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UTA HEALTH BULLETIN
AUGUST 2021
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DEAN'S MESSAGE
Dear CONHI Community,
I hope that you have had a good summer and are staying safe and healthy. It is certainly a busy time for our College as we are preparing for summer commencement and then the return of students to campus for the Fall semester.
I would like to encourage everyone to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The university has established partnerships with Texas Health and Walmart to provide access, free of charge, to COVID-19 vaccines for all interested employees and students on campus and throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The latest information can be found online here. Two of our Public Health faculty recently shared their expertise on the subject of vaccinations, and I encourage you to read their Q&A for more information.
Our College continues to excel nationally, for example, we most recently received our third simultaneous designation from the National League for Nursing for "Advancing the Science of Nursing Education." We also were named among the top 15 best nursing programs in the U.S. by Scrubsandbeyond.com, based on cost, graduation rate, data from the Department of Education and National Center for Education Statistics, and more.
I am incredibly proud of all of the successes of our CONHI team and this latest recognition highlights our commitment to provide an exceptional education for our students.
All the best,
Dean Elizabeth Merwin, PhD, RN, FAAN
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New NLN Designation for CONHI
The National League for Nursing (NLN) has named The University of Texas at Arlington College of Nursing and Health Innovation as a Center of Excellence for our sustained efforts to advance the science of nursing education.
It is the fourth time in recent years that CONHI has received a Center of Excellence designation from the NLN.
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Faculty in Kinesiology Part of Team Named Inaugural Winner of National Racial Justice, Equity Award
Aiming to address racial injustice and inequity through university-city partnerships, the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities (USU) has named The University of Texas at Arlington as its inaugural Racial Justice and Equity Program Award Winner.
The UT Arlington researchers recognized by this award are:
- Gabriela Wilson, professor of kinesiology and co-director of the Multi-Interprofessional Center for Health Informatics
- Peace Ossom-Williamson, director of research data services at UTA Libraries
- Peggy Semingson, associate professor of linguistics and TESOL
- Denise Hernandez, assistant professor of kinesiology
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Recent PHD Alumni Wins Early Career Author DistinctionKinesiology alumni Ben Young has won the prestigious Experimental Physiology’s Early Career Author Prize for 2020/2021. Young graduated in 2020 with his PhD in Kinesiology.
Young won the award for his research paper titled “Augmented resting beat-to-beat blood pressure variability in young, healthy, non-Hispanic black men,” based on research conducted in Dr. Fadel’s lab.
“I am very happy that I have been selected for this award among all of the great entrants this year. I think this award exemplifies the quality of work conducted not only in Dr. Fadel’s lab, but across the entirety of the College of Nursing and Health Innovation at UTA,” said Young.
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A Novel Approach to Understanding Black Maternal Mortality
Researchers at CONHI and the University of Houston – Downtown (UHD) in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences have partnered to address the Black maternal health crisis with a novel methodology based in systems thinking.
Through an approach called Community-Based System Dynamics Group Model Building, Dr. Kyrah Brown, assistant professor in kinesiology at UTA, and Dr. Michael Lemke, assistant professor of health and behavioral science at UHD, brought together community stakeholders to better understand the causes of Black maternal mortality and to identify solutions. The pilot project was funded by CONHI’s Center for Research and Scholarship.
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Developing the New Materials of Life Through CONHI Research Grant
Kamal Awad is a research assistant who studies rapid healing through biomaterials using 3D printing and nanofabrication in the Dr. Venu Varanasi Laboratory in the College of Nursing and Health Innovation.
Awad received a Center for Research and Scholarship Pilot Grant from CONHI in August 2020. His research currently focuses on modifying bioactive silica-based nanomaterials to coat titanium implants, which can promote enhanced and rapid healing by creating a better bond between the implant and the body.
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UTA Examines Long-Term Effects of Teenage Marijuana Use
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Building Up the Next Generation of Future Nurse Scientists
Dr. Regina Urban, assistant professor in nursing, and CONHI alumna Lexi Brandenburg (right), BSN, RN are soon to be published in the Journal for Nurses in Professional Development for their research on new graduate nurses’ lived experiences, a research project the two partnered on during Brandenburg’s senior year.
