Faculty & Staff News
ABC’s WPBF News 25 in West Palm Beach recently interviewed Dr. Vladimir Beljanski, an associate professor of medicine at NSU, on advances in medicine and new approaches being used to combat neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Posted 03/03/24
Dr. Belle Wheelan, President of SACSCOC with NSU President and CEO George L. Hanbury II
Nova Southeastern University received notification from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) that our Fifth-Year Interim Report has been successfully accepted with no additional reporting requested.
SACSCOC is the body for the accreditation of degree-granting higher education institutions in the Southern states. It serves as the common denominator of shared values and practices primarily among the diverse institutions in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Latin America and certain other international sites approved by the SACSCOC Board of Trustees that award associate, baccalaureate, master’s, or doctoral degrees.
The Commission also accepts applications for membership from domestic institutions in the other 39 states, as well as international institutions of higher education around the world.
Congratulations to all for this recognition of NSU as a preeminent university of quality and distinction!
Posted 12/05/23
The FY 2025 President’s Research Grant (PRG), formerly the Presidents Faculty Research Development Grant (PFRDG), and Quality of Life (QOL) grant cycles are now open! This year the application process will take place on Cayuse Sponsored Projects, NSU’s new grant management system. Applications are due via Cayuse no later than January 22, 2024, 5:00 p.m.. More information, as well as application instructions, can be found on the PRG and QOL websites, linked below. Through these programs, eligible faculty may apply for internal grants of up to $15,000 in support of a variety of research and scholarly activities. PRG and QOL are tremendous opportunities to obtain support for research and scholarship at NSU, and to build faculty research capacity that can be leveraged toward external funding pursuits.
Melissa Jomsky
For Melissa Jomsky, life always required extra resilience. Growing up in Fort Lauderdale, her parents struggled, with little money and even fewer resources. Family support and encouragement – especially toward education – was in short supply.
“Our thought process was ‘survival mode’ all the time,” she said.
Yet, she credits growing up in a low socioeconomic environment for shaping the person she is today … and providing the motivation needed in her education journey.
“No doubt, what has gotten me this far is my determination,” she said.
Melissa earned an education degree from the University of Central Florida, and after working two years as a fourth-grade teacher in Orlando – a great career but personally not a good fit, she said – Melissa moved back home. Not wanting to teach, she took a job as a receptionist at a doctor’s office to pay the bills. That’s where she found a mentor, something she never had. It’s also where she started thinking about medical school, a dream she never imagined.
“It was nice hearing someone who was educated tell me that I was smart. It was very motivating to know he really believed that I could be a physician,” she said. “But I knew people like me don’t just become doctors. But then I thought, ‘How do I really know that?’”
Being from Fort Lauderdale, Melissa knew of NSU and its M.D. program. She also knew many of her UCF classes wouldn’t transfer. With no help or support from others, she spent seven years saving money, working full-time, and taking one to two classes a semester at Broward College to get the prerequisites done.
Her challenges continued with the MCAT, the standardized admissions test for medical schools. Melissa had never taken a test like that before, and studying for it and saving money for it would take more time. She also took the test more than once to improve her score – and did – but it still wasn’t competitive. That’s when she learned about NSU’s Master of Biomedical Sciences – a program designed to enhance students’ academic background and make them more competitive for professional health care programs.
“With NSU’s allopathic medical school having only 50 spots, I knew I needed to stand out in the crowd,” she said. “This master’s program did that for me. It gave me the confidence I needed. I did well with my MBS; I knew I would do well with an M.D.”
So, at age 32, Melissa applied and was accepted to the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine, where she is the second-oldest classmate in her cohort.
“It definitely feels homey, and there’s a sense that we are all together in this,” she said, while admitting that being older creates a disconnect with students 10 years her junior. “But I know they will always have a place in my heart, and I can see certain people who will definitely be with me through my career.”
Helping students bond comes easier when class sizes are small, which is a strength of NSU, according to Melissa. “It’s one of the reasons I wanted to go to med school here. It’s individualized, nobody goes under the radar, and we aren’t pitted against each other.”
