DMU holds an annual celebration for all employees to highlight the year’s past accomplishments, including by faculty who were promoted or received tenure. On this year’s Day of Celebration, the following faculty were recognized for that achievement.
Suzanne Bohlson, Ph.D., received tenure as associate professor of microbiology and immunology. One of DMU’s most productive researchers, Dr. Bohlson has published and presented frequently on her investigations on inflammatory and autoimmune disease processes. When she came to DMU, she brought with her a $230,000 NIH R56 grant, and she has since received a three-year NIH R15 grant of $453,000. She also serves as director of the master of science in biomedical sciences program and mentors both students and her scientific colleagues.
Pamela Duffy, Ph.D., M.Ed., was promoted to associate professor and received tenure in public health and global health. A Diversity Champion at DMU and a Catherine Worthingham Fellow of the American Physical Therapy Association, Dr. Duffy is an educator and researcher on topics including health care disparities, health care quality and efficiency, and interprofessional education.
Simon Geletta, Ph.D., was promoted to professor of public health. When he isn’t teaching, you might find Dr. Geletta out in the community, working with students to offer blood pressure screenings in local barbershops or giving presentations on topics such as food insecurity in central Iowa. He has a wide range of research interests, from infant mortality patterns to environmental factors contributing to water contamination.
Darren Liu, Dr.P.H., M.S., was promoted to associate professor of public health. His areas of expertise include long-term care, consumer health information and the ways people search for that information on the Internet. In addition to a number of research papers he’s had published in various journals, Dr. Liu has contributed to two books on health disparities and health literacy among older adults.
Kevin Smith, D.P.M., Ph.D., FACFAS, was promoted to professor in the College of Podiatric Medicine and Surgery. He also serves as associate dean for clinical affairs and sees patients in Foot and Ankle, with special interests in sports injuries and reconstructive surgery of the foot and ankle. Dr. Smith played a lead role in making the college likely the first to require students to complete a course on cultural competency.
Muhammad Spocter, Ph.D., was promoted to associate professor and received tenure in the anatomy department. Director of the master of science in anatomy program, he is a champion of community-based scholarship and for creating learning opportunities for students under-represented in STEM fields. He’s also well-known for taking a pie in the face during DMU’s St. Baldrick’s Day to raise funds for childhood cancer research.
