A LOOK AT THE PROJECTS

Neale Chumbler, PhD, chair of the Department of Diagnostic and Health Sciences and executive associate dean of Academic Development and Accreditation, received U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs funds for a project to use health information technology and telehealth technologies to improve access to quality care and rehabilitation outcomes. Dr. Chumbler was also the corresponding author of “Racial and Socioeconomic Characteristics Associated with the use of Telehealth Services Among Adults with Ambulatory Sensitive Conditions” published in the peer-reviewed journal Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology, in collaboration with UTHSC’s Ming Cheng and Satya Surbhi, PhD, and Rhodes College’s Austin Harrison, PhD.

Kathleen Kenwright, EdD (left), program director for Medical Laboratory Science, and Sheila Criswell, PhD, Department of Diagnostic and Health Sciences, received grants from the American Society for Clinical Pathology related to the UTHSC Histopathology and Medical Laboratory Sciences programs.

• Charisse Madlock-Brown, PhD, Department of Diagnostics and Health Sciences, is heading up a project funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to examine data-driven identification of costly multi-morbidity groupings and their progression.

• Eun Jin Paek, PhD, Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, is leading an NIH-funded study to investigate the social communication abilities of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease.

• Jacen Moore, PhD, Department of Diagnostics and Health Sciences, is leading an NIH-funded project to create an educational program in rural West Tennessee promoting lab and data science careers.

• Ilsa Schwarz, PhD, and Julian McCarthy, PhD, in the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, are working on two projects funded through the Department of Education to examine the improvement of early language and pre-literacy outcomes with children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and develop early language and literacy education to support young children with complex communication needs.

• Anne Zachry, PhD, chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy, received a grant from the American Occupational Therapy Foundation to examine the use of medical record analysis to determine inequities in access to home occupational therapy of post-stroke patients in Tennessee’s statewide Medicaid population.

Tiana Bridges, a first-year occupational therapy student, was honored in December at the UTHSC Impact Awards. Ten students from all six UTHSC colleges were nominated for the Student Social Justice and Diversity Healthcare Leadership Award, and Bridges was one of three winners. The award recognizes students whose actions demonstrate the importance of social justice activism, equity, and diversity while positively impacting UTHSC and the community.

After a 2-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology’s (ASP) Volunteer Your Voice Summer Camp returned last summer. The week-long camp, designed specifically for children ages 7-12 who have speechlanguage and/or hearing challenges, was held at Ijams Nature Center in Knoxville and staffed by ASP faculty, graduate students, and Ijams staffers. It was a wonderful, wild week with great adventures, muddy shoes, soaking wet clothes, unexpected friendships, and meaningful conversations.

Charisse Madlock-Brown, PhD, professor in the Department of Diagnostic and Health Sciences, was recently featured in an online article published by the journal Nature. The article, titled “Unlocking the Potential of Health Data to Help Research and Treatments,” examines how doctors and researchers could utilize data-sharing methods to better treat patients and conduct studies without compromising patient privacy. In the article, Dr. Madlock-Brown, who serves as co-director of the Tennessee Clinical and Translational Science Institute, spoke about using patient-level data in her studies of the social determinants of health.

ASP students collaborated with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, School of Music for a project that aims to increase students’ awareness of noise exposure risks and the importance of using hearing protection. The program provides educational resources, including videos titled “Pause, Protect, Play,” that educate on hearing protection options, noise-induced hearing loss, and Tinnitus. According to their videos, approximately 26 million people suffer from preventable noise-induced hearing loss. Visit uthsc.edu/asp/pause-protect-play to view the project and receive more resources on hearing protection.

Rebecca Reynolds, EdD, professor in the Department of Diagnostic and Health Sciences

(left), and Lauren Woods, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, were among the recipients of the 2022 Excellence in Teaching Awards. Each year, the Student Government Association Executive Council selects two faculty members from each UTHSC college, nominated by the students in the respective colleges, to receive the award, which comes with a plaque, a $2,500 stipend, and public recognition at the SGAEC Banquet, College Convocations, and Commencement Ceremonies.

In observance of Better Hearing and Speech

Month members of the UTHSC National Student Speech Language Hearing Association handed out approximately 150 pairs of earplugs at Volapalooza before a Wiz Khalifa concert. Volapalooza is an annual student event hosted by UT Knoxville to celebrate the end of the academic year. The earplugs were branded with “Pause, Protect, Play.”

Several faculty members from the Department of Physical Therapy recently attended the American Physical Therapy Association’s Combined Sections Meeting in San Diego, California, including three faculty members who delivered presentations. Jacque Bradford, PT, DPT, presented “Simulation-Based Education in Physical Therapy Education and Research.” Kim Carter, PT, ScDPT, and Myra Meekins, PT, DPT, PhD, presented the poster “The Use of Original Frenkel’s Exercises to Improve Functional Performance in Late-Stage Friedreich’s Ataxia.”

Anne Zachry, PhD, OTR/L, professor and chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy, was honored by Blogspot for her blog “Pediatric Occupational Therapy Tips” (drzachryspedsottips.blogspot.com). Blogspot ranked Dr. Zachry’s blog 14th in the top 70 Occupational Therapy blogs and websites to follow in 2022, and 12th in the top 50 Pediatric Occupational Therapy blogs and websites to follow in 2022.