UTEP College of Health Sciences

Happy Friday, CHS Miners! ⛏The Department of Occupational Therapy invites you to attend an Open House for prospective students interested in learning about and/or applying to the Doctor of Occupational Therapy Program.

The open house will occur on Wednesday, September 25 from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM.
You are welcome to come by at any time during that period. There will be a tour of the new Rehabilitation Sciences Complex, refreshments, as well as opportunities to meet with and ask questions of current OTD students and faculty.

Please feel free to RSVP by clicking on the flyer, scanning the QR code, or in the link below! However, if you forget to RSVP, come anyway! (Direct link to RSVP is in our IG bio)

RSVP HERE:
https://utep.questionpro.com/t/AU8hpZ33bA

Happy Thursday, CHS Miners! ⛏ The Department of Earth, Environmental and Resource Sciences will be hosting Earth Science Week 2024 on Saturday, Sep. 28th on the UTEP campus. If you or your student organization are interested in volunteering or having a booth, please scan the QR codes on the flyer.

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OTD class of 26 at the Aging Expo educating caregivers on safe transfers for their loved ones during their Caregiver Injury Prevention presentation.
Go Miners⛏️🤙🏽

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Hey, CHS Miners! Let’s start this Fall semester with the Internships of the Week! Scan the QR code for more information! Thank you to for these opportunities and resources! 🤙🏻

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Welcome OTD class of 27! ⛏️🧡💙

Happy Friday, CHS Miners! Next Tuesday, September 10th, Dr. Gabriel Ibarra-Mejia, associate professor of Public Health, will be presenting about UTEP's NIH sponsored EnHIP program. As UTEP's designated ENHIP representative, Dr. Ibarra-Mejia is responsible for education and dissemination of scientifically-validated information located within the National Libraries of Medicine via outreach to underserved communities within the region. Thanks to his hard work and dedication, UTEP's EnHIP program was one of only two programs nationally selected to receive an outreach award from the NIH.

The presentation will take place virtually beginning at 11 a.m. MST. You can watch the presentation live via the NIH Videocast at the link below (direct link in IG bio).

https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=55046

CHS Miners, check out these pics from yesterday afternoon's first Student Org Fair, coordinated by the CHS Dean's Office. If you didn't get a chance to stop by, be sure to check out the orgs at their Instagram channels below:

Kin Club:
National Student Speech Language Hearing Association:
Clinical Lab Sciences:
UTEP Student Association of Rehabilitation Sciences (UTEP STARS):
Future Occupational Therapy Students:
Pre-Physical Therapy Association: .ppta
Students for Public Health:
Student Association of Social Work:

Photos courtesy of Angel Melendez

Happy Thursday, CHS Miners! ⛏ Check out this feature about our new Houston Endowment scholars.


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Aliyah Sanchez, a senior BS in Rehabilitation Sciences major, had an unconventional start at UTEP as an Early College High School student. She initially thought she would major in physical therapy, but quickly realized it wasn’t for her. After learning that she had received speech therapy as a young child, her interest in speech-language pathology (SLP) was piqued.

Despite the challenges of being a much younger student, Sanchez excelled and found that she really enjoyed her SLP classes, particularly Dr. Vannesa Mueller’s sign language course. The field excited her so much that she created a new student organization, Everyone Signs. The group welcomes any student who is interested in learning about basic signing and the deaf culture.

Sanchez believes her decision to discuss her evolving interest in SLP and forming Everyone Signs helped her application stand out. After graduation, she plans to pursue a master’s degree in SLP, focusing on the pediatric population, either in a school setting or private practice.

Follow Everyone Signs on Instagram: @ _everyone_signs_
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Irene John Tomy, a junior Clinical Laboratory Science (CLS) major, believes her application was viewed positively because of the special story she shared behind her career choice.

John Tomy said that within her blended Indian and Mexican family, food is an important element. Yet, some of the food choices are unhealthy, putting her extended family at risk of metabolic health issues. John Tomy is pursuing a CLS degree to better understand these conditions. She is a member of the UTEP Metabolism, Nutrition and Exercise Research (MiNER) Laboratory, which focuses on metabolism and diabetes research, and also volunteers for local food pantries, and an American Physiological Society SURF award recipient.

