Faculty and staff were honored at A.T. Still University’s (ATSU) Missouri and Arizona campuses during ATSU’s Employee Recognition Ceremony. Employees were recognized for years of service ranging from five to 45 years.

On the Missouri campus, Valerie Hamlin, curriculum coordinator; Ruth Chronister, administrative assistant; Brian McCarty, support specialist; and Judy Funk, graphic designer, were recognized as the 2014 Quarterly Excellence Award Recipients.

Rita Clem, printing tech, was presented with the Annual Distinguished Service Award.  With more than 29 years of service, employees noted Clem as being incredibly knowledgeable and always willing to uphold a strong and reliable work ethic. Employees also noted that Clem’s valuable insight, expertise, and attitude contributed to her being recognized with the award.

On the Arizona campus, Robin Michela, ATSU-SOMA; Courtney McCormack, Admissions; Michael Chang, University Advancement; and Erlinda Cisneros-Johnson, ATSU-ASHS (OT), were recognized as the 2014 Quarterly Excellence Award Recipients.

Ryan Yontanza, desktop analyst, Information Technology Services, was presented with the Annual Distinguished Service Award. Yontanza  has been with ATSU for 10 years and brings excellent knowledge, expertise and exceptional service to every client.

Congratulations to all!

ATSU’s Arizona campus was fortunate to hear Winston Wong, MD, the George Blue Spruce Hero Healer luncheon guest speaker on Thursday, March 26. Dr. Wong, a practicing Community Health Center physician, shared heart-warming patient stories from his practice as a healer working with the underserved, and provided powerful examples of making a difference as a national leader in social medicine.

Dr. Wong is currently the clinical director for Community Benefit at Kaiser Permanente. He earned his medical degree from the University of California in San Francisco. He has served as medical director of a Community Health Center, regional director of the Public Health Service, and a regional director of the Health Resources and Services’ Administration’s Chronic Care Collaborative.

Dr. Wong is a well-known speaker on reducing health disparities, cross-cultural medicine, social determinants of health, quality improvement, death and dying, tuberculosis, and Hansen’s disease among other topics. In addition, he was previously named the San Francisco Examiner’s “Father of the Year.”

Edward P. Crowell, DO, ’52

A 1952 graduate of ATSU’s Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (ATSU-KCOM), Edward P. Crowell, DO, practiced internal medicine in Waterville, Maine, for more than seven years before joining the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) in 1964 as assistant executive director. In 1968, he became the eighth DO to serve as the AOA’s executive officer. He served in that capacity for 13 years.

“Dr. Crowell’s intelligence, calmness, kindness, openness, confidence, and dignity served the AOA well during organizationally challenging times. He was a steady hand at the helm,” noted his successor, John Perrin, JD.

Dr. Cowell passed away in November 1994 and his wife, Elaine, more recently in January 2014. They had no children so the bulk of their estate, a gift of $1,142,000, was bequeathed to ATSU-KCOM for its unrestricted use.

Their nephew, Harrison Crowell, trustee of their residuary trust, shared in a letter this insight surrounding the gift, “This gift to ATSU-KCOM is the result of foresight and stewardship. In 1990, my uncle and aunt had the foresight to set up a trust for their estate. Through investments, they were able to earn a substantial amount of money. After my uncle passed away, my aunt became the trustee for the trust. Her stewardship of the trust helped it to maintain much of its value even through the recent recession. I believe I speak for the whole Crowell family when I say we hope the leadership of ATSU-KCOM will use foresight and good stewardship as they put this gift to work for general purposes at the College.”

With much gratitude for this generosity, that obligation is being fulfilled as this exceptional gift is now used across all departments of ATSU-KCOM to enhance student learning experiences, purchase teaching equipment, and improve facilities.

Julius Magill and David Magill, DO

Julius Magill and David Magill, DO, ’94

A Chicago area businessman, Julius Magill, and his son, David Magill, DO, ’94, are being remembered for their role as members of ATSU-KCOM’s 100 Million Dollar “Planning Tomorrows” Club. Initiated in the early 90s, this special group of donors participated in the College’s capital campaign honoring the 100th anniversary of the founding school of osteopathic medicine.

Julius said his decision to purchase a survivorship life insurance policy that names the College as the owner and beneficiary of the policy was based on seeing his son’s dream to become a doctor coming true.

