Monthly Archives: July 2015

College of Pharmacy initiates first residency program

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Pictured above, left to right are Dr. Phil Johnston, Dean of Belmont University College of Pharmacy, Dr. Cathy Ficzere, Chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice at Belmont University College of Pharmacy, Mr. Bob Mifflin, Executive Director of the Christy-Houston Foundation, Gordon B. Ferguson, President and CEO of St. Thomas Rutherford Hospital, Dr. Amy Hodgin, Residency Director at St. Thomas Rutherford Hospital, John Farringer, Director of Pharmacy at St. Thomas Rutherford Hospital, and the inaugural residents, Dr. Nick Brakefield and Maggie Goodman (Belmont COP ‘15).

Pictured top row left to right are Dr. Phil Johnston, Dean of Belmont University College of Pharmacy, Dr. Cathy Ficzere, Chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice at Belmont University College of Pharmacy, Mr. Bob Mifflin, Executive Director of the Christy-Houston Foundation, Gordon B. Ferguson, President and CEO of St. Thomas Rutherford Hospital, Dr. Amy Hodgin, Residency Director at St. Thomas Rutherford Hospital, John Farringer, Director of Pharmacy at St. Thomas Rutherford Hospital.  Dr. Nick Brakefield and Dr. Maggie Goodman (Belmont COP ‘15), inaugural residents, are seated.

Belmont University College of Pharmacy initiated their first post-graduate pharmacy residencies earlier this month in cooperation with Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital and the Christy-Houston Foundation.  On July 1, Drs. Maggie Goodman, a 2015 graduate of Belmont’s PharmD program, and Nick Brakefield, a 2015 graduate of Auburn University’s PharmD program, started their year-long residency.

Dr. Philip Johnston, Dean of the College of Pharmacy, remarked, “We are very excited about the partnership with Christy-Houston Foundation and Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital.  It is an excellent practice and location to establish a pharmacy residency program.  Drs. Hodgin and Farringer will serve as wonderful role models and mentors along with various health care personnel.  This helps create jobs in Rutherford county, where the Christy-Houston Foundation focuses, it helps the hospital expand its clinical and administrative services, and helps Belmont establish additional training sites.” Continue reading →

Belmont Nursing Graduate is Honored Again, This Time by Ohio Valley Conference

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alcott-action2On the heels of being selected as the Belmont University nominee for the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year award, recent Belmont nursing and women’s soccer alumna Alison Alcott (Dallas, Texas) received another honor from the NCAA.  She was named the 2015 Woman of the Year Conference Honoree for the Ohio Valley Conference.

In May, Alcott was presented the 2015 Ohio Valley Conference Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award for her stellar career on the pitch and in the classroom along with good sportsmanship and citizenship, becoming only the second women women’s player to garner the honor. Continue reading →

Thoughts about a Wall

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6th floor wall_cropped CHS faculty Great WallA few weeks ago I had the privilege of traveling to China. The group I traveled with included a faculty representative from each of the College of Health Science disciplines (Social Work, Nursing, Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy), and 4 gentlemen who work at the Show Hope Foundation. The major purpose of the trip was for the Belmont CHS faculty to see the Show Hope operations in China and to explore possible ways our students could learn and serve there as a part of Show Hope, whether through short term mission trips or longer term clinical and field experiences.

When I tell people I went to China, most people are curious if we got to visit the Great Wall. We did! We were able to spend a day in Beijing before traveling back to the states, and we visited the wall from outside that city. It was, of course, an amazing experience to be able to climb part of it and walk along it. To think of how that structure was built before modernized tools, and how it still stands firmly today (at least in the place we visited) is really a testament to human capability. I am so glad I got to experience this, what a privilege! You can see all of our CHS disciplines represented in this picture from the Great Wall, at noon on a very hot summer day!

But I want to tell you also about another wall in China, a wall on the 6th floor of Maria’s Big House of Hope (MBHOH) in Luoyang, China. Continue reading →

Pharmacy Student Chosen as Walmart Scholar

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AACP2015-1Sara Thompson, a fourth year Pharmacy student at Belmont University, was recently chosen as a Walmart Scholar by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP).   The program recognizes select students and their faculty mentors in an effort to strengthen the recipient’s skills and commitment to a career in academic pharmacy.   Dr. Edgar Diaz-Cruz, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy, serves as Thompson’s mentor.

In speaking of Thompson, Dr. Diaz-Cruz said, “It is refreshing to see such maturity , determination, and passion for academic pharmacy and patient education in a pharmacy student.”  Thompson is interested in medical Spanish and health disparities as experienced in the Hispanic community.  After pharmacy school, she plans to pursue a residency with a teaching certificate program and has a career goal to join academia as a faculty member in pharmacy practice.

The Scholar program provides scholarships to student-faculty pairs to attend the AACP annual meeting and Teachers Seminar which was recently held in National Harbor, Maryland.

