SPRING 2017
GRADUATE HEALTH SCIENCES
Building Tomorrow’s Health Care Leaders
UTHSC Chancellor Steve J. Schwab, MD Dean Donald B. Thomason, PhD Associate Dean, Student Affairs Isaac O. Donkor, PhD Associate Dean, Postdoctoral Affairs Monica Jablonski, PhD Associate Dean, Academic Affairs John V. Cox, PhD Assistant Dean, Academic Affairs Larry L. Tague Assistant Dean, Graduate Programs and Services Felicia Washington, MHSA
Table of Contents Letter from Dean Thomason.....................................................................................2
Program Coordinator Elizabeth Webb, MA
UTHSC Chancellor..........................................................................................................3
Program Coordinator Renata Jackson, MS
College of Graduate Health Sciences Update...................................................5
Administrative Coordinator Jeddie Maxwell
Student Profile: Nick Saites........................................................................................6
Vice Chancellor for Development and Alumni Affairs Randy Farmer, EdD
Student Profile: Chloe Chung....................................................................................8
Associate Vice Chancellor for Development and Alumni Affairs Bethany Goolsby, JD
Outstanding Junior and Senior Postdoc Q&A................................................10
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Alumni Affairs Tim Lanier, MS
SGAEC Excellence in Teaching Awards............................................................. 12
Senior Director of Annual Giving and Advancement Services Jada Williams
Chad Epps Leads Interprofessional Education at UTHSC........................ 15
Senior Director of Philanthropy Communications Josie Ballin, MPA
Annual Postdoctoral Research Day..................................................................... 16
Senior Director of Alumni Programs Chandra Tuggle, MA
Minority Fellowship Program Award................................................................... 16
Assistant Director of Development Michelle Nixon, MBA
Postdoc Elevator Pitch Competition................................................................... 17
Assistant Vice Chancellor Sally Badoud, MBA Editor Peggy Reisser Winburne Contributing Writers Josie Ballin Kamalika Mukherjee, PhD Photography Thurman Hobson Allen Gillespie Adam Brimer
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Letter from Dean Thomason There is much to be excited about in the College of Graduate Health Sciences. Our research training is expanding, our trainees and faculty are demonstrating that they are among the best and brightest, and opportunities are expanding for the university, the college, and its family. As you may have read in previous newsletters, part of the college’s strategic plan places an increased emphasis on career development for its students and postdoctoral fellows. At its simplest, this may be viewed as facing the reality that academic research positions are quite difficult to obtain. However, our trainees do much better at competing for these spots than the national average. The college has a more complex perspective: the development of outstanding research scientists who are skilled, astute, and resilient, opens the door to many opportunities. It is our mission to develop professionals. So how do we define professional? What are the professional standards for one who is trained in biomedical research? In many respects, society and our colleagues grant research scientists a “license” to practice their discipline largely without oversight. Given this independence, what guidance can we give our trainees? The Office of Research Integrity in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has provided some general tenets, and our Graduate Studies Council adapted these into some basic concepts for professionalism: • INTELLECTUAL HONESTY. Activities will be conducted without deceit and with care to ensure integrity. • EXCELLENCE IN THINKING AND DOING. Individuals will strive to continually improve the quality of their academic preparation and results. • COLLEGIALITY AND OPENNESS. All colleagues, at all levels, will be treated with respect and dignity, will advance knowledge by teaching their skills and sharing information, and will place the needs of society at the forefront of their professional activities. •
AUTONOMY AND RESPONSIBILITY. An individual is expected to have carefully considered approaches to research problems and the methods to address them, as well as the responsibility to judiciously allocate resources to the problems and provide their results for objective review.
• SELF-REGULATION. Individuals ensure the highest standards of work by reporting to the appropriate officials any sub-standard practices, inattention to the elements listed here, or wrongdoing. We recognize that there is room for interpretation in some of these concepts, so we would appreciate your thoughts. Always wishing you the very best, and thank you for your support!