“David had wanted to be a doctor from the time he was a little boy,” Julius once told staff at ATSU-KCOM. “This is one way we can help other students fulfill their dreams to become doctors. I am impressed with the quality of the education my son is receiving at ATSU-KCOM, and I want to see it maintained in the future. I know it is expensive to operate a medical school. You can’t maintain the highest standards, and get the best professors, on tuition alone.”

Julius spent much of his life in real estate management in Wilmette, Ill., previously operating a pharmacy in Chicago. A graduate from the University of Illinois College of Pharmacy in 1957, he always had strong feelings about the osteopathic profession’s holistic approach to medicine.

David graduated from North Par College in Chicago with a degree in biology. He served four years in the U.S. Army and was commissioned a second lieutenant and worked in the area of preventative medicine. After graduation from ATSU-KCOM in 1994, he practiced pediatric rehabilitation until his passing in 2011. Following Julius’ passing in December 2014, ATSU-KCOM received $1,000,000 of insurance proceeds to create a permanent general operations endowment in their name for the College.

A.T. Still University’s Missouri School of Dentistry & Oral Health (ATSU-MOSDOH) launched a new student elective course that focuses on primary care and diagnostics for dentists. The interprofessional course was designed to provide basic preventative primary care education to dental students to improve detection and management of chronic disease, as well as expand their physical examination skills and diagnostic capabilities.

The course also includes 10 weekly modules to be completed online and three labs to be held during evenings. The course will culminate with a standardized patient encounter that will allow ATSU-MOSDOH students to apply the diagnostic, evaluative, and treatment skills they learned.

“As our dental students move forward into their practice, they will be able to understand the breadth of the evaluation process from the perspective of a dentist and a physician,” said course director Dale DeWan, DMD, MS.

Dr. DeWan will be joined by medical education fellows from ATSU’s Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in teaching the course.

There are currently 20 students registered in the elective course. Kimberly Nguyen, D2, enrolled because of her interest in overall health and how it pertains to oral health.

“I wanted to have a better understanding in terms of taking vitals and really seeing the medical side of things,” states Nguyen. “This course is a prime example of how our school encourages interprofessional education. That’s something that drew me to ATSU to begin with, and courses like this really set us apart.”

Marsha Ham, PhD, has been selected as the inaugural university director of the Teaching and Learning Center and will join ATSU beginning August 1, 2015.

Dr. Ham comes to ATSU from the University of New Haven in Connecticut, where she currently serves as associate vice president and dean of the College of Lifelong Learning and eLearning. Prior to joining the University of New Haven in 2011, she was executive director for Lifelong and Distance Learning at Ohio University.

Dr. Ham obtained a Bachelor of Science from Auburn University, an MA from the University of Alabama, and a PhD in higher education organization and administration from the University of Arizona, where she also worked in several faculty development roles over 14 years. It is because of her previous time in Arizona that she has elected to be based in Arizona.

“Dr. Ham’s experience in faculty development, administration, online learning and technology should serve us well as she builds our Teaching and Learning Center to provide support and resources for innovative pedagogical methods, new software and technology for teaching, and scholarship in the area of teaching and learning,” said Norman Gevitz, PhD, senior vice president-Academic Affairs.

Five graduates from the postgraduate orthodontic program, A. T. Still University’s Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health (ATSU-ASDOH), successfully passed their American Board of Orthodontists (ABO) Clinical Exam, and all have become Diplomates of the ABO.

The ABO was founded in 1929 and is the oldest specialty board in dentistry. The ABO was first established by Dr. Albert Ketcham and several colleagues who believed that the specialty of orthodontics should have a certifying body.

There are many steps to the ABO certification process including an examination of the applicant’s credentials, passing a written examination composed of multiple-choice questions and taking the ABO clinical examination. The examinee must present six cases with an oral defense of their treatment and must also undergo an oral examination of cases presented by the Board for analysis.

As an ABO examiner, Jae Hyun Park, DMD, MSD, MS, PhD, director, postgraduate orthodontic program, ATSU-ASDOH, is proud of the accomplishment of the recent graduates. “This is also a testimony to the continuous support from the clinical director, Dr. Michael Papademetriou, the associate administrative director, Dr. Dawn Pruzansky, and our dedicated adjunct faculty members,” said Dr. Park.

Dr. John Grubb, a new adjunct faculty member in the postgraduate orthodontic program, ATSU-ASDOH, and former president of the ABO as well as a current examiner on the ABO, mentioned that this accomplishment should be viewed as absolutely astounding! “In his 14 years of involvement with the ABO, he can count on one hand the number of residency programs that can lay claim to such an achievement,” added Dr. Park.

