VCOM View Vol 10 No 1

VCOM View M A G A Z I N E THE EDWARD VIA COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE SUMMER/FALL 2020 VOL. 10 l NO. 1

IN THIS ISSUE: VCOM Opens Fourth Campus in Louisiana 6 · Called to Serve in Africa 14 Uniting to Fight the Shortage of PPE 20 · Inventing a New Educational Tool 26 · Donor Spotlight 34 · Research Review 40 ·Outstanding Students Recognized 46 · First Virtual Graduation 52

2 A Day in the Life of a VCOM Student When COVID-19 restrictions closed classrooms around the country, VCOM held several “drive-thru” events for students to pick up academic materials, scrubs and sometimes lunch or bags of treats. The VCOM family is glad to be back on campus, providing the highest quality medical education for students! www.vcom.edu/view

Contents...

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VCOMOpens Fourth Campus VCOM-Louisiana has opened its doors in Monroe on the campus of ULM. We take a look at the journey it took to get there. Called to Serve VCOM-Carolinas graduate exemplifies the Mission by serving some of the most vulnerable in Africa. Uniting to Fight the PPE Shortage VCOM faculty, staff and students join with others to ease the shortage of masks, protective equipment and supplies for healthcare workers and first responders. Inventing a New Educational Tool A VCOM graduate and professor saw the need for an even more realistic emergency medical simulator and made it happen.

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Sections: 5 From the President and Provost ALUMNI & DEVELOPMENT 34 Donor Spotlight RESEARCH 40 Research Review STUDENT SPOTLIGHT 46 Outstanding Students Recognized NEWS AND EVENTS 50 News and Scholarly Spotlight 52 First Virtual Graduation summer/fall 2020 | VCOM V iew M agazine 3

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POINTS OF CONTACT

Contact Us! Submit letters and editorial material to:

EDITOR AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR Cindy Shepard Rawlins Vice President for Communications, Marketing, Website and Publications COMMUNICATIONS TEAM Scott Godwin, Auburn Director for Communications, Marketing and Publications Desi Hammett, Louisiana Director for Communications, Marketing and Publications Lily Knights, Carolinas Director for Communications, Marketing and Publications Jenna Marquardt, Auburn Communications and Graphic Design Grace Milauskas, Virginia Communications Writer NormMiller, Virginia Director for Communications, Marketing and Publications James Nichols, Carolinas Communications and Graphic Design Elijah Bailey, Director of Web Applications CONTRIBUTORS Tiffany Carpenetti, PhD Thim Corvin, MA Sara Jamison Chelsea Porter, DO Dixie Tooke-Rawlins, DO Louisiana Helicam Chad Chenier Photography MISSION The Mission of the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) is to prepare globally-minded, community- focused physicians to meet the needs of rural and medically underserved populations and promote research to improve human health. VCOM View magazine is an annual publication produced by the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine to keep its faculty, staff, friends and supporters informed of the most recent news, events and changes at the College. For a copy of our Outcomes Reports, please see www.vcom. edu/outcomes. ©2020 Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine. All rights reserved. VCOM is certified by the State Council of Higher Education to operate in Virginia. 4 www.vcom.edu/view

Follow us! Join the conversation about VCOM on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and more! Tag us! Whether you’re studying or researching, tag your pictures on Instagram or Twitter with #VCOMview or email your event photos and the names of the people in the pictures to the addresses in the next column.

Mail: VCOM View Magazine 2265 Kraft Drive Blacksburg, Virginia 24060 Email: news-virginia@vcom.edu news-carolinas@vcom.edu news-auburn@vcom.edu news-louisiana@vcom.edu

Alumni News Email: alumni@vcom.edu

Stay informed and engaged with all of the exciting things happening at VCOM. Be among the first to find out about VCOM news, events and more.

www. vcom. edu/ i ntouch

ON THE COVER: The fourth VCOM campus has opened in Monroe, Louisiana. To learn more about the new campus and its students, see page 6. Photo courtesy of Louisiana Helicam. ABOVE: Dr. Hokie Bird joins Tiffany Carpenetti, PhD, VCOM-Virginia faculty, who worked with students and community members to make and donate masks to help healthcare workers, see page 20.

A NOTE from the President and Provost

COLLEGE LEADERSHIP & BOARDS PRESIDENT & PROVOST Dixie Tooke-Rawlins, DO, FACOFP

DEAN, VCOM–VIRGINIA Jan M. Willcox, DO, FACOFP

DEAN, VCOM–AUBURN Elizabeth Palmarozzi, DO, FACOFP DEAN, VCOM–LOUISIANA Ray Morrison, DO, FACOS

T his year has been challenging, yet successful, for VCOM. Our new VCOM- Louisiana campus, a public/private partnership Making a Difference in the Future of Primary Care

DEAN, VCOM–CAROLINAS Matthew Cannon, DO, FACOFP

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

John G. Rocovich Jr., JD, LLM, Chair Dixie Tooke-Rawlins, DO, FACOFP, President and Provost James F. Wolfe, PhD, President Emeritus Thomas R. Brock Jr., MBA Nick J. Bruno, PhD Jimmy Gibbs Jay Gogue, PhD Jan M. Willcox, DO, FACOFP, Dean John G. Rocovich Jr., JD, LLM, Chair Dixie Tooke-Rawlins, DO, FACOFP, President and Provost James F. Wolfe, PhD, President Emeritus

