Celebrating Sargent

Athletic Training Faculty Honored

In 2014, three Sargent athletic training faculty were honored for making significant contributions to the profession. Mark Laursen, a clinical associate professor of athletic training and director of BU Athletic Training Services, was named the 2014 Athletic Trainer of the Year by the Athletic Trainers of Massachusetts (ATOM). Larry Venis, an adjunct faculty member and head athletic trainer, was elected to the ATOM Hall of Fame, and Sara Brown, clinical associate professor and director of athletic training programs, was named a 2014 Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association.

Keep track of all faculty achievements here.

Top Awards

Julie Keysor, associate professor and director of Sargent’s Center for Enhancing Activity & Participation among Persons with Arthritis (ENACT), has been elected chair of the Physical Activity Working Group of the Osteoarthritis Action Alliance. Joan Salge Blake (’84), a clinical associate professor of nutrition, has been named a fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the world’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. Elizabeth Gavett, a clinical associate professor of speech, language & hearing sciences, has been named an American Speech-Language-Hearing (ASHA) Fellow. Terry Ellis, an assistant professor of physical therapy and athletic training, has received a research award from the American Physical Therapy Association.

BU Named among World’s Best

For the second year in a row, BU’s health and medical education programs have been named among the best worldwide in the 2013–2014 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, conducted by Thomson Reuters. The influential survey ranked BU 22nd for clinical, pre-clinical, and health programs. To compile the ratings, the Times Higher Education reviews five areas: teaching, international outlook, research, research income from industry, and citations of faculty research. BU received an overall score of 74.8 out of 100, and a score of 95.8 for the citation of research influence, which accounts for the number of times a university’s published work is cited by scholars globally.

New Faculty and a Promotion

Sargent welcomes three new assistant clinical professors and congratulates one faculty member on her promotion. In health sciences, Shelley Brown (SPH’07), who studies effective policy interventions and governance issues related to noncommunicable diseases, was promoted to assistant clinical professor, and Bria Dunham, a biocultural anthropologist who applies evolutionary anthropology to global public health, joined the department. Laura Driscoll (’99, ’01), who specializes in critical care and geriatrics, joined the physical therapy & athletic training department, and Robin Newman (’11), who specializes in self-care management for cancer survivors, has become a member of the occupational therapy department.

All appointments as of August/September 2014