AHS Magazine 2011-12

2011–2012 A p u b l i c at i o n f o r a lu m n i a n d f r i e n d s o f o u r co l l eg e

AHS MAGAZINE

The Research Issue Inside: Outstanding Alumnus is just that

Honor Roll of Donors

A MESSAGE FROM OUR DEAN

You are why we matter About this time last year, I was contemplating my candidacy to become dean of the UIC College of Applied Health Sciences. At the time I was a professor of kinesiology and community health at U of I’s UrbanaChampaign campus, and I was satisfied with my work as an educator and researcher there.

At the same time, I couldn’t help but be drawn to the opportunity to lead this wonderful college in Chicago. It’s world-renowned for its programs in disabilities studies, occupational therapy and physical therapy. UIC kinesiology faculty are among the most respected in our field. The coordinated program in nutrition is one of only two in Illinois to be accredited, and the master’s degree in health informatics is the most successful online degree program in the University of Illinois system (and the world’s first online HI program to be accredited).

On top of that, outgoing dean Charlotte (“Toby”) Tate and her leadership team had skillfully steered AHS through the stormiest financial seas—continually attracting the top-notch students and faculty that put AHS, without dispute, among the most successful, productive allied health colleges in the nation.

So obviously, the job was appealing. But as the new dean, where would I seek to take the college next? What would be my opportunities and limitations?

Most important, how could I be sure to keep AHS on its steady course?

Excited as I was for the personal and professional challenges ahead, I was equally aware of how many people would be relying on me.

I arrived at AHS in the first days of October—and how quickly I realized my error in thinking! In weeks, I could see that the number of people relying on me paled in comparison to the number I was relying on. That group begins with the outstanding faculty, administrators and staff in this college and on the UIC campus.

But importantly, the group also includes you: interested, connected alumni and friends of this great college. Your support—large and small—is what grounds us. It’s what makes our work more than academic and insular. You are steady reminders of the “real-world” relevance of our goals: to produce the best health professionals in the world; to create new knowledge through research that changes lives for the better; and to use our expertise in service to our community.

In short, we view you as essential stakeholders in AHS. And we present this magazine as a sort of “annual report” to those invested in us. I hope you’ll be as gratified as I am by the stories of the people, the research and the accomplishments of this college.

AHS Magazine 2011–2012 Editor

Elizabeth Miller Director of Marketing and Communications Design

Stacy Sweat Designs Contributing WRITERS

Elizabeth Miller Paul Francuch ©2012 University of Illinois at Chicago. All rights reserved.

Published by the Office of the Dean (MC 518), UIC College of Applied Health Sciences, 808 South Wood Street, 169 CMET, Chicago, Illinois 60612-7305.

Telephone

(312) 996-6695

Fax

(312) 413-0086

E-mail advanceahs@uic.edu Web site www.ahs.uic.edu Views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editor, the college or the university.

You will notice abbreviations throughout this issue. They correlate to academic units in the College of Applied Health Sciences.

BHIS

Department of Biomedical and

Health Information Sciences

BVIS

Program in Biomedical

Visualization DHD

Department of Disability and

Human Development

HI

Program in Health Informatics

HIM

Program in Health Information

Management KINES

Program in kinesiology

KN

Department of Kinesiology

and Nutrition

NUT

Program in nutrition

OT

Department of Occupational

Therapy PT

Bo Fernhall Dean UIC College of Applied Health Sciences

Department of Physical Therapy

2011-2012 ta b l e o f co n t e n t s

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FEATURE

The Research Issue Five short stories present a sampling of research happening throughout the college

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13 Prolonging independence of people with Parkinson’s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Sending healthcare to the patient’s pocket. 13

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15 Detecting threats to public safety. . . . . . . . . 15 Expanding training for those working 0 with people with disabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Learning how the brain controls balance after stroke. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

DEPARTM ENTS NOTEBOO K Legendary health promoter addresses 2012 graduates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Two professors have students thinking outside the box building. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 PT student shaves her head for cancer research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

PEOPLE Field of Play When it comes to children’s literacy, alumna Susan Field gets playfully serious . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Healthcare: The Next Generation AHS helps UIC College Prep live up to its name, guiding research by high school seniors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

HONOR ROLL OF DONORS The college warmly thanks its contributors of last year. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

CONCLUSION A geographic snapshot of the AHS student body; PLUS: Images from AHS’ newest lab. . . . . . . 24

NOTEBOOK

AHS NEWS AND NOTES PT

A HS

Go tell it on the … Hill

Julie Schwertfeger, second from left, joined other Illinois PTs for APTA’s Federal Advocacy Forum in Washington, D.C.

J Living legend, live at AHS Our guest speaker at Commencement 2012 was Kenneth Cooper, MD, MPH. Even if you don’t know his name, you certainly know a word he invented back in 1968: aerobics. That was the title of his first book, and it revolutionized health in America and worldwide.

Before his book debuted, physical fitness was largely considered an activity for athletes only. Almost singlehandedly, Cooper created a new normal—one in which millions of “everyday” people understood the benefits of exercising to prevent illness and promote health.

Cooper is still a globally respected innovator for health.

He’s authored 18 additional books and lectured in some 50 countries. Through his Dallas-based Cooper Aerobics Center and the nonprofit Cooper Institute, he is involved in fighting childhood obesity, transforming the American diet (he was instrumental in the war on trans fats), and controlling healthcare costs through corporate health programs.

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ulie Schwertfeger, BS PT ’94, is spreading the good word.

As liaison for the American Physical Therapy Association’s Section on Research Federal Affairs, Schwertfeger made two trips to Capitol Hill in spring 2012 to educate lawmakers about the importance of NIH funding for physical therapy research.

In March, she brought along 10 researchers from states whose legislators sit on appropriations committees in Congress. Schwertfeger herself met with representatives from the offices of Sen. Dick Durbin, Sen. Mark Kirk and Rep. Peter Roskam.

”I emphasized the jobs that these funds bring to Illinois.”

“I shared examples of NIH-funded research taking place in Illinois that translates science into meaningful practice and patient outcomes,” she says of her effort to urge steady congressional funding of NIH. ”I also emphasized the jobs that these funds bring to Illinois.”

Her second trip, in April, was part of the annual APTA Federal Advocacy Forum, a.k.a., “PT Day on Capitol Hill.”

AHS is grateful for Schwertfeger’s boundless energy. In addition to her APTA post and her full-time employment at Alexian Rehabilitation Hospital in Elk Grove Village, Ill., she is also vice chair of the AHS Alumni Board.

Learn more about APTA’s annual visit to the Capitol at www.apta.org/FederalForum.

KN

All talk, all action “Let’s go,” waved David

Marquez as he and Angela OdomsYoung led a bundled clutch of graduate students from the Applied Health Sciences Building on Taylor St. into a chilling rain one March day.

Even the inclement weather couldn’t dampen the lively discussion that followed.

This is KN-501, the walking journal club for graduate students of Marquez and Odoms-Young, both assistant professors of kinesiology and nutrition.

The weekly meeting where students and professors discuss an assigned professional journal article used to be a seated, indoor affair. Now the class talks shop outside, exercising both muscles and minds.

