2010 Archives

The Emory University Doctor of Physical Therapy Program has won the Foundation’s Award of Excellence in the Miami – Marquette Challenge.

Our students raised $11,910 for the foundation of research this year. Thank all the students who helped in this fundraiser, particularly Marti Ebert and Jenny Sharp for leading this effort. Students will be recognized during APTA’s Honors & Awards Ceremony at our National meeting next month in June.

Each year, for the past 21 years, students at PT and PTA schools across the country have made an impact on physical therapy research by supporting the Foundation for Physical Therapy through the Marquette Challenge. To date, students have raised more than $1.5 million.

Emory DPT faculty member Randy Trumbower, PT, PhD, was recently awarded a K12 grant for his research. The grant title is: “Acute Intermittent Hypoxia: A potential adjuvant to spinal cord injury rehabilitation."

Susan Scott Freed, PT, DPT, PCS, and Jessica Gibbs, PT, DPT, are recipients of the Dudley L. Moore 2010 Research Pilot Award. Dr. Freed is an Assistant Professor in the Emory Doctor of Physical Therapy Program, and Dr. Gibbs is an alumna of the Emory DPT Program and the first pediatric resident for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Colleen Coulter O’Berry, PT, DPT, PhD, PCS, an employee of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, also is a primary investigator of this study.

The Dudley L. Moore Research Pilot Award is among a list of Emory University internal funding sources for research and teaching projects.

The award was given to the research study titled:

Reliability & Discrimination Validity of Cervical Protractor Measures in Young Children With/Without Congenital Torticulis

PI(s):
Jessica Gibbs, PT, DPT, Rehab Div, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Colleen Coulter O’Berry, PT, DPT. PhD, PCS Rehab Div, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Susan Scott Freed, PT, DPT, PCS, Emory University, Dept of Rehab

Faculty member Andrew J. Butler, PhD, PT, MBA, FAHA, Associate Professor Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Division of Physical Therapy, has been awarded a research grant from the Emory University School of Medicine, Comprehensive Neurosciences Center. The title of the study is “Human studies of NR2C-selective partial agonists at the glycine site of the NMDA receptor."

The third annual White Coat Ceremony was held on Saturday, September 11, in the sanctuary at Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church on the Emory University campus. The ceremony marks the student’s transition from the study of preclinical to clinical health sciences and also initiates them in physical therapy ethics.

Dr. William Eley, Executive Associate Dean for Medical Education and Student Affairs at Emory University School of Medicine, opened the program with Welcoming Remarks. Richard Nyberg, a physical therapist and Instructor in the Division of Physical Therapy, gave the Keynote Address. The White Coats were presented to the Division of Physical Therapy Class of 2013 by Dr. Zoher Kapasi, Associate Professor and Interim Director, and Jeff Hoder, Assistant Professor, Division of Physical Therapy, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine. Dr. David T. Burke, Professor and Chair, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, provided the Closing Remarks for the program.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, Dr. Zoher Kapasi led the students in a recitation of the APTA “Code of Ethics.” A reception followed the ceremony in the atrium of the Math and Science Building for faculty, students and family who attended the event. The officers from the DPT II class assisted during the ceremony and attended the reception to congratulate the DPT I students.

On November 13th, ten DPT students and one faculty member traveled to Statesboro, Georgia, to perform health screens on athletes participating in the Georgia Special Olympics. Students performed objective measures assessing balance, aerobic capacity, range of motion, and strength. After this detailed screen, the athletes received an informational booklet with diagrams suggesting activities to help improve any identified problems. All of the athletes that participated in the health screen were educated on the importance of physical activity and encouraged to continue to participate in athletic programs.

The athletes and staff of Georgia’s Special Olympics were greatly appreciative for the support of our students and faculty. After such a memorable experience, Emory’s DPT Program is hoping to include the Georgia Special Olympics as one of its annual service learning projects.

Bruce Greenfield, PhD, PT, OCS, Assistant Professor, Rehabilitation Medicine, has been invited to become a faculty affiliate in an exciting new graduate initiative, a certificate program in Disability, Health, and Culture. Building on existing strengths among faculty who consider disability from a broad range of medical, social, and cultural perspectives, the certificate program will offer students a pathway toward interdisciplinary work that will broaden their intellectual horizons and engage them with different campus communities.

Dr. Greenfield was chosen because the steering committee for the proposed certificate program felt his research and teaching expertise would be extremely valuable in training students to think broadly about disability-related issues that cross health sciences, social sciences, and humanities.

