Graduate Program in Medical Imaging

When it comes to preparing students for a career in health care, Sandy Creaser believes big things come from small packages — especially when it comes to the Graduate Program in Medical Imaging.

“Our students have opportunities here because we have fewer than 25 students in each class, which allows the faculty and students to know each other very well,” said Creaser, Assistant Professor and Academic Coordinator of Clinical Education, “and we have the ability and flexibility to offer more variability.”

Students in the accelerated 18-month program alternate taking online courses, evening hands-on labs at Massachusetts General Hospital, and several multi-week clinical rotations where they put their education to real-world setting such as at MGH and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

It allows students — many of whom are in their 30s and 40s and making a career change — to continue working part-time while attending classes.

Graduates are prepared to become radiologic technologists who take x-rays in a wide variety of health care settings. By completing their studies in February, students have a greater chance of landing a job — so great that every student who has pursued a radiologic technologist position during the program’s first five years has found employment.

Creaser has worked as a Radiologic Technologist, Mammographer, and a Nuclear Medicine Technologist during a 30-year career at Mass General. Although employed full-time at the MGH Institute, she also works per diem in mammography and x-ray to remain current with the latest technological advances.

“I have many stories to share given my extensive time at MGH,” she says. “I love to watch the students learn, achieve their learning goals, and fulfill their educational dreams.”

Education:

Radiologic Technology Certificate, MGH School of Radiologic Technology
AA, Liberal Arts, Bunker Hill Community College
BA, Sociology, Suffolk University
MM, Masters in Management, Healthcare Certificate, Cambridge College

Biography:

Ms. Creaser has worked in many facets within Radiology at MGH for over 30 years and has seen monumental advances in Medical Imaging during that time.

She was a Radiologic Technology student when the first CAT scanner was installed, volunteered as a patient for the first ultrasound unit and cardiac MRI, and was in Nuclear Medicine when they were looking to train the first PET scan technologists.

She has worked as a technologist in the ED, OR, Mammography, and Nuclear Medicine. She was an image analysis specialist in the 3D lab. Sandra worked in Nuclear Medicine research utilizing both clinical and alternative methods.

She comes to the MGH Institute after working in academia at a local community college.

Links: Curriculum Vitae

 

 

School of Nursing
Putting the Care in Caregiver

Ask Professor Diane Mahoney why she came to the MGH Institute, and odds are she'll hesitate before answering. Not because she's at a loss for words, but rather the opposite. Where to start?

The honor of being named the first Jacques Mohr Professor of Research in Geriatric Nursing was the key motivator. Throw in the professional collaborations that inherently come from joining one of the top-ranked faculties in the country—not to mention the Institute's history of innovation in nursing education—and the reasons become numerous.

But for one of the country's leading researchers in gerontology, the most important reason was much more simple. "The Institute cares about gerontology,” says Mahoney, PhD, GNP. “It’s important here, and that’s important to me—and to our students.”

Dr. Mahoney, who specializes in dementia caregiving issues, points to America’s rapidly aging Baby Boomers as just one reason the country needs to increase its focus on geriatric care. Americans are living longer than ever before, and that increased longevity has a profound impact on quality-of-life issues, which is changing the field of gerontology.

Gerontechnology, or the use of technology with older adults and their caregivers, has spun off as a sub-speciality field and Mahoney is an internationally recognized leader in this area testing new technologies to promote aging with maximum independence.

She is proud that the school is committed to producing highly educated clinicians who understand aging issues, and who recognize that the American health care system is entering uncharted waters when it comes to caring for this growing demographic.

“Our students are exposed to innovations in aging care to instill our graduates with flexibility and responsiveness to new ways of delivering health care services” says Dr. Mahoney.

Meanwhile, her latest research project is probing uncharted waters, too: studying and measuring the effects of remote monitoring technologies on the stress levels of primary family caregivers—who play a critical role in quality-of-life issues for patient and family alike.

“Understanding that relationship, the amount of time spent, the level of responsibilities, the stress that constant care can bring to the family dynamic—these are interactions that should be studied and measured with the direct aim of reducing stress and improving care,” says Dr. Mahoney, showing the sort of conviction that says very clearly why she’s at the MGH Institute.

