Engage with the IHP Community |
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Greetings from the Office of Alumni Relations! Summer is a vibrant time in the Navy Yard. A few of the wonderful initiatives happening in the neighborhood right now include Lot Lab, Cow Parade, and "Putt through History" minigolf at the USS Constitution. What memories come to mind when you think of your summer experience at the IHP? Whether you took classes in the Navy Yard, at 101 Merrimack, or engaged in coursework online, I hope that this welcome note gives you a sense of the vibrant community that exists within and around the IHP. If you are in the area, please feel free to check out the cows or the putt, putt, and stop by to say, "hello".
This newsletter is filled with information on what's coming this fall at the IHP as well as current happenings and stories about fellow alumni. As always, feel free to reach out with your thoughts and ideas.
~Katie Mulcahy, Director of Alumni Relations
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JEDI Competency Development
Mini Power, Privilege, and Positionality Series for Alumni
"Health at the Intersections of Race, Gender, & Sexuality"
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The IHP is committed to developing the skills of all its community members. In 2018, a program for students called "Power, Privilege, and Positionality (PPP)" was created to acknowledge the existing inequities in healthcare, teach students the necessary skills to better serve marginalized and minoritized communities, and provide students with a safe space to engage in conversations about race and racism. In 2020, the curriculum was revised to help students better understand the sociopolitical context of race and racism. Depending on when you graduated from the IHP, you may remember participating in those conversations when you were a new student.
To continue to honor the IHP's commitment to equity and anti-oppression and to support the continuous learning of its graduates, the Office of Alumni Relations and the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Office have come together to create a Mini PPP for Alumni. The theme this year, which aligns with the student program, is "Health at the Intersections of Race, Gender, and Sexuality." While a robust program in and of itself, the organizers understand that alumni lead busy lives; therefore, they have truncated the content from four modules to two, and have organized one synchronous debrief session instead of requiring asynchronous conversations throughout the learning experience.
The Mini PPP for Alumni will occur in three parts:
- Alumni will asynchronously engage with curated materials based on the 2023 theme (time commitment: 3.5 hours).
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Alumni are invited to attend a Zoom conversation on Thursday, October 12, 2023 at 7:00 pm EST to debrief and connect with each other (time commitment: 90 minutes).
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Alumni are invited to attend a panel discussion in February 2024 in which the panelists either have lived experience or are clinicians working with clients who align with the 2023 theme (time commitment: 90 minutes).
Below you will find a link to register. The materials for part 1 of the series will be emailed in early September to allow participants enough time to engage with them before the Zoom session. Graduates who participated in PPP as students are encouraged to join. Please contact the Office of Alumni Relations with any questions.
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Mental Health First Aid Training
Date: TBA (Based on Interest)
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The topic of mental health is on the minds of many these days. Currently, the IHP teaches Mental Health First Aid to students, faculty, and staff. The Office of Alumni Relations would like to extend this offering to you, the IHP alumni community, as way of supporting you in the work you do each day.
Mental Health First Aid (MFHA) is a course that teaches participants how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. The training gives participants the skills needed to reach out and provide initial help and support to someone who may be developing a mental health or substance use problem or experiencing a crisis.
The Mental Health First Aid Training is offered in the following formats:
- Blended In-Person: 2 hours of online pre-work, 6 hours of in-person instruction; or
- Blended Virtual: 2 hours of online pre-work; 6 hours of synchronous, virtual instruction broken into two 3-hour sessions.
At this point, we would like to know if there are alumni interested in this offering before we officially launch it. The cost of the 8-hour program is $25.00. We are looking into the possibility of providing CEU credit, which may increase the final cost a bit. Click on the link below to let us know you are interested in the Mental Health First Aid Program.
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Alumni Making a Positive Impact |
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Tara Mansour, PP-OTD '22
testified for House Bill 535 with her teenaged children at the Massachusetts State House in July 2023 in favor of educating neurotypical kids about their neurodiverse peers. Mansour’s children shared personal stories of experiences they’d had with their neurodiverse peers and how learning more about neurodiversity helped them to see their peers in a new light. Mansour, herself, gave testimony on her experiences in the public schools, the benefits of promoting acceptance, and the implications if House Bill 535 is not passed.
starts 39:00 minutes into recording.
