The Official USU Newsletter

Volume 8, Issue 2 • February 4, 2013

www.usuhs.mil
2 The Pulse The Official USU Newsletter

On the cover

From left to right: Michelle PilliguaLucas, Dr. Ann Jerse, Army Capt. Jonathan 

D’Ambrozio, Dr. Daniel Simon, and Leah 

Vincent look on as research associate Omari 

Jones-Nelson performs lab work at USU. 

(See story, page 2.)

Sharon Willis

Deputy Vice President for External 

Affairs and Managing Editor

Gwendolyn Smalls

Chief, Media Affairs

Tech. Sgt. Oshawn Jefferson

Deputy Chief, Media Affairs

MC2 Brittney Cannady

Editor

Christine Creenan-Jones

Contributing Writer

Lori Fields

Layout and Design

Production

Editorial content is edited, prepared and 

provided by the USU Office of External 

Affairs unless otherwise indicated. 

The Pulse staff may include or exclude 

articles based upon news value, impact 

on the university and space availability.

Submissions

The Pulse will be published 

bi-weekly on Mondays. The deadline for 

submissions is at 4 p.m. Tuesday prior to 

the publication date. Submissions can be 

sent to brittney.cannady@usuhs.edu or 

301-295-0895.

 Photo by Sharon Willis

Graduate School of Nursing is 

celebrating “20 Years of Innovations

Submit your favorite GSN memories.

http://www.usuhs.mil/gsnanniversary/

sharegsnmemory.html

Learn more about the

Graduate School of Nursing

http://www.usuhs.mil/gsn

Celebrating “20 Years of Innovations” 1993–2013

Resistance is not futile; 

USU researchers seek new solutions 

for complex disease

By Christine Creenan-Jones, contributing writer

An effective single therapy for 

gonorrhea – a once treatable, highly 

contagious disease – is quickly 

evading modern medicine, again. 

The antibiotic, cefixime, the newest 

drug on the market, is the latest 

casualty in a long line of failed defenses 

against gonorrhea. This highly adaptive 

sexually transmitted disease affects 

thousands of people each year, including a large number of servicemembers 

in all branches of the military.

Gonorrhea is starting to show 

signs of resistance to cefixime in 

many parts of the world, making the 

superbug increasingly prevalent and 

difficult to treat. Its resistance to 

other previously effective antimicrobials such as fluoroquinolones and 

spectinomycin, coupled with failed 

attempts at long-term treatment with 

penicillin, tetracycline and erythromycin, has rendered more powerful, 

easier-to-spread strains of gonorrhea.

“Over time, the strains mutate, 

making the possibility of untreatable 

gonorrhea viable,” said Ann Jerse, 

PhD, a professor in the Uniformed 

Services University’s Department of 

Microbiology and Immunology, who 

has won a number of awards for her 

research. “This is especially troublesome because gonorrhea is linked 

to many severe health problems, 

especially in women, including 

infertility, life-threatening ectopic 

pregnancy and chronic pelvic pain.”

Jerse and others at USU are 

working hard to shed new light on 

gonorrhea. Her team is collaborating 

with the Global Emerging Infections 

Surveillance and Response System, a 

division of the Armed Forces Health 

Surveillance Center in Silver Spring, 

Md., to collect and analyze antibiotic-resistant strains of gonorrhea. 

Furthermore, Jerse is testing new 

products and technology for treating 

the vexing disease while also developing her own drug therapies.

“Gonorrhea is a big problem, and 

I want to help find a solution,” she 

said. “We’ve made significant headway 

at USU, but there’s definitely a lot of 

work to do before we truly understand 

this complex infection.”
February 4, 2013 3

NPS Partners with USU on Grad Certificate Program 

By MC1 Grant P. Ammon

The Naval Postgraduate School’s 

Modeling, Virtual Environments 

and Simulation Institute, in partnership with the Uniformed Services 

University of the Health Sciences, has 

developed a graduate-level certificate program that provides health 

care simulation center directors, staff, 

users and supporters with state of the 

art education focused on the theory 

and practice of health care simulation.

The Healthcare Simulation 

certificate program is delivered 

asynchronously to students across 

the country already serving as 

managers of programs using modeling and simulation to train health 

care professionals. Graduates of the 

one-year program will be versed in 

the current best practices of health 

care training and education.

