication.

Graduate student Nikki Demmers worked with adults in the clinic’s Aphasia Group, whose 10–12 members were asked to read the book Unbroken.

“It was powerful,” she says. “There were several people who had experienced war personally or had heard of the experiences of a parent, so we had a lot of discussion and sharing of stories. This is a great way to make progress in a rehabilitative aphasia program.”

To Demmers, the therapy sessions make classroom time even more valuable. “It’s exciting to learn about a technique or an approach and get to try it with a client the very next day,” she says.

“Though the clinic models are quite different, both the Sports Rehabilitation Clinic and Speech and Hearing Clinic are doing important work for the community at large, the Marquette community and, of course, for our students in training,” says Dr. William E. Cullinan, professor and dean of the College of Health Sciences. “After a lifealtering injury or illness, it is often the case that professionals from the disciplines of speech pathology and physical therapy become the most important people in your life. We keep that in mind as we develop their training experiences, and the clinics are a great help.”

To learn more, visit go.mu.edu/pt-clinic and go.mu.edu/sppa-clinic.

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Katherine Cording, M.S., CCC-SLP

“Though the clinic models are quite different, both the Sports Rehabilitation Clinic and Speech and Hearing Clinic are doing important work for the community at large, the Marquette community and, of course, for our students in training,� says Dr. William E. Cullinan.

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The college celebrates two decades

This summer will mark the 20th anniversary of the College of Health Sciences. Formed on July 1, 1996, the college brought together several stand-alone health programs — such as physical therapy and medical technology (now known as clinical laboratory science) — while relocating several others including speech pathology and audiology from the College of Communication, and basic health sciences (now known as biomedical sciences) and dental hygiene (closed in 2002) from the School of Dentistry. The new college created a platform for the development of a new professional program (physician assistant studies) as well as several new undergraduate majors (athletic training, biomedical sciences, exercise physiology) that currently stand among the most attractive and selective on campus. Here we take a look at the formation of this remarkable collection of programs and their contribution to the university’s advancing reputation for academic excellence.

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Biomedical Sciences

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ormerly known as the Department of Basic Health Sciences within the School of Dentistry, the department was administratively relocated to the College of Health Sciences upon its inception in 1996 in order to provide medical science service courses for its professional programs, as well as to launch a new undergraduate major. The department soon changed its name to Biomedical Sciences to create consistency with its newly formed undergraduate program.

In early documentation from the college, former dean Dr. Jack Brooks noted that “while a handful of universities offer a biomedical sciences major, Marquette’s is particularly attractive and unique.” This distinctiveness likely accounted for the fact that enrollment in the program skyrocketed between 1997 and 2002, at which point it became

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the largest academic major on campus with more than 400 students. Today there are nearly 700 biomedical sciences majors, and the program is undergoing yet another growth phase.

“I think the human, medical science focus of the major is what makes it particularly attractive to pre-professional students,” says

medical, pre-dental or other pre-professional students.”

The increase in undergraduate biomedical sciences majors necessitated expansion of the faculty, particularly since the department maintained its relationship to the School of Dentistry by delivering the pre-clinical portion of the dental

“ What started with a vision has certainly met all expectations, and shows great capacity for future growth.”

Dr. John Mantsch, chair of the department. “The opportunity to have formal coursework in human anatomy, including gross anatomy, as well as physiology, biochemistry, pathology, pharmacology and molecular genetics, all taught from a medical perspective, is a powerful preparation for pre-

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curriculum. A strategic decision was made to focus hiring around faculty with research expertise in neuroscience. Today the department has more than a dozen neuroscientists who collectively are responsible for 19 ongoing projects totaling nearly $16 million in funding,

1,743 most of which comes from the National Institutes of Health.

“Considering that the department’s total research expenditure was only $30,000 at the inception of the college, the research transformation has been exceptional,” notes faculty member and current dean of the college, Dr. William E. Cullinan. “What started with a vision has certainly met all expectations and shows great capacity for future growth.”

Both Mantsch and Cullinan are quick to emphasize the translational nature of the neurobiological research conducted, which has led to the development of two pharmaceutical startup companies by biomedical sciences faculty in recent years. Promentis

Pharmaceuticals Inc. was cofounded in 2009 by Mantsch and faculty colleague Dr. David Baker, who also serves as associate chair of the department.