Brandenburg worked with Dr. Urban as an honors student in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program and is currently a Medical-Surgical Nurse Resident at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
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New Student Advisory Committee Brings Diversity and Inclusion Perspectives to BSPH ProgramThe Bachelor of Science in Public Health program in the University of Texas at Arlington Department of Kinesiology has a new advisory committee led by students to enhance and improve diversity and inclusion in the program’s events and activities. The BSPH Student Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion is comprised of seven students from both the online and campus based BSPH program.
“We are trying to implement more extracurriculars to promote diversity and inclusion and promote awareness,” shared Shaikh Ullahansari, a campus based BSPH student who also works part-time as a medical assistant and hopes to go on to an MPH/MD program when he graduates.
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Vaccines 'Imperative for the Safety of Our Community'As public health experts at UTA, Erin Carlson and Rebecca Garner have decades of research, education and policy experience regarding transmissible diseases and how to safely protect the public from their spread.
Carlson directs the Graduate Public Health Program and is an associate clinical professor in UTA’s College of Nursing and Health Innovation (CONHI), while Garner leads the Undergraduate Public Health Program and is an assistant clinical professor in CONHI.
They agreed to share their expertise with the UTA community on the importance of getting vaccinated, even for the young and healthy, as well as why vaccines are important in fighting COVID-19. They also discussed recent developments with the Delta variant, masking and how to combat misinformation.
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CONHI Community - CCNE CommentsThe University of Texas at Arlington College of Nursing and Health Innovation will be undergoing an accreditation review by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) scheduled in October 2021. The programs under review are CONHI’s baccalaureate degree program in nursing, master's degree program in nursing, Doctor of Nursing Practice program, and post-graduate APRN certificate program. Written third-party comments will be received by CCNE until 21 days before the scheduled evaluation and all comments must be received by CCNE by September 22, 2021. All comments should be directed to thirdpartycomments@ccneaccreditation.org.
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Still not feeling the same since your infant was born?
Come join our study evaluating the effectiveness of expressive writing.
Expressive writing has been shown to help many new moms that suffer from depression and posttraumatic stress following the birth of an infant admitted into NICU.
You are eligible to join the study if you: 1) are 18 years of age or older;
2) are able to read, speak, and write English;
3) had a baby admitted into NICU for at least 7 days; and
4) your baby is now 28 days old to 5 years old
A series of surveys will be completed first to determine further eligibility into the study.
You may participate in either a computer-based version of the study or offline version. Individual study tasks do not take long, and completion of study tasks are completed at different times and days with a commitment of only one month overall.
For details of the online or offline study, please email c.anderson@uta.edu or dfurr@uta.edu or go directly to our website: http://nicustresslab.uta.edu
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IN THE NEWS
Fox News Channel: Meagan Rogers, clinical assistant professor in CONHI, spoke to Fox News about how the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the national shortage of nurses. Rogers said an aging workforce, increased demand for personnel and sicker patients have led to the staffing crisis.
The Washington Post: Priscila Tamplain, associate professor of kinesiology at The University of Texas at Arlington, spoke to The Washington Post about the impact of developmental coordination disorder on a child’s social, emotional and physical development. The disorder, first recognized in the 1930s, is just beginning to gain attention from clinicians.
Univision 23: Erin Carlson, associate clinical professor and director of graduate public health programs in the College of Nursing and Health Innovation, spoke to Univision 23 and encouraged the public to receive COVID-19 vaccines to protect against the severe symptoms of the Delta variant.
The Dallas Observer: COVID-19 infections are rising among vaccinated Texans The Dallas Observer reported. Experts are seeing more "breakthrough" infections among fully vaccinated Texans, but that doesn't mean the vaccine is ineffective, said Erin Carlson, an associate clinical professor in the UT Arlington College of Nursing and Health Innovation. Even though the chances of severe symptoms are much slimmer, some are again sporting masks in crowds, Carlson added. “If I'm going to run the risk of being around multiple unvaccinated people, I'm going to wear a mask,” she said.
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