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Newswise LOUISVILLE, Ky. Marcia Hern, Ed.D., CNS, RN, dean and professor, University of Louisville School of Nursing, has been selected as one of 100 Alumni Transformers in Nursing & Healthcare by The Ohio State University College of Nursing during its Centennial year. This recognition commemorates alumni of the college who have deeply impacted the profession of nursing and the health care system. Since completing their education at the college, these alumni have excelled in their respective fields and succeeded in living out the mission of the college: Transforming health, transforming lives.

Prior to her appointment as UofL nursing school dean, Hern served as dean of Texas Womans University College of Nursing from 2004-2007. She has held a number of other leadership positions throughout her career, including department chair, parent child, University of Cincinnati College of Nursing from 1999-2004; executive director, community outreach and development, University of Cincinnati College of Nursing; and director of nursing at Childrens Medical Center in Cincinnati.

Hern serves on the University Medical Center (UMC), Inc. advisory board and sits on the UMC Quality and Patient Safety committee. She also has served on the Prebyterian Hospital of Denton Texas governing board of trustees.

UofLs nursing school dean is chair of the Curriculum Redesign Task Force for the Kentucky Nursing Consortium Committee. She also is a member of the Kentucky Team for Nursing Education Capacity, Kentucky Hospital Association CNOs and Dean and the Kentucky Institute of Medicine.

Hern has taken part in the Leadership Louisville class of 2013, and was involved in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Inaugural Wharton Executive Leadership Program in 2012. She has attended the HERS Institute Leadership for Women at the University of Denver in 2010, and was a Helene Fuld Fellow of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Leadership for Academic Nursing Program.

In honor of the OSU nursing colleges 100 year anniversary, Hern will be among the outstanding alumni transformers recognized at the Centennial Gala on March 29 at The Ohio Union in Columbus, Ohio. Special recognition will be given to each 100 Alumni Transformers as attendees hear about the notable achievements they have made. Find this press release on-line.

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UofL Nursing School Dean Named Ohio State Alumni Transformer in Nursing & Healthcare

To the Editor:

As alumni of the Geisel M.D.-Ph.D. Dual Degree Program, we feel compelled to respond to a decision made by Dean Chip Souba of the Geisel School of Medicine to suspend admission to a program that aims to train future leaders and physician-scientists.

Objective performance measures demonstrate that the M.D.-Ph.D. Program is a strong asset for Geisel and Dartmouth. Geisels M.D.-Ph.D. students are highly productive in research, with graduating students co-authoring over a dozen publications on average in the biomedical sciences. Students have consistently served as bridges between clinicians and scientists, enhanced student diversity at Geisel, contributed to the community at large, and consistently matched at outstanding research-track residency programs, devoting their careers to academic medicine.

More specifically, in the past several years, Geisels M.D.-Ph.D. students independently secured nearly $1 million in training grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, which overshadows projected savings of $150,000 that would result from suspending admission this year. We publicly question the wisdom of the dean unilaterally suspending this program, particularly when the Geisel Faculty Council reviewed the Program in 2013 and concluded its review with a unanimous declaration of support.

As noted by the dean in his email to the Geisel community, Dartmouth has applied (unsuccessfully) to the National Institutes of Health for Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) status. In our last application cycle, however, the most prominent criticism leveled was the lack of institutional support for the program. It is reasonable that the NIH was concerned that a program should struggle for its existence due to a lack of support from its host institution.

Many of us are now in further training, or are faculty, at other institutions. Nevertheless, we deeply care about Geisels future and worry that this decision will call into question Geisels commitment to academic medicine and translational research. We express our grave concern that this decision will undermine the vision of making Geisel a top-20 institution by the end of this decade. It is unfortunate that Geisels ranking position has actually deteriorated over the past few years. The suspension of admissions for the dual degree program will further erode Geisels ranking.

We remind Dean Souba that, while financial responsibility is important, Geisel is not merely the sum of numbers on a budgetary sheet; rather, its value lies in its students, faculty and staff, and their many contributions to medicine and to humanity. Despite financial hardships, the success of top medical schools depends on their abilities to intelligently invest toward their missions. A medical school that loses its human capital cannot maintain its financial viability.

Samuel F. Bakhoum, M.D., Ph.D.

Sholeen Nett, M.D., Ph.D.