The certificate program in Disability, Health, and Culture will be hosted by the new Center for Health Law & Ethics of Emory’s Center for Ethics.

Dr. Andrew Butler has been selected as a Fellow for the 2011 Woodruff Leadership Academy (WLA), the 9th Class of the WLA. Nominations for the WLA were based on a combination of factors, including demonstrated leadership potential, personal accomplishments, and an enthusiastic, ambassador personality – all of which are traits needed to ensure that the 2011 WLA class is a successful one. Approximately 100 nominations were reviewed for the 24 available slots in the 2011 WLA Class.

The establishment of the WLA in 2002 was an important milestone for the Woodruff Health Sciences Center (WHSC). It represented a determination to formally develop future leaders within the WHSC and to move the WHSC Vision forward. While there are great programs at Emory for managerial, supervisory, and other HR training, there are none that have focused on developing the strategic thinking and interpersonal skills needed for effective leadership across the missions of a comprehensive academic health center. The 2003 WLA Class was the first of its kind at Emory and its successes exceeded the highest expectations. The 2004 through 2010 classes were equally successful. The WLA has become a national model for leadership development among academic health centers.

The fourth annual students, faculty and staff fun run occurred over a stretch of 5 kilometers of green space in Lullwater Park on Monday, October 4, 2010. The Lullwater Estate is a beautiful area on Emory’s campus where the President of the University and his family reside. The surrounding park serves as a recreational area for Emory students, faculty, and staff. Lullwater’s wooded trails and scenic lake make it a favorite place for members of the Emory community including physical therapy program students, faculty and staff. The park’s main entrance off Clifton Road is adjacent to Center for Rehabilitation Medicine.

The run was organized to foster awareness of our own health and fitness. Participants were asked to record resting heart rates on three mornings prior to the event. Heart rates also were recorded immediately before and after the run.

The run was flagged off by the interim director of the program, Dr. Zoher Kapasi. After the run, students, faculty and staff met in the Woodruff Health Science Center Administration Building (WHSCAB) plaza to enjoy a meal catered by Willy’s.

Fourteen Emory DPT students and three faculty members provided educational information about running and fitness at a 10K/5K community fun run held at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Tucker, GA. Students developed educational materials on running shoe selection, common overuse injuries found in runners, and information about how to safely start an exercise program. They interacted with runners, volunteers, and their families at the pre-race dinner on Friday, September 24, 2010 and on race day, Saturday, September 25th. The event was a good way for the students to talk to the community about who physical therapists are, what we do, and how to get physically active in order to prevent and fight obesity. Organizers at the church were so impressed with the students that they are already planning on asking the Emory DPT program back for next year’s race, and are hoping to get some assistance in developing a kid’s race complete with pre-race warm-ups and activities.

We are pleased to announce that Randy Trumbower, PT, PhD, has been invited to speak at the 6th World Congress on Biomechanics. The Congress will take place in Singapore from August 1-6, 2010. Over 2,000 delegates will be present to hear seminars in the fields of organ, tissue, cell and molecular mechanics with special emphasis on state-of-the-art technology and medical applications. Dr. Trumbower’s speech is entitled “Acute intermittent hypoxia enhances voluntary muscle strength at the ankle in humans with spinal injury”.

Dr. Trumbower joined the Emory DPT faculty in the fall of 2009. He received a masters degree in Physical Therapy from Duke University, went on to obtain masters and doctorate degrees in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Connecticut, and most recently completed his Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Rehab Institute of Chicago. He brings with him a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the field of neurologic rehabilitation and biomedical engineering. Dr. Trumbower is passionate about evidence-based clinical practice through research and has been published in many journals including the Journal of Neurophysiology and Journal of Clinical Kinesiology.

Emory DPT faculty member Andrew J. Butler PT, MBA, PhD FAHA, Associate Professor Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and Research Health Scientist, Atlanta VA Medical Center, and Minoru Shinohara, PhD, Associate Professor, School of Applied Physiology, The Georgia Institute of Technology, were awarded a 2-year, $200,000 grant from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Rehabilitation Research and Development Service.

The grant is titled, “Effects of sympathetic nerve activity on cortical excitability during a hand motor task”. The aim of the project is to determine predictors and examine the effects of physiologically heightened sympathetic nerve activity on motor cortex intracortical inhibition and facilitation when a hand muscle is relaxed and performing a precision task. The identification of physiologic predictors could lead to the development of new rehabilitative strategies based on the interactions between the sympathetic nervous system and the neuromuscular system.

