Category: Health Care

Honors Alum Embarks on Rheumatology Fellowship

Farquhar Honors College alum Biana Modilevsky was selected as a fellow for the University of Arizona’s Rheumatology Fellowship Training Program. Completing her internal medicine residency this summer after three challenging but rewarding years at Swedish Hospital in Chicago, IL, she’s ready to take the next step towards becoming a rheumatologist.

Biana Modilevsky

During her residency, Modilevsky learned the technical side of practicing medicine and the art of medicine—the interpersonal connections formed with patients and their families.

“My favorite part of my job as a resident physician was finally being able to take some autonomy and responsibility for what I was doing,” said Modilevsky, who was chief resident during her final year of residency. “Up until the point of starting residency, I had spent my life learning about a lot of these topics in books, but this was the first time I was truly applying my knowledge. Though it was incredibly rewarding to begin formulating my own plans and truly applying what I had previously learned from studying, it was also really comforting to have backup from attendings and my co-residents to talk things through.”

Modilevsky has always loved science, but her passion for medicine grew after shadowing a rheumatologist in high school who became a mentor to her. Witnessing patient interactions and the excitement with which her mentor approached his work, she was inspired to pursue a medical career.

After graduating from NSU in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in biology, she swiftly moved on to medical school at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine at Midwestern University, where she received her Doctorate of Osteopathic Medicine in 2019.

“I feel like I had so many extra ‘tools’ in my toolbox as an honors student at NSU,” said Modilevsky, who now serves on the Honors Alumni Advisory Board. “The program truly offered a myriad of opportunities to excel, get involved in extracurriculars and the community, and broaden my learning horizons… I also had opportunities to meet other students outside of the college of science through honors socials, mixers, and outings, and gained exceptional mentors along the way. The Honors College was altogether one of my favorite parts and highlights of my time at NSU which I will forever be grateful for.”

In a few years, Modilevsky hopes to work as a rheumatologist. Whether she practices privately or in an academic setting, she’s not sure yet but is excited to apply everything she’s learned and possibly teach others one day.

Miami Edison High-Schoolers Participate in Shark Speak Program

A group of students from Miami Edison Senior High School are getting in-depth English lessons thanks to a student at the Fischler Academy at NSU’s Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice (FCE&SCJ).

The five high school students currently visit NSU’s campus where they partake in the Shark Speak project with Fischler Academy student, Gisel Egeraige, and Fischler Academy alumna Eloise Nieto.

Shark Speak is an interactive English acquisition program that accelerates the learning of the 100 most commonly used English words. The project was developed by Nieto and project supervisor Daryl Hulce.

The program is designed around using the 100 words in everyday settings such as going to the store or what is likely to be heard at school. At the core of the program is an activity called “May I Have… Please?,” where items that appeal to the learners, such as food and personal care products, are placed on a table and the students are taught to politely ask for them.

The students use the phrase “May I have… please?” filling in the blank with the items on the table. This repetition makes learning fun and provides a feeling of quick success for the students.

The lessons are led by Egeraige, who is in turn coached and supervised by Nieto, who teaches English as a second language at Miami Edison. The students have been taking well to the lessons and have spoken highly of the experience. Nieto said that additional students have even approached her and asked to participate in the program.

For more information on the Shark Speak program, please contact Daryl Hulce at hulce@nova.edu.

Posted 12/11/22

University School Student Publishes His First Book

Inspired by his experience in our Community Service and Leadership Seminar, USchool senior Tomer Shaked wrote and published a book titled “Game Over” that tells his story of overcoming an obsession with video games and dedicating his time to do good for others instead. Tomer is donating 100% of the book’s proceeds to the Jack & Jill Center, the place where his passion for helping others was awakened. He plans to continue volunteering and supporting the organization.

His book is available on Amazon: https://a.co/d/evVD0O8. We are proud of you, Tomer!Learn more about NSU University School’s college preparatory program for students in Preschool – Grade 12 at www.uschool.nova.edu

Published 12/11/22

LatinX Conference Presentation Receives Positive Reception

Diana Formoso, Ph.D., and members of the Unaccompanied, But Not Alone research team in the College of Psychology presented a symposium entitled Strengths and Needs of Unaccompanied Immigrant Minors and their Caregivers:  Working Collaboratively Across Disciplines to Fill Resource-Need Gaps at the National Latinx Psychological Association in Denver, CO. The talks focused on the strengths and needs of unaccompanied immigrant youth and their caregivers, balancing protection and autonomy for UIM in the U.S. refugee foster care system, and how we used community asset mapping methods to develop a community resource guide for migrant youth and families in South Florida.

