William L. Miller, MD, MA, Leonard Parker Pool Chair of Lehigh Valley Health Network's department of family medicine, is a co-recipient of The Society of Teachers of Family Medicine's Curtis G. Hames Research Award. Benjamin Crabtree, PhD, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, has been recognized along with Miller for their lifetime contributions to research and scholarly activity in family medicine. Miller and Crabtree began a research partnership at the University of Connecticut's department of family medicine 30 years ago. Their efforts centered on transforming primary care by understanding how health and illness are "whole person" events and how practices change and improve accordingly. Over the years, they've refined approaches to research with the goal of improving primary care clinical encounters and practice performance. Miller and Crabtree were leaders in the first wide-reaching national demonstration of the patient-centered medical home concept.

Dr. Kelley R. Kenney, Kutztown University professor of counseling and student affairs, has been honored as the recipient of the Pennsylvania College Personnel Association 2014 Ronald Lunardini Mentoring Award. She was nominated for this award for her mentoring of graduate students and new professionals in the field of student affairs. Nomination letters were submitted by program alumni and by current students.

Japna Kaur of Northampton who is studying marketing at LIM College, recently participated in the Amazon Fashion challenge of rising stars from New York City's top fashion and design colleges. Mentored by a group of top industry professionals, the student teams of five were challenged to conceptualize, style and shoot a captivating editorial campaign that speaks to the Amazon Fashion customer with the winning images to be featured as part of Amazon Fashion's Fall 2014 on-site editorial. The creative challenge required students to apply their skills in graphic design, styling, editing, fashion photography, and art direction, while working in their own dedicated photography bay. Students were given access to state-of-the-art photography equipment, models, wardrobe, hair and makeup services, and props. Japna was the graphic designer and production manager of the LIM College Womenswear Team.

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski was recently recognized by The National League of Cities for recent completion of key health and wellness goals for Let's Move! Cities, Towns and Counties. LMCTC is a major component of first lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative, which is dedicated to solving the childhood obesity epidemic within a generation. LMCTC calls upon local elected officials to adopt sustainable and holistic policies that improve communities' access to healthy affordable food and opportunities for physical activity through five goal areas.

Principal, Sister Bernard Agnes, IHM of Marian Catholic High School recently announced that Matthew Karnish, Nesquehoning has been named a commended student in the 2014 National Merit Scholarship Program. A letter of commendation from the school and National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which conducts the program, was presented by the principal to Karnish.

JoCarol Zuber, CIC of Zuber Insurance, was recently honored for her ongoing pledge to education, commitment to excellence, and dedication to the insurance profession. The Society of Certified Insurance Counselors presented Zuber with a certificate for her continued participation in the CIC program. Earning her CIC designation and maintaining all update requirements for 20 years places Zuber in the top one percent of all insurance professionals in the country.

Tianna Dupont, a Williams Township resident and sustainable agriculture educator with Penn State Extension was recently named a sustainable agriculture research and education fellow. Four fellows are selected from around the country and travel to each of the four SARE regions, Northeast, Southeast, Northwest, and Southwest over the course of two years to participate in a series of national seminars that highlight how sustainable management principles are practiced in the field. Participants visit sustainable farming and ranching systems in each of the regions to learn sustainable agriculture strategies and how to implement them. Following the two-year program, they will share this knowledge to help build capacity among the farmers in their locality.

Hellertown resident Garrett Powell, a junior at Bucknell University studying mechanical engineering and Christian Muhrer, a junior at Drexel University also studying mechanical engineering, were recently awarded $9,000 and $8,400 respectively in scholarship money from the II-VI Foundation. The II-VI Foundation Scholarship Program was established to encourage and enable student scholars to pursue an engineering-, mathematics-, or science-related degree at a postsecondary educational institution while maintaining a standard of excellence in that pursuit. A scholarship award must be used for tuition, books, and fees required for the enrollment or attendance of the student at a qualifying institution. Recent high school graduates and current college students are eligible.