AviMed Pharmaceuticals was established in 2011 by Dr. M. Behnam Ghasemzadeh. Both companies are devoted to the development of new treatments for neuropsychiatric illness.

Validation of the robust nature of the research environment has recently come in the form of a $5 million gift from Dr. Michael and Mrs. Billie Kubly, who endowed the Charles E. Kubly Mental Health Research Center in 2015 in memory of their son Charlie, who committed suicide after battling depression (learn more about the Kublys’ gift on page 28).

Biomedical Sciences graduates since 1996

launched in 2007 and subsequently extended throughout units across the entire college. The 10-week intensive research experience enrolls 35–40 undergraduate students annually on a competitive basis and is spearheaded by Dr. Laurieann Klockow, clinical assistant professor of biomedical sciences.

“The intellectual development that occurs through an immersive experience like the summer research program is immense — it’s no wonder that undergraduate research is considered a particularly high-impact educational experience,” Klockow says.

A notable feature of the department is its Summer Research Program in biomedical sciences, which was formally

Alhaji Camara, H Sci ‘15

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Physical Therapy

aunched as a baccalaureate degree program in the early 1950s, Marquette graduated its first physical therapy class in 1956.

Initially housed within the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in the former Marquette University School of Medicine, the program’s faculty elected to remain with Marquette University in 1972 rather than become part of the recently formed

undergraduate majors: exercise science, developed in 1999 as an option for pre-physical therapy students as well as others pursuing careers in fitness and wellness, and athletic training, initiated in 2001.

Both majors were an immediate success. Exercise science (now called exercise physiology) was one of the first such programs in the nation to be fully accredited under the American Society of Exercise Physiologists. Athletic training also quickly achieved accreditation and established itself as the university’s most selective academic program, currently accepting less than 2 percent of applicants.

“These initiatives and programs have been instrumental in elevating the national reputation of the program ...”

(1970) Medical College of Wisconsin. The program produced more than 1,640 physical therapists between its inception and 1995, when it transitioned to a master’s degree program.

Exercise Physiology and Athletic Training Continuing evolution of the program came in the form of two new

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While many students select exercise physiology or athletic training as undergraduate majors on their way to a physical therapy doctoral degree, others find their way directly into the workforce upon graduation in areas ranging from health promotion and wellness to prevention of chronic

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disease. The program maintains an extensive series of internships with community partners (including the Green Bay Packers and Milwaukee Brewers — see the story on page 8), a notable strength that differentiates it from competing programs.

“The growth and demand for these majors has been impressive, and our track record of placing graduates into nationally ranked graduate and professional programs in health care speaks to the quality of our students and faculty,” notes Dr. Paula Papanek, director of the exercise science degree program.

“A background in exercise physiology/athletic training, built upon a strong foundation of basic and medical sciences available within the college and university, positions our graduates to become competent and compassionate members of a health care team.”

In 2002 the existing master’s degree program in physical therapy transitioned to a 6-year Doctor of Physical Therapy Program in response to the profession’s vision

1,142 statement for autonomous practice of physical therapy with doctoral education as its entry-level degree. The first class of DPT students graduated in 2005.

Two additional changes came in the fall of 2011. The exercise science major changed its name to exercise physiology. At the same time, the department initiated a graduate program in clinical and translational rehabilitation health science, offering degree programs at the master’s and doctoral levels. Along the way, physical therapy faculty and students established a significant number of firsts. Students initiated the Marquette Challenge, a nationally prominent fundraising effort to raise money for physical therapy research.

The federally funded Health Careers Opportunity Program, launched through the efforts of Department Chair Dr. Lawrence Pan and in operation for 30 years, established an impressive track record of providing physical therapy training for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The Youth Empowerment Program and Youth Empowered to Succeed Program, funded through a series of large federal grants, have been successful in targeting at-risk minority youth in the Milwaukee community and serve as national models.

The department established a highly

Physical Therapy graduates since 1996

successful campus physical therapy clinic (the Marquette Sports Rehabilitation Clinic — see the story on page 10) that includes a student-run pro bono division for disadvantaged community members. At the same time, the faculty and students have won more than 50 national awards since 1990. Finally, the program has expanded its clinical affiliation relationships, which now exceed 700 clinical sites across the nation.