“The students participating in our 

first cohort are already managing the 

use of simulation training,” noted 

Navy Cmdr. Joseph Sullivan, director 

of NPS’ MOVES Institute. “They are 

well established leaders in the health 

care profession, but their knowledge 

of simulation has been primarily 

self-taught. This certificate offers the 

opportunity for formalized training, and illustrates the underlying 

principles of applying and developing 

simulation solutions.” 

Noting the forecasted shortage of 

health care professionals in the coming 

decade, Sullivan sees modeling and 

simulation as an effective way to bridge 

a critical gap in the health care industry, and the development of a modeling 

and simulation management certificate 

as a meaningful endeavor. Each of the 

four courses offered in the certificate 

program pairs an NPS modeling and 

simulation professor with a subject 

matter expert from USU.

“The certificate program is a nice 

collaboration between the Uniformed 

Services University and NPS,” noted 

Joseph Lopreiato, M.D., a professor 

of pediatrics and associate dean for 

Simulation Education at USU. “The 

MOVES institute has more than 10 

years of expertise in modeling and 

simulation, but they have no expertise in the medical field.

“We are a graduate and undergraduate medical and nursing school,” 

continued Lopreiato, who helped 

to develop the partnership and is 

currently enrolled in the certificate 

courses to glean a student’s perspective of the program. “What we bring 

to the program is the health care 

content and expertise, and NPS 

brings the expertise in how to deliver 

modeling and simulation.”

In addition to tailored instruction 

to students on the theoretical and 

practical application of the general 

methodologies of simulation, the 

course also aims to grow the body 

of scholarly knowledge and advance 

research efforts in the field of health 

care modeling and simulation.

“Each student in the program must 

produce or submit a proposal for a 

research project to earn the certificate,” noted Lopreiato. “The health care 

system benefits because we generate 

research projects from the program, 

and this research will continue well 

after the certificate is earned. We 

expect there will be some scholarly 

work developed and the field of health 

care simulation will be moved forward 

with each iteration of this course,” he 

continued. According to Wendy Walsh, 

a program coordinator from MOVES, 

the partnership between the two 

organizations deepens the education 

provided through the program.

“We are very fortunate to have 

amazing partners from USU acting as 

subject matter experts throughout the 

coursework,” noted Walsh. “We could 

not deliver the quality of education 

without their efforts.”

The creation and delivery of the 

modeling and simulation certificate 

exemplifies the strength of MOVES, 

and demonstrates the institute’s ability 

to solve critical problems in a variety 

of domains.

“This is a good model we have in 

the MOVES Institute,” noted Sullivan. 

“We can find application domains, 

and we can find science and technology that can be composed differently 

to meet the needs of that application 

domain. It’s what we’re doing with 

our partners from USU, and it can be 

replicated in a variety of areas to solve 

DOD problems.” 

With the inaugural cohort of 

students at the brink of completing 

their first course in the series, Lopreiato is optimistic about the effectiveness of the instruction, and the 

future application and success of the 

program within the DOD.

“This is the first year the course 

is running, we are already offering another certificate program next 

year,” noted Lopreiato. “We are in 

the process of looking for long-term 

funding for this course to happen 

every year. We believe there is a large 

enough audience within the DoD to 

continue to grow this effort.”

Twitter

Follow us at

https://twitter.com/

usuhspao
4 The Pulse The Official USU Newsletter

Doctor Outlines Global Health’s Tie to Security Operations

By Erika Christ and Lisa Daniel, Military Health System

O’Brien Named to National Advisory Committee

Defense Department efforts to 

improve global public health are an 

important and growing part of military 

stability operations around the world, 

the director of the department’s Center 

for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine said.

Charles Beadling, M.D., reflected 

on the center’s mission and operations during a recent interview with 

health.mil.

“We do feel that there is a strong 

link between global health engagement 

and security,” he said. Such engagement adds to security by improving 

the ability of governments to meet the 

needs of their populations, thereby 

reducing the tendency for insurgency 

or terrorism, he explained.

“Since 9/11, we know that we cannot 

ignore the global situation and rely 

on security only within our borders,” 

Beadling added.

Until recently, the director noted, 

U.S. national security operated from 

two mostly independent pillars: 

diplomacy and force projection. 

Today, he said, national security is 

based on the “three Ds” of diplomacy, 

defense and development.

For its part, the center, which 

is part of the Uniformed Services 

University of the Health Sciences, 

operates under the premise that 

health is “a global common good,” 

Beadling said.

“Along with safety, education and 

other public benefits, people expect 

their government to help provide 

health care,” he said. “By assisting legitimate governments to build 

capability and capacity in health, 

the United States can create political 

stability that leads to our security.”