Don Thomason, PhD Dean of the College of Graduate Health Sciences
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“We have a great story to tell” UTHSC Chancellor Steve J. Schwab, MD
UTHSC Chancellor Proud of Progress; Looking to Future In his annual State of the University address to the campus, UTHSC Chancellor Steve J. Schwab, MD, was bullish about the university’s progress. “It was our best year to date,” he said, referring to academic year 2015-2016. He cited growth in enrollment, innovations in education and training, increases in clinical revenue, unprecedented construction, and a reorganized research enterprise, all of which are rapidly advancing the university toward its goal set more than six years ago to join the ranks of the top-quartile academic health science centers. Enrollment has shown “a steady but reliable expansion,” he said. That number reached 3,100 students this year, of which more than 94 percent are professional or graduatelevel. Another 1,416 residents and fellows added to the ranks, boosted by the clinical partnership developing between UTHSC and Saint Thomas Health. “We are overwhelmingly the largest educator of residents and fellows in a six-state region,” he said. Programs on all UTHSC campuses have experienced growth, Dr. Schwab said. “The good news is, we have the numbers; students want to come here.” UTHSC’s graduation rate is at an impressive 96 percent, the number of graduates has risen to more than 1,300 a year when residency and fellowship certificates are added (965 degree graduates), and the first-time board pass rate is 97.3 percent. “A high-quality measurement any way you look at it,” the chancellor said.
As enrollment increases, Dr. Schwab said UTHSC is “changing the fundamental way we educate.” Key to that is the $36.7 million Interprofessional Simulation and Patient Safety Center under construction on the Memphis campus, where students from all six colleges will train together in simulation settings. When it opens in 2017, it will be “one of the best facilities in the United States for interprofessional education,” he said. Dr. Schwab said he is pleased with the bricks-and-mortar progress, and looking forward to upcoming renovation to the Historic Quadrangle at the center of campus, which will give the College of Nursing a new home and bring students back to the interior of campus. “The growth of our clinical enterprise has been nothing less than outstanding,” the chancellor said, giving a nod to the architect of the growth, David Stern, MD, vice chancellor for Clinical Affairs and Robert Kaplan Executive Dean of the College of Medicine. The chancellor said the university is in a strong financial positon with the growth in clinical revenue, as well as $229 million in sponsored programs (non-clinical grants and contracts), $141 million in state appropriation, and increasing philanthropic dollars. The research enterprise is being reorganized, positioning UTHSC to become a top-tier research institution. UTHSC is also aggressively growing the ranks of its faculty in order to continue expanding its core mission of advancing the health of Tennessee through education, research, clinical care and public service. “We have a great story to tell,” he said. UTHSC COLLEGE OF GRADUATE HEALTH SCIENCES | SPRING 2017
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“We’re developing professionals, as opposed to just developing academic scientists” Don Thomason Dean, College of Graduate Health Sciences
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The Big Picture: College of Graduate Health Sciences Adds Full-Time Faculty, Revises Focus The College of Graduate Health Sciences is sometimes called “a virtual college.” Unlike some of the other colleges that comprise the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, there is no building to which anyone can point and say, “That’s the College of Graduate Health Sciences.”
interdisciplinary responsibility. Our programs are, by design, that way. They’re interdisciplinary, they cross college boundaries. Faculty in any one of our degree programs may come from different colleges, so it really makes sense for us do those things in this college.”
Lack of brick-and-mortar, however, doesn’t mean a lack of faculty. According to Donald Thomason, PhD, dean of the college, there are about 540 UTHSC faculty members associated with the College of Graduate Health Sciences. Traditionally, each professor holds an appointment – and a physical office – in one of UTHSC’s other colleges.
Beyond staffing and programming, perhaps the single biggest challenge facing the college that is focused on scientific research is the shrinking funding available for research.