The department has also developed a reputation for excellence in research in clinical neuroscience and neurorehabilitation, while simultaneously launching a residency program in neurorehabilitation in partnership with the Zablocki VA Medical Center.

While the development of additional specialty residencies is certain, the national reach of the program in unquestionably increasing.

“These initiatives and programs have been instrumental in elevating the national reputation of the program to its number 15 ranking by U.S. News & World Report”, Pan says. “We now have the infrastructure and programming to compete with the nation’s top PT programs, while meeting our mission of service to disadvantaged and underserved populations.”

Jasmine Simon, H Sci ‘13, PT ‘15

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Clinical Laboratory Science

his long-standing 4-year bachelor’s degree program was known as medical technology at its inception in 1938, although non-credit courses in the discipline were available at the university as early as 1917. The program’s history is connected to both the College of Nursing and the former Marquette University School of Medicine, both of which had sponsored it during different periods until 1975, when it became a self-standing program within the university, and, finally, a department within the College of Health Sciences in 1996. The program changed its name from medical technology to clinical

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laboratory science in 1998 to provide consistency with its professional organization.

Since joining the College of Health Sciences, research within the department has grown significantly, providing students with opportunities to conduct research in clinical laboratory medicine.

Faculty research programs focus on microbial pathogenesis and development of diagnostic assays. Dr. April Harkins, who has chaired the department since the retirement of Dr. Linda Laatsch in 2013, is one such research-active faculty member and mentor, as well as a 1998 graduate of the program.

“Marquette clinical laboratory science students are able to be more involved in research, the hallmark of evidence-based medicine,” Harkins says. “This enhances career prospects within the medical field while providing an edge over their colleagues once practicing in the field.”

Clinical Laboratory Science graduates since 1996

Andrew Valiquette, H Sci ‘15

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A major strength of the program is the strong relationships it has maintained with local and regional clinical partners, including the Zablocki VA Medical Center, Wisconsin Diagnostic Laboratories, Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, Aurora Health Care, and Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Health Centers & Clinics. It also has a long tradition of placing students on a path toward success — graduates not only typically pass the Board of Certification exam at a 100 percent rate, but also consistently score well beyond the national mean. The program also boasts a consistent 100 percent employment rate in the discipline. In view of the projected rate of growth for the profession — 16 percent according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Marquette’s clinical laboratory science program promises to produce highly skilled laboratory professionals for many years to come.

Physician Assistant Studies

633 Physician Assistant Studies graduates since 1998

he college launched its master’s program in physician assistant studies a year after the inception of the college. The first class of 30 students was seated in May of 1997, and the class was expanded several times over the years to reach 55 students today. The addition of a PA program proved to be a visionary move. As demand for medical care has increased over the past two decades, the need for physician assistants has risen dramatically.

Forbes, Money, U.S. News & World Report and similar publications have continually listed physician assistant studies among the top areas for growth, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the profession to grow by 39 percent by the year 2020.

with some 900 applications received annually for 30 places.

The structure of Marquette’s program includes an internal accelerated track for biomedical sciences majors in which it is possible to earn both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in as little as five years. In addition, an external track exists for students holding a bachelor’s degree. Competition for the external track is particularly stiff,

The program enjoys a number of distinct advantages owing to its synergistic relationship with science departments within the college, particularly biomedical sciences and clinical laboratory science, which deliver the preclinical component of the curriculum.

In addition, the program has developed several post-graduate

“The drive to make a difference in patient care by providing compassionate high-quality care is ever present in our PA applicants,” says Mary Jo Wiemiller, chair of the physician assistant studies program.

“The accepted PA students are extremely intelligent, highly motivated and continue to pursue excellence in their education while in Marquette’s PA program. They bring a variety of backgrounds including other health professional experience, business experience, and most often service to others to our program and, more importantly, our profession.”

specialty residencies and advanced clinical practice clerkships, including in emergency medicine, dermatology and as hospitalists within the VA medical system, with more undoubtedly to come.

With a 100 percent board pass rate, a 100 percent job placement rate, and recognition as the 40th-ranked PA program by U.S. News & World Report, the physician assistant studies program stands poised to make even greater strides in view of the ever-increasing demand for graduates and the high quality of its students.

