From the Dean's Desk

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s

life, on the seventeenth day of the

second month—on that day all the

springs of the great deep burst forth,

and the floodgates of the heavens

were opened. And rain fell on the

earth forty days and forty nights.”

Genesis 5:32-10:1

Dear Friends,

Okay, it was not of Biblical proportions, but it seemed like it at the

time, when the University of Wyoming College of Health Sciences

Building suffered a flood. On Saturday, December 7th, right after Fall

Commencement, I received a call from Dr. Kurt Dolence that water

was running down from the top floor of the addition on the west side

of the School of Pharmacy area of our building. If you remember the

Hoofprints

February, 2014

College of Health Sciences

Dept. 3432

1000 E. University Ave.

Laramie, WY 82071

(307) 766-6556

admin.hs@uwyo.edu

Upcoming Events

University of Wyoming

Virtual Networking Event

February 13, 2014

6:30-8:00 PM MST

weather in early December, there was a severe cold snap when the

temperature in Laramie dropped to well below a negative 20 degrees

Fahrenheit. Apparently, it was enough to freeze the water in a fire

suppression pipe on the top floor of the building. The weather on that

Saturday was still cold, but warmer and, apparently, warm enough for

the ice in that pipe to begin to thaw. As we all remember from basic

chemistry, when ice thaws, it expands. When the ice in that pipe

thawed, it ruptured the pipe and water flowed down five stories. I can

testify that fire suppression systems can put out an unbelievable

amount of water.

I quickly returned to campus and found that the UW Physical Plant,

the Laramie Fire Department, the UW Risk Manager, Laura Lynn

Petersen, and many of our faculty and administrators had already

responded. The water on the first floor of the building was knee deep

in some spots. With each floor that it passed through, it soaked the

ceiling tile, turning it mushy and falling in many places. Offices,

laboratories and classrooms on that side of the building were hit

hard. When a building like ours has a disaster there are many things to

consider, such as dangerous chemicals in the laboratories, animal care,

loss of electricity to essential appliances, and confidential records to

name a few. To additionally complicate things, our water break was

only one of eight that occurred that day on campus. However, ours was

the worst.

The response was fantastic. There were

so many groups and individuals involved

that I cannot mention all of them. UW

Risk Manager, Laura Lynn Petersen, was

present throughout the clean-up and

restoration and she is still working on final

details. By that Saturday afternoon, the

University had contracted with Belfor

Property Restoration and they were on site

that evening starting to dry the damaged

areas and salvage what they could. Dr.

Kem Krueger from the School of

Pharmacy stayed most of the night helping

answer questions for the Belfor team and

feeding them Chinese food. My thanks to both Laura and Kem for all

the extra work they did.

Students and UW alumni will

be able to

connect one-on-one to

network

and discuss career advise

and opportunities.

Click here for Registration

link!

Project ECHO-WIND

Project ECHO-WIND is

conducting

a pilot study from

March through May 2014

Find out assistive technology

can benefit rural and

underserved communities.

Project ECHO

We were lucky in some

respects. One of the

adjusters was amazed

that the water did not

damage any major (read

expensive) pieces of

research equipment. He

said that was very

unusual for these

situations. The damage

occurred at the end of the

semester with only finals

week remaining, so the students were not displaced too much. We

were able to find temporary quarters for the faculty and

Communication Disorders Clinic staff. It helped that the university

was closed between December 24th and January 2nd. Classes did not

start until January 13th and this allowed for almost all of the damage to

be restored. This is not discounting the amount of damage that needed

to be restored, wall board, insulation, and ceiling tile had to be

replaced and everything had to be cleaned. We are still doing some

work but the damaged area is close to being fully repaired.

It has been a difficult experience for the folks whose offices and

laboratories were damaged; but I am grateful for the all of the fantastic

folks at UW who came together to address the situation. The response

was tremendous and we are almost back to fully functioning.

