Category: SharkBytes

College of Psychology Alum working on COVID-19 Front line in New York

Christopher Fisher, Psy.D., is a clinical psychologist currently working at the epicenter of the coronavirus on a COVID-19 positive Adult Inpatient Psychiatry unit at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens, New York.

Fisher provides psychological care to those battling the virus who are also requiring psychiatric stabilization before community reintegration. Fisher credits the faculty of the College of Psychology’s Clinical Psychology program, and specifically his mentor, Assistant Professor Jennifer Davidtz, Ph.D., for years of amazing training and supervision that have prepared him for the work he does daily during this pandemic.

Education Alum Appointed President of Morris Brown College

Kevin James, Ed.D., graduate of NSU’s Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice (FCE&SCJ), has been unanimously appointed the 19th President of Morris Brown College by its board of trustees. At age 42, he is one of the youngest college presidents in the country. He has served as interim President since March 1, 2019.

Over the past fourteen months, Morris Brown College has made tremendous progress under his leadership with accreditation, governance, rebranding of the institution, partnerships, and fiscal stability.

James is a native of Columbia, South Carolina. He has resided in Atlanta, Georgia since 2015, where he was the Interim CEO of 100 Black Men of America, Inc. James has over 20 years of experience in higher education as a senior level administrator, with positions at Strayer University and Herzing University as dean of academic affairs as well as a senior dissertation advisor at Grand Canyon University

James earned his Doctorate of Higher Education with FCE&SCJ in 2009.

 

NSU Faculty Research Concierge Health Care Service

NSU associate professors Louis Nemzer, PhD of The Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography and Florence Neymotin, PhD of The H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship teamed up to study concierge doctors using machine learning. Concierge care in the United States represents an important part of the rapidly increasing “Velvet Rope Economy,” in which premium service is available for the privileged few prepared to pay a hefty price. Similar to the system of first class on airplanes or box suites at a football game, instead of a regular practice, these physicians charge large annual retainers. In return, patients can get priority attention with less time spent in waiting rooms. The use of machine learning methods in Economics is becoming increasingly popular, especially in the field of health care, which has huge amounts of data waiting to be analyzed. For this project, the faculty members scraped thousands of patients reviews from the website healthgrades.com and performed a machine learning sematic analysis to determine which words were most associated with concierge doctors in California and Florida, as compared with conventional family or internal medicine physicians. They found that technical words, like “staff,” and “diagnosis” are more likely to be on the minds of consumers of concierge care, who are paying for rapid access. In contrast, patients of conventional doctors mentioned “concerns” and “listen”, which show a greater concern for bedside manner. The work is published in Health Economics, which is classified as a first-tier journal by the Harzing Journal Quality List. Future work may include extending these semantic analysis methods to other online feedback sites.

CAHSS Alumna is TED Talks Presenter on Conflict Resolution

Dorothy Walker speaks at TED@WellsFargo, February 5, 2020, at the Knight Theater in Charlotte, NC. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED

 

Dorothy Walker, Ph.D., 2015 doctoral graduate of the Department of Conflict Resolution Studies (DCRS) in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS) gave a TED Talks presentation entitled, “Three Ways to Resolve a Conflict.” Walker is a certified Project Manager at Wells Fargo, as well as a mediator and facilitator.

In addition to her doctoral degree, Walker also received her B.S. in Business Administration from NSU. She earned an M.S. in Telecommunications from the University of Denver and a Master’s Certificate in Project Management from The George Washington University.

To access her TED Talk, please go to https://youtu.be/r4xPwhcnS-Q

Education Alum Authors Horror Novel

Brian Rick, graduate of the Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice authored the horror novel, “I Am Martin.”