Pritha Roy, H Sci ‘12, MPA ‘15

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Speech Pathology and Audiology

S

peech Pathology and Audiology offers a bachelor’s degree bearing the same name, as well as a master’s degree in speech and language pathology.

Initially termed the Department of Speech Correction in 1910, the program was housed within

became known as speech and language pathology in 1987.

A notable feature of the program is the Marquette University speech and hearing clinic (see story on page 10), which was established in 1924, more than 70 years prior to the

to evaluate and treat communication disorders in Spanish and bilingual (SpanishEnglish) speakers and

Today the department features a number of cutting-edge programs that enable it to attract outstanding academic talent. the School of Speech (1926), later known as the College of Speech (1973) and the College of Communication (1994).

Along the way the academic bachelor’s degree changed its name from speech correction to speech therapy (1961), then to communicative disorders (1972) and, finally, to speech pathology and audiology (1987).

The department began offering a master’s degree in communicative disorders in 1960, which

formation of the College of Health Sciences. It relocated from Monitor Hall to the newly renovated Cramer Hall in 2005.

Today the department features a number of cutting-edge programs that enable it to attract outstanding academic talent. A bilingual EnglishSpanish certificate was developed in 2003; it prepares speech-language pathologists who are proficient in Spanish

remains the only program of its kind in the Midwest. In 2008 the department launched its renowned Intensive Aphasia Program designed for persons suffering from chronic aphasia (language impairment caused by damage to the brain), which provides intensive individualized therapy for patients who come to it from across the nation.

“The vision for speech pathology and audiology is to continue

Lorena Martinez, H Sci ‘14

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1,001

Speech Pathology and Audiology graduates since 1996

to prepare speech-language pathologists who have the research-based knowledge and skills to competently evaluate and treat individuals with a wide range of communication and swallowing disorders,� says Dr. Linda Crowe, chair of the program.

The department and clinic have scored a series of notable successes over recent years.

In 2010 a faculty team led by Dr. Maura Moyle received a $4 million grant award from the Department of Education for the Wisconsin Reading Acquisition Program, which targeted at-risk youth for early intervention in developing the language skills that precede reading ability. In 2014 the master’s program expanded to 30 seats and moved to its 62nd place ranking nationally among 245 programs. The program continues to boast a 100 percent board pass rate and a 100 percent job placement rate, and the Speech and Hearing Clinic has recently added audiological testing services for the campus community and beyond.

Looking Toward the Future Under the leadership of Dean Cullinan, the College of Health Sciences has continued to grow and flourish, and he has his sights set on even more growth and development, including taking an active role in university initiatives such as the athletic performance research center and the president’s strategic innovation fund.

In just 20 years, the college has defined itself as a destination for students interested in a variety of health science-focused programs with advantages that set it apart from other schools in the region and nationwide.

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Photos by Jesse Lee

“The student experience with standardized patients is one of the best ways to train a practitioner to be competent and confident and to become someone in whom people can place great trust.�

Practice Before Practicing

By Howie Magner

The young woman in the lab coat sits in a chair in exam room 5, chart in front of her. With professional courtesy, she asks questions. The older woman who sits on the paper-covered table answers queries about her family history and physical condition, then agrees to an examination.

Meanwhile, via a ceiling-mounted camera and microphone, a Marquette professor observes the entire scene on her computer screen, making evaluative notes on a chart of her own. It’s not an invasion of privacy, nor is she watching a recording.

This is a real-time OSCE, or Objective Structured Clinical Examination, and it is paramount to the success of the college’s physician assistant studies program.

The woman in the lab coat is a second-year student, the patient an actor hired to play one. She’s older because this OSCE is geared toward geriatrics. The room in the 1700 Building mimics its real-world counterpart, down to the medical equipment attached to the walls. Several Marquette professors are watching and grading, the sounds and images beamed directly into their offices.

“Yes, it does resemble a certain Seinfeld episode,” says Patrick Loftis, a clinical associate professor in charge of this OSCE. But he also notes the sitcom wasn’t too far off the mark with regard to the important role of the standardized patient.

Mary Jansen is a 64-year-old who has played pseudopatient roles for 15 years. For every OSCE — and they can be designed to address any area of medicine — she’s given a backstory and guidelines for how she should interact with the physician assistant students.