A member of Dr. Butler’s laboratory (Cory Inman, Department of Psychology) is presenting a poster at the annual meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping in Barcelona, Spain. June 2010. The title of the poster is: Exploratory structural equation modeling (SEM) reveals altered resting-state motor control network connectivity following stroke. Authors are: Inman C, James GA, Hamann S. Rajendra J. Pagnoni G. AJ Butler. Dr. Butler is the senior author on the presentation.

William G. Boissonnault, PT, DHSc, FAAOMPT, FAPTA, President/Chair of the Foundation for Physical Therapy, recently informed the Emory DPT Program of its selection by the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for Physical Therapy to join the Cornerstone Society in the Marquette Challenge Philanthropy Circle.

The Marquette Challenge Philanthropy Circle was developed to recognize academic institutions for longstanding support of physical therapy research through the annual Marquette Challenge. Emory University has raised more than $65,000 in 10 years for the Marquette Challenge. The Challenge is now the single largest annual fundraising event conducted for the Foundation.

The Cornerstone Society award will be presented to an Emory DPT student representative during the Foundation’s Gala on June 17, 2010 in Boston, MA.

Congratulations to the many students who have dedicated their time and energy toward raising money to support the Foundation. We are all proud of this achievement!

On June 17, 2010, at the APTA Annual Conference in Boston, the Emory DPT Program was recognized for its support of physical therapy research through the annual Miami-Marquette Challenge. Student representatives Marti Ebert and Ashley Perry, both in the Emory DPT Class of 2011, accepted the award on behalf of Emory students from the Foundation for Physical Therapy into the Marquette Challenge 2010 Philanthropy Circle Cornerstone Society for raising over $60,000 for the Marquette Challenge over the last 10 years. Marti and Ashley also accepted the Maimi-Marquette Challenge Award of Excellence which was presented to the physical therapy students of Emory University for raising over $10,000 for the Foundation this year.

William G. Boissonnault, PT, DHSc, FAAOMPT, FAPTA, President/Chair of the Foundation for Physical Therapy, presented Emory with these awards.

Saturday, April 17th the Emory DPT Program will join other health professions students in hosting tables at the Westside Atlanta Health Fair. The fair will include educational information, festive activities, health screenings & more. Physical therapy student and faculty volunteers will screen community members for balance problems and risk of falls & provide educational information about preventing falls & physical activity. This event is student initiated and faculty supervised. So come out and support the students as well as the Atlanta community.

The fair will be held at the Mt. Vernon Baptist Church (downtown Atlanta, next to the Georgia Dome). Volunteers may sign up for AM or PM shifts. The fair will run from 11am to 3pm. Set up begins at 9am. Please sign-up by April 7th. You can sign-up by email or the sign-up sheet on my door. If you have a preferred shift (9am set up to 12pm or 12am to 3pm and clean up or anything in-between) please let me know.

On Tuesday, February 16, the first year DPT students participated in an ICU Simulation (SIM) Lab. The goal of this lab was to create a real-life hospital intensive care environment where students could problem solve and learn about acute patients. The SIM Lab is part of the Emory Center for Experiential Learning (ExCEL) in the School of Medicine.

During the simulation lab, physical therapy students rotated through five ICU cases with various acute conditions and complications. With the guidance of experienced clinicians, the students followed a problem-solving method of discussing pathology, precautions and treatment planning. Students performed evaluations and treatments on the simulated patients and identified ways to modify treatment based on the response from the patient. Furthermore, students had an opportunity to become familiar with the various lines, tubes, catheters, monitors and equipment seen in the ICU setting.

These mannequin-based simulations use high fidelity simulators that physiologically respond to treatment similar to what would occur in real patients. The simulated patient can be assessed by the learner; they can initiate treatment with a resultant response, and perform a variety of procedures. This is done in a controlled learning environment that mimics the real patient care settings but is safe for the patient and learner. The SIM lab is located in the basement floor of the School of Medicine Building.

On Friday, January 15th, the Division of Physical Therapy hosted our annual Welcome Back Reception for students, faculty and staff. The reception was held at the Emory Conference Center Hotel in the Lullwater Ballroom. At the reception, third-year DPT students were welcomed back from their long-term affiliations and first and second-year students from their Winter Break. Over 160 people gathered to enjoy dinner, drinks and good company.