Command Sgt. Maj. Daniel Daile, of Palmerton, has been selected to take over as the next sergeant major of the Army, which is the highest ranking enlisted soldier in the Army. The sergeant major of the Army recommends quality-of-life improvements and sits on councils that make decisions affecting enlisted soldiers and their families. The the person in that post also routinely testifies before Congress.

Nazareth Area High School students Mikaela Esposito, Gabby Tavianini, Emily Szuter, and Jack Doyle were recently accepted into the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association District 10 Chorus. Over 800 students auditioned and 200 were selected to create the District 10 Chorus. The students will be traveling to Muhlenberg High School to participate in the festival from January 22nd through the 24th. While there, they will work under the direction of Dr. Linda Telford of Messiah College to present two concerts to the public.

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Awards, honors for Lehigh Valley Residents

Lexington High School graduate Dr. Lynn Ringenberg has had an impressive career in the military, medical, and academic sectors.

Now, in semi-retirement, shes prepared for her next challenge: seving as president of Physicians for Social Responsibility, or PSR. PSR is a physician-led non-profit that works to protect human life from the gravest threats to human health and survival: nuclear weapons, climate change and toxic degradation of the environment, according to a statement from the organization.

Ringenberg moved to Lexington as a toddler and graduated from LHS in 1964. Her mother, Myra, still lives in the area and her father ran a sporting goods store in town for many years, she said.

After high school Ringenberg attended Kearney State and went to medical school at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. She did her residencies at the University of Florida and Bowman Gray in North Carolina.

After completing medical school and her residencies, Ringenberg joined the Army. She was stationed for a while at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Between active duty and the reserves, she spent a total of 26 years in the armed forces. She retired having achieved the rank of Colonel. The military was a great experience. I would have kept going, but Ive had a couple of bouts with cancer and had to get out of the Army, she said.

Ringenberg had a private practice in Clearwater, Fla., and in 1990 she joined the staff of the University of South Florida in Tampa. She worked her way up to professor and retired after 20 years in 2010. She remains a professor emeritus of Pediatrics and is still involved with the university in a part-time capacity. Im setting up an alumni group, and there are other projects Im involved with as well, she explained.

Her retirement gave her more opportunity to get involved with non-profit work, she said. I co-founded a PSR chapter in Tampa in 2008, and in 2012 we expanded that statewide, Ringenberg said.

We focus on things we think are the gravest threats to human survival: climate change and nuclear weapons, she said. What makes PSR different, she said, is the emphasis on health.

We might be the only non-profit that talks specifically about health, she said. While there are no shortage of climate change-deniers in the United States, Ringenberg said the warming of the planet is already a detriment to human health worldwide.

We are seeing worsening allergies and asthma in children, and kids require more medication at a younger age to deal with it than we saw 20 years ago, she said. Severe droughts are affecting the food cycle, and worsening weather leads to more severe storms. These things have a direct impact on health.

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Lex native elected president of national non-profit

BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC) -

The UAB School of Nursing has written a letter to the university Faculty Senate asking for a vote of no confidence against UAB President Dr. Ray Watts.

While the students acknowledge that the decisions made as part of the strategic plan may be fiscally correct, they criticize Watts for the way in which he applied the plan.

They ask for better transparency in handling matters that affect the university as a whole as well as the city of Birmingham.

"The lack of vision, honesty, and communication resulted in a lack of respect and trust in our President. We need a leader that values the opinions of the students he leads. We want a leader who hears the voices of the students and community, and fights for us. We are afraid Dr. Watts failed us in that," students write.

As the university moves forward, the students said they want a leader who will consider all parts - from undergraduate programs to athletics to on-campus housing.

A nursing student we spoke with said she thinks the fact that the letter came from students in the nursing program might give the plea a leg to stand on.

"I believe that the school of nursing is very prestigious, people look up to nursing students. It's a competitive program so the fact that we see something we want to change speaks a lot to the university," Kyndal Cheng said.

