Kelsey Montgomery, OMS II, and KCOM Dean Phillip Slocum, D.O.
Kelsey Montgomery, OMS II, received a $1,000 Wayne M. Seutter, D.O., Award for the 2009-10 year. Dr. Seutter was a 1955 grad of KCOM. Montgomery received the award because she has an interest in serving the medical needs of small rural communities.
Richard Cenedella retired from KCOM after serving 30 years as professor and chair of the department of Biochemistry. His peers held a farewell reception for in his honor on December 15, and following his last lecture, his class publicly recognized him.
“My career really blossomed after I came to KCOM because there were more opportunities for success,” Dr. Cenedella said. “I’m very grateful for KCOM for providing an environment that’s provided the encouragement that’s been so important.”
ATSU’s University-wide Assessment Committee (UWAC) has spent the last year developing a university-wide assessment program for the University that will focus on the needs of ATSU as an integrated whole and will complement existing assessment activities at the school/college and program levels.
UWAC shared initial information about the program with the ATSU community for review and comment at its first town hall meeting, held December 14 on the Missouri Campus and December 18 on the Arizona Campus.
The meetings provided an overview of the committee’s work with particular attention to the establishment of guiding principles for assessment program development and the identification of common learning outcomes for all ATSU students across all programs.
UWAC is comprised of faculty and staff from the Mesa and Kirksville and all five of our constituent schools and college. David Wayne, Ph.D., associate dean at ASHS, is chair of the committee.
For more information on UWAC and their work, visit the UWAC Google Site located on the ATSU Portal.
2010 has begun, and ATSU remembers all the special moments during 2009 that make this University great.
Neal Chamberlain, Ph.D., associate professor of microbiology & immunology, and Neil J. Sargentini, Ph.D., chair and associate professor of microbiology & immunology at KCOM, recently received the title “Certified Item-Writer” for Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensure Examination of the United States (COMLEX-USA) examinations.
Drs. Chamberlain and Sargentini successfully completed the item-writing training course overseen by the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME), which is a not-for-profit corporation that serves public and state licensing agencies by administering examinations testing the medical knowledge of those who seek to serve the public as osteopathic physicians.
The COMLEX-USA examination sequence is currently accepted for licensure in 50 states, and is used as an accreditation requirement for all schools and colleges of osteopathic medicine by the Commission on Accreditation of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine of the American Osteopathic Association.
KCOM’s Rotaract held a bake sale December 15 to raise money to buy special reading supplies for students in the Kirksville area who have reading difficulties. The group sold multi-cultural snacks and breads as well as jewelry.
KCOM’s Jewish Medical Student Association (JMSA) held its annual Hanukkah celebration December 14. Attendees heard the story of Hanukkah by guest speaker Barbara Mandell, learned how to light a hanukkiya (Hanukkah menorah), enjoyed latkes (potato pancakes) served with applesauce and sour cream, and learned to play the dreidel.
George Blue Spruce Jr., D.D.S., M.P.H., assistant dean for American Indian affairs at ATSU’s Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health (ATSU-ASDOH), is the voice behind “Searching for My Destiny,” a recently published biography about his life as told to Deanne Durrett.
“Searching for My Destiny” tells the story of how Dr. Blue Spruce’s upbringing in the Laguna Pueblos (now known as Ohkay Owingeh) led him to become the first American Indian dentist. “I was the first Indian with a dental degree, and I recruited the young man who became the second,” Dr. Blue Spruce said. “I haven’t stopped recruiting since then. Now we have about 145 American Indian dentists.” There is approximately one American Indian dentist for every 32,000 American Indians, and Dr. Blue Spruce has been active in campaigning for a response to this deficit for the majority of his career.
After graduating from dental school, rather than following his original plan and going back to the reservation to practice dentistry, Dr. Blue Spruce followed a diverse career path that led from Montana to New York City, San Francisco to South America, and back. Throughout his career, Dr. Blue Spruce has managed to successfully travel between his mainstream and traditional Pueblo cultures. He has served as director of the Phoenix Regional Indian Health Service, and United States assistant surgeon general.
Jae Hyun Park, D.M.D., M.S.D., M.S., Ph.D., director of the ASDOH postgraduate orthodontic program, and Marisela Bedoya, D.M.D., D.H.Sc., ’07, were jointly published in the December issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA). Their article, “A Review of the Diagnosis and Management of Impacted Maxillary Canines,” was included in the monthly journal as a continuing education article.
Jeffrey Vaughn, D.O., ’02
Jeffrey Vaughn, D.O., ’02, visited ATSU’s Arizona Campus on December 9 to speak to athletic training students about special considerations with pediatric orthopedic surgery. He currently works for Phoenix Children’s Hospital, and as of last year was the only pediatric-trained sports medicine specialist in Arizona.
Dr. Vaughn is a candidate member of the American Orthopaedic Society of Sports Medicine and member of the American Osteopathic Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and American Osteopathic Association.