Education:

BS, Nursing, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA
MS, Gerontological Nursing, University of Massachusetts, Lowell
PhD, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA

Biography:

Dr. Diane Feeney Mahoney is the Institutes' Jacque Mohr Professor of Geriatric Nursing Research. She is a geriatric nurse practitioner, senior social science researcher,and gerontologist who has been developing and testing innovative ways to use telecommunication based technologies with frail and cognitively impaired older adults and their family caregivers for over a decade.

As an internationally acknowledged pioneer in the field of gerontechnology, she has developed:

• Wireless sensor based technology interventions to help elders, family members and professional caregivers better manage health and safety issues faced in home/ residential settings;
• Computerized screenings for forgetfulness;
• Self-help consumer ed programs to better differentiate serious memory loss; 

and identified cross cultural differences in the identification and medical evaluation of Alzheimer's disease.

Her main interest is in conducting applied research that informs elder caregiving, geriatric practice, and health policy. She conducts feasibility and usability qualitative studies for new technologies and quantitative randomized outcome studies for matured interventions.

Her research program has been funded federally by NIH through NIA and NINR and the TOP program at the Dept of Commerce, and privately through Foundation grants from the Alzheimer's Association and Intel Corporation.

Research Interest:

Dr Mahoney is currently investigating the use of wireless technologies to aid in elder home caregiving, robotic supports, wearable technologies, and the influence of pharma marketing on nurse practitioner prescribing practices.

Publications & Presentations:

Mahoney, D. & Goc, K. (2009) Tensions in Independent Living Facilities for Elders: A Model of Connected Disconnections  Journal of Housing for the Elderly  23(3),166-184. DOI:10.1080/02763890903035522.

Mahoney, D., Mahoney, E., & Liss, E.  (2009) Outcomes from Aging in Place with AT EASE Automated Technology for Elder Assessment, Safety, and Environmental Monitoring.  Gerontechnology  8(1):11-25.

Mahoney, D. (2008) Technologies for Informal Caregivers.  Gerontechnology : International journal on the fundamental aspects of technology to serve the aging society  7(4),347-8. doi:10.4017/gt.2008.07.04.007.00

Mahoney, D., Mutchler P, Tarlow B & Liss, E. (2008) Real world implementation lessons and outcomes from the worker interactive networking (WIN) project: Workplace based online caregiver support and remote monitoring of elders at home. Telemedicine and e-Health. 14(3), 224-234.

Mahoney, D. Purtilo, R., Webbe, F., Alwan, M., Bharucha, A., Adlam, T., Jimison, H., Turner, B. & Becker, S. (2007) In-home monitoring of persons with dementia: Ethical guidelines for technology research and development, Alzheimers and Dementia, 3(3)217-226.

Links: Curriculum Vitae

 

 

Department of Physical Therapy

“I think my physical therapy students appreciate that I use my clinical experiences with real patients rather than just teaching from a textbook,” says MGH Institute Clinical Assistant Professor Anne McCarthy Jacobson.  “I love what I do, both teaching and clinical work, and I want my students to love what they do, too.”

Jacobson, who has taught for the Institute’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program since 1997, is board certified as a Neurologic Clinical Specialist through the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA).

She holds a joint position with the Institute and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, where she is a clinical expert physical therapist who treats patients with neurological and complex medical disorders. She also consults with patients who have vestibular, balance, behavioral/cognitive, and spasticity impairments.

She brings 23 years of hands-on and clinically current experience into the classroom—the kind of clinical relevancy that helps make the MGH Institute stand out from other health care schools.

“There are many programs that require their faculty to have a PhD in order to teach, which is important,” she says, “but many of them are teaching clinical management courses and they have not touched a patient in years. That’s not the case at the Institute.”

The best reward from teaching, she notes, comes when she sees a spark after student have returned from treating patients in a clinical rotation. “Seeing them getting excited to learn is what gives me the energy to try to teach better every semester.”

