Dr. Jamie Perry works with lab student Thanh Tran in a sound both at the Allied Health Science Building.[/caption]
Dr. Jamie Perry, associate professor in ECU’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, is a leading expert in velopharyngeal anatomy and has developed imaging processes using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRIs) that have challenged traditional clinical practices and led to a shift in the approach to cleft palate care. Due to her research, more cleft craniofacial teams are implementing MRI into routine clinical care.
Perry also heads the Speech Imaging & Visualization Laboratory at ECU that works to improve the understanding of cleft palate speech. Cleft lip, with or without cleft palate, is the most common birth defect in the United States. Children are born with a hole in the roof of the mouth, which affects feeding, speech and resonance.
Her research, funded by the National Institutes of Health, enabled the development of multiple protocols for imaging speech muscles of oral, pharyngeal and velopharyngeal motions. As a result, clinicians have gained valuable knowledge through imaging that better prepares them to treat patients with cleft palate and craniofacial anomalies. Her team has established one of the largest MRI databases available to study the velopharyngeal anatomy of children and found significant differences in the velopharyngeal anatomy (prevents leakage of air into the nasal passage during speech) based on age, gender and race/ethnicity, which has significant implications for clinical management and surgical decisions before a cleft palate repair.
Her peers across the country recognize her as one of the leading experts in the field of velopharyngeal anatomy. Dr. Mark Mooney, professor and vice-chair of the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Oral Biology, says that Perry is internationally known for her work and the three-dimensional models she produces have significantly improved clinical and therapeutic management for velopharyngeal insufficiency.
Perry regularly collaborates with doctors and researchers across the country to improve the treatment of cleft palate and includes ECU students in her research efforts, allowing them to gain invaluable knowledge and experience.
She came to ECU in 2011 as an assistant professor and is now an associate professor and department chair. Since joining ECU, Perry has maintained a fully funded research lab supported by the National institutes of Health and multiple foundations. NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS
Scholarship of Engagement Award
Martha Engelke
College of Nursing
Dr. Martha “Marti” Engelke has spent her career developing partnerships that help people – often children – manage chronic illness.
Engelke, longtime professor and associate dean for research and creative activity in the College of Nursing, has received East Carolina University’s 2014 Scholarship of Engagement Award.
Martha Engelke
“Nursing is a practice discipline,” Engelke said. “When working with nursing in the community, it keeps you grounded. You know more about what’s going on in the real world.”
Engelke’s background is public health nursing. “It just comes natural that I would be working with nurses in community settings,” she said.
One of her recent and notable collaborations has been with the N.C. Division of School Health to develop a case management program for students with chronic illness ranging from asthma, diabetes and severe allergies to attention deficit disorder.
Engelke and her partners developed a tool kit for school nurses, a nursing model of case management, a website and portal for data entry and statewide interdisciplinary educational programs.
Research shows that school nurses who use the model improve the health, safety and quality of life for students with chronic illnesses, said Engelke, who was awarded the outstanding research award by the National Association of School Nurses.
Two Kate B. Reynolds Health Care Trust grants have helped to grow the program from five rural counties in eastern North Carolina to 29 counties across the state.
“The project helped not only children and their families in the communities…but also improved school health programs in those school districts,” said Martha Guttu, a nurse and school health consultant from Edenton who partnered with Engelke on the project.
Engelke continues to receive requests for materials, speaks about the program and is participating in a new initiative to establish a statewide school nurse research network.
“I don’t think school nurses are recognized for all they do,” Engelke said. “With the stress and mental health issues in schools today, it’s becoming more and more a part of the role of the school nurse.”
In 1996, Engelke was awarded a federal Health Resources and Services Administration grant to develop a community health concentration in the college’s graduate program. The goal was to prepare community-based nurses who could lead interdisciplinary teams and use emerging technology to combat serious health problems.
She worked with a colleague at Pitt County Memorial Hospital (now Vidant Medical Center) to develop an early telehealth model to serve chronically ill patients, particularly those with heart failure. The program showed a reduction in hospital readmission rates and improvement in quality of life. That project received the international nursing honor society Sigma Theta Tau Information Technology Award for clinical practice in 1999. Since then, the model has expanded and is used across the country.
“She has an exemplary record of enduring and substantial contributions to partnered scholarly endeavors with communities and has demonstrated a strong commitment to engagement with community partners to transform the health of rural underserved regions,” said Dr. Sylvia T. Brown, dean of the College of Nursing, in her nomination letter.
Helping others was instilled in Engelke as a child. “The idea of caring for people was very important, serving your fellow man or woman,” she said. “It was always a part of our family.”
Engelke plans to return to teaching and reduce her administrative duties by fall semester. She has led nursing’s research, scholarship and creative activity efforts since 2001, and serves as the Richard R. Eakin Distinguished Professor of Nursing.
Engelke received a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Michigan State University, a master’s degree in public health nursing and health education from the University of Michigan, and a doctorate in sociology from N.C. State University.
She is a recipient of the Sigma Theta Tau, Beta Nu Chapter of Excellence in Research Award and, in 2012, was awarded the ECU Teacher/Scholar Award. In October, Engelke was inducted as a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, a prestigious honor in the field of nursing.
Engelke has secured more than $1.2 million in funding, has published more than 40 articles, written four book chapters and made numerous national and international presentations. She has chaired several doctoral dissertations, student research projects and served on dozens of master’s theses committees and research projects at ECU.
— Crystal Baity