October 8, 2020
COVID Silver Linings
MU Adult Neuropsychology Clinic stayed steps ahead of peers in adapting to serve the community Oct. 8, 2020 Department of Health Psychology clinics in the School of Health Professions serve well over 1,000 patients every year. In addition to clinical service and research in autism, brain injury and rehabilitation, the department’s faculty oversee an extensive psychology training program for pre-doctoral interns and postdoctoral residents. “We are one of the most high-volume clinics in the country when you consider number of patients seen per faculty member,” says Dr. Eric Hart, associate department chair, director of adult neuropsychology, and clinical professor.
October 6, 2020
Kicking the Habit
The Marlboro Man might be long gone, but smoking and nicotine use in the Show-Me State live on at surprisingly high rates, says Jenna Wintemberg, BA ’10, MPH ’12, PhD ’17, assistant teaching professor of health sciences. An alarming 19 percent of Missouri’s adults smoke. Up to 50 percent of Missouri high school students have tried tobacco or electronic cigarettes, which pack lots of nicotine and come with the risk of pneumonia and respiratory failure. “The numbers for e-cigarettes keep going up and up and up,” she says. Wintemberg, a nationally certified tobacco treatment specialist, developed Adolescent Cessation in Every…
October 6, 2020
Celebrity Therapist
James McCorkle has used a wheelchair for most of his six years of life, and, for much of that time, he has been a client at the School of Health Professions’ PhysZOU clinic. That’s where he met physical therapy student Mark Weleaga, who quickly realized that McCorkle needed to improve his wheelchair skills. “During my first session with James, we had to encourage him a lot to get him to do different wheelchair skills and play games,” Weleaga says. So, for help, he went straight to the top — Mizzou’s wheelchair basketball team. “I was hoping to make therapy fun.”…
October 6, 2020
The Who of COVID-19
Michelle Teti, DrPH, is associate professor and associate chair. Enid Schatz, PhD, is the chair of the MU Department of Public Health. Since early in the COVID-19 pandemic, School of Health Professions faculty have been quick to help the public better understand not only the disease but also its social aspects, including race. The pandemic is highlighting and heightening disparities, say Enid Schatz, professor of public health, and Michelle Teti, an associate professor in the same department. For instance, say the health disparities experts, a study of 27 states reports that the COVID-19 death rate is four…
September 29, 2020
Making the Most of Remote Learning
Last spring, departments across the School of Health Professions were making rapid changes to their curriculum and clinics as COVID-19 started to become more prevalent in the U.S. While the country was scrambling to figure out what the next few months might look like in lockdown, our students at the University of Missouri were preparing to enter the real world and finish up their undergraduate and graduate education which would become the building block of their career. In the Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences department, faculty quickly switched to tele-health and remote learning via Zoom. Clients in the…
September 29, 2020
A retrospective view of COVID-19
A multidisciplinary research project at the University of Missouri is collecting survey data and voluntary blood samples from a randomized sample population of MU students, faculty and staff to examine the prevalence of COVID-19 antibodies in the MU community. The goal is to better understand how well the MU community is responding to risk mitigation strategies already in place, as well as provide researchers with valuable information regarding individuals’ immune system responses to the coronavirus after exposure. “The risk survey asks individuals about behaviors and activities they have engaged in during the past few months, as well as their perceptions about COVID-19…
September 11, 2020
New Faculty Spotlight: Kaleea Lewis
What is your title with Health Professions? Assistant Professor (joint appointment), Department of Public Health and Women’s and Gender Studies (College of Arts & Sciences) If applicable, what classes are you teaching this semester? I am teaching an Intro to Public Health and Health Promotion Course (P_HLTH 2200). If applicable, what do you love about teaching? I enjoy teaching because it allows me to learn alongside my students. While every course has a set of predetermined objectives and benchmarks that have to be met, I really value the learning journey we take together as we explore different examples that help…
September 11, 2020
New Faculty Spotlight: Brittany Ramirez
Brittany Ramirez What is your title with Health Professions? Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Health Sciences What classes are you teaching this semester? I am co-teaching HS 1000, Introduction to the Health Professions. I am also teaching HS 4400- Culture and Health Literacy for the Health Professions What do you love about teaching? I love being able to utilize my knowledge from working in the clinical sports medicine setting the past ten years to give real life examples for students to learn from. I believe this helps to connect what they are reading from a text to…
September 11, 2020
New Faculty Spotlight: Anika Edwards
What is your title with Health Professions? Assistant Teaching Professor, Health Sciences What classes are you teaching this semester? Humanism & Health Literacy (HS4100), Clinical Ethics (HS 4480), and co-teaching Intro to Health Professions (HS 1000) What do you love about teaching? I love the opportunity it provides for me to pour into students as it was done for me from teachers that I’ve had the privilege to learn from. It allows for me to contribute any way that I can to help them find their purpose and prepare for their careers and life after graduation. It…
September 11, 2020
New Faculty Spotlight: Kate Trout
What is your title with Health Professions? Assistant Professor of Health Sciences What classes are you teaching this semester? Hlth_Sci 3400 Global Public Health and Healthcare Systems What do you love about teaching? I enjoy getting to know my students and learning from their diverse perspectives. I view the classroom as a platform to share their expertise, forward thinking and unique perspectives while learning about the most challenging global health issues! Some of the greatest public health and global health innovations have been from cross-cutting interdisciplinary efforts, such as collaborations with engineering, computer science, art, communications, biological sciences, social…