USU’s Center for Disaster and 

Humanitarian Assistance Medicine 

has been doing just that with 

its “global health engagements.” 

Through its partnership with U.S. 

Africa Command, the center has 

focused engagements in about a 

dozen countries in eastern and 

western Africa, holding workshops 

and exercises to explore how those 

nations would respond to a global 

pandemic, he said.

“The general intent is to assist each 

partner nation to build capacity and 

capabilities to protect their population 

from natural or manmade disasters, 

reducing human suffering and death,” 

Beadling said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection 

Service announced the re-chartering 

of the National Advisory Committee 

on Microbiological Criteria for Foods 

(NACMCF) and Alison O’Brien, 

Ph.D., chair of the Uniformed 

Services University of the Health 

Sciences’ Department of Microbiology and Immunology is among the 

22 new members named. 

The committee is charged with 

providing recommendations to the 

Secretaries of Agriculture and Health 

and Human Services on microbiological criteria by which the safety 

and wholesomeness of food can be 

assessed. That work includes criteria for microorganisms that indicate 

whether foods have been adequately 

and appropriately processed. 

“NACMCF’s work provides 

FSIS and the Food and Drug Administration with a valuable resource for 

obtaining external expert advice on 

scientific and technical food safety 

issues for our nation’s food safety 

programs,” said FSIS Administrator Al 

Almanza. “Re-chartering this committee benefits the public interest and 

fulfills statutory responsibilities.”

The committee membership consists 

of scientists from academia, industry, other organizations, and federal 

and state government as well as one 

individual affiliated with a consumer 

group, who is serving in a representational capacity. NACMCF members are 

appointed by the USDA Secretary in 

consultation with the Secretary of HHS 

with advice on membership from the 

Department of Commerce’s National 

Marine Fisheries Service, the Department of Defense’s Defense Logistics 

Agency, and the Department of Health 

and Human Services’ Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention. 

O’Brien, who is a past president 

of the 43,000-member American 

Society for Microbiology, has been a 

faculty member in the USU microbiology and immunology department 

since 1978, and has served as chair 

since 1997. This appointment to 

NACMCF marks the second time she 

has served on the committee.

Alison O’Brien, Ph.D.

Continued to page 6

 Photo by Thomas C. Balfour
February 4, 2013 5

In Memoriam—George F. Nussbaum, Ph.D., RN

George F. Nussbaum, Ph.D., 

RN, an assistant professor 

in the USU Graduate School 

of Nursing, passed away Jan. 

13, after losing his fight with 

pancreatic cancer. Originally from Amarillo, Texas, 

Nussbaum, a retired Colonel 

and Nurse Corps officer, served 

the nation for more than 30 

years as an integral part of the 

Army Medical Department and 

had only recently joined the 

University as full-time faculty.

Initially starting his nursing 

career in the operating room, 

Dr. Nussbaum’s commitment to 

patient safety through intelligent 

design came to fruition when 

he served as the Senior Clinical 

Planner for the U.S. Army Health 

Facility Planning Agency at the 

Office of the Army Surgeon 

General. It was because he was 

so skilled at creating highly 

functional healthcare facilities 

that he was recalled to active 

duty to assist in evidenced-based 

facility design for the National Intrepid 

Center of Excellence, located on the 

base with USU and the Walter Reed 

National Military Medical Center. The 

contributions of the team, in which 

Dr. Nussbaum was an integral part, 

were nationally recognized with the 

2012 AIA Healthcare Design Award for 

having created a building that became 

an active part of the rehabilitative process versus a vessel that 

only contained the care delivery process. The design team 

was honored with this award 

for having used research and 

evidence-based design concepts 

to create a healing environment 

for patients with physical, brain, 

and psychological injuries.

Dr. Nussbaum’s love of teaching and facility design merged at 

USU when he first volunteered 

to teach in the GSN’s newlyestablished Perioperative Clinical Nurse Specialist program 

in 2003, and later joined the 

faculty as an assistant professor 

with a focus on teaching healthcare systems and leadership 

in the new Doctor of Nursing 

Practice curriculum.

Dr. Nussbaum is survived 

by his wife, Jackie, and sons 

Justin and Jordan Nussbaum, 

along with his granddaughter, 

Shaina Nussbaum. 

Funeral services will be held 

Feb. 9 at 11 a.m. at The Church at Severn 

Run, 8187 Telegraph Road, Severn, 

Md. Interment at Arlington National 

Cemetery will be held at a later date.

