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The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) today named Florida Atlantic University the winner of its 2022 Degree Completion Award. The annual award works to identify, recognize and reward institutions that employ innovative approaches to improve degree completion while ensuring educational quality. This is the first time FAU has been the recipient of this prestigious award, and the second year in a row that the APLU has named FAU a finalist. Read More

Randy D. Blakely, Ph.D., Florida Atlantic University’s Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute executive director, recently received the Society for Neuroscience’s (SfN) 2022 Science Educator Award at the organization’s annual meeting in San Diego. The Science Educator Award celebrates top neuroscientists in the nation that devote their time to research while having made significant contributions in educating the public about neuroscience through outreach, policy and public educational activities for the benefit of the community.

“I am incredibly grateful to receive the Science Educator Award from the Society for Neuroscience. It truly is an honor,” said Blakely. “But we are just beginning the evergreen journey to educate the lay community as to the promise and progress of brain research, work that can also inspire the next generation of neuroscientists, some just becoming aware of where a ‘life of the mind-brain’ continuum and its endless opportunity can take them. I am excited to witness the transfer of neuroscience research into community resources of broader value for youth and more mature audiences.” Read More

CBS 12 News featured Schmidt College of Medicine in a segment about alleviating the doctor shortage in South Florida. "What we're trying to do is make sure we have pathways for doctors to stay here, from where they're training as pre-med students all the way through medical school through residency," said Dean Julie Pilitsis, M.D.

Thank you, Dr. Dennis for a wonderful mention in the Sun-Sentinel weekly column!

Our third Owl of the Month recognition is the group led by Dr. Jennifer Caceres at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Annual Meeting from November 11 through November 15. The group, in total, made over 50 new connections with Admissions Deans and Directors which was beneficial for our Medical School before the U.S. News and World Report surveys will be sent out nationwide!

Conference attendees included: Dr. Sarah Wood, Dr. Jennifer Caceres, Dr. Elizabeth Gundersen, Dr. Adam Wyatt, Dr. Michelle Lizotte Waniewski, Rebecca Napier, Monica Lopez, Joanna Duran, Jonathan Kolkana, Alicia Rootes, Cachae Alford, Camryn Marshall, Elisabeth Hayes, Faith Tran, and Julia Prakash.

Congratulations to Ilknur Telkes, Ph.D. on being selected for the 2023 Kumar New Investigator Award for the submitted manuscript, "High-resolution Spinal Motor Mapping using Thoracic Spinal Cord Stimulation in Patients with Chronic Pain."

Congratulations to Dr. Seth J. Baum, Clinical Affiliate Professor of Cardiology at FAU Schmidt College of Medicine on his recent publications, including an article on Small Interfering RNA to Reduce Lipoprotein(a) in Cardiovascular Disease in The New England Journal of Medicine, the world's leading medical journal delivering high-quality, peer-reviewed research and interactive clinical content to physicians, educators, researchers, and the global medical community.

Small Interfering RNA to Reduce Lipoprotein(a) in Cardiovascular Disease

Potential Cardiovascular Events Avoided with Bempedoic Acid Plus Ezetimibe Fixed-Dose Combination Compared with Ezetimibe Alone in Patients with Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Taking Maximally Tolerated Statins. Read Publication

Defining preventive cardiology: A clinical practice statement from the American Society for Preventive Cardiology Read Publication

On this episode of PsO in the Know, Cyndi speaks with pediatric dermatologist, Dr. Latanya Benjamin, Associate Professor of Pediatric Dermatology at FAU Schmidt College of Medicine about the difficult experiences that children with psoriasis can have and highlight how dermatologists and parents can help children manage their psoriasis. Listen to Podcast

Florida Atlantic University's Emergency Medicine Department sent Richard Shih, M.D. and Joshua J. Solano M.D., FAAEM to the International Mediterranean Emergency Medicine Conference. They presented four oral abstracts based on the Geriatric Head Trauma Short Term Outcomes database based at Florida Atlantic University. The studies presented involved older adults with head injury and looked at contributing factors such as alcohol and diabetes.

South Florida ACS was held on Saturday, November 5, in Fort Lauderdale, FL. FAU had a strong showing with 6 oral presentations/posters from our FAU Medicine Surgery Program. 

Third-year Medical Student Hannah Levine’s abstract, “Technology-Based Group Exercise Interventions for People Living with Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Scoping Review,” was selected for symposium presentation at the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) 2022 Annual Scientific Meeting that took place on November 2 - 4, 2022, in Indianapolis. Ms. Levine participated in the FAU Schmidt College of Medicine Marcus Institute of Integrative Health Fast Track Summer program (2021) under the mentorship of Juyoung Park, Ph.D., M.S.W. Phyllis and Harvey Sandler School of Social Work and Schmidt College of Medicine.

Over the past few months, COM’s Office of Research has updated its Research website to provide more information and resources for faculty and students engaging in research. Highlights include, a 15-page Quick Guide for Faculty Engaging in Research, Workday, Novelution, and IRBNet Overviews, updated templates for Biosketches, Facilities and Resources, Equipment, and other. The updated website also provides information regarding cores and shared services, medical student research, and much more.

For more information, please visit the updated Research website at fau.edu/medicine/research. 

Research Information Series – November’s Research Information Series featured Oge Marques, Ph.D., Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Professor of Biomedical Science and Joanne Krasnoff, Ph.D., Director of Operations for Research & Strategic Initiatives and Research Assistant Professor. To learn more about this information series and watch a video recording of the presentation, please visit fau.edu/medicine/research/information-series

The Division of Research’s Office of Research Integrity recently announced in their Beacon newsletter that researchers will soon submit IRB projects through the university-wide Novelution platform, a research management system. This launch is anticipated to open in Spring 2023.

Jorge E. Delgado, R.N., B.S.N., F.R.N., Program Coordinator, Clinical Skills Simulation Center. Mr. Delgado , brings years of experience in the health field. He started his medical career as a 68W Combat Medic with the United States Army and served 8 years of active duty going on two tours in Afghanistan. Mr. Delgado then became a Registered Nurse working in Trauma and Acute Care Emergency Medicine as well as a Critical Care Flight Nurse. After becoming a Nurse, Mr. Delgado was commissioned as an Officer in the United States Navy where he is still a reservist.  

Congratulations to the FAU Pediatric Interest Group and the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) for hosting a successful fall blood drive! Thank you to Madison Goon and Atharva Rohatgi for organizing the drive. A total of 37 units of blood were collected, which equates to 111 lives saved. Special thanks to all of the donors and volunteers who participated in the blood drive. View Honor Roll

Welcome Shonte Fraser-Damas, M.D., M.H.M.S., M.B.A. to the FAU Medicine Primary Care Practice. Dr. Shonte Fraser-Damas, is a board-certified family medicine physician. She received her undergraduate degree from Florida State University, Masters Degree in Health Management Systems from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as well as her MBA from Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. After completion of residency in 2017 she moved to South Florida and joined Holy Cross Health. Now she is embarking on a new journey with FAU.

Dr. Fraser-Damas is accepting new patients.

Schedule your appointment online at faumedicine.org.

Next cohort is scheduled for Spring 2023. Learn More