Newsworthy...

Carol Wells, PhD, appointed Program Director of Clinical Laboratory Sciences

The Center for Allied Health Programs is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Carol Wells to Program Director of Clinical Laboratory Sciences.

Dr Wells joined the faculty of the Clinical Laboratory Sciences (CLS) Program in 1981. She received a bachelor of arts degree in Bacteriology from the University of California at Davis, and immediately entered a hospital-based CLS Program, resulting in her MT(ASCP) credential. After working in various clinical laboratory settings, and taking time out of the work force to have two children, Dr. Wells received a doctoral degree in Medical Microbiology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. After two postdoctoral fellowships (Food Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin and the Anaerobe Laboratory at Virginia Polytechnic University), she worked in the pharmaceutical industry, where she was engaged in vaccine development.

Since arriving at the University, Dr. Wells has taught Diagnostic Microbiology in the CLS Program, and she has also led an active research program. Dr. Wells has served on numerous grant review panels at the national level, as well as the editorial boards of several scientific journals. She has published over 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles, nearly all of them aimed at clarifying the mechanisms whereby normal intestinal bacteria cause complicating infections in severely immunosuppressed and trauma patients. Dr. Wells is committed to the success of each of the CLS students, and finds much gratification watching them develop into laboratorians, capable of providing the vast proportion of laboratory data used by physicians to diagnose and treat patients.

UMN Academic Health Center and Winona State University Launch Clinical Laboratory Sciences Partnership

U hopes to develop more partnerships to help meet the growing work force need in Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (Jan. 7, 2008) — The University of Minnesota and Winona State University are pleased to jointly announce their clinical laboratory sciences (CLS) partnership, which will begin enrolling students next fall. Senior Vice President of Health Sciences Frank B. Cerra, M.D., and Winona State University President Judith A. Ramaley, Ph.D., have signed the official agreement demonstrating the shared commitment of Minnesota’s higher education institutions to meet the growing health care workforce needs across the state.

“The Academic Health Center is dedicated to educating health care professionals to meet the growing workforce needs of the state,” said Cerra. “This partnership is just one example of the University’s commitment to deliver quality health care resources to the state.”

The University of Minnesota’s Center for Allied Health Programs (CAHP), home to the University’s accredited CLS program, is developing a seamless, learner-centered educational system that students pursuing allied health careers can access throughout Minnesota. The University of Minnesota has one of the oldest baccalaureate CLS programs in the United States, and by partnering with WSU, more students will be educated in an accredited CLS program that will prepare them for their future health care careers. While this agreement will be focused on the University of Minnesota, Rochester, the next stages of development will expand the CLS program to other university and MnSCU sites across the state through an innovative and creative electronic learning platform.

“The design of the Rochester campus permits the use of innovations in technology that add value by improving access for learners, enhancing learning quality, and increasing program efficiency,” said Charles Christiansen, Ph.D., director of the CAHP. “We are pleased to partner with WSU to help address critical laboratory workforce shortages in Minnesota.”

President Ramaley is also pleased with the partnership’s new learning model. “To succeed in this new age, we must combine our strengths to find innovative ways to make a difference in the way we prepare professionals for the health care field and to adapt to the changing needs of our communities,” she said. “The collaboration that brings together Winona State University, the Center for Allied Health Programs, and the University of Minnesota, Rochester demonstrates our commitment to work in new ways with the health care community in developing solutions to meet the needs of the 21st century.”

As of 2005, only two laboratory professionals were entering the CLS field for every seven that retired. At this rate, approximately 25 percent of the CLS work force will retire in the next 10 years, leaving the retiring baby boomer population with fewer laboratory professionals to care for the aging population. This poses a large void for the health care workforce of Minnesota to fill as clinical laboratory scientists perform tests that are critical to the diagnosis and care of patients. The partnership will educate more clinical laboratory scientists to meet the growing need for these medical technologists in health care in the state of Minnesota.

“There is a critical shortage of health care professionals, especially in the area of clinical laboratory science,” said Steven Lehmkuhle, Ph.D., chancellor of the University of Minnesota, Rochester. “The partnership announced today launches a new, collaborative approach that creates greater access and delivers programming in clinical lab science areas in a more efficient manner. I am both supportive of its effort and pleased to provide state-of-the-art facilities to move ahead and meet this challenging shortage of laboratory professionals,” he added.

The CLS program in Rochester begins in August 2008.

Center Administrative Staff Move to New Offices

The administrative offices of the Center for Allied Health Programs have moved to new offices on the fifteenth floor of the Phillips-Wangensteen Building on the Twin Cities Campus. Telephone numbers remain the same. Other offices housing Clinical Laboratory Sciences faculty and Staff on the fifteenth floor are also being renovated. Once renovations and moves are complete, an open house will be scheduled.