Writing on behalf of the alumni of the Geisel School of Medicine M.D.-Ph.D. Program

Continue reading here:
Letter: Preserve Geisels M.D.-Ph.D. Program

The College of Charleston's Faculty Senate opposes legislation to merge the school with the Medical University of South Carolina. The statement came last night in aresolutionpassed quickly and unanimously during a special meeting.

Drafting of the 'Charleston University' bill (H.4632) for the merger of College of Charleston and the Medical University of South Carolina appears not to have carefully considered and involved study of the following critical issues, the resolution states.

The cost to expand existing programs and create new research capacities and administrative structures, and the source of funds

Impacts of the change in mission and identity on student recruitment, alumni engagement, and faculty retention

Impacts of the change in mission on student learning and educational opportunities

Impacts on resource reallocation and student enrollment for existing research universities in the state

Impacts on funding and productivity from losing designation as a PUI (primarily undergraduate institution) among granting sources

Constraints on space for further expansion on the Charleston peninsula

Implications of an altered mission for faculty whose training and expertise are in undergraduate and targeted graduate instruction

Charleston Reps. Leon Stavrinakas (D) and Jim Merrill (R) introduced the bill in House. Charleston Sen. Larry Grooms filed a Senate version of the bill.

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CofC Faculty Senate unanimously opposes merger

Keep Geisels M.D.-Ph.D. Program

To the Editor:

As alumni of the Geisel M.D.-Ph.D. Dual Degree Program, we feel compelled to respond to a decision made by Dean Chip Souba of the Geisel School of Medicine to suspend admission to a program that aims to train future leaders and physician-scientists.

Objective performance measures demonstrate that the M.D.-Ph.D. Program is a strong asset for Geisel and Dartmouth. Geisels M.D.-Ph.D. students are highly productive in research, with graduating students co-authoring over a dozen publications on average in the biomedical sciences. Students have consistently served as bridges between clinicians and scientists, enhanced student diversity at Geisel, contributed to the community at large, and consistently matched at outstanding research-track residency programs, devoting their careers to academic medicine.

More specifically, in the past several years, Geisels M.D.-Ph.D. students independently secured nearly $1 million in training grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, which overshadows projected savings of $150,000 that would result from suspending admission this year. We publicly question the wisdom of the dean unilaterally suspending this program, particularly when the Geisel Faculty Council reviewed the Program in 2013 and concluded its review with a unanimous declaration of support.

As noted by the dean in his email to the Geisel community, Dartmouth has applied (unsuccessfully) to the National Institutes of Health for Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) status. In our last application cycle, however, the most prominent criticism leveled was the lack of institutional support for the program. It is reasonable that the NIH was concerned that a program should struggle for its existence due to a lack of support from its host institution.

Many of us are now in further training, or are faculty, at other institutions. Nevertheless, we deeply care about Geisels future and worry that this decision will call into question Geisels commitment to academic medicine and translational research. We express our grave concern that this decision will undermine the vision of making Geisel a top-20 institution by the end of this decade. It is unfortunate that Geisels ranking position has actually deteriorated over the past few years. The suspension of admissions for the dual degree program will further erode Geisels ranking.

We remind Dean Souba that, while financial responsibility is important, Geisel is not merely the sum of numbers on a budgetary sheet; rather, its value lies in its students, faculty and staff, and their many contributions to medicine and to humanity. Despite financial hardships, the success of top medical schools depends on their abilities to intelligently invest toward their missions. A medical school that loses its human capital cannot maintain its financial viability.

Samuel F. Bakhoum, M.D., Ph.D.

Sholeen Nett, M.D., Ph.D.

See the rest here:
Letter: Preserve Geisels MD-PhD Program

Written by: [emailprotected] on August 29, 2011.

Successful website will allow Rebels to meet new people

A successful college dating website opened up registration to 350 schools nationwide, including UNLV, on Aug. 17.

While free to use, datemyschool.com is open only to students and alumni with .edu email addresses, making it unique from other dating websites. It offers privacy features that are unlike other websites and allows users to customize who is allowed to discover them. It also blocks users from Google searches.

The website was launched by Balazs Alexa and Jean Meyer, two graduate students from Columbia University, in November 2010.

Inspiration to create the site came when women from the medical school complained to them about having trouble meeting men from the business school. The website was initially open only to a few schools in New York and other northeast areas, but the level of success prompted them to expand.

