Twenty-five years ago, Des Moines University – then the University of Osteopathic Medicine and Health Sciences – moved its Olsen Clinic from 2150 Grand Ave. to a new 10-story clinic on campus. Since then, its clinicians have provided hundreds of thousands of patient visits and an even greater number of hours of instruction for DMU’s clinical students.

This summer, the DMU Clinic gained a new dimension in addition to its services including family medicine, foot and ankle, osteopathic manual medicine and physical therapy: Through a partnership with Iowa Health System, it’s now home to La Clinica de la Esperanza, which provides primary care on a sliding fee scale to central Iowa’s Latino population. La Clinica will generate more patient visits as well as training opportunities for DMU students.

DMU President Angela Walker Franklin, Ph.D., cuts the ribbon to open La Clinica, now on campus, with (from left) clinic staff Karen Reinecke, counselor; Angelica Carnahan, patient service representative; Esperanza Pintor Martinez, clinic administrator; Rosalia De Avila, billing specialist; Cheryl Weatherington, R.N.; Jackie Strang, care manager; Steve Stephenson, M.D., Iowa Methodist Medical Center chief operating officer and executive vice president; and Eric Crowell, Iowa Health-Des Moines president and chief executive operator.

Hard work, perseverance, anticipation, relief and a readiness to pursue new opportunities all are evident at commencement, including at DMU’s summer graduation ceremony on Aug. 17. While small in number – 16 degrees were awarded in health care administration, public health, anatomy, biomedical sciences and osteopathic medicine – the graduates represent great achievement, pride and promise. The graduates gladly received their hoods – in these photos, beige for recipients of the master of health care administration (M.H.A.) degree; golden yellow for those earning a master’s degree in anatomy (M.S.A.) – as well as hugs and best wishes from family, friends and faculty.

Above, Craig Canby, Ph.D., professor of anatomy, and Pamela Duffy, P.T., Ph.D., OCS, CPC, RP, assistant professor of public health, hood Hilary Gerten, who completed her master’s in anatomy. Gerten isn’t saying goodbye to DMU yet, however.

“After two great years at DMU, I’m proud to have finally received my master’s degree in anatomy,” she says. “I’m now continuing my DMU journey in the D.O. program, and I’m looking forward to applying my knowledge of human anatomy and teaching to become an osteopathic physician.”

Summer Commencement photos

View the full gallery at www.dmu.edu/photos/summer-commencement-2012/

College of Health Sciences

Expanding enrollment, evolution in physical therapy

Teri Stumbo, P.T., M.S., ABD

For most institutions, it’s a happy problem to have: Since Jodi Cahalan became dean of the College of Health Sciences (CHS) in 2006, total enrollment in its five programs has grown 35 percent to nearly 700 students. To better accommodate the needs and issues that surround an increasing enrollment, Teri Stumbo, P.T., M.S., ABD, was promoted to full-time associate dean for academic and student affairs on July 1, 2012.

After joining the physical therapy faculty in 1989, Stumbo also has held administrative positions within the college, most recently as chair/program director of the post-professional doctor of physical therapy (PPDPT) program and as part-time CHS associate dean for several years.

“With several of our programs continuing to rank as the fastest growing or most sought-out graduate programs in the country, interest in the degrees we offer shows no sign of slowing down,” says Cahalan, Ph.D., M.P.H.’01, M.S.’93, PA-C’89. “Coupled with our students’ first-time pass rates on national certification licensing exams – 98 and 93 percent to date for the doctor of physical therapy and physician assistant classes of 2012, respectively – the college is well positioned to continue its history of providing exceptional graduate education.”

Other changes in the college relate to national trends in physical therapy. In 2000, the American Physical Therapy Association House of Delegates adopted “Vision 2020” for the profession’s future, which states in part that by the year 2020, physical therapy will be provided by doctors – not masters – of physical therapy. To reflect this vision and meet the needs of students and their future patients, CHS reorganized and developed a new department of physical therapy, led by Traci Bush, P.T.’95, OTR/L, D.H.S. Bush has been the chair/program director of DMU’s doctor of physical therapy (DPT) program as well as associate professor.

