Category: Health and Kinesiology

Faculty Focus: KCH Assistant Professor Shelby Keye

Oct. 23, 2023 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Shelby Keye in spring 2024 will join the faculty of the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health as an assistant professor after completing her doctoral degree. Keye spoke about teaching at her alma mater, her research influences and the college’s diversity initiatives.

Photo by caption

Q: Is there pressure to return as faculty after just completing your Ph.D., without going to a different university first?

A: I would say so. Some of that pressure is internal. I just want to do as well as a faculty member as I did as a student. When I was doing my interview for the job, I wanted to make sure that the faculty was seeing me as more than just a student. I wanted them to be able to envision me as a collaborator and not just on the same level as the other students. There was an added level of pressure there because they’ve seen me in the last four years as a student. So I had to essentially convince them that I could go beyond that, and they could become my colleagues. 

Q: Do you have any concerns about how students will approach you, given you are so close in age?

A: Sure. Keeping things professional is always good. I do think that beyond my age, there’s another added level to it is being a woman, too. There’s extra barriers required to have students view a young woman as their superior as a professional—strategies to just make sure that I keep up with my own coursework, making sure I’m on top of my own stuff, so they respect me. If I’m falling behind, then they fall behind as well. Making sure that I’m staying on top of lessons, grading, staying on track. It’ll be a challenge, and I’ll learn. 

Q: What are your research influences?

A: Probably a series of fortunate and some unfortunate events. I grew up as an athlete. I did gymnastics for most of my life, did cheerleading later on in high school and college. So I appreciate the positive benefits of staying active. I’ve always loved working with children. My first job was as a preschool teacher. Ever since then, I’ve just really enjoyed working with children. In terms of the cognitive health piece, I didn’t know much about it until I started working with [mentor and KCH Associate Professor] Naiman [Khan]. I was interested in working with children. I had worked with children in low-income schools during my master’s. Because of that relationship between cognition and academics, I was drawn towards working with Naiman. The unfortunate piece in terms of life is that I have a family history of obesity, heart disease, cancer and dementia. That all stems from poor health behaviors, poor diet, low physical activity. Those are some motivating factors with studying what I study. 

Q: How did you get connected with Naiman? 

A: That was just a cold email to him. I was in my master’s [program]. I was finishing up. I knew I wanted to do a Ph.D. My dad actually told me to look at schools in Illinois. He did some work at U. of I. while he was in his grad program. He did not graduate from here. But he had done some work here over the summers with a collaborating lab. And he just said, ‘Take a look at Illinois. They have good programs. They have a long history of excellent research.’ I looked at the kinesiology department, and Naiman was really the only person doing the type of work that I was interested in. And I sent him an email. Good timing [since] he was looking for someone that could help with running a summer physical activity program, and I was the person that he chose. 

Q: The college has the most diverse student body on campus, but is lacking in diversity in terms of faculty. Was that part of your decision-making process?

A: That’s a good question. I thought about it a little bit, but I can’t say it was a big, driving factor. That was actually something that I thought about more as a student when I was applying for Ph.D. programs. Two things, actually: being a female and then being a part of a marginalized group of color. That played a role in terms of where I chose to go to school. Dr. Susan Aguiñaga, who’s in KCH, she’s a [Latina], and she and I had a conversation briefly about it. We recognized there’s still room to grow. But I think part of that starts with us. I do think that moving forward, it would help the department if women like Susie and I recruited students that were of similar groups and encouraged them to apply for graduate schools and enter academia, too. I understand that from a student’s perspective, it can be discouraging. But you kind of have to have some courage to enter this space so other people can see you in that space. I did think about it briefly. But I thought about it more as an opportunity and not necessarily as a negative thing. I just thought, ‘OK, well, if they need somebody to represent my group, I can do that.’ And I want to do that. And hopefully, I can bring other women of color with me as I go through my academic journey. 

Q: What made you want to teach?