[Datemyschool.com is] nothing compared to other social networks because its only about new people, Alexa said in regard to the idea that the service is following the same model as Facebook.

Balazs and Meyer said that their network is the reverse of a typical social network because users meet people they may not know, but can trust.

The dating website is set to expand to more schools in the future, but Alexa maintains it will never affect a users experience.

You can make it as exclusive as you want for yourself, he said.

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Online dating comes to UNLV

BRISTOL, Tenn. Months of calls for his dismissal by many students and a vote of no confidence by two-thirds of the faculty earlier this week culminated with the resignation Friday of longtime King University President Dr. Greg Jordan.

King Board of Trustees Executive Committee member Marcia Porter confirmed Jordans resignation in a written statement issued just after 4:30 p.m. Friday.

It is with a heavy heart that we accept Dr. Jordans resignation, Porter said in the release. We appreciate Gregs tremendous contributions to the school during his tenure as president, and before that as an esteemed faculty member. King University is the institution it is today, with expanding campuses, additional programs and multiple learning platforms, due to his vision, leadership and business acumen.

A vote was taken today by the trustees to appoint Dr. Richard A. Ray as interim president while a nationwide search is conducted for the next president. Ray had served as vice chairman of the Board of Trustees, the school said in the release.

Multiple attempts by the Bristol Herald Courier to speak with Jordan over the past week have been unsuccessful.

Jordan became the 10th president in the Presbyterian schools 146-year history when he was appointed in 1997.

Some of his achievements listed by the school in the release included the transition from a college to university, completion of a $50 million capital campaign, a student center complex, 16 consecutive years of enrollment increases, millions of dollars in endowment growth and increases in performing and visual arts offerings.

Starting in 2008, Jordan pursued a medical school that received seed funding from the Virginia Tobacco Commission, but it 2012 it was turned over to an independent corporation that is continuing the efforts.

The resignation closed a tumultuous week that began Monday with an anonymous ballot survey of faculty members, with 62 voting no confidence in Jordan, 30 giving him full confidence and nine abstaining, two faculty members told the Bristol Herald Courier earlier this week.

That vote was preceded by months of protests on campus by student-organized groups demanding a change in administration and a war of words that surfaced on the Internet through two pipelines of information begun by King alumni and faculty, a blog called King 1867, and by Kings Student Government Association President Andr Latimore.

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King University president resigns

Of all the problems contributing to Allentown School District's dire financial situation and the list is long perhaps the toughest challenge is the drain of students to charter schools, Superintendent Russ Mayo said Tuesday.

Pointing to Allen High School, Mayo said the enrollment had declined from about 3,700 students five years ago to 2,500 today as kids head for the myriad charter and cyber charter schools that have sprouted up.

Districtwide, Allentown expects to pay $5.7 million more in charter school tuition in 2014-2015.

"If all the charter school students came back it would cost us $5 million to add staff," Mayo said. "But we are paying charters $22 million."

Mayo and district Chief Financial Officer John Clark made no attempt to sugarcoat Allentown's budget crisis at a public forum Tuesday at South Mountain Middle School.

Mayo told the dozen or so people who turned out that the forum was designed to inform citizens about the budget process and the district's financial straits but also to seek public input on solutions.

In January, the school board approved a preliminary budget that includes a 9 percent property tax increase and $6.1 million in salary cuts to plug a $13.2 million deficit. In the past four years, the district has eliminated 366 positions, shortened the school day for high school students and reduced arts offerings as part of the efforts to save money.

"All the low-hanging fruit is gone," Mayo said.

The district's woes are not the result of bad management, he said, adding that Allentown is in the bottom 10 percent of school districts in administrative spending per pupil.

Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed budget unveiled Feb. 4 would mean an additional $3.7 million for Allentown if it passes but that money comes with strings attached. The district can't just use it to plug the budget gap.

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Allentown School District superintendent: Charters are biggest drain

Founded by the UCSF Fresno Latino Center for Medical Education and Research to encourage disadvantaged students to focus on careers in health and medicine, UCSF Fresno Selma High Schools Doctors Academy is having a positive effect on students who have graduated from the program. Originally, Selma High Schools Doctors Academy was launched at Sunnyside High School in Fresno.

