Superstars
"Todays’ organizations are looking for the brave and the innovative."The Center for Innovation is dedicated to supporting our community of innovators to help them deliver value to the University, Students, Patients and the greater Innovation Community. Our Innovation Superstars are recognized here for their unwavering commitment to delivering value to the communities they serve. Our Innovation Superstars are selected based on their contribution to innovation and the strategic pillars of the Center for Innovation. We are extremely proud of the work our Innovation Superstars invested into their innovations and we hope you take a few moments to read the abstract highlighting their contribution and vision.
Bradley Andresen, PhD, FAHA
Associate Professor Pharmaceutical Sciences College of Pharmacy
Cyrus Parsa, DO
Professor/Chair, Pathology
Chair Department of Pathology
College of Osteopathic Medicine
I have personally experienced, and was always one of the first to utilize and see the benefits of, incredible innovations through my years of teaching. I remember the days when I had file cabinets of my latest journal articles that I had to go to in order to find, prepare and update my lectures. I painstakingly prepared Kodachrome images for my presentations. Many days were spent at medical libraries to find just the accurate and latest information regarding disease processes. Innovation has allowed me to utilize my time more efficiently, store and update my educational contents including most authoritative research articles, as well as my own images of disease processes, on my computer regularly and search the Internet easily for best innovative approach amongst the many that are available in the medical education domain.
When thoughtfully approached and prepared, there is not an area that cannot benefit from engaging with an innovative strategy. In the wrong hands, however, it can culminate into chaos. Thorough knowledge of the educational content and available delivery platforms are important prerequisites for any successful innovation strategy. Having the right professional team to work with is essential.
Having actually gone through and experienced years of new innovations in medical education, I have always been excited and passionate to implement a new approach that I thought would be most effective and beneficial in content delivery. The goal is to reach the most number of participating students in order to improve comprehension and implant motivation or desire to learn. For example, I was so excited to implement PowerPoint as a new approach to teach when it first appeared as a novel educational platform. Internet teaching sites have slowly advanced over the years and I am constantly searching for a meaningful way for students to willingly engage and interact in the learning process.
I have had no problem motivating students on an individual, one-to-one, basis when they are on rotations with me, because the students are at ease and open to interact, be motivated, and learn. It becomes a challenge, however, when we are teaching a large group of students, and even more so when we are confronted with remote with distant learning.
For many years, up to the present time, I have had to pursue establishment of innovation strategies on my own without any professional IT support. I am now experiencing a team of very talented Internet savvy individuals at WesternU who are so excited and willing to help develop such strategies with me. I know success comes only when there are knowledgeable individuals, experts in their own specialties that can flourish in this task. I am very fortunate and grateful to have come across such individuals in our own backyard.
Dean Smylie, DVM, MS
Assistant Professor College of Veterinary Medicine
Denise Wilcox, EdD
Executive Director, IT Information Technology
- Reduces proctor time required to administer the exam
- Reduces the stress for the students by eliminating announcements of remaining time throughout the exam
- Reduces grading time
- Decreases the time to provide feedback and exam results to the students
- Allows the instructor/faculty easily see where the class as a whole needs more education by aggregating question response data
Edward Barnes, MD
Associate Professor / Vice Chair, Internal Medicine / Assistant Dean Longitudinal Curriculum & Experiential Education College of Osteopathic Medicine
Eunice Chung, PharmD
Associate Professor/Assistant Dean, Curricular Affairs College of Pharmacy
Robert Hasel, DDS
Associate Dean
College of Dental Medicine
The world is constantly evolving and changing. If we are going to be a part in the flow of the world, I believe we need to constantly examine and change our thinking. I don’t care if people like what I am promoting, I just try to get them to think differently, or to just think.
I like to tear myself apart every day and put myself back together again. This gives me a chance to look at the inner part of my soul and sort through what I want to keep or not. It gives me a chance to get in touch with that source of ideas and knowledge, that place of knowing that is beyond our comprehension or what we can say is me. For me, innovation is bringing that source into reality.
Steven Snyder, DPT
Assistant Professor / Community Coordinator College of Allied Health Sciences
Timothy Wood, DHSc, PA
CAPE Director / Assistant Professor