HPA e-Newsletter
ALUMNI
HPA Alumna Erin Foley Named HHD Alumni Society 2006 Emerging Professional Undergraduate Degree Award Winner
Erin Foley ’96 HPA received the Emerging Professional Undergraduate Degree Award, which is presented to an alumnus or alumna who received his or her undergraduate degree from Penn State within the past ten years and, since that time, has displayed outstanding professional excellence and exemplary community volunteerism in a College-related field.
Erin Foley accepts the 2006 Emerging Professional Undergraduate Degree Award from Dennis Shea, professor and head, HPA (left); Kay Salvino, president, HHD Alumni Society Board (second from left); and Fred Vondracek, interim dean (right)
Foley is an account executive for The Hobart Group, a pharmaceutical marketing agency in Bedminster, New Jersey, that specializes in strategic planning for managed care markets. She previously served as president and director of the National Adrenal Diseases Foundation (NADF), a nonprofit organization that provides support and educational resources to individuals afflicted with Addison’s disease and other adrenal diseases. Click here to read more about Foley.
Modern Healthcare Names HPA Alumnus Eugene Woods An Outstanding Minority Executive in Health Care
Recognizing the numerous obstacles minority health executives face in reaching the upper levels of health care management, Modern Healthcare recently created its first listing of outstanding minority executives in health care. Among the leaders on the list was HPA alumnus Eugene Woods '87, '93g HPA, '91g BUS, president and CEO of Saint Joseph Healthcare, Lexington, Kentucky. Under Woods' leadership, Saint Joseph's flagship hospital has been undertaking an $85 million expansion and renovation project since 2005. Prior to joining the Lexington system, Woods headed Washington (DC) Hospital Center, a 907-bed teaching hospital. There, he played a key role in helping turn a $14 million loss into a $14 million surplus.
HPA Alumna Anne Kauffman Nolon Named 2006 Distinguished Visitor in Health Policy
The Department of Health Policy at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) has named Anne Kauffman Nolon ’72 HPA, M.P.H., the 2006 Geiger Gibson Distinguished Visitor in Community Health Policy. The Distinguished Visitorship is part of the Geiger Gibson Program, which honors Drs. Jack Geiger and Count Gibson, pioneers in community health and tireless advocates for human rights, and which celebrates the nation’s community health centers. Individuals selected as Distinguished Visitors have exhibited extraordinary and sustained leadership in community health policy and practice. To read more, click here.
Career Panel and Mentoring Dinner Scheduled
On Saturday, February 3, 2007 another edition of the successful Health and Human Development Undergraduate Mentoring Program will begin as twenty HPA students will meet their alumni mentors at the annual Mentoring Dinner. This outstanding program has connected nearly 100 HPA students and alumni in a one-to-one relationship, giving HPA students the opportunity to benefit from alumni advice and experience. The undergraduate program has been so successful that the HPA alumni Affiliate Program Group (APG) initiated a mentoring program for MHA students this fall. Alumni interested in participating in the undergraduate mentoring program can contact Diane Collins at dvc1@psu.edu or 814-865-3831 for more information; alumni interested in the MHA mentoring program can contact Mike Meacham at mmeacham@psu.edu or 814-865-5173.
Capitalizing on the many alumni returning for the Mentoring Dinner, the HPA alumni APG is also planning a Career Panel for the afternoon of Friday, February 2. Any alumni interested in sharing their experience with students can contact Dennis Shea at dshea@psu.edu or 814-863-2901.
Tell Us Your News
If you have recently moved, been promoted, or have other news you would like to share with fellow HPA alumni, please click here.
STUDENTS
Penn State Student Receives Prestigious Fellowship
MAJ Bradley M. Beauvais has been selected as a Juran Fellow for 2006 by the Joseph M. Juran Center for Leadership in Quality at the University of Minnesota.
Beauvais, a doctoral student, is conducting research for his dissertation, entitled, “Does Money Really Matter? The Effects of Health Organization Finances on Quality of Care."
Beauvais is one of five students nationwide who was selected for the prestigious fellowship, which recognizes third- or fourth-year doctoral candidates “whose research shows the most promise in broadening and fueling thinking and practices in the area of quality in their chosen fields.” Beauvais has eleven years of active commissioned service in the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps. Prior to beginning his doctoral studies, he served as chief financial officer for Keller Army Community Hospital at the United States Military Academy at West Point. To read more about this, please click here.
Dissertation Award Given to HPA Graduate Student Chandrakala Ganesh
Chandrakala Ganesh, HPA doctoral student, received a dissertation award from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) for her dissertation entitled “Diffusion of Prescription Drugs for Alzhemier’s Disease Among Older Adults.”