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Juliet Ochura, MS-SLP '17
has received the Boston Medical Center (BMC) Health Equity and Patient Safety grant, which will help her to provide patient access to dysphagia education videos and other materials in 5 languages, increase provider education, and distribute feeding supplies (thickeners, bottles, and nipples) to income-constrained families who access care at BMC. Separately, she is conducting research aimed at understanding the unique challenges of underserved families who care for children requiring dysphagia interventions.
Ochura is passionate about health equity and bridging the gap in access to care for underserved communities regarding the challenges faced in the implementation of dysphagia interventions in the pediatric population. She says, "This work is very dear to my heart, and I am proud to be a leader in advocating for change in this niche."
Photo courtesy of Juliet Ochura
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An Inside Look at Research |
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Lauren Scheiper Baron, PhD '18, MS-CSD '11
MGH Institute of Health Professions
Post Doctoral Research Fellow - Cognitive Neuroscience Group
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Tell us a little bit about your current work.
I am a postdoctoral research fellow in the Cognitive Neuroscience Group (CNG) at MGH Institute of Health Professions. The CNG is a collaborative research group that uses behavioral and neuroscience methods to examine the relationships between learning, language ability, and cognitive factors. I am a member of the CNG’s Learning and Development Lab, led by Yael Arbel, which focuses on school-aged children with developmental language disorder, or DLD. In my role, I am involved with every stage of the research process including study design, data collection and management, data analysis, and dissemination. I am currently leading a project that examines how children with DLD use self-directed language to complete executive function tasks.
What was the catalyst for your traveling this career path? What sustains your interest in this work?
As a speech-language pathologist working in the schools, I noticed that children were often labeled as shy, lazy, disorganized, or unmotivated when they were actually struggling with language and executive function difficulties. I shifted my focus to supporting children’s executive function skills, but I wanted to know more about whether these interventions were effective. This led me to pursue research so I could better understand learning and executive function in children with DLD and contribute to evidence-based practice in the field.
Why is subject recruitment / subject participation so important to your research?
DLD is remarkably common - affecting nearly 8% of all children, or about 2 children in every classroom. Surprisingly, less than half of these children will receive a proper diagnosis or the necessary clinical services (Norbury et al., 2006; Tomblin et al., 1997). This is partly because the symptoms of DLD can be “hidden” if not tested directly. A child who struggles with language might talk less, have trouble remembering words or what they read, or they might just sound younger than their peers. There may not be an obvious sign of difficulty, like when a child has trouble producing the “s” sound in words (Zhang & Tomblin, 2000). Because children with DLD are hard to identify, it is relatively understudied compared to other developmental conditions (McGregor, 2020). However, our field is actively striving to raise awareness of DLD among parents and educators. Increased awareness and research participation is critical for better understanding and supporting these children.
What knowledge, skills, and attitudes do you bring from the IHP to this work?
I have been fortunate to receive both my clinical and research degrees from the IHP. Early in my training, I learned about the concept of clinical excellence, which has driven my desire to provide the best possible care to children with language impairments. Whether administering assessments to determine a research participant’s diagnosis or analyzing a dataset to compare performance in different learning conditions, I am striving to improve the clinical experience for speech-language pathologists and their clients.
What advice would you give to other IHP alumni interested in becoming scholar practitioners?
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in closing the research-to-practice gap (Bauer & Kirchner, 2020). As a result, there are more ways to get involved in research than ever before. Clinical practice partnerships can take many forms. My biggest piece of advice is this: Don’t be afraid to start a conversation. Did you enjoy reading a journal article? Email the author to tell them how it relates to your clinical practice. Did you just find a new research lab on Instagram? Send a direct message saying you want to learn more about their work. Most researchers are eager to make connections with clinicians to both support recruitment and have a more immediate impact on the field.
The mission of the Institute is to prepare health professionals and scientists to advance care for a diverse society through leadership in education, clinical practice, research, and community engagement. What is it like to be a double alum and live out this mission while working at the IHP?
I feel very proud to be part of the IHP community. I have had the opportunity to take classes in many departments and work in several research labs at the IHP. Regardless of my role as student or researcher, I have always been treated as a professional. I am so grateful to be learning from and working with people who embody the Institute’s mission and lead by example.