Go Pokes!

Joe

Diane Epler with the Speech and Hearing Clinic - "High and Dry at

Last!"

Pictured above in the header photo - Amy Weaver (L) and Teresa Garcia put the Hearing Lab back together.

New CRMC clinic planned for Pine

Bluffs

The Cheyenne Regional Medical Center plans to build a new

clinic in Pine Bluffs. Read the full story at WyomingNews.com.

Division News

Division of Social Work Launches Faculty Experts

Directory

The Division of Social Work launched a Faculty Experts

Directory in December. This easy-to-use resource provides

contact information for social work faculty who can provide the

news media with quotes, background information, and opinions

in over 50 diverse areas from addiction to women's issues.

Center for Cardiovascular Research and Alternative

Medicine C-CRAM

C-CRAM was found in April 2004 with the purpose of fostering

greater interdisciplinary activities in the fields of alternative and

cardiovasular medical research and increasing the overall

research endeavors in the areas of cardiovascular and alternative

medicine at UW. Check out all the latest in the

CCRAM_newsletter_2013

Nursing reflects on 2013 top stories

The Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing took time to look back

on lessons learned and people not to be forgotten in 2013. Click

on the following link to scroll through a colorful listing of

spotlight articles over the past 12 months. Find encouraging

lessons from last summer's visit from Dr. Loretta Ford;

appreciate the careers of the special people nursing lost in 2013,

including former instructor Elizabeth (Betsy) Wiest, faculty

member Debora Retz, and native of Wyoming and nursing

"Living Legend" Donna Diers. Join in the kudos given to many

individuals through spotlights on faculty and staff awards,

Advanced Practice Nursing awards, Preceptor of the Year

awards, and Community Partners awards. Find links to previous

nursing newsletters, alumni career spotlights, student spotlights,

and especially note the renaming of the "Aspire" program to

honor the late Dr. Marcia L. Dale.

http://www.uwyo.edu/nursing/news/2013/2013%20recap.htm

l

Nursing has two major agenda items for 2014

A big agenda item in nursing is the March 2014 accrediting

review for the Doctor of Nursing (DNP) program. The school's

accrediting body, the Commission on Collegiate Nursing

Education (CCNE), requires that students be enrolled for one

year before an accreditation visit can be scheduled. The first UW

DNP students began their program in the fall of 2012, so the year

is up! The school is proud that the BSN and MS programs have

been nationally accredited through 2020, and looks forward to

having the DNP program nationally accredited as well.

The second 2014 agenda item is the implementation of the

school’s new vision, mission, and values. Faculty and staff

worked together in the fall of 2013 to readdress the school's

focus. Click in the link below to read the specifics and also to

scan through the 2014 "Look Ahead Calendar" for key events

coming up on the national, state and school levels.

http://www.uwyo.edu/nursing/news/2014/2014-looking-ahead.html

The Interprofessional Education Workshop

On January 9, 2014, 72 faculty, 2 senior students and the Dean

of the College of Health Sciences (CHS) at the University of

Wyoming gathered for a very successful one-day

Interprofessional Education Workshop facilitated by Brenda

Zierler and Peggy Odegard from the University of Washington

Center for Health Science Interprofessional Education, Research

and Practice. Read the full story!

Faculty and Staff News

Afzal Khan, MD

Afzal Khan, MD, third-year resident physician in the Family

Medicine Residency Program at Cheyenne, has been notified

that he was selected for the 12-month Sports Medicine

Fellowship at St. Vincent’s Health Center in Erie, PA. There are

185 available nationwide in 123 programs. The Residency

Program is extremely proud of Doctor Khan’s

accomplishment. He was born and raised in Phoenix, graduated

with BS in biology/pre-med from Arizona State University and

completed medical school at St. Matthew’s University, Grand

Cayman. Doctor Khan has always been involved in athletic

activities and team sports. He began his Family Medicine

residency training in Cheyenne, July 1, 2011 and will graduate

June 30, 2014. His future plans include working with youth and

high school athletes.