A: I don’t know. I’ve always wanted to work with kids. I’ve always liked to lead and share and learn. I think that the academic setting is the best place to do that. I come from a long line of teachers. My grandparents were teachers. A lot of my aunts and uncles are teachers. My dad taught a little bit while he was at the Naval Academy. Maybe it’s just something that’s in me. I enjoy learning. I’ve always liked school, and I like to share what I learn. And doing research is the learning part. And then teaching is sharing what I have learned. 

Q: What’s the most important thing you’ve learned from Naiman, as a mentor?

A: Something that comes to mind is Naiman is very self-aware. What I mean by that is that he knows what he’s good at, and he knows what he’s not so great at. He really hones in on those strengths and stays away from the weaknesses. But I think that makes him a really good mentor because he knows what he can do for us, and he is very honest. That’s just a level of humility that he has that I think is really good as a mentor and as a researcher, especially in a university where we have to write grants all the time to get funding for research. Humility is necessary with that because you’re getting denied almost all the time. It’s a field filled with ‘nos.’ What I’ve learned is to try to maintain my humility, and really hone in on my strengths, and focus on those, and build those up, and accept that I have weaknesses, but not to dwell on those because I can build my research around what I’m good at.

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.
 

Share on social

Tags: ,

Related news

KCH Abroad: Students travel to Italy, Greece

ITALY

In May 2023, 24 students traveled to Italy in a faculty-led Study Abroad program focused on the Italian public health system. Students attended tours and talks at prestigious Italian sites in Rome and Florence, and also enjoyed some amazing cultural activities, including Italian cooking and art classes, guided tours to the main historical attractions in Rome and a visit to a winery. Some of the places visited were the Catholic University, the Italian National Institute of Health and the Department of Planning and Organization of the National Health Service, a regulatory agency within the Italian Ministry of Health.

KCH faculty members Andi Schwingel and Aline Lamas led the group. The students also visited Agenas, the Department of Planning and Organization of the National Health Service, a regulatory agency within the Italian Ministry of Health, which deals with regulating pharmaceuticals, medical devices and other health products. They met with AREU (Azienda Regionale Emergenza Urgenza), which handled the Covid pandemic in the Lombardy region, to learn about their emergency preparedness operations and experiences with Covid-19.

In addition, students visited the Sapienza Università di Roma and University of Florence in Florence to learn about their public health training programs. There they met with officials, professors and students. Additionally, they visited the University Hospital Meyer Children Hospital in Florence to learn about the work of this hospital, which is an official member of the European Network of Health Promoting Hospitals of the World Health Organization. Additional site visits included Community of San Egidio, Caritas Roma, First Med, Institute of Neuroscience/Tuscany Stroke Network and Terme dei Papi in Viterbo. Students also enjoyed some cultural activities including Italian cooking classes, guided tours in historical Rome and the Colosseum, a visit to a winery and art class.

GREECE

In the summer of 2023, students—led by KCH faculty members Kristin DiFilippo and Beth Frasca—embarked on a two-week tour of Greece for IHLT 498: Interdisciplinary Health in Greece.

Students spent two weeks exploring health from an interdisciplinary perspective. Participants experienced campus life at Perrotis College, connected with academic staff, and interacted with Greek culture. Greece provided an opportunity for students to experience the Mediterranean lifestyle while learning about health from the perspective of the whole person.

Participants toured cultural, historic and religious sites in Thessaloniki and Athens, learned about the public and private health systems, and gained knowledge of Greek culture through shared meals, winery visits and Greek dancing lessons. Greek experts on the Mediterranean lifestyle, olive oil and the healthcare system interacted with students. Undergraduate students who are interested in learning about health while exploring Greece gained an appreciation for the role that various dimensions of health and culture play in quality of life. Students took part in cooking classes and learned to make several different Greek foods. They also did an olive oil tasting and learned about the Mediterranean diet. Students also climbed Mount Olympus and visited the Parthenon.

Geiger to assess effects of some chemicals on children’s sleep

May 22, 2023 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Multiple studies have shown that children who regularly get an adequate amount of sleep have better overall mental and physical health. Not getting enough sleep can lead to high blood pressure, obesity and depression. KCH Assistant Professor Sarah Geiger wants to help mitigate those sleep issues

Multiple studies have shown that children who regularly get an adequate amount of sleep have improved attention, behavior, learning, memory, and overall mental and physical health. Not getting enough sleep can lead to high blood pressure, obesity and depression. An Illinois researcher wants to help mitigate those sleep issues. 