DNP Student Teaches Healthcare in Haiti as Frist Global Health Fellow

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Quigley1When doctorate of nursing practice student Jennifer Quigley realized she would be the first Belmont recipient of the Frist Global Health Fellowship, she said she was eager to use her passion for global health to implement a plan for teaching health care providers in Cap-Haitien, Haiti a modern method of natural family planning. Her trip was born of a partnership between Belmont’s College of Health Sciences and Nursing and the organization Hope Through Healing Hands, which was founded by Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D.

Although the goal of the trip was to assist the Haitian people, Quigley was quick to say the trip was life-changing for her, as well. “I learned so much more from the Haitian people than they learned from me. I have never seen a more joyous people, full of life and love, and each was eager to show me love. Though they did not have much, I never went hungry, and I always had water. They joyfully give, even if they have so little to start with,” she said. “I also had the opportunity to deliver a baby, with only one other nurse, no drugs and not sterile equipment — only a clean room and the two of us. It was an experience I will hold with me for the rest of my life.” Continue reading →

Pharmacy Faculty and Staff Present at Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Meeting

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AACP-2015-2Sixteen Belmont faculty and staff members attended and contributed to the 2015 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) joint meeting with the Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada, recently held in National Harbor, Maryland.

Due to changes in the pharmacy market and pharmacy practice act and the number of new schools, this year’s conference, attended by approximately 2,000 people, was particularly active. Continue reading →

Tweddle Works as Physical Therapy Research Lab Assistant

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Rising junior exercise science and Spanish major Morgan Tweddle has spent the last two months shadowing three Ph.D. candidates for the School of Kinesiology at Texas A&M as a lab assistant, aiding in data collection and gaining experience in the field she hopes to join.

Tweddle’s main focus has been an infant intervention called “tummy time,” an intentional placing of an infant on their stomach during play time that has been proven to build core muscles, allowing infants to explore their surroundings sooner and begin their cognitive development. In the candidates’ study, the researchers looked specifically at the effects of tummy time on infants with Down Syndrome. Tweddle collected data and evaluated the babies’ developmental progress.

The researchers used two motor tests, the Bayley and the Peabody, taken monthly to measure the infant’s development. The tests take each child through a series of different skill sets and movements, and the baby’s progress is scored based on their results. A previous study found average scores of infants with and without Down Syndrome without the use of tummy time. There was a profound gap between the progression of the infants – tummy time is intended to close that gap.
Tweddle and her team used the previous study for comparison purposes as they added the prescribed 90-minute/day tummy time regimen to a group of babies with and without Down Syndrome. Tweddle explained that the results indicate “the infants with Down Syndrome who have tummy time are remaining at the same developmental level as those without for a longer period of time before there is a gap in their development.” Therefore, with tummy time, the developmental gap is much smaller.
Seeing the impact of these results, Tweddle said she now understands the importance of her work. “Our most exciting example of this was a baby we worked with who has Down Syndrome who started walking at 16 months – the national average is 24 months! It was incredible. Now that he can walk, explore his surroundings and continue his cognitive and social development, he can live life more fully,” she said.
It was through Belmont’s Alpha Epsilon Delta Pre-Medical Honor Society that Tweddle first heard of the opportunity and was chosen through an application in the spring semester. “Through my job at the gym, I went in comfortable with resume writing and interview processes, both of which I think helped me to secure a position there at all,” she said. Tweddle is a personal trainer and yoga instructor at Belmont’s Fitness and Recreation Center, both of which, she says, are similar to the personal interaction and movements necessary to be a successful physical therapist.
One of Tweedle’s favorite parts of the program was the day spent at the Texas State Special Olympics to provide health screenings for athletes.

Post graduation, Tweddle plans to attend physical therapy school to obtain both a Doctor of Physical Therapy, allowing her to practice in a clinical setting, and a Ph.D., allowing her to conduct research and teach. Tweddle explained that this opportunity gave her new excitement for her future goals. “I am a planner, and this gave me a look at one of the possible roads I can take. God led me to this opportunity, and it is exciting to see His plan for me starting to unfold,” she said.

Pharmacy Student Society Officers Attend National Meeting

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2015-ASHP-Summer-Meeting-300x300Destin Lenz and Kelsie Graham, third year Belmont pharmacy students, recently attended the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists 2015 Summer Meeting in Denver, Colorado. Lenz and Graham serve as president and vice president, respectively, in Belmont’s Student Society of Health-System Pharmacists (SSHP).

This year’s meeting had the highest attendance of any in nearly a decade, consisting of four content-targeted conferences including the Ambulatory Care Conference, Informatics Institute, Medication Safety Collaboration and Pharmacy, Practice and Policy.

The duo participated in a student leadership development workshop focused on leadership opportunities in pharmacy practice and attended a session entitled, “A Student’s Guide to Provider Status,” where updates on the latest developments in provider status legislation were discussed.  In addition, they attended poster presentations, a session exclusively for students entitled, “Career and Life Success,” and a number of educational seminars on a variety of topics.