However, the College of Graduate Health Sciences now has faculty positions that exist solely within the college. The reason is that these new positions, like the College of Graduate Health Sciences itself, defy traditional departmental boundaries. One of the new faculty members is Chad Epps, MD, executive director of the $36.7 million Interprofessional Simulation and Patient Safety Center being built on campus. He serves in the new Department of Interprofessional Education. Another is Carol Schwab, JD, LLM, who chairs Medical/Legal Education. “There’s an ever-increasing need in UTHSC and the College of Graduate Health Sciences to recognize those functions and activities that cross unit boundaries,” the dean said. “It’s part of our strategic plan, and part of the Health Science Center’s strategic plan.” Because the College of Graduate Health Sciences is an umbrella organization, “it has a unique opportunity, not only to participate, but to take the lead in those initiatives that cross unit boundaries,” Dean Thomason said. “Certain things apply to medicine equally, to nursing equally, to pharmacy, dentistry and health professions equally. There are many activities that we do that you can’t silo. The legal aspects and ethical aspects of health care are like that. So is interprofessional education.” “So how do you do all of that – how do you teach ethics, for example – if you don’t provide some sort of formal structure to actually give it a home? Teaching ethics is an academic activity. It’s not the responsibility of the university administration to do it. Neither is it the responsibility of any one college, other than a college that has a broader,
“We’ve been fortunate that we have been able to hold our own in that respect,” Dean Thomason said. “But if we’re doing research training with the idea that all of our trainees are going to go into academic biomedical research, we’re deluding ourselves. It’s not going to happen.” Nationally, only about 20 percent of PhD graduates actually go on to get academic positions, though UTHSC graduates exceed the national average by a fair margin. “So what are we going to do? We’ve placed a larger emphasis on developing leaders and scientists, who are more resilient, who can take their skill sets and apply them to a different situation, and be successful in doing that,” he said. “We’re developing professionals, as opposed to just developing academic scientists. We’re focusing on career development and networking, interviewing and resume skills.” The college has revived the Sci PhD program in collaboration with the University of Memphis and Life Science Tennessee. The program has one-day workshops and practical networking events in a social atmosphere to help students learn to emphasize their strengths in a diverse economy. Dean Thomason believes that the college’s graduates are far better prepared for non-academic jobs than they realize. “Our students need to think, ‘I do project planning. I do budget management. I do data analysis and interpretation.’ All of these skills are applicable to a huge variety of things. It’s just a matter of telling somebody – on a resume and in an interview – that you know how to do all of that.”
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Science with Service: Student Nick Saites Finds Studies at UTHSC Nurture Both His Passions Graduate Health Sciences PhD candidate Louis “Nick” Saites fell in love with science at an early age. “I wanted to know how everything worked, including people,” he said. “It was tough to choose between research and medicine. So I chose both.” As his love of research and medicine has matured, he has come to find a calling to study addiction and its treatment. “I’m close to many people – friends and family – who struggle with addictive behaviors,” he said. Saites chose UTHSC for two reasons. “It had the combined benefit of being close to home and, more importantly, having several top-notch researchers studying the neurobiology and treatment of addiction,” he said. “The passion of our students never ceases to amaze us, and Nick is the epitome of this energy,” said Donald Thomason, dean of the College of Graduate Health Sciences. “His desire to make a difference, on so many levels, is a great example for all of us.” Saites presented research from his lab at the Association for Chemoreception Sciences, and completed and submitted his first paper to the journal Chemical Senses. His area of research is addictive feeding behavior and the brain’s mechanisms for extracting reward information from the taste and enteric nervous systems. Based on his experience at UTHSC, Saites has advice for incoming graduate students. “The most important thing you should do is find what you’re passionate about,” he said. “No matter what you do in life, if it’s worth pursuing, it’s going to involve challenges. If you find and pursue your passion, you will love the challenges, just as much as you love the cakewalks.” He encourages future students to take a role in shaping their course of study. “Students are the reason the college exists,” he said. “They should be here to gain the best education they can. It makes the difference between surviving and thriving. By taking a role in shaping their program, they ensure that the education they receive is exactly right for them.”
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He also advises some self-care. “I had to learn to set boundaries in relationships, foster healthy relationships with healthy people, and better align my actions with my goals. I’m extremely fortunate to have learned these skills sooner, rather than later. I’m much more focused and motivated. Furthermore, I appreciate the opportunity to improve our community’s ability to rehabilitate individuals overcoming their addictive behaviors.” Saites would like to work in or create a clinic/lab where he does research and treats patients. “I want to use the knowledge I scientifically discovered to develop better treatments for individuals overcoming addictive behaviors,” Saites said. “To do this, I plan to attend medical school after I earn my PhD. A residency in either a psychiatric or neurology specialty will most likely be my next stop. I’ll go from there based on what I learn along the way.”