W. Bruce Hanks Roy E. Heaton, DO Bruce Holstein Gov. James C. Justice II, MBA Randal J. Kirk, JD Elizabeth McClanahan, JD Sue Ellen B. Rocovich, DO, PhD Jimmy Sanford Raymond D. Smoot, PhD Daniel A. Wubah, PhD Thomas R. Brock Jr., MBA Sterling Ellsworth, MD Alan Fabian Bill Flattery Roy E. Heaton, DO Carol Pratt, DDS William D. Thomas, DO, Alumni Association Representative

Dixie Tooke-Rawlins, DO, FACOFP

with the University of Louisiana Monroe, opened despite excessive rains, a global pandemic, a tornado and two two hurricanes. Just as the COVID-19 pandemic has changed medicine, changes in medical education across the country have followed. In March of 2020, VCOM implemented the CDC guidelines for higher education to protect students and employees. On March 13, 2020, due to COVID-19, the College closed campuses, removed students from clinical rotations and rapidly implemented a curriculum dependent upon online learning and exams. The transition was smooth for VCOM as the College had already instituted online learning technology, which assisted student home study. In July, VCOM transitioned back to the “new norm in medical education,” a mixture of classes that include online learning options and require in-class or in-laboratory learning sessions. Ultimately, VCOM’s academic program will not be delayed. Although students were removed from clinical learning experiences mid-March through June, all of the College’s core clinical partners and faculty have stepped up. This ensured all VCOM students were once again incorporated into the clinical learning environment. VCOM has more than 2,000 medical students enrolled in the Classes of 2021-2024 across all four of its campuses. If anything, the COVID-19 crisis has highlighted physician shortages, especially for rural and medically underserved populations. VCOM’s mission will continue to be focused on making a significant difference in access to healthcare for all. ■

VIRGINIA ADVISORY BOARD

CAROLINAS ADVISORY BOARD

Matthew D. Cannon, DO, Dean John G. Rocovich Jr., JD, LLM, Chair Dixie Tooke-Rawlins, DO, FACOFP, President and Provost Graham Adams, PhD

Ingo Angermeier William Barnet III Jimmy Gibbs Bruce Holstien Marlon Hunter A. Alan Turfe, MBA

AUBURN ADVISORY BOARD

Elizabeth A. Palmarozzi, DO, FACOFP, Dean John G. Rocovich Jr., JD, LLM, Chair Dixie Tooke-Rawlins, DO, FACOFP, President and Provost William G. Anderson, DO Ray Morrison, DO, FACOS, Dean John G. Rocovich Jr., JD, LLM, Chair Dixie Tooke-Rawlins, DO, FACOFP, President and Provost Nick J. Bruno, PhD

Mark Baker Martin J. Bonick Thom Gossum Jr. Laura Grill L. Keith Granger Bill Hardgrave, PhD Jimmy Sanford

LOUISIANA ADVISORY BOARD

W. Bruce Hanks P. Gary Jones, MD Scott McDonald Randy Morris Ed Williams Kristin Wolkart

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“ There are a lot of people producing physicians for urban areas and we have a maldistribution of healthcare in this country. Our mission is to ensure that everyone has access to good healthcare and I appreciate everyone that supports us.” Dixie Tooke-Rawlins, DO President and Provost

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Fourth VCOM Campus Opens Educating Future Physicians for Lousiana and the Delta Region

by Desi Hammett

F or many in northeast Louisiana, September 18, 2018, was just another hot and humid late summer Tuesday. However, for the select group of individuals who had spent months tirelessly planning and preparing for the facility that would soon be built on this very ground, it would prove to be just the beginning of the radically positive shift in healthcare they had envisioned for the community of Monroe, the state of Louisiana, and the Delta region as a whole. Despite the sun’s relentless heat that morning, John G. Rocovich Jr., JD, LLM, co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) and Dixie Tooke-Rawlins, DO, VCOM President and Provost, had smiles on their faces as they enthusiastically guided their shovels into the mound of earth where the College’s new Louisiana campus would soon reside. They were joined by more than a dozen other local, regional and national dignitaries, each of whom played an integral role in bringing VCOM to the University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM) campus. Hundreds braved the heat to attend the groundbreaking ceremony that day in celebration of a turning point in healthcare availability for the citizens of Louisiana and the Delta region. Today, two years after the groundbreaking ceremony, the former Heritage Park area of the ULM campus is home to four floors of the most modern medical teaching facilities available. The 90,000-square-foot VCOM-Louisiana building features a 4,100-square-foot anatomy lab, a high- tech simulation center, and a 3,300-square-foot lab for osteopathic manipulative medicine training. VCOM-Louisiana welcomed its inaugural class of 155 students in July of 2020.

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TIMELINE of VCOM-LOUISIANA May 2018 The College received its initial license from the University of Louisiana Board of Regents to establish the branch campus at the University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM) September 18, 2018 Groundbreaking Ceremony April 25, 2019 First Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) meeting in Chicago for the proposed VCOM- Louisiana campus June 6, 2019 Received initial approval from COCA to recruit students for the Louisiana branch campus June 2019 Began accepting applications for the Class of 2024 September 27, 2019 First day of interviews for prospective students for the Class of 2024 February 10, 2020 Moved out of ULM’s Sandel Hall offices and into new VCOM-Louisiana campus building March 12, 2020 COCA’s first site visit April 24, 2020 First VCOM-Louisiana Advisory Board Meeting held by videoconference May 22, 2020 Accepted Students Day (Virtual Event) July 7, 2020 New student welcome and drive-thru event July 13, 2020 First day of classes (conducted online) due to COVID-19 restrictions. August 10, 2020 First day of on-campus classes August 14, 2020 New student welcome luncheon

“ Structured after successful VCOM partnerships with Virginia Tech and Auburn University, the public/private partnership with ULM would incur no cost for the state of Louisiana.”

