August 2020
Welcome to “The Scope,” the newsletter of the ECU Division of Health Sciences.
Welcome to the August issue of The Scope, the newsletter of the ECU Division of Health Sciences.
From time to time, I’ll ask another leader, provider, educator or other notable member of the DHS community to share a message with you as we celebrate the month’s accomplishments and highlights. This month, we hear from Dr. Sylvia Brown, dean of the College of Nursing.
Mark Stacy, MD
Dean, Brody School of Medicine
Vice Chancellor, Division of Health Sciences
Dear Colleagues,
It is an extraordinary time to be in the ECU Division of Health Sciences. We have collectively risen to the challenges of a pandemic and its impact on our individual colleges and schools, even in the midst of a shift to online instruction for our colleagues on Main Campus. Over the past few months, all of us have been reminded of our own unique reasons for being in health care.
Sylvia Brown
Even in the face of challenges like none we have ever encountered, it has been a pleasure to work alongside you as we discover new ways to navigate our missions of service to our region and state.
In the College of Nursing, 2020 is a year to remember for reasons that remind us where we have come from and what our future holds. This year marks the 60th anniversary of ECU nursing—of our Pirate Nurses providing excellent care and expert leadership across the state and country. I am particularly proud that our college has evolved over the years to meet the health care needs of our patients and the demands of an ever-changing health care system.
Established in 1959 with the first students enrolled in fall 1960, the college has a rich history of educating exceptional nurses who are making a difference in the health care of individuals in our region and beyond. We offer degrees for students just beginning their nursing career, options for professionals seeking advanced nursing practice and opportunity for the development of nurse scientists. More than 1,370 students are enrolled in the College of Nursing’s degree programs; they are supported by almost 200 faculty and staff. They join more than 12,000 alumni who carry forth our tradition of excellence into communities here in the East and in every state in the nation and beyond.
The U.S. News & World Report consistently names the college as one of the top distance-education programs in the country. ECU College of Nursing online Master of Science in Nursing program was ranked 17th in the nation in 2020. U.S. News also ranked ECU’s online graduate options in nursing in the top 10 in several specialty areas: tied fifth for nursing education; ninth for veterans; and tied 10th for nursing administration/leadership. These specialty rankings are based on responses to peer assessment surveys.
Our students also contribute to the school’s consistent show of success; 98% of our Bachelor of Science in Nursing graduates earn a first-time pass rate on the National Council Licensure Examination, well exceeding the national average. In addition, most of our graduate clinical specialties have a 100% pass rate and all are well above the national average.
The school itself recently received its fourth Center of Excellence designation by the National League for Nursing, which recognizes the CON’s contributions to nursing education. The designation serves as acknowledgement of our outstanding achievements in student learning and professional development.
2020 is also a special time for the College of Nursing because it is the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife, in honor of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale. This global celebration of our profession is especially poignant right now, as nurses have made no greater impact on the world than they have in the past six months. The World Health Organization honors nurses through this designation for their ongoing roles in meeting the needs of patients and communities.
The events over the past few months have reminded our students, faculty, staff and alumni why they do what they do—and why they are vitally important to people the world over. The interprofessional collaboration of the health care team is critical to meet the needs of patients and families. As the ECU Division of Health Sciences, let us share a renewed sense of purpose and partnership as we proceed into a new academic year.
Sylvia T. Brown, EdD, RN, CNE, ANEF
Dean and Professor
ECU College of Nursing
Education
As students across both campuses returned to instruction for the fall semester followed by a shift to online instruction for undergraduate students on Main Campus, the DHS colleges and schools set the standard for safety and efficiency in bringing students back to classrooms and clinics. DHS students have been back in action for more than a month, welcoming new students to campus through socially distant and virtual orientations and convocations. Students were eager to return to patient care and to their studies.
Breanna Lester, a third-semester BSN student, works with a manikin in one of the College of Nursing’s simulation labs on Monday, Aug. 10. (Photo credit Jeremy Smith/College of Nursing)
“We’ve been back in for five weeks. We’re doing great, feeling safe and feeling supported by our administration,” said Tyler Powell, a fourth-year medical student at the Brody School of Medicine, who returned to clinical instruction at Vidant Medical Center in early June.
“I was a little bit nervous at first, even having been in the clinical space for a year already, it was almost like starting over because we didn’t know what to expect when we walked in,” said Powell, a LINC Scholar. “But it’s been great. We’ve been welcomed back. It’s been a great learning opportunity and a great opportunity to serve patients here in eastern North Carolina.”