“It was tough to choose between research and medicine. So I chose both.” Nick Saites PhD candidate, Biomedical Sciences
Saites Recognized With State Honor for Community Service Nick Saites, PhD candidate, received the 2016 Harold Love Award for Community Service. The award, named for the late Tennessee Representative Harold Love, recognizes momentous public service by faculty, staff and students in higher education. Saites founded the Memphis Comprehensive Recovery Network, which supports the facilitators of recovery groups. Nominated by fellow student Jason Workman, Saites received a $1,000 cash prize and recognition during an award ceremony at the Tennessee Higher Education Commission offices in Nashville. A native of Lewisburg, Tennessee, Saites studies how the sense of taste influences feeding behavior via signal processing throughout the brain’s reward system. In the future, he hopes to provide translational medicine in the field of psychiatry, helping people understand and overcome addictive behaviors. “In many ways, my current job and volunteering activities are laying the groundwork for me to pursue my true passion,” he said. One of Saites’ community affiliations includes SMART Recovery (Self-Management and Recovery Training), an organization founded to help people overcome addictive
behaviors. The group’s meetings focus on teaching participants self-empowering options. “SMART Recovery meetings were previously unavailable in Memphis, and the only other meetings in Tennessee occurred in Johnson City. Now, across the state, there are additional options for people to attend meetings to help them overcome addictive behaviors,” Saites said. “A local treatment facility, La Paloma, takes advantage of this by sending patients to the meetings I facilitate.” By helping other facilitators start meetings and presenting on them, Saites helps spread the option in Memphis and Tennessee. “I’ve seen some community impact, and I anticipate this will increase exponentially over time,” he said. Saites was president of the Graduate Student Executive Committee in academic year 2014-2015. He hopes service to others continues to play a significant role in his future and that of his fellow students. “My work with numerous student organizations, UTHSC administrators, and community organizations enhances the learning experience, which in turn, has far-reaching community effects,” Saites said. “I hope we will carry this attitude of philanthropy with us.”
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“Each scoliosis brace is unique, based on measures from X-rays, because each scoliosis deformity is unique.” Chloe Chung PhD candidate, Biomedical Engineering
Braced for the Future: Student Chloe Chung Develops Model for Testing Scoliosis Treatment The technology behind the back brace used to treat scoliosis has not changed in 40 years, according to PhD candidate Chloe Chung. “It really is in need of a change,” she said. Scoliosis is a bend in the spine coupled with axial rotation, Chung explained. It is typically treated in childhood with a wearable brace of rigid plastic. For her master’s thesis, Chung developed a novel device – a robot for testing scoliosis braces. By enabling the experimental study of scoliosis braces, she hopes to improve brace design and treatment outcomes. “We had computational models and clinical models, but nothing to do actual biomedical testing on,” she said. “Each scoliosis brace is unique, based on measures 8
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from X-rays, because each scoliosis deformity is unique.” Chung’s robot is a physical reproduction of a child with scoliosis. Just like a brace, the robot can be modified to reflect a specific child. “My model is fully adjustable,” Chung said. The robot model imitates physical movement, subjecting the brace to the same stresses it will receive in actual use. This earned her the 2015 Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award from the Tennessee Conference of Graduate Schools (TCGS). Chung was honored by the TCGS at the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools meeting in Charlotte, NC. Her mentor is Denis J. DiAngelo, PhD, UTHSC Distinguished Professor of Biomechanics and director
of the BioRobotics Laboratory in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Biomedical Engineering. Dr. DiAngelo specializes in advanced robotic testing platforms that simulate how human joints move under different loading conditions.
Presentation, 2015; the UTHSC College of Graduate Health Sciences Travel Award, 2015; the UTHSC Graduate Student Executive Committee Representative, 2015; and the BME Seminar Series Oral Presentation, 2015.
As an undergraduate, Chung majored in mechanical engineering at Christian Brothers University. Through her internships, she discovered and nurtured a passion for biomedical design that led her to UTHSC’s College of Graduate Health Sciences. She earned her Master of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering in a joint program from UTHSC and the University of Memphis, and went on to the PhD program at UTHSC. The TCGS Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award is only the latest in a string of awards for Chung. They include the University of Tennessee Alumni Association Joe and Pat Johnson Scholarship, 2013-2014; the Biomedical Engineering Society UM/UT Chapter Liaison, 2014; the UTHSC Graduate Research Day Poster Presentation, 2015; the Southern Biomedical Engineering Conference Oral Presentation Second Place Award, 2015; the Life Science Tennessee Annual Conference Poster UTHSC COLLEGE OF GRADUATE HEALTH SCIENCES | SPRING 2017
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Outstanding Junior Postdoc: Research, Professional Accomplishments Earn Sridhar Jaligama Honor Sridhar Jaligama, PhD, is the 2016 Outstanding Junior Postdoc in the College of Graduate Health Sciences. HOMETOWN: Karimnagar, India UNDERGRADUATE: Bachelor of Pharmacy 2004–2008, Kakatiya University, India DOCTORAL: PhD in Toxicology, 2009– 2013, Department of Toxicology, University of Louisiana at Monroe POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW: UTHSC, June 2013 to November, 2016. Under the mentorship of Stephania Cormier, PhD, Plough Foundation Chair of Excellence in Pediatrics and associate vice chancellor for Research and Global Partnerships at UTHSC, Dr. Jaligama’s postdoctoral work was focused on understanding the mechanisms of pulmonary immunosuppression in modulating the immune response toward respiratory tract infections during early life exposure to particulate matter. Also, he studied the mechanisms of asthma responses induced by particulate matter. CURRENT POSITION: Research scientist-inhalation toxicology at Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, OH.
