CATCH UP WITH CHP

Student, Faculty, Staff, and Alumni

Accomplishments, Event Highlights, Stories, and Celebrations

May 2023-December 2023

A MESSAGE FROM DEAN TYE

In August and December we had the joy of seeing our students’ achievement in completion ceremonies for the ABS, PA-PLV, PA-NYC, NP, N&D, and OT programs in NYC and Pleasantville. The pride of our students and their families in their accomplishment also reflects the dedicated work of our community of faculty, staff, and colleagues in administration in the College and throughout our University.

Fall 2023 saw our new Master of Science in Health Informatics launch, in collaboration with the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems, a program that combines the growing field of healthcare and technology. We also launched a marketing campaign for the new Master of Public Health, which is slated to begin Fall 2024. We will continue to research new program opportunities to meet healthcare needs and our students’ goals. I also continue to work to secure resources including faculty lines for our existing programs which remain strong and in need of sustained support, and to work on organization within the CHP administration that will help enhance an ever-more-demanding environment for accreditation and related program support and to facilitate the research and scholarly work of our faculty. 2024 begins with much in the news that is profoundly sad, I take solace in the remarkable work that we do and are helping to prepare our students to do.

I hope you all enjoyed your well-deserved winter semester break. The beginning of a new year and new semester is always an exciting time and I look forward to all that we’ll do together between now and commencement in May 2024.

Happy New Year!

Marcus C. Tye, PhD [he/him]

Dean, College of Health Professions

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

Learn more about the newly renamed Center for Strategic Initiatives and Grants (formerly called ALPS) and the services that they provide.

Explore the Center for Excellence in Healthcare Simulation and learn about the benefits of simulation training in healthcare education.

FEATURE ARTICLES

Driving the Future of Occupational Therapy

A Go-Getter's Path to Success: Resources and Grit

CONGRATULATIONS GRADUATES!

In the past 6 months, we have celebrated the following Class of 2023 Graduations and Pinning Ceremonies:

August

Lenox Hill Hospital Physician Assistant, NYC

Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing, NYC

Nutrition and Dietetics

December

Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, NYC

Family Nurse Practitioner

Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, PLV

Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing, PLV

Occupational Therapy

Physician Assistant, Pleasantville

We hope you keep in touch by joining our CHP Alumni Association or by becoming a preceptor (if eligible). For more information, please contact Nicole Ojeda. We are also launching Setter Connect, a great way to keep in touch with alumni and current students.

Congratulations to all our graduates! We are honored to be a part of your healthcare journey and can't wait to see what is next for you.

Photos from these events and more can be found on our Flickr page!

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

Ana B. Amaya, DrPH, MPH

Associate Professor, Health Science

Universal Health Coverage Day 2023 Champion

Sethu Karthikeyan, PhD

Associate Professor, Communication, Sciences, and Disorders

Dean's Award for Outstanding Research/Scholarship

Kathi Reczek

Senior Staff Associate, University Health Care, Pleasantville

Dean's Staff Service Award

Jennifer Tokash, OTD, OTR/L, CBIS, CPAM

Clinical Associate Professor and Academic Fieldwork Coordinator, Occupational Therapy

Dean's Award for Outstanding Research/Scholarship

Jessica Tosto, MS, RD, CDN, CSP, CNSC

Department Chairperson, Clinical Associate Professor, and Coordinator, Nutrition and Dietetics

Dean's Faculty Service Award

Sharon Stahl Wexler, PhD, RN, FNGNA

Department Chairperson and Professor, PhD in Nursing

Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses Association (GAPNA)

2023 Excellence in Education Award

Katherine Butler

Family Nurse Practitioner

Outstanding Academic Achievement and Professional Potential

Jan Hilary Cu

Occupational Therapy

Academic Leadership Award

Stefanie Dimaris

Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner

Outstanding Academic Achievement and Professional Potential

Daniella Fair

Physician Assistant, Pleasantville

Outstanding Student Award

Maria Grill

Lenox Hill Hospital Physician Assistant

NYSSPA Kenneth Whitney PA Memorial Scholarship Recipient

Logan Harrison

Physician Assistant, Pleasantville

Leadership Award

Oz Hasis

Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner

Outstanding Student

of the Year

Carly Jennifer Hessler

Lenox Hill Hospital Physician Assistant

Outstanding Student of the Year

Shannon Lynch

Physician Assistant, Pleasantville

Clinical Excellence Award

Ginamarie Mangiafridda

Physician Assistant, Pleasantville

Clinical Excellence Award

Akhila Panicker

Family Nurse Practitioner

Outstanding Academic Achievement

Carolyne Radigan

Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner

Outstanding Academic Achievement

Sarah Stark

Physician Assistant, Pleasantville

Outstanding Achievement Award

Katherine Marjorie Tracey

Lenox Hill Hospital Physician Assistant

Clinical Excellence Award

Chiara Turechek

Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner

Outstanding Academic Achievement

and Professional Potential

Virginia Sophia Dweck

Carly Daphne Jankelovits

Eva Marku

Cassandra Elizabeth Sterbens

Tracy Van Ness

Lenox Hill Hospital Physician Assistant

Pi Alpha Inductees

Andrew Fabel, PA-C

ACP Supervisor, Emergency Medicine

Physician Assistant Student Preceptor

Lenox Hill Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine

Lenox Hill Hospital Physician Assistant

The Distinguished Service Award

Gina Zinzi

Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner

Outstanding Academic Achievement

The Lienhard School of Nursing was voted as the 2023 Top Nursing School in New York - Student Choice Award through nursing.org.

PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS

Elizabeth Colon-Fitzgerald, MS and Esma Paljevic, EdD, RN, CPNP, FNYAM presented Dismantling the Art of Doing Nothing: What not to do when creating a summer immersion program for Black & Latino/a first-generation students at the 2023 NASPA Racial Equity & Social Change Conference in Washington DC.

Hosted by City, University of London, Stephanie Allen, PHD, RN and Sharon Stahl Wexler, PHD, RN were on the first Zoom panel of the new Innovation Series collaborative, Creating Solutions to the Global Workforce Challenge.

Ellayne Ganzfried, MS, CCC-SLP, FNAP and Amy Kantor, MA, MS, CCC-SLP attended Annual Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) Conference in Boston as well. They presented their poster titled Interprofessional Education and Professional Practice Ignited through a Pediatric Feeding Practice that was co-authored with Pace faculty Jessica Tosto, MS, RD, CDN, CSP, CNSC, Lisa Raymond-Tolan, OTD, OTR/L, and Jennifer Tokash, OTD, OTR/L, CBIS, CPAM.

Dean Marcus Tye, PhD, and Patty Myers, MSEd, MT (ASCP), CLS, CHSE, joined Ellayne Ganzfried, MS, CCC-SLP, FNAP, and Jessica Tosto, MS, RD, CDN, CSP, CNSC, as they presented their poster Understanding and Promoting Interprofessional Practice and Collaboration, coauthored with Joanne Singleton, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, FAAN, FNAP, FNYAM, at the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions (ASAHP) Annual Conference in Fort Lauderdale, FL, October 2023.

Dr. Anderson was appointed to the board of the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM) as a board commissioner.

Belinda (Beau) Anderson, PhD, MA(Ed), Lac, published a new study, The History of Chinese Medicine Really Is Very Detailed Regarding Pandemics”: A Qualitative Analysis of Evidence-Based Practice and the Use of Chinese Herbal Medicine by Licensed Acupuncturists During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States and presented it at the 2nd World Congress for Integrative Medicine and Health in Rome, Italy this September.

She coauthored a new study, Group Acupuncture Therapy with Yoga Therapy for Chronic Neck, Low Back, and Osteoarthritis Pain in Safety Net Settings for an Underserved Population: A Feasibility Pilot Study. Global Advances in Integrative Medicine and Health.

She co-presented workshops, Improving acupuncture research education in acupuncture degree programs; Measuring patient-centered care: Common data sets for acupuncture trials across women’s lifespan; and Measuring patient-centered care: Determining common data sets for acupuncture trials across women’s lifespan using a modified Delphi process at the Acupuncture Research International Research Conference in New York, NY, and posters Improving acupuncture research education for acupuncture students: Qualitative research on survey of subject matter experts and stakeholders and Acupuncture and herbal medicine students’ attitudes towards research: A cross-sectional survey at the Maryland University of Integrative Health 2023 Research Symposium in Laurel, MD, May, 2023

Erica L. Gollub, DrPH MPH, had a busy semester with publications and presentations.

She co-authored and published with Health Science alum and current graduate nursing student Shirly Chen, Firearm Legislation and Firearm Use in Female Intimate Partner Homicide Using National Violent Death Reporting System Data , 2015–2019 in the journal Violence and Gender.

She participated in roundtable and poster sessions at the American Public Health Association 2023 Annual Meeting and Expo in Atlanta, November 13-14. Unmet need: An underutilized metric in HIV prevention and treatment science at the Health Equity and HIV Roundtable Session, and Young, firearm-related deaths predominate in African American intimate partner violence femicides: Results from the National Violent Death Reporting System, 2003-2019 with Health Science graduate and co-author Xinyi Feng '23 at the Gender-Based Violence Among Marginalized Populations and Implications for Prevention poster session.

John Damiao, PhD, OTR/L

coauthored his research, Parent Perspectives on Assisted Communication and Autism Spectrum Disorder, published in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy.

Marie Lourdes Charles, EdD, RN-BC, FNYAM and Lakeisha Nicholls, DNS, FNP-C attended the Greater New York City Chapter of the Black Nurses Association and were personal guests of Pace alum Launette Woolforde, EDD, DNP '93, the first Black chief deputy nursing officer of Northwell Health.

Ana B. Amaya, DrPH, MPH, had several speaking engagements this semester to present her research.

Fast-tracking Global Health Goals Through Health Policy and Systems Research was presented at a United Nations General Assembly side-event, September 22. She joined the Former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Ministry of Health Officials from Japan and South Africa and the head of Wellcome Trust for a discussion on the outcomes of the United Nations High-Level Meetings on health. You can click to read the details of the event.