Travis Brown, Ph.D.

Travis Brown, Ph.D., UW School of Pharmacy assistant

professor of pharmaceutical science, is one of seventeen

recipients of the highly competitive American Association of

Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) New Investigator Award for

2014. He will receive start-up funding from AACP for his

research program, "The Role of Cathepsin K in Mediating

Hippocampal Synaptic Plasticity and Memory."

In addition to the research grant, Brown will receive $1,000 from

AACP for required travel to present his research findings at the

AACP Annual Meeting to be held July 11–5, 2015 at the

Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center in National

Harbor, Md.

Cara Harshberger Completes the "Dopey Challenge" at

Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend

Cara Harshberger, Pharm.D.

Cara Harshberger, Pharm.D., BCOP, UW School of Pharmacy

clinical assistant professor of pharmacy practice, recently

competed in the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend in Lake

Buena Vista, Fla. Harshberger completed the Dopey Challenge,

where she ran a 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, and full Marathon all

in four days, for a total of 48.6 miles. She ran the 5K (3.1 miles)

on Thursday, Jan. 9, the 10K (6.2 miles) on Friday, Jan. 10, the

Half Marathon (13.1 miles) on Saturday, Jan. 11, and the full

Marathon (26.2 miles) on Sunday, Jan. 12. More than 7,000

runners competed in the Dopey Challenge, with more than

50,000 runners from across the nation and 60 other countries

participating in the Marathon Weekend events.

Xihui (Alex) Xu Receives 2013 C-CRAM Research Award

Xihui (Alex) Xu

The UW Center for Cardiovascular Research and Alternative

Medicine (C-CRAM) presents an annual research award for the

outstanding C-CRAM researcher based on a points system taking

into account the publications, journal impact factor,

presentations, awards etc. This year’s recipient of the award,

Xihui (Alex) Xu, has to his credit 11 papers published/accepted

in top-tier journals including Cardiovasc. Res., Hypertension,

Autophagy, J. Mol. Cell Cardiol. and J Am. Heart Assoc. He had

presented three posters at the 2013 AHA Scientific Sessions

(Dallas) and an oral presentation in the Third Biennial Western

Regional IDEA Conference (Hawaii). He is also the recipient of

this year's ACRE-CnAHA Symposium award (second prize) and

the BCVS-AHA Travel grant. Alex also successfully defended

his PhD thesis in 2013 and has the distinction of the first

graduate student from the Biomedical Sciences Graduate

Program.

The C-CRAM award was established in 2004 and the past

recipients are: Sreejayan Nair and Feng Dong (2005), Xiaoping

Yang (2006), Min Du (2007), Ji Li (2008), Heng Ma and Meijun

Zhu (2009); Tuerdi Subati and Yingmei (Megan) Zhang (2010),

Yinan Hua (2011); Yingmei (Megan) Zhang (2012).

By Dr. Sreejayan Nair

Mary Jo Cooley Hidecker, Ph.D., MS, MA, CCC-A/SLP

Mary Jo Cooley Hidecker, Assistant Professor, is a consultant

for a UNICEF project to develop a measurement of child

disability that can be used by countries with low- and middle-

resources.

CHS Student News

Speed Mentoring Puts BSW Students on the Fast Track to

Success

(Left to right: Carrie Sturgeon, Tazia Morgart, and Katelyn

Taft (students)

and Debbie Mueller (social worker).

The junior BSW class at UW/C had an opportunity to participate

in a speed mentoring event on November 19. A collaboration

between Assistant Lecturer Bethany Cutts and Wyoming NASW

regional representative Midge Payette, the event, now in its

second year, has been quite a success. Six social workers from

the community donate their time to meet with students. Students

are given the biographies of each social worker ahead of time so

they can formulate question for each social worker. Groups of

three students meet with each social worker for 10 minutes and

then there is some time at the end to mingle and network more.

