Health Sciences | WSU Health Sciences Spokane Extra

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WSU Spokane Research Roundup

May 8, 2015 kevin_dudley

Dr. Eva Szentirmai is researching the link between obesity and sleep loss.

(Ed. Note: The latest edition of the WSU Spokane Magazine is available as a PDF here. It is also distributed statewide to WSU alumni and friends. We will share a story each day from the latest issue on the blog. Enjoy!)

By Judith Van Dongen

Research Explores Link Between Obesity and Sleep

Recent studies have linked obesity and chronic sleep loss, but scientists still don’t know how the two are related. Éva Szentirmai, M.D., Ph.D. (pictured above), an assistant professor in the College of Medical Sciences, is looking at brown fat to help find the answer. She and her colleagues recently received a five-year, $1.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study this beneficial fat, which helps us burn the calories stored in white fat and regulates our body temperature.

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Research Impact is Growing

May 7, 2015 kevin_dudley

By Terren Roloff

Most people think of research as improving lives. Spokane leaders know it is also changing our economy.

Consider WSU Spokane: Research dollars on campus have nearly doubled in the last few years.

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Nursing Students Gain Experience Treating Mental Illness and the Homeless

May 5, 2015 kevin_dudley

L-R: Danica Parkin, WSU College of Nursing Instructor, and nursing students Amanda-Myers-Nijmeh, Crystal Johnson and Sonia Kaur participated in the Homeless Connect event at the Salvation Army.

By Alli Benjamin and Kevin Dudley

The National Alliance on Mental Health estimates nearly 19 percent of adults experience mental illness in a given year. Between 26 and 46 percent of homeless adults live with mental illness.

Treating those individuals requires a certain kind of care.

The WSU College of Nursing includes several fields in nursing, from Bachelor of Science nurses who provide basic health care to nurse practitioners who have a master’s or doctorate. Both levels and in between are working with the homeless.

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Clinic will be Model for Inter-Professional Health Care

May 4, 2015 kevin_dudley

By Lorraine Nelson

With their vision of true inter-professional education in mind, teaching faculty from medicine, nursing and pharmacy are spending many hours together designing the interior spaces and work flow plan for the soon-to-be-built University District Health Clinic.

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Competition Set Aside for Good of Communication Disorder Students

May 1, 2015 kevin_dudley

Students from the WSU and EWU speech and hearing sciences and communication disorders programs share an American Sign Language class.

By Doug Nadvornick

On Spokane’s health sciences campus, where most of the departments complement each other, the University Programs in Communication Disorders (UPCD) is a unique case.

The UPCD partners—WSU’s Speech and Hearing Sciences (SHS) and EWU’s Communication Disorders programs— compete for undergraduate and graduate students who want to train to become speech-language pathologists and audiologists. But once the students are enrolled, they’re embraced by both institutions.

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WSU Spokane Magazine: Cougs Celebrate Medical School Approval

April 28, 2015 kevin_dudley

(Ed. Note: The latest edition of the WSU Spokane Magazine is available as a PDF here. It is also distributed statewide to WSU alumni and friends. We will share a story each day from the latest issue on the blog. Enjoy!)

By Doug Nadvornick

Bill signing ceremonies conducted by governors are often joyous occasions that formalize legislative achievements. But rarely do they lead to spontaneous pep rallies, as happened on April 1.

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WSU Spokane Family Weekend Celebrates the Health Sciences

April 20, 2015 kevin_dudley

Family Weekend at WSU Spokane just wrapped up and what a wonderful time for the families of students to visit Spokane and campus.

The weekend began on Friday with a meet and greet reception with WSU Spokane faculty, and continued Saturday with a community health fair and a multicultural event.

The weekend wrapped up with the Cougar Dash 5k Walk/Run where about 130 students, their parents and WSU Spokane staff enjoyed a nice run or walk on the Centennial Trail.

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College of Nursing Part of White House Discussion on Climate Change and Public Health

April 16, 2015 kevin_dudley

On her first day as the retired Dean of the WSU College of Nursing, Patricia Butterfield received an invitation from the White House to participate in a roundtable discussion on climate change and public health.

Under Butterfield’s leadership, the College of Nursing has had a focus on environmental health.

“As a public health nurse, I am pleased to see that the discussion around climate change has been connected to public health, and that our government recognizes the importance of this,” she said in a WSU news release. “If we aren’t taking care of the environment, we are not taking care of ourselves.”

The roundtable discussion took place last week in Washington D.C.

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University District Health Clinic Groundbreaking Planned for May 6

April 8, 2015 kevin_dudley

The University District Health Clinic – which will allow health sciences students on the WSU Spokane campus to gain valuable work experience and be home to medical residencies – will celebrate its groundbreaking on May 6 at 9:00 a.m.

The clinic will be part of the Spokane Teaching Health Consortium, which is made up of WSU Spokane, Providence Health Care and Empire Health Foundation.

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Governor Jay Inslee Celebrates WSU Medical School in Spokane

April 3, 2015 kevin_dudley

Governor Jay Inslee visited campus yesterday for an afternoon celebration of the start of WSU’s new medical school to be located in Spokane.

“We are all Cougs today,” he said shortly after taking the stage in front of a crowd of about 200.

Inslee signed legislation this week allowing WSU to operate a medical school. As the legislature continues its budget negotiations, we should soon learn the amount of funding WSU will receive. Both budget proposals have included money for WSU’s new medical school.

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