Monthly Memo, July 2

Monthly Memo from the Desk of
Interim Dean Beverly A. Sullivan
83rd Edition
July 2, 2008 

Interim Dean Beverly A. Sullivan

A Message from Interim Dean Sullivan
During the tenure of former dean Robert O. Kelley, the new UW Health Sciences Building was completed; the level of funded research and scholarly activity in the college reached a new, nationally-ranked level; clinical services in speechpathology and audiology were conducted in a brand new clinical area in the Health Science Center; and enrollments in health professional programs continued to position the college near the top at the University of Wyoming. I know I speak for everyone when I say that we will miss Dean Kelley but wish him all the best in his new position as President of the University of North Dakota.

I have been with the college's School of Pharmacy since 1990. During that time, I have conducted cancer research, received the college's Meritorious Service Award, and worked toward and witnessed the progress and success of remarkable students pursuing the healing professions. Until a national search is completed and a new dean is hired, I look forward to fostering the college's continuing commitment to excellence in teaching, research, and service.

Did You Know? Over the past three months, I have been traveling across the state as the college's new Development Director visiting with donors, friends, and alumni of the college. Wyoming is a magnificent state both in natural beauty and in the people who live and work here, and I have been fortunate to have met remarkable healthcare professionals and advocates doing important work and providing essential services. The College of Health Sciences is committed to improving the lives and overall health of Wyoming citizens through education, research, and outreach. Our faculty, staff, and students strive each day to advance their knowledge of the critical issues that affect individuals and families in Wyoming and the region. Thank you for all you do for the lives of others. If you are interested in becoming more involved with healthcare and the College of Health Sciences, I'd love to hear from you. You may call or e-mail meJane Barghothiat 307-766-6751 or jbarghot@uwyo.edu. I hope to see you in your town soon.

News from the Divisions
Wyoming Institute for Disabilities (WIND)

A technician performs SureSight vision screening.

WIND's Early Childhood Vision Project, which is sponsored by the Lions Club International Foundation, investigated the portable SureSight Vision Screener as a replacement for the PhotoScreenerTM that has been used to detect serious eye problems of Wyoming children for the past eight years. The PhotoScreener results require interpretation by one of WIND's trained readers, but the SureSight unit automatically indicates abnormal results with no need for subjective interpretation of the findings. Between August 2007 and April 2008, 613 children in Albany, Laramie, and Goshen counties were tested using the new device. Research on the SureSight will continue, but initial results are encouraging, with fewer false positive screenings being reported.

WIND is also partnering with the Wyoming Department of Health to promote the Employed Individuals with Disabilities (EID) Program for Medicaid Buy-in Coverage. The EID program provides a work incentive for individuals with disabilities by allowing them to pay for Medicaid healthcare coverage based on their incomes. Individuals may be eligible if they are employed, have a disability based on Social Security Administration guidelines, are U.S. citizens and Wyoming residents, are between 16 and 64 years of age, and meet income guidelines. For more information, please contact WIND (307-766-2761 or wind@uwyo.edu).

Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing
Susan McCabe, Associate Professor, received three years of continuation funding ($237,396) from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) graduate program. The initial HRSA funding allowed for the establishment of the PMHNP program, which now has 26 students and graduated its first class of six students in December 2007. Continued funding will allow for developments in teaching that will enhance and accelerate PMHNP student learning, address gaps and barriers that have been identified, and add significant cultural competencies and practice sites where students will work with underserved, disparate populations. The continuing program is expected to improve access to primary mental health care for rural residents in Wyoming, 90 percent of which has been designated a mental health professional shortage area.

Capt. Sam Miller (left) monitors last‐minute care on simulated critical patients in Bangkok, Thailand.

Captain Sam Millar, a 2002 graduate, is a flight nurse currently stationed at Kadena Air Base, Japan. As part of a humanitarian assistance mission, Sam and other American medics recently participated in aeromedical evacuation exercises in Bangkok, Thailand, with the Royal Thai Air Force. According to Sam, "This exercise was designed to bring both U.S. Air Force and Thai aeromedical evacuation systems together and learn from our similarities and differences. We are also combining our experiences and linking the two into a possible joint partnership in the future." Past events such as the tsunami that struck Thailand in 2004 and the recent cyclone in Burma heighten the importance of this kind of collaboration.

Mary Burman, Dean of the School, received the Daniel S. Klein Spirit of Volunteerism award from the Downtown Clinic in Laramie. Mary, along with Diana Esteve, RN, founded the clinic in 1999 to provide free-professional non-emergent acute and chronic care to those without the financial resources to access medical care. She continues to serve on the board of directors of the clinic, which now serves approximately 3,000 Albany County citizens. According to Lorna Johnson, the clinic's executive director, "Mary has devoted countless hours to helping others change their lives and reach their goals and continues to be unsurpassed as a role model for all persons with whom she comes in contact." Primary care is provided at the clinic by a team of 80 qualified, licensed volunteers, many of whom are connected with the College of Health Sciences.

Nursing ambassadors in Honduras.