After graduation, John Tomy will begin working as a clinical laboratory technologist. In the future, she plans to pursue a degree as a physician assistant and hopes to be accepted to a program in Texas.

CHS Miners, help us celebrate good news (see below post from ) regarding our own Dr. Shashwati Geed, assistant professor of Physical Therapy


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Congratulations to Dr. Shashwati Geed (third from right) and Dr. Paisith Piriyawat for winning the Sobel-Duncan Research Award for their work on neuroplasticity after strokes. With the support of Dr. Annette Sobel (third from left), Dr. Robert Duncan (second from right) and Texas Tech President Dr. Lange (right), we are accomplishing some incredible things in healthcare research.

Happy Tuesday, CHS Miners! Late last week, the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences PhD Program held a new student orientation to welcome the 2024 cohort (pictured first).
New students include:
Jesse Musah (mentor: Dr. Oralia Loza)
Naguia Leticia De Medeiros (mentor: Dr. Camila Torriani-Pasin)
Dwaipayan Saha (mentor: Dr. Sudip Bajpeyi)
Preyangsee Dutta (mentor: Dr. Sudip Bajpeyi)
Md Fakrul Islam (mentor: Dr. Hyejin Jung)
Andrew Vernon (mentor: Dr. Emre Umucu)
Ismael Lopez (mentor: Dr. Hyejin Jung)
Jesus Aleman (not pictured; mentor: Dr. Eva Moya)
Bryan Monroe (not pictured; mentor: Dr. Greg Schober)

The afternoon ended with an opportunity for new students to mingle with current students.

Welcome to our new PhD cohort! 🥳
Photos courtesy of Angel Melendez

Happy Friday, CHS Miners! ⛏ Next Thursday, CHS will host its first Student Organization Fair. All student organizations crossing all of our disciplines will be present to interact with new and current students, sharing their personal experiences and speaking about the benefits of being part of an organization. Mark your calendars now!

Date: Thursday, Sep. 5
Time: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Place: Health Sciences and Nursing Building Lobby
slp

is celebrating its 2 year-anniversary! The team completed two studies, with 273 people screened and 69 enrolled in total. They presented at 6 conferences and submitted 2 manuscripts! Way to go team 👏

Happy Monday, CHS Miners! ⛏ Welcome back to a new fall semester. We wish you the very best and hope this fall will bring wonderful new experiences your way.

This past Friday, we welcomed several new faculty to the college:
Priyanka Rana, Asst. Professor, Physical Therapy
Sam Singleton, Clinical Asst. Professor, Physical Therapy
Alfonso Rojas Alvarez, Asst. Professor, Public Health

Be sure to check out our welcome stories on our new faculty members, coming soon to the website and social media.

We also celebrated several promotions for current faculty, and a special appointment to CHS leadership:

Amy Wagler, Professor of Public Health - Appointed as Dean's Fellow for Faculty Affairs
Jeff Eggleston - Promoted to Associate Professor of Kinesiology
Balanchadar Kathirvelu - Promoted to Clinical Associate Professor of Physical Therapy
Yok Fong Paat - Promoted to Professor of Social Work
Oralia Loza - Promoted to Professor of Public Health

Happy Monday, CHS Miners! ⛏ Save the Date - The next Viva la Salud conference hosted by the College of Health Sciences will be held on September 13th, 2024 at the El Paso Natural Gas Conference Center. Conference topics will include mental health and health disparities, and environmental justice and health disparities.

RSVP by scanning the QR code on the flyer (direct link in IG bio).

Happy Friday, CHS Miners! ⛏ Help us celebrate Interdisciplinary Health Sciences doctoral student Jehu Apaflo, who successfully defended his proposal and reached candidacy last week. A special thanks goes out to his committee, chair Dr. Sudip Bajpeyi and members Dr. Kisuk Min, Dr. Hyejin Jung, Dr. Amy Wagler, and Dr. Andrew McAinch.