For more information, click here.

Occupational Therapy Alumnus and Husband Help Soldiers, Veterans Through ‘REBOOT Combat Recovery’

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REBOOT-groupAlumni Jenny and Evan Owens may not have ever gone through basic training, much less served in combat, but the couple has still developed a passion for ministering to soldiers and their families. In fact, helping soldiers overcome the spiritual wounds of war has become this couple’s mission and led to them founding REBOOT Combat Recovery in 2011.

Jenny received her B.A. from Belmont in 2005 followed by a doctorate in occupational therapy, also from Belmont, in 2007. After graduating, she worked in neuro-rehabilitation at Vanderbilt and then with patients suffering traumatic brain injuries at the Warrior Resiliency and Recovery Center at Fort Campbell’s Blanchfield Army Community Hospital. Continue reading →

Social Work Student Explores Land, Life Lessons at Pine Ridge

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Sanders-225x300Rising senior social work major Rebecca Sanders trekked many miles and asked many difficult questions during Professor Dr. Andy Watt’s Maymester program as she and her team learned the history of the western U.S.’s land and people.

The trip began May 12 on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, where Sanders met with tribal elders and local artists to hear their stories and visit important, local sites. The next stop was the Crow Reservation in Montana to learn about the Battle of Little Big Horn and Crow culture. Soon after, the group traveled to Yellowstone National Park to participate in the park’s Wolf and Bear Exploration and Cody, Wyoming for the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. The trip concluded May 29 in Keystone, South Dakota with stops at Mt. Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial, Sylvan Lake and Badlands National Park. Continue reading →

Pharmacy Teams Travels to Honduras

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Pharmacy-300x300A group of faculty members and a student from Belmont’s College of Pharmacy recently traveled to Honduras as part of the Baptist Medical Dental Mission. Drs. Adam Pace, Leela Kodali, and Emily Russell, a fourth-year student, joined a team of 20 medical professionals for the medical missions trip.

The team set up a medical clinic, dentistry clinic, and pharmacy in a schoolhouse in San Fernando, a rural community in the state of Yoro. Together, they saw more than 1100 patients, dispensed 5300 prescriptions, pulled 240 teeth for 101 patients and distributed 325 eyeglasses. Additionally, the trip included church services and personal evangelism at the medical stations, bringing more than 130 people to Christ. Continue reading →

Cultural humility, and remembering history

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Welcome Dr. Sabrina Sullenberger, Chair of the Social Work Department at Belmont University, as she begins blogging here from time to time.

Earlier this summer I had the privilege of co-leading a student immersion trip to several destinations in the US West, including the Lakota reservation in Pine Ridge, SD and the Crow reservation near Hardin, MT.   While on the reservations, especially at Pine Ridge, I was confronted with the reality that I had not a clue about the lived experience of people there.  What I knew of native history and culture prior to the trip was limited almost exclusively to books and the occasional documentary.  As such, I was keenly aware of my lack of cultural knowledge and cultural competence (both of which are important concepts in social work) and so I was initially hesitant about how to connect with community members.

And then I remembered something: more important than cultural competence (which some would say can never be achieved) is the practice of cultural humility.    Continue reading →

College of Pharmacy partners with Aegis Sciences to launch Fellowship Program

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Aegis Sciences Corporation, in partnership with Belmont, recently announced the launch of a pharmacy fellowship program. The fellows will complete an intensive two-year postgraduate training program focused on drug information, evidence-based practice, teaching and research. The Clinical Scientist fellows selected for the 2015-2017 program are Kate Claussen, Pharm.D., and Amber Watson, Pharm.D.

Claussen, of Hendersonville, Tennessee, received her Doctorate of Pharmacy from Lipscomb and previously interned and completed a pharmacy rotation at Aegis. Watson, of Hardy, Arkansas, received her Doctorate of Pharmacy from the University of Tennessee and completed a pharmacy rotation at Aegis. Continue reading →

Nursing students participate in Vanderbilt Medical Center Internships

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VESNIP 2015

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Thirteen Belmont students recently completed the Vanderbilt Experience Student Nurse Internship Program’s Summer 2015 Nurse Residency.

Out of these, Tisra Fadely was recognized with the Credo Award for her hard work on the perioperative track. According to her certificate, Fadely “is a student that made our patients the highest priority by communicating effectively with patients and their families and was committed to being a team player.”

As stated on her certificate, some of her preceptors attested to the qualities Fadely has that earned her the award. “Tisra demonstrates a rare sensitivity and dedication to patient centered care, as well as a keen interest in evidence-based practice. She was consistently kind, attentive and professional. Achievers.Fadely-300x225As a coworker, she was respectful, conscientious and hardworking. One of her most impressive attributes is her gracious manner of asking questions and sharing information. She researches questions she has relating to patient care and shares her knowledge with true intellectual enthusiasm. I have found her deeply committed to patient care and genuinely committed to nursing.”