The news story also included a video featuring advice from DHS students and faculty to others returning for the fall semester.
Earlier in the summer, students also took advantage of opportunities for education and advocacy through virtual conventions. Student leaders from the School of Dental Medicine’s chapter of the Student National Dental Association. SoDM students consistently take on national leadership roles in organizations that provide invaluable experiences that complement their education.
ECU’s Veteran to Scholar Boot Camp – an intensive two-week program that helps integrate veterans to university life, included non-veteran medical and pre-med students for the first time. The program, currently funded through a two-year grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, was exclusively online this year.
The Veteran to Scholar Boot Camp was an ideal opportunity for collaboration between ECU’s Main and Health Sciences campuses. As of 2019, more than half (54%) of the Brody School of Medicine’s alumni were practicing in North Carolina and more than half (51%) of those graduates were in primary care practice.
“In North Carolina, we have a very large veteran population of more than 775,000 and we also have over 100,000 active duty service members, which means that our graduates will end up providing a lot of care to veterans, military service members and their families,” Dr. Sheena Eagan, assistant professor in the Department of Bioethics and Interdisciplinary Studies at ECU’s Brody School of Medicine, co-director of the program this year.
During the span of the year so far, all DHS colleges and schools have been featured in ECU News’ Spotlight feature project, a closer look at the people and programs that make our division strong. Be sure to check out the feature webpages for Brody, SoDM, CON and CAHS.
Visit this video on YouTube for the closed-captioned version.
Patient Care
With the pandemic continuing to have a lasting impact on our community and world, Brody experts provided in-depth answers to lingering questions about COVID-19 amid rising and steady trends in cases in the community and state.
Students and faculty in the School of Dental Medicine provide care to patients following new safety guidelines and protocol put in place by school and university officials along with state leaders and public health experts.
As students of every age were slated to return to in-class or virtual instruction, other experts offered advice on how to keep children safe—particularly those who are immunocompromised.
They also provided advice on how to keep teachers and others students they come in contact with as safe as possible.
ECU’s Navigate Counseling Clinic transitioned to providing all of its mental health counseling services using WebEx, FaceTime and telephone. Its clinicians say these types of appointments allow them to accommodate their clients’ schedules more easily and to reach some clients who previously had difficulty making it to in-person appointments.
ECU Physicians providers were featured in an ECU News story about unsung heroes across campus who have gone above and beyond in their areas of expertise, in service to the university community and people across the region. ECU Physicians also began offering rapid COVID-19 antigen testing for certain patients showing symptoms within five days of testing; results from the new tests are available in 15 minutes.
Late last month, the School of Dental Medicine served as a distribution point for KN95 masks given to the North Carolina Dental Society by NC Emergency Management as part of ramped-up personal protective equipment for dentists providing oral health care across North Carolina.
Visit this video on YouTube for the closed-captioned version.
Research
Earlier this month, medical and dental students presented their posters during the virtual 23rd Annual Medical Student Scholarship Forum. The students, who were selected to participate in one of Brody’s distinction tracks or the dental school’s Summer Scholars Research Program and had their presentations broadcast live on Twitter during the week-long celebration of research.
Oleksandr “Sasha” Kirsanov, a PhD student in the Brody School of Medicine, has earned a fellowship from the Male Contraceptive Initiative for his research to identify potential male contraceptive drug targets. (Photo by Rhett Butler)
Oleksandr “Sasha” Kirsanov, a PhD candidate in the laboratory of Dr. Chris Geyer, an associate professor in Brody’s Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, has earned a highly competitive $100,000 fellowship from the Male Contraceptive Initiative to identify molecular targets that can be further used to design safe, non-hormonal, reversible male contraceptive drugs. “I was ecstatic,” Kirsanov said of earning the fellowship. “This is an incredible personal career-development opportunity, and this funding will certainly help our lab.”
“The NIH has pushed more grant funding towards research aimed at identifying molecular targets in developing male germ cells as well as in sperm, for the creation of male contraceptive drugs,” Geyer said. “In addition, there are non-profits like MCI who are participating in this effort by educating and funding scientists like Sasha as well as research projects, particularly promising ones in early stages of their development.”