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HOW HAS UTHSC PREPARED YOU FOR YOUR FUTURE CAREER? “My postdoctoral training at UTHSC has provided a great platform for shaping me as a respiratory toxicologist and preparing me for a career in the industry. I was very fortunate to be part of a great group of researchers in my lab. I have not only had ample opportunities to learn multiple aspects of science and grow as a researcher, but also to be part of professional associations, such as the UT Postdoctoral Association. That organization gave me an opportunity to meet with fellow postdocs and postdoctoral advisers and participate in various activities at the institutional level that have played a major role in developing, not just scientific expertise, but also social, communication, and leadership skills.” WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS? “My plans are to develop a career in industry as an inhalation toxicologist with emphasis on preclinical safety assessment.” WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE OTHER STUDENTS? “My advice to students is to keep believing in your strengths, and to never let anything limit your ability to achieve something.” WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON RECEIVING THIS RECOGNITION? “I am extremely honored to receive this recognition, and would like to thank the UTHSC Postdoctoral Association for considering me for this award. To be recognized by your peers for professional accomplishments is the greatest honor one could receive. I was very fortunate to be part of an amazing group and to be mentored by Dr. Cormier. I have had ample opportunities to learn various aspects of respiratory immunology and apply them to my work during my postdoctoral training. I owe my accomplishments to the kind of work environment I have been part of, and to the kind of help, training and encouragement I received during my postdoctoral work.”
Outstanding Senior Postdoc: Ajeeth Pingili Honored for Research, Service to the Campus HOW HAS UTHSC PREPARED YOU FOR YOUR FUTURE CAREER?
Ajeeth Pingili, PhD, is the 2016 Outstanding Senior Postdoc in the College of Graduate Health Sciences.
“I’m interested in doing research that directly helps people, and I think my training in Dr. Malik’s lab has helped me to prepare for my future career and research.”
HOMETOWN: Warangal, India UNDERGRADUATE: BS, Osmania University, India, 1999–2002; Majors: Zoology, Microbiology, Chemistry
WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS?
GRADUATE: MS, Department of Biotechnology, Kakatiya, University, India, 2003–2005; Major: Biotechnology
“I’m interested in doing clinical research, and I’m looking for opportunities at the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health.”
DOCTORAL: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota, 2007-2012; Major: Cellular and Molecular Biology
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE OTHER STUDENTS?
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW: A postdoc in the UTHSC lab of Kafait Malik, DSc, PhD, Dr. Pingili has studied the effects of testosterone and estrogen metabolites generated by CYP1B1, an enzyme, on high blood pressure and kidney dysfunction. His research suggests that the testosterone metabolite of CYP1B1 could cause kidney damage in hypertensive men. He also showed that the estrogen metabolite of CYP1B1 can be used for treatment of cardiovascular diseases in postmenopausal women. Dr. Pingili is working to develop drugs for effective treatment of hypertension in males and females. Dr. Pingili has been an active member of the UTHSC Postdoctoral Association, and has published his work in reputed journals.
“Work hard. Try to extract maximum benefit from the opportunity provided by UTHSC and your mentor. Networking is important for your future career opportunities, so it’s important to present your work at Graduate Research Day, Postdoc Research Day, and at international conferences. It is also very important to join student and postdoc associations, as it will help to develop leadership and organizational skills.” WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON RECEIVING THIS RECOGNITION? “I feel very good about it. These kinds of awards actually encourage you to do more work. I think it’s a great initiative by the Postdoctoral Office to recognize postdocs at UTHSC, who are excelling in their field of research.”