Shannon Hofmann Joins Center as New Assistant Director for Student Services

Shannon Hofmann, MA, has joined the Center for Allied Health Programs to provide leadership for its student services operations.

Shannon has extensive experience, most recently working with students in the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. She will be officed in Room 15-164 in the Phillips-Wangensteen Building.

Center for Allied Health Center Public Briefing

September 20, 2007
8-10 am
Johnson Room
McNamara Alumni Center
200 Oak Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455

This regular briefing is designed to provide an update on the Center’s current activities, programs, plans and partnerships. Anyone interested in the center’s initiatives to address Minnesota’s serious workforce needs in the allied health professions is invited to attend.

To view presentations from the briefing please select from the options below:

Rochester campus opens

The Rochester
performance site
of the Center for
Allied Health
Programs is
located at the
new campus in
downtown
Rochester
now known as
University Square.

The first and second floor retail space is now
known as “The Shops at University Square”. The new Rochester campus opened in September, with a series of grand openings.

Work is underway to equip the state of the art laboratory for the Clinical Laboratory Sciences program, which will begin in Fall 2008.

Center for Allied Health Programs
Workforce News

July, 2007
Leadership Briefing Program in Occupational Therapy
Center for Allied Health Programs
University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota's Center for Allied Health Programs (CAHP) will begin offering its Master of Occupational Therapy (OT) degree to students at the new University of Minnesota Rochester (UMR) University Square (downtown) campus beginning in September 2007. This program offering is the first to be implemented in Rochester under the banner of the Center for Allied Health Programs. Graduates of the program will join other occupational therapists in the health care workforce to provide rehabilitation services to Minnesotans with chronic illnesses, injuries or developmental disorders. Occupational therapists focus on addressing the functional limitations and disabilities that interfere with a person's ability to perform activities vital to the quality of everyday life.

A state-of-the-art teaching laboratory for occupational therapy is now under construction at the new Rochester campus and will be equipped and ready for use by this fall's entering class. Both Twin Cities and Rochester-based faculty will support student learning through implementation of a new hybrid curriculum model that uses a combination of web-based interactive learning approaches and traditional classroom and laboratory experiences. The program requires 22 months to complete, including required fieldwork (internship) experiences.

For additional information about occupational therapy, contact Peggy Martin, Director, Program in Occupational Therapy, Center for Allied Health Programs, (marti370@umn.edu), telephone 612-626-4358. For general information about the Center for Allied Health Programs, contact Dr. Charles Christiansen, Director, (christi@umn.edu), telephone 612-625-0108 (Twin Cities) or 507-280-2826 (Rochester).

June, 2007
Leadership Briefing
Collaborative Program in Clinical Laboratory Sciences
University of Minnesota and Winona State University

The University of Minnesota’s Center for Allied Health Programs (CAHP) and Winona State University (WSU) have agreed to jointly offer an undergraduate program in Clinical Laboratory Sciences (CLS). This development is the next step in strengthening the relationship between the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center and Winona State University, part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, and will help meet the CLS workforce needs for the State of Minnesota.

Beginning in fall, 2007, Winona State University will offer selected prerequisite courses in Rochester for students seeking admission to the new CLS program. The new CLS program will be launched in August 2008 with education sites at U of M Twin Cities, WSU, and with an entering class of up to 48 students on the UMR campus. This program will seek accreditation approval from the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS). Graduates of the program will conduct, analyze, and report laboratory tests critical to diagnosis and clinical decision making in the health care industry; and includes procedures in hematology, microbiology, immunology, and chemistry.

A state-of-the-art teaching laboratory for clinical laboratory sciences is now under construction at the new Rochester campus and will be equipped and ready for use in the CLS program in the first quarter of 2008. Faculty from both institutions will provide instructional support for the new program.

For further information, contact Dr. Charles Christiansen, Director, Center for Allied Health Programs, christi@umn.edu, 612-625-0108 (Twin Cities), 507-280-2826 (Rochester)

Clinical Laboratory Sciences Program to Begin In Rochester in Fall, 2008

The Center for Allied Health Programs is pleased to announce that it will be offering the BS in Clinical Laboratory Sciences (Medical Technology) program in Rochester beginning in the Fall, 2008. Prospective students should consult the list of prerequisites and admissions requirements.

If you would have specific questions about the program or application procedures, or you would like to make an appointment to meet with an advisor, please contact us at medtech@umn.edu or (612) 625-9490.

Need more information about health careers? Visit the Health Careers Center.