SHNS Fall 2014 Newsletter

MERCY COLLEGE SCHOOL OF HEALTH AND NATURAL SCIENCES | 1

SCHOOL OF HEALTH AND NATURAL SCIENCESNEWSLETTER: SPRING 2015

As the 2014-2015 academic year draws to a close, I want to congrat-ulate those students who are graduating and joining the more than 54,000 alumni of Mercy College. I hope you will keep in contact with the School of Health and Natural Sciences (SHNS), share your career successes with us, and support future Mercy SHNS students by providing opportunities for internships.

To those students who are continuing at Mercy, I hope you have a restful and restorative summer. We will welcome you back in the fall and support you in your aim to graduate.

As you’ll read in this newsletter, this past spring students and faculty have been busy in scholarly and social activities. We’ve served our community both locally in Dobbs Ferry and the Bronx, and globally through our missions to Ecuador, Peru, and Nicaragua. Our Exercise Science faculty and students have encouraged our health through our first annual 5K run and weekly boot camps. We celebrated along with the rest of the college at the inauguration of President Timothy Hall (we gave a ‘shout out’ from the windows of the Dean’s office).

As always, thank you for your continued support of our faculty and students. We wish you a safe and fun filled summer.

Joan Toglia Ph.D., OTR, FAOTADean, School of Health and Natural Sciences

Dean’s Message 1

President Hall Tries Out Boot Camp! 2

The Science Club is Back 3

SHNS Student Wins Westchester 4 Chemical Society Student Achievement Award

Exercise Science Club Hosts 4 First Annual 5k

Physical and Occupational Therapy 5 Faculty and Students Travel to Ecuador for Medical Mission

SHNS Students Participate in the 2nd 6 Annual Westchester Undergraduate Research Conference

Faculty Accomplishments 7

IN THIS ISSUE:

Dean’s Message

Transforming Health Through Science

2 |MERCY COLLEGE SCHOOL OF HEALTH AND NATURAL SCIENCES

Nursing Faculty Granted Fulbright Scholarship Dr. Renu Abraham Varughese, tenured

faculty in the Mercy College Nursing Program, was awarded an academic and professional excellence Fulbright scholarship, which will take place in South and Central Asia from 2015 to 2016. Dr. Varughese’s Fulbright project will

examine the feasibility of designing and developing a culturally relevant assessment tool to improve health outcomes of nursing home residents in India.

The Fulbright award is a prestigious international educational exchange program sponsored by the US government. Through bi-national partnerships with foreign governments, the Fulbright Scholarship Program sponsors U.S. and foreign participants for exchanges in all areas of endeavor, including the sciences, business, academe, public service, government, and the arts and continues to increase mutual understanding between the US and the people of other countries. http://www.cies.org/

Exercise Science students Participate in Student BowlThe American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Greater NY Regional Chapter hosted its first Exercise Science student quiz bowl at Queens College on Saturday April 18th. The quiz bowl was a great way to end the 2015 spring conference.Mercy College, along with six other colleges from around

the greater New York region, sent students to compete in the quiz bowl. Mercy’s Exercise Science program had 3 students represent the college in the quiz bowl: Alex Diasmendez, Gabriela Arita Cueva and Nancy Perretta. Everyone had a great time and look forward to the next quiz bowl.

Alpha Eta Induction CeremonyOn March 31st, the SHNS Alpha Eta Mercy College Chapter held its 6th annual induction ceremony. This year the chapter inducted 2 faculty members, Dr. Marc Campo, PT, PhD, OCS and Dr. Sabrina Timperman, DVM, 54 graduate and undergraduate students from the following programs: Biology, Communication Disorders, Exercise Science, Health Sciences, Occupational Therapy Assistant, Doctor of Physical Therapy, Physician Assistant, and Veterinary Technician. The ceremony took place in the lecture hall of the Dobbs Ferry Campus where family, friends and faculty joined in the honors and celebration. The ceremony was conducted by Chapter President Dr. Kathy Ryans, Treasurer, Dr. Shari Berkowitz and Secretary Dr. Jeanine Stancanelli.

We were honored to have the Dean of the SHNS, Dr. Joan Toglia, and Mercy College President, Timothy Hall pres-ent words of congratulations to the inductees, and Alpha Eta Alumna, Ashley O’Rourke, MS, CCC-SLP as our guest speaker.

