The School of Allied Health Professions comprises 13 separate allied health educational programs. Collectively, the SAHP has more than 400 students enrolled at UNMC and more than 300 students enrolled through distance education degree advancement programs.
Chair: Kyle Meyer, Ph.D., senior associate dean, and 11 program directors.
Number of people in department (faculty/staff): 58 faculty and 23 staff
New faculty:
- Betsy Becker, PT, MPT, CLT-LANA, assistant professor, Physical Therapy Program
- Ka-Chun (Joseph) Siu, PT, Ph.D., assistant professor and coordinator, SSUHSI MS-DPT Program, Physical Therapy Program
- Maheswari (Manju) Mukherjee, Ph.D., MS, CT(ASCP), educational coordinator, SAHP, Cytotechnology Program
- Iman Ahmad, Ph.D., assistant professor, Division of Radiation Science Technology Education
New program director: Karen Honeycutt, M.Ed., MLS (ASCP)CMSMCM appointed chair of Clinical Laboratory Science in February.
Recent significant research grants:
Capture Falls Project
Principal Investigator: Katherine Jones, Ph.D., assistant professor, physical therapy education, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) – $593,088. The primary aim of the grant is to improve patient care and safety by reducing inpatient falls in critical access hospitals that primarily serve rural older adult populations. Using an interprofessional team approach, the project will collaborate with 20 partner hospitals, including 17 critical access hospitals to incorporate four practices for fall risk.
Physician Assistant Training in Primary Care Program
Co-Principal Investigators: Mike Huckabee, Ph.D., director, physician assistant education, Kyle Meyer, Ph.D., senior associate dean, SAHP, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Physician Assistant Training in Primary Care – $993,910. The primary aim of the grant is to increase the number of PA graduates in Nebraska who become primary care clinicians, with a focus on care provision for underserved populations. The grant provides funds for UNMC to host a biennial Physician Assistants Rural Primary Care National Conference in 2014 and 2016.
Recent faculty publications:
Hanson C, Rutten E, Wouters E, Rennard S. "Diet and Vitamin D as Risk Factors for Lung Disease." Submitted to Translational Research, accepted April 2013.
Jones KJ, Skinner AM, High R, Reiter-Palmon R. "A theory-driven, longitudinal evaluation of the impact of team training on safety culture in 24 hospitals." BMJ Qual Saf. 2013 May;22(5):394-404. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2012-000939. Epub 2013 Feb 23
Other highlights:
As part of the University of Nebraska "Building a Healthier Nebraska Initiative," the University of Nebraska at Kearney received a $15 million state appropriation — to be matched by $4 million in private funds to be raised by UNK — to construct a new state-of-the-art building on the UNK campus to create a new home for the UNMC College of Nursing-Kearney division and allow for the expansion of five SAHP programs to the UNK campus. Design is underway. Plans are to complete construction to allow for fall 2015 occupancy.