Another plus for Melissa? The thought that goes into the curriculum.
“NSU is a newer med school and honestly, I think it’s the best characteristic. Everything is so fresh – it’s not built on ‘Oh, this is what’s worked for years so let’s just do it that way.’ Here, they genuinely listen to and make changes based off students’ feedback. I love that.”
As a first-year medical student, Melissa remains open to the type of doctor she wants to be. But growing up in a low socioeconomic environment will play a role.
“I think it’s something that’s super important and shaped the type of person I am,” she said. “When I hear about health disparities, or about a patient who needs a certain treatment, I ask if they will be able to afford that or if it is covered by Medicaid. It’s something I am very passionate about – bringing health care to those from low socioeconomic backgrounds.”
And she has advice for those who might be contemplating medical school: Don’t give up.
“Applying and getting in is probably the hardest part. It took me seven years and there were a lot of people who doubted I could do it,” she said. “Just don’t give up. You must stay committed.”
Posted 11/26/23
It has been 13 years since the Provost’s Research and Scholarship Award program first launched. This program expanded last year and now offers awards across two career stages and two disciplinary categories. There were many outstanding nominations this year, and from that pool of distinguished nominees, five NSU faculty were recognized on Monday, November 13 in the Levan Center. This year, an added recognition for each winner was provided by NSU Business Services; each winner received a one-year membership to the NSU Faculty Club, valued at $300.
Arts, Business, Humanities, Law, and Social Sciences
For the Assistant Professor Award, two faculty members are honored in this category.
Furiasse
Assistant Professor Award – Amanda Furiasse, Halmos College of Arts & Sciences is an Assistant Professor of Digital and Medical Humanities in the Department of Humanities and Politics. Her scholarly work is at the intersection of religion, artificial intelligence, and cybernetic medicine, with recent publications in journals of religion, social issues, and culture. Her scholarly efforts extend beyond academia in her role as senior producer and podcast director for the Political Theology Network’s Podcast and as Co-Director for the Contagion, Religion, and Cities Project at the Center for the Study of Religion and the City. A recent grant award from Florida Humanities features her podcast work again, this time to launch a futurist podcast called Florida 2100: Tales of Tomorrow.
Ellis
Assistant Professor Award – Amy Ellis, College of Psychology, is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director of the Trauma Resolution and Integration Program. She seeks to understand the impact of trauma on underserved populations in regard to health disparities, such as affectional and gender minorities, as well as Latine individuals, and male survivors of sexual abuse. Her work in collaboration with external colleagues has been funded by the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and National Institute of Justice. In addition to academic publications, she disseminates her work through various news sources for broader audiences such as The New York Times, Psychiatric Times, Medium, and The Conversation. Her service to the NSU community includes training for campus units like the public safety department and Psychological Services Center as well as supervising students who see clients with various psychological difficulties.
Mujtaba
Professor Award – Bahaudin Mujtaba, H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship, is a Professor of Human Resources and International Management. He is the author and coauthor of books dealing with diversity, ethics, and business management, and his contributions to his field are significant. During the past thirty years, he has worked with managers and human resource professionals in almost 20 countries, and this diverse exposure has provided him with many insights in cross-cultural management from the perspectives of different firms, people groups, and cultures. With an extensive publication record and thousands of citations covering topics such as business, change, culture, ethics, diversity, and others, his work is highly collaborative with over 50 different coauthors drawn from NSU, the United States, and abroad. His books and guidance are sought and frequently used by companies, professors, and the media. He served as a cultural consultant for the movie Kite Runner and in 2018 did pro bono training and development work in Afghanistan on topics of adult learning, leadership, and ethics.