Kinesiology and Community Health Assistant Professor Sarah Geiger is planning to assess how the exposure to certain chemicals while in the womb affects child sleep later in life and can lead to poorer health outcomes. Geiger’s study is funded by an R03 grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the National Institutes of Health component dedicated to environmental health research. In the grant application, Geiger writes that “the potential for prenatal exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals to adversely impact children’s health is a growing public health issue.” As Geiger explains, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances are EDCs found in many common household items and found in our blood.

“They’re so pervasive in terms of products,” said Geiger, who investigates environmental pollutants and chronic disease risk factors, including sleep problems, among children. “Studies have shown them to be found in foods (and) they’re notorious for these non-stick surfaces, but that’s really just one of so many types of things they’re in. Plastic water bottles, plastic fast food containers. They’re even in biomedical devices and things like IV bags and makeup, all sorts of cosmetics, nail polish.”

Geiger said her study is looking at the pregnant moms’ concentrations of those chemicals in their blood, and then looking at outcomes in children.

“We’re measuring her levels as a proxy of what they’re being exposed to,” Geiger said. “The idea is that developmental exposure in the womb to those chemicals that their mother has been exposed to is somehow altering their development and manifesting later as sleep problems. What we’re really interested in is looking at the association between the two. Are moms with higher levels of these chemicals in their blood more likely to have children who have poorer sleep quality? And if so, then we can think about maybe what is the mechanism that is causing that to happen?”

Geiger added that the study is not only looking at how chemical exposure in the womb affects child sleep later on, but also how stress and depression and other factors during pregnancy can affect child’s sleep later on. The study is important, Geiger said, because sleep, or the lack of it, is a predictor for health. Lack of sleep for a child can lead them to be unfocused and unproductive. And a lack of sleep in childhood is predictive of sleep issues in adulthood, she said, adding that sleep problems in adulthood cost the U.S. billions of in health care.

Another reason this research is important is how long certain PFAS can stay in a person’s body.

“They are sometimes called forever chemicals; they have an extremely long half-life compared to other types of endocrine-disrupting chemicals,” Geiger said. “The half-life might be like five years. Let’s say you have a certain level of this one chemical in your blood, after five years, half of it would have been metabolized or excreted from your body. To give you a comparison, like BPA (bisphenol A), another common endocrine-disrupting chemical, the half life is more like five hours.”

As important as the research is, Geiger is realistic that studies like hers and others are not likely to force companies to limit their use of PFAS.

“These are extremely powerful market forces … I would like to think that all of the research combined on sleep and other things may apply some pressure, but—and I do think that the end goal is to try to remove or limit these types of chemicals if they are harmful—but that’s much easier said than done. It’s a pretty difficult task. 

“There’s this push and pull with just the way the U.S. approaches chemical exposures. We don’t have a very proactive or cautious approach to it. In fact, quite the opposite. And so people in the area that I work in, we’re constantly having to chase down these individual chemicals and show that this is not safe for kids, or for anybody. And then–maybe then it’ll be replaced with, as I said, typically another chemical, and you do the same thing.”

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.
 

Share on social

Tags: ,

Related news

Message from HK Department Head Kim Graber

May 22, 2023 | Kim Graber

It’s my pleasure to share with you the spring 2023 issue of KCH E-News. As you will see, we’ve had an eventful semester and academic year. I am extremely proud to be the head of a department in which scholars are making so many significant contributions to health, physical activity, and disability studies.

Many faculty in KCH consistently receive grants to help fund their research. For example, with support from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (the National Institutes of Health component dedicated to environmental health research), assistant professor Sarah Geiger will investigate how exposure to certain chemicals in the womb affect how children sleep later in life. 

