April 30, 2020

The College of Nursing and Health Professions is honored to announce that four of its faculty members are grant recipients of the Drexel University Office of Research and Innovation’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Research & Development Fund. The Fund was designated for urgent action, short-term projects focused on COVID-19-related health and health-related research and development. Seventeen awards were given across five categories.

Rose Ann DiMaria-Ghalili, PhD, assistant dean, Interprofessional and Collaborative Research; Kymberlee Montgomery, DNP, senior associate dean, Nursing and Student Affairs; and Gloria Gonzalez-Kruger, PhD, assistant clinical professor, along with Michael Weingarten, MD, of Drexel University College of Medicine, received funding for their project “Chronicling the Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Physical and Mental Health and Telehealth Care Delivery: Perspectives from Providers and Older Adults.

This interdisciplinary project, one of several funded in the Connected, Public and Mental Health category, aims to illustrate the facilitators and barriers experienced by healthcare providers as they deploy telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic; depict the health (physical and mental) and social impact of COVID-19 in community-dwelling older adults; and explain the impact of COVID-19 on changes in health, loneliness and access to healthcare in a cohort of individuals with chronic wounds. “The findings from this research project will have an immediate impact on knowledge generation and provide direction for immediate actions and interventions,” said DiMaria-Ghalili.

A grant was awarded in the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) category to a group including co-principle investigator (co-PI) Ellen Bass, PhD, chair of the Health Systems and Sciences Research department. The project, titled “Covid-19: Design-Build of ‘AJflex Shield’ For Hospitals and Health Systems in the Philadelphia Region,” is being led by Amy Throckmorton, PhD, School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, who serves as the PI and Michele Marcolongo, PhD, College of Engineering, another co-PI, will use funds to build durable and reusable face shields to provide to local healthcare workers on the frontlines of the pandemic.

The team designed their own prototype and will use 3D printers across campus and at several external locations, such as SAP, Merck and Accenture, to build the headband component. Then, they will purchase the remaining components, plastic shield, foam headpiece and elastic band, and assemble the AJflex Shields in the Drexel Innovation Studio. United Safety and Survivability of Exton, PA, will distribute the final product to local hospitals.

Written by Maggie McCrea