She’s been an angry patient, a depressed patient and a compliant patient. PAs will encounter all types.

Sometimes, she’ll be given specific key words to use. Other times, she’s left to improvise. But it’s vital that she stays in character.

“We have to be consistent so they’re graded consistently and everyone gets the same story,” she says. “I tended in the beginning to give too much information. But I learned that’s not helping them grow.”

Now, she saves any extra hints for post-OSCE feedback sessions, and students absorb the information as if it’s coming from professors.

Real-world patients won’t tell them what they did wrong, but rather seek a different practitioner.

“That’s so valuable,” says Jim Bauer, a third-year PA student from Rockford, Ill. But the most important thing is the exercise itself.

“When I’m out practicing medicine, I’m not going to be picking multiple-choice answers,” Bauer says.

“I’m going to be looking at a real person with real signs and symptoms. You can’t train for that in quite the same way using any other method.”

By design, the training provided by the OSCEs turns nervous PA students into confident ones.

“You can tell in the beginning that they’re sweating bullets,” Loftis says. “Then, after you observe students who have become ready to go out and practice, they’re universally far more confident.”

“The student experience with standardized patients is one of the best ways to train a practitioner to be competent and confident and to become someone in whom people can place great trust,“ says Mary Jo Wiemiller, chair and program director of physician assistant studies at Marquette. “That’s really what it’s all about.”

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THE

IMP ACT OF DEP RES SIO

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A N D T H E G E N E R O U S G I F T T H AT I S H E L P I N G M A R Q U E T T E S C I E N T I S T S S E A R C H F O R T H E U N D E R LY I N G C A U S E

By Jesse Lee

Take a moment to reflect on your daily life. Consider your major stressors: work deadlines, bills, perhaps a messy house, family and friends demanding your time and attention. Too much to do and too little time. It’s easy to let these stressors and negative thoughts consume you to the point that you’re swamped and struggling to function.

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For 93 percent of adults in the United States, these feelings pass. Overwhelming feelings of doubt, sadness and pain are overcome or dissipate, and the affected people are able to find joy in their lives and understand that the stress and sadness are temporary.

For the other 7 percent — nearly 15 million people who are affected by the disease of depression — these feelings persist.

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“THOUGH CURRENTLY APPROVED ANTIDEPRESSANTS WORK IN A SUBSET OF PATIENTS, THEIR EFFECTIVENESS IS OFTEN LIMITED AND MANY DEPRESSED INDIVIDUALS DON’T RESPOND TO THEM AT ALL. THE RESULT OF TREATMENT FAILURES IN THESE CASES CAN BE CATASTROPHIC. SUICIDE RATES ARE VERY HIGH IN TREATMENT-RESISTANT DEPRESSION.” Dr. John Mantsch, chair of Marquette’s biomedical sciences program and co-founder of Promentis Pharmaceuticals Inc.

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That’s at the heart of what makes depression and other mental illnesses so difficult to understand but is now coming into sharper focus. Those with depression can’t simply set it aside, work through it or get over it. Depression isn’t merely a negative state of mind. It is a disease with a biological basis.

Billie Kubly and her husband, Dr. Michael Kubly, understand well the devastating effects of depression.

Their son, Charlie, the youngest of their seven children, struggled with it from an early age.

Despite the disease, he put on a brave face, especially in front of friends. Billie says he was embarrassed and didn’t want people to know what he was going through. His family, however, saw his pain and agony.

Charlie admitted he needed treatment after college and, despite trying several treatment options, couldn’t find relief from the disease, which he described as incapacitating. After battling the disease for years, Charlie took his life at age 28. He wrote that if he hadn’t had depression, he believed he would have led a happy life.

The Kublys vowed to help others Charles Kubly with the disease and formed the Charles E. Kubly Foundation, a public charity devoted to improving the lives of those affected by depression. One of the foundation’s key tenets is that it’s important for people not to be ashamed: “Depression is a disease like any other for which one should seek help.”

Billie says it’s about reducing the stigma. “Charlie was private about his disease, but I know he’d be proud to have his name associated with this foundation that strives to help people overcome it,” she says.

