Robb Blackaby, PT, ATC, CFMT, DPT, ’04, is heading to Sochi, Russia for the 2014 Winter Olympics as team physical therapist and athletic trainer for the United States snowboarding half pipe team. Dr. Blackaby, who is co-founder/owner of Medicine in Motion, with fellow alumnus Clay Selby, PA, ATC, ’08, will be the team physical therapist and trainer for four men and four women.

This is not Dr. Blackaby’s first involvement in the Olympics. “I was blessed to work at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002,” he said. “I had not pursued working at any Olympics since then. But when I received a call from Kyle Wilkens PA, ATC, medical director of the USSA, to work the Olympics in Russia, I was completely surprised. We’ve had a great relationship working at various events throughout the years, and I am humbled that he invited me to work the games.”

Dr. Blackaby said that a typical day at the Olympics begins with providing onsite medical coverage at the half pipe during practice and/or competition. He will be available for taping, stretching, warm-ups, and to assist in emergency response if an athlete sustains injury on the pipe.

“In the afternoon, my time is devoted to providing manual therapy care to any athlete that needs work,” he said. Being dual-credentialed (DPT/ATC) as well as being a certified functional manual therapist is key since I need to utilize all skill sets to provide optimal care.”

Dr. Blackaby is currently working with the team at the Olympic qualifiers. Before leaving for Russia, he will be in Aspen, Colo., for the Winter X Games, where Medicine in Motion is the official sports medicine provider.

Said Dr. Blackaby, “I will be quite busy over the next few months, and I am fortunate to have a wonderful wife who can hold down the family fort and our PT clinic, Desert Institute of Physical Therapy in Scottsdale, Ariz., while I am away.”

Lori DeWald, EdD, assistant professor, A.T. Still University-School of Health Management, has had three presentations accepted at the American College Health Association annual conference in San Antonio, Texas in June 2014. Those presentations are Mental Health Conditions in College Student-Athletes, Envisioning a Healthier Campus: Help Build the ACHA-NCHA Survey for University Faculty and Staff, and Ethical Case Studies in College Health.

• Carolyn Glaubensklee, PhD, associate professor, ATSU-SOMA, Barbara Maxwell, PT, DPT, MSc, Cert. THE, director of interprofessional education at ATSU, and Mara Hover, DO, associate chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine, ATSU-SOMA, have been accepted for poster presentation at the All Together Better Health VII conference, taking place in Pittsburgh, Pa. June 6-8. “This is an international event, and we are honored to have been selected from more than 650 abstract submissions,” said Dr. Hover. The title of their presentation is Development of an IPE elective for ATSU-SOMA Community Health Center Sites.

• The ATSU-SOMA Virtual Community Health Center (VCHC) team presented at the Osteopathic Medical Education Leadership (OMEL) conference held in Austin. The VCHC team comprises the following members: Frederic Schwartz, DO, FACOFP, associate dean, clinical education and services; ATSU-SOMA,Thomas Bennett, DO, director, VCHC Project, ATSU-SOMA; Monica Fernandez, PA-C, MMS, assistant professor, VCHC continuity and educational specialist, ATSU-SOMA; and Lise McCoy, EdD (ABD), assistant director, faculty development, ATSU-SOMA.

• Jeffrey Morgan, DO, has been named ATSU-SOMA’s interim chair, Clinical Sciences Education.

• Mrs. Sandra Harris and Mrs. Verna Burkett are the new ATSU-SOMA clinical education coordinators. Mrs. Briana Langston returned from maternity leave as instructional coordinator.

• The ATSU-SOMA residency team (Thomas McWilliams, DO, associate dean – Graduate Medical Education Development, ATSU-SOMA; Lisa Watts, DO, director of Medical Education, ATSU-SOMA; and Brian Ebersole, Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education) presented their innovative residency model at OMEL as part of a Keynote Panel.