To the Faculty Senators and Alternate Senators for the UAB School of Nursing:

We are writing to you as a UAB Nursing students, Blazer fans, and advocates for the University.

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UAB School of Nursing students asks for vote of no confidence against Watts

Released: 2-Dec-2014 12:00 PM EST Source Newsroom: MavenMagnet Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise A high level of concern and an equally high level of ignorance about medical facts, real or perceived, continue to fuel conversations about Ebola in social media and the press, even as the disease drops out of the headlines.

In support of Strategies for Fighting Ebola: A Columbia University Summit to Help End the Epidemic, held this week at the Columbia Club in New York City, MavenMagnet, a multinational big data-based research company, conducted a study to understand the current U.S. public perceptions of Ebola.

The Summit is sponsored by: Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University School of Nursing, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia Business School Alumni Club of New York, The Columbia Alumni Association, and The Columbia University Club of New York.

The nationally balanced, projectable sample of 2,090, was drawn from an analysis of conversations about Ebola from a wide range of digital sources including Facebook, Twitter, blogs, forums, community chat rooms, press, and other platforms between October 20, 2014 and November 20, 2014.

With the vast majority of the conversations (41%) centered on discussions of the Medical Understanding behind the virus (i.e. the causes, prevention, effects, treatments, etc.), only 4% of the conversations were positive indicating a continuing high level of concern about the disease and a continuing lack of knowledge about medical facts, said MavenMagnet CEO Aditya Ghuwalewala.

The key words which had the greatest impact in the conversations were: scared, plot and airborne. The reference to Ebola being part of a plot was, of course, highly charged, as was the reference to airborne which remains both a very hot and misunderstood topic.

Skepticism and Fear were the second most discussed topics and the focus of 18% of the conversations with Controversy a close third at 14%. Disturbingly, Racial Stigma also was part of 11% of the conversations.

On the positive side, 14% of the conversations referenced the importance of Global Solidarity in fighting Ebola. Awareness of celebrity initiatives such as those by Bob Geldof and BandAid, drove the solidarity references, with mentions in 58% of the conversations on Global Solidarity. Clearly, celebrity events are noticed and have the potential to have an even greater positive effect.

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Study on Current Perceptions of Ebola Reveals Public Remains Scared and Skeptical

Dr. Michael Vasquez has no problem advising would-be Duke University students interested in subjects beyond science to get creative if theyre accepted into the top-notch school.

After all, thats what the Williamsville native did.

Vasquez graduated from Duke with a bachelors degree in religion along with all of the pre-med courses he needed to get into the University at Buffalo School of Medicine. Nearly three decades later, he serves as an alumni interviewer for Western New Yorkers who apply to his North Carolina alma mater.

I was interested in religion, I was interested in the humanities, said Vasquez, 50, who now lives in East Amherst. It gave me a whole skills set in terms of being able to read and write critically.

He also took public speaking and public policy classes, along with a leadership program that allowed him to meet then-Gov. John H. Sununu of New Hampshire, journalist Cokie Roberts, and members of the civil rights movements Freedom Riders.

He and other alums in the region get together annually with those accepted to the school. Its a group that includes fellow doctors, as well as lawyers, a CPA, a leading Moog engineer and UB basketball coach Bobby Hurley, who led Duke to two NCAA mens basketball championships as a point guard in the early 1990s.

Vasquez is a general surgeon who founded and operates the Venous Institute of Buffalo, which sits on the DeGraff Memorial Hospital campus in North Tonawanda. He also is a clinical assistant professor at UB Medical School.

He followed his father, now-retired Dr. Anibal Vasquez, into the medical field, and is in the midst of clinical trials that include a new procedure used to shut down varicose veins.

Did you know at Duke that you wanted to be a doctor?