“We’d be talking about ways to boost physical activity, but we were

Members of the “walking journal club” (L-R): Eduardo Bustamante, Nefertiti OjiNjideka, Sparkle Springfield, Prof. Angela Odoms-Young and Summer Porter. just sitting,” says student Eduardo Bustamante.

Fellow student Nefertiti Oji-Njideka says walking energizes the discussion: “I think people contribute a bit more.

You have to work a little harder and talk a little louder when you’re outdoors walking.”

The professors hope other journal clubs will embrace their walk-and-talk format. “We’ll often be walking and other faculty members will see us and ask what’s going on,” says OdomsYoung.

“We’re in health promotion,” she says. “We’re trying to set an example.”

AHS

Thanks!

AHS extends deep gratitude to the 10 alumnae who generously volunteered to serve as judges at the UIC Student Research Forum on April 17, 2012.

• Manju Rupani, BS ‘97, Medical Laboratory • Kristine (Ryan) Amundson, Sciences MS ‘81, Physical Education • Marisa Santangelo, BS ‘78, Medical Records • Barbara Blond, BS ‘77, Administration Medical Laboratory • Angelica Alonso, BS ‘10, Kinesiology

• Patricia Shalloo-Leahy, • Carrie (Griffin) Broadhurst, BS ‘86, MS ‘91, Physical Education BS ‘09, Kinesiology • Linde Tesch, BS ‘06, Health • Victoria Mogil, MS ‘83, Information Management; Physical Education MS ‘11, Health Informatics • Joy (Andersen) Ransdell, BS ‘54, Occupational Therapy Sciences

Photo: Josh Clark

Alumnae judges worked in service of the 277 students who presented their research at the 2012 forum.

The annual Student Research Forum provides a venue for students to present their scholarly efforts and for the campus to celebrate the wealth of research across all disciplines at UIC. While 2012 wasn’t our year, AHS undergraduates have won multiple awards in recent years’ forums.

For details on the forum, visit uic.edu/depts/ovcr/research/forum.

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BVIS

Blogging the body beautiful Vanessa Ruiz, MS BVIS ’08, is a documentarian Through her blog “Street Anatomy,” Vanessa Ruiz chronicles depictions of the human body in pop culture: music, fashion, visual art, even tattoos.

She started the blog in 2006 to educate the public about what medical illustrators do. Her first post asserted, “We persuade people to learn by engaging them with visual media that will educate them to take care of and maintain their bodies.”

But after seeing which posts drew the strongest reader response, Ruiz shifted the blog’s focus to showcase medical images and artists who use anatomy in their work.

Today, the blog—aided by a small team of contributors that includes Jennifer von Glahn, also MS BVIS ‘08—boasts more than 4,500 subscribers, some 4,800 Facebook fans and 1,600 Twitter followers.

Her next endeavor? A Street Anatomy exhibition at Design Cloud Gallery in Chicago. The focus will be on female anatomy in art. It runs from Sept. 1-30, 2012. “The opening night will feature a burlesque show that truly celebrates the female body,” says Ruiz.

Now art director for a pharmaceutical ad agency, Ruiz represented the College of Applied Health Sciences in UIC’s internal, pride-building advertising campaign, entitled “Proud to be UIC.” Needless to say, the feeling is mutual.

Check out Ruiz’ blog at streetanatomy.com.

Photo: Lloyd DeGrane

DHD

And the honor goes to …

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he Society for Disability Studies has selected Carol Gill, PhD, associate professor of disability and human development, to receive its 2012 Senior Scholar Award. It honors her long-running and far-reaching impact on the field of disability studies through publishing, teaching, research and mentorship.

Gill received numerous, glowing nominations for the award. One that stood out came from Elizabeth DePoy, PhD,

professor of interdisciplinary disability studies at the University of Maine: “Carol’s influence and reputation extend broadly to fields such as rehabilitation, literature, cultural and women’s studies, ethics and history. Such reach takes disability studies beyond its own boundaries to audiences who can and must think of disability in progressive and creative ways necessary to make profound and sustained change in rights and participation.”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

Learn more about Prof. Gill’s honor at disstudies.org/about/awards.

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Prof. Carol Gill is has been on faculty at AHS for nearly 16 years.

OT

OT makes room for prof’s legacy In March 2012, dozens of people gathered for a bittersweet celebration in the Department of Occupational Therapy: the opening of the Gary Kielhofner Memorial Lecture Room. It honors the revered OT professor who passed away in 2010.

Kielhofner, PhD, held AHS’ only endowed professorship for 24 years and served as head of the OT department for most of that time.

Moreover, as creator of the landmark Model of Human Occupation, he was an undisputed pioneer and legend in the field.

Used primarily for intimate academic gatherings, the room is suitably appointed with many and varied mementos of Kielhofner’s life: a collection of his awards, honors, diplomas, books, photos, news clippings, gifts he received, and pieces of art that adorned his office for decades. The many languages represented in the collection are a testament to Kielhofner’s international esteem.

(L-R) Renee Taylor, OT professor and Kielhofner’s wife, worked with OT staff member Mary Berta and department head Yolanda Suarez-Balcazar to make the room a reality.

Before his death, Gary Kielhofner requested that a Model of Human Occupation Research & Scholarship Fund be established at AHS to carry on his work.

To learn about contributing, e-mail ahsalum@uic.edu or call (312) 996-3051.

HIM

Industrious in any language Kevin Ngo, BS HIM ‘13,

Photo: Joshua Clark

speaks varying levels of English, Vietnamese, Spanish, French and Italian. Now he’s learning Lithuanian. His latest addition will come in handy when he applies for a Fulbright scholarship next year.

Ngo’s proposed topic of study is Lithuania’s Hill of Crosses, which is topped by some 100,000 crucifixes and other Christian icons, each one memorializing a citizen lost during rebellions that began in 1831 to protest Russian rule. The Soviets bulldozed the site at least three times, but crosses reappeared.

“I want to find these people’s stories … use audio, video and writing to translate it into English and bring it to a wider world,” says Ngo, a native of Wheaton, Ill. In addition to his worldly goals, Ngo is eager for a career in what he considers to be the essential

Kevin Ngo takes on languages, history and the future of health systems. field of health information management. “I am a big proponent of upgrading aging health information systems to better streamline processes,” he says. “I believe that will put us one step closer to better healthcare for all.”

That’s HIM: a critical, growing field filled with interesting people. AHS now offers an online, post-baccalaureate certificate in HIM that prepares professionals to become registered health information administrators (RHIAs). Learn more at healthinformatics.uic. edu.

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PT

Before

During

After

Haviva Siegal, before, during (holding her ponytail) and seven weeks after shaving her head for cancer research

A shave for the brave On Feb. 23, 2012, Haviva Siegal, DPT ’12, was one of 40 participants in UIC’s 11th annual St. Baldrick’s Foundation head-shaving event to support pediatric cancer research. That morning at Children’s Hospital University of Illinois, kids who have survived cancer played barber to participants who raised money through pledges, then went bald in solidarity with cancer patients.