History of the New Campus

W hile construction of the physical campus of VCOM-Louisiana over the past two years has created substantial buzz on the campus of ULM and the community and region beyond, the internal buzz at VCOM began much earlier. Word of VCOM’s mission to bring physicians to rural and medically underserved communities in Appalachia and its unique program spread far and wide among the medical community and soon reached the state of Louisiana. It wasn’t long before Nick Bruno, PhD, President of the University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM) in Monroe, Louisiana, heard about the College’s high success rate. Bruno, a long-time advocate for a medical school on the campus of ULM, saw a partnership with VCOM as the

perfect way to expand the medical offerings available at his university. However, the timing wasn’t right for VCOM and they declined the opportunity initially, due in large part to the opening of the College’s third branch in Auburn, Alabama. Bruno continued to search for a medical school partnership for ULM. Despite some promising options, nothing ever came to fruition. That is, until the summer of 2017 when all the pieces finally fell into place for a partnership between VCOM and ULM. The Delta is one of the most impoverished and underserved areas of the country. As such, it was a prime location for the College to further its mission. VCOM founder and Chairman John G. Rocovich Jr., JD,

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LLM, played a key role in the establishment of the new partnership with Bruno and ULM. With the full backing of Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, support for ULM’s partnership with VCOM continued to grow across the state. Randy Morris, Chairman of the Board for the Rural Hospital Coalition in Louisiana, also played an integral role in getting the word out to hospital administrators across the state about the advantages of an in-state private medical school. With an ever- increasing need for physicians in these rural areas, the prospect of having a local medical school to attract students who might return to practice in these underserved areas, was very appealing.

Structured after successful VCOM partnerships with Virginia Tech and Auburn University, the public/private partnership with ULM would incur no cost for the state of Louisiana and provide VCOM students with all the student benefits, educational partnerships and research opportunities afforded to students enrolled at ULM. Approval from the State In March of 2018, Ray Morrison, DO, FACOS, was offered the role of founding dean of the new branch, and in August 2018, he became the first employee of VCOM-Louisiana. The newly-appointed Morrison played a critical role in making local connections as VCOM sought approval from the state legislative board of supervisors to establish a campus in Monroe.

Above: Speakers at VCOM-Louisiana’s groundbreaking at the University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM) included (left to right) Ray Morrison, DO, Dean of the new VCOM-Louisiana campus; Dixie Tooke-Rawlins, DO, VCOM President and Provost; John G. Rocovich Jr., JD, LLM, Chairman of the VCOM Board of Directors; Governor John Bel Edwards of Louisiana; Dr. Nick J. Bruno, (past) President of ULM; the Honorable Francis Thompson, EdD, MEd, Louisiana State Representative; Mark Baker, DO, Past President of the American Osteopathic Association; Jim Henderson, DM, MS, President of the University of Louisiana System; and Jamie Mayo, Mayor of the city of Monroe. (Not shown) Julia Letlow, PhD, Executive Director of External Affairs and Strategic Communications; the Honorable Katrina Jackson, JD, Louisiana State Senator.

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Groundbreaking Celebration Later in 2018, VCOM and ULM held a joint groundbreaking ceremony, that marked the official start to the building process, though construction wouldn’t truly begin for another few weeks. Mike Hamrick, AIA, of Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood, served as the architect for the Louisiana facility. The layout of the new four-story, 90,000-square-foot building was based largely on the VCOM-Auburn facility, which was also designed by Hamrick. Construction of the facility was completed by Lincoln Builders of Ruston, Louisiana. Accreditation Process Begins The following spring, VCOM- Louisiana received its initial approval from the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) to recruit students to the new branch. Thus, the College began accepting applications for the Class of 2024 in June of 2019. The first round of interviews was held on September 27, 2019, and continued throughout the next several months. Construction Completed After more than a year of working out of temporary offices in ULM’s Sandel Hall, Morrison and the small number of VCOM-Louisiana staff moved into the brand-new facility in early February of 2020. Only a month later, they, along with the rest of the VCOM branches, would find themselves working in a largely remote capacity as COVID-19 quickly spread across the state and country.

See the time lapse video of the construction of the campus (scroll down) : www.vcom.edu/locations/louisiana

Photo courtesy of ULM Waterski Team

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Inaugural Class Matriculates The remaining faculty and staff positions were filled over the following months, and by June of 2020, VCOM-Louisiana was diligently preparing for its inaugural class, which would begin a few weeks later, on Monday, July 13, 2020. Then, with rigid safety precautions in place, the College opened its doors for the very first time to students for on-campus classes on Monday, August 10, 2020.

Despite the pandemic, the VCOM- Louisiana team pressed on toward their goal of opening their doors later that year. Faculty and staff who had spent months interviewing prospective students had to abruptly change to a fully remote interview process. This posed unique and significant challenges for recruiting students to the new campus, essentially sight unseen, and with no previous students to tout the advantages of a Louisiana Delta-based medical school.