I knew as a child. I went with my father to (St. Josephs) hospital when I was young and I remember watching him work in the emergency room sewing up a laceration. I was just awestruck. Summers, he helped me get positions to do local research and get into hospitals to get experience, and that experience made a big difference. I used to draw blood at Roswell and I did research there.

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Healthy veins are doctors top priority

Dec. 15, 1927 Nov. 27, 2014

Dr. Joseph M. Mattimore, a retired pediatrician and former chief of pediatrics at Mercy Hospital, died Thursday at Father Baker Manor in Orchard Park. He was 86.

Born in Buffalo, he graduated from Canisius High School, where he finished near the top of his class and was captain of the baseball team. He turned down an offer from the Boston Red Sox to play minor league baseball, and continued his education at Canisius College.

After earning his degree, he went on to the University of Buffalo Medical School, graduating at the age of 23. Dr. Mattimore completed his residency in pediatrics at Childrens Hospital. He then served as a captain in the U.S. Army, in the position of assistant chief of pediatrics at the U.S. Army Hospital in Fort Jackson, S.C.

Dr. Mattimore was board certified in pediatrics, immunology and allergy.

He was a founding member of Western New York Pediatrics in Hamburg, where he practiced for almost 40 years. During that period, he served as chief of pediatrics at Mercy Hospital for 34 years. He also was clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Buffalo Medical School.

Dr. Mattimore served as president of the Medical and Dental Staff of Childrens Hospital in 1974, president of the Buffalo Allergy Society, and was named Teacher of the Year by Mercy Hospital in 1983 and Pediatrician of the Year by the Buffalo Pediatric Society in 1989. He was inducted into the Canisius High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame in 2000.

He was a longtime member of Wanakah Country Club, and enjoyed spending time during the winter months in Siesta Key, Fla. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, the former Verna Blassey; four daughters, Anne Cronin, Mary Elizabeth, Carolyn Kezele, and Patricia Lewis; a sister, Mary Elwell; two brothers, Henry and Richard; 11 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Earlier this year, a 12th grandchild, Natalie Lewis, died in a hot-air balloon crash.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Bernadette Catholic Church, 5930 S. Abbott Road, Orchard Park.

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Dr. Joseph M. Mattimore, chief of pediatrics at Mercy Hospital

?ByCAMERON TAYLOR 6 News Reporter

ALCOA (WATE) An Alcoa High School student with cancer is receiving a lot of support from the community.

Doctors at UT Medical Center first diagnosed 18-year-old Hannah Tate with a form of kidney cancer last month.

Anyone who knows the high school senior, knows that basketball is a passion of hers.

People from the Alcoa community organized a basketball game between Alcoa High School alumni and the Alcoa Police Department to raise money for Tate.

WATE 6 On Your Side spoke with the teen's grandmother, Katheline Tate, who said the entire family is grateful for the community's support.

"They were emailing me and calling me and just so concerned offering all kinds of support and that has been overwhelming," she said.

Tate has a form of kidney cancer called Wilms Tumor that was found in early November by UT Medical Center.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it's mainly found in children under five years old.

Her coach and teammates said it's been hard digesting the news.

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Alcoa High School holds benefit for student with cancer

Dr Magdi Hanafy, 58, and his optometrist wife Sue, 45, are also vowing to keep their 17-year-old daughter Laura away from school for the incubation period of 21 days if her classmates go.

Father-of-two Dr Hanafy, who has alerted the Department of Health and the Department for Education to his concerns, said: "There is no necessity or vital need for the trip. In normal circumstances, yes, the Gambia is a good experience for them, but in abnormal circumstances why would you take the risk?

"The whole of West Africa is very dangerous and for the school to feel they are safe is nave. Even if they are safe, they will be able to transmit diseases which could affect the community on their return. This is not only about my daughter it's about what will happen when they come back. They need to see sense."

Dr Hanafy, based at Leighton Hospital in Crewe, has been a consultant surgeon for almost 20 years. He is a member of Hernia International, which annually travels to deliver self-funded humanitarian hernia surgery in poverty-stricken African nations.

