December 2011/January 2012 Distinctions
Making hearts happy
Rhonda Cooper-DeHoff
For more than a decade, Rhonda Cooper-DeHoff, Pharm.D., M.S., an associate professor in the colleges of Pharmacy and Medicine, collected data, studying blood pressure in patients with heart disease. More recently she has focused her work on cardiovascular outcomes in patients with diabetes. The resulting article, “Tight Blood Pressure Control and Cardiovascular Outcomes Among Hypertensive Patients with Diabetes and Coronary Artery Disease,” was published July 7, 2010 in The Journal of the American Medical Association. In December, Cooper-DeHoff received the 2011 Literature Award from The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Foundation. In October, she also received the Best Paper Award from The American College of Clinical Pharmacy Cardiology Practice and Research Network.
Dean selected for VA committee
College of Nursing Dean Kathleen Ann Long
UF College of Nursing Dean Kathleen Ann Long, Ph.D., R.N., has been selected as a member of a newly formed national Veterans Affairs advisory committee. The VA National Academic Affiliations Council will provide a forum for joint planning and coordination between the VA and the nation’s health professions schools and universities. The committee will advise U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki and Under Secretary for Health Robert A. Petzel on how to further enhance the largest public-private partnership in the VA’s history and a cornerstone of American health professions education. UF is a founding member of the VA Nursing Academy, a national project to enhance partnerships between the VA and the nation’s nursing schools. Long was an invited member of the Institute of Medicine’s Military Nursing Research Review Committee. She is also a past president of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and has served on an advisory board to the U.S. Office of Rural Health Policy.
Jacksonville
Rohan Samson, M.D., a third-year internal medicine resident, brought home a research award for his look at the effects of proton beam cancer treatment on patients with cardiac devices. Samson won a second place Young Investigator Award, which is sponsored by the Florida Chapter of the American College of Cardiology.
Nina Singh, M.D., chief fellow in gastroenterology, took third place in a statewide research competition. All of the gastroenterology fellows in the state presented at the Florida Gastroenterological Society in Orlando. Singh’s presentation highlighted two years of research on the performance characteristics of endoscopic ultrasounds for pancreatic lesions.
College of Medicine
The UF Pediatric Integrated Care System, also known as Ped-I-Care, is this year’s winner of the prestigious Fred Graham award for Innovation in Improving Community Health, presented at the 2011 Medical Group Management Association annual meeting in Las Vegas. Ped-I-Care provides health coverage in 23 Florida counties for children with special health care needs from low-income families. Executive Director Nancy Giunta, M.H.A., accepted the award.
College of Public Health and Health Professions
Rahul Shrivastav, Ph.D., an associate professor in the department of speech, language and hearing sciences, received the poster award at the 2011 annual convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. His poster research topic was real-world intelligibility deficit in speakers with Parkinson’s disease.
College of Veterinary Medicine
Elliott Jacobson, D.V.M., Ph.D., a professor of zoological medicine, has received the 2011 Emil Dolensek Award from the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians during the group’s annual meeting in October. The award honors exceptional contributions to the conservation, care and understanding of zoo and free-ranging wildlife, reflecting Emil Solensek’s commitment to these purposes.