The UNMC School of Allied Health Professions (SAHP) held its 19th annual awards program and poster exhibition last month. Those honored included:
- Amber Donnelly, program director of the Cytotechnology Program — Teacher of the Year Award.
- Laura Bilek, Ph.D., assistant professor, Physical Therapy Education — Outstanding Researcher of the Year Award.
- Phyllis Muellenberg, retired former director of the Clinical Laboratory Science Program, and Jean Deupree, Ph.D., professor, Pharmacology and Experiential Neuroscience — Outstanding Service to the Allied Health Professions Award.
 |
Mary Haven, left, with Amber Donnelly, SAHP’s Teacher of the Year recipient. |
She also is a participant in an innovative Virtual Cervical Cytology project supported by the National Library of Medicine to prepare, evaluate and test the effectiveness of using digitized slides on the Internet for teaching, continuing education and competency testing in cytotechnology. Donnelly serves on several national committees representing cytotechnologists in the American Society of Cytopathology.
Donnelly’s nominators praised her for interesting and challenging case studies, online classroom tools, assignments, and syllabi, and clinical rotation assignments. She also developed games and other interactive learning tools and added a training session on the new automated slide reader technology (at pathology medical services in Lincoln, Neb.) and several lectures on HPV testing to the curriculum this past year.
 |
Mary Haven, left, with Laura Bilek, SAHP’s Outstanding Researcher of the Year. |
Among her research achievements are:
- $105,000 grant from the Arthritis Foundation with an additional $172,000 in support from the UNMC Research Support Fund to address the immune response in exercise in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis. Dr. Bilek was published in the prestigious journal, Arthritis Care and Research and also presented her findings at the National Arthritis meeting in November 2005.
- A grant from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services to further the understanding of the impact of exercise on preventing diabetes, particularly among people who smoke.
- A grant from the UNMC Minority Health, Education and Research Office to study the impact of exercise on insulin resistance and subsequent immune responses in a minority, medically underserved population in South Omaha.
 |
Phyllis Muellenberg, above right, and Jean Deupree, Ph.D., photo below, received the Outstanding Service to the Allied Health Professions Award. Muellenberg is shown with friend Dawn Grayson. |
 |
Muellenberg has been involved in medical technology/clinical laboratory science education for 36 years – including 22 as program director – and has a long list of credits.
- She became a national model for grants administration beginning with the Rural Health Opportunities Program (RHOP) grant that was awarded to SAHP in 1990.
- She has accounted for $3.5 million in federal funding support for projects benefiting SAHP. Through these projects, UNMC became nationally known for distance education in Clinical Laboratory Sciences, add-a-competency training, recruitment into allied health professions, cultural competency, expansion of allied health programs, degree completion options and bioterrorism preparedness education.
Dr. Deupree began her service to SAHP in 1979 as a member of the search committee for a new director of the physical therapy program. She served on the search committee that resulted in hiring Haven, and now will assist in filling the position again when Haven retires July 31.
Dr. Deupree participated in two site visits for national accreditation for both the physician assistant and clinical perfusion programs. In 1993, she became the primary instructor and course coordinator for the pharmacology course for physician assistant and clinical perfusion students. She established a pharmacology Web site with links to helpful information and presentations to all lectures and past exams for practice. Also, Dr. Deupree served on a national committee to help design a model curriculum for teaching pharmacology to physician assistant students.
 |
David Holt, director, Clinical Perfusion Education, and Melissa Osentowski. |
There were 92 SAHP students involved in 73 posters displayed at the 2006 School of Allied Health Professions Student Research Forum.
One of the poster presenters was Melissa Osentowski from the Division of Clinical Perfusion Education. She graduated with a master’s degree in clinical perfusion. Her poster was on evaluating the efficiency of the intro-aortic balloon pump (IABP).
Today the IABP is used in more than 70,000 applications per year – making it the most common cardiac assist device after pharmacology. The correct timing of the inflation and deflation of the IABP is critical to it being clinically advantageous to the patient. Osentowski’s research also had the secondary goal of drawing awareness to the dangers of solely relying on technology for patient treatment decisions in lieu of clinical evaluative skills.
 |
Andrea Danielson with her first-place poster. |
Banner year for SAHP
It was another banner year of overall success for the School of Allied Health Professions.
In August, 172 new students started their programs, including 151 from Nebraska. With returning students, the count rose to 354 full-time students, the third largest group of full-time students at UNMC.
SAHP students continue to pass their board, certification and licensure exams at rates much higher than the national average. For example, in diagnostic medical sonography, 100 percent of UNMC students passed while the national average was only 68 percent.
Two SAHP programs made the U.S. News and World Report on Best Graduate Schools. Physicians Assistant Education ranked 14th out of 40 in the nation and the Physical Therapy Education program ranked 31st out of 141. Moreover, Money magazine’s annual listing of the top 50 jobs in America included physician assistant (No. 5), physical therapist (No. 12), dietician/nutritionist (No. 40) and laboratory technologists (No. 46). The annual growth rate in these professions ranged from 8 percent to 50 percent.
The Clinical Laboratory Science and Physician Assistant programs were both reaccredited with rave reviews from their respective accreditation bodies. Each received accreditation for the maximum number of years allowed, seven and 10 respectively.
Although many SAHP students volunteer and serve those less fortunate in the greater Omaha area and throughout the state, the Physical Therapy Education students had a particularly outstanding year of service. They earned the SAHP’s Community Service Award. The entire class received a $1,000 award which will be used to send students to state and national meetings.
The PT students did physical fitness screening for Special Olympics athletes; organized and ran a volleyball tournament for the Arthritis Foundation, provided physical therapy services at UNMC’s SHARING Clinic; assisted with equine therapy for children with special needs; volunteered at the National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament and helped out at an event for children with cystic fibrosis.
Twenty-two SAHP students won national scholarships this year and six faculty members won national awards. Phyllis Muellenberg and Pat Hageman, Ph.D., director of Physical Therapy Education, received the state of Nebraska’s highest awards for their professions. In addition, the Division of Physical Therapy received the University of Nebraska System’s prestigious University-Wide Departmental Teaching Award. Also, 13 students were inducted into the Alpha Eta Allied Health Professions National Honor Society.