Her focus and dedication to her students and the profession helped her garner the 2006 Nancy T. Watts Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Institute’s highest honor bestowed on a faculty member.

"I always try to leave them with some advice. I tell them first how much I have seen them grow and how confident I am that they will succeed in our profession,” says Jacobson. “I want them to see that they did not choose a ‘job’ but a ‘profession’.”

Education:

BS, Physical Therapy, Northeastern University
MS, Physical Therapy, MGH Institute of Health Professions
DPT, Physical Therapy, MGH Institute of Health Professions

Biography:

Dr. McCarthy-Jacobson has been on the faculty at the MGH Institute of Health Professions since 1997. She teaches in the entry-level DPT program in the clinical neurology rehab courses, Orthotics,and Foundations of Diagnostic Screening courses. She also teaches in the post-professional Master of Science neurology curriculum, as well as in the post-professional transitional DPT program.

She holds a joint position with the MGH Institute and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, where she has been a physical therapist for the past 23 years. Currently, she is a clinical expert physical therapist at Spaulding Rehab on the inpatient units, primarily treating those with neurologic and complex medical disorders. Additionally, she provides consults for patients with vestibular, balance, behavioral/cognitive, and movement disorders.

Dr. McCarthy-Jacobson was also the independent evaluator for a joint Spaulding Rehab and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) research study called: Study of Neurologic Recovery with Robotic Aids, which investigated whether robotic training of the upper extremity after stroke, aids in motor recovery after stroke.

She received the Institute's Nancy T. Watts Award for Excellence in Teaching in May 2006 and is the past recipient of the Marjorie K. Ionta Clinical Excellence Award in Physical Therapy as well as a three-time recipient of the Spaulding Rehab Clinical Excellence Award. She is an active member of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) and the neurology section of the APTA.

Publications & Presentations:

Links: Curriculum Vitae

 

 

Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders

 Charles Jeans, MS, CCC-SLP, Clinical Instructor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, was named the 2009 recipient of the Nancy T. Watts Award for Excellence in Teaching, at the May 2, 2009, Commencement ceremony.

Jeans' nomination was backed by letters of support from first-year students, graduating students, faculty and alumni. One colleague wrote, "He is constantly thinking about how to enrich each student's experience. He listens to their concerns and their hopes, and helps them to see themselves as professionals who are moving through a lifelong process of growth and service to their field and community."

His talent, passion and commitment are well known to all who have met him. As one graduate said, "The Institute is fortunate to have such a passionate and talented member of the faculty."

Education:

BS, English, Southern Connecticut State University
MS, Speech-Language Pathology, Northeastern University

Biography:

Charles Jeans is a clinical instructor in the Speech, Language and Literacy Clinic. In addition, he is coordinator of external practicum placements.

Mr. Jeans has experience in many clinical settings, including public, charter, and collaborative schools, Early Intervention programs as well as working with adults in rehabilitation hospitals, day habilitation programs, and skilled nursing facilities.

Mr. Jeans' special interests include early intervention, children with autism spectrum disorder, diagnosis and treatment of early speech and language difficulties, early literacy issues and working with families. Mr Jeans continues to work with adults in day habilitation settings.

Publications & Presentations:

Jeans, C; Fernandes, K; Sheridan, M (2009) Everyday Communication Lecture series: May Institute for Adult Services, Raynham, MA

Jeans, C (2007) Autism and PDD: “What is it?” And “How can I help?”Invited lecture: Partners Childcare Workers, Charlestown, MA.

Jeans, C (2007) Speech and Language Disorders, and when to refer. Invited lecture: Advanced Practice Nursing class, MGH Institute of Health Professions.

Jeans, C (2007) The Staffing Communication Form Poster presented at ASHA Conference 2007

Links: Curriculum Vitae

 

 

School of Nursing

Dr. Ruth Palan Lopez’s “mission” is to improve nursing care provided to older adults; especially those who are frail and near the end of life. “A very important strategy to accomplish this goal is to share my enthusiasm for gerontological nursing and to teach others how to provide high quality care,” she says.