“I don’t think anybody on campus was any more excited than I was, to have 155 of these bright young minds show up for a face-to- face beginning to an exciting four years,” said Morrison. “Of course, COVID has really put a quash on personal interaction with so many of the students,” Morrison added. Morrison said that he was praying that the pandemic would soon end and that everyone could get back to business as usual. “If not, I’m still looking for ways to adapt and

“ In only a couple of years, the students will begin clinical rotations in hospitals and clinics across the state and region.”

Top left: Orientation Drive-thru in preparation for online classes. Right and bottom left: First day of socially distanced in-person classes.

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Student Reflections We asked students how it feels to be entering as the first class of students at the new VCOM-Louisiana campus.

progress forward to making this an exceptional medical school.”

While the inaugural class of VCOM-Louisiana has a couple of years of heavy studies ahead of them, soon enough they will become an integral part of the community along with the classes that follow them. In only a couple of years, the students will begin clinical rotations in hospitals and clinics across the state and region. In addition to the local impacts of these students, many will also take part in important research that will have national and even global impacts far into the future. VCOM-Louisiana is excited to expand its partnership with ULM in many areas, including collaborative research with ULM’s College of Pharmacy. The Future of Healthcare Support for VCOM-Louisiana is strong in the Delta and expresses the optimism that the community holds for the future of healthcare in this area. Many of the students (some with young families) brought their own hopes and dreams with the intention of planting roots in the Delta and becoming part of the solution for the physician shortage that has long plagued this region. ■ Becoming a Part of the Community

Kaitlin Crum Corinth, Mississippi “There is this stigma around new medical schools... that the education and training won’t be up to standard. However, since VCOM-Louisiana is the fourth campus of a well- established Osteopathic institution, that was never a concern for me.

They have worked extremely hard to incorporate all of the best suggestions given by the previous classes in order to give us the most extraordinary facilities and educational program, tried and true. Thus, I have no doubt that this campus will be the best campus yet, and I am extremely proud and excited to be a part of the inaugural class of VCOM-Louisiana! On my interview day, the faculty at VCOM treated me like royalty, and with more southern hospitality than any other school. I knew from just that one day that I would be coming into a family that supports me, encourages me, and truly wants the best for me. The new community I have already established here, even amidst the pandemic, already feels like home.”

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Torhiana Haydel Lake Charles, Louisiana “It is something special and remarkable to be amongst the first set of students who get to use a brand new, state-of-the- art medical building.

As a Louisiana native, I’ve lived in both Lake Charles and New Orleans, however, Monroe is its own unique and tight-knit community. It’s refreshing to be in a smaller city, which allows me to focus more on my academics. Since the city is smaller, it allows for more interpersonal relationships and meaningful community service to be done. Additionally, when I speak to locals about being an OMS-I, they are equally as thrilled and excited for my classmates and me. It’s a privilege to have a community supporting you and cheering you on and I look forward to living up to their expectations.”

Joshua Torres Parkland, Florida

“Starting medical school on a brand-new campus is a motivating incentive during this journey. We all want to hit the ground running to make sure we are molding ourselves

into intelligent, culturally competent student doctors. The VCOM-Louisiana campus is immaculate, leaving the inaugural class an opportunity to make our mark on VCOM history. Coming from Parkland, Florida, I was nervous about leaving my family and friends behind. But where change goes, growth follows. Upon arriving in Monroe, Louisiana, I realized that I would have the chance to make new friends I will one day consider family. Monroe is a small city, and I can feel the southern hospitality.”

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Called to Serve by Lily Knights VCOM-Carolinas Alumna Exemplifies the Mission in Africa

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C helsea Porter, DO, lives in one of the most unforgiving landscapes on earth. She sleeps under a mosquito net to avoid malaria, and her diet consists largely of beans and rice. She is in West Africa, in the Republic of Niger, which is ranked by the United Nations as the poorest country in the world. Dr. Chelsea Porter and her husband, Ryan Porter, MD, were drawn to this region by the Danja Health Center, located on the southern edge of the vast Sahara, a medical clinic that cares for people from surrounding villages and beyond. The Danja Health Center also includes long-term care facilities for patients with leprosy, major wounds and burns and women with obstetric fistulas. Women and girls travel to Danja from all over Niger as well as bordering Nigeria to receive treatment, relief and restoration. A fistula is a passageway that forms between two areas in the body. Women in many third world countries develop obstetric fistulas due to prolonged and obstructed labor, which is particularly prevalent among child mothers with immature pelvises. Other contributing factors may include scarcity of basic healthcare, lack of education regarding reproductive health and the practice of female genital mutilation. “ It is a privilege, an absolute privilege to become a doctor and receive the education necessary to care for people in their most vulnerable moments.”

Left: Sunset over the Sahel seen from the sand dunes near Niamey, Niger’s capital.

Right: The Republic of Niger is a landlocked country in West Africa named after the Niger River. Bordering countries include Libya to the northeast, Chad to the east and Nigeria to the south. Niger is the largest country in West Africa and over 80% of its land area lies in the Sahara Desert.