In April, Penelope Caldwell, Assistant Lecturer, took four nursing students on a medical mission to Agua Salada, Honduras. The group provided essential medical care for the local citizens and gained invaluable experience for their future nursing careers. During their visit, the five treated 266 children and 185 adults, completed 11 surveys in rural areas, and completed 16 home visits. Many of the children suffered from dental disease and were given fluoride treatments, tooth brushes, and toothpaste. Among the adults, the most common problems included musculoskeletal complaints, gastritis, headaches, lung congestion of various degrees, and skin infections and rashes. During their home visits, the group identified and treated a pregnant woman with borderline hypertension, two people who had fallen off horses and fractured their backs, and a woman with postpartum depression. Notable, too, is the fact that the volunteers checked over 30 women for cervical cancer. The venture serves as ample evidence of the school's dedication to fulfill its mission to promote excellence in professional nursing for diverse populations in Wyoming, the Mountain West, and the world.

Pharmacy
Ji Li, Assistant Professor, received $308,000 over three years from the American Heart Association's

Ji Li (left) and his collaborator, Minghui Zou, Professor of Endocrinology at the University of Oklahoma

Strategic Development Grant Program to investigate "Aging-associated Alterations in AMPK (Activated Protein Kinase) Stress Signaling Pathways during Ischemia/Reperfusion." This project will investigate the mechanisms underlying altered adaptive responses to ischemic stress, which is associated with hypertension and aging and the basis for increased susceptibility of the elderly to ischemic injury and could lead to therapeutic strategies aimed at limiting ischemic cardiac damage in the elderly.

The Center for Cardiovascular Research and Alternative Ji Li (left) and his collaborator, Minghui Zou, Professor of Endocrinology at the University of Oklahoma Nursing ambassadors in Honduras Medicine is celebrating a notable anniversaryfour years of outstanding research and contributions to the treatment and prevention of critical medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The center was established in April 2004 to enhance the research environment of the college and to foster training and research opportunities for high school students and UW undergraduate, Pharm.D., and doctoral students and to coordinate collaborative efforts among scientists from across the UW campus and national and international academic institutes and pharmaceutical industries. The main professional activities of the center are divided into four categories: scientific research, obtaining grants or fellowships to foster students' careers, education and teaching, and scholarly exchange activity. The center can claim extraordinary accomplishments in all four of its objectives: members of the center have published 49 articles in national and international medical and pharmaceutical journals, garnered over $2 million in grant funding, made 25 national and international conference presentations, and presented nine seminars across the U.S. and around the world. Jun Ren, Professor of Pharmacology, and Bruce Culver, Professor and Director of Pharmaceutical Sciences, served as the founding directors of the center. Ji Li, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, and Sreejayan Nair, Associate Professor of Pharmacology, were recently elected to lead the center for the next four years of research and service.

Center for Rural Health Research and Education (CRHRE)
This summer, the CRHRE will complete two of its major projects in telehealth, but its leadership in this important development of rural healthcare delivery will continue with some exciting new initiatives. The center's long-standing partnership with the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) in the Wyoming Network for Telehealth (WyNETTE) ends June 30th after more than four years of helping establish interest and infrastructure in Wyoming for the use of technology to provide healthcare and education in remote parts of the state. WyNETTE established pilot projects ranging from telepsychiatry to remote home healthcare and provided opportunities for providers to access online education and research resources. CRHRE staff involved in the project include Rex Gantenbein, CRHRE Director; Jennifer Earls, CRHRE Assistant Director; research scientists Bob Wolverton, Barb Robinson, and Tom James; and graduate student Tony Wallace. The center also wants to acknowledge the support WyNETTE has received from Fran Cadez, former manager of the Office of Telemedicine at WDH, and Betty Sones, interim manager.

The center's other project ending this summer is the planning grant from HRSA for the Southeast Wyoming Telehealth Network (SEWTN), a collaboration among the CRHRE, the Wyoming Hospital Association, and the Cheyenne Regional Medical Center (CRMC). The CRHRE is completing the strategic plan for the SEWTN, which includes telecommunications links among seven hospitals in southeastern Wyoming. These links are now in use for a variety of administrative and educational activities, with remote clinical consults also being developed. CRHRE staff involved with this project, in addition to most of the WyNETTE group, are research scientists Britnee Brost and Ryan Sandefer. The CRHRE also wants to acknowledge the work of CRMC's Dana Barnett and Mat Mikesell in implementing and managing SEWTN.

The good news is that the work begun with these projects will continue in even more significant ways. UW, in cooperation with several other state organizations, successfully applied for a Rural Health Care Pilot Program grant from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). UW is the fiscal and coordinating agency for the project that has assumed the WyNETTE name and will support the creation of a statewide communications network linking all hospitals, community mental health centers, and substance abuse clinics throughout the state. In support of this project, the center was recently awarded a three-year Rural Health Care Development Program grant from HRSA's Office of Rural Health Policy. Initially, this grant was intended to be a follow-up to the SEWTN planning grant, but with the advent of the FCC funds and the strong interest in developing a statewide telehealth network, the CRHRE is negotiating with its partners in that project to extend the scope to support a larger effort.

Posted on Wednesday, July 02, 2008