Congratulations, Jehu, on achieving this important milestone in your academic career! 🥳
UTEP Metabolic, Nutrition and Exercise Research Laboratory - Miner Lab

Happy Thursday, CHS Miners! ⛏ We're pleased to share good news from the Bachelor of Science in Rehabilitation Sciences Program. Earlier this week, four BS-RHSC students completed their training at the Medical Center of the Americas Foundation's Clinical Trial Academy and are now certified clinical research coordinators. They include Amanda Marroquin, Alejandra Ochoa Alvarado, Alexandra Vigil and Desiree Warner.

The BS-RHSC Program has a longstanding relationship with the Foundation and has had many students complete the Academy during their time as enrolled students in CHS. Students are actively recruited for positions in research coordination beginning shortly after receiving their certificates.

Congratulations to everyone on reaching this milestone! We wish you continued success in both your academic and professional careers. 🥳

Photos courtesy of Dr. Carolina Valencia

Happy Wednesday, CHS Miners! ⛏️ The members of the SLP Class of 2025 are officially second year graduate students! They have completed three rigorous semesters of academic and clinical coursework.

This summer they provided FREE therapeutic services to the community via group sessions. They additionally completed over 100 FREE hearing screenings!
Join us in wishing them well as they transition to their off-campus medical/school placements.

Happy Tuesday, CHS Miners! An open access special issue of the American Public Health Association journal is now available. The issue, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, celebrates the 50th anniversary of the APHA Latino Caucus for Public Health and highlights identify as a major focus in Latino health research.

Among the articles is an interdisciplinary publication highlighting UTEP's contribution to the Hispanic healthcare workforce, written by College of Health Sciences professors Dr. Jeannie Co**ha, Dr. Emre Umucu, and Dr. Maria Duarte, along with peers from the UTEP College of Nursing, School of Pharmacy, Department of Psychology, and Center for Institutional Evaluation, Research and Planning.

The article, "Hispanic-Serving Institutions Contributing to the Training and Diversity of the Public Health and Health Care Workforce," highlights how UTEP, a Hispanic Serving and Carnegie R1 institution, serves as a pathway for socioeconomically diverse Hispanic/Latino (H/L) health profession students via equal-access strategies. The Center for Institutional Evaluation, Research, and Planning data illustrates UTEP’s success in graduating H/L health professionals (i.e., allied health, nursing, pharmacy, and psychology) students between 2014 and 2023. Nearly 90% of these graduates are employed in Texas one year after graduation, and 85% remain employed after 10 years.

The entire article can be accessed at the link below (direct link in IG bio)
https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307655
UTEP College of Nursing Graduate Programs

Happy Monday, CHS Miners! Check out these photos of Clinical Lab Science Seniors Naomi, Pablo and Gloria telling incoming UTEP freshmen why CLS is the BEST major if you’re a pre-med student, want to be a researcher, or if you want to learn the science behind the medicine. ⛏️🩸🔬🧫

Happy Friday, CHS Miners! ⛏ Check out these photos of Dr. Fredy Mora Solis (Physical Therapy), Dr. Kosaku Aoyagi (Physical Therapy), and Dr. Carolina Valencia (Rehabilitation Sciences) at the World Congress for the International Association for the Study of Pain, held this week in Amsterdam.

Congratulations to all three professors for having been invited to present at the congress, and for representing the UTEP College of Health Sciences!
UTEP Physical Therapy

Happy Thursday, CHS Miners! ⛏The Department of Occupational Therapy invites you to attend a virtual information session for prospective students.

The OTD faculty will provide a presentation about the program, as well as a virtual tour of the Rehabilitation Sciences Complex (RSC) where the program is located. There will be time for questions and answers with faculty members and students.

August 13 – 6:00 PM (Mountain Time) VIA ZOOM (link below and in IG bio)

RSVP LINK:https://utep.questionpro.com/t/AU8hpZ3jTd

Happy Wednesday, CHS Miners! ⛏ Yesterday evening, nine MPH student interns presented their research at the Practicum Poster Exhibit held in the HSN lobby. These students complete the projects as part of Dr. Cynthia Wittenburg's practicum course. Topics covered included HIV prevention programming, diabetes education, bilingual health literacy education, bilingual interventions to increase self-efficacy with COVID-19 antigen rapid tests, communicable disease awareness, food insecurity, AI in health care and policy, sustainability of food pharmacy programs, and engagement of rural youth in health literacy programming.