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Top: Aisha, a village volunteer, gives a presentation on how to prevent fistulas by ensuring women get to a health facility on time. Above left: Fistula survivors in the rehabilitation program at Danja Fistula Center. Without treatment, these women risk rejection by their villages, abandonment by their husbands and a life as social outcasts because of this ailment. Above right: Chelsea Porter, DO (in photo on the right) who says she was grateful for the opportunity to serve others in El Salvador. “

I felt the Lord call me to become a doctor to share his love with the many hurting and in difficult places. This became my drive. I had seen the suffering and I knew I wanted to respond.”

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Mission-Focused Medical Education VCOM is known for a central Mission, which supports all College endeavors, from curriculum to research, from student engagement to the close-knit culture created by faculty and staff. The Mission to prepare globally- minded, community-focused physicians to meet the needs of rural and medically underserved populations draws students who are characterized by their pronounced personal drive to serve communities most in need – even while in medical school! During her years at VCOM, Chelsea exemplified this, balancing the rigorous academic demands with extensive service activities. “I put pictures from mission trips up in my study room,” she remembered. “I had faces of people I met along the way, to encourage me and remind me of why I’m doing what I’m doing, why I am studying all these long hours.” As a VCOM student, Chelsea initiated a “Share the Warmth” clothing drive to support a soup kitchen and homeless shelter in the Spartanburg, South Carolina area. She volunteered at the Miracle Hill Homeless shelter, assisting with dinner services. She also volunteered at Spartanburg Regional’s Hospice Home, visiting inpatients and their families in their last days of life, supporting their comfort and dignity. “She has a selfless attitude and strong initiative,” remarked Matthew Cannon, DO, VCOM-Carolinas Dean. “She believes fully in the philosophy of addressing one’s needs of health and well-being by incorporating the relationship of mind, body and spirit.” international outreach program, and Chelsea was no exception. In June of 2013 she served on an international mission to El Salvador. During this inspiring week-long trip, VCOM students provided medical attention for patients in local villages, community clinics, orphanages and schools. For Chelsea, the trip deepened her concern for the hardships endured by populations in impoverished and underserved regions and further solidified her desire to care for vulnerable communities. VCOM International Outreach Many students are drawn by VCOM’s robust

If left untreated, fistulas can lead to chronic medical issues including ulcerations, kidney disease, and nerve damage in the legs, as well as psychosocial and emotional health problems. Obstetric fistulas lead to incontinence, a constant and humiliating condition. Women are viewed as outcasts and as “unclean” individuals, often divorced by their husbands and shunned from their families and villages. Fistulas are treatable, but that treatment requires the expertise of a doctor, one of the rarest commodities in the world’s medically underserved communities. Called to a Mission Before coming to VCOM, Chelsea’s life was already on a path that embodied the College’s Mission to serve communities most in need. In 2007, she traveled to remote areas in Rwanda and toured a suffering hospital, which had only one doctor providing care. “The head nurse described their struggles and the need for doctors,” said Dr. Porter in a recent interview. “It was the first time I had seen human suffering of that magnitude.” In Rwanda and on subsequent overseas trips, as Chelsea spent time nurturing people, demonstrating herself to be genuinely interested in the well-being and dignity of those most in need, one persistent challenge was apparent to her: the scarcity of medications available. With this in mind, Chelsea pursued an education in osteopathic medicine. “I knew that having the ability to use osteopathic manipulative medicine would be an extra tool to help serve people where resources are so limited,” she explained, continuing, “VCOM was my first choice after seeing its heart for the underserved and the ability I would have to go overseas as a medical student.” During the medical school application process, Chelsea served on a mission trip in Haiti following the earthquake in 2010. While coordinating a program for malnourished children at the Canaan Clinic and Orphanage, met Ryan Porter. At the time, Porter was a first-year medical student at the University of Arkansas, and is now her husband and mission partner in West Africa.

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Preparing for a Future of Service After graduating from VCOM-Carolinas with the Class of 2016, Dr. Porter’s residency at Via Christi Family Medicine in Wichita, Kansas built on her VCOM foundation. The residency added high-risk obstetrics skills, some training in tropical medicine and proficiency in performing cesarean sections. “I did my training in Family medicine, but I made sure to find a program that had a focus on International Medicine and also had a focus on Obstetrics,” said Porter. As Dr. Porter described her education at VCOM and beyond, she was clear that every new chapter was built on the previous one. This resulted in an exceptionally well-rounded physician, board certified in Family Medicine, highly skilled in obstetrics, with a heart for serving those most in need. “I took an elective in gynecologic oncology, assisting in hysterectomies. I also took a month-long international rotation, which is how my husband and I heard of the amazing ministry opportunities in Niger and came to choose our country in West Africa,” said Porter.

Discovering an Underserved Community The Porters heard about the health center in Danja, when they were in a neighboring West African city during her international rotation in residency. Back home in the U.S., the Porters learned more about the needs in Niger and after much prayer, decided to move to Africa. In February of 2020, the Porters left their friends, family, colleagues and the comforts of home, embarking on their mission. The early weeks of March found them digging into language studies and devoting themselves to acclimating to the unwelcoming West African climate of relentless heat and pervasive dust, leading to allergic reactions. But 2020 had more in store for the Porters (and the world) than those challenges. In the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic, many in Niger lost their jobs and access to food. By late June, the Danja Health Center felt the impact. In a newsletter, Dr. Ryan Porter updated friends, “Chelsea’s desire has always been to share the love of Jesus with marginalized women by providing healthcare, and she has been interested in learning the procedure to repair fistulas for a while. Sadly, this

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Far left: The Porter family arrived in Africa in the early months of 2020. Dr. Chelsea Porter is wearing the traditional headcoverings of the community she serves.