The rural Doctors Academy programs were started six years ago at Selma High School and Caruthers High School, said Mark Babiarz, principal at Selma High School.

Babiarz said the Doctors Academy came to Selma High School with the goal to prepare high school students to become competitive applicants to four-year universities by providing them with a rigorous academic program that includes experience in research and clinical settings, service learning and exposure to universities and colleges.

An important part of Selma High Schools Doctors Academy is the college trips that are made available to the students.

The Doctors Academy college trips have included Stanford University, UCLA, UCSF School of Medicine, UC Davis and USC, said Babiarz.

Laura Prez, a Selma High Doctors Academy graduate in 2011, is currently a third-year undergraduate at UC Berkeley with a major in molecular environmental biology.

The first time Prez visited UC Berkeley was when she was a part of Selma Highs Doctors Academy.

Once I stepped onto the UC Berkeley campus, I knew that it would be a place that would foster my way of thinking and growth in higher education, said Prez. Those trips exposed me to places beyond the Central Valley that I might not have visited otherwise. I think getting a feel of a different environment was crucial in helping me figure out where it was that I wanted to be after graduation, something that not a lot of underprivileged students have the chance to experience. In some sense, it gave me a chance at having a choice.

Upon graduation from high school and entering into a college, students whove been in the Doctors Academy are better able to handle the rigors of college, said Babiarz.

The way they provided tutors and other members to prepare me on taking proper notes, how to be committed to my studies, how to be a professional in general, how to understand how college life would be like and to become a successful person in life really prepared me for college life, said Alexandra Reyes, a Selma High School Doctors Academy graduate in 2012 and current nursing major at Fresno City College.

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Graduates applaud Selma Highs Doctors Academy program

A year from now, Mount Nittany Medical Center will open its doors for the first time to six residents in family medicine.

The program, titled the Penn State Hershey Family Medicine Residency at Mount Nittany, is a three-year residency program in family medicine and will begin next spring.

Housed at the medical center, the program will be run through the University Park Regional Campus of Penn State College of Medicine , and will be the first residency of any kind in the State College area, Dr. Joesph Wiedemer, program director of the family medicine residency, said.

This program covers a wide breadth of care including prevention, immunization, diagnosis, communication and treatment of disease. Wiedemer said they considered many options before deciding on family medicine because of the lack of family physicians in the United States.

Wiedemer said the nation will need 47,000 more family physicians by 2020, according to the Institute of Medicine.

Mike Henry, Class of 2013, who will be attending medical school at Columbia University next fall, said via email he recognized the shortage and that the program will be beneficial for the hospital and the nations health care system.

In order to enhance health care beyond State College, Wiedemer said one of the main goals is to care for patients in the surrounding rural areas.

The hope is some of the students, about one half, will stay in this region and the others will go to areas that are underdeveloped, Wiedemer said.

For members of the State College community, keeping physicians in the area could greatly improve the quality of care.

Celeste Newcomb, professor of health policy and administration , said the program illustrates a positive investment toward consumer access.

Excerpt from:
Mount Nitany Medical Center to House the First Residency Program in the State College Area

MADEIRA, OH (FOX19) -

Madeira High School has two mascots, one for the boys and one for the girls. After the school attempted a rebranding effort, the high school announced that they would keep both of the district's team names Mustangs and Amazons.

When the school board announced a plan to review the district's individual team names, several former Madeira athletes stepped up to defend the Amazon name.

Danielle Lydon is a former Madeira basketball player who still has her Amazon letterman's jacket. The nickname started in 1970 when the girls' teams began to win under legendary coach Nadine Wilson.

"The boys got upset that the girls were winning everything, and they called them Amazons'. One night they went in and trashed the girl's locker room," Lydon explained.

Considering the real definition of an Amazon - a legendary race of female warriors - Coach Wilson decided to take the intended insult and turn it into a positive.

And nearly 45 years later, the Madeira Amazon mascot remains.

Recently, Lydon and a small army of alumni have banded together to defend the name after word spread that the district was planning to discuss brand refinement and a possible name change.

A memo from the district read, "Our goal is to build a coherent and consistent message that is easily understood by everyone in Madeira and other districts."

However, after receiving input from numerous members of the community, the school decided to keep with tradition.

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The Amazons live on, Madeira High School to keep both mascot names