Student feedback was very positive. Carrie Silveira exclaimed

“Wow, what an informative evening! I gained more out of

tonight’s event than I thought I would. Not only did I learn what

some area organizations are doing, but I got to ask so many

questions that I normally would never have had the chance to

ask.”

BSW Student Headed to Nepal to Work with Orphans

Social Work Education Prepares Students for

International Adventure

Division of Social Work student, Tia Lowry (BSW, ’14), was

selected to spend the upcoming summer volunteering with

International Volunteer Headquarters in Nepal through the

“HOPE and HOME” program. Lowry will be assigned to work

in an orphanage in Nepal (city TBD) from June to August 2014.

She will primarily be serving in a mentor role, assisting children

residing in the orphanage with their schoolwork and pro-social

skills. Lowry will work with the orphanage staff to develop

programs and address agency needs. In addition, she will be

engaged with the surrounding community to find sustainable

solutions for education, health, conservation, and development

issues.

Lowry cites her education in the social work program,

specifically her increased understanding of the value of cultural

humility, the ways in which she has learned to serve cultures

different from her own, and the importance of serving vulnerable

populations, as the most important components to prepare her for

this upcoming experience. Lowry, who is currently completing

her practicum experience with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of

Laramie, believes that her social work field education is helping

her to develop the skills of youth mentorship and advocacy.

Although she is nervous about trying to learn Nepali during her

short time in the country, this anxiety is overshadowed by her

excitement to be immersed in another culture, having the

opportunity to show love and compassion to the children in the

orphanage, and the opportunity to connect with volunteers who

are passionate about promoting the wellbeing of vulnerable

children.

“I am excited to be working with this small system [the

orphanage] and to gain an understanding of how the bigger

picture—policy, culture, etc.—effects what happens on a day-to-

day basis,” Lowry states.

UW Nursing graduate makes a difference through in-flight emergency care for pilot

Recent UW nursing graduate and Wyoming Medical Center

Nurse Amy Sorensen (’12) earned special press over a safe

landing for the pilot of a United Airlines jet recently. Sorensen’s

medical background brought her from the passenger seat into the

cockpit to help care for a pilot experiencing a heart attack during

a flight from Iowa to Colorado. Her story was told on the front

page of the Casper Star Tribune. Read more through the

following link:

http://www.uwyo.edu/nursing/profiles/notable-

alumni/sorensen-spotlight.html

Interdisciplinary Collaboration on Student-Led Research

Project

Jenna Allais, P4 pharmacy student from Rock Springs, Wyo.,

and Drew Mcmillan, ASPIRE-pre-pharmacy student from Cody,

Wyo., collaborated on a poster presentation at the 2013

American Society of Health System Pharmacists (ASHP)

Midyear Meeting in Orlando, FL., in December.

Allais’ research project titled, “Assessment of Provider’s

Knowledge of Current Diabetes Guidelines and Drawbacks to

Reaching Patient Goals,” was part of her Pre-Residency

Rotation. The study's objectives were to increase glycemic

control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), assess

providers' knowledge of current treatment recommendations,

gain an understanding of drawbacks preventing patients from

reaching their therapeutic goals, and identify opportunities for

pharmacists to educate providers regarding diabetes treatments.

As an ASPIRE student, Mcmillan was interested in collaborating

on a project that he would be able to continue to do additional

research on while in pharmacy school. His work on this project

also satisfied the research component of the ASPIRE Program.

Working with Michelle Hilaire, UW School of Pharmacy clinical

associate professor, and Davis Blanton, MD, from the Fort

Collins Family Medicine Center, allowed this interdisciplinary

research opportunity that will also result in increased patient

care.

Sent via WyoAlumni 1000 E. University Avenue

Laramie, WY 82071 wyoalumn@uwyo.edu

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