HPA Undergraduate Summer Internships
During the summer of 2006, ninety-five undergraduate students interned in hospitals, long-term care organizations, private practices, nonprofits, and healthcare management companies across the country and across the globe from Boston to Austin, and London to Geneva. The corollary of having ninety-five interns is that there were also ninety-five preceptors. These preceptors, representing diverse sectors of healthcare, willingly gave of their time and shared their knowledge and skills to mentor HPA students and introduce them to the intricacies and challenges of health services delivery. Students grow tremendously through their internships and we're proud and grateful to have this level of support for our program. Anyone interested in providing an internship opportunity for an HPA undergraduate should contact Barbara Roche at 814-863-2908 or bur10@psu.edu.
Scholarship Winners Announced
Three undergraduate students received scholarships from the College of Health and Human Development for the 2006-2007 academic year. Those students are: Laura Nichol (Karen Louise Weber Scholarship); Alicia Quillen (Ernest F. and Kay Frantz Salvino “Discovery” Scholarship); and Jennifer Oliver (Virginia L. Mayers Memorial Scholarship). Congratulations to these outstanding students and a big “thank you” to the donors whose generosity made the scholarships possible.
HPA Club Off to the Races for a Successful THON Season
Written by Felecia Williamson, HPA Club THON Co-chair
The HPA Club is once again participating in the Penn State Dance Marathon. We have high expectations for ourselves — we want to raise $10,000, surpassing last year’s total of $8,600. It is early in the THON season, and we have already raised a nearly half of our goal! We have sent out hundreds of solicitation letters to family and friends as well as participated in the first two canning weekends of the year. We traveled to Lebanon, Easton and Altoona, Pennsylvania, for our canning purposes.
Also, we are all excited to be continuing our relationship with our THON family. Currently, we are brainstorming ideas of what we can do for our THON child and her family to ease the burden that cancer has placed on them. The club is pumped up for an extraordinary year and is grateful to all the alumni, staff, and faculty for their support and donations. If you would like to contribute to our THON fundraising efforts, please send checks (made payable to Penn State Dance Marathon) to: Jocelyn Vanderbrink, HPA Club Advisor, 604 Ford Building, University Park, PA 16802. For more information on THON, visit www.thon.org.
Student Marshal and Faculty Marshal Named
Laura Nichol has been named the HPA undergraduate student marshal for the Fall 2006 commencement. She is also one of the two College Marshals and will represent all of the students graduating from the College of Health and Human Development. She has selected Michael Meacham, associate professor/executive director of HPA’s MHA program, to serve as faculty marshal. Undergraduate commencement will be held on Friday, December 22, at 1:30 p.m. in the Bryce Jordan Center.
FACULTY
New Faces
Elizabeth "Betsy" Farmer joined the HPA faculty as an associate professor in August 2006. Farmer earned her doctorate in Sociology from Duke University in 1991. Upon receiving her doctorate, Farmer held several positions including a postdoctoral fellow and research associate at the University of North Carolina and visiting research specialist at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Prior to joining the HPA faculty, she was an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Duke University School of Medicine. Farmer’s research interests include children’s mental health services, effectiveness of mental health interventions, mental health in life course trajectories, community-based services for youth, and the role of schools in children’s mental health services, her teaching interests are in the areas of sociology, research methods, and human development across the life span.
Barbara Roche has been hired to lead the HPA undergraduate internship program and to assist with HPA endeavors in outreach and continuing education. Roche has twenty years of experience in training and development, coaching, workforce development, team-building, and facilitation.
Departure
Charles Yesalis, professor of health policy and administration and exercise and sport science, retired after twenty years of distinguished service. Yesalis joined the faculty in HPA in 1980 and has taught thousands of HPA students in HPA 101 “Introduction to Health Services Organizations” and HPA 440 “Epidemiology." His research on anabolic steroids served to awaken many in health policy to the need to address this problem. On three occasions, he was asked to testify before U.S. Congress on legislation related to the control of anabolic steroids and growth hormone abuse. Yesalis has been a consultant to, among others, the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse: National Commission on Sports and Substance Abuse, the NFL Players Association, the U.S. Olympic Committee, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Anyone interested in sharing a note of congratulations, memories, or other greetings to Dr. Yesalis upon his retirement can send them c/o Patricia Corbett Hamel, 604 Ford Building, University Park, PA 16802 or via e-mail to pac9@psu.edu.
Dansky Receives 2006 Fran and Holly Soistman Faculty Development Award
Kathryn Dansky, associate professor, has won the 2006 Fran and Holly'Soistman Faculty Development Award. The award recognizes a faculty member who is actively engaged in teaching or conducting innovative research related to the design, development, delivery, administration and/or evaluation of healthcare services.
Dansky's research focuses on home health care, quality management and telehealth. She is currently the principal investigator on a grant funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that explores the relationship between telehealth and the acquisition of healthcare knowledge by elders with heart failure, and whether changes in their knowledge levels translate to changes in behaviors and improved health outcomes. She has written or co-written nearly thirty publications and has received funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the National Institute of Nursing Research, and the Aspen Institute in support of her research.