Q. What inspired you to participate?

A. I was completing my last clinical placement at UIC hospital on the pediatrics floor. I was

motivated by the children and young adults I worked with who were going through chemo treatments. I also wanted to honor and remember those I know who have battled cancer.

Q. Was this your first effort to help fight cancer?

A. As part of this event I also donated my ponytail to make wigs for people losing their hair through chemo treatments. This is my fifth or sixth time donating my ponytail.

Q. How did you feel afterward?

A. The air on my head was cold, and I’d wear two hats layered over one another. It felt

great to run my hand over my short stubby hair! It’s quick to wash. But that’s it. It was never about me.

Q. What was the highlight for you?

A. It feels good to participate in such a good cause, and for us, it’s just hair. It grows back.

For the kids, the money may mean a new life-saving treatment or discovery in the research.

Really, it’s worth being bald for that!

Siegal would “encourage other women and men to participate in St. Baldrick’s Day events,” which happen around the country. Learn more at www.stbaldricks.org.

OT

We’re No. 1 6

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Once again, AHS’ occupational therapy education tops the list of all OT programs available at public universities nationwide.

That’s according to U.S. News & World Report, which released updated rankings for various graduate health programs in March 2012.

Not only is our program ranked No. 1 among public university programs, but it’s ranked No. 4 among all OT programs in the country—the same position it held in the 2008 ranking.

Of the other health disciplines offered at AHS, only physical therapy is also ranked

by U.S. News. In 2012, AHS’ PT program was proudly ranked No. 16 in the nation among all universities, public or private.

OT

In memoriam: Hua Mei Wei, OT ’79

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he Department of Occupational Therapy was saddened to learn of the December 2011 death of Hua Mei Wei, BS OT ’79, following a long illness. A dedicated alumna and lifetime member of the University of Illinois Alumni Association, Wei was also the fieldwork supervisor for several AHS OT students over the years.

A resident of Willowbrook, Ill., Wei worked as an OT for 30 years at A.E.R.O. Special Education Cooperative in Chicago’s south suburbs.

Clinical associate professor Gail Fisher was a UIC OT student in the class behind Wei. She notes that, since our OT program’s inception in 1943, Wei is one

Hua Mei Wei is still the only female user of a wheelchair to complete the OT program at AHS. of only three graduates—and the only woman—who used a wheelchair. “She had to fight against disability stereotypes to earn her spot at UIC,” Fisher recalls.

“She never believed she had a handicap,” says Wei’s sister, Fu Mei Mathers. “And whatever unkindness was shown to her in her life, she turned it into kindness.”

Friends who wish to remember Hua Mei Wei may contact Maggie Stokes, 7600 South Mason Ave., Burbank, IL 60459.

Wei, seated, with her sisters

HI M

Student’s success no surprise At the 2011 convention of the American Health Information Management Association, Roman Minyaylyuk, BS HIM ’12, received the organization’s prestigious Student Triumph Award.

He was a natural choice for the honor that recognizes commitment to the future of the HIM profession.

That’s because he was also selected (from more than 70 applicants) to be one of only five charter members of AHIMA’s national Student Advisory Council, a group formed earlier in 2011 to help deepen all students’ engagement in the profession.

“He’s ambitious, organized, energetic and professional.”

Roman Minyaylyuk receives his Triumph Award from Lynn Kuehn, chair of the AHIMA Foundation Board of Directors.

His professor, Karen Patena, has an idea how Minyaylyuk does it all: “Roman seeks out opportunities that others may pass by because of the effort involved. He’s ambitious, organized, energetic and professional.”

That Minyaylyuk is getting noticed is no surprise to those who know him. His other honors include the Foundation Scholarship Award from the HIMSS Foundation and the CSA Leadership Honorary Scholarship Award from the AHIMA Foundation.

The list goes on … as will Minyaylyuk. In August he’ll begin his job as an advisory associate in the health industries line of service at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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KN

DHD

Prof helps get the jobs done

Alumna Jennifer O’Neill poses over the shoulder of one of her PT patients in West Africa.

Finding perspective overseas

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hen Jennifer O’Neill, BS KINES ‘05, left AHS, she went on to become a physiotherapist in sports medicine in Canada.

Then she went on to become an international humanitarian.

O’Neill has made two volunteer trips to West Africa, the first to Benin, where she spent three months providing physical therapy at several hospitals.

In 2011, she traveled to the Ivory Coast as a volunteer with Handicap International, a group that helps people with disabilities who live in areas facing poverty, conflict and disaster. The Ivory Coast has endured two civil wars since 2002.

“The people there were not only physically damaged, but emotionally damaged, too,” O’Neill recalls. She often found herself delivering psychological support as well as physical therapy.

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“The people there were not only physically damaged, but emotionally damaged, too.”

“It was unbelievable to know there were bombs and gunshots everywhere with people running for their lives just one month before I got there,” she said.

But her awe of the situation was outmatched by her admiration for the people.

“They have so little, but it seems like it allows them to appreciate the people in their lives more,” O’Neill says. “Their mindset and attitude is why I want to keep going back to West Africa. It brings me back to the real values and morals that are important.”

Beth Marks is a research assistant professor of disability and human development. But that’s just one of her jobs.

She is also president of the National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities (NOND), and as such she recently led that organization to sign an important alliance with the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) of the U.S. Department of Labor. ODEP’s mission is to develop and influence policies aimed at increasing the employment of people with disabilities.

“As the ‘voice’ of disability in nursing,” says Marks, “[NOND’s] alliance presents an opportunity for us … to ensure that people with disabilities know that … work in healthcare industries is an option for them.”

Among the many commitments made via the alliance, NOND and ODEP pledge: to develop and promote resources explaining the value of hiring and retaining people with disabilities in the healthcare sector; to provide technical assistance to employers and employees in terms of disability employment strategies, policies and practices; and to identify issues of specific concern to employers that might interfere with hiring people with disabilities.

For more on the partnership, visit www.dol.gov/odep/alliances.

UIC

See with world with UIC For years, the University of Illinois Alumni Association has offered group travel opportunities through Explorers, the alumni tour program.

Maybe now’s the time for you to come along.

Imagine traveling with friends, old and new, who share your passion for getting a firsthand view of the world you live in. Best of all, you’ll be guided by an expert wherever you go.

UIAA has searched through hundreds of prospective tour itineraries to choose the best options to offer, selected for variety, uniqueness and special access. Each month they offer as many as 10 different destinations.

Here’s just a sampling of the trips UIAA is taking in the coming months: September Canada and New England’s

Fall Foliage October

French Alps and Provence

November Holidays in Bavaria and Austria January

Pride of Southern Africa

February

Australia and New Zealand

March

Cruise from Buenos Aires to Rio de Janeiro Find out about the Explorers program at www.uiaa.org/explorers.

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UIC

Recognition has us tickled green

The Arbor Day Foundation designated UIC a Tree Campus USA for 2011 (recognized in April 2012). If you haven’t visited UIC in a while, you might be surprised by its greenery.

The campus has more than 100 species and nearly 5,400 trees on its 250 acres.

Only 142 college campuses throughout the U.S. earned this recognition in 2011.