In other research developments in the department, Assistant Professor Dominika Pindus recently published a study which found that adolescent girls who engage in more moderate and vigorous physical activity each day have better attentional control. Associate Professor Sandraluz Lara-Cinisomo’s recent research explored the mental health of Black and Latina women during the pandemic lockdown and found increases in depression and anxiety.

Assistant Professor Rachel Hoopsick’s research showed that methamphetamine’s mortality rate increased fiftyfold between 1999 and 2021, with most of the added deaths also involving heroin or fentanyl. All of these findings have significant implications for designing effective interventions that improve health.

In this issue, you also will meet two of the newest scholars to join KCH, Assistant Professors Matt Hanks and Josh Leonardis. Both apply biomechanics to the study of shoulder pain and pathologies in people who use manual wheelchairs. While Josh’s goal is to fully understand why some users experience pain while others do not in hopes of creating more specific and effective treatments, Matt’s research focuses on the role of physical activity in addressing the problem.

The Department of Kinesiology and Community Health is strong. Our faculty’s productivity and innovation in classrooms and laboratories ensure that our students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels are receiving a world class education that is research-based and on the cutting edge of knowledge. I am committed as head of this department to providing faculty, students, and staff with the resources they need not only to succeed but also to excel. I hope if you are ever on campus, you will stop by to say hello and see this commitment in action.

Kim Graber
Professor and Department Head

Share on social

Tags:

Related news

New KCH faculty members study biomechanics of shoulder pain

April 03, 2024 | Anna Flanagan

According to an article published in 2020 in Clinical Rehabilitation, up to 71 percent of manual wheelchair users report that they have experienced shoulder pain at some point in their lives. There is no question that manual wheelchair propulsion puts stress on the upper extremities. But if the pain is related only to the repetitive motion of wheelchair propulsion or overuse, why don’t all manual wheelchair users experience shoulder pain? Why are adults who began using a wheelchair in adulthood more likely to experience pain than adults who began using a wheelchair in childhood, despite significantly fewer years of wheelchair use? Why do female wheelchair users experience shoulder pain at twice the rate and intensity of males? What are the most effective ways of treating shoulder pain? What role does physical activity play in reducing pain and pathology?

These are some of the questions two of the newest scholars in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health hope to answer through their research. Assistant Professors Matt Hanks and Josh Leonardis joined KCH last fall. Both had just completed post-doctoral research fellowships at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Technology. 

The Biomechanics of Shoulder Pain

As a doctoral student in kinesiology at the University of Michigan who focused on shoulder biomechanics and neuromuscular control, Leonardis had been investigating shoulder morbidities in breast cancer survivors. Treatments for breast cancer are highly invasive to the shoulder joint complex and upper extremity musculature. “There are a lot of downstream effects that are underappreciated because the focus is on beating breast cancer,” he said. “As breast cancer becomes an increasingly survivable disease, the focus needs to shift to what life is like after the fact.” A small percentage of biomechanics literature focuses on the shoulder, he added, because it’s difficult to study. 

When he began looking for a post-doctoral position, he wanted to study shoulder biomechanics in a new population in which pain and pathology were ongoing secondary problems. He chose to complete a post-doctoral fellowship in rehabilitation engineering in the Mobility Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where studies of wheelchair propulsion biomechanics and shoulder pain and pathology in pediatric and adult populations were underway.

“It felt as though I was given the opportunity to contribute toward improving the quality of life of a couple of different populations, and that was important to me.” Leonardis said.

He describes his general research interest as the adaptability of the neuromusculoskeletal system. One question he will pursue is whether the absence of shoulder pain in some wheelchair users with pediatric-onset disabilities and the presence of pain in others is related to adaptations to the neuromuscular and musculoskeletal systems that occur during the transition from childhood to adulthood, a period between the ages of 8 and 21 when bodies grow and change tremendously. He currently is investigating the possibility of sex-specific adaptations during this period that might contribute to females experiencing pain more frequently and more intensely than males. Similarly, he also believes adaptation might explain why pain is more common in people who begin using wheelchairs as adults when compared to adults who began using wheelchairs as children and adolescents.

