New Peer Reviewed Publication

Laura N. Gitlin, PhD, dean and distinguished University professor, and colleagues from Johns Hopkins, Brown, Rutgers and Thomas Jefferson Universties published "Dementia Family Caregivers’ Willingness to Pay for an In-home Program to Reduce Behavioral Symptoms and Caregiver Stress" in PharmacoEconomics.

March 27

Faculty Presenting at International Symposium

Ellen Bass, PhD, professor and chair of Health Systems and Sciences Research will give a presentation at the 2019 International Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care, March 24–27, Chicago, Illinois.

Bass will present an approach for developing recommendations to improve the design of HIT and to account for constraints outside the design of the HIT itself. The approach leverages conventional methods as well as iterations benefiting from feedback from informatics, clinical and human factors experts as well as HIT vendors. Bass and Paulina Sockolow, DrPH, associate professor from the Department of Health Systems and Sciences Research, have been addressing improving health information technology (HIT) for home care admission. The home care admission is the first encounter between a home care nurse and the patient. During this visit, the nurse must assess the patient needs, perform direct care activities, and educate the patient on the objectives of the home care episode. With data from focus groups and observations of six nurses on two home care admission visits each, recommendations were developed. Feedback regarding the recommendations was solicited from health informatics, human factors, and clinical subject matter experts and the recommendations were refined.

March 20

Nutrition Sciences Chair Presentation to GSA

Stella Volpe, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Nutrition Sciences, gave a presentation to Drexel’s Graduate Student Association on March 14, 2019.

She presented at their Research Poster and Oral Presentation Prep Workshop. The title of her presentation was “What to Do and Not to Do for Slide and Poster Presentations.”

March 20

New Publication by Counseling and Family Therapy Faculty

Stephanie Ewing, Ph.D., MPH, assistant professor in the Department of Counseling and Family Therapy, along with colleagues and two Drexel family therapy doctoral students have a new publication in the Journal of Child and Family Studies.

Krauthamer Ewing, E.S., Herres, J., Dilks, K., Rahim, F., Trentacosta, C. (2019). "Understanding of Emotions and Empathy: Predictors of Positive Parenting with Preschoolers in Economically Stressed Families". Journal of Child and Family Studies. doi: 10.1007/s10826-018-01303-6.

March 15

Chemistry Chocolate and Happiness

A new book chapter by Michael H. Tunick, PhD, assistant clinical professor in the Center for Food and Hospitality Management, and Jennifer A. Nasser, PhD, associate professor in Nutrition Sciences, describes the chemistry behind chocolate and how it relates to pleasure and craving.

The chapter is a result of a presentation at symposium co-chaired by Tunick at last year’s spring meeting of the American Chemical Society and features research at Drexel performed by Nasser. Titled “The Chemistry of Chocolate and Pleasure,” the chapter will appear in Sex, Smoke, and Spirits - the Role of Chemistry, to be published this year by ACS Books.

March 14

Rankings Announced

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff,

Each year, U.S. News and World Report releases its rankings for education. Tuesday, March 12, it released its list of Best Graduate Schools for 2020, and it gives me great pleasure to announce that three College of Nursing and Health Professions (CNHP) programs have made significant advances on their respective lists.

Most notable, CNHP’s physician assistant program now ranks in the top 10 of its kind, moving up three spots from its 2019 ranking. The program is known for its long history—the ‘grandfather’ of PA programs—and for being mission-driven bringing primary care to marginalized and underserved people. The Master of Science in Nursing and Doctor of Nursing Practice programs also made impressive leaps in the past year breaking into the top 100 —the MSN advancing 20 spots to 93 and DNP moving from 128 to 94.

U.S. News and World Report is a trusted source used by prospective students to research programs in their desired career paths and interests, and as such, these improvements make CNHP more visible and greatly aid in our recruitment efforts.

These rankings are particularly compelling because they are based not only on data, but on reputational surveys completed by deans, administrators and faculty at programs and schools within the same disciplines. We can take from this that CNHP’s programs are nationally recognized by our peers for academic excellence and that our faculty are known for their passion and dedication to providing students with an exceptional education. The College is recognized as a place that nurtures purpose. We are changing healthcare across the lifespan. You see this in where and how our nurses and physician assistants practice, teach and lead. People—faculty, students and community partners—want to be part of what we’re doing to improve quality, accessibility and equity in healthcare delivery. This is reflected in the gains in our rankings.