To do so, a campus has to commit to a formal plan for care of and investment in its trees. It also has to arrange a service-learning project, on or off campus, that invites students to support greener communities.

To learn more about what it means to be a Tree Campus USA, visit www.arborday.org/ treeCampusUSA.

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COVE R STO RY

The Research Issue

The College of Applied Health Sciences is all about learning, but that’s a much broader enterprise than you might first envision when you hear the word “college.”

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hen most people think about the essential purpose of college, they think of students. They imagine classrooms filled with professors teaching eager learners.

The UIC College of Applied Health Sciences is that. It is students getting a rigorous education from dedicated professors in classrooms both actual and virtual. Education is a mission that AHS faculty take very seriously.

But the equally fundamental endeavor of this college is research. Research is not separate from education. In fact, the material being taught to students around the world today is rooted in discoveries made through past research.

And research is not only informing education; it’s changing your life. Discoveries being made by AHS faculty are helping you, your loved ones and everyone else live healthier, longer lives of independence.

In these pages, you’ll read about five AHS researchers.

While their work is critical, it’s also only a representation of the dozens of projects underway among faculty, postdocs and graduate students here at AHS. They make up a rich mosaic of efforts to enhance wellness for all types of people in any type of health. We simply don’t have room to highlight them all.

So when you think of the fundamental purpose of AHS, you’re right to think it’s about learning, but students aren’t the only ones doing it. Faculty are also learning; that’s what research is, after all. And in time that research gets translated into lessons for all of us about how to live well.

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Prolonging independence of people with Parkinson’s

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aniel Corcos has studied Parkinson’s disease for more than 20 years. For most of the past 10, he has focused on the effects of exercise.

“It became obvious several years ago that exercise really was good for people with Parkinson’s disease,” says Corcos PhD, professor of kinesiology. “Not only is it good for the heart, the brain and muscles in the same way it is for healthy people, it also modifies symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.”

In previous studies, Corcos has found that two years of weight training can significantly and progressively improve motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease as compared to alternatives such as stretching and balancing, which produced no improvements after six months.

Now as a co-principal investigator of a four-year, $3 million National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke grant, he will try to quantify the benefits of aerobic exercise in managing symptoms in persons with recently diagnosed Parkinson’s disease.

In the study, Corcos and colleagues will compare patients newly diagnosed with the disease who will be assigned to one of three groups. The first group will maintain their current activity level. The second will do 30 minutes of endurance exercise on a treadmill four times a week at between 60 and 65 percent of maximum heart rate.The third group will do a more vigorous workout at between 80 to 85 percent of their maximum heart rate.

“Not only is [exercise] good for the heart, the brain and muscles in the same way it is for healthy people, it also modifies symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.”

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Daniel Corcos “Our first aim is just to test the feasibility of whether they can exercise at both the moderate and high dose [rates],” Corcos says. “Then we’ll ask, does exercise at one or the other dose modify symptoms of the disease?”

Participants in the study will not have started any medication. Levodopa, the primary medication for treating Parkinson’s symptoms, is initially successful for most patients, but the benefits wear off in 90 percent of users after a decade—a fact that amplifies the importance of finding alternative methods for mitigating symptoms.

The researchers will note how each exercise group manages symptoms such as slow movement, tremor, rigidity and abnormal postural reflexes.

If the study finds a particular level of aerobic exercise lessens symptoms, Corcos plans a new study-phase to learn if exercise can actually help protect nerve cells from the degeneration that manifests as Parkinson’s.

“Any treatment that reduces the amount of medication needed is beneficial to a patient,” Corcos says. “The goal of our work is to help Parkinson’s disease patients lead a better life until a cure is found.”

Sending healthcare to the patient’s pocket mHealth. Have you heard that term yet?

m

Health, short for “mobile health,” refers to healthcare delivered via mobile technology devices like smartphones and tablet computers. It’s also the subject of new research being conducted

by Renee Taylor, PhD, professor of occupational therapy.

The new research is, in part, an extension of Taylor’s well-regarded Intentional Relationship Model (IRM), a conceptual practice model for occupational therapists to use in developing a successful therapeutic relationship with each client.

The premise of the IRM is that outcomes are maximized when a therapist conveys a deep, empathic, interpersonal understanding of the client. The therapist must interpret the client’s verbal and nonverbal cues and anticipate his or her reactions to inevitable, emotional events that occur during therapy, then deliberately select a communication “mode” that matches the immediate needs of the client.

These modes, Taylor explains, include instructing, empathizing, advocating, encouraging, collaborating and problem-solving.

And the most effective mode can shift from moment to moment.

Taylor recalls an example she observed in which, in the span of just a few minutes, a therapist nimbly shifts between empathizing mode, encouraging mode, collaborating mode and instructing mode to successfully persuade a developmentally disabled child to perform a physical task.

“The way a therapist moves a client toward compliance can affect the client’s trust in and respect for the therapist,” she says. “Agile, responsive ‘mode-matching’ demonstrates to the client that the therapist really understands him or her. That’s the basis for trust and respect.”

Taylor had the IRM in mind when she became interested in how mobile devices can be used to help cancer patients comply with

Renee Taylor treatment recommendations. Though the rates and direct consequences of noncompliance are nearly impossible to measure, it is known to be a major factor in poor outcomes for patients suffering all kinds of illnesses.

“In 2012, 49.7 percent of Americans had smartphones, and that number is likely to grow as older phones are phased out,” says Taylor. “Also, African Americans and Latinos—who tend to have higher morbidity and mortality rates associated with certain types of cancer—are among the top consumers of cell phones. So mHealth will likely become a significant resource in reducing health disparities.”

Taylor’s goal is to apply the IRM using smartphones as stand-ins for “mode matching” clinicians who can reach clients around the clock. She’s been working with Jason Leigh, PhD, professor of computer science at UIC, to explore using avatars (electronic images that represent people) that can appear on clients’ smartphones to remind patients of treatment recommendations.

“Avatars are great messengers because they’re visual,” says Taylor, who is awaiting word on grants she’s sought for this research. “They talk, so literacy and reading comprehension aren’t an issue. And they’re personal. They can be designed to match the gender and ethnicity that the patient responds to best.”

“mHealth will likely become a significant resource in reducing health disparities.”

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Learning how the brain controls balance after stroke . Photo: Roberta Dupuis-Devlin

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he effects of stroke on posture, gait and balance have been widely studied, but less is known about the relationship between the brain’s control of normal balance and the ability to recover after an unexpected fall.

A better understanding could lead to new therapies that prevent injury.

Neeta Kanekar, a PhD candidate in rehabilitation, is testing research subjects to study this connection, and she recently received a $52,000 American Heart Association fellowship to help in her work.

“I’ve always had an interest in understanding movement: how we control it, how disease affects it or any other factor that disrupts it—and what can be done to improve it,” says Kanekar, a physical therapist who practiced in her native India before coming to UIC for graduate studies.

Alex Aruin, professor of physical therapy and an expert on posture control, is Kanekar’s adviser.

They are studying how weight shifting can affect and improve gait for people who’ve had a stroke.

Kanekar is the first researcher to investigate whether these techniques also improve balance.

