Updates
RESEARCH DAY A STRATEGIC SUCCESS The first annual PCOM Research Day was held in April and provided students, faculty and staff the opportunity to share their research within PCOM and with the scientific community beyond the College. Marina D’Angelo, PhD, chair of the research committee and associate professor, anatomy, explains the event as “an opportunity for students, faculty and staff to put their data together and tell their story. If researchers don’t have the chance to present at a conference, they aren’t likely to put the time and money into creating a poster. Research Day gave them that impetus.” Student posters were judged by faculty and staff, with one winner selected from each campus. The winning students gave 10-minute presentations, which were videocast to both campuses, on their research and received a monetary award. “It was a very successful event,” Dr. D’Angelo continues. “We had a good turnout of abstracts and there was an outpouring of interest. There was a variety of research presented across all programs.” Almost all the research presented has been added to the library’s Digital Commons. In addition to the posters and presentations, a keynote address, which was videocast from Philadelphia to Georgia, was given by Shanaz Tejani-Butt, PhD, professor, pharmaceutical sciences, and associate dean, college of graduate studies, University of the Sciences. “Research Day is now part of the strategic plan, and we’re hoping next year to get alumni and corporate sponsorship,” reports Dr. D’Angelo.
ON SURGERY
Bill Henwood, DO ’76 (center), was on campus this spring to present one of the Henwood Surgical Lectures. He spoke to the surgical grand rounds on single-incision laparoscopic surgery. The lecture series is endowed by his daughter, Carol Henwood, DO ’83. Among those present for Dr. Henwood’s lecture was his grandson, John Dahdah (DO ’13) (pictured right), and Greg McDonald, DO ’89, professor, forensic medicine (pictured left).
Lindsey Pereira, DO ’11, discusses her poster, “In Vivo Reorganization of Alpha 1 Integrin in Developing Skeletal Muscle,” with Ray Saunders, research assistant, anatomy, and Juliana Zoga, research assistant, neuroanatomy, physiology and pharmacology.
Frank Jenney, PhD, assistant professor, biochemistry, GA–PCOM, helped coordinate Research Day in Georgia with Harold Komiskey, PhD, professor, neuroscience, physiology and pharmacology. “It was a great success,” he agrees. “We had a good showing of people at the keynote address and a nice variety of posters from all three of our programs. Meetings like this are very important to increase communication and collaboration across all of our programs on both campuses. We expect even more participation next year. This was a terrific beginning to what will be a muchanticipated yearly event.”
MEDICAL CENTER HELPS RURAL RESIDENTS ACCESS SPECIALTY CARE Sullivan County Medical Center has been chosen to partner with Geisinger Health System and Sullivan County Action Inc. to help provide area residents with access to specialized health care close to home. “Sullivan County’s highly secluded, rural location is a challenge to its residents when it comes to meeting their healthcare needs,” says Thomas Graf, MD, chair, community practice, Geisinger Health System. According to Dr. Graf, people living in this area are faced with several challenges to accessing health care: many citizens live at or below poverty level, there is a growing senior citizen population, and medical specialty care requires a 40- to 60minute drive. Sullivan County Medical Center will help bridge this healthcare gap in a variety of ways. A telemedicine system has been established to link patients at the Center to specialists at Geisinger through telephone, Internet or satellitebased technology. Digital X-rays will be transmitted electronically rather than by courier for faster diagnosis and treatment, and real-time medical consultations between Geisinger’s Level 1 Trauma Center staff and physicians at Sullivan County Medical Center will take place during medical emergencies. D i g e s t 2 0 11
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