Dr. Bilunas named program director
Alexandra Bilunas, DDS, assistant professor in the department of growth and development in the UNMC College of Dentistry, is the new program director for the Pediatric Dentistry Residency Program.
Dr. Bilunas graduated from Meharry Medical College and completed her residency in pediatric dentistry at the University of Florida-Gainesville. She is a board-certified pediatric dentist who returned to Omaha after practicing in the Chicago suburbs for two years.
She succeeds Zachary Houser, DMD, who led the Pediatric Dentistry Residency Program for 12 years as program director and successfully completed Commission on Dental Accreditation site accreditation.
-UNMC College of Dentistry
Allied health faculty publish sonography instruction article
The UNMC College of Allied Health Professions continues to serve as a national leader in distance and synchronous learning.
Diagnostic medical sonography faculty Kate Wampler, Brandy Sundberg, Angela Ridenour, and Kim Michael, EdD, recently published an important article in the Journal of Diagnostic Medical Sonography on using a new approach to standardize sonography pre-clinical lab instruction between DMS educational sites and instructors.
“Standardizing Sonography Pre-Clinical Instruction Utilizing Peyton’s 4-Step Approach,” is one of the first publications to discuss the use of Peyton’s four-step approach for sonography pre-clinical lab instruction in an educational program. It also is one of the first to report its application in the synchronous virtual learning environment.
-Fran Higgins, UNMC College of Allied Health Professions
Research studies health habits in breast cancer survivors
The incidence of breast cancer is higher in Nebraska than the national average. Thus, to understand health habits in breast cancer survivors, the UNMC College of Nursing and Nebraska Medicine scientists partnered to learn how breast cancer survivors’ diet and gut microbiota may be associated with menopausal status, cancer characteristics and cancer survivorship.
Robin Lally, PhD, UNMC College of Nursing, director of the Center for Chronic Illness Self-management and Prevention, recently presented findings of their team’s research at the Society of Behavioral Medicine’s 47th Annual Conference in San Francisco.
Dr. Lally, with co-principal investigator Rachael Schmidt, DNP, Nebraska Medicine Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, lead the Nebraska site for COACH – Comprehensive Outcomes of After Cancer Health.
With Mariah Jackson, PhD, registered dietitian nutritionist, Becky Johnson Beller, PhD, research associate, and Kevin Kupzyk, PhD, statistician, UNMC College of Nursing, the team analyzed data from 38 breast cancer survivors who completed both dietary assessments and submitted both fecal samples over the first six-months of the study.
Nebraska breast cancer survivors scored above the national average on the Healthy Eating Index but still scored below the ideal level.
“Now that the data from all of the Nebraska participants is in, we will analyze all data,” Dr. Lally said. “A larger sample may facilitate our ability to detect differences and better understand any associations with change in microbiota.”
-UNMC College of Nursing