President Hall Tries Out Boot Camp!On Monday April 13th the exercise science club hosted a special inauguration week boot camp to help kick off all the festivities. President Hall along with approximately 30 participants broke a sweat by completing the exercise science club boot camp work out. The work out consists of 12 stations, where individuals work out intensely for one minute. Everyone had a great time and it was a healthy way to start off the inauguration week. Make sure to check the SHNS website for the Fall 2015 Boot Camp Schedule. The club plans on hosting the boot camp twice a week.


The Science Club is Back!

The Science Club held its first general interest meeting in February and has been in full swing ever since. In April, students from the Science Club donated both their time and talents to a henna fundraiser. Money raised

by the was used to fund a trip on May 14th to the Mar-itime Aquarium in Norwalk, CT. The Science Club also took part in the cancer fundraising event Relay For Life on May 2nd, raising money for the cause by selling potted plants containing messages of hope for cancer survivors. Several students from the Science Club plan to visit high needs schools in New York City, Westchester, and Rockland counties in June to talk about the college experience and perform lab demonstrations centered on DNA isolation. The hope is to inspire middle and high school students to pursue higher education in the scienc-es. In the fall, the Science Club plans to sponsor speakers from the scientific community and organize visits to local pharmaceutical companies and graduate schools.

Mercy Mobile Health Vehicle It has been another amazing year for the mobile health vehicle. We have been able to travel all over the community and provide free health screenings and information to over 700 adults and children. The health vehicle has specialized in servicing medically undeserved areas of the Bronx, through health fairs and community events. Many of those who have come to the mobile health vehicle have not had access to regular health care and are unaware of the steps that they can to

minimize the effects of future health problems. We are able to provide this service due to a Health Resources and Services Administration grant, which was awarded to the program. The physician assistant program utilizes this project to provide screenings to the community at large and provide an additional educational opportunity to its students.

SHNS Faculty Awarded Grants to Support Research & TeachingDr. Joan Toglia and Dr. Kathleen Golisz were awarded a grant from Arc of Westchester to support their collabora-tive research Technology to Support Independent Living Skills. People with intellectual and devel-

opmental disabilities frequently require assistance per-forming activities of daily life (ADLs), and or community based tasks. This evidence-based project will develop an occupational therapy based intervention to demonstrate the ability of everyday technology such as smart phones, tablets, and apps, to support individuals’ function in homes, communities, and employment settings. This grant will also support expansion of clinical internships for OT graduate students at the Arc of Westchester.

As part of the Langston Grant that supports three Mercy College faculty for research fellowships, the College will engage in a research capacity building and infrastructure improvement strategic planning meeting this coming July led by the team from Langston University. The 2-day meet-ing will bring together College administration, our Langston fellows, students, faculty across the College, the Chair of the IRB, and staff in the Office of Sponsored Programs. In addition, representatives from the State of New York Reha-bilitation Services and Statewide Independent Living Coun-cil will be invited to attend the meeting. The Communication Disorders Program received funding from the Thomas & Agnes Carvel Foundation which will support new audio equipment to monitor the CD students during their provision of client services in the clinic. The equipment will provided more client privacy and improved ability for faculty to provide the CD students with feedback to maximize their interventions.

4 | MERCY COLLEGE SCHOOL OF HEALTH AND NATURAL SCIENCES

The Mercy College Exercise Science Club hosted the 1st Annual Conquer the Trail 5K run/walk on Sunday, May 3rd. The race started and ended on campus, in front of Victory Hall, with most of the running/walking on the Croton-Aqueduct trail. The event was a great success, with 46 registered runners, ranging from Mercy students/athletes, Dobbs Ferry residents, and even drawing crowds from up to 100 miles away. Every volunteer received a race t-shirt, and each runner a bag with a t-shirt and several other items from local sponsors of the race.The EXSC students, with the supervision of Dr. Patrick Davitt and Dr. Astrid Mel, received great feedback that the local race was a wonderful idea and is now a new favorite 5k amongst some of the more avid runners.

This type of event is a great opportunity to showcase the exercise science program and Mercy College, while providing the students a chance to implement their knowledge into a real-world community event. The runners, as well as the Exercise Science Club, cannot wait to start planning for next year!