Brian wrote his first novel at age 12 and drew more than 120 comic books throughout his teen years. At 14, while dealing with the typical teenage angst that afflicted so many of his generation, Brian created a character, an antihero named Martin. Additionally, he is the author of “Leaving Home,” a Science-Fiction short story set in the not too distant future. He later shared the story with the Vice-President of the United States. In 2016, while living close to numerous current and former Marines, Brian published “Some of Dad’s Stories,” a 43-chapter anthology about his father’s experiences in war and peace. “Some of Dad’s Stories” is now available at Barnes&Noble.Com.

He attributes his father as being the greatest influence in his life as well as his former Imaginative Writing professor and best-selling author, James Lee Burke. Brian also considers Stephen King, Rod Serling (The Twilight Zone) and Michael Crichton to be his mentors.

Brian earned an M.S. from the Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice  in 1999. He and his wife, Angel, live in Lakeland, FL with their two dogs: Brandy and Sam.

KPCOM Takes Action in COVID-19 Aid

The KPCOM OMS-I Class Board and SGA Executive at the Fort Lauderdale/Davie and Tampa Bay Regional campuses raised more than $16,000 to purchase FDA-approved personal protective equipment (PPE) for Florida hospitals in need. They also purchased supplies to make about 100 care packages for the families of health care workers affected by COVID-19. The care packages which were delivered to a local hospital, consisted of pasta, pasta sauce, popcorn, cough drops, tissues, playing cards, coffee, and thank-you cards.

“As soon as quarantine really began, we were all very eager to help out in any way we could,” said OMS-II Charles Bisbee, SGA president-elect. “I think as students in the field of medicine, we have an understanding of the hard work and tenacity that is required of the frontline health care providers in the fight against COVID-19.”

Part of what also made the project such a success was the involvement of students outside of the D.O. program. By including NSU’s Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine, along with various clubs and organizations, the original goals of raising funds and creating care packages were quickly surpassed. Social media efforts with fun Tik Tok videos further boosted morale while raising awareness.

“Our KPCOM, alongside our M.D. school, collectively raised more than $16,000 in our initiative to help provide PPE for health care providers, provide COVID-19-affected patients the funds for uncovered expenses, and to help provide care packages for the families of health care providers affected by COVID-19,” said OMS-I Aneil Tawakalzada, class of 2023 president. “This was an incredible accomplishment that truly helped illustrate how willing our student body is to get involved and to help make a difference. Our medical students at NSU are truly remarkable.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Education Professor to Host Zoominar on Blended Instruction

 

Michael Simonson, Ph.D.

Michael Simonson, Ph.D.

Michael Simonson, Ph.D., Professor, at NSU’s Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice will host a short “zoominar” titled, Blending In – Returning to the Classroom by Mini-Blending your Class, via zoom on Wednesday, May 27 12:00 p.m. EST.

This session will explain one of the most popular ways to blend a course, known as MINI-flipping or MINI-blending, which involves identifying single concepts — the building blocks of course content — and recording that content for remote delivery. Face-to-face sessions, whether with the entire class enrollment or in a divided class, is then reserved for discussions and explanations–approaches that work when social distancing is required.

Simonson is a professor in the Instructional Technology and Distance Education program. He has authored four major textbooks dealing with distance education, instructional technology, instructional computing, and instructional media. His two most recent books received first place book awards from the Association for Educational Communications and Technology.  He is also the founding editor of the Quarterly Review of Distance Education, Distance Learning Journal, and Proceedings of Papers presented at the Annual Conventions of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology.

Link to join: https://zoom.us/j/91446394580

 

NSU Alumna Named Chief Relations Officer For Kelley Kronenberg

Michelle Martinez Reyes (M.B.A., ’14) was named Chief Relations Officer for Kelley Kronenberg.

She joins the executive team for the multi-practice business law firm with more than 160 attorneys and 11 locations throughout Florida and the United States.

Martinez Reyes earned her M.B.A. from NSU’s H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship in 2014 with a concentration in global management.

“I am excited to embark on the next chapter of my career at Kelley Kronenberg. I am looking forward to contributing and becoming part of the firm’s legacy, joining the principal partners that have helped build it from the beginning. Magic sometimes happens when hard work meets opportunity and you have a great team in place,” Martinez Reyes said.