With over 20 years of experience as a gerontological nurse practitioner, Dr. Lopez has been at MGH Institute since 2004. The program is special to her, “Because it supports me to improve nursing care provided to older adults through research, teaching, and service.” Both Lopez and her students benefit from the small class size which allows personal and individualized teaching and learning opportunities.

In addition to teaching, Dr. Lopez is currently working on a Claire M. Fagin Postdoctoral Fellowship, doing mentored research work on end-of-life care for patients with advanced dementia. As part of her research, Dr. Lopez has found that caregivers and family members look to nurses for guidance. Her goal is to improve the quality of care in nursing.

She was also awarded a gerontology faculty research grant for her project, "Antecedents to uncertainty in family members of nursing home residents with dementia."

Lopez says she has an intense passion for the importance of nursing, and tries to instill that in her students. Her actual practice experiences are brought back to the classroom in topics such as gerontological theory, living with death, and living with grief. She reminds students that “no matter what the specialty, they will be caring for elderly people.”

She chose to teach at MGH Institute because it supports a creative, out-of-the-box approach to teaching. With the small class sizes, she gets to know students one-on-one, and students get to help in her research.

“I love to explore, investigate, and make novel connections and discoveries, therefore, my favorite part of teaching is the "aha! moments," when a student makes a new connection or sees something in a new light and says, "aha! I got it!"

Education:

BS, Nursing, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA
MS, Gerontological Nursing, Boston University, Boston, MA
PhD, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA

Biography:

Dr. Ruth Palan Lopez is Assistant Professor. She received her PhD from Boston College William F. Connell School of Nursing in 2004.

She has more than 20 years of experience as a gerontological nurse practitioner during which time she has developed and implemented innovative programs to improve the care of older adults in both hospitals and in long-term care facilities. In addition, she has had a long standing commitment to nurse practitioner practice and has served as Vice-President of the Massachusetts Coalition of Nurse Practitioners.

Dr. Palan Lopez has received several awards for her accomplishments in research, education, and clinical practice including, Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society, Louis Lowry Certificate in Geronotological Studies, Boston College University Fellowship, Boston College Commencement Speaker, a 2005 Partners in Excellence Award, and she was a 2007-2009 Claire M. Fagin Fellow.

In addition, Dr. Palan Lopez has achieved international recognition as a visiting expert in geriatric nursing by the Ministry of Health in Singapore. She is has several publications and numerous national and international presentations.

Research Interest:

Dr. Palan Lopez's research focuses on the needs of nursing home residents with advanced dementia.

Publications & Presentations:

Lopez, R.P. Amella, E. Strumpf, N.  Mitchell, S (in press) Nursing Home Organizational Culture and Use of Feeding Tubes. Archives of Internal Medicine

Lopez, R.P. Amella, E. Mitchell, S. Strumpf, N (in press) Nurses’ perception of feeding decisions for nursing home residents with advanced dementia. Journal of Clinical Nursing

Lopez, R.P. (2009) Doing what’s best: Decisions by family members of acutely ill nursing home residents. Western Journal of Nursing Research. 31 613-626 doi:10.1177/0193945909332911

Lopez, R.P. (2009) Nurses in the middle. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 65(5) 1001-1009

Lopez, R.P. (2007) Suffering and dying nursing home residents: Nurses’ perceptions of the role of family members  Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care Nursing.9(3) 141-149.

See Curriculum Vitae for complete list of publications, presentations and research projects.

Links: Curriculum Vitae

 

 

School of Nursing

School of Nursing Assistant Professor Janice Goodman, PhD, RN, has won a competitive $350,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to conduct research on postpartum depression and mother/infant relationships.

Goodman is one of just 15 nurse educators from around the country - and the only one in New England - to receive the three-year “Nurse Faculty Scholar” award this year. It is given to junior faculty who show outstanding promise as future leaders in academic nursing. The grant period begins this month.

“The generous support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will enable me to study interventions to promote the mental health, well-being, and optimal development of both mothers and infants,” Goodman said.