Army Col. Paul Lewis, PhD, an 

assistant professor in the Graduate School of Nursing, highlighted 

the Army Nurse Corps’ remarkable history during a celebration 

commemorating the organization’s 

112th birthday on Feb. 1. 

At the celebration, Lewis shared 

important milestones about the corps, 

including a retrospective look at 

pioneering Army nurses, beginning 

with the original corps, established in 

1901. This all-woman team laid the 

groundwork for thousands of successors, including war veterans, scholars, researchers and leaders who’ve 

improved both hospital operations 

and frontline care. In the midst of 

these advancements, male nurses also 

broke a long-standing glass ceiling 

when they joined the Army Nurse 

Corps in 1955.

For today’s Army nurses, the breakthroughs continue.

“The future is wide open. Anything 

is possible,” said Lewis, before sharing 

some recent accomplishments made by 

Army nurses, including Lt Gen. Patricia Horoho’s presidential nomination 

for Army Surgeon General in 2011. 

Horoho, who is also a USU Board of 

Regents member, is the first nurse and 

woman to fill this position.

USU celebrates Nurse Corps birthday

By Christine Creenan-Jones

 Photo by Thomas C. Balfour
6 The Pulse The Official USU Newsletter

FMIG Visit the White House

USU medical students and faculty 

recently spent a day touring the White 

House and meeting with physicians 

from the White House Medical Unit as 

part of a visit organized by the Family 

Medicine Interest Group (FMIG). 

Students Steve Warner, Robert 

Lystrup, Maggie Castile, Jessica 

Winters, Steve Lee, Melanie Pribich, 

Emily Parsons, Julie Do, Noel Dunn, 

Jill Piaggione, Luke Womble, John 

Sarette, Daniel Standish, Annelies 

Hickerson, Natalie Slepski, Kerry 

Philbin, Caroline Nguyen, Lucy Paterson, Greg Lausè, Meagan Sledge and 

Mark Prats, along with the FMIG 

faculty advisor, Maj. (Dr.) Christopher 

Bunt, participated in the visit. 

Several groups of five students 

were each paired with a White House 

As part of that work, the center 

created the Emergency Management 

and Preparedness Program and was 

invited by the government of Mozambique to make it the first country to 

partner in the program, the director 

said. Beadling was among those who 

traveled to Mozambique in December as a first step. Center and Africom 

personnel are scheduled to travel there 

again in April to finalize plans, which 

are to be tested in an exercise next year.

That partnership will follow 

standard protocol of the center and 

Africom to build trust in bilateral 

relations, Beadling said. “It is important that the U.S. representatives act as 

facilitators and let the host nation lead 

the process so that it is an appropriate 

plan for them,” he added.

The center developed a study to 

measure the effectiveness of its health 

engagements. The study is designed to 

develop a standardized process across 

the Military Health System and the 

services to evaluate the effectiveness 

of the engagements in meeting strategic security objectives, Beadling said.

Beadling noted the success of 

Operation Pacific Angel, in which 

the Air Force partnered with the 

Australian air force, Nepalese army 

and others in September to provide 

two weeks of treatment in Nepal 

and surrounding countries. And 

a successful conference in Ghana 

in August was part of the center’s 

pandemic response program with 

Africom, he said.

“We are still in the early stages 

of defining our roles in [the health 

engagements] and determining how to 

best use them to improve our national 

security,” Beadling said.

It is imperative, he added, for the 

center to work in close coordination with the State Department, the 

U.S. Agency for International Development, the United Nations and 

nongovernmental organizations to 

meets its goals.

Doctor Outlines Global Health’s Tie to Security Operations

continued from page 4

physician who gave them a tour of the 

White House. The physicians explained 

the history of each of the rooms and 

provided stories about their experiences 

at White House functions. After the 

White House tour, the group visited the 

Eisenhower Executive Office Building 

where they toured the clinic and offices 

of the White House Medical Unit. 

“The most profound moment of 

the day came in the Medical Unit 

Conference room,” said Prats. “Here, 

we listened to the physicians discuss 

their various career paths and had the 

opportunity to ask questions about 

what it is like to be a White House 

physician. At the end, each of the 

physicians provided our students with 

advice on how to get the most out their 

career in military medicine. 

“It is events like this one that make 

our university and the military medicine 

community so special,” Prats continued. 

“The White House physicians made us 

aware of the great time commitment 

their job is and yet, on their day off, took 

the time to mentor 21 young officers. 