In addition to overwhelming feelings of sadness, stress and loss of interest, people with depression often suffer from physical symptoms such as

nausea, fatigue, insomnia and chronic pain. Treating depressed individuals is difficult, often involving much trial and error. Approaches can include pharmacological treatment with antidepressant medications, as well as cognitive behavioral therapy, some combination of which provides at least partial relief for 70–80 percent of patients.

“Though currently approved antidepressants work in a subset of patients, their effectiveness is often limited and many depressed individuals don’t respond to them at all,” says Dr. John Mantsch, chair of Marquette’s biomedical sciences program and co-founder of Promentis Pharmaceuticals Inc., a company that develops treatments for several central nervous system disorders.

“The result of treatment failures in these cases can be catastrophic. Suicide rates are very high in treatmentresistant depression.”

It can also take up to six weeks for a medication to reach its full effect, and if the dosage or drug isn’t a good fit, a person can lose six weeks of treatment time. After repeating this cycle three or four times with no success and no relief, depressed individuals can become so frustrated that they quit treatment altogether.

Even if a person does find relief, antidepressants can have side effects, including anxiety, weight gain and headaches, many of which mirror symptoms of the actual disease. And people who need to stop taking medication for any reason could experience severe and serious withdrawal symptoms.

“Cognitive behavioral therapy and counseling are often key components of successful treatment, and a subset of patients may respond sufficiently well to these approaches so medication isn’t necessary,” Mantsch says. “However, this is not usually the case with most depressed individuals.”

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The Kublys believe there is a better solution. So does Dr. William Cullinan, dean of the College of Health Sciences and director of the Integrative Neuroscience Research Center.

Cullinan and Mantsch assembled a team of neuroscience researchers whose talents and work complement each other and who collaborate to tackle issues from multiple angles.

“We’re focused on finding the underlying causes of mental illness and discovering new, faster-acting, more effective ways to treat these disorders,” Cullinan says.

The Kublys have long sought to find a more effective pharmacological option for treatment.

When they saw the innovative work being done in the college, they knew the potential for a breakthrough existed within its collaborative neuroscience model. To foster that work, they made a personal gift of $5 million to the college to establish the Charles E. Kubly Mental Health Research Center.

Their goal for the center is to accelerate the pace of discovery toward better medications for depression and related mental illnesses and to remove the stigma that can be a barrier to treatment.

“People don’t often fund diseases like depression,” Billie says. “I hope our gift will inspire others to give. It’s an important area of study and one that needs more attention.”

“Progress in treating these conditions requires the identification of new targets for medications,” adds Mantsch. “Unfortunately, drug companies are unable and insufficiently motivated to conduct the basic research necessary to accomplish this, leaving much of the burden on academic researchers.”

According to Mantsch, real progress requires a research environment that can meet three key criteria. The environment must value and foster basic science that can be translated into new treatments. It must encourage scientists to

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creatively pursue quality science beyond chasing grant funding and publication numbers. And it must be strategically constructed of talented neuroscientists with complementary research interests and technical expertise capable of working closely as an interactive team.

It’s no accident that this is precisely the kind of research environment that exists in the college’s Biomedical Sciences Department, currently composed of a dozen neuroscientists. Dr. Peter Lake, medical director of the Adolescent Center for OCD and Anxiety at Rogers Memorial Hospital and board-certified psychiatrist, calls the Marquette model “inspirational to all of us on the front lines who help patients and families in their daily battle with mental illness and psychiatric disorders.”

“When we talk about depression and other related illnesses, we are talking about conditions that have a neurobiological origin,” Mantsch says. “We often think of depression as a single entity, when it is likely a collection of conditions with common symptoms, each of which has a slightly different neurobiological distinction. It’s not surprising then that there’s so much variability in the severity of the disease and how differently patients respond to available treatments.”

The Kublys’ gift will directly address treatment development by bolstering the college’s research infrastructure, providing new tools to help answer research questions that couldn’t be asked because of technological constraints. The gift also will fund the hiring of additional research faculty members while placing neuroscience researchers in the college at the leading edge of the depression and mental health research landscape.