Exercise Science Club Hosts First Annual 5K

SHNS Student Wins Westchester Chemical Society Student Achievement Award

The Westchester Chemical Society hosted this year’s Student Achievement Awards as a key part of the Society’s Distinguished Scientist Award night, on Thursday, April 30, 2015. The ceremony took place in the Butcher Suite, in the Kessel Student Center at Pace University in Pleasantville, New York.The Westchester Chemical Society invites the student awardee and the faculty member from each participat-

ing institution as dinner guests. The student awardee is currently in a Freshman Chemistry course and selection is

based upon the person’s scholastic performance and the probability of a career in the chemical sciences. The stu-dent is presented with an award certificate and a special prize. There were a record number of participating institu-tions this year, sixteen in counting. The student awardee from Mercy College was Kenia Castellanos from the Bronx campus and the faculty member was Dr. Carl Embola.In response to financial appeals, the Dean of the School of Health and Natural Sciences, Dr. Joan Toglia, made a contribution to The Westchester Chemical Society on behalf of the Chemistry Department. This generous gesture was acknowledged in the proceedings of the program.

Communication Disorders Program Raises over $5,000On Sunday, March 15, 2015 the Communication Disorders (CD) Program hosted another American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) approved continuing education workshop for Westchester and Rockland area speech language pathologists. The workshop was entitled, Childhood Apraxia of Speech: Assessment, Diagnosis, and Intervention. The speaker, Elaine Dolgin-Lieberman, M.A., CCC-SLP is recognized by CASANA as having Advanced Train-ing and Clinical Expertise in Childhood Apraxia of Speech. She is also a Speech-EZ® for Apraxia Certified Practitioner.Elaine is also a lecturer in the Graduate Communication Disorders Program at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry. She is an experienced clinician in private practice with a primary interest in working with children with motor speech disor-ders.

Over 80 participants attended the workshop, 17 of whom were alumnae from the CD graduate program. Over $5,000 was raised for the CD Scholarship fund. Many thanks to Leslie Dowling, Lecturer, for her assistance in organizing this event!


Physical and Occupational Therapy Faculty and Students Travel to Ecuador for Medical Mission

For 8 days in February, Claudia B. Fenderson, PT, EdD, PCS, professor in the Physical Ther-apy Program and her husband, William Fend-erson, MEd, MOT, OT/L participated in Med-ical Mission Ecuador (MME). They were

accompanied by Doctor of Physical Therapy students Ryan Chow and Marc Jacobchick, recent DPT gradu-ate Caroline Spatz and Occupational Therapy students Jaclyn Gaudio, Danielle Sotomayor and Jill Nilsen. MME is a non-profit humanitarian organization in its 23rd year. MME believes every child should have access to medical care and provides this care for children whose families have little or no access to medical care either because they cannot afford it or because their medical communities do not offer it. MME relies entirely on volunteers.

The Mercy PT and OT team joined with physicians, sur-geons, nurses, PTs, and other health professionals from around the country. The teams work in 3 hospitals high in the Andes Mountains in Ambato, Ecuador where they provided free services to impoverished Ecuadorian children. Jaclyn Gaudio found that “being able to access this medical attention and education though MME made a world of a difference for these families.” Three teams – plastic surgery, general medicine and or-thopedic - worked nonstop, up to 10 hours a day. The orthopedic team alone saw 277 patients and provided 677 evaluations, treatments and surgery. Children received a wide range of services including care for general medical issues, trauma, burns, orthopedic issues, and other birth

defects. The PTs and OTs provided treatments, home programs, splints, other orthopedic equipment and wheelchairs. A significant portion of the work involved collabora-tions with Ecuadorian PTs and OTs. They joined the US team during their work at the hospital and shared ideas on treatments. Mem-bers of MME then provided in-services at the special