The new department includes the entry-level doctor of physical therapy program, the DMU Physical Therapy Clinic and a new area for postgraduate studies, which includes the previously existing post-professional doctor of physical therapy program. It also will offer postgraduate opportunities for other individuals.

“Bringing together the DPT and PPDPT faculty and the PT clinicians will allow a sharing of talents and skills across all programs,” Bush says. “Department personnel will work together to not only meet the needs of students but also to create new, exciting programming for non-degree-seeking individuals. That will include a robust continuing medical program for physical therapists as well as programming to assist therapists seeking professional licensure.”

Michelle Brown, M.S.P.T.’99

Changes in the program include the addition of Michelle Brown, M.S.P.T.’99, to the staff of the Physical Therapy Clinic. She brings to students her highly hands-on experiences as a physical therapist in Jamaica, which she first visited on a medical service trip while on staff at Allen Hospital in Waterloo, IA. That evolved into a three-year stint in the Caribbean island nation, where she worked in a reduced-fee clinic and went on house calls.

“Sometimes we had electricity, sometimes not. My training at DMU was very manually oriented, so I felt well prepared,” she says. “I thrive on minimal resources.”

Brown first worked with DMU physical therapy students who traveled to Jamaica to provide treatment during a “camp” for stroke victims.

“It’s nice for students, because they participate in treatment but also gain cultural exposure,” she says. “They improve their skills in how to talk to patients.

“I’ve had so many good mentors, it’s nice to be able to give that back,” Brown adds. “It’s fun to watch students when they first come in with that deer-in-the-headlights look, then to see them evolve and help them develop. It’s exciting.”

College of Osteopathic Medicine

Transitions at the top

David Plundo, D.O.’85, M.P.H.’11, FACOFP

In July, David Plundo, D.O.’85, M.P.H.’11, FACOFP, associate dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine (COM), was appointed the college’s acting dean. Kendall Reed, D.O., FACOS, FACS, who had served in that role since 2003, stepped down and remains a tenured faculty member who is now on sabbatical.

“I am grateful to Dr. Reed for his many contributions and years of service to the University,” says DMU President Angela Walker Franklin, Ph.D. “DMU will continue working to achieve our goals and maintain excellence in all that we do.”

In addition to his DMU degrees, Plundo holds an undergraduate degree in biology from the University of Pittsburgh. He was an assistant professor of family medicine at DMU from 1988 to 1992. After serving as director of a family medicine residency program in Toledo, OH, and vice president of medical education at Garden City Hospital in Michigan, he returned to DMU in 2006 as associate dean for clinical affairs. He became associate dean for medical education in 2008.

Plundo will serve as acting dean pending a formal search for a new dean.

Richard Schuster, D.O., ABOFP

In August, Richard Schuster, D.O., ABOFP, was appointed interim chair of family medicine. Roberta Wattleworth, D.O., M.H.A.’99, M.P.H.’04, FACOFP, FNAOME, served in that position from July 2003 to April 2012. She continues as a professor of family medicine. A search is under way for a permanent chair of family medicine.

A member of COM’s osteopathic manual medicine faculty for four years, Schuster graduated from the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed an osteopathic family medicine residency in Sandusky, OH. He is board-certified by the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians and the American Osteopathic Board of Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine.

College of Podiatric Medicine and Surgery

New medical faculty member not new to DMU

Always ask the patient to take off both shoes, even when they only have an issue in one foot,” Mindi Feilmeier, D.P.M.’05, FACFAS, tells observing podiatric medical students Lisa Grant and Travis Tidwell during a patient exam in DMU’s Foot and Ankle clinic. “First examine the parts of the foot that don’t hurt; if you start where the patient is having pain, then everything will hurt.”

So Feilmeier begins a new chapter in her podiatric career, combining teaching and clinical practice. The new assistant professor in the College of Podiatric Medicine and Surgery and physician in Foot and Ankle says she can still picture herself in her students’ shoes. As a classmate of fellow Assistant Professor Kathy Frush, D.P.M.’05, and a former student of several of her new colleagues, she jokes, “I knew what I was getting myself into.”