Upper left: The Danja Clinic sign

Lower left: The Porters use Scrabble tiles for a fun twist to aid their studies of the Hausa language.

Center: Patients wait in a room inside the Danja Health Clinic.

Left: “Many of my friends had recommended the documentary ‘A Walk to Beautiful’ about a fistula center in Ethiopia. I’ve had a heart for bringing healthcare to vulnerable women for quite some time and after watching the documentary, my husband and I both felt [Danja Health Center] could be the place for us,” said Porter.

“ There are so many women whose lives are devastated by of this problem and it’s because of the training I received at VCOM that I can be here.”

amazing center is at risk of shutting down due to lack of funding and lack of a fistula surgeon.”

physical therapy, counseling and job skills during a three-month reintegration program.

Since then, a major donor has reduced support after their own funding decreased as a result of the pandemic. The fistula center has now temporarily suspended service until adequate funding is raised. Scarcer than Funding is Expertise Even with adequate funding, the Danja Fistula Center has long lacked a full-time surgeon. While nurses and other staff carried on the work of the clinic, patients waited for a surgeon to fly in from America or elsewhere to perform fistula restoration procedures in batches. “There is a crucial need for a fistula surgeon, so I am going to learn this procedure,” affirmed Dr. Porter, who is eager to do this much needed work, once the program is funded and operational. In January she plans to begin the training that will eventually lead to the Danja Fistula Center having a full-time, in-house surgeon.

“This program allows women to live with other women who have the same challenge and see they are not alone,” said Porter. “They are met with kindness and shown that they are accepted and valuable! They receive counseling and learn to sew and embroider so they can enter back into their societies knowing they are an asset; it truly is a remarkable place!” Porter said. For now, the Porters serve as missionaries, pray the Center will be funded and work on learning enough Hausa language to no longer need a translator. While the Fistula Center is closed, other parts of the Danja Health Center remain functional, allowing the physicians to participate in a medical setting and connect with local healthcare workers. “We are so thankful for this opportunity and we are praying the funding comes in so we can continue this beautiful work,” Dr. Porter said.

Visit www.danjahealth.org to donate or for more information on the work of the Danja Fistula Center. ■

In addition to surgery, the Danja Fistula Center provides

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Community Unites to Fight the PPE Shortage for Healthcare Workers and First Responders by Grace Milauskas

D r. Tiffany Carpenetti was looking for ways to help fellow healthcare workers who are on the frontlines every day during the COVID-19 pandemic. She came across an article from the University of Florida College of Medicine’s Anesthesiology department on how to make two different prototypes of masks. Little did she know that her friend, Matthew Hull, a research scientist for Virginia Tech, ICTAS, had already begun putting the wheel in motion for community outreach, he had contacted the Blue Ridge Fudge Lady, Robin Burdette. “Matthew called me and asked if I would be interested in helping coordinate a group of people to sew these masks for the community. I told him I would love to help! He felt like I had a good reach in the community, and I could get together a team of people to sew,” said Burdette.

The call to help others in need is one that many people hear, especially during a time of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic that is currently sweeping through the world. One such person who is listening to this calling is Tiffany L. Carpenetti, PhD, an Assistant Professor for Anatomical Sciences at VCOM-Virginia.

Matthew Hull then introduced Dr. Carpenetti to Robin, and the two of them began the plans of mask making. Dr. Carpenetti sent Robin the prototypes to make from the University of Florida, and they met up to get the material that Matthew Hull had collected. Dr. Carpenetti’s neighbor, Dan Crowder, introduced her to Carol Davis, the leader of NRV Mask Makers, and who is also the Town of Blacksburg’s Sustainability Manager. The NRV Mask Makers created a Facebook group where members can post questions, tips, and tricks, messages of encouragement, and updated numbers of masks that have been donated to local healthcare communities. The group is currently operating out of the Blacksburg Presbyterian Church. The church is used as a central drop-off location for

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completed masks. Once the masks are dropped off at the church, Richard Hammer and his army of Mini Cooper enthusiasts, pick the masks up and deliver them where needed. They also pick up materials when required. Carol and Dr. Carpenetti formed a specialized team of seamsters who could sew using the H600 material. “We hand- selected four mask makers who are really good and have high sewing skills, along with high output. Now they are a separate team that is kind of rock and roll on making those masks from surgical material and getting them largely out to EMS,” said Carol. Dr. Carpenetti is not the only one from VCOM who is helping with the NRV Mask Makers, Debbie Geiger, and Mukarram Razvi, DO, are also helping. Dr. Razvi helped determine the best material and style of mask to create that would meet the needs

Faculty, staff and students put their sewing skills to use in making masks for healthcare providers and first responders. Clockwise from top left: VCOM-Virginia Class of 2023 medical student Adair McCabe; VCOM faculty member Tiffany Carpenetti, PhD; and Aileen Bi, Class of 2023.