Our interest group cannot thank them 

enough for their time and pearls of 

wisdom, which I know I will carry with 

me the rest of my career.”

FMIG Courtesy Photo
February 4, 2013 7

HPRC Health Tips

USU’s Human Performance 

Resource Center Health Tips are 

intended to provide the USU 

community with information to 

help develop and maintain a healthy 

lifestyle. Check out the HPRC 

website at: http://hprc-online.org.

Get your running shoes-Is your 

energy lagging? Though it may be 

the last thing you feel like doing 

when you’re tired, exercise -- even a 

brisk walk -- can be more effective 

than a nap or cup of coffee at fighting fatigue.

Make small talk-Engaging in 

casual conversation with others 

may help keep you as sharp as 

doing a word puzzle, according to 

some studies. Just 10 minutes 

of daily chatter appears to 

improve mental function and 

preserve memory.

Dehydration and cold weatherMost people associate dehydration 

with hot weather. Here’s news: You 

can experience dehydration in cold 

weather too. Being active outside 

in cold weather for less than two 

hours doesn’t usually present 

a problem. But for long-term 

exposure such as a field deployment, which can last anywhere 

from a few days to several weeks, 

the combination of heavy clothing and high-intensity exercise can 

lead to increased sweating and the 

possibility of dehydration. You may 

not feel as thirsty in cold weather 

as in other climates, because your 

body chemistry impairs your brain’s 

ability to tell you when to hydrate. 

Cold weather also has the effect 

of moving body fluids from your 

extremities to your core, causing 

increased urine output and adding 

to dehydration.

The bottom line: When in cold 

climates, don’t rely on thirst to 

be an indicator of hydration. 

Drink often, before you’re thirsty. 

Water and sports drinks are the 

best fluids to maintain hydration, even in cold weather conditions. When you are in a situation 

where you need to monitor your 

hydration level keep in mind that 

carbonated and caffeinated beverages (including energy drinks) 

have a dehydrating effect since 

they increase urine flow, also 

avoid alcohol consumption in 

cold weather. It gives a temporary 

feeling of warmth but interferes 

with the body’s ability to retain 

heat since shivering, the normal 

response to maintain body temperature, is delayed.

USU Postgraduate Dental Students Awarded Queen 

Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal

Courtesy of USU Postgraduate Dental College

Two Texas-based master’s degree 

students in the USU Postgraduate 

Dental College were recently awarded 

the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee 

Medal from the Canadian Forces. 

Major Deidra McLean, a senior 

resident in the U.S. Air Force Comprehensive Dentistry program at Lackland 

Air Force Base, along with Maj. David 

MacPherson, a senior resident in the 

U.S. Army Comprehensive Dentistry 

program at Ft. Hood, both Canadian 

Forces Dental Corps officers, were 

given the award in recognition of their 

significant contributions and achievements. LCol Dewayne Lemon, DMD, 

Director, Dental Services 3 - Dental 

Plans and Requirements, Canadian 

Forces, presented the two awards.

The medal was created to mark the 

2012 celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 

II’s accession to the throne as Queen 

of Canada. The Queen Elizabeth II 

Diamond Jubilee Medal is a tangible 

way for Canada to honor Queen Elizabeth II for her service to their country. 

Maj. McLean was presented the medal 

for her “uncompromising selfless service 

and loyalty to the Dental Corps, the 

Canadian Forces and its people” and 

“possessing the highest moral character.”

Maj. MacPherson’s award citation 

listed his “rich career, first in the 

Artillery, now as a Dental Officer” 

and his loyalty to the Canadian 

Forces as “paramount.” The narrative also described him as a “superb 

clinician and fine Officer” whose 

“concern for his patients is only 

equaled by that for his subordinates.”

“We and our Canadian dental 

colleagues strongly believe in the 

philosophy of ‘train together, deploy 

together.’ In recent deployments, American and Canadian dentists have served 

Courtesy Photo

LCol Dewayne Lemon presents Maj. 

Deidre Mclean with the Queen Elizabeth 

II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Maj. Mclean is 

a student in the USU Postgraduate Dental College. USU PDC student Maj. David 

MacPherson also received the award.

side by side. We are very proud that 

our master’s degree residency programs 

provide a venue for shared training,” 

said Maj. Gen. (ret.) Patrick Sculley, 

executive dean of USU’s Postgraduate Dental College. “The receipt of this 

significant recognition by two of our 

Canadian residents attests to the exceptional quality of the Canadian students 

engaged in USU educational programs.”