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SGAEC Excellence in Teaching Award: For Sajeesh Kumar, Technology is Key to Teaching Next Generation Sajeesh Kumar, PhD, associate professor of Health Informatics and Information Management, joined the UTHSC faculty in 2012. His first teaching experience was as a graduate assistant in Australia at what he describes as a more-traditional, residential campus than UTHSC, but with more international students. He was immersed in residential life. “I enjoy both teaching and research equally,” he said. “They go hand in hand. Research becomes useful only when we communicate it with the next generation of learners. Otherwise, it’s just a thesis or a journal paper.” He likes to communicate with his students about the latest developments in health technology. “My research is more into the use of technology in health care – using smart phones, internet, any technology to connect health care professionals with the patient population.” He believes students like going beyond traditional online classes. “I use all the technologies and try to build rapport with them,” he said. “I send them reminders. Keep them on track. Instead of giving them books to read, I use current and emerging topics for discussion. We have small-group discussions and large-group discussions.” He also uses peer-to-peer, student-to-student critiquing. “Students will critique each other’s work. They learn from what I would call constructive criticism. I also ask them to do their own SWOT analysis – to analyze their own
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strengths and weaknesses, and where they find opportunities and threats.” Dr. Kumar invites other faculty members and industry representatives to sit in on his class. “My students are working adults. They are online. I have students in Florida, California, Hawaii. I have one student who moved to Germany with her husband, who was on military duty. So she is using technology to finish her degree. I have another student, who is in Dubai. So we can use technology to connect with students wherever they are. I think students aren’t interested in being in one place.” He said his goal is to challenge his students. “I ask them questions, and encourage them to think for themselves and to find out the answers in discussions.” Prior to coming to UTHSC, Dr. Kumar was involved in health care activities in Pittsburgh, Australia, Singapore, Netherlands, Seychelles, United Arab Emirates and India. He has won several research awards, edited several books on telemedicine, book chapters and scientific papers in high-impact journals. Dr. Kumar holds an impressive record of competitive research funding and research awards. He currently serves as a reviewer for Perspectives in Health Information Management.
Faculty Honored for Teaching Excellence
The Student Government Association Executive Committee awarded two faculty members of the College of Graduate Health Sciences with Excellence in Teaching Awards for the 2015-2016 academic year: Sajeesh Kumar, PhD, and David Rogers, PhD, PharmD.
SGAEC Excellence in Teaching Award: David Rogers Imparts Scientific Knowledge and Life Wisdom to Students David Rogers, PhD, PharmD, not only received the 2016 Excellence in Teaching Award in 2016, he received it in 2014. Dr. Rogers is the First Tennessee Endowed Chair of Excellence in Clinical Pharmacy. He also serves as a professor of Clinical Pharmacy and Pediatrics; vice chair for Research in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy; director of the Division of Clinical and Experimental Therapeutics; and co-director of the Center for Pediatric Pharmacokinetics and Therapeutics. “Things like this are always a surprise – a very pleasant surprise,” Dr. Rogers said. “Of course, I’m deeply honored.” He serves as a mentor to many doctoral candidates. “I serve on eight or nine PhD committees,” he said. “That means I come in contact with – and mentor – a lot of students. That’s my favorite part of my job. I enjoy that aspect of teaching tremendously.”
Dr. Rogers said he doesn’t aim to impart only scientific knowledge, but wisdom as well. “I try to pass on all that I’ve learned over the years about what I call ‘living the academic lifestyle,’ ” he said. “By that, I mean things like professional behavior, ethics, high academic standards, and more. I try to provide practical career advice, too.” Dr. Rogers holds a PhD from the University of Mississippi in Jackson, and a PharmD from UT Health Science Center. “I benefited from the outstanding professors I had at every step of the way, at all the institutions I attended. I believe it’s important to give others today the same opportunities that were given to me,” he said. “With each student that comes along, I think to myself, ‘Maybe, because of what I do, maybe he or she will find the path to success.’ ”
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Each floor of the three-story Interprofessional Simulation and Patient Safety Center at UTHSC will be dedicated to a different aspect of simulation training. The first floor includes bed-skill stations that will allow students to focus on preclinical skills and assessments. There will also be a simulated home environment, where students can practice delivering in-home patient care. The second floor will house a simulated acute-care setting resembling a hospital environment with patient rooms and variety of manikins that can simulate everything from surgery to labor and delivery. The third floor will house the standardized patient program, including 24 patient exam rooms, as well as a community pharmacy setting.