References
Bauer, M. S., & Kirchner, J. (2020). Implementation science: What is it and why should I care? Psychiatry Research, 283, 112376.
McGregor, K. K. (2020). How we fail children with developmental language disorder. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 51(4), 981-992.
Norbury, C. F., Gooch, D., Wray, C., Baird, G., Charman, T., Simonoff, E., ... & Pickles, A. (2016). The impact of nonverbal ability on prevalence and clinical presentation of language disorder: Evidence from a population study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57(11), 1247-1257.
Tomblin, J. B., Records, N. L., Buckwalter, P., Zhang, X., Smith, E., & O’Brien, M. (1997). Prevalence of specific language impairment in kindergarten children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 40(6), 1245-1260.
Zhang, X., & Tomblin, J. B. (2000). The association of intervention receipt with speech-language profiles and social-demographic variables. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 9(4), 345-357.
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If you are interested in learning more about Lauren Scheiper Baron's career path and research, please send her an email. In addition, the CNG's LEAD Lab website is a wonderful place to learn more about the projects currently underway. If you find yourself wanting to learn more or to promote the work of the lab, reach out to CNG Lead Lab directly. They would love to hear from you!
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Moxie Scrubs: For Nurses, By (IHP Alumni) Nurses!
Ashley Jerome, BSN '16
Cardiac Surgery Nurse ~ Moxie Scrubs Brand Ambassador
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Tell us a bit about your clinical work?
I have been a cardiac surgery nurse since I graduated from the IHP in 2016 and have become very specialized in the cardiac field. I often see patients who are pre- and post-op from coronary artery bypass surgeries, valve repairs and replacements, aortic aneurism repairs, and more. I have also become qualified to take care of patients with Ventricular Assist Devices and heart transplants on our unit, which requires more training within this field. This nursing path fills my desire to be at the bedside, to comfort, care for, and anticipate the complex needs of patients.
How did you connect with Moxie Scrubs? What was the catalyst for your wanting to create scrubs for health professionals?
To be transparent, it was never my intention to do anything outside of bedside nursing! That is until I met Alicia Tulsee, the now founder and CEO of Moxie Scrubs, in an Uber outside of the Harvard Innovation Lab. I struck up a conversation with Alicia and she curiously asked where I was from. I laughed and said “I’m from here! I just talk to everyone - I’m a nurse.” To our mutual surprise and excitement, I learned that Alicia happened to be in the brainstorming phase of creating a brand dedicated to nurses. Both of us believed in the need for this extraordinary profession to be recognized, cherished, and above all, empowered. Together we could make a difference, starting with the clothes nurses wear every day. We both saw a need for scrubs to be elevated in professionalism, comfort, and practicality without sparing quality and affordability. I onboarded two other IHP alum friends, Justine Tresvant and Stephanie Martinez, and together we became the first three designers for Moxie Scrubs, each making our own garment prototypes. "For Nurses, By Nurses" became the company motto and Moxie Scrubs was born!
What work do you do for Moxie Scrubs?
Apart from my initial design role, I now work part-time for Moxie Scrubs as a brand ambassador - Justine and Stephanie remain full time RN’s. I am Moxie’s nursing liaison, helping to influence multi-level choices the brand makes to ensure the nursing perspective is at the forefront of all we do as a company. Because of this, I have my hand in sales, public relations, advertising, social content and social engagement. To seamlessly serve our nurses, we must also be a brand created with nurses, and that’s where I step in.
Why is this work important to you?
I ensure that the nurse is at the forefront of all we do as a brand. Being a nurse is important to me because a healthy nursing profession makes for a healthy community. To elevate the confidence of my fellow nurses, there is a need to start with what’s most practical, the uniform. Moxie Scrubs isn't just a brand, it's a hub for like-minded nurses to feel respected and uplifted. More than just keeping our prices affordable, we show gratitude of our customers through gifts of appreciation, our informative nurse-written articles, the partnerships we choose, and the daily reminders of self-care. We are even launching the Moxie Scrubs Foundation soon to support the mental health of the individuals that make up this incredible profession!
What knowledge and skills do you bring from your IHP degree into your work with Moxie Scrubs?
