After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, state mass disaster groups joined the National Disaster Management System (NDMS), which deploys and facilitates order during times of disaster. NDMS is composed of 5,000 professionals, including a variety of physicians, dentists, nurses, and paramedics. Don Altman, DDS, DHSc, EdD, MPH, MBA, MA, ’12, professor and dean […]

As an osteopathic physician, Linnette Sells, DO, FAOASM, ’82, was taught in medical school to examine patients through touch. When the COVID-19 pandemic upended all aspects of everyday life, including the traditional hands-on patient visit, diagnosing and treating patients became a more difficult task. Dr. Sells, a former ER doctor, works as the sole physician […]

With a passion for remote and austere environments, Melinda Rawcliffe, PA-C, ’07, adjunct professor, ATSU-ASHS, is no stranger to practicing medicine far from her Arizona home. After working in locations like Iraq, Afghanistan, Suriname, Russia, and Trinidad and Tobago, she found herself in the distant and cold Arctic Circle. Rawcliffe started working with a Fortune […]

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Tessa Tibben, DHSc, MS, PA-C, ’08, assistant professor, ATSU-ASHS, has been working with Circle the City (CTC), an Arizona organization serving the needs of those experiencing homelessness. During the course of the pandemic, CTC’s focus quickly shifted to finding creative ways to serve this population and overcome challenges of sheltering […]

Life is difficult on the Navajo Nation Reservation under the best of circumstances. Unemployment is around 50%. Nearly a third of Navajo reservation inhabitants lack access to water and electricity. And the population struggles with mortality rates for numerous diseases far higher than elsewhere in the country. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated a public […]

Loren Lunsford, AuD, ’09, knew there would be a problem almost immediately. As the COVID-19 pandemic progressed across the country and experts urged the public to wear masks to protect themselves, Dr. Lunsford was focused on impacts to her patients. Dr. Lunsford co-owns 32 Sonus Hearing Care Professionals locations, many located in southern California, and […]

Kelly Parling-Lynch, DO, ’99, knew there were more ways than traditional medical treatment to help her west Michigan community during the COVID-19 pandemic. She recalled her time as a University of Chicago undergraduate student, and later at medical school in Kirksville, Missouri. Family, friends, coaches, and teachers would send her notes of encouragement, vital correspondence […]

ATSU-ASHS Dean Ann Lee Burch, PT, EdD, MS, MPH, shared a touching email with the School during the initial outbreak of COVID-19. She mentioned her daughter, who was living in New York City at the time. Ruby Jean Dudasik was a college senior attending New York University. While she should have been preparing for graduation […]

Ted Wendel, PhD, ATSU’s senior vice president of university planning & strategic initiatives, recalls back to March 20, when the COVID-19 situation was beginning to escalate and the amount of uncertainty was beginning to rise. He remembers a feeling of not knowing what to expect, where things were going, or how long it was going […]

When ATSU-KCOM’s Christine Harb, OMS III, learned schools in the Kirksville, Missouri, community had closed their doors due to the coronavirus pandemic, she knew she wanted to help in whatever way she could. After reaching out to area leaders, Harb discovered a program through the local YMCA to prepare and distribute lunches to children in […]