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U.S. News & World Report Rankings

your lifeline to the College of Health Sciences

IN THIS ISSUE

2016 Rankings

OT and the Vet Farm

Student Scholarship Winner

NIH Funding

CN Presentations

Diversity Leaders

A Legacy That Continues to Give

FAOTA Recognition

Faculty Awards

Keep us posted on your news and updates at

chs_admissions@rush.edu.

the pulse

Spring/Summer 2015 Issue Six

U.S. News & World Report recently released its “America’s Best Graduate

Schools” 2016 survey. The rankings place 10 Rush University programs among the

best in the nation. The College of Health Sciences continues to be recognized for its

outstanding programs.

Special notes of acknowledgement go to the Health Systems Management program

for moving up to No. 5 and to the Physician Assistant Studies program for

receiving its first ranking.

No. 5

No. 10

No. 29

No. 36

No. 40

Health Systems Management

Audiology

Speech-Language Pathology

Occupational Therapy

Physician Assistant Studies

Kudos The Veterans Farm

Amy Wagenfeld, PhD, OTR/L, SCEM, CAPS, assistant professor in the

Department of Occupational Therapy (pictured left), recently participated as a

speaker at the Veterans Farm Beginning Farmer/Rancher Development

Workshop. The Veterans Farm was founded by Adam Burke, a recipient of a

Purple Heart and a 2012 Presidential Citizens Medal.

Located in Jacksonville, Florida, the Veterans Farm is a first of its kind

vocational farming training program for combat veterans in the United States.

After returning from combat with serious injuries, Burke called upon his

farming experiences while growing up to help him heal. As he recovered, he

realized that his life mission is to help his “brothers” heal through a

therapeutic farming training program. Burke has garnered widespread high-

level support and attention for this mission-driven endeavor.

Wagenfeld proudly serves on the Board of Directors of the Veterans Farm.

Her book, Therapeutic Gardens: Design for Healing Spaces, co-written with

landscape architect Daniel Winterbottom and published by Timber Press,

features a case study on the Veterans Farm.

Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute Scholarship Winner

Congratulations to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, or CLSI, Scholarship winner

Elaina Analitis. Analitis is a Medical Laboratory Science student who plans on graduating

with her master’s degree in the spring of 2016.

CLSI is a non-profit membership organization that promotes excellence in laboratory

medicine by developing clinical laboratory testing standards based on input from and

consensus among industry, government and health care professionals.

The 2015 CLSI Scholarship was sponsored by Siemens and Greiner Bio-One. Scholarship

applicants were asked to describe how CLSI standards are used within their institutions and

how the standards will be advantageous to their career goals.

Kerry Ebert, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Communication Disorders and Sciences, has

been awarded National Institutes of Health National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication

Disorders R03 funding in the amount of $450,000 to study attention in bilingual children with language

impairment. R03 funding supports basic clinical research by scientists who are in the early stages of

establishing an independent research career.

The three-year project is aimed at improving understanding of developmental communication disorders in

diverse populations. Ebert will examine attention skills in bilingual children with primary language

impairment, a common developmental disorder that results in clinically significant delays in language

acquisition but is also associated with subtle deficits in attention skills. Ebert will also look at how

bilingualism may enhance attention skills. Studying the interacting influences of bilingualism and primary

language impairment on attention may contribute to enhanced identification and treatment of developmental

language impairments.

Ebert teaches courses on language disorders in preschool and school-aged children, as well as on

articulation and phonological disorders. She also evaluates and treats children with speech and language

concerns in the Rush University Medical Center speech-language pathology clinic.

Ebert Secures NIH Funding for Language Impairment Study

Clinical Nutrition Presentations

Celina M. Scala, MS, RD, CNSC, instructor, presented a research project entitled Transition From Length Measurements Obtained

by Measuring Tape to Recumbent Length Boards in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative

meeting.

Heather Rasmussen, PhD, RC, assistant professor, presented at the Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo. The title of her

presentation was Beyond Fat: The Influence of Individual Fatty Acids on Health.

Christy Tangney, PhD, FACN, CNS, associate dean for research and professor of clinical nutrition, was the keynote speaker at the

31st Annual Parkinson’s Disease Symposium. Her lecture was entitled A Healthier You! Diet, Exercise, and Cognitive Wellness.

Diversity and Multicultural Leadership Awards

Occupational therapy student Heidi Chung and BS in Health Sciences student Lorraine

Johnson were recently honored at the Diversity and Multicultural Leadership Awards

Reception. These awards were presented to faculty and graduating students who actively

promote inclusive excellence at Rush.

As diversity leaders, recipients were recognized for their contributions to enhancing the

Rush University community through a continuous commitment to improving opportunities

for students, faculty, staff and beyond.

Thank you and congratulations, Heidi and Lorraine!

The J. Robert Clapp Jr. Endowed Student Education Fund

Just over a year ago, Rush Health Systems Management students Siddharth Chittajallu, Kelsey Lynch

and Tumaria McDaniel thoroughly analyzed the financial and operational status of a West Coast

children’s hospital. The center was already more than $6 million in the red, but the group’s suggestions

to help it improve patient care while reducing costs had the potential to turn all that around.

Chittajallu, Lynch and McDaniel were participants — and first-place winners — in a national student

case competition. Rush students like them participate in several such experiential learning opportunities

each year — participation that is now supported in part by the newly established J. Robert Clapp Jr.

Endowed Student Education Fund.

“These competitions give students practice solving the big financial and operational challenges facing

health care today,” said Andy Garman, professor of health systems management at Rush. “They provide an incredible learning

opportunity for future health care leaders, one we’d like to make more broadly available to our students in the coming years.” No one

understood the importance of this kind of hands-on learning more than the late J. Robert (Bob) Clapp Jr., who served as executive

vice president and executive director of Rush University Hospitals and also taught health systems management at Rush.

“Bob enjoyed attending and judging case competitions,” said Bob’s wife, Laura Clapp. “The students work extremely hard and learn

among their peers from across the U.S.”

Bob’s commitment to education and mentoring motivated Laura and 97 other donors to give more than $60,000 to establish an

endowed student education fund in Bob’s name. The fund will allow students to participate in regional and national case

competitions; present research projects and graduate work at professional conferences; and attend professional association events,

such as those put on by the American College of Healthcare Executives and the National Association of Health Services Executives

— of which Bob Clapp was an active member.

“Bobby championed diversity, interacting with new people and exchanging ideas. He always encouraged our students to pursue these

kinds of opportunities,” Garman said. “With this kind of support, they can heed his encouragement and

become better health care leaders.”

Donor Laura Clapp and Health Systems Management Professor Andy Garman look on as HSM students prepare for a case

competition.

www.rushu.rush.edu/health

Linda M. Olson, PhD,

OTR/L, assistant

professor and

occupational therapy

department chair, was

recently honored as a

Fellow of the American

Occupational Therapy

Association.

This distinction is

awarded to occupational

therapists in recognition of their skills and knowledge,

which advance the field.

Faculty Excellence FAOTA Recognition

The Provost’s Office and the Office of Academic Affairs recently

announced the winners of the 2014 -’15 Rush Faculty Excellence

Awards. Two CHS faculty members were recognized for their

dedication.

Excellence in Education Maribeth L. Flaws, PhD, MLS(ASCP)CM, SM, SI

Chairperson and Associate Professor, Medical Laboratory Science

Excellence in Research

Christy C. Tangney, PhD, FACN, CNS

Associate Dean for Research, College of Health Sciences and

Professor, Clinical Nutrition