“It’s important to know because getting therapy without understanding why things improve is insufficient,” she says. “If you can mechanically improve the asymmetry of posture and weight-bearing, does that help?”

Kanekar will test subjects who are age- and gender-matched, including people who have had a stroke and those who have not, over the next two years. She will gather data to learn more about the relationship between the central nervous system’s “feed-forward” and “feedback” postural controls.

Feed-forward control involves activation of muscles in anticipation of a disturbance to balance. It prepares

Neeta Kanekar Doctoral student Neeta Kanekar (left), pictured with rehabilitation sciences graduate student Ketaki Mehendale, studies how weight shifting can help gait after a stroke.

the body to become unbalanced. In cases when a balance disturbance is unexpected, the brain relies on feedback postural control—activation of muscles after a disturbance has occurred to help restore or recover balance.

“I’m interested in how feed-forward control affects feedback,” she says.

Aruin notes that Kanekar has already published five papers on related research, in such journals as Gait & Posture, Clinical Neurophysiology, and Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology. He’s confident her current work will yield important findings.

“Neeta is very focused and inquisitive and eager to learn more,” he says.

“She sets high standards and is determined to carry out projects she designs. In my three decades of advising graduate students, Neeta is among the top I’ve worked with.”

Kanekar plans an academic career after finishing her doctorate in 2013, but hopes to continue working as a therapist as well.

“I like the mix of being a clinician and academic,” she says. “I’d like to have my own lab to do research that’ll be helpful in rehabilitation science.”

“I’ve always had an interest in understanding movement: how we control it… and what can be done to improve it.”

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Detecting threats to public safety A

Andy Boyd

ndy Boyd’s professional mission is to simplify data. To do that, he undertakes research that’s about as complex as one can imagine.

Take, for example, the Virtual Soldier Project, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Boyd, MD, a research assistant professor of biomedical and health information sciences, contributed to a feasibility study into creating an electronic device to be worn by soldiers. In event of injury, the device could read hundreds of physiological variables and reduce their complexity into a simple text message to give the field medic critical information needed to triage casualties.

The preliminary investigation was decades ahead of its time, but the nature of it was right up Boyd’s alley.

“We’re getting to the point where we’re overwhelmed by data, and we’re only getting more,” says Boyd. “My research focuses on making data consumable.”

To that end, he’s now involved in research into developing a sensor that can be used by pilots, police and paramedics to locate and identify lasers nearby.

At best, lasers are an increasing nuisance. (You’ve probably heard news reports about pilots distracted by skypointed lasers.) At worst, they’re an

“We’re getting to the point where we’re overwhelmed by data, and we’re only getting more.”

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Use of lasers—whether as hazardous toys or violent weapons—is on the rise.

“It’s about increasing situational awareness.” emerging public-safety threat—blinding weapons that can be purchased for a few hundred dollars or even made at home.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued a warning to law enforcement about the rising use of interfering lasers. And the FAA cites 3,592 reported incidents of lasers being pointed at airplanes in 2011—an increase of 135 percent over 2009.

“We’re investigating a sensor that could inform task-saturated professionals about whether a laser is in the area and, if so, give them some details,” Boyd says. “It’s about increasing situational awareness.”

Along with his colleagues—including Annette Valenta, PhD, professor, and Greer Stevenson, clinical assistant professor of biomedical and health information sciences—Boyd surveyed prospective users about the technical features such a device should have and about the way they’d use it. The study is funded by the Office of the U.S. Air Force Surgeon General.

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Should a device simply answer the yes-or-no question of whether a laser is nearby? Should it report a laser’s wavelength and strength? Does it need to be able to be silenced? Does it need to be able send outbound communication?

Does it need to be readable through night-vision goggles? The questions go on.

“It’s more difficult than you’d think to get agreement on these issues,” Boyd reports. “We can’t develop 200 devices.

We have to determine the most important features to include in order to keep it easy to use, inexpensive, lightweight, and so on.”

Boyd’s work on this project will soon be finished; he’ll leave the actual product development to engineers, working with a goal formed from his research into which and how data must be gathered, correlated and reported … in other words, simplified.

“My goal is to speed human decisionmaking, not replace it,” he says. “No computer can know all the variables. There’s always going to be thinking involved.”

Expanding training for those working with people with disabilities

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successful interdisciplinary effort to train leaders in programs that help children with disabilities and autism has won a five-year, $3.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The grant will be used to expand UIC’s LEND program, which stands for Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and other related Disabilities.The program trains people who work with families that include children with developmental and intellectual disabilities. With the expansion grant, the program will also provide more training on early identification of Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Graduate students and professionals undertake the one-year program, led by Ann Cutler, MD, clinical assistant professor of disability and human development and LEND’s principal investigator. The program includes didactic and clinical training, readings, projects and other assignments. UIC partners with the University of Chicago, Rush University, Southern Illinois University and The Autism Program, among other area institutions and schools, for clinical training.

Weekly seminars present varied topics from multiple disciplines—disability studies, nursing, nutrition, occupational and physical therapy, psychology and psychiatry, the family- and self-advocate disciplines, public health, and social work—to foster wide-ranging discussion of issues from different perspectives “The program is unique because it completely embraces the interdisciplinary approach by training one or two graduate students or professionals from each of the disciplines,” says Cutler. “It’s so rare to have representatives from 15 different disciplines in the same room, engaging in discussion.”

Since forming in 2008, LEND has graduated 76 students; they’ve gone on

“It’s so rare to have representatives from 15 different disciplines in the same room, engaging in discussion.”

Ann Cutler to top administrative, academic and clinical positions at hospitals, clinics and universities nationwide, Cutler says.

LEND has also exceeded its initial goals by providing training to students and professionals in many areas of maternal and child health; publishing more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, books or chapters on neurodevelopmental and related disorders; and providing more than 4,000 hours of tailored special assistance to healthcare agencies, groups and professionals.

“Many healthcare providers and decision-makers don’t receive adequate training to address the diverse needs of the growing number of families with children with disabilities,” Cutler adds. LEND is changing that for the better.

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PEOPLE

Field of play Alumna Susan Field uses the tools of theater to help children understand their world

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In her comments to graduates, 2012 Outstanding Alumnus Susan Field said, “I think [AHS] should get an Outstanding College Award.”

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HS’ Award for Outstanding Alumnus of the Year is one of the college’s highest honors, and the college couldn’t have been prouder to recognize this year’s recipient.

Susan B. Field graduated in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy. She spent the next 23 years practicing OT and raising three children, all of whom loved participating in performing arts. That inspired Field in 2000 to establish Special Gifts Theatre (SGT), a nonprofit in Northbrook, Ill., that exposes youth and teens with any kind of disability to the multisensory experience of performing and the creative arts.

In Field’s 12 years with SGT, the theater served hundreds of children ages 8 to 21 and entertained more than 15,000 audience members—all of which served to enrich the lives of participants while breaking down stereotypes related to people with disabilities.

With SGT in capable hands (and a staff of more than 60 people), Field made the choice in May 2011 to leave the theater so she could pursue another interest: using creative arts to help younger children improve their literacy comprehension.