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of healthcare workers in the NRV and help design a guidance document for “home-made” mask use. While Debbie Geiger, in her down-time, is “working diligently to fill requests from healthcare workers in the area for masks using materials that we either already had at home, were donated by others in the community or we personally purchased,” said Geiger. The mask makers average about 1,000 masks a week and 100 to 200 H600 masks. As of May 4, 2020, the group had donated close to 3,000 masks to local healthcare facilities personnel. Top: VCOM’s Dr. Eric Stanley (left) and Dr. Tiffany Carpenetti (second from left) donated masks to the Blacksburg Volunteer Rescue Squad. Center: VCOM-Virginia Dean Jan Willcox, DO (center) brought masks and other PPE to Alan Fabian, CEO (right) at LewisGale Montgomery Hospital in Blacksburg, Virginia. Bottom (left to right): At Carilion New River Valley Medical Center, Nurse Kathi Hall, Jan Willcox, DO and Bill Flattery, CEO.

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The help does not stop there; VCOM faculty member Eric Stanley, DO, Discipline Chair for Emergency Medicine, is helping to determine where the masks should go and where they are needed most. Dr. Stanley is giving guidance to Carol Davis and Dr. Carpenetti about getting masks to First Responders in the local areas. Dr. Stanley is the Medical Director of six of Montgomery County’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Some EMS groups are so short on masks such as the Shawsville EMS that at one point, they were going to run out of masks to give to patients within six days. The Radford Arsenal Plant Fire and Rescue were the first to receive masks because they “It was astounding to me that the idea that these First Responders, the front line healthcare workers, are going to be at a huge risk because they can’t even put a mask on a patient to help decrease the risk. It really struck me that there really is no PPE around, and even though we’re not in a hot spot, they’re still at risk, and there are still cases around here, and they have to treat everyone as possibly infected. My thought was we’re going to funnel these where they need to go,” said Carpenetti. Dr. Stanley commended all of the student volunteers that are sewing masks as amazing. were down to almost no masks in their inventory.

“I think it’s a pretty good number of folks. You know, it’s amazing. I certainly I want to shout out a big thanks to VCOM and Dixie Tooke-Rawlins, DO, for buying material for the students to use and ultimately for it to be donated to Fire and EMS,” said Dr. Stanley An unfortunate truth of the pandemic is the move to virtual learning and canceling rotations for third and fourth-year students that medical schools have had to do across the country. The students began to feel helpless by not being able to help when their calling in life is helping people, but Dr. Carpenetti gave VCOM students hope.

The projects don’t stop there, Dr. Carpenetti, Dr. Stanley and Matt Hull have all been working with Dr. Jeff Kessel, an anesthesiologist for Anesthesiology Consultants of Virginia (ACV), to create a prototype mask that could replace the N95 mask. Dr. Kessel is able to take a mask to employee health at Roanoke Memorial and have the staff there test how protective the mask is. They are still refining the mask style, layers, and inserts, but are making progress. “Maybe this could help define the N95 style moving forward because the current designs and materials are woefully poor when someone has to wear it for hours on end. Having appropriate

“The students have been fantastic. I’ll tell them I have a bunch of copper that needs to be cut for the masks, and the students will come and pick it up and drop it off when they’re done. Students will contact me saying they don’t know how to sew, but what can I do to help. They have been dropping off bags of t-shirts to use as the ties for the masks, which I have found to be better than using the H600 material,” said Carpenetti. “ The answer is not throwing

protection is paramount to our group. We are still doing urgent and emergent cases and have to provide care to known or suspected COVID-19 patients,” said Dr. Kessel. From the EMS perspective, Dr. Stanley is giving his guidance on what EMS personnel need. “My interests for EMS is more of

money at the problem, it is putting time into the problem.” Tiffany Carpenetti, PhD Assistant Professor for Anatomical Sciences at VCOM-Virginia

a simple surgical type mask that isn’t meant to function like an N95, but just something that is a layer of protection. The current wisdom from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is that you only need the N95 for procedures where you are you going to be around a lot of small particles,” said Dr. Stanley. In their endeavor to create more available gear, Matt Hull and Dr. Kessel were contacted by the NRV Mask Makers group about supplies. They are sourcing H400-600

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trying to do whatever we can to help,” said Matt Hull.

material from the hospital, and it has been shown that four layers to be relatively protective against small particle penetration. The material is being recycled from the hospital and decreases the cost for the mask group. The H600 material is used to wrap instrument trays in the Operating Room (OR) and is thrown away during standard OR cases. It is sterile and clean when removed from the tray and has been collected for Dr. Kessel by the OR staff at Roanoke Memorial Hospital. “Doing a small number of cases, we generate two garbage bags of material in one to two days

(not everyone remembers to save it),” said Dr. Kessel. Once there is enough material to donate, Dr. Kessel meets people at the Park & Ride at exit 118 or 140 to give garbage bags full of H600 to the mask group. “The other day, I snagged a mask that Tiffany was working on and drove up I-81 to meet Dr. Kessel to hand off the masks and to get more material. Then I met up with Robin to give her the material and now she’s taking it out and distributing it. I think Tiffany has a pretty good source of material through VCOM and through the local hospitals. It’s all just one big collaboration of just

Through the many different pieces when they are put together, it completes the puzzle. It is not a competition of who can sew the most masks or who can create the best prototype. It is a joining of minds to help those in need during the COVID-19 crisis. People such as these mentioned are why healthcare workers can continue to get up and go to work every day. “The answer is not throwing money at the problem, it is putting time into the problem,” said Dr. Carpenetti. ■

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All Four VCOM Campuses Joined the Fight to Protect Our Healthcare Workforce Whether it was making masks or donating PPE and snacks, students, faculty and staff from all four VCOM campuses quickly joined in to do whatever they could to help our first responders and clinical hospital site healthcare workers.