The Role of Physical Activity

Matt Hanks, who completed his Ph.D. in Kinesiology at Auburn University, had been investigating the biomechanics of sports-related movement, primarily overhead throwing, in adapted and traditional sport athletes. Working as an athletic trainer with wheelchair athletes sparked his interest in understanding the shoulder biomechanics of manual wheelchair users during activities of daily living and in sport and their association with the development of shoulder pain and pathology. He pursued this during his post-doctoral experience in Milwaukee by investigating shoulder biomechanics during wheelchair propulsion and adapted sport among children and adults with spinal cord injuries. His particular focus is on the potential effects of physical activity to mitigate shoulder pain and pathology in manual wheelchair users by examining changes in shoulder musculoskeletal development and biomechanics as a result of engaging in physical activity during childhood and early adulthood.

“Manual wheelchair users, particularly children and young adults, are populations that are largely understudied in the physical activity realm,” he said. “Of the research that does exist, there is not a clear consensus on the benefits and drawbacks of physical activity. Is it helpful or hurtful? How much makes a difference? How much is too much? When should it begin? A lot of the broad questions remain to be answered.”

Hanks believes children and adults perceive physical activity differently, which can impact motivation and adherence to physical activity. Children are typically motivated by the opportunity to play, have fun, and interact with others socially. Adults often are more motivated by aesthetics and health. They want to look or feel better, or their doctor has encouraged them to be more active. Using a manual wheelchair can certainly make engaging in physical activity more complicated.

“Now you introduce the obstacles of accessibility, the need for adapted equipment and facilities, and adapted educators—people who understand you and are qualified to give you sound advice based on research,” Hanks said.

Both Hanks and Leonardis observe that the biomechanical study of manual wheelchair users is relatively young. As techniques and technology evolve, they said, the means for identifying factors that go into shoulder pain and pathologies as well as effective interventions get better and better. They will pursue answers to their various research questions individually and in collaboration. Hanks is the director of the Disability and Movement Biomechanics Laboratory. His team’s multimodal approach to investigating the role of physical activity on shoulder health in manual wheelchair users utilizes motion analysis and biomechanical modeling, diagnostic and quantitative imaging, and upper extremity strength testing. Leonardis directs the Musculoskeletal Morphology and Biomechanics Laboratory, where he and his team investigate the intimate relationship between musculoskeletal structure and function using traditional biomechanical technologies, computational evaluations of neuromuscular control, and quantitative musculoskeletal imaging techniques. They also co-direct the Movement Analysis Laboratory, a state-of-the-art space equipped for the biomechanical evaluation of various populations across the lifespan. 

Share on social

Tags: , ,

Related news

KCH professors get funding to help workers with disabilities transition out of subminimum wage jobs

Oct. 22, 2022 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

David Strauser and John Kosciulek received funding to help workers with disabilities transition out of subminimum wage jobs.

The idea of a subminimum wage—enacted in 1938 as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act—was originally intended to serve as a transition for the large number of soldiers with disabilities returning from war. However, that classification has become permanent for many workers with disabilities.

The U.S. Department of Education Rehabilitation Services Administration Disability Innovation Fund is seeking to improve access to better-paying jobs for individuals with disabilities, and a project from two Illinois faculty members was among those recently funded.

David Strauser and John Kosciulek, both professors in the Dept. of Kinesiology and Community Health within the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois, received funding for their project, “From Subminimum Wage to Competitive Integrated Employment for Illinoisans with Disabilities: An Innovative & Collaborative Project Partnership (SWTCIE Illinois).”

According to the Strauser and Kosciulek, SWTCIE Illinois will increase opportunities for Illinoisans with disabilities to transition from subminimum wage employment to competitive integrated employment (CIE) and redirect to CIE those individuals contemplating subminimum wage employment for the first time.

The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Education—Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) through the Illinois Division of Rehabilitation Services in the amount of $13,943,946 for five years from October 2022 to September 2027.

Competitive integrated employment ensures that workers are compensated at or above the minimum wage, and allows both workers with and without disabilities to receive the same benefits and wages for performing the same duties, as well as being given the same opportunities for advancement.