I’d like to congratulate Dr. Al Rundio, Dr. Kimberlee Montgomery, Dr. Fran Cornelius, Dr. Pat Auth and the outstanding faculty and professional staff members for these hard won accomplishments. The changes in rankings reflect the incredible jobs you do that make the College and our programs what they are today.

Sincerely,
Laura N. Gitlin, PhD, FGSA, FAAN
Distinguished University Professor and Dean

March 14

Healthy Adult Living in Individuals with Cerebral Palsy

Bob Palisano, PT, ScD, FAPTA, Associate Dean for Research, Distinguished Professor, presented "Promoting Capacities for Future Adult Roles and Healthy Adult Living: A Lifecourse Health Development Course" in the pediatrics section of the poster sessions. The purpose of this study was to illustrate the way in which young adults with cerebral palsy experience lifecourse health development, and to identify key themes of pediatric health services that promote children’s capacities for future adult roles and healthy adult living.

March 12

Caregiving for Children with Cerebral Palsy

Co-authored by Drexel PhD faculty Lisa Chiarello, PT, PhD, FAPTA and Bob Palisano, PT, ScD, FAPTA, along with Ontario-based statistician Lisa Avery, Mohammed Alghamdi, PT, MS (PhD candidate in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences) presented "Ease of Caregiving for Children: A Measure of Physical Caregiving for Parents of Children with Cerebral Palsy" in the pediatrics section of the poster sessions.

This study sought to determine the reliability and validity of a parent-report measure of parental physical caregiving needed to fulfill activities of daily living for children with cerebral palsy.

March 11

Pediatric Physical Therapy Interventions

Matt Brody, a current DPT student, presented Measuring Physical Activity Intensity in Ambulatory Youth with Cerebral Palsy: Considerations for ‘Dosing’ Physical Therapy Interventions, an NIH-funded collaborative study among PTRS faculty Maggie O’Neil, PT, PhD, MPH, current Drexel DPT students and colleagues from St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children and Queensland University of Technology in Australia.

The purpose of this study was to identify physical activity demands in functional tasks to determine appropriate “dosing” of PT interventions in ambulatory children with cerebral palsy to achieve their functional goals.

March 11

New Publication

Roberta Waite, EdD, professor and assistant dean of Academic & Community Integration and director of Stephen and Sandra Sheller 11th Street Family Health Services and colleagues at Drexel University have a new publication in the Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education. They include Janell Mensinger, PhD, (School of Public Health), Christine Wojciechowicz (Undergraduate Student, College of Arts and Sciences), Angela Colistra, PhD, (Department of Counseling and Family Therapy) and Stephen Gambescia, PhD, (Department of Health Administration).

Waite, R., Messinger, J., Wojciechowicz, C., Colistra, A., Gambescia, S. (2019). "Examining pre-post results: Kouzes and Posner’s LPI amid undergraduate health professions students in a leadership program." Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, 11(1), 146-159

March 7

Creative Arts Therapies Chair Authors Book Chapter

Sherry Goodill, clinical professor and chair of the Department of Creative Arts Therapies, authored a chapter on dance/movement therapy in the recently published text, Undergraduate Research in Dance: A Guide for Students, edited by L. Y. Overby, JO Shanahan and G. Young (Routledge).

March 7

Biomechanics of Running Conference Presentation

PTRS faculty Kevin Gard, PT, DPT, OCS, and Rob Maschi, PT, DPT, OCS, CSCS, presented "Clinical Application of Running Biomechanics: How to put Research into Practice" during the Academy of Orthopaedic Physical Therapy educational session. This two-hour session brought together over a thousand conference attendees to discuss strategies for incorporating evidence-based running biomechanics research into clinical practice to treat patients with running injuries, with an emphasis on clinical reasoning and patient-centered care.

Check out our Running Performance and Research Center page for additional information and tips about running!

March 7