The presentation was very well-received, with comments noted about how the various projects exemplified the strengths of community-based work (for example, interviewing migrant youth and professionals who work with them, forming a community advisory board), the importance of building trusting, respectful relationships with community partners, how to harness the University’s mission of community engagement and the privilege of education to build community resources and resilience, and the power of organizing and sharing community resources to support migrant youth and their families.

This work was made possible by a President’s Faculty Research and Development Grant and the commitment and hard work of the students in the Unaccompanied, But Not Alone research team: Jocelyn Meza, Adriana Wilson, Melissa Perez, Marianela Pena-Martinez, Veronica Grosse, and Courtney Clark. The NSU team was joined by Dr. Maria Fernanda Garcia from the University of Miami.

Posted 12/11/22

International Relations Association Gets Several Awards

The Nova International Relations Association (NIRA) housed in the Department of Humanities and Politics (DHP) in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS) participated in the 17th Annual Florida Model United Nations Conference (FMUN) in Gainesville, FL.  NSU received eight awards, the highest they have ever won at this conference.

Eighteen undergraduates (16 members of the POLS 2400 class and two returning members including NIRA President Mohammed Husain). At the conference they competed against other universities from across Florida and Georgia. Despite being the smallest group of returning delegates, just 2, and the rest being first time participants, they won 8 awards!

NSU swept the highest award category – Outstanding Delegation for Meroshah Khan and Alexis Lass (Australia) and Paula Rey and Ivanna Cortez (Colombia).  Rey also won an Outstanding Delegate award for her work marking her as the best delegate in her committee.

Hailee Delgado and Olivia Jones won a third-place award (Honorable Award) for their representation of New Zealand. There were also numerous individual awards: Jordan Parris, Kiara Colman, and Emily Velazquez won awards for their position papers, and Alexander Trofimov won the award for most improved delegate in his committee.

For more information, please contact advisor, G. Nelson Bass, Ph.D. at nbass@nova.edu

Posted 12/11/22

Halmos Faculty, Alumna Present at Conflict Resolution Conference

McKay

Judith McKay, J.D., Ph.D., director of the doctoral program and faculty in the Department of Conflict Resolution Studies (DCRS) in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS), presented at the 2022 Association for Conflict Resolution Annual Conference held in Orlando and virtually. She invited DCRS alumna, Michelle Cromwell, Ph.D., to co-present. The theme of the conference was Evolving Horizons in Conflict Resolution. McKay and Cromwell’s presentation was titled, Holistic Approaches to Intimate Partner Violence: Prevention and Intervention.

In addition, McKay is the faculty adviser to the Social Justice Roundtable and works with students in the community through Community Resolution Services (CRS), a practicum and volunteer site for DCRS. CRS hosts Story Café, We Love our Families series, The Women’s Roundtable, and is involved in offering workshops for the county’s Crisis Intervention Teams, and other events for community groups and organizations. She is also the Co-director of the NSU Council for Dialogue and Democracy (CDD).

Cromwell

McKay’s scholarly interests include conflict coaching, strategic community planning, violence prevention and intervention in family, neighborhood, and organizational conflicts.  For more information about Community Resolution Services and the CDD please contact McKay at mckayj@nova.edu.

Michelle Cromwell, Ph.D., is an M.S. and Ph.D. graduate of DCRS. She is currently the inaugural Vice-President for Inclusive Excellence and Belonging at Sonoran University of Health Sciences in Tempe, AZ.  Previously she was named the Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the State University of N.Y. at Plattsburgh and the Associate Vice President for Inclusive Excellence at Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts, and as the Chief Diversity Officer at The School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont.

In 2018, Cromwell was named as one of NSU’s Distinguished Alumni. In addition to Cromwell’s NSU graduate degrees, she received a B.Sc. in Social Work from the University of the West Indies in Trinidad where she was born.

Posted 12/11/22

SLP Department Chair Featured for Community Service

The Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) Department is proud to announce that our department chair, Melissa Edrich, Ed.D. CCC-SLP, was featured in the Virtual Connections November 2022 newsletter.

