October faculty and staff features

Alexander Krist, M.D., assistant professor, Department of Family Medicine, VCU School of Medicine
Krist received a $500,000 task order contract from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality that will enable further study of an interactive system that links patients to their health information in the electronic record of their primary care physician.

The interactive preventive health record, or IPHR, is called “My Preventive Care,” and has shown in a previous study to increase the delivery of screening tests, immunizations and behavioral counseling.

The new research will test whether other practices can overcome the technical and cultural barriers required to successfully field “My Preventive Care.” The study will be conducted in six small- to medium-sized primary care practices that use two different electronic medical records. The practices will span a range of locations throughout Virginia and vary in size.

“We believe that personal health records have great potential to help patients manage their health,” Krist said. “To be truly effective, personal health records need to be able to show patients their medical information, tell them what it means in a way they can understand it, and help them know what to do next based on the information.

“Essentially, this means that personal health records need to be integrated into the electronic medical record of the patient’s doctor,” Krist said. “This ensures that the medical information in the personal health record is accurate, and it allows both the patient and the doctor to use and benefit from the system.”

Joseph Ornato, M.D., Department of Emergency Medicine
Ornato, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine, is a recipient of the 2009 June Daugherty Public Spirit Award. Given by the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association, the award recognizes an individual who uses his or her public position to raise awareness about sudden cardiac arrest and cardiovascular disease. Ornato’s career consists of numerous sudden cardiac arrest research initiatives, membership in various cardiovascular-related industry working groups, academic instruction of best-practices and development of next-generation technologies.

Christine Reid, Ph.D., School of Allied Health Professions
Reid, professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Counseling in the School of Allied Health Professions, recently was awarded a $750,000  grant for her project titled “Rehabilitation Counseling: Long Term Training through Distance Learning.” The grant was funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services Administration. The project is designed to provide high quality, flexible and cost-effective graduate education options to increase the number of highly qualified rehabilitation counselors committed to working in state vocational agencies.

William Dewey, Ph.D., professor and interim chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
Dewey was among the invitation-only audience for President Barack H. Obama’s Sept. 30 address to the National Institutes of Health. The president was on hand to promote the $5 billion in new science grants that were funded under the $787-billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), also known as the federal stimulus package.

Dewey was among only a few audience members who were not employed by the NIH. Apportioned just 15 tickets to the ceremony, the NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse chose to share one with a non-NIH scientist.

Dewey was extended the honor in part for the role he has played as founder and leader of the non-profit organization Friends of NIDA, a coalition of individuals, scientific and professional societies and patient groups that supports the work of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The organization educates the public, policy makers, media and health care leaders about drug abuse and addiction and also advocates for broad public and private support for NIDA’s research agenda.

Also on hand were Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins. 

Dale Jones, Ph.D, associate professor, Public Administration, and director, National Homeland Security Project, L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs 

Jones will serve as a roundtable leader at the 51st United States Air Force Academy Assembly on Oct. 7 and Oct. 8, 2009.

The Academy Assembly has taken place annually since 1959 and is sponsored jointly by Air Force Academy and Columbia University’s American Assembly.  The theme of the 51st Academy Assembly is “Building the Bridge from War to Peace:  Defining Interagency Roles in Rebuilding a Nation,” and delegates will discuss the role of military and civilian agencies in helping to rebuild war-torn nations. 

Jones teaches courses in principles of public administration, organization behavior and executive leadership in the Master of Public Administration program and teaches courses in homeland security and emergency preparedness.  The VCU-based National Homeland Security Project conducts research on state government homeland security and emergency preparedness programs.

Sonali Gulati, assistant professor of filmmaking, Department of Photography and Filmmaking
Gulati is the first winner of a $7,500 fellowship supporting young and mid-career artists working in photographic media, video or short-form film. The fellowship is given by the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, in partnership with the Robert Giard Foundation. Gulati was awarded the fellowship for her documentary film, "Out & About," which focuses on the central question of what parents do when they find out their child is gay. There were more than 100 applications for the fellowship from the United States and abroad.

June Nicholson, associate director, School of Mass Communications
Nicholson served as co-editor of a new book, “The Edge of Change: Women in the 21st Century Press,” published by the University of Illinois Press.

“The Edge of Change” contains nearly three dozen original essays by a collection of leading newspaper journalists, editors and executives. The book explores the influence that American women have had on the news industry, especially newspapers, and looks ahead to their future in the field. Nicholson also is a contributor to the book.