education school where the Ecuadorian therapists are employed. The importance of this collaboration was ob-served by Jill Nilsen who said “the medical mission provid-ed me with an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the Ecuadorian culture. I saw how important culture is when treating people and the impact it has on our ability to treat.” As a person who grew up in a Spanish culture, Danielle Sotomayor learned about the importance of learning about cultural differences. She expressed “one of the biggest differences was the limited amount of education the parents had in terms of the disabilities of their children, from developmental milestones to proper positioning. In the US, children with disabilities may be treated earlier because parents may be more knowledgeable regarding what ser-vices to seek.”Throughout the year, PT and OT students engaged in a va-riety of fund-raising activities to assist in the purchase of equipment, funding for extra luggage and to offset the cost of their travel and lodging expenses since all costs must be incurred by MME participants. However, the expense is truly offset by the rewards. Marc Jacobchick said “vol-unteer work really is the most selfless kind of work. The love and genuine gratitude we received from the people of Ecuador was an immeasurable form of payment. I received

much more from them than I could ever give.”

While the work was physically draining, all participants felt it was also extremely rewarding and they were deeply touched by the

gratitude of the children and families they helped. Caroline Spatz expressed that her participation was “a humbling, eye opening, and unique experience that not only allows one to apply the knowledge learned in school, but to work amongst a clinical group of surgeons, PT’s, OTs, nurses, and orthotist who share their knowledge and demonstrate an empathetic and exceptional team approach to treat and care for underprivileged children.”


Mercy College, along with Manhattanville College, sponsored the fourth annual Westchester Undergraduate Research Conference on April 24th, 2015. The event was housed in the historic Reid Castle at the Manhattanville College campus in Purchase, NY. Undergraduate students presented their research on a range of topics covering both natural and social sciences. SHNS faculty research mentors included Helen Buhler, Shari Berkowitz, Juan Bruses, Renée Haskew-Layton, Shah Huq, Kalpana Samudre, and Sabrina Timperman. SHNS students presented posters on brain protection, cancer susceptibility, cell-surface receptor localization,potential damage to hearing from hand-dryers and anthropogenic

impact on the environment. In addition, Jake S. Friedman from the Communication Disorders program gave a platform presentation entitled Henson-style Puppetry Performance Decreases Stuttering in Adults. Samie Jules, Mercy College BS biology Dec 15, both presented her research on the study of cell death in the

brain and attended the conference with her Seminar Current Topics in Biology class. Samie described the event as, “Enjoyable and educational! It was a great opportunity to interact with students from nearby schools and to learn

more about the ongoing research at Mercy College and other local schools.” In addition to the student research presentations, a major highlight of the conference was the keynote address “Stress: Acute, Chronic, Proximate, Ultimate?” given by Dr. Gary Aronsen, Department of Biological Anthro-pology of Yale University. Dr. Aronsen spoke of his field work studying the effects of stress on primate behavior in the Kibale National Park in Uganda. The conference concluded with a faculty forum discussing the benefits and challeng-es of undergraduate research and ideas for strengthening future collaborations between neighboring undergraduate institutes.

SHNS Students Participate in the 2nd Annual Westchester Undergraduate Research Conference

Congratulations to the Class of 2015!!


PUBLICATIONS:

Salzhauer Berkowitz, S. (2015). Hand dryer noise in public restrooms exceeds 80 dBA. Noise & Health, 17(75), 90-92.

Minorsky, P. (2015). Temperature and Plant Development edited by Keara A. Franklin and Philip A. Wigge. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 90(1), 99-100.

Minorsky, P. (2015). Temperature and Plant Development edited by Keara A. Franklin and Philip A. Wigge. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 90(1), 99-100.

Timperman, S. (2016). Digestive System. In Clinical anatomy and physiology for veterinary technicians (Third ed., pp. 378-415). Missouri: Elsevier.

Toglia, J. (2015). Weekly Calendar Planning Activity (WCPA) a Performance Test of Executive Function. Bethesda, MD: AOTA Press.

Kuceyeski, A., Navi, B., Kamel, H., Relkin, N., Villanueva, M., Raj, A., Toglia, J., O’Dell, M., Iadecola, C. (2015). Exploring the Brain’s Structural Connectome: A Quantitative Stroke Lesion-Dysfunction Mapping Study. Human Brain Mapping, 1-14.

FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

PRESENTATIONS:

Beverly, N. (2015) Biomechanics Lab Activities and Worksheets, American Association of Physics Teachers Winter Meeting, San Diego, CA.