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Crossing Boundaries: GHS Faculty Member Chad Epps Leads Interprofessional Education at UTHSC Chad Epps, MD, was a high school teacher before he became a physician. As the new executive director of the Interprofessional Simulation and Patient Safety Center under construction on the Memphis campus, Dr. Epps will combine his expertise as a physician and a teacher to improve education for future health care professionals, as well as the quality of care their patients will receive. Dr. Epps, who trained in anesthesiology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and completed a fellowship in Human Patient Simulation at Mount Sinai Human Emulation Education and Evaluation Lab for Patient Safety and Professionalism, occupies one of two new faculty positions in the College of Graduate Health Sciences. He joined UTHSC on June 1, 2016. He will be the first to lead academic programs in the new $36.7 million building, which is expected to be completed in 2017. The building will allow students from all six colleges at UTHSC to train together in simulation settings to develop their skills in delivering team-based health care, which is the model for the highest-quality care today. Using high-tech manikins and standardized patients (actors who portray patients with a variety of conditions), UTHSC will offer state-of-the-art training under the safest conditions possible. Most recently, Dr. Epps served as the associate director for the Office of Interprofessional Simulation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and as an associate professor with academic appointments in four schools there -- Medicine, Health Professions, Nursing and Engineering. He received his medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine in Augusta. “I think I’ve always had the heart of an educator,” Dr. Epps said. “I was exposed to the powerful effects of simulation during my residency in anesthesiology. I was so drawn to it as an educational modality that I completed a fellowship in simulation, and have been working in health care simulation ever since.”
Dr. Epps has been active in simulation education, research, assessment and center management for more than 10 years. “Health care simulation epitomizes everything we know about adult learning theory -- adults learn by doing, learn best by focusing on problems, and want guidance,” he said. “It’s a perfect fit.” Dr. Epps is the 2016 president of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare and past chair of the Council on Accreditation of Healthcare Simulation Programs. He is published in the area of simulation-based interprofessional education, and co-edited the textbook “Defining Excellence in Simulation Programs.” Dr. Epps has been a consultant on the building at UTHSC since he joined the faculty. “My vision for the building is to create a program by which we work with our students and our clinical partners to make patient care safer,” Dr. Epps said. “That’s the bottom line. It’s about creating health care workers who provide better care and improve patient safety.” Dr. Epps said he was drawn to Memphis and UTHSC because it offered an opportunity to work in a stand-alone building specifically built for simulation. “Quite honestly, it’s not that easy to find in most institutions,” he said. The building is a reflection of a culture at UTHSC that values this type of training, he added. “It’s most definitely a statement to the community that this institution is making a commitment to improving the way health care professionals are trained and the way health care is delivered.”
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Poster presentation winners
Oral presentation winners
A Show of Science: Annual Postdoctoral Research Day Puts Talent on Display UTHSC’s Postdoc Office, the Postdoctoral Association, and the College of Graduate Health Sciences sponsored the 9th annual Postdoctoral Research Day on December 8. More than 30 postdoctoral fellows and faculty mentors presented their work in the Student-Alumni Center. The keynote speaker was Steven Goodman, PhD, UTHSC’s vice chancellor for Research.
Oral presentation winners were: first place, Erin Stephenson, PhD, Pediatrics; second place, Michael P. Thompson, PhD, Preventive Medicine; third place, Qusai Al Abdallah, PhD, Clinical Pharmacy.
Postdoc Research Day supports the university’s commitment to encourage postdoctoral fellows to present their research as an essential component of their training experience. Presentations were scheduled throughout the day.
“The quality of the science was outstanding,” said Monica Jablonski, PhD, FARVO, associate dean of Postdoctoral Affairs in the College of Graduate Health Sciences. “The enthusiasm level was so high that we even had to ask people to table their discussions at the posters, so we could begin serving lunch. It was a wonderful event.”
Poster presentation winners were: first place, Kamalika Mukherjee, PhD, Pharmacology; second place, Sheema Khan, PhD, Pharmaceutical Sciences; third place, Raquibul Hasan, PhD, Physiology.