In high school in eastern Iowa, however, Feilmeier was sure she didn’t want to go into medicine. “But I knew I wanted to help people – I know that sounds altruistic,” she says. Rick Lampe, Ph.D., a biology professor at Buena Vista University, her undergraduate alma mater, became her mentor; he encouraged her to explore podiatry as a profession and helped her set up shadowing opportunities.

“What drew me to the profession was that I would be able to treat patients of all ages and have the ability to perform surgery. The profession offers so many facets,” says Feilmeier, who did her residency at Trinity Regional Medical Center in Fort Dodge, IA. Her colleagues then asked her to join them in practice and subsequently open a “satellite” office in Spirit Lake, IA, where she practiced for five years. That made her an advocate for podiatric medicine as well as a physician.

“I did a lot of community speaking when we first opened that office,” she says. “I had to work to get my name out in the community and educate people on the services I could provide.”

Feilmeier strives to be active in her profession, serving on the board of the Iowa Podiatric Medical Society and on the Iowa Podiatric Licensing Board. She also is a young physician liaison to the American Podiatric Medical Association.

“Part of my job here at DMU is providing service to the community and the podiatric profession,” she says. “Today, there are so many opportunities to become an advocate for the profession, and I feel it is important for each of us to play an active role.”

A true cultural exchange: Relaxing at home, Fred and Barb Hofferber flank Ugandan medical students Andrew Ntabi and Violet Kyakumwanya, who are rotating in Iowa. The Des Moines couple has hosted nearly 170 international visitors since 1993.

Take a seat in Barb and Fred Hofferber’s eclectically adorned kitchen, and you immediately sense why the couple has been ideal hosts for nearly 170 international guests since their first such visitors in 1993. This summer, for the third consecutive year, they hosted two medical students from Uganda’s Makerere University during most of their eight-week rotation in Iowa. “I tell them their job is to make themselves at home,” says Fred, relaxing in the Hofferbers’ kitchen with Barb, Violet Kyakumwanya and Andrew Ntabi.

That doesn’t mean the Hofferbers leave the students on their own. They’ve taken the Ugandan students to many things American, from baseball games, garage sales and a local amusement park to shopping malls, central Iowa’s Bridges of Madison County, Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo, weddings and other family events.

“We like to immerse them in different things,” Fred says. “The students arrive and their minds are just like vacuums – they want to learn and experience as much as they can.”

“I like the fact that we go to different places and meet so many people. It’s surprising that we can walk into someone’s house and it’s like being at home.”
-Andrew Ntabi

Barb, through her job in mental health services at Des Moines’ Iowa Lutheran and Broadlawns hospitals, enabled Kyakumwanya and Ntabi to attend a conference on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. “To get to learn about health care even outside DMU is good,” Ntabi says.

DMU and Makerere University launched a partnership in 2009 to give students from both schools medical experiences in their countries. Since then, 41 DMU students have had rotations at hospitals and clinics in the East African nation, and eight Ugandan students have rotated in Iowa.

In Iowa, the Ugandan students spend their first four weeks on rotation in the DMU Clinic. They then rotate one week in the emergency room at Mercy Health in Sioux City, IA, where they work and stay with DMU alumni Thomas Benzoni, D.O.’83, and Noreen O’Shea, D.O.’84. Their last three weeks are a rotation at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines. Their timing brings them to Iowa during its season for sweet corn, the State Fair and Des Moines’ popular Downtown Farmers’ Market.

“The biggest surprise for me are the people,” Kyakumwanya says. “We were joking that we thought all Americans are so busy, they have no time to talk. But everyone has been very friendly.”

The Hofferbers note their Ugandan visitors create opportunities for a true cultural exchange. That evening in their kitchen, Kyakumwanya planned to prepare a traditional Ugandan eggplant dish.

“We’re homebodies who don’t travel much. They bring their culture to us,” Barb Hofferber says. “We feel blessed for the time we’ve had with the students.”

Yogesh Shah, M.D., DMU’s associate dean of Global Health, has been selected for a Fulbright Specialists project in Rwanda at Kigali Health Institute (KHI), the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board announced in May.

Shah will work with KHI to establish a center of excellence in palliative care training in Rwanda and neighboring African countries.