STEM and Health/Medicine
Robison
Assistant Professor Award – Lisa Robison, College of Psychology, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and in her short time at the university already has funded collaborations with researchers in NSU’s Colleges of Pharmacy and Osteopathic Medicine. Her multidisciplinary work spans many topics, such as determining how lifestyle factors like exercise, diet, stress influence brain health and risk for mood disorders, addiction, and dementia. Since 2020, she has published 12 papers in journals with an average impact factor of 7.56. This widespread recognition can be further quantified with more than 1,000 citations of her publications and an impressive h-index of 21. Her work has garnered media attention, being featured on Newsweek and other news outlets.
Smith
Professor Award – Robert Smith, Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine, is an Associate Professor in the department of Medical Education and researcher in the NSU Cell Therapy Institute. His work on antibiotic resistance contributes to our understanding of how bacteria resist antibiotics as populations. He has received funding as a PI or Co-PI on projects from the Department of Defense and National Institutes of Health totaling over $2 million. One of these grants funded research equipment that has been used by over 4,000 NSU students and faculty. He has supervised over 65 undergraduate and graduate students, engaging many in his lab’s research projects and publishing with several of these students. As editor for the journal PLoS One and chair of NSU’s Faculty Research Advisory Council he helps to shape and support the research and scholarship in his field and others.
Congratulations to all the winners on their impressive achievements.
Posted 11/26/23
From left, President George L. Hanbury II, Dr. Leonard Pounds, Sen. Alexis Calatayud, and Executive Vice President, COO and President-Elect Dr. Harry K. Moon.
On Tuesday, Oct. 3, Florida state Sen. Alexis Calatayud came to the Alan B. Levan l NSU Broward Center of Innovation and presented a check for $5 million from the State of Florida to Nova Southeastern University’s NSU Health Veterans Care.
On hand to receive the check were Dr. Leonard Pounds, NSU’s Vice President of Clinical Operations; NSU President and CEO George L. Hanbury II; and Dr. Harry K. Moon, NSU’s COO, Executive Vice President, and President-Elect.
Posted 10/09/23
For years, NSU has been raising the bar on health care in South Florida through interprofessional education and simulation. Our philosophy and practice have focused on training future professionals to interact with patients and collaborate as members of health care teams before practicing in real-life health care environments.
To enhance and expand our current world-class health care facilities, NSU Health is seizing the opportunity to put them under one roof at the future site of a brand new, standalone Interprofessional Simulation Complex, or SimCom.
This facility – spearheaded by EVP and COO Dr. Harry Moon and NSU Health – will serve as the cornerstone of NSU’s health care footprint on the Fort Lauderdale/Davie Campus, strategically located near the health care colleges, NSU Health’s clinics, the Center for Collaborative Research, and the HCA University Hospital. The facility’s infrastructure will be used by students on campus as well as all regional campuses virtually. Slated to open in 2025, SimCom will be supported by NSU Health’s new Interprofessional Simulation Institute – led by Executive Director Dawn Wawersik. The Institute – which already oversees the administration and operations of simulation activities for the university.
These cutting-edge endeavors will culminate in a uniquely beneficial asset to NSU students, educators, and researchers across all our regional campuses, as well as the health care community and industry at large. The much smaller former Dolphins training facility building, previously considered to house SimCom, will be repurposed to address much-needed office and classroom space on campus.
Learn more about these exciting endeavors.
Posted 09/26/23
In 2017, Dr. Farzanna Haffizulla was invited to join NSU as assistant dean for community and global health in the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine. Around this time, she applied for and was awarded an internal NSU Quality of Life grant, which became the M.D. college’s first grant. This grant supported work to understand the Caribbean community’s preferences for health and wellness education and served as a valuable springboard for funded health equity projects and grants she has been engaged in ever since. Since joining NSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine first as Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine in 2020, now fully immersed in community health equity under the leadership of Dean Wallace, her team created culturally tailored health education materials on multiple forms of media and launched a cooking show designed to showcase healthy options when making traditional Caribbean and Latin American dishes. Seasons 1 and 2 are published online at NSUCaribbeanhealth.com and Season 3, with premier sponsorship by Aetna, is set to launch worldwide on Thursday Sept. 28, 2023, at 7:30 p.m. EST on https://www.youtube.com/@IntheKitchenWithDrH
“I am grateful to work with such an incredible team of supporters. In fact, since joining the KPCOM, Dean Elaine Wallace continues to be a champion supporter of our team’s health equity initiatives. With her support, we are now positioned to be leaders in health equity and inclusive health care that prioritizes diversity, empathy, and humanism. We are grateful to serve as a trusted source of health information for the Caribbean community. I was approached by Aetna and CVS, which embraced our continuously funded Caribbean Diaspora Healthy Nutrition Outreach Project. They are now premier sponsor of Season 3 of our Caribbean health cooking show In the Kitchen with Dr. H. Using this platform, we highlight small ways to make changes in the way we eat and live that can prevent chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and stroke.
