April 27, 2021
Lack of educational opportunities influence drug use for rural youth
April 27, 2021 Having grown up poor in a rural village in Zimbabwe, Wilson Majee saw firsthand as a child the lack of educational opportunities that were easily accessible and how that impacted the youth in his village. Now an associate professor of Health Sciences and Public Health in the University of Missouri School of Health Professions, Majee researches the challenges facing disadvantaged, rural youth. He found in a recent study that young people who are disengaged from their communities are much more likely to participate in risky behaviors such as substance abuse, particularly in rural areas that lack educational…
April 8, 2021
MU study finds racial inequality within heart transplant process
April 8, 2021 A new study from the University of Missouri found that Black patients with advanced heart failure were more likely to receive a left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, later in their disease progression compared to white patients, ultimately resulting in worse health outcomes. Adrianne Frech, an associate professor in the MU School of Health Professions, is a medical sociologist interested in addressing inequalities within the health care system. She was curious if race affected a patient’s ability to access newer versions of LVADs, which are implanted into the chest of a patient with advanced heart failure to…
March 24, 2021
Audio-enhanced storybooks can improve vocabulary of at-risk preschoolers
March 24, 2021 A new study by the University of Missouri has found that using interactive, pre-recorded storybooks can improve the vocabulary of at-risk preschoolers – good news for getting a vulnerable population of children ready for school. “While we are working with children who are only 4 or 5 years old, we teach them the vocabulary words they will need to know when they eventually enter elementary or middle school,” said Elizabeth Kelley, an assistant professor in the MU School of Health Professions, who collaborated with Howard Goldstein at the University of South Florida, on the project. “If we can teach…
March 22, 2021
Crisis Intervention Training reduces stigma of mental illness in prisons
March 22, 2021 Before joining the School of Social Work at the University of Missouri, Professor Kelli E. Canada worked as a community clinical social worker in Chicago. There, many of her clients struggled with mental illness and were dealing with long stints in the prison system. What she discovered was corrections officers play an important role in prisoners’ lives, but often don’t understand how to deal with behaviors associated with mental illness. With that in mind, Canada partnered with the Missouri Department of Corrections (MODOC) to study how adjusting de-escalation techniques could improve corrections officers’ interactions with inmates with mental…
March 17, 2021
Physical Therapy represents at 2021 APTA Combined Sections Meeting
March 17, 2021 The Department of Physical Therapy is proud to highlight the scholarly activity of Mizzou DPT faculty, clinical partners, and students at the 2021 Combined Section Meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). Impressively, the department had over a dozen presentations, offered virtually, at the profession’s largest annual event. Presentations focused on sub-specialty topic areas including pediatrics, neurology, chronic pain, and educational research. While live presentations were offered throughout February, recorded and on-demand content available will be available until the end of March 2021. We hope you join us by visiting the 2021 Combined Sections Meeting…
March 12, 2021
Michelle Teti receives Fulbright Scholar Award
Dr. Teti will travel to South Africa to collaborate with University of Western Cape researchers March 12, 2021 The University of Missouri School of Health Professions is pleased to announce that Michelle Teti, associate department chair and associate professor of Public Health, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award in public health for the 2020–21 academic year from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Dr. Teti, who is also affiliated with the MU Black Studies department, is one of more than 800 U.S. citizens who will conduct research and/or teach abroad for the 2020–21…
Feb. 25, 2021
Students present research at American Physical Therapy Association’s centennial event
Feb. 25, 2021 The Department of Physical Therapy would like to congratulate Mizzou DPT students Morgan Woods, Connor Redmon, Jason Cook, Jenna Lawler, Kayley Stock, and Breanna Sitzes on their recent research presented virtually at the 2021 APTA-Combined Sections Meeting (CSM). This year marked the centennial anniversary of the APTA, and the CSM is the profession’s premier event. Congratulations to these outstanding students, as well as their faculty mentors and fellow co-authors. Adapting to COVID-19: Pediatric Physical Therapists and Telehealth Authors: Hall JB, Woods ML, Luechtefeld JT. Poster Presentation Differences in Sleep, Pain, and Depression Among Chronic Pain Populations: Implications…
Feb. 9, 2021
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning – 2021 MERC Program
Feb. 9, 2021 The Department of Physical Therapy is excited to host the Medical Education Research Certificate (MERC) program in 2021. This program aims to promote the scholarship of teaching and learning within and beyond the School of Health Professions. Developed by the Association of American Medical Colleges, the MERC program will provide participants with the knowledge necessary to understand purposes and processes of medical education research, to become informed consumers of the medical education research literature, and to be effective collaborators in medical education research. Available to SHP faculty and staff at no cost, the MERC program will…
Jan. 15, 2021
Special interests can be assets, not hindrances, for youth with autism
Jan. 15, 2021 Kerri Nowell, assistant clinical professor in the Department of Health Psychology and a pediatric clinical psychologist at the MU Thompson Center, together with colleagues Stephen Kanne, Cynthia Brown and Courtney Jorgenson, developed the survey for caregivers of youth with autism to assess various special interests they may have and determine if those special interests were interfering with the child’s development. After analyzing nearly 2,000 responses, in addition to possible reductions of anxiety and improvements of mental health, Nowell found that many caregivers also recognize the child’s special interests as outlets that can potentially benefit them in social…
Dec. 3, 2020
Health Professions faculty receive research funding
Congratulations to the Health Professions faculty whose research projects were selected for Tier 3 funding of the UM System’s Research and Creative Works Strategic Investment. This initiative aims to invest in research and creative works over the next five years to support and address grand challenges, foster collaboration system-wide and provide instrumentation to enhance faculty research. The UM System received 74 formal proposals for Tier 3 funding, and the 23 projects that were awarded the highest ranks were approved. Six of nine Health Professions research proposals received funding. Below, in alphabetical order, are the six projects created by seven Health…