Travel Award winners: Hilaire Barch, PhD, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine; Ruhi Mahajan, PhD, Pediatrics; Korah Pushpamangalam, PhD, Surgery,
Shaquita Starks Honored by American Nurses Association Shaquita Starks, PhD, MSN, FNP-BC, a recent PhD graduate of the College of Graduate Health Sciences, was the recipient during her degree candidacy of the Minority Fellowship Program Award from the American Nurses Association. The fellowship program is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). SAMHSA is the agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that leads public health efforts to advance the behavioral health of the nation. The award continues as she pursues postdoctoral training in the College of Nursing and serves as an assistant professor in that college. A certified family nurse practitioner, Starks’ research focuses on determining what affects the quality of life for African-American women caring for patients with end-stage renal disease, including examining the mood profile of study participants, reported substance use, prevalence of historical depression, anxiety, and physical symptoms of depression. Her aim is to develop a research and practice program that examines the consequences of the link between social determinants of health and mental health. 16
UTHSC COLLEGE OF GRADUATE HEALTH SCIENCES | SPRING 2017
Elevator Pitch Competition winners and judges: (from left to right) Raji Rajesh Lenin, PhD, Purnima Singh, PhD, Megan Beck, PhD, Radhakrishna Rao, PhD, Donald Thomason, PhD, Santosh Kumar, PhD, Subhash Chauhan, PhD, Richard Magid, PhD, Ajeeth Pingili, PhD, Udita Datta, PhD.
Quick Thinking: Postdocs Get Chance to Test Communications Skills By Kamalika Mukherjee, PhD The Postdoctoral Association at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) celebrated National Postdoc Appreciation Week, September 19-23, with a variety of fun and informational activities. One of them was the inaugural, and very popular, Elevator Pitch Competition. The event kicked off with a presentation from Richard Magid, PhD, vice president of UT Research Foundation. Dr. Magid explained all the aspects of the commercialization of technologies developed at UTHSC and provided insight into the alternative career paths available to UTHSC postdocs in the field of technology transfer. Next, came the Elevator Pitch Competition. So, what exactly is an elevator pitch? An elevator pitch is a brief presentation of an idea or potential company to people (in this case, judges), who have no prior knowledge about it, in hopes of convincing them the idea or company are legitimate and profitable. The presentation is ideally no longer than a typical elevator ride (approximately 2 minutes). The topic given to the postdocs by Dr. Magid: “A wealthy philanthropist is writing his will to dedicate all his money, $100 million, to a single cause. What should it be?” The participants were asked to present, by themselves or as a team of two to four, and were given 10 minutes to prepare a pitch for the assigned topic. UTHSC postdocs got fired up! The pitches ranged from manufacturing a microchip-based, continuous-glucose-monitoring and insulin-injecting device, called Insulex, for diabetic patients, to an affordable diagnostic kit to detect a panel of viral infections with a minimal sample for use in underdeveloped countries. Also pitched were Green Phoenix, designed to harness natural resources for eco-friendly energy and waste management,
and TheraFind, which proposed developing a diagnostic kit that can discover genetic predisposition to most diseases from which mankind suffers. Judging the pitches were Dr. Magid, along with Postdoc Mentoring Academy members Radhakrishna Rao, PhD, Subhash Chauhan, PhD, and Santosh Kumar, PhD, and College of Graduate Health Sciences Dean Donald Thomason, PhD. TheraFind, proposed by Ajeeth Pingili, PhD, (Pharmacology) and Udita Datta, PhD, (Pharmacology), won the first-place award of $50 each. Green Phoenix, proposed by Megan Beck, PhD, (Pediatrics), Dieniffer Peixoto-Neves, PhD, (Physiology), Purnima Singh, PhD, (Pharmacology), and Raji Rajesh Lenin, PhD, (Ophthalmology), won the runner-up prize of $25 each. A special shout-out goes to the other participants – Mounir Bendahmane, PhD, (Anatomy and Neurobiology), Emmanuel Okeke, PhD, (Medicine-Endocrinology), Korah Pushpamangalam Kuruvilla, PhD, (Surgery), Avtar Singh Meena, PhD, (Physiology), Nisha Nair, PhD, (Microbiology, Immunology and Biochemistry), Priyanka Halder, PhD, (Microbiology, Immunology and Biochemistry), and Frederic Cailleux, PhD, (General Surgery). The Elevator Pitch Competition not only helped the UTHSC postdocs practice their communications skills, it enabled them to test their impromptu innovation and marketing abilities in a short and effective manner. These skills will no doubt play a very important role in future careers. Giri Kumar Chandaka, PhD, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, hosted the Elevator Pitch Competition. Dr. Kamalika Mukherjee, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Pharmacology, hosted Dr. Magid’s presentation. UTHSC COLLEGE OF GRADUATE HEALTH SCIENCES | SPRING 2017
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