Staff from throughout UConn Health’s clinical offices and practices celebrated Halloween 2019 in costume. See if you recognize anyone?
UConn Health Halloween
Pulse
UConn Medical Trainees Shine at Family Medicine Research Day
Congratulations to the UConn medical students and residents who were recognized for their poster presentations at the Connecticut Academy of Family Physicians research day earlier this month:
Dr. Kristine Faulknham, family medicine resident: “Increasing influenza and pneumococcal vaccination rates in the outpatient setting”
Dr. Jessica Perez, family medicine resident: “Increasing performance and reporting of diabetic foot and eye exams”
Elisa Gonzalez Cuevas, medical student: “Anxiety, neuroticism and late-life depression”
Christian Schaufler, medical student: “The effect of maternal smoking during pregnancy on apnea of prematurity”
Katherine Spiegel, medical student: “Biomarker for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo: A prospective study of otolin-1 in serum”
Amisha Dave, medical student: “Automated extraction of pain symptoms: A natural language approach using electronic health records”
Walk to End Alzheimer’s 2019
Congratulations to the UConn Nation team, which as of last weekend’s 2019 Walk to End Alzheimer’s Disease at Rentschler Field nearly achieved its ambitious fundraising goal! There’s still time to push them past the $8K milestone—donate to the team today! (Contributed photos)
Fall Fun Festival 2019
UConn Health staff and students enjoy the annual Fall Fun Fest featuring the ever-popular Pumpkin Palooza decorating contest, a candy corn guessing game, and a new photo booth, along with delicious donuts, apples, popcorn, and cider. (Photos by Tina Encarnacion)
Pumpkin Palooza
Following is a first-person account participating in and volunteering at the Fall Fun Fest by Project SEARCH intern Shaunte Taylor:
I enjoyed the process of making Boogie and painting the pumpkin. Getting ready for the contest was a fun experience with my co-workers. I’m glad we got to make our own individual pumpkins like Jack Skellington, Sally, Mayor and Zero. We put a lot of work into getting prepared for the event. The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my favorite movies, I watch it all the time. I feel we did each character justice and brought each one to life. I loved seeing what each department did with their pumpkins and what they did had a lot of detail, so the competition was stiff. I also enjoyed giving out the tickets so everyone could vote on which pumpkins they liked the best. We were really hoping to win first place, but we are still very happy that we placed second! I would congratulate the team who won.
At the event there were so many treats, from popcorn to caramel apples. The donuts were really good and the cider was delicious, it was like a festival at work. It was a little chilly outside which added to the fall festival experience. I am glad that we got to participate and do this together as a team. Everyone worked well, we did it and got it done. All our hard work paid off. I would love to participate again next year!
Faculty Appointments, Promotions Fall 2019
The Academic Affairs Subcommittee of the Board of Directors has approved the following new faculty promotions and appointments for the Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine:
School of Dental Medicine Promotions
Professor In-Residence
- Dr. Steven Lepowsky – General Dentistry
Associate Professor with Tenure
- Dr. Aditya Tadinada – Oral and Maxillofacial Diagnostic Sciences
Associate Professor In-Residence
- Dr. Takanori Sobue – Oral Health and Diagnostic Sciences
School of Medicine Appointments
Professor – In Residence
- Dr. Kwame S. Amankwah – Surgery
- Dr. Raymond A. Dionne – Cell Biology
Associate Professor – Affiliated Institution
- Dr. Mark Marieb – (Hartford Hospital) – Medicine
School of Medicine Promotions
Professor – In Residence
- Anton M. Alerte – Pediatrics
- Steven V. Angus – Medicine
- Raymond J. Foley – Medicine
Professor – Tenure Track
- Kimberly L. Dodge-Kafka – Cell Biology
Professor – Affiliated Institution
- Christine M. Finck – (Connecticut Children’s Medical Center) – Surgery
Clinical Professor – Community Faculty
- Charles L. Castiglione – Surgery
- Joseph H. McIsaac, III – Anesthesiology
- Thomas C. Mort – Anesthesiology
Associate Professor w/award of Academic Tenure
- Lisa C. Barry – Psychiatry
Associate Professor – In Residence
- Laurie C. Caines – Medicine
- Justin J. Finch – Dermatology
- Jennifer M.P. Kanaan – Medicine
- Jun Lu – Dermatology
- Pooja Luthra – Medicine
- Kenia Mansilla-Rivera – Family Medicine
- Wendy A. Miller – Medicine
- Michael J. Payette – Dermatology
- Christine Thatcher – Family Medicine
- Kristina F. Zdanys – Psychiatry
Associate Professor – Affiliated Institution
- Elizabeth A. Deckers – (Hartford Hospital) – Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Lawrence Engmann – (Center for Advanced Reproductive Services) – Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Annmarie Golioto – (Connecticut Children’s Medical Center) – Pediatrics
- Louisa Kalsner – (Connecticut Children’s Medical Center) – Pediatrics
- Lisa B. Namerow – (Hartford Hospital) – Psychiatry
- Avinash Prasad – (Hartford Hospital) – Neurology
- Stephanie E. Rosener – (Middlesex Hospital) – Family Medicine
- Melissa Santos – (Connecticut Children’s Medical Center) – Pediatrics
- Erica A. Schuyler – (Hartford Hospital) – Neurology
- Shailendra Upadhyay – (Connecticut Children’s Medical Center) – Pediatrics
Associate Clinical Professor – Community Faculty
- Sivasenthil Arumugam – Anesthesiology
- Melanie S. Collins – Pediatrics
- Thomas J. Martin – Anesthesiology
- Dhamodaran Palaniappan – Anesthesiology
In Memoriam: Richard G. Stevens, PhD
It is with deep sadness that we share news of the passing of beloved colleague, researcher, and teacher Richard G. Stevens, Ph.D.