My classes at MGH IHP were enriching and helped me to navigate my primary purpose in life; to give others the tools needed to lead more wholesome lives themselves. Starting my career at the IHP, I learned quickly that communication and trust are the cornerstones of being a healthcare professional. It is important to be communicative to build trust, but it is even more important to be an engaged listener. Every day, I listen to my patients and adjust my work routine to accommodate their needs. Likewise, at Moxie Scrubs we are constantly reflecting on customer feedback and learning new ways to improve our brand with nurses in mind.
My IHP experience helped me to solidify my love for education. At Moxie Scrubs, I feel that I extend this love to an even wider audience through the articles I've written for the moxiescrubs.com blog. For instance, my article “How to Survive Nursing Clinicals” pours the knowledge I learned during my practicum into an easy guide to assist the newer generation of nurse professionals.
Healthcare professionals must perfect their skills in time management due to the fast-paced environment of the healthcare industry. This is another lesson I learned while attending the IHP, which I have transferred to my work with Moxie Scrubs. When designing the scrub pant, we thought about how nurses are busy and in constant motion. In response, we developed a pant with a patent-pending waistline that helps to keep the garment exactly where it should be so that nurses do not have to adjust as they bend, crouch, or sit. In addition, the pant includes numerous, thoughtfully placed pockets that keep all high use items within easy reach. Learning that time management is a key skill in healthcare and then using that knowledge to create a time saving garment has been quite rewarding.
How do you think your work with Moxie Scrubs helps you to live the mission of the IHP, which is “To prepare health professionals and scientists to advance care for a diverse society through leadership in education, clinical practice, research, and community engagement”?
Moxie Scrubs is a woman-owned and minority-owned business, we feature a diverse group of nurses on our leadership team, and our scrub line comprises an inclusive selection of sizes from XXS to 5XL. We are a progressive business and have partnered with the American Nurses Association to position ourselves at the forefront of community engagement. Our brand is created by actual nurses. In creating the Moxie Scrubs brand, it has been our mission to use the platform that we have to enhance the nursing profession. We are living the IHP’s mission to better our healthcare community and continuing to find new ways to accomplish these goals!
Photo courtesy of Ashley Jerome
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Alumni interested in trying out Moxie Scrubs will receive a 20% discount on their order. Enter code 'MGHIALUM' at checkout to receive the discount.
If you would like to learn more about Ashley's nursing career or her work with Moxie Scrubs, please reach out to the Office of Alumni Relations.
Coming soon: Moxie Scrubs is being featured on on the new show "Viewpoint" with Dennis Quaid if you would like to learn more about the company and its mission.
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Pitching Biomechanics for the Red Sox
Donna Moxley Scarborough, PhD '18, MS-PT '97
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The next time the Boston Red Sox want to promote a pitcher from the minors or develop a rehabilitation program after an injury, there’s a good chance Donna Moxley Scarborough will have something to do with it.
The double-degree alumna from the MGH Institute is a biomechanist for the Boston Red Sox who makes her living by analyzing the movements of professional baseball players - primarily pitchers - to help the player and the club.
“My role with the Red Sox is to figure out how I can best leverage the biomechanical data that we’re collecting,” says Scarborough, PT, MS, PhD, who earned her PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences from the IHP in 2018 and advanced master’s degree in neurologic physical therapy in 1997. “I want to help the team understand how to use that information to gain a competitive edge as well as keep our players as healthy as possible.” Continue reading about Donna Moxley Scarborough.
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Campus Initiatives & Events |
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School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
Department of Physical Therapy
Boston Ballet's Adaptive Sports Program
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Rebecca (Becca) Pham, PT, DPT '16, CCS is an instructor in the Department of Physical Therapy at the IHP and a part-time physical therapist with Boston Ballet’s Adaptive Dance Program, an initiative run by the company's Education and Community Initiatives Department. In her role with Boston Ballet, Becca supports lead teachers by providing verbal/tactile cues and physical/behavioral support to students. In addition, she communicates with her student's parents/guardians before and after class to gain insight into her students' needs and share their progress/participation with their loved ones. Dr. Pham says, "I truly believe dance and movement should be accessible to all people and all bodies. I have been so grateful and humbled to support Boston Ballet’s Adaptive Dance program and their mission of increasing inclusion and representation in the dance world. It is incredibly special to be in community with compassionate artists (instructors, musicians), support staff, families, and students to build a space for inclusive play, movement, creation, and connection–a space of imagination, possibility, and liberation.”