A study published by Dr. Keith Keene, director of Brody’s Center of Health Disparities, investigates genetic determinants of stroke in individuals of African descent. The new study examined the genomes of more than 22,000 people of African ancestry, identifying important genetic contributors to stroke risk. These findings will help doctors better understand stroke risk, identify those at high risk and prevent the debilitating condition.
Philanthropy
Pregnant women in North Carolina’s rural communities increasingly face a lack of access to quality maternal health services. Brody researchers are working hard to address this issue, and a $1.25 million gift from the United Health Foundation will greatly support the school’s efforts.
A $1.25 million grant from the United Health Foundation will allow ECU to continue to address maternal health problems in North Carolina such as high-risk pregnancies, mental health needs and food insecurity. (Photo taken pre-COVID-19 by Rhett Butler)
One in four mothers in eastern North Carolina lives in poverty and one in eight is uninsured, according to the North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics. Many have trouble getting transportation to prenatal appointments, adequate nutrition and mental health provisions. The challenges increase if the mother has a high-risk pregnancy.
For example, a mother in Carteret County had three prior C-sections – raising her risk of bleeding and other complications with delivery – and needed to travel 70 miles each way to get specialized care at a clinic.
“If she can’t get off work, or can’t leave her other children, or can’t get a ride, or doesn’t have the money for the co-pay, you’re basically terminating her prenatal care,” said Dr. James deVente, associate professor of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Brody.
“When you’re talking about some of the greatest challenges for our patients, geography is huge. Socioeconomic status is huge. Access to specialty care is huge.”
The United Health Foundation grant addresses all of these concerns. The funding will help develop a new care model for high-risk patients, expand telepsychiatry services to better address the mental health needs of expectant and new mothers, and decrease food insecurity among pregnant women. This effort is part of UnitedHealth Group’s more than $100 million commitment to support communities and address health care issues during the coronavirus pandemic.
Laupus Library has been awarded a $75,000 grant, through the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the federal Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, to provide laptops and health education instruction to middle and high school children of migrant farmworker families in eastern North Carolina.
ECU will purchase 100 laptops to be distributed to middle and high school children of migrant farmworker families in Wayne and Pitt counties. The project dovetails with previous grants coordinated by Dr. Joseph Lee, ECU Department of Health Information and Promotion, which provided hotspot internet connectivity for these same migrant communities.
ECU will work with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s Migrant Education Program and Student Action with Farmworkers to help place the laptops with students with the greatest needs, and provide guidance for health information seeking instructional modules. Laupus librarians will provide students, their families and MEP staff with instruction on how to find reputable health information online.
Learn more about how you can support the mission of ECU’s Division of Health Sciences through the ECU Medical & Health Sciences Foundation, Inc.
DHS Spotlight
In the spirit of excellence in education and a collaborative campus, we will be highlighting a variety of students, staff and faculty who represent the colleges and schools in the Division of Health Sciences.
This month, we meet Kim Stokes, clinical associate professor and director of clinical education in the Department of Physician Assistant Studies in the College of Allied Health Sciences.
Kim Stokes (Photo contributed by Kim Stokes and taken pre-COVID-19)
Between her personal health situation as a child and a supportive family that stressed community and education, Kim Stokes seemed destined for a career in health care and of community support.
“I had a spinal birth defect and musculoskeletal deformity that affected my ability to function — notably, to walk — appropriately,” said Stokes. “I had surgery twice by the time I was 10 and was in the hospital for at least two weeks on each occasion. It seemed inevitable that I would study medicine on some level ever since then.”
Stokes grew up in Warrensville, a rural mountain town in Ashe County in the northwest corner of North Carolina. She described it as both “difficult and magical.”
Growing up in that rural setting where some needs go unmet is what drew her to ECU and eastern North Carolina.
“I love that ECU has a focus on access and rural/underserved communities,” Stokes said. “ECU is also, in my opinion, unique. This community has the most down-to-earth and highly knowledgeable base of individuals I have ever seen. It also has the rural touches that I grew up with. The ECU community embraces all.”
In her role as director of clinical education for the Department of Physician Assistant Studies, Stokes oversees the clinical curriculum to ensure students meet the requirements to complete the program, while gaining exposure to rural and underserved populations. She and her team place 432 students in clinical experiences annually, most in eastern North Carolina.
Stokes also serves on the dean’s task force for interprofessional education in the college.
“This work allows me to work closely with faculty from other departments,” Stokes said, “to create interprofessional learning opportunities for our students in the College of Allied Health Sciences.”