Treasure Literacy™ was founded on the principle that blending creative storytelling with interactive learning tools can greatly enhance understanding even in very young children.

“Evidence-based research has shown that comprehension can be facilitated through creative literacy as early as age 3,” says Field. “Really understanding the meanings of messages and stories is a key indicator for a lifetime of success”

“We’ll be making a kinder, more caring world for tomorrow.”

Field employed AHS occupational therapy graduate students to enhance the program by designing instructional materials and efficacy evaluations. “I had worked with some UIC OT students in the past and was so impressed by their abilities that I kept coming back,” she notes.

With great word of mouth behind it, Treasure Literacy is being sought out for uses much broader than straightforward literary comprehension. Field has received unsolicited inquiries from speech therapists whose young clients love stories but are often intimated by books. Two nonprofits serving highrisk youth have inquired about using the program to help parents who are illiterate tell stories to their children without having to read. And Field worked with the New York chapter of the Anti-Defamation League and the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center to deliver a program to help fight bullying (see sidebar, p. 19).

With such broad interest, Field is in the process of instituting her Chicagoland-based Treasure Literacy program nationwide.

“If we can create kinder and more caring children at this early age,” she says, “we’ll be making a kinder, more caring world for tomorrow.”

Tales to teach tolerance A

s schools and youth organizations across the country deal with the devastating effects of bullying, Susan Field, BS OT ’77, is using her program Treasure Literacy™ to help children understand and reject biases and discrimination.

On Apr. 29, 2012, Field delivered her Treasure Literacy program at the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie to teach youth about accepting other points of view.

“Anti-bullying education usually begins around age 8,” says Field, “but the problem really starts at age 3.

And the truth is that even children that young can understand tolerance if the messages are told in an ageappropriate way.”

The program uses costumes, props, puppets and other play-acting tools to help the children re-enact the story of the “Three Little Pigs.”

First, they do the traditional version.

Then, they turn it on its head and tell the story from the perspective

(Above) Field introduces a Treasure Literacy participant to one of the Three Little Pigs in a lesson about tolerance. (Top left) Later, the children themselves got to play the pigs.

of the wolf, whom they portray as a contractor who’s trying to help the pigs improve their homes—and who has a bad cold that makes him sneeze and blow the houses down.

The act of telling the story led the children—25 of them, ages 3 to 6—to discuss and expand their understanding of each character’s unique feelings. More importantly, they were able to indicate a better general understanding of the experiences of those who are different from them.

“When it was over, one little girl came up to me with her dad,” Field reports. “She told me there’s a girl at her school who’s mean to her. I asked her what she was going to do about it. She said, ‘I’m going to be the wolf. I’m going to be very nice to her and maybe then she’ll be nice to me.’

“I was thrilled,” adds Field, “That little girl is only one example of how even very young children can learn difficult lessons when they’re explained in the right way.”

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PEOPLE

Healthcare: The

UIC College Prep seniors Kenya Baker (left) and Melanie Amaro had the chance to present their research from the Human Cadaver Lab at AHS.

AHS teams up with UIC College Prep to improve healthcare in the city they share

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or nearly 35 years, the UIC Urban Health Program (UHP) has been in place to help attract students from traditionally underrepresented populations to UIC and, specifically, to earn healthcare-related degrees.

The hope is that students from urban areas who enter health professions will someday practice in underserved neighborhoods like those they grew up in.

UHP’s initiatives begin with early outreach to middle- and high-school students. Kenneth Morgan is the director of UHP programming for the

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College of Applied Health Sciences.

During the 2011-2012 academic year, Morgan and Demetra John, assistant dean for academic affairs, mentored 19 seniors from UIC College Prep—a charter high school located two blocks from AHS’ main building on Taylor St.—through semester-long, capstone, research projects related to health sciences.

The students were matched with AHS based on their expressed interest in healthcare careers. (Other UIC Prep students were matched with other UIC colleges for similar projects.)

Next Generation

AHS’ Urban Health Program director Kenneth Morgan mentored many of the UIC College Prep students enrolled in the capstone project through AHS.

Besides being “courteous and mature,” Morgan says, “all the students were motivated and committed to learning.”

Students chose research topics of personal interest to them, such as preventing sports injuries, understanding the personal qualities most closely associated with success, and determining whether stress is a factor in drinking/smoking behaviors among high school students.

“This project is extremely important because it exposes underrepresented students to areas of health that, historically, minorities are not in,” says Morgan. “Many of

UIC College Prep seniors had the chance to conceive, design and present to their peers college-level research projects.

these students had no knowledge of degrees in kinesiology or biomedical visualization.They didn’t know what physical and occupational therapists do. I think the experience is so valuable it should be offered to students in their sophomore year.”

Beyond the capstone project, AHS offered an additional enrichment program to 10 UIC Prep students: an opportunity to conduct research in the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition’s Human Cadaver Lab. In each semester, five students were selected to spend Friday afternoons in the lab under supervision of clinical professor Mary Lou Bareither.

Each student studied a different “anatomical space” in the body.

Their work culminated in presenting research posters to Bareither and her graduate students as well as to classmates at UIC Prep. Some even presented at the regional meeting of the American Association of Anatomists.

“The students were truly interested. They asked great questions, and when I asked them questions, their answers, right or wrong, always showed a lot of thought,” says Bariether. “I loved seeing them build their confidence, knowing that they can do this next year in college.”

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The UIC College of Applied Health Sciences is made better every day by the generosity of alumni, friends, corporations and foundations who support our programs through private donations, in-kind donations and corporate matching gifts. We are honored to acknowledge the donors who contributed to the college during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011. Their concern for the future—and present—of AHS helped us improve the student experience by upgrading classroom technology, sending students to professional conferences, and providing enhanced learning and living spaces. It also created seed funding for additional scholarships. To each donor, our deepest thanks.

CORPORATE AND FOUNDATION DONORS $100,000 - $499,999

Medtronic Foundation

Asa Larsson

Daniel B. Hier

Retirement Research Foundation

Barbara Loomis

Dori K. Hosek

Rochelle Scientific LLC

Sara A. Macknin

Demetra John

Tufts University Department of

Dale R. and Holly Mitchell

Christopher B. and Elizabeth J. Keys

American Heart Association

$250 - $499

Margaret Kielhofner

$1 - $99

Carole W. Christman

Marelet Kirda

Abbott Fund

Lewis D. Goldstein

Jeanne W. LaBree

Aetna Foundation Inc.

