Alumni

Nov. 19, 2020

Daring to Care – Social Work alumna supports students

Tiffany Le, a graduate student in occupational therapy, was nervous at first. Like other students seeking financial assistance from the Care Team at Mizzou, she would be sitting down for a one-on-one meeting with the team’s coordinator, Nicole Logue, MSW ’16. “Will she judge me?” Le wondered. “Will she understand why I desperately need this?” Due in part to regional stay-at-home orders, dozens of students found themselves out of work and grappling with such fears as they sought emergency funding. As the nation began to realize the scope of the crisis, Mizzou’s Care Team took stock locally.

Nov. 18, 2020

SSW alumnus Stan Remer wins Social Work Pioneer award

Nov. 18, 2020 School of Social Work alumnus Stan Remer was recently named a Social Work Pioneer by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) foundation. According to the website, “NASW Pioneers are social workers who have explored new territories and built outposts for human services on many frontiers. Some are well known, while others are less famous outside their immediate colleagues, and the region where they live and work. But each one has made an important contribution to the social work profession, and to social policies through service, teaching, writing, research, program development, administration, or…

Oct. 6, 2020

Where Empathy Meets Inspiration: Going the Distance

Early in her career, pediatric physical therapist Kelsey Okruch helped a 3-year-old patient with spina bifida learn to walk using an assistive piece of equipment called a gait trainer. “I had to physically move his legs when we started,” says Okruch, BHS ’08, DPT ’10, manager of MU Health Care’s Children’s Therapy Center. As the child gained strength and confidence, he was able to move his legs on his own. He also gained distance. A hospital receptionist stuck tape to the wall to mark his progress, moving it a little farther every week. Eventually, the tape and the boy traveled…

Oct. 6, 2020

Where Empathy Meets Inspiration: Get with the Program

Get with the Program Prior to March, Singapore had been recognized for controlling COVID-19 better than most other countries, but then the virus boomeranged back with a vengeance. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that people in Singapore — and indeed the world over — now understand the role of respiratory therapists (RTs) in intensive care. “Before the pandemic, no one really knew about what we do,” says Ivan Lee, BHS ’12, who was the first Singaporean to graduate from MU’s respiratory therapy program. Helping patients in respiratory failure breathe using a ventilator, “We are there to make a difference…

Oct. 6, 2020

Where Empathy Meets Inspiration: Custom Fitness

Jeff Carr is an alumnus with a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences and a Masters of Health Education with an emphasis in Exercise Physiology and Public Health. He is the owner of The Ftiness Company May 29, 2020. Sam O’Keefe/University of Missouri Phil’s story is typical. He came to The Fitness Co. in Columbia with a common problem he hoped to correct with exercise. At 39, his lower back bothered him so badly that he stopped riding bikes with his kids. Phil’s body is not typical. Every person’s physiology is unique, says Jeff Carr, Phil’s personal trainer and…

Oct. 6, 2020

Where Empathy Meets Inspiration: Santa’s Helpers

Santa’s Helpers Many of the children Rachel Hughes works with as a pediatric physical therapist can’t play with off-the-shelf electronic toys. “A lot of them have significant motor impairments and can’t push a button to activate the toys,” says Hughes, DPT ’19. The MU Health Care Children’s Therapy Center — where Hughes has worked since she was a student — bought adapted versions of popular toys, which can cost up to five times more than the originals. Knowing the price tag, Hughes was dismayed when one of the adapted toys broke. As she took the toy apart to see…

Oct. 6, 2020

Manufacturing Opportunities

Marym Musab was drawn to her degree in nuclear medicine because it offers opportunities for patient interaction and saving lives. Musab, BHS ’20, trained in the use of radiopharmaceuticals for diagnosing and treating disease. A key feature of her education included a six-week rotation this past spring at the MU Research Reactor, which makes radiopharmaceuticals and ships them worldwide. “I was very impressed with MURR,” Musab says. “We’re always ordering these drugs, but we don’t usually see what’s involved in getting the radiopharmaceuticals out and delivered.” MURR, the country’s most powerful university research reactor, is the sole U.S. producer of…

Sep. 23, 2020

Show Me Collaboration

Alumni from several disciplines talk to students about why collaboration is important Each year the School of Health Professions gathers students from every professional program (Physical Therapy; Occupational Therapy; Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences; Diagnostic Medical Ultrasound, Athletic Training, Respiratory Therapy, and Radiography) for an Interprofessional Education Day.  Through several lectures, workshops, and activities, this event highlights how these professions in practice will rely heavily on collaboration with other disciplines, and how good communication and teamwork will be vital parts of the job in order to provide the best care for patients.  This year, due to COVID-19, the activities…

Aug. 11, 2020

What a Korean Teenage Fashion Trend Reveals About the Culture of Mask-Wearing

In the United States, trust in government has been on a downward trend for two decades and is now near a historic low. To make matters worse, distrust in government is often paired with skepticism toward the health care system, says Carolyn Orbann, a University of Missouri anthropologist who studies how culture affects the spread of infectious diseases.

June 26, 2020

Mizzou May-D

Health Sciences alumnus finds his purpose at Mizzou Frank May III came to Mizzou so he could stay close to family in St. Louis. He left with a purpose: To help improve the health and well-being of as many people as possible. At Clayton High School, May ran track, wrestled and played football, but he was injured his senior year. After surgery, his experience with physical therapy left an impression. He thought that would be a great career. But when he got to Mizzou, he realized becoming a physical therapist wasn’t exactly right for him. A public health class…