The KCH professors said their first step will be to work with the Illinois Division of Rehabilitation Service and 14(c) organizations in Illinois to develop a new vocational rehabilitation service model that enables individuals with disabilities to transition from sub-minimum wage jobs to CIE. A 14(c) organization is one that has obtained federal government authorization to pay subminimum wages to workers with disabilities that impair their productivity in the work they perform.

The project’s main goals are to expand opportunities for Illinoisans with disabilities to obtain high-quality CIE that leads to economic security and assist and encourage employers in Illinois to fully include individuals with disabilities in their workforce.

Meanwhile, 14(c) organizations will benefit from their involvement in SWTCIE Illinois because they will be provided resources, training, and special expertise to help the organization assist individuals with disabilities to transition from sub-minimum wage jobs to CIE.

About these grants, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said, “President Biden always says that a good-paying job is about more than a paycheck, it’s about dignity, and that’s why we can no longer accept a status quo in which so many individuals with disabilities are segregated from the workforce and relegated into poverty-wage jobs that offer no pathway to higher earnings. These grants will support innovative efforts underway across the country to provide educational opportunities to youth and adults with disabilities so they can secure better-paying jobs, build economic security, and lead more fulfilling, independent lives.”

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.
 

Share on social

Tags: , ,

Related news

Kraay: NPIs, Boosters work to battle COVID-19

Oct. 22, 2022 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Alicia Kraay’s study shows getting vaccine boosters and using non-pharmaceutical interventions can reduce cumulative deaths from COVID-19.

In a recent publication, Kinesiology and Community Health assistant professor Alicia Kraay and her collaborators write that combining boosters and non-pharmaceutical interventions results in a 30 percent decrease in cumulative deaths due to COVID-19, with potential for greater impacts if variant-adapted boosters are used.

Non-pharmaceutical interventions, or NPIs, include wearing a mask and social distancing, but also “surface decontamination and improved hygiene,” said Kraay.

According to Kraay’s publication, “The role of booster vaccination and ongoing viral evolution in seasonal circulation of SARS-CoV-2” in the journal The Royal Society, a rise in COVID-19 infection rates are expected this fall as the use of NPIs is relaxed.

“This year, we expect a fall surge, in part because we expect the transmission rate to be seasonal,” she said. “And we’ve also seen people have relaxed NPIs.”

Kraay attributed the decrease in NPIs in part to pandemic fatigue.

“Also, people’s different perception of safety now that vaccination is more widespread,” she said. “Some of the initial strategies that were proposed are simply not sustainable in the long term. It’s not really possible for elementary schools to do virtual learning only for the next 10 years. And there are issues with feasibility in certain contexts like elementary schools, with adequately distancing young children and getting perfect mask compliance.”

But Kraay wanted to emphasize that the important thing about NPIs is they’re not all or nothing.

“You don’t just tell people, ‘Oh, you need to stay at home now because cases might be increasing, and you should do nothing. That’s, I think, what happened at first early in the pandemic,” she said “You’re not going to get high compliance if you make recommendations like that. And it’s also not scientifically appropriate because not every type of interaction has the same level of risk. I think in order to get NPI compliant, it’s being clear about when NPIs are needed and when they’re not and what type is the most effective.”

Kraay, an infectious disease epidemiologist who did her undergraduate work at North Carolina-Chapel Hill and got her Ph.D. at Michigan, recommends wearing a mask in crowded situations you cannot avoid, and limiting appearances at large gatherings.

In terms of boosters, Kraay said ongoing safety studies will be important to ease concerns about vaccine safety, especially among parents.

“It’s going to be important to understand more about the impact of boosters,” she said. “In my paper, we assumed that boosters could reduce risk of infection. But the booster data hasn’t been fully analyzed yet. Seeing what happens with these variant-specific boosters and are there impacts in reducing transmission, and really quantifying how much it can help if you get boosted … at the population level, I think it could be useful.”

One thing Kraay remains uncertain about is whether the current pandemic has made the United States, and the world, for that matter, better prepared to handle the next global health crisis.