Christina Hui-Chan

Ellen S. Leemputte

Kellogg’s

Debra K. Hultine-Zenor

Mary K. Leo

Misericordia University

Harold and Luella Kielhofner

Barbara E. Levy

$50,000 - $99,999

St. Catherine University

Pamella L. Leiter

David T. and Kristin I. Livingston

Ethel Louise Armstrong Foundation

STAR Center LLC

Mary Rizzolo Mann

Brett Love

National Multiple Sclerosis Society

James Madison University Student

Helen P. Massey

Paula M. Lundell

Alice Boeshart Meister

Carol A. Marasovich

Ay-Woan Pan

Dorothy J. and Harold T. Markowitz

Renee A. Pleshar

Rose Layden Martin

Tyco Electronics

Virginia M. Poynton

Barbara J. Mengarelli

UAB Educational Foundation

Edward P. and Tamara B. Rentschler

Jorge A. Montoya

Andrea and Robert Sachse

Kenneth and Connie Newton

David A. Scalzitti

Frances and Greg Oakley

Geraldine Smothers

Mike and Jane O’Brien

Sandra Strome

Lorraine W. Olsen

Hope Institute for Children and Families-Hope School Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research Special Olympics International

Occupational Therapy Association Transplantation & General Surgery

$25,000 - $49,999

Associates

American Massage Therapy Association

$5,000 - $14,999 Accelerated Health Systems LLC American College of Sports Medicine Christopher Reeve Foundation

INDIVIDUAL DONORS $15,000 - $24,999

Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis

Sandra J. Ortega

$100 - $249

Sue Parkinson

George F. and Cynthia B. Abel

Jennifer E. Pate

$5,000 - $14,999

Marie-Odile Barthelemy

Susan N. Postal

$1,000 - $2,499

Randolph P. Frieser

Jane Bear-Lehman

Curt A. and Katharine L. Preissner

American Occupational Therapy

Savitri K. and Krishna I. Kamath

Rene Belanger

Christine L. Raber

Karl and Diane Glick Berolzheimer

Dirk J. and Eileen B. Rauglas John P. Reuskens

Phyllis M. Bartlow (deceased)

Centers International Life Sciences Institute

Association Inc. F.A. Davis Company

$2,500 - $4,999

Lena Borell

Ida Miriam Stern Memorial Fund Inc.

Rita M. Grabowski Fink

Patricia L. Bowyer

Frances Rizzo

Joanne J. Bradna

Jan Rowe

$1,000 - $2,499

Brent H. Braveman

Susan M. Ruff

D. O. Bergeron

Jennifer C. Burns

Nancy L. Samuelson

$500 - $999

David L. Braddock

Michael E. and Donna M. Calwas

Vicki A. Scheel

University of British Columbia,

James B. DeLapp and Suzann K.

Catherine Candler

Orit and Ezra Schwartz

Ethel B. and Haddon C. Carryer

Julie L. Schwertfeger

Joan O. Hinken

Joanne M. Corpus

Keith E. and Pamela H. Shaver

Marcia A. Kielhofner

Justin N. Craig

Joan Simmons

$250 - $499

Sandye Lerner

Karen Parker and Vernon Paul Davis

Romil K. Sood

Swedish Association of Occupational

Lawrence M. Pawola

Anne Dickerson

Joy-Ann Spring

Kathryn E. Roach

Laurie A. Dylla

James E. Taaffe

Charlotte Tate

Greg S. and Marcia Finlayson

Joan Toglia

Gail S. Fisher

Margaret A. Viggiano

$500 - $999

Leslie Ann Fox

Deborah Walens

$100 - $249

Evelyn J. Alston

Catherine Gesior

Rieko Warikata

Fabricio E. Balcazar and Yolanda

Richard D. and Mary G. Wartick

Chicago Area Health Information

Michael D. Goodling Glenn David Goodman

Ruth Ann and Thomas B. Watkins

Kevin Booth

Steven L. and Sandy G. Hartford

Julia L. Wilbarger

Judith A. Falconer

Junko Hayashi

William C. Wombles

Tamar Heller

Karrie L. Wright

Third District, Illinois Federation of Women’s Clubs

Campbell

Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy

Therapists (FSA) Oklahoma Occupational Therapy Association

Management Association Illinois Health Information Management Association

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Denise A. Wurl

Jeanne R. Giampa

Bridget M. McNamara

Rochelle B. Sincox

Basia Podbielski Yakaitis

Maureen Giardina

Margaret Ann and Paul E. McNamara

Arthur C. and Nikki Slowinski

Peter John Zawicki

Thaddeus G. and Kathleen A. Golos

Karen Meier

Nancy E. Zabelin Smolar

Jennifer L. Golz

Sarah Divine Meinhardt

Mary A. Sokolowski

$1 - $99

Deborah P. Greenberg

Kathleen K. Mengel

Stuart T. Sommer

Elizabeth Z. Allan

Thomas M. and Lisa C. Griffin

Sandra L. Menze

LouAnn M. Sopata

James G. Alviti

Ruth G. Grossman

Carla J. Millham

Marilyn C. Soper

Kris A. Barnekow

Kathleen A. Hallett

Alan S. Mina

Barbara J. Sopp

Barbara J. Becker

Linda S. Hamm

Joko Miyoshi

Amanda A. Sosnowski

Betty L. Becker

Roberta L. Hansen

Anne D. Mohan

Anita C. Stehmeier

Rebecca S. Bennett

Betty Risteen Hasselkus

Margaret M. Molek-Otto

Judith V. Stein

Giovanni Berardi

Barbara J. Heier

Cheryl J. Monroe

Steven C. and Rosemary B. Stein

Susan M. Bettenhausen

Rona L. Henne

Keelin K. Murphy

Cynthia K. Sternisha

Christine H. Beuthin

Karen A. Henrickson

James A. Nast

Randall J. Stolk

Martha T. Birkett

Ellen J. Hentze

Diane L. Newquist

Nancy K. Szmyd

Patricia H. Blatzer

Margaret M. Herman

Lynn J. Nord

Mohammed Talha

Carol Z. Blindauer

Brian and Patricia Hetfleisch

John S. and Jane Olisar

Dianne M. Tennant-Rucker

Gail Arends Blom

Myriam Hierons

Jay M. and Eileen M. Olsen

Virginia C. Tholen

John P. and Mary F. Boka

Doris J. Hill

Teresa A. Olsen

Arthur J. Trybek

Valerie L. Bollinger

Susan P. Holmes

Kathleen A. and Charles E. Olson

Elisabeth M. Van Boekel

Arlette F. Brown

Robert E. Honkisz

Luanne H. Olson

Craig A. Velozo

Richard J. Bryniarski

Nicole M. Horn

David J. Opon

Kristi Kathryn Walker (deceased)