Shah is one of more than 400 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel abroad this year through the Fulbright Specialists Program. The program, created in 2000 to complement the traditional Fulbright Scholar Program, provides short-term academic opportunities – two to six weeks – to prominent U.S. faculty and professionals to support curricular and faculty development and institutional planning at postsecondary academic institutions around the world. Recipients of Fulbright Scholar awards are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement.

The Fulbright Program, America’s flagship international educational exchange activity, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Over its 60 years of existence, thousands of U.S. faculty and professionals have taught, studied or conducted research abroad, and thousands of their counterparts from other countries have engaged in similar activities in the United States. More than 285,000 emerging leaders in their professional fields have received Fulbright awards, including individuals who later became heads of government, Nobel Prize winners, and leaders in education, business, journalism, the arts and other fields.

DMU students Bryan Levy and Erica Bowen promote healthy eating at a West Des Moines farmers’ market.

Nestled among the food vendors and fresh produce stands, DMU students are peddling wares uncharacteristic of your average farmers’ market. Five D.O.’15 students, Matthew Sabongi, Christopher Bolander, Bryan Levy, Erica Bowen and Joshua Dilday, are setting up shop to spread the message that “food is medicine.” Grocery aisles are crammed with heavily processed food products that offer little nutritional value. Consuming a diet built around these foods can lead to a variety of health issues, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. The goal of the Food is Medicine project is to help market patrons pinpoint eating behaviors that they can change and guide them to making healthier choices by understanding how food impacts health.

“Our hope is that by educating, people will take responsibility for their health.”

“We want to show people how easy it is to eat healthy, local and fresh, and that it can be inexpensive,” says Sabongi. “Our hope is that by educating, people will take responsibility for their health.”

The farmers’ market was a logical choice, supplying a cohort of consumers who are already interested in purchasing from local, organic farmers. In fact, the project was launched based on a similar program in California. Melita Marcial-Schuster, D.O., assistant professor of Family Medicine and “senior advisor” to the students, brought the idea to Sabongi after attending a nutrition and health conference.

“I thought it was a good idea and that it might work in Des Moines. Nutrition and exercise are a large component of our health, so this is a great way to get the students out in the public to promote it,” says Marcial-Schuster.

These students are interested in more than offering nutritious recipes and snacking tips. They view the project as a larger opportunity to help the community by promoting preventive medicine. With the rise in obesity and other diseases tied to eating unhealthy foods, there’s a big movement toward preventive health to help contain the epidemic while curbing health care costs.

“We need more prevention to combat disease. Everyone eats, so it’s an easy way to help people,” says Sabongi. “We must understand the way food is made, where it comes from, how animals are raised and how it all affects our bodies. Doctors need to serve as teachers to show patients the impact that food with simple, natural ingredients can have on health.”

The Food is Medicine booth made its debut at the farmers’ market in West Des Moines’ Valley Junction on Aug. 9. Armed with educational materials and overflowing with enthusiasm, the students will continue to share their healthy message at Des Moines’ Downtown Farmers’ Market and other area markets throughout the fall.

Anil K. Sahai, D.O.’79, Ph.D., FACP

Anil K. Sahai, D.O.’79, Ph.D., FACP, a member of the DMU Board of Trustees since 2006, died on July 16, 2012. He was 61. Dr. Sahai practiced internal medicine at the Webster City, IA, Medical Clinic, a private multispecialty group practice, since 1983. He was an adjunct clinical associate professor at DMU since 1987 and a preceptor for the University of Iowa internal medicine residency program since 1994. For many years, his practice has accepted DMU students for monthly rotations and has provided them with housing. He also served on the dean’s advisory council for Iowa State University’s College of Engineering.

Born in New Delhi, India, Dr. Sahai came to the United States in 1967. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and his master’s and doctoral degrees in biomedical engineering at Iowa State before enrolling in DMU’s osteopathic medical program. He was the first D.O. to land a residency in internal medicine at Iowa Methodist Medical Center, Des Moines, just one of the many ways he opened doors for other D.O.s.

Board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and a fellow of the American College of Physicians, Dr. Sahai held patents for a medical dispensing system and for a real-time music recognition and display system. For his achievements and service to his patients, profession and DMU, he was named the 2012 College of Osteopathic Medicine Alumnus of the Year.

