April 15, 2011
MEDICAL UNIVERSITY of SOUTH CAROLINA
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Vol. 29, No. 33
It may seem on the one hand small in scope, but they also can have a very large impact. Dr. Amy Blue - Presidential Scholars Program director
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Scholars program targets community health needs regular academic activities. You have different personalities. You have different professional perspectives. They look at existing community needs and often assess them and work with a community liaison. It’s really impressive what they do.” This year, 41 MUSC students and seven Charleston School of Law students participated. The advisory group came up with broad topic areas, with the five groups assigned to an area that fit into this year’s theme: “Improving the Community’s Health.” The groups examined five health issues in the local community:
By Dawn Brazell Public Relations
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Dr. Ray Greenberg congratulates this year’s scholars on their community projects during a Presidential Scholars Day ceremony.
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loBBying efforts Respiratory therapist Brooke Yeager pushes for change.
here’s academic theory, and then there’s what happens in real life. That’s one lesson participants in MUSC’s Presidential Scholars Program found out first-hand as they took what they are learning in their studies and applied it to community health projects. The Scholars presented their research at a ceremony April 12, which this year included airing commercials from each group that summarized the mission of their various projects. MUSC President Ray Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D., praised the interprofessional teamwork that is the keystone of the program enabling it to have such a powerful influence on MUSC and the community. “You can argue that it has changed the university,” he said of the program’s impact.
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Amy Blue, Ph.D., Presidential Scholars Program director and assistant provost of education, said she’s been with the program for three years and continues to be amazed at what the groups accomplish in such a short amount of time. When they start the year, they are given a topic and have from September to the beginning of April to get their project done, which really isn’t much time, she said. “This is in addition to their
q Cultural contexts: Expanding knowledge about diabetes among the local Hispanic community. The group developed easy-to-read colorful brochures in Spanish to help the Hispanic community better understand how to deal with a chronic condition.
See Scholars on page 9
open Visitation
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Applause
Intensive care units offer flexible visiting hours to accommodate families.
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Meet Nancy
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Classifieds
READ THE CATALYST ONLINE - http://www.musc.edu/catalyst