Dr. Stevens served UConn School of Medicine as a longtime faculty member since 1999. He was a professor and researcher in the Department of Community Medicine and Health Care and additionally contributed greatly to teaching UConn graduate students in the public health program, the masters in clinical and translational research program, and medical school students.
Dr. Stevens was a highly renowned cancer epidemiologist. For more than three decades he studied the effects of body iron levels associated with cancer and the role artificial lighting has on human health. He was steadfast in advancing our available scientific knowledge and the general public’s awareness about how artificial light, including light emitted from our electronic devices, is affecting our biology including disrupting our circadian rhythms.
He authored more than 150 academic publications including many with high impact in top scientific journals. As an avid communicator he authored high-profile media pieces that achieved large readership, spreading awareness and the UConn name far and wide.
In addition to his successful professional career, Dr. Stevens enjoyed the outdoors and was a great friend to many at UConn.
Dr. Stevens was a graduate of the University of California and completed his Ph.D. in epidemiology at the University of Washington.
A memorial service celebrating Richard’s life will be held on Friday, August 23, at 3 p.m. at the Carmon Funeral Home Family Center, 301 Country Club Road, Avon.
Our sympathy is with his wife, Ann, and family.
Sincerely,
Dr. Bruce T. Liang
Dean, UConn School of Medicine
Dr. Douglas Brugge
Chair, Community Medicine and Health Care
Whale of a Weekend
The Hartford Yard Goats held another Whalers Alumni Weekend, which started with ballplayers of today and hockey players of yesterday visiting with staff and patients at UConn Health Friday.
Honoring UConn Health’s Volunteers
UConn Health held a recognition reception for its volunteers June 4 in the academic rotunda.
Last year, 171 UConn Health volunteers gave more than 21,600 hours in various roles. Some volunteer for a few days a month, while others come in daily. In a typical week, UConn Health benefits from 415 volunteer hours.
Departments that could use volunteer assistance should email marsantiago@uchc.edu to inquire about availability and to schedule. Those who are interested in learning more about volunteering, or who know someone who might be interested, also should email marsantiago@uchc.edu.
When Your Email Smells Phishy…
UConn Health Information Technology Security soon will unveil a new tool for reporting suspicious emails. PhishAlarm® is a Microsoft Outlook add-in that allows you to easily report suspicious email without having to remember an email address. When emails are forwarded using this capability, security analysts receive all of the information they need to determine if the email you reported is a real phishing attack. You will see a PhishAlarm option in your Outlook toolbar.
How it Works
When you receive a suspicious-looking email in Outlook, either within the message preview pane or the opened message, click on the PhishAlarm option located in the Outlook toolbar and selects “Report Phish” from the drop-down menu.
You will receive feedback via an immediate pop-up window or an email. The reported email then is automatically deleted.
Let Nesting Geese Lie
It’s that time of year again, when our resident Canada geese are nesting. Our federally protected feathered friends may choose locations that aren’t all that convenient for us as campus travelers, but they have their reasons.
Here are some important things to remember:
- They tend to choose open, flat spaces so they can see predators from a distance.
- They’ll be gone in less than a month from when the mother starts sitting on her eggs. Within hours of hatching, the babies can walk and the parents will lead them away to the closest water source.
- Leave nests alone. Moving a nest containing eggs can endanger the young.
- Don’t feed them. Mom usually doesn’t eat during the incubation period, so leaving food will attract predators. And feeding the newborns unnatural foods can cause problems with their development.
Best practice: Leave them alone, stay out of their way, and when the babies come, they likely won’t be in your way any more.