Dr. Sahai also was very active in the Indian community statewide. He chaired the board of trustees of the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center of Iowa, founded by his father, Dr. Prem Nath Sahai.

Read more about the Sahai family in Giving is a family affair for the Sahais.

Iowa Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds, center, with DMU Clinic staff Juanita Buchanan, Ginger Cox, Judy Allison and Dawn Bisenius.

Des Moines University Clinic received a 2012 Governor’s Volunteer Award in June for its outstanding commitment and service to the Senior Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP). “I am very pleased to honor those who have given the precious gift of their time to make a difference and enrich lives in communities all across Iowa,” said Iowa Governor Terry Branstad at the awards ceremony.

“I never tire of meeting volunteers and hearing about the wonderful accomplishments they contribute to making this state great.”

The Governor’s Volunteer Awards program was created in 1982, with inaugural awards presented in 1983. What began as a small program only available to state government agencies has expanded over the years and now provides all Iowa nonprofit, charitable and government organizations with an easy way to honor their volunteers with a prestigious state-level recognition award.

Several hundred volunteers are recognized each year with awards in one of several categories: Individual, Group, Length of Service or Disaster Volunteer. The program is coordinated by the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service and the Governor’s Office.

“An unknown author wrote, ‘Volunteers are seldom paid; not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless,’” said Iowa Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds at the awards presentation. “I couldn’t agree more. The governor and I are privileged to thank and recognize all of this year’s award recipients for their dedication.”

During her tour and observation of DMU’s Iowa Simulation Center, Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga pauses to pose with DMU students John Kuckelman, D.O.’14; Daniel Dodge, D.O.’13; Craig Schuring, D.O.’13; Kari McClintick, PA’13; and Layhla Aslani, PA’13.

When Atifete Jahjaga, the president of Kosovo, visited Iowa June 13-15, her itinerary included a tour of DMU. Her visit, part of the U.S. Department of Defense State Partnership Program, represented the first time in history that a Kosovo president came to the state. Iowa was selected in March 2011 by the State Department, the U.S. Department of Defense and the National Guard Bureau to participate in the Security and Cooperation and State Partnership programs. The programs’ goals are to link National Guard states and territories with partner countries to foster mutual interests and long-term relationships. Since Jahjaga’s visit, DMU representatives have participated in discussions exploring those relationships, including possible rotations for DMU students in Kosovo and faculty exchanges.

Jahjaga, 37, is the fourth president of Kosovo since the country declared its independence from Serbia on Feb. 17, 2008. She is the first female and the youngest to be elected to the office. Her campus visit included a gift exchange with DMU President Angela Walker Franklin, Ph.D., and a tour of the University’s Iowa Simulation Center.

Jahjaga also met with Iowa Governor Terry Branstad and other leaders, visited Iowa State University and toured a cattle operation and wind energy facilities. She was accompanied by Akan Ismaili, Kosovo ambassador to the United States; William Christopher Dell, U.S. ambassador to Kosovo; Brigadier General Xhavit Gashi, Kosovo defense attaché to the U.S.; and Major General Tim Orr, adjutant general of the Iowa National Guard.

Several years ago, DMU’s Iowa Simulation Center for Patient Safety and Clinical Skills made a commitment to enhance the training of U.S. military medics, nurses and providers of the 4224th U.S. Army Hospital (USAH). Over the past three years, 60 combat medics have acquired in the sim center more than 2,500 of their 4,500 hours of required continuing education (75 hours per medic every two years). In return, the 4224th USAH sent soldiers to work at the sim center when members of its staff were themselves deployed. To honor the sim center’s service, the 4224th USAH presented a citation to DMU in June. Access to the sim center, the citation stated in part, “greatly enhanced the ability to provide combat medics with quality training experiences and led to successful deployments providing medical care to soldiers and civilians on the battlefield and in medical treatment facilities worldwide.”

In presenting the citation, Col. Janece Mollhoff, the hospital’s acting deputy commander, stated, “The soldiers of the 4224th have used this training to accomplish every mission with professionalism and tireless devotion to duty…I thank you for your commitment to the training of our soldiers in this excellent facility.”