Cullinan points to the strategic addition of faculty scientists as a major reason for progress. “The principal innovation here is the complementary approach. We believe a key to making progress in understanding mental illness is to simultaneously assess the brain’s motivational/reward system, its

The Kublys’ gift will directly address treatment development by bolstering the college’s research infrastructure, providing new tools to help answer research questions that couldn’t be asked because of technological constraints. The gift also will fund the hiring of additional research faculty members while placing neuroscience researchers in the college at the leading edge of the depression and mental health research landscape.

emotion-related circuitry, and the cognitive circuitries that guide executive function and impulse inhibition.

Importantly, these three systems overlap significantly, and by focusing our efforts at their interface, we hope to develop more effective biologically based treatment strategies,” he says.

To date, this innovative approach has resulted in several breakthroughs, including discovery of a novel mechanism controlling the release of the brain’s principal excitatory transmitter, glutamate, and the discovery and analysis of a

novel brain protein that regulates reuptake of monoamine neurotransmitters such as serotonin and norepinephrine.

“These discoveries and others made within the group have implications for development of new antidepressant treatments and are proving to be important in understanding additional neuropsychiatric conditions such as addiction, PTSD and schizophrenia,” Cullinan says.

To help support depression research at Marquette, contact Kathleen Ludington at 414.288.1410 or visit marquette.edu/giveonline.

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“I love what Marquette stands for — the mission of being the difference, expressing faith and helping others — because that is what I am all about.

I want to change the world.”

Photo by Jesse Lee

By Stephen Filmanowicz

ALUMNI VOICES

ALUMNI VOICES Since she was 5 years old, Jasmine Zapata has known exactly what she wanted to be when she grew up.

It wasn’t a rock star; it wasn’t a professional athlete; it wasn’t an astronaut.

“I didn’t always know why, but ever since I started kindergarten, I have wanted to be a doctor,” says a proud, smiling Zapata.

MU TO MD

Coming to Marquette in fall 2005, Milwaukee native Zapata, H Sci ’09, knew she’d have to work hard — tackling hours of demanding study time in high-level biomedical sciences courses. “Being able to have a major tailored to medicine really increased my interest in becoming a doctor,” she says. “Once I heard about that program, I knew Marquette was the right fit for me.”

Additionally, the school was close to home, a major factor for a young woman who was in many ways a central figure in a large extended family. She was also awarded a Burke Scholarship — a four-year, full-tuition grant — and given the opportunity to run track.

What she didn’t expect, however, was that the toughest challenges she would face would come from outside the classroom. On Nov.17, 2007, as she prepared to take the Medical College Admission Test, Zapata received a disturbing call, rushing home to find that her 16-year-old brother had mysteriously passed away in his sleep.

Soon after, Zapata’s mother moved in with her and her husband, whom she married in 2006. “I was going to drop out,” she confesses. “I thought my world was over.” But she says the amazing and supportive faculty she grew close to at Marquette encouraged her to stay in school. “Dr. William Cullinan, especially, helped me and motivated me to move forward,” Zapata says of the college’s dean. “Also Dr. Doug Lobner,” she continues. “He was my research mentor.

By Katharine Miller

I called him my adopted dad.” She credits this support system as the reason she was able to take the MCATs, graduate and be accepted into medical school, even while becoming a mother during her senior year.

“Jasmine really did it all while at Marquette”, says Cullinan. “It isn’t often that one encounters such a combination of talents. She was so gifted academically, competed as a Division I athlete, excelled in the research lab and co-authored a publication with Dr. Lobner’s team, maintained leadership roles in multiple organizations, and served her university and community in so many ways, all while overcoming deeply challenging circumstances.”

After graduating with a nearly perfect GPA, Zapata had numerous medical school options. She turned down a full ride to Harvard Medical School, opting to attend medical school at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She’s in her third year of residency in the department of pediatrics at the American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison.

She lives with her husband, Miguel, and children MJ, 7, and Aameira, 5.

Aameira was born extremely premature in 2010 and had to undergo a year of strict medical care. Zapata hopes to publish her story to bring awareness to prematurity, infant mortality and racial disparity issues in health care.

After residency, Zapata will pursue a master’s degree in public health while working in the neonatal intensive care unit, continuing her nonprofit work and development as a motivational speaker “encouraging, healing and uplifting people” around the world.

Zapata describes her time at Marquette as pivotal and life-changing. “I love what Marquette stands for — the mission of being the difference, expressing faith and helping others — because that is what I am all about.