The National Center for American Indian Health Professions’ (NCAIHP), Nathan Lefthand, project coordinator, and Ansen Blair, PA ’14, recently toured the new Native Health facility in central Phoenix, Ariz.  Walter Murillo, chief executive officer of Native Health, provided an overview of Native Health and discussed with them Native Health as a payback/service obligation facility for the Indian Health Services (IHS) Health Professions Scholarship Program.

The IHS Health Professions Scholarship Program recipients incur a service obligation of one year of service to IHS or urban American Indian organization assisted under Title V of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act for each year of scholarship support received (or the part-time equivalent) with a minimum service period of two years.

Native Health provides holistic, patient-centered, and culturally-sensitive health and wellness services.

A.T. Still University (ATSU) recently hosted six visitors from Rockhurst University to the Missouri campus. Rockhurst is in the process of developing a Still Scholars agreement with ATSU’s Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine. Laura Salem, PhD, health professions faculty adviser, plans to bring a group of students to ATSU later in the year.

The Winnerfest Multi-Sports Tournament was held January 10-11, 2013 at the Thompson Campus Center on the Missouri campus. The event was a fundraiser for Emily Ryan-Michailidis, OMS II, who was injured during a Founder’s Day powderpuff football practice, and also The Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri.

The first night featured family fun activities including kids games, mini sports competitions, and a hot dog eating contest. The tournament continued the next day with racquetball, dodgeball, soccer, basketball, and volleyball.

Winnerfest was sponsored by the Biomedical Sciences Club and Sports Medicine Club.

ATSU faculty, staff and students are invited the next Hero Healer luncheon with guest speaker, James Hotz, MD, on Tuesday, Jan. 21, at noon in Saguaro A & B. Dr. Hotz’s commitment to care for the underserved inspired the 1991 major movie release, Doc Hollywood.

In addition to caring for individuals in rural practice (and inspiring films), Dr. Hotz is an educator, author, community pillar, national thought leader on medical workforce and is recognized for such by many including The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Come join us! Lunch will be provided.

Tamara Valovich McLeod, PhD, ATC, FNATA, has accepted a new role as professor and director of the athletic training (AT) program at A.T. Still University (ATSU). She will retain her distinction as the John P. Wood, DO, Endowed Chair for Sports Medicine. Dr. McLeod assumes the AT program director position vacated by Dr. John Parsons, who recently left ATSU after 17 years to pursue an exciting new opportunity as the director of the NCAA’s Sport Science Institute.

“We are very happy that Dr. McLeod has chosen to bring her significant academic expertise and experience here within the AT program and accept this exciting new leadership opportunity as the director of our AT program,” said Dr. Eric Sauers, professor and chair of the Department of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences which houses the AT program. “She is extremely well qualified and is very well respected within the athletic training profession, the University, and the community, as an academic leader. Furthermore, she has the full faith and confidence of the administration, AT faculty, alumni, and the students.”

Jae Hyun Park, DMD, MSD, MS, PhD, director, postgraduate orthodontic program at A.T. Still University’s Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health, was recently published in the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics (AJO-DO). Dr. Park’s article, Space closure in the maxillary posterior area through the maxillary sinus, was co-authored by Kiyoshi Tai, Akira Kanao, and Masato Takagi.

The article was selected to be the cover page of the Jan. 2014 (AJO-DO). The AJO-DO has the highest citation index among all orthodontic journals.

In recognition of Andrew Taylor Still, MD, DO, recently being selected for induction into the Hall of Famous Missourians,  Nate Walker, Missouri 3^rd District State Representative, presented Missouri House of Representatives Speaker Tim Jones with a copy of “A.T. Still: from the dry bone to the living man” at the State Capitol in Jefferson City. The  book was authored by John Robert Lewis.

Rep. Walker commented, “I am very appreciative of the leadership that Speaker Tim Jones has shown in opening up the selection process for the Hall of Famous Missourians. Missourians have long recognized the important contributions to medical healing that Dr. Still has contributed, now he rightfully will be recognized in the Hall of Famous Missourians.”