DEPARTMENT NEWS Messages for our alumni, from the department chairs Athletic Training (AT) Chair: Vicci Hill-Lombardi, EdD, ATC The Department of Athletic Training has experienced several challenges during the past year. The COVID-19 shutdown occurred suddenly in March, and we found ourselves rapidly transitioning our courses from live delivery to remote. Always technically savvy, the MSAT faculty, core and adjunct alike rose to the challenge and completed the transition seamlessly. Our preceptors also responded unanimously by providing exceptional telemedicine/telehealth opportunities to our students. Remote education included both synchronous and asynchronous sessions, and assessments using remote practical examinations and remote proctoring software, all of which required additional planning and training. Due to the diligence of the faculty and preceptors, all students remained on track for their respective graduation dates. We graduated 22 new AT practitioners in May while advancing our (Elite) eight to the second year of study. And despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, we welcomed a new class of 17 students in July. The entire faculty remains committed to pursuing scholarship. Professor Maffucci became Dr. Maffucci in December 2019. Professor Rippon continues to aggressively pursue her terminal degree. While the 2020 NATA meeting was a virtual event, several of our faculty and students had their abstracts accepted for presentation.
Interprofessional Health Sciences and Health Administration (IHSA) Acting Chair: Anne Hewitt, PhD The Interprofessional Health Sciences and Health Administration Department (IHSA) faculty and staff would like to recognize our own fabulous student Health Heroes who have served with unrelenting commitment and expertise during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite their enormous work burdens and health security concerns, our students have
20 BRAVING THE PANDEMIC 2021
maintained their graduate commitment to excellence, participation and completion of many assignments, reports and dissertations. We applaud their academic achievements and are incredibly proud of their Pirate spirit! Both the PhD and MHA programs began developing new strategic program plans with goals to enhance and improve curriculum offerings, consider new technology additions and meet the needs of future students to better prepare them for the challenging changes in today’s healthcare sector. Alumni will be surveyed to ensure their important input informs these important academic decisions for both programs. This year began with transitions in leadership as Dr. Zipp and Dr. Johri were appointed to fill new or vacant acting program director positions for the PhD and MHA programs, respectively. Dr. Hewitt transitioned from MHA program director to her new role as acting chair for IHSA.
90 percent completion rate and placement rate for our students. Graduates found most of their positions in regional health systems, hospitals, physician practices, pharmaceutical/ biotech companies and consulting. The MHA faculty continue to produce scholarly contributions via publications, panel presentations at national conferences and award-winning poster presentations. On November 7, 2020, the MHA program partnered with the Healthcare Planning and Marketing Society of NJ to hold the second annual virtual Case Study Challenge. Hackensack Meridian Health was the premier sponsor for this event, which attracted 12 teams from regional graduate schools. After an intense day of concurrent and plenary presentations to an independent slate of judges, the teams from Rutgers, Penn State and Pittsburgh earned the first, second and third positions, respectively.
PhD in Health Sciences, Acting Program Director: Genevieve Pinto Zipp, PT, EdD The PhD in Health Sciences program
Occupational Therapy (OT) Chair: Ruth Segal, PhD, OTR
has been busy during the 2019-20 academic year with 11 students completing their doctoral studies, bringing our alumni to 127! In response to today’s health challenges the program’s core faculty transitioned all components of the PhD in Health Sciences program to an online synchronous mode of delivery. Our learning community has embraced this modification, recognizing that the synchronous online delivery mode enables them to fully capitalize on all facets of the program with consistency and quality improvement. The program continues our innovative monthly Research Forums where doctoral students present and defend their research proposals and research findings to the entire learning community fostering scholarly, collegial dialogue and discussion. We invite all alumni to join us for these virtual sessions, which will be shared via our alumni email blasts.
Master of Healthcare Administration, Acting Program Director: Nalin Johri, PhD, MPH The MHA program graduated 48 students from across the online and on-campus formats and was also pleased to continue with an above
The Department of Occupational Therapy has been active in promoting health and civic participation during the COVID-19 pandemic. In spring 2020, Dr. Picard and recent graduate Etana Edelman, MS ’20, were featured on WNYC’s “Brian Lehrer Show,” where they discussed how older adults can employ remote alternatives for in-person activities. Together, the pair presented strategies to assist this vulnerable population with online shopping for necessities to avoid crowded shopping centers during the pandemic. In addition to the radio appearance, their article was published to The Star-Ledger/NJ.com and The Indian Panorama. Before the 2020 general election, Dr. Guthrie and Dr. Picard published two articles on elitehealthcare.com aimed at helping people with disabilities vote. In the articles, Professors Guthrie and Picard addressed challenges people with disabilities can encounter when performing the task of voting and provided resources for other occupational therapists (OTs). While
