Horizons Fall 2014

7 HORIZONS around NSU College of Dental Medicine Dean Appointed to U.S. Committee Linda Niessen, D.M.D., M.P.H., M.P.P., dean of the College of Dental Medicine, has been appointed to the Advisory Committee on Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Niessen’s term runs through August 31, 2016. The Advisory Committee provides advice and recommendations on policy and program development to the secretary, and is responsible for submitting an annual report to the Health and Human Services secretary and Congress concerning certain activities of the Public Health Service Act (PHS). The Advisory Committee also develops, publishes, and implements performance measures and evaluations of certain sections of the PHS Act. The Advisory Committee is composed of 17 members including prac- ticing health professionals engaged in training, leaders from health professions organizations, faculty members from health professions educational institutions, and health professionals from public or pri- vate teaching hospitals or community-based settings. n College of Optometry Receives Grant Investigators at the College of Optometry have been awarded up to $556,532 from the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health to study the relationship between the vision condition, convergence insufficiency, and reading performance and attention. The grant will fund the Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial- Attention and Reading Trial (CITT-ART), a national, multicenter clinical trial that involves optometry, ophthalmology, psychiatry, and educa- tion in determining how this eye-teaming problem impacts a child’s attention and reading performance. Convergence insufficiency is a common vision disorder in which the eyes turn slightly outward when a person is reading or doing work close to his or her eyes. The College of Optometry faculty research team consists of Rachel A. (Stacey) Coulter, O.D., M.S.Ed. (principal investigator); Annette Bade, O.D., M.S.; Pamela Oliver, O.D., M.S.; Gregory Fecho, O.D.; Erin Jenewein, O.D., M.S.; Deborah Amster, O.D.; Yin C. Tea, O.D.; Jacqueline Rodena, O.D.; and Nicole Patterson, O.D., M.S.Ed. “Children who have convergence insufficiency sometimes suffer from poor reading performance and attention problems,” said Coulter. “As the first large-scale, randomized clinical trial to study this problem, outcomes of this study could lead to new therapies for some children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and reading problems.” NSU is one of seven clinical sites participating across the United States. Other sites include Akron Children’s Hospital in Ohio; Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami; Marshall B. Ketchum University in Fullerton, California; Ohio State University; Salus University in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; The State University of New York; and The Univer- sity of Alabama—Birmingham. n NSU Professor Earns International Award Nancy Klimas, M.D., NSU researcher and professor, has been awarded the 2014 Perpich Award by the International Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (IACFS/ME) for distinguished community service. The award recognizes CFS/ME and funds research to help treat and find a cure for the disease. The award is presented to a distinguished scientist, physician, or health care worker every two years. Klimas has achieved international recognition for her research and clinical efforts in multisymptom disorders, CFS/ME, Gulf War illness (GWI), and fibromyalgia. She currently serves as director of NSU’s Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine, professor of medicine, and chair of the Department of Clinical Immunology at NSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. She is also professor emerita at the University of Miami School of Medicine and director of clinical immunology research at the Miami Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) and leads the GWI and ME/CFS clinical and research program at the Miami VA. n College of Pharmacy Assistant Dean Appointed to Florida Board Goar Alvarez, Pharm.D., C.Ph., FASCP, assistant dean of NSU’s College of Pharmacy, was appointed by Governor Rick Scott to the Florida Board of Pharmacy. His term began on May 23, 2014, and ends on October 31, 2017. Alvarez is past speaker of the House of Delegates of the Florida Pharmacy Association (FPA) and past president. He is also the 2002 recipient of the James H. Beal Pharmacist of the Year award. He joined NSU in 1999 and has served as director of pharmacy services and an assistant professor of pharmacy administration. n NSU researcher Nancy Klimas (far right) with staff members (from left) Maria Vera, Constanza Sol, Nicholas Lewis, Irma Rey, and Irina Rozenfeld