Beverly, N. (2015) Interdisciplinary Thinking as Second Nature – Going Beyond Relevant Content in the Introductory Physics for Life Science Course, UCLA Symposium on Teaching Physics to Life Scientists, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA

Buhler, Helen , C.(2015). Graduate Admissions: Mythbusters. Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences Disorders Annual Conference “Leading Change.” April 17, 2015. Newport Beach, CA

Dumitrescu, C. (2015). Leadership: A Complex System of Interactions. Poster presentation at the national conference of the American Occupational Therapy Association, Nashville, TN.

Kosky, C, Mejia, D., Luciano, M., Rivera, L. Bilingualism: Information for School Personnel via a Workshop Presentation, New York State Speech Language Hearing Association’s 55th Annual Convention April 23 - 25, 2015, Rochester, NY

Kosky, C., Bumbolow, S., Czarnocha, E., Spinelli, A., Sullivan, A. Improving Communication between Health Professionals and Persons with Dementia, New York State Speech Language Hearing Association’s 55th Annual Convention April 23 - 25, 2015, Rochester, NY

Lee, A., & Toglia, J. P (2015). Methods to Facilitate Error Awareness after Acquired Brain Injury: An Interactive Experience. Workshop presentation at the national conference of the American Occupational Therapy Association, Nashville, TN.

Zizik, D. (April 2015). Occupational Therapy Students’ Development of Intentional Relationships During a Service Learning Project - Poster presentation at the national conference of the American Occupational Therapy Association, Nashville, TN.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR FACULTY:

Shari Berkowitz:Awarded Tenure

Debra Zizik:Promoted to Assistant Professor

Renu Varughese:Awarded Fulbright Scholarship

Lorraine Cashin:Awarded Tenure


School of Health and Natural Sciences

Undergraduate Programs

BiologyBachelor’s DegreeAnthony Canger PhD Chair Natural [email protected]

Clinical Laboratory ScienceBachelor’s DegreeAnthony Canger PhD Chair Natural [email protected]

Communication DisordersBachelor’s DegreeHelen Buhler, PhD, CCC-SLP Program [email protected]

Exercise ScienceBachelor’s DegreeAstrid Mel, PhD, HFS, CISSN, CSCSProgram [email protected]

Health ScienceBachelor’s DegreeStephen Fong DPTProgram [email protected]

Nursing (RN to BS)Bachelor’s DegreePeggy C. Tallier, MPA, EdD, RNProgram [email protected]

Nursing (BS)Bachelor’s DegreePeggy C. Tallier, MPA, EdD, RNProgram [email protected]

Occupational Therapy AssistantAssociate’s DegreeChristine Sullivan, OTD, OTR/L Program [email protected]

Veterinary TechnologyBachelor’s DegreeLaurie Buell, MS, LVT Program [email protected]

Veterinary Technology: Pre-Vet. MedicineBachelor’s DegreeLaurie Buell, MS, LVT Interim [email protected]

Graduate Programs

Communication DisordersMaster’s DegreeHelen Buhler, PhD,[email protected]

Physical TherapyDoctorateNannette Hyland, PT, [email protected]

Nursing AdministrationMaster’s DegreePeggy C. Tallier, MPA, EdD, [email protected]

Nursing EducationMaster’s DegreePeggy C. Tallier, MPA, EdD, [email protected]

Occupational TherapyMaster’s DegreeJeanine Stancanelli OTD, OTRInterim [email protected]

Physician Assistant StudiesMaster’s DegreeLorraine Cashin, MPS,[email protected]

FOR SUBMISSIONS TO THE MERCY COLLEGE SCHOOL OF HEALTH AND NATURAL SCIENCES NEWSLETTER, CONTACT STEPHANIE LOVING AT [email protected]

555 BroadwayDobbs Ferry, NY 10522

66 West 35th StreetNew York, NY 10001

1200 Waters PlaceBronx, NY 10461

2561 Strang Blvd.Yorktown Height, NY 10598

SCHOOL OF HEALTH AND NATURAL SCIENCES

DeanJoan Toglia, OTR, PhD, FAOTA

[email protected]

Associate DeanKathleen Golisz, OTR, OTD

[email protected]

For more information on our programs please call 914-674-7467

1-800-MERCY-NY

Transforming Health Through Science

Documents

SHNS Fall 2014 Newsletter