Virtual Connections is a national network of providers and facilitators who offer online support groups to individuals with aphasia, a language disability that is a result of stroke or other brain injury. Edrich has been facilitating Virtual Connections groups since 2020. Individuals from around the world participate in these groups, seeking information and support. Virtual Connections is a service of an aphasia-focused technology company, Lingraphica, in partnership with an aphasia advocacy organization, Aphasia Recovery Connection.

Virtual Connections has been a source of education for NSU SLP students, who learn about the experience of living with a communication disability in many different locations and situations.

Free groups are provided thanks to the service of facilitators like Edrich, other NSU SLP faculty, and many others around the United States.

Posted 12/11/22

NSU Academic Diving Program Receives Awards from PADI

From left: Bill Conrad, Assistant Director for Scuba Diving Instruction; Kimmy Schmutz, Coordinator for Scuba Diving Instruction; and Tec Clark, Associate Director for Scuba Diving and Outdoor Recreation, receive two awards of excellence from Drew Richardson, President and CEO of PADI. (photo by Karl Shreeves)

The Nova Southeastern University Academic Diving Program (NSUADP) received two awards from the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI). This year marks the 10th anniversary of the of the NSU Academic Diving Program. And during the diving industry’s largest trade show, the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association (DEMA) Show in Orlando, Florida, PADI held a special event to recognize the NSU Academic Diving Program’s outstanding contribution to diver training.

The program received an Award of Excellence in Education from PADI. Drew Richardson, President and CEO of PADI, spoke at the event, expressing how the NSU Academic Diving Program is a flagship PADI Educational Institution that produces outstanding divers and diving professionals. Tec Clark, NSU’s Associate Director of Scuba Diving and Outdoor Recreation, also received a Leadership Excellence award from PADI for his fostering of excellence and professionalism in dive education.

The NSUADP is an award-winning university dive training program in the diving capital of the U.S. The NSUADP is the second-largest academic diving program in the nation and offers a full variety of courses from Freediver through Scuba Instructor. Courses are taught for both academic credit and non-academic recreational courses to students, faculty, staff and alumni. The NSUADP is a PADI Educational Institution as well as a Divers Alert Network (DAN) Training Facility.  The NSUADP trains up and hires Divemasters and Scuba Instructors to staff all diving courses as well as the NSU Scuba Club dives – making these one of the best student jobs on campus.

Posted 12/11/22

Halmos Faculty Member Quoted in Nautilus Journal Article

Matthew Hoch, Ph.D.

Matthew Hoch, Ph.D., faculty in the Department of Marine Biology and Environmental Sciences in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS), has been quoted in the article entitled, The Hermaphrodite at the Bottom of the Sea, in the journal, Nautilus.

Hoch’s current work concerns ecological effects of the restoration of the Everglades. In the past he has worked on sex allocation and reproductive dynamics of barnacles, including the functional morphology of their penises. Other projects have included soft-sediment community ecology in salt marshes, the effects of the restoration of Cadmium pollution in Foundry Cove and the dynamics of sex change in slipper snails.

Access the full article!

Posted 11/22/22

Physical Therapy Students Learn About Homelessness

According to the Florida Coalition to End Homelessness, Florida has the third largest homeless population in the U.S. behind California and New York.  With the cost of housing in S. Florida coupled with inflation, the demographics of the homeless are changing and numbers increasing.

Although the numbers are significant, curricula exposure of students to homelessness is minor at best.  As DPT students may encounter homeless individuals in their clinical experiences, dispelling stereotypes and providing opportunities for interaction and education have been integrated into the curriculum.

The Fort Lauderdale DPT program has partnered with the Broward Partnership for the Homeless (BPHI) at the Deerfield site,  as a component of the Integrated Clinical Education  (ICE) experiences.  Under the supervision of Isabella Preble, Community Relations Specialist, BPHI, and Debra Stern, PT, DPT, DBA, NSU, first year students are participating in the Breaking Bread, Breaking Barriers volunteer program.

This Service Learning initiative is providing education about needs of the homeless of all ages; toddlers through aging adults, and the services available in Broward County.  Each student spends one afternoon in the fall semester learning, interacting, serving and preparing a meal for the 186+ residents of the center.

Posted 11/20/22

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