Alumni Association supports faculty enrichment The Health Professions Alumni Association awards funds in support of faculty and staff professional development through two alumnisupported endowments, the Donald C. Goodman Endowment for Faculty Enrichment and the Cynthia Anne Novak Memorial Endowment for Professional Development. The 2020 recipients were announced in February. The Donald C. Goodman Award will go to Carol Sames, PhD, and Erin Wentz, PhD, of the Physical Therapy Education department. The award will support their Starting Pregnancy with Robustness for Optimal Upward Trajectories (SPROUT) project to collect pilot data for a moderate intensity prenatal exercise program. The project will actively involve DPT students. From left, 2020 faculty enrichment award recipients Erin Wentz, Mark Spooner and Carol Sames Mark Spooner, MIS ’86, MRI Instructor and Clinical Coordinator for Medical Imaging Sciences, was selected to receive the Cynthia Anne Novak Memorial Award. He will attend via live simulcast the 4-Day Basic MRI/Registry Review course taught by William Faulkner, to help him better prepare students for the ARRT advanced level certification in MRI. Trevor Farnsworth, MS, PA-C ’12, chair of the alumni board’s review committee, said, I am excited about this year’s recipients. Both applications carried the spirit each award embodies. I am confident each will contribute to student preparation, contribution to the medical literature, and overall advancement of the already high caliber of the College of Health Professions. Congratulations Mark, Carol and Erin!” Upstate PT professors, students, alumnae present at national conference Upstate’s Physical Therapy Education program was proudly represented at the American Physical Therapy Dr. Dale Avers gave the Carole B. Lewis Lecture at the APTA Combined Sections Meeting in Denver Association’s (APTA) 2020 Combined Sections Meeting (CSM) in Denver in February. Faculty, alumnae and students presented at CSM, the largest physical therapy conference in the country. Upstate PT Professor Dale Avers, PhD, DPT, PT, FAPTA, delivered the prestigious Carole B. Lewis Lecture. Her topic was “We Can Do Better – Aging and the Value of Physical Therapy.” Dr. Avers is past associate editor of the Journal of Geriatric Physical Therapy and past president of the Academy of Geriatric Physical Therapy. Dr. Avers noted, “Effectively treating aging individuals requires a paradigm shift from a mechanistic “fix it” approach (you can’t fix aging) to a management approach; whereby the physical therapist coaches a SUNY Upstate Medical University person through various manifestations of their chronic diseases, building capacity to achieve the desires of the person.” George Fulk, PhD, PT, FAPTA, Upstate PT program chair, DPT professor and deputy editor of the Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy, presented work in collaboration with students of the Upstate DPT Class of 2020, Raktim Ghosh, Samantha Romano and Jonathan Thomas. Also involved in the presentation were Upstate Library Reference Librarian Amy Slutzky, PhD, MSLIS, AHIP, and Karen Klingman, PhD, RN, associate dean and professor at Upstate’s College of Nursing. Dr. Fulk said “Students from the PT program presented their research findings on the impact of sleep disorders on recovery of function after stroke. In their systematic review, the students found that people with stroke who also had a sleep disorder generally had poorer functional outcomes and participation outcomes than people with stroke without a sleep disorder.” Upstate Associate Professor Christopher Neville, PhD, PT, president of the Foot and Ankle Special Interest Group (FASIG) within the Academy of Orthopedic Physical Therapy, presented educational sessions in collaboration with Anne Reilley, DPT ’14, PT, MS, GCS, and Marianna Wingood, DPT ’12, PT, GCS, CEEAA. The American Physical Therapy Association is a US-based individual membership professional organization representing more than 100,000 member physical therapists, physical therapist assistants and students of physical therapy. Respiratory Therapy profession loses a “gentleman” Associate Professor Emeritus Robert R. Fluck, Jr., 69, died on October 13, 2019. Robert began his career at Upstate in 1975 as an instructor in the Respiratory Therapy program where he was promoted to associate professor and served as the department’s director of clinical education from 1984 to 2001. Claire Aloan, MS, RT ’74, RRT-NPS, FAARC, associate professor and interim Respiratory Therapy program director said, “Bob will be fondly remembered by his students and professional colleagues as a highly intelligent gentleman with a wonderful sense of humor and outstanding dedication to his chosen profession.” Health Professions Alumni Connection Winter 2020 | 7
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