For her research, Goodman will provide early intervention to first-time mothers who are at high risk of developing postpartum depression. Early intervention to encourage healthy mother/infant bonding will significantly reduce the onset of postpartum depression and the subsequent negative effects on child development.

A key component of the research will include training maternal/child nurses to conduct the intervention to prevent depression and encourage and strengthen mother/infant relationship bonds. Mothers and infants will be selected for the study from across the Boston metropolitan region.

“Relationship building is critical to new moms and babies, and a vital step to ensuring a healthy start,” said Goodman. “Additionally, this nurse-delivered intervention for postpartum depression will highlight the role of nurses in providing readily accessible, cost-effective interventions and can have tremendous potential for wide-scale dissemination in nurse home-visiting programs to postpartum families, pediatric clinics and mental health settings.”  

MGH Institute President Janis P. Bellack, PhD, RN, FAAN, and Edward Z. Tronick, PhD, Director of the Child Development Unit at Children’s Hospital Boston, Distinguished Professor at University of Massachusetts, and lecturer at Harvard Medical School, will serve as Goodman’s mentors.

“Mother-infant relationship dysfunction is a serious negative consequence of postpartum depression that is not addressed in current PPD treatments,” Dr. Bellack said. “Janice Goodman’s unique research will examine a comprehensive intervention for postpartum depression addressing the needs of mothers and infants, which will lead to better outcomes for families overall.”

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s “Nurse Faculty Scholar” award aims to strengthen the academic productivity and overall excellence of nursing schools by developing the next generation of national leaders in academic nursing. It also aims to curb the effects of the nursing shortage by helping more junior faculty succeed in, and commit to, academic careers.

Education:

BSN, North Park College, Chicago, IL
MSN, Psychiatric/Mental Health, Hunter College, CUNY
PhD, Nursing, Boston College

Biography:

Dr. Goodman is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing and a current Robert Wood Johnson Nurse Faculty Scholar. She is a board-certified psychiatric/mental health clinical nurse specialist.

She currently teaches courses in psychotherapy and in psychopharmacology in the psychiatric nursing specialty track. She also maintains a private practice in psychotherapy and psychopharmacology specializing in treating pregnant and postpartum women and mothers of young children.

Dr. Goodman's research is focused on the mental health of women and families, especially perinatal depression and parent-infant relationships. Her research goal is to develop interventions for preventing and treating maternal postpartum depression and the associated negative effects on the mother-infant relationship and child development.

She has received several awards for her research and scholarship, including previous research funding from the National Institute of Nursing Research, the American Nurses Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, the Freedom from Fear Foundation, Postpartum Support International, and the Association of Women’s Health and Obstetrical and Neonatal Nurses. Her current research is funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development.

Dr. Goodman was recently a MGH Institute of Health Professions' Faculty Research Fellow and is a Faculty Nurse Scientist at The Yvonne L. Munn Center for Nursing Research at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Research Interest:

Dr. Goodman's research is focused on the mental health of women and families with the primary goal of developing interventions for preventing and treating maternal postpartum depression and the associated negative effects on the mother-infant relationship and child development.

Publications & Presentations:

Goodman, J.H. & Tyer-Viola, L. (2010). Detection, Treatment, and Referral of Perinatal Depression and Anxiety by Obstetrical Providers. Journal of Women’s Health. 19(3), 477-490.

Goodman, J.H. (2009). Women’s Attitudes, Preferences, and Perceived Barriers to Treatment for Perinatal Depression. Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care, 36 (1), 61-70.

Goodman, J.H. (2008). Influences of maternal postpartum depression on fathers and on father-infant interaction. Infant Mental Health Journal, 29(6), 624-643.

Goodman, J.H. (2005). Becoming an involved father of an infant. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecological, and Neonatal Nursing, 34, (2), 190-200.

Horowitz, J.A., & Goodman, J.H. (2005).  Identification and Treatment of Postpartum Depression, Journal of Obstetric, Gynecological, and Neonatal Nursing, 34, (2), 264-273.

See Curriculum Vitae for publications, presentations and research.

Links: Curriculum Vitae