Penn State Team to Evaluate Health Care Quality Improvement Initiative
Dennis Scanlon, associate professor, has been selected to serve as the external evaluator for an initiative sponsored by the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS).
The Center’s Regional Quality Improvement Initiative, which is funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), seeks to test Medicaid’s capacity to promote system-wide improvements in chronic care delivery. The project will join Medicaid and state employee purchasers with their commercial counterparts, as well as regional health plans, consumer organizations, and providers to develop cross-system strategies to coordinate and improve care for people with chronic conditions. Three sites – Arkansas, Rhode Island, and Rochester, New York – have been selected for the project.
Scanlon's role will be to evaluate the potential for State Medicaid programs to lead quality improvement initiatives, as well as to measure the outcomes of those initiatives in Arkansas, Rhode Island, and New York. Scanlon's research focuses on national efforts to reduce medical errors and improve health-care quality. To read more, click here.
Scanlon also has been awarded a two-year grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The funding will be used to conduct an evaluation of a new foundation national initiative — Aligning Forces for Quality: The Regional Market Project — that aims to improve the quality of health care in local and regional communities. The Aligning Forces program will help communities advance and align three key drivers of health-care quality improvement: performance measurement and public reporting; capacity to help providers improve the quality of ambulatory chronic illness care; and consumer education. The program will examine health-care markets throughout the United States and identify ways to engage all of the "players" in those markets — consumers, providers, health plans and employers — in quality improvement efforts.
Brannon and BeLue Receive Research Grants
Diane Brannon, professor, has been awarded a grant from the Atlantic Philanthropies for the North Carolina New Organizational Vision Award (NC NOVA) Case Study which will document the innovative work of the North Carolina Better Jobs Better Care (BJBC) Coalition and its predecessor in furthering a special designation for long-term care providers that excel in workforce development. The completed case study will record the history and workings of the coalition, and detail implementation journeys as the program takes form in provider management practice changes across the state.
Rhonda BeLue, assistant professor, has been awarded a grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to examine racial and ethnic disparities in the quality and type of care at hospitals and ambulatory care facilities. To read more about this research project, click here.
EVENTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS
February 2, 2007 — HPA alumni APG Career Panel, 1–4 p.m., Hintz Alumni Center.
February 3, 2007 — HPA Undergraduate Mentoring Dinner, 5–9 p.m., Nittany Lion Inn.
February 10, 2007 — The Philadelphia Alumni Association is hosting the chapter’s fundraiser for the Dance Marathon at 7 p.m. at the Radisson Warwick on 17th and Locust. The evening will include live entertainment, a silent auction, and special guest speakers; last year’s event had over 200 guests and raised more than $11,000. For additional information, contact Darryl at DBstate93@aol.com or Alyson at alyson_jill@yahoo.com.
March 19-22, 2007 — HPA anticipates that more than twenty students and faculty will attend the American College of Healthcare Executives Congress in New Orleans. Look for the Penn State table and plan to meet up with students, faculty and fellow alumni for dinner on Tuesday, March 20.
April 3, 2007 – HPA will host the tenth annual Mayers Lecture in conjunction with the Mount Nittany Medical Center. The lecture, funded through our Mayers Endowment, brings faculty, students, physicians, and local health care leaders together to discuss a current issue in health care. Our 2007 speaker is Dr. Albert Wu, M.D., M.P.H., professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Wu is an expert on the issue of medical errors and recently co-authored an Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on the prevalence of medication errors in the United States. The report is the fifth of the IOM’s Quality Chasm Series examining the consequences of medical mistakes. To learn more about this study, click here. For the Mayers Lecture, Wu will address the topic of “Removing Insults from Injury: Discussing Adverse Events with Patients.” The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Barbara Fleischer at 814-863-2900 or bfleischer@psu.edu.
PORH Receives Accolades from National Organization
The Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health (PORH) received the 2006 Award of Merit from the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health (NOSORH) during the organization's Annual Membership Meeting at the Eastland Park Hotel in Portland, Maine.
NOSORH was created in 1995 to serve as an influential voice for state rural health concerns and to promote a healthy rural America through state and community leadership. The organization presents its Award of Merit each year to the state office of rural health that has made outstanding contributions, developed innovative programs and/or conducted significant activities that advance the missions of the state offices of rural health and improve the health status of rural Americans. To read more, click here.
Upcoming Events for the PA Office of Rural Health Include:
March 27-28, 2007—2007 Migrant and Immigrant Farmworker Health Conference "Sowing Seeds for a Healthier Community," Gettysburg Inn/Gettysburg, PA
June 12-13, 2007 — 2007 Annual Rural Health Conference "Roots of Change," Penn Stater/State College, PA