He and a team made up of English, Canadian and German medical professionals were due to travel to Ghana this month to perform free surgery on patients suffering with hernias in the country, but cancelled the trip over Ebola fears.

The school field trip, which costs pupils 700 each, is the ninth biennial trip to The Gambian High School, which last year featured the opening of new school buildings, new wells and a village soap-making business.

Dr Hanafy met teachers to discuss the epidemic, but staff said it had received guidance from Public Health England saying travel to the Gambia was safe.

Sarah Cookhill, whose daughter goes to nearby Manchester High School, is worried for the community as fee-paying Withington Girls' School is also due to go on the trip.

She said: "Manchester High School get on the same bus as Withington Girls', so everybody is concerned," she said. "There's just no sense for the school trip to carry on with the risk involved. If it is going ahead surely the children should be kept away for 21 days afterwards.

"For the sake of a school trip it seems an absolute farce. Either people are downright stupid or they're happy gambling with safety."

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Ebola fears over top independent school's field trip

Scottsdale, AZ (PRWEB) December 01, 2014

Outliers Publishing announced today that reviews are needed for the newly developed close reading curriculum for sixth through eight grade teachers, based on the book Ingredients of Young Outliers: Achieving Your Most Amazing Future by Dr. John Shufeldt. Outliers Publishing is calling for middle school English and language arts teachers to provide a review of the materials, in exchange for a free copy of a weeks worth of curriculum. The curriculum created for middle school educators was created using student leadership content from the book for educational activities that utilize the Common Core standards with lesson plans, close reading exercises, warm ups, homework and exit tickets.

While the 7-day lesson plans are available for purchase to the public online through Teachers pay Teachers for $2.99, reviewers will be given a free copy of their chosen lessons via email in exchange for their honest review of the material. Teachers interested in reviewing the curriculum should visit the Outlier Series store on TeachersPayTeachers.com here http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Outlier-Series-Lesson-Plans to view various curriculum offerings, and email apacion(AT)ingredientsofoutliers.com to obtain a free copy of their chosen product.

I am excited to provide affordable and engaging curriculum developed by an incredibly talented and experienced educator. As part of our initiative to provide teachers affordable, quality materials, we need reviews to gain feedback on the curriculum, spread the word, and improve future products, said book author John Shufeldt.

Ingredients of Young Outliers: Achieving Your Most Amazing Future has already had great success and has proven to be compelling material in schools across AZ where it was launched in local schools.

As a teacher, I am constantly searching for ideas that adhere to the latest Common Core standards, this takes the stress out of prep work and provides educators with thought provoking close readings and great activities that our Arizona students have loved. But we need help getting the word out to other areas, schools and student leadership groups, said Tiffany Panessa, curriculum developer and educational consultant.

The reviews will be completed on the product pages on the Outlier Series website, and can be anonymous. Visit here for the first week's curriculum page as an example http://www.ingredientsofoutliers.com/product/common-core-curriculum-ingredients-young-outliers-chapter-1-ego/.

To obtain your chosen curriculum with corresponding material from chapters in Ingredients of Young Outliers, or for questions, contact apacion(AT)ingredientsofoutliers.com.

About Ingredients of Young Outliers: Ingredients of Young Outliers is the second book in the Outlier Series, and will be followed by at least 12 other books over the course of 2014-2015. The books are intended for students, college graduates and anyone interested in entering or furthering their career. The goal of the series is to offer books specific to sought after career fields with insider information and recommended channels for pursuing that career from experts in each respective profession.

The career fields featured in the Outlier Series will include but are not limited to: Medicine, Law, Sports, Design / Engineering, The Arts / Entertainment, Entrepreneurism / Business, Service to Country/ Service to Mankind, Writing / Journalism, and Travel / Leisure.

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Teacher Reviews Needed for 6-8th Grade Close Reading Curriculum to Teach Middle School Students Leadership Concepts in ...