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Inventing a New Educational Tool I magine a medical emergency where a patient has arrived to a hospital emergency room in serious distress. Emotions are high and trained medical personnel are manikin simulators. These manikin simulators talk, breathe, show pulses and exhibit many other life- like features. However, according to VCOM-Auburn Associate Dean for the Center for Simulation and it may be avoided due to the lack of realism and the expense of replacing parts and coverings. by Scott Godwin

Another shortfall that White has noticed is that students subconsciously know they are working on a manikin. At the end of the day, everyone knows that the manikin won’t be maimed or injured if the student makes a mistake. There is also an emotional disconnect as the manikin just cannot match the emotions and feelings that a real person in a real emergency situation would convey. All of this, according to White, can lead to a disruption in the learning process as critical steps are forgotten, skipped or completed out of order.

rushing into action to assist the patient.In this situation, a skipped step, or one out of order, could further complicate an already dangerous situation for a patient. VCOM students train exactly for these types of situations in the simulation centers on each campus and in disaster simulation events. While patient actors can act out many medical scenarios, most medical procedures are taught on inanimate plastic task trainers. To add realism to the experience, educators often incorporate computer-controlled

Technology, Jeremy J. White, DO, PhD, these manikins still have shortfalls. Manikins lay on a stretcher expressionless. Their skin is rubbery and does not look or feel like normal human tissue. Additionally, students can only perform certain procedures on certain manikins or task trainers, resulting in pauses or gaps in the simulation. According to White, this can separate a student from the gravity of the scenario and the need to learn a critical procedure without mistakes. Even if a manikin is capable of some procedures,

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Soon after making these observations, White had the good fortune of engaging in a discussion with VCOM’s Vice Provost for Research, Gunnar Brolinson, DO. Brolinson, who works as a team physician with the U.S. Ski Team, had been undergoing training simulations at a MESS Course (Medical Emergencies in Ski and Snowboarding). Brolinson said that part of the training occurred on the ski slopes where Colorado osteopathic medical students volunteered as victims for the simulated injury events. Part of

him to start brainstorming about how to create a better device. “In our conversations, Dr. White and I agreed that a compact, renewable, more realistic suit for significantly less cost would be ideal,” said Brolinson. White and Brolinson also agreed that the vest would be of great benefit to VCOM students during the mass casualty drills on the various campuses. “I wanted to move the world of high-fidelity medical simulation forward by creating a device that is realistic, immersive and

fully functional on or off a wearer or manikin,” said White. “The device needed to be wearable, moulagable, scalable, safe, lightweight, durable, repairable, realistic and capable of a large number of routine or critical procedures by current standards of practice,” White added. Brolinson used a term called “bio-fidelity” to describe what they were looking for in a vest. “The more realistic, or life-like, you can make the feel of the vest, the better the simulated scenario is,” said Brolinson. “With disaster training events, having to shift from moulaged patient actors to a critical task trainer in order to perform needle decompression or chest tube thoracostomy sacrifices the

“ I wanted to move the world of high- fidelity medical simulation forward by creating a device that is realistic, immersive and fully functional on or off a wearer or manikin.” J.J. White, DO, PhD, VCOM-Auburn Associate Dean for the Center for Simulation and Technology and HERT Vest leader

the training involved usage of a simulated trauma suit on the students, however

Brolinson said that the device being utilized

was complicated, cumbersome and expensive. White’s conversation with Brolinson motivated

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realism of the patient interaction,” said VCOM-Auburn Class of 2020 student Dominique Ferguson, one of White’s HERT Vest collaborators. “The HERT Vest enables learners to prepare for high-acuity procedures performed in emergency medicine and master many of the steps that stabilize patients and save lives,” Ferguson added. Development and Testing of Prototypes White got to work constructing a prototype of the vest, assembling the first version in August of 2018. White subsequently experimented with many different materials while fine-tuning parts of the vest. White had help from several VCOM- Auburn students, including Kyle Nielsen from the Class of 2020, who helped White cut and form several early designs. Another critical member of the team was a 12-year-old 3D printer whiz kid, Simon Vance, who prints anatomically correct larynxes and humeral heads for the vests. In March of 2019, the first HERT Vest prototype was tested successfully in the snow during an avalanche simulation at the VCOM Mountain Medicine Conference in Utah. White noted the benefits

of developing the vest while future simulations loomed in the distance. The vest added the necessary level of realism to trauma simulations. This motivated White to continue improving and refining the product. In April of 2019, four prototype vests were tested at the third annual VCOM-Auburn Disaster Day mass casualty simulation. Representatives from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) in Anniston, Alabama, were on hand to observe VCOM-Auburn’s disaster simulation. The vest was later demonstrated to Brolinson and Skip Garner, PhD, VCOM’s Associate Vice Provost for Research Development, at the VCOM-Auburn Research Recognition event in April of 2019. Also, that month, White began the patenting process with VCOM’s Intellectual Property Office, including consultant Mike Miller. In May, the vests were once again put to the test during the second annual VCOM-Auburn Rescue Race, a 10- mile wilderness medicine adventure race. In November of 2019, a provisional patent was filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the HERT Vest.

VCOM Mountain Medicine Conference

VCOM-Auburn Disaster Day Drill

VCOM-Auburn Rescue Race

VCOM-Auburn Via Research Recognition Day

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