Congratulations to all of our student presenters in reaching this important milestone in their MPH degree! 🥳

Happy Tuesday, CHS Miners! ⛏ We're pleased to share good news! Dr. Eva Moya, professor and chair of the Department of Social Work, received the Border Hero Award from Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center last Friday evening. Las Americas holds an annual recognition event to honor individuals from the community for their leadership and service to the borderlands, and advocacy of the immigrant community.

Dr. Moya, thank you for your dedication to social justice, and for being a voice for the most vulnerable!

Photo courtesy of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center
UTEP Social Work Alumni Network

CHS Miners, help us celebrate good news from the Geed Lab, directed by Dr. Shashwati Geed, assistant professor of Physical Therapy and Movement Sciences. Crystal Mendoza, undergraduate RA and Rehabilitation Sciences major, received the "Best in Category" poster award at last Friday's COURI summer symposium. Lab member Edaena Lujan also presented at the symposium.

Congratulations, Crystal and Edaena! We wish you continued success in your academic careers. 🥳

Photo courtesy of Dr. Shashwati Geed

Happy Monday, CHS Miners! ⛏️ Check out these photos of NSSLHA Officers volunteering at La Nube Museum last week to support the Down Syndrome Coalition for El Paso! 💙💛

Happy Friday, CHS Miners! ⛏ Earlier today, the Provost's Office issued a special announcement regarding our new interim dean, Dr. Stacy Wagovich. We're sharing Dr. Weibe's message below:
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I hope you’ll join me in welcoming Stacy A. Wagovich, Ph.D., Professor of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, to the role of Interim Dean of the College of Health Sciences, effective August 1, 2024.

Dr. Wagovich came to UTEP in 2022 as an Associate Professor of Speech-Language Pathology and Associate Dean in the College of Health Sciences. In these roles, she has taught graduate-level courses and undergraduate research courses and played a critical role in mentoring students. As Associate Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs, Dr. Wagovich has provided leadership and mentorship to faculty, helping them to secure research funding, enhance their scholarly work, and foster interdisciplinary research and collaborations with internal and external partners.

Dr. Wagovich holds a doctoral degree in communication sciences and disorders from the University of Georgia, a master's degree in speech-language pathology from the University of Maryland – College Park, and a bachelor's degree in education from the University of Virginia.

Prior to arriving at UTEP, Dr. Wagovich served as the chair of the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at the University of Missouri.

I am grateful to Dr. Wagovich for her service in this critical role, and I look forward to working with her to continue the positive trajectory of the College of Health Sciences as we launch a national search for the next Dean.

CHS Miners, the good news keeps coming from the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences PhD Program! Help us celebrate PhD student Maria Fuentes, who successfully defended her proposal yesterday and is moving into candidacy. Maria's committee includes Dr. Gabriel Ibarra-Mejia (chair), and Drs. Ximena Burgos, Cynthia Wittenburg, and Giulio Francia.

Congratulations on achieving this important milestone, Maria! 🥳

CHS Miners, help us celebrate another successful proposal defense! PhD student Uchenna Gbugu passed her defense yesterday afternoon and is moving into candidacy. Special thanks to her committee, including her chair Dr. Gabriel Frietze (asst. professor of Pharmacy) and members Dr. Margie Padilla, Dr. Jacob Martinez, and Dr. Julia Lechuga.

Congratulations, Uchenna, on reaching this important milestone in your academic career! 🥳

CHS Miners, help us celebrate good news! Yesterday, Md Mohsin, a PhD student in the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences PhD Program, successfully passed his proposal defense and will move into candidacy. A special thanks goes out to his committee, including chair Dr. Thenral Mangadu, and members Dr. Emre Umucu, Dr. Maria Duarte, and Dr. Jacob Martinez.

Congratulations, Mohsin, on reaching this important milestone! 🥳