Since becoming the KPCOM’s chair of internal medicine in August 2020, I was asked by the City of Lauderhill to cochair the Lauderhill Health and Prosperity Partnership, working directly with city officials who founded this initiative—Vice Mayor Melissa Dunn and City Manager Giles- Smith. We are also working with city residents, community stakeholders, business owners, and other key city officials like the mayor and the city commissioners through a data-driven approach addressing community needs. This role has allowed NSU to serve as an anchor institution for this city initiative.
The Caribbean Diaspora Healthy Nutrition Outreach Project provided a population health platform to gather social determinants of health data and other relevant health metrics from City of Lauderhill residents. Together, we worked to produce a comprehensive community needs assessment. This is now published on the city’s website, and we are currently working on a publication related to our findings that will include both qualitative focus group and quantitative survey data related to social determinants of health and disease metrics, such as diabetes risk, cancer diagnosis, heart disease, mental health, and COVID-19 challenges, among other health topics. For more information, please visit www.NSUCaribbeanhealth.com or www.InTheKitchenwithDrH.com
From left, NSU faculty Lauren Fine, M.D.; Vijay Rajput, M.D.; Stefanie Carter, Ed.D.; and Vanessa Johnson, Ph.D.
The American Medical Association (AMA) has provided funding of up to $20,000 each to five recipients to implement their Student BP Measurement Essentials Modules in their curriculum. The AMA Student BP Measurement program was initially launched in 2021 to improve standardization of blood pressure measurement training across the country. The modules have been updated and further expanded this year based on findings from the 2021 modules and 2021 grant recipients. NSU is the recipient of one of five $20,000 grants during this 2023 cycle, which will be implemented in collaboration with representatives from Florida State University (FSU) and the University of Central Florida (UCF) as a unique multi-institutional and interprofessional effort.
Faculty from each school leading the implementation of this grant include:
Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine (NSU MD)
University of Central Florida College of Medicine
Florida State University
The AMA BP modules are free and can be accessed through the AMA Ed HubTM site.
The news release for this project can be accessed here.
If you have questions about the project or are interested in future collaboration in this project, please email Lauren Fine, MD at LFine1@nova.edu.
Posted 09/24/23
NSU MD is proud to announce the formation of a SIGN (Student Interest Group in Neurology) chapter! SIGN is affiliated with the American Academy of Neurology, and our chapter here at NSU’s Davie campus is now one of over a hundred spanning the U.S. and internationally.
Through this SIGN chapter, we are committed to promoting educational initiatives relating to neurological health maintenance and care, sharing new developments in the field of neurology, and fostering mentorship between students and providers practicing in neurology. Our first year of operation has included events such as seizure first aid training and a talk with a residency program director in neurology.
Our affiliation with the American Academy of Neurology also includes many opportunities for students interested in neurology, from free registration for the AAN annual conference to funding for attending research conferences in neurology. We have more exciting events planned for the upcoming year including future certifications/community service, and we welcome all members of the NSU community, of any program affiliation, to join our SIGN chapter’s activities!
For any inquiries about membership or collaborating with the SIGN chapter, please reach out to chapter president Kristina Reyes (kreyes@mynsu.nova.edu) or faculty adviser Dr. William Keller (wkeller@nova.edu).
Posted 09/21/23