Featured News
Every day College of Health Professions students, alumni, faculty and staff do extraordinary things. Read more about our latest achievements below.
Paving the way for new therapies for inherited muscle disorders
Department of Physical Therapy assistant professor Michael Kiefer, DPT, Ph.D. is collaborating with the Center for Inherited Muscle Research to establish outcome measures critical for clinical trials in myotonic dystrophy. His work plays a key role in an ambitious international effort to validate new treatments for myotonic dystrophy, an inherited disorder that takes away muscle strength and movement.
Laboratory manager’s career comes full circle
Colin Thibodeau, M.S. (VCU ’23) serves as the office and laboratory manager for the Medical Laboratory Sciences department where he once trained, supporting students by preparing specimens, managing supplies and ensuring labs run smoothly on a daily basis.
From battlefield to X-ray suite: Joe McCampbell’s mission at VCU
After retiring from a 21-year U.S. Army career, Joe McCampbell was drawn to radiation sciences through an aptitude assessment. Today, he applies his leadership, teaching experience and adaptability to support patients as a student in the Radiation Sciences program.
Pioneering a rapid test for rare form of meningitis
A team led by William Korzun, Ph.D., and graduate Stephen Friedrichs in the Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences has developed a liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC‑MS) test that can detect the presence of Naegleria fowleri, a brain-invading amoeba causing Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM). This rapid, cost-effective diagnostic tool has the potential to dramatically improve patient outcomes in a disease where the mortality rate exceeds 96%.
Student pro bono PT clinic cares for community
The Physical Therapy student-run CARES clinic provides free rehabilitation services to uninsured Richmond residents. The clinic offers individualized, compassionate care while giving students valuable real-world experience.
Transfusion Services Summer Scholars aims to grow future lab professionals
A new summer program aims to build the next generation of lab specialists by giving students a front-row seat to a critical and often overlooked area of health care: Transfusion medicine.
Interdepartment collaboration expands student perspective on aging and care
A collaboration between the Radiology Sciences’ Timmerie Cohen, Ph.D. and Gerontology’s Jenny Inker, Ph.D. is examining and hopes to ultimately shift the attitudes of Radiation Sciences students toward aging and older adults. Their work represents some of the first research to directly address ageism across health care professions.
‘Jack of all trades’ well-suited for health services
Initially set on studying psychology, Travis Thomas discovered VCU’s health services program during his freshman year and found it perfectly balanced his interests in psychology, finance, ethics, and health systems. Now a graduating senior, he's poised for graduate studies and a career devoted to improving equitable health care delivery.
Chapman ‘comes home’ to Medical Laboratory Sciences
When Rhonda Chapman, M.S., MLS (ASCP), walked back into Medical Laboratory Sciences last December – not as a student this time, but as the department’s clinical coordinator – she felt like she was coming home.
A pivot to PT after 22-year military career
Feather Wright marked a major milestone by earning her Physical Therapy degree, an accomplishment she pursued following a 22-year-long career in the U.S. Army – channeling her service experience into a new professional calling.