Martinez Reyes has over 20 years of experience as a trusted business advisor in the field of marketing and public relations.  She has earned a proven national reputation as a marketer, publicist, key brand builder, and catalyst to growth.

In 2020, she was most recently selected amongst the “Top Women in Communications” as a “Game-Changer” by Ragan Communications and PR Daily, selected amongst the “Top Women In PR” by PR News, and named a “National Latino Leader” for the year by the National Diversity Council.

Martinez Reyes previously worked as part of the marketing and business development teams for some of the largest firms in Florida and the U.S. Most recently, she served as the Chief Marketing Officer for Greenspoon Marder. She was part of the firm’s leadership team during their initial national expansion in 2016, successfully leading the marketing strategy, brand development and growth focusing on business development, client relations, media and public relations, philanthropic efforts, and community service throughout the U.S. until early 2020.

Education Professor to Present at the OLC Innovate 2020 Virtual Conference

Anymir Orellana, Ed.D., Professor at NSU’s Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice, will be presenting at the Online Learning Consortium (OLC) Innovate 2020 Virtual Conference. The conference was originally scheduled to be held this spring in Chicago, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was revamped to a fully online conference and rescheduled for June 15-26.

Dr. Orellana’s session, Creating and Sharing VR with Google, will be a virtual hands-on workshop where participants will learn how to create simple 360 VR content using free Google-based tools with their smartphone and computer, and view their product with an inexpensive VR head mount such as Google Cardboard.

She currently teaches online graduate courses in the areas of instructional technology, distance education, instructional media, and instructional design. Her research interests are in the field of instructional technology and distance education, specifically quality in online courses and effective integration of technology for learning.

For more information on the OLC Innovate 2020 Virtual Conference and Dr. Orellana’s session, please click here.

Halmos College Faculty and Students Present Protein Modeling at Virtual Conference

During April, a Halmos College faculty and student team was accepted to the National meeting of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Originally the symposium was scheduled to be held in San Diego, but due to COVID-19, the event was moved to a virtual platform. The team prepared a video presentation and posted to YouTube to link to the nationwide event.

The team consisted of Halmos faculty members Arthur Sikora, Ph.D., Emily Schmitt Lavin, Ph.D. Halmos College undergraduate students: Feza Abbas, Matthew Hunt, Lyla Abbas, Helana Ghali, Alesa Chabbra, and Mina Ghali. The team modeled two well know inhibitors of HIV-1 protease called Darunavir and Ritonavir. They also used chemical elements of both inhibitors to design a hypothetical new inhibitor that they named “Sharkavir” in honor of the NSU Sharks. The group worked in conjunction with the Center for Biomolecular Modeling as part of their NSF funded project to develop protein modeling research through the CREST (Connecting Researchers, Educators, and STudents) Program.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) affects approximately 37 million people worldwide and results in over 1 million deaths annually. A class of drugs first developed in 1995 inhibits the enzyme HIV-1 protease, thus preventing the maturation of an HIV precursor protein. There are now over 10 protease inhibitors available to treat HIV. Multiple mutations in the protein have made this treatment less effective. Darunavir is currently one of the strongest competitive inhibitors, as it binds effectively to the substrate envelope and has yielded a lower resistance for patients. The most effective treatment is a combination of two of these inhibitors: Darunavir and Ritonavir. In order to explain how these drugs work, the active site of the non-mutated wild-type HIV-1 protease was depicted as a binding box model. The protease inhibitors Darunavir, Ritonavir, and our hypothetical drug, “Sharkavir” were 3D printed to show how they fit into the protease active site. Details of the wild-type HIV-1 protease, as well as the drugs Darunavir, and Ritonavir, were found in the Protein Data Bank files. The new protease inhibitor molecule, “Sharkavir”, was designed as a combination of Darunavir and Ritonavir using Marvin Sketch: a software used to manipulate molecular structures.

 

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