Are you interested in joining Becca Pham for the 2023/2024 school year? The Boston Ballet is looking for licensed physical therapists to support their Adaptive Dance Program. To learn more, click on the job description. Alumni interested in learning more about Becca Pham's specific experience should feel free to email her because she would love to chat with you!
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School of Nursing
Center for Climate Change, Climate Justice, and Health
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Co-hosted by the MGH Institute of Health Professions Center for Climate Change, Climate Justice, and Health, the MGH Center for the Environment and Health, and Brigham and Women's Hospital
Wednesday, September 20, 2023 ~ 12:00 pm EDT ~ Virtual
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“Regenerative agriculture” is a label given to a bundle of farming methods said to be better than conventional (“industrial”) farming, not only for soil health and planetary health, but also for human health. Some of these methods are clearly good for protecting the soil, but these have long been underutilized by many large commercial farms. The claim that regenerative methods can also benefit the climate and human health is more difficult to verify.
What do you think? This session will take a look at whether regenerative agriculture can benefit soil health, planetary health, and human health. Register now!
Speaker:
Robert Paarlberg, PhD is an Associate at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center and also an Associate in the Sustainability Science Program at HKS. He has been an adjunct professor of public policy at the Kennedy School and is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College. He received his PhD in International Relations from Harvard University. His specialty is international food and agricultural policy. Dr. Paarlberg is the author of six university press books, including one on agricultural technology in Africa (Starved for Science, Harvard University Press, 2008), another on America’s overconsumption of both food and fuel (The United States of Excess, Oxford, 2015), and most recently a 2021 book from Knopf titled Resetting the Table: Straight Talk About the Food we Grow and Eat (a Nautilus Book Award winner in 2022). He has been a member of the Board of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the National Research Council of the National Academies, and the Board of Directors of Winrock International, and has worked in Africa and South Asia as a consultant to the International Food Policy Research Institute, USAID, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the Aspen Institute, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Paarlberg recently chaired the independent steering committee for a CGIAR research program, Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH). His current research is focused on adaptation to climate change and sea-level rise in West Africa. On six different occasions he has testified to Congress. He lives in Watertown, MA, with his wife Marianne.
Photo by Matthias Süßen
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School of Healthcare Leadership
Continuing Professional Development
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What Is Implementation Science?
On-Demand Access to Recorded Conference Sessions
held on April 27-28, 2023
Cost: $30.00 ~ Eligible for 1.15 ASHA CEUs
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The IHP is offering on-demand access to all recorded sessions and lightning round talks of the second annual Implementation Science IS FOR All virtual conference at a discounted rate.
Implementation science involves practitioners and researchers working together in partnerships to create equitable outcomes. The annual conference is designed to improve client outcomes and make a positive impact on the practice to research to practice gap in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD). Learn more and purchase.
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Google's Project Relate App: Using Automated Speech Recognition & Speech-to-Speech Conversion to Facilitate Communication
On-Demand Presentation
ASHA CEUs Now Available!
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Speech impairments affect millions of individuals. Artificial intelligence advancements such as automatic speech recognition and speech-to-speech conversion could open doors to independence. In this free talk you will hear about the research and development behind Google's Project Relate Android mobile app, which aims to use AI to help individuals with speech impairments. The app has three features: Listen, Repeat, and Assistant. Listen transcribes speech to text, so it can serve as live "closed captioning" for a voice. Repeat restates what’s been said in a clear, computerized voice, which can help in short face-to-face interactions like ordering coffee. Assistant enables direct speech to Google Assistant for tasks like setting a timer or playing a song using a voice command. Discover how this alternative/augmentative communication/assistive technology tool can help your clients with atypical speech. Learn more and register.
Please note:
- This presentation is eligible for 0.2 ASHA CEUs between July 15, 2023 and July 13, 2024.
- Partial credit is not available. Participants must watch the full presentation and submit the survey and ASHA CE info form within the learning management system (LMS) between the eligibility dates to receive CEUs.
- CE participant info will be submitted to ASHA registry on a monthly basis. A certificate of completion is also awarded after survey submission within the LMS.
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