“I think we definitely have a better public health infrastructure, [but] I think there are still challenges from the health care access perspective. We know that there’s been a lot of new sources of funding that have been created to allow researchers to respond quickly to emergent priorities. We also know the way that vaccine development was streamlined is a major achievement.

“We have a better capacity to forecast infectious disease patterns over time. And we have new positions that have been created in pandemic preparedness at academic institutions throughout the country. There are challenges with health care access that I think still need to be worked out, [such as] health care access for marginalized populations. I do think we are in a better position just in terms of being able to respond from a public health and testing perspective, hopefully being able to respond more quickly from a vaccination perspective. The challenge still remaining of how to treat the people who do get sick is what I see going forward.”

And although President Biden declared the pandemic over in September 2022, Kraay isn’t as certain.

“COVID as we knew it in February and March 2020 is over,” she says. “I think that it’s true that our experience of COVID-19 has dramatically changed now. But I don’t think that we’re all the way to the point that it’s just in the background. It’s something that we definitely need to monitor. And we’re just not there yet.”

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.
 

Share on social

Tags: ,

Related news

Department Head Message from Kim Graber

Oct. 22, 2022 | Kim Graber

Welcome to the fall issue of KCH E-News!

The 2022-23 academic year is off to a great start. We enrolled 396 first-year and transfer students in August, and added seven tenure-track and specialized professors to our faculty. Although the return of students to campus led to a spike in COVID cases, the University of Illinois’ revolutionary testing program and voluntary masking in classrooms helped us to bring the positivity rate back down. We will, of course, continue to follow best practices to keep our students, faculty, and staff safe throughout the year.

The KCH faculty continues to experience outstanding success in securing external funding for their research, and you’ll read about some of the most recent grants in this newsletter. Our scholars apply their research to the benefit of the community, as you’ll learn when you read about Dr. Laura Rice’s Illini Wheelchair and Scooter Clinic. You’ll also read about graduate students in our professional master’s degree program in health technology, who contribute to community organizations while gaining valuable experience through capstone projects. 

I am so proud to lead this renowned and accomplished group of scholars, earnest and enthusiastic students, and dedicated and hard-working staff who come together to make the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health a truly vibrant and exciting place to be. It gives me great pleasure to report to you that KCH is thriving, thanks in no small part to your continued interest and support!

Kim Graber
Department Head

Share on social

Tags: ,

Related news

MS-Health Tech students celebrate capstone presentations

Aug. 12, 2022 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Eight students in the Master of Science in Health Technology program showcased their capstone presentations on Aug. 4 at the I-Hotel in Champaign.

The capstone is the final presentation for the students’ Master of Science degrees.  Invited guests included faculty members and capstone sponsors as well as friends and family of the students.  Special guests included Illinois alumni and donors Michael Vitoux and Jim and Karen McKechnie.

Falguni Deshpande was selected to receive the Michael Vitoux Capstone Excellence Award, which included a $2,000 prize. Deshpande’s capstone was entitled “Inclusion of Minority Patients in Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) Clinical Trials through Care Partner Engagement” and was supervised by Kinesiology and Community Health Assistant Professor Mina Raj in the Aging, Caregiving and Technology Laboratory.

Lauren Komrska received honorable mention in the same category, which includes a $1,000 award. Komrska’s capstone in the Disability, Participation, and Quality of Life Laboratory with KCH Associate Professor Laura Rice was entitled “Development and Validation of a Fall Detection Device for Older Adults who use Wheelchairs or Scooters”.

Vitoux was present for the award presentations and said he was impressed by the students’ work.  The recipients were selected by the awards committee based on presentations and assignments about their capstone projects throughout the academic year.

Dr. and Mrs. McKechnie celebrated all of the MS-HT students’ accomplishments at the luncheon and poster session. They were especially proud of the work of Deshpande and Komrska, who were recipients of the 2021-2022 James and Karen McKechnie Fellowship in Applied Health Sciences.

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.
 

Share on social

Tags: ,

Related news

College of Applied Health Sciences
110 Huff Hall
1206 South 4th Street
Champaign, IL 61820
(217) 333-2131