I want to change the world.”

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Saying Yes to YES

Students learn how to cook an omelet using healthy ingredients.

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By Guy Fiorita

Maria Cevilla says her son Daniel was overweight, never played sports and lacked confidence.

Then he joined YES, or Youth Empowered to Succeed, a community-based intervention program aimed at reducing risky behaviors among minority youth.

“It changed his life,” she says. “He lost 50 pounds, and his academics improved greatly.”

Working in partnership with the United Community Center, Dr. Lawrence Pan, Department of Physical Therapy chair, launched the first phase of YES in 2006 with a focus on Hispanic high school students.

A second 3-year cycle of the YES program worked with seventh- and eighth-graders. Now, YES is in its third cycle, this time through a 5-year, $1.5 million program focused on younger students at the Bruce– Guadalupe Community School in the Walker’s Point neighborhood of Milwaukee.

YES is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health, and Marquette is one of 17 universities, colleges and community colleges nationally to have a program.

Photo by Kat Schleicher

Getting Them Early “We knew we would have more impact on the lives of these students if we started at a younger age,” says Dr. Paula Papanek, principal investigator of YES3 and founding director of Marquette’s exercise science program.

“We now have 48 students in the

program who all started when they were 10 years old. Each student comes every day after school and stays until 5:30 or later depending on the activity.

“They work hard, but it’s worth it,” she says. “This school is fewer than 2 miles from Marquette — these are our neighbors and our community. In a few years, they should be students in my university class. That’s what we are working toward.”

Junction, Wis., whose mission is to enrich the character and leadership development of each attendee.

It all adds up to, what Papanek notes, are far more than better grades, but rather healthy habits for life. She and her colleagues want to increase employment and college admittance rates while lowering teen pregnancy, illicit drug use and obesity rates. She

“ Ultimately, we want these kids to walk out this door leading a more healthy and successful life and then come back and help change someone else’s life, too.”

The day-to-day operations of YES are run by Kelly Dione, project coordinator, and are supported by 20 undergraduate volunteer mentors from the College of Health Sciences who work as private tutors when needed.

“Normally, we divide the kids into three groups,” says Dione. “Today, for example, one group is in the computer lab working on an anti-bullying project, another is planting tomato seeds at the plot YES bought at the Urban Ecology Center and a final group is learning to make healthy pizza.”

The pizza making, by the way, takes place in a home economics room that was refurbished and restocked thanks to a YES grant.

“Obesity is a problem in this community. Now we have a licensed nutritionist on hand twice a week to cook with the kids and teach healthy eating habits that we hope will stay with them for life,” Papanek says.

At the end of the year, YES participants get to spend a free week at Camp Manito-wish, a YMCA camp west of Boulder

hopes there will be a fourth cycle of YES that will include an assessment component to study its long-term impact.

“Ultimately, we want these kids to walk out this door leading a more healthy and successful life and then come back and help change someone else’s life, too,” she says.

Cevilla, who went on to become the family advocate for YES and has had a child in each of the three cohorts, says that anybody questioning what the program can do should simply take a look at her family.

“My oldest son graduated from UW­–Madison last year and now has a good job in the communications department at Trek Bicycle. My second son is a senior at Brookfield Academy and has been accepted to UW­–Madison, and my daughter is in sixth grade and is determined to study forensic medicine,” she says.

“The program is working. They are all fit and healthy, and it’s thanks to YES.”

For more about this program, visit go.mu.edu/yep-mu.

Dr. Papanek is also a 2015 Marquette strategic innovation fund awardee. Read about her project and other funded projects: marquette.edu/innovation/strategic-innovation-fund.php.

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Marquette University P.O. Box 1881, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201-1881 USA

GETTING TO THE HEART OF MENTAL ILLNESS One in every five adults in America experiences a mental illness — nearly 60 percent of them did not receive treatment in the past year.

We in the College of Health Sciences believe more must be done to understand and treat these illnesses. Through the Charles E. Kubly Mental Health Research Center, the college will advance the discovery of better medications for depression and related mental illnesses and remove the stigma that can be a barrier to care. The center, the result of a $5 million gift by Dr. Michael and Mrs. Billie Kubly in honor of their son, will use science and compassion to get to the heart of mental illness and make a healthy difference.