In October, Dr. Amaya was also invited to two World Health Summit closed-door roundtables on Access to equitable healthcare: A holistic approach to community health, hosted by UNICEF; and From global principles to national action: Implementation challenges of the future pandemic accord, where she was asked to give her expert advice on key global challenges and advocated for the role of academia in these policy discussions.

As a Universal Health Coverage (UHC) champion, she published her blog, Empowering health for all: Reflections on HSG’s commitments, and collaborations on Universal Health Coverage Day.

Christen Cupples Cooper, EdD, RDN presented SNAP (Food Stamp) Challenge for Social Justice Week. The group discussed their experiences surviving on a SNAP (food stamps) budget of $7.00 per day, which is a reality for millions of Americans across the country.

Her research on 3D printed food was referenced in the Lifestyle Asia article, What is 3D printed food and which are the companies working on it?, May 2023.

Marie Lourdes Charles, EdD, RN-BC, FNYAM co-authored Perceptions and experiences of Registered Nurses caring for human trafficking victims in acute care settings: An integrative review, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology and Public Health Research, December 18, 2023.

Jennifer Hoffman, DPS, published her book Mind Maps in Medical Pharmacology: A Study Resource and Review for PA, NP, and Medical Students and Clinicians. Her book can be purchased via e-book or hard copy.

Amma Boakye, MPA, Elizabeth Colon-Fitzgerald, MS, and Esma Paljevic, EdD, RN, CPNP, FNYAM presented at the 2024 Hawaii International Conference on Education, sharing insightful findings from the HRSA Nursing Workforce Diversity Grant Funded Program, focusing on Creating Equitable Gains.

Denise Tahara, PhD, MPhil, MBA, presented her research, Veteran Liaison Expansion Project, in the Health and Wellness across the Lifespan section through ICTHP (Integrative, Complementary and Traditional Health Practices) at the American Public Health Association 2023 Annual Meeting and Expo in Atlanta, November 14. Denise led the round table presentations and discussions with Tianna Felder and Melissa Rodriguez, two seniors in Health Science who joined remotely.

Gretha Fievre, MSA, RN, Esma Paljevic, EdD, RN, CPNP, FNYAM, and Marie Lourdes Charles, EdD, RN-BC, FNYAM represented Pace and CHP at the HEAL Haiti Fundraiser, October 15. Drs. Charles and Fievre spoke on the many efforts the organization has led and supported. Dr. Charles also attended the HANA of Hudson Valley 15th Annual Scholarship, Fundraising, and Awards Gala in September.

Kyomi Gregory-Martin, PhD, CCC-SLP, co-presented Igniting Cultural Awareness Within the Supervisory Process for SLPs and Antidiscrimination and Allyship for the Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming Community: Scenarios and Strategies for CSD Professionals and co-led a master class titled, Watch your Step! Culturally Responsive Assessment and Dissemination of Information for African American English Speakers at the 2023 American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention in Boston, November 2023.

Linda Carozza, PhD, CCC-SLP, Communication, Sciences, and Disorders, delivered an invited talk on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the PhD in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences program at the CUNY Graduate Center on May 5.

Kristina Argiro and Nicole Stack, Good Samaritan Hospital/Access Physical Therapy, were selected for the Fieldwork Educator Award, nominated by the Occupational Therapy students for providing inspirational leadership and exceptional clinical experience. Kristina and Nicole were co-fieldwork educators for student Natalie Calianese '23.

Kristina addressed the Pi Theta Epsilon National Honor Society inductees at the May 4 ceremony.

For faculty biographies and contact information, visit our Faculty Profile page.

PACE EXPERIENCES

CSD graduate students became familiar with FEES (Flexible Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing) as a tool to evaluate dysphagia and gain hands-on scoping experience. FEES is a procedure designed to assess swallowing function through the use of visualization and imaging to examine the pharyngeal and laryngeal structures.

Mary Opfer, MS, RDN, in partnership with the Center for Wellbeing, hosted two Wellness Wednesday events this semester. The events focused on sharing nutritional information on clean eating and sharing recipes with attendees.

The first ever Nurse Practitioner Week Celebration and Seminar! Students, faculty, and staff came together on the NYC campus to hear faculty speakers, including keynote speaker Andréa Sonenberg, PhD, WHNP, CNM-BC, FNAP, FNYAM, as they share their expertise on health policies and more.

The NYC and PLV Physician Assistant programs came together for National Physician Assistant Day on October 6. Students and faculty went to Times Square to celebrate with other PA programs in the city.

This year at the Susan G. Komen #RacefortheCure, Pace University had 63 participants and reached their annual goal! This was the 33rd year of participation for our Pace team.

The Communication, Sciences, and Disorders department made their mark at the 2023 American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention in Boston, November 2023.

PhD Milestone Day, held November 3, was a celebration of all PhD in Nursing students and the progress they made during the Fall 2023 semester. All students who are in the proposal development phase of their research presented a poster highlighting their progress.