The postgraduate orthodontic program, A. T. Still University’s Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health (ATSU-ASDOH), was established in 2007, and to date, six classes have graduated from the program. The program has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles in eminent orthodontic and dental journals.

Students from ATSU’s School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (ATSU-SOMA) spearheaded their first National Solidarity Day for Compassionate Care, an initiative promoting provider-patient relationships based on care, personalization and mutual respect.

This special, annual initiative is led by the Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS), a program housed under the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, and celebrated by more than 20,000 members.

GHHS, one program supported by the Foundation, works with healthcare professionals in training and in practice to instill a culture of respect, dignity and compassion for patients and professionals.

Recognizing the need to further support community health centers, rural medicine and humanism in medicine, Thomas McWilliams, DO, FACOFP, and associate dean of Graduate Medical Education at ATSU-SOMA, worked to establish a Gold Humanism Honor Society chapter at the school.

“This concept is so much in sync with values at ATSU-SOMA, I was inspired to help establish a chapter,” said Dr. McWilliams. “Humanism is at the core of ATSU-SOMA and students have enthusiastically joined with others around the nation in reminding us of the values that caused us to go into a career of service.”

Part of this year’s theme, or spotlight, was the Foundation’s Tell Me More campaign, a nationwide project implemented by healthcare facilities throughout the country.

Under the leadership of Dr. McWilliams, four student leads worked determinately to share the word among peers based at various ATSU-SOMA-affiliated community health center campuses to carry out the campaign.

Using resources provided by the Foundation, students based at select health center campuses were encouraged to learn about their patients and share that knowledge with other care providers by simply asking questions and spending time with their patients. Participants displayed wall sheets over patient beds or with family members.

“Many students reported patients lit up when asked about their personal lives,” said Jeremy Berger, OMS-III, project co-chair. “Everyone who entered the room – staff to visitors – were able to see those signs and remember that each patient is a unique individual.”

Berger says the goal is to build solidarity among ATSU-SOMA students, CHC’s and healthcare staff by putting patients at the center of care.

GHHS President, Evan Morris, OMS III, encourages students to watch for information regarding peer nominations for GHHS membership to be disseminated spring 2015 to third- and fourth-year students. These nominations are the initial step towards being inducted into the ATSU-SOMA GHHS chapter. For more information, email emorris@atsu.edu.

This is an exciting year for community health center leader (CHC) and ATSU partner, National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC). Not only do they celebrate 50 years of providing available and affordable healthcare to underserved communities, but they also expect to serve 28 million patients at more than 1,300 CHC organizations in more than 9,000 rural and urban communities across the United States.

CHCs have an incredible track record and work determinately to solidify federal grant funding to sustain this record. In a new policy report issued today, “Community Health Centers Past, Present and Future: Building on 50 Years of Success,” NACHC discusses a shortfall that could result in reduction in federal support starting as soon as Oct. 2015.

According to NACHC, in many communities, CHCs are the only available, affordable source of vital primary and preventive health care.  These healthcare providers also save the U.S. health care system more than $24 billion every year in reduced overall costs from preventable hospitalizations and avoidable emergency room visits. View the full report here: http://bit.ly/1Er2ZFd.

ATSU was named a Gold Fit-Friendly Worksite by the American Heart Association (AHA) for 2014. Elite Gold level recipients are awarded for recognizing the importance of a healthy workplace for employees and taking steps to create a culture of wellness. For example, employees have the option of participating in the Still Healthy Lifestyle and Still Fitness programs.

As a Fit-Friendly Worksite, ATSU is recognized by the AHA on its website, at local events, and in communications materials. The University also has the right to use the AHA’s Fit-Friendly Worksite’s Gold seal on all internal communications and external communications for recruitment purposes.

Congratulations, ATSU, for going above and beyond on employee health!

On Friday, Feb. 20, the American Student Dental Association (ASDA) held its annual Gold Crown Awards in Boston. The Arizona Chapter at ATSU’s Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health (ATSU-ASDOH) was presented with the ASDA/Crest Oral-B Community Dentistry Award.

The Gold Crown Awards are presented to an individual member or chapter in recognition of their accomplishments during a given year. The Arizona Chapter was honored for outstanding accomplishments in serving members in accordance with the Ideal Chapter criteria.

ASDA is a national student-run organization that protects and advances the rights, interests and welfare of dental students. It introduces students to lifelong involvement in organized dentistry and provides services, information, education, representation and advocacy.