Estherbeth Buchbinder and Jeffrey

Mary Catherine Horne

Linda L. Orr

Althea V. Walton

Emily J. Houghton

Joseph Ortigara

Margaret J. Watson

Susan M. and Brian M. Cahill

Karen A. Howard

Roberta G. Owen

Maureen Wentz

Deborah Camacho

Yoshimi Ikeda

Theresa M. Pacione

Cheryle J. Wilcox

David and Mary Susan Chen

Mary Isaacson

Maria Padron-Dielle

Carol W. Wilkins

Monica N. Chestnut

Susan R. Jacobson

Nancy P. Pelish

Donna M. Williams

Georgia L. Cibul

Susan M. Janke

Donna M. Perisee

Marietta Else Williamson-McDuffy

Randi J. Cogswell

Jacque B. Jensen

Mary J. Peterson

Maureen C. Windmoeller

Judith Cohn

Susan L. Johnston

Janice A. Polgar

Susan R. Witz

Sara M. Condon

Jill M. Joyce-Hazard

Kelli M. Polo

Rebecca K. Wojcik

Mary Ellen L. Connelly

Maryann S. Jozwiak

Sharon Wiesbrook Post

Francis G. Wolski

Sheila M. Conners

Andrea Kachman

James D. Postier

Alexis J. Wozniak

Julie A. Conroy

Joan Kadow-Levar

Eileen M. Potter

Rosa M. Yepez

Noel F. Conroy

Anastasia Kafkes

Maryann M. Radowski

Dean and Jennifer York Barr

Mary P. Coughlin

Jeremy W. Karger-Gatzow

Robert E. and Susan M. Rafferty

June Gatch Zaragoza

Patricia G. Cramer

Patricia A. Kelly

Joy A. Ransdell

Jordana and Tom Zavos

Nancy B. Crivellone

Carol A. Kiely

Amy L. Rantis

Wei Zhou

James R. Dagostino

Margaret M. Kirchman

Darryl Rice

Randy Dagostino

Carol E. Knox

Andrea A. Rich

Mariana L. D’Amico

Cynthia W. Koenig

Cathleen C. Riemenschneider

Scott M. and Mary J. Davis

Julie C. Kong

Bethany Rivera

Ronna L. Dekoven

Susan L. Kotval

Cherry A. Rivera

Patricia L. Dibenedetto

Deborah A. Kramer

Pamela R. Robbins

Karen Dilfer

Oscar H. Krieger

Leslie K. Roundtree

Trudy R. Drew

Lauren M. Leno

Renee C. Gangas Rowley

Carol Dunnington

Kathleen A. Lewis

H. Steven Sadowsky and Barbara L.

Susan M. Ebert-Peters

May Lim

Debra J. Eisenmann

Irene Linddahl

Marcelle A. Salamy

Cynthia F. Epstein

Maria Londos

Alice J. Salzman

Laurie Grazian Feest

Betsy D. Lopez

Jon Santanni

Mary B. Fleck

Jeffrey D. and Kathryn M. Loveland

Jean D. Scherer

Karen Fleischer

Barbara L. Marello

Dawn A. Scheuerman

Ruth E. Forni

Jasmina Markovic

Victoria P. Schindler

Joanne J. Foss

Christine D. Marszalek

Lynne Elizabeth Schliem

Carol L. Freeman

Narci E. Martinez

Kay C. Schulte

William R. and Carol J. Frey

Mary Therese Maslanka

Marilyn P. Scitar

Karen J. Frost

Earl L. Massel and Marilou O. Leyson-

Lavinia C. Sereseanu

Lee Schvimer

Nancy H. Gabianelli

Massel

Casey

Marie I. Shaw

Heather Geidel

Lillian M. Matsumoto

Jeff C. Siblik and Lisa C. Jenz-Siblik

Diane R. Genaze

Marilyn J. McDonald

Sandra E. Simon

Kay M. McGee

Teresa M. Simon

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Conclusion

A great slate from the lower 48 Are all public university students residents of the school’s home state? Are the only enrollees students who can take advantage of in-state tuition rates? Not at AHS! For the spring 2012 semester, 1,529 students were registered in AHS programs: bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and certificate levels. They represented 42 of the contiguous United States (plus the District of Columbia). It’s just another facet of UIC’s renowned diversity.

> 1,000 Students

Why stop there?

AHS is also fortunate to have students from 15 countries besides the U.S. • Bermuda (a British Overseas Territory)

• Canada • The Peoples Republic of China • France • India • Republic of Korea • Kuwait

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• Mexico • The Netherlands • Russia • Serbia • Singapore • Taiwan • Thailand • Vietnam

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10-20 Students

30-50 Students

1-10 Students

20-30 Students

No Students

Meet Jerrie Vales

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student getting her master’s in occupational therapy, Jerrie Vales is AHS’ only student from the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. Commonwealth located in the North Pacific Ocean, about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines. Jerrie’s special for another reason as well: She is the first student in our OT department’s history to win a coveted E.K. Wise Scholarship from the American Occupational Therapy Association.

Only three students nationwide receive the honor each year.

This way to lifesaving research The college’s new Integrative Physiology Laboratory is a research space founded by the college’s newest faculty members in kinesiology and nutrition, including Dean Bo Fernhall. Its state-of-the-art equipment allows researchers to test cardiovascular and metabolic function, as well as to deliver exercise training and testing. All research in the IPL pursues discoveries that offer people—particularly those with disability, obesity and chronic disease—avenues to a longer, healthier life.

1 PhD student Mohamed Ali demonstrates high-resolution ultrasound in helping understand vascular function.

4 A Chicago skyline accents one of the lab’s walls; the opposite wall features a shoreline scene.

7 PhD student Mandy Bunsawat demos high-tech machines that gather complex data for researchers looking at neural control of heart rate.

2 PhD student Rebecca Kappus

8 PhD student Abbi Lane showcases

demonstrates the lab’s oxygen uptake system, which helps determine one’s fitness level.

a device that helps determine the stiffness of one’s arteries.

5 Asst. prof Jake Haus studies the mechanisms of insulin resistance and obesity.

3 Clinical asst. prof Jeremy Fransen demos fitness equipment he uses in his research into the effectiveness of nutrient supplementation and exercise on cellular energy sources.

The IPL thanks the day’s “model” research subjects, who are current and incoming graduate students.

Pictured are AJ Rosenberg (1), Vikram Somal (2) and Adrienne Farrell (7).

9 Asst. prof Tracy Baynard leads the lab’s research into the effects of exercise on cardiovascular function, inflammation and metabolism.

6 Incoming PhD student Austin Robinson tries out the new fitness equipment, accessible to people with and without disabilities.

All individuals noted as PhD students are enrolled in AHS’ doctoral program in kinesiology, nutrition and rehabilitation. For more information, visit www.ahs.uic.edu/kn.

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University of Illinois at Chicago Office of the Dean (MC 518) College of Applied Health Sciences 808 South Wood Street, 169 CMET Chicago, Illinois 60612-7305 Address Service Requested

From the desk of

non-profit organization

permit no. 4860 chicago, il

Paula Allen-Meares Chancellor University of Illinois at Chicago

Dear alumni and friends, I am happy to inform you that the University of Illinois at Chicago is ranked 11th on a list of the world’s best young universities published by Times Higher Education of the U.K. This ranking is particularly gratifying because it is based on meaningful objective criteria.

The list, the first Times Higher Education “100 Under 50,” uses the same 13 performance indicators as the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, but with a reduced weighting for subjective indicators of academic reputation. The objective performance factors include research volume, research influence, teaching and learning, international outlook, and industry innovation and income.

According to Phil Baty, editor of the rankings, “The innovative Times Higher Education 100 Under 50 … is about a new breed of global universities—those that have managed to join the world’s top table in just decades rather than centuries, and others showing great promise for the future. The new ranking gives us a glimpse of the future, hinting at who the future Harvard and Cambridge universities may be.”

In its relatively short lifetime, UIC has not only earned its place among the world’s leading institutions of higher learning, but has established a rich history of service to the city and the state. I hope you share in my pride for this latest recognition of the strength and vitality of our campus.

For more on the Times Higher Education “100 Under 50,” visit www.timeshighereducation.co.uk.