Academy Fellows Research Articles

Food Sovereignty and Food Rights

What is food sovereignty? What is food rights? In the recent past I have had the privilege to attend two amazing events here in Nairobi. One, the graduation of the third cohort of African Food Fellows started by scholars at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, and the other at the World Agroforestry Centre's Gigiri campus in Nairobi as African Plant Breeding Academy Fellows graduated the third cohort. My one common observation is that we have amazing programs elevating brilliant young Africans to a level where they can confidently address issues of hunger, malnutrition and poverty. African food fellows are made to provide leadership in this sector and only do so once they have been equipped with the appropriate tools and knowledge. The plant breeders are equipped with new skills in breeding that enable them to expand their performance and work. In both situations and I am sure in many more, governance and policies still come out as real concerns. In all this I see young people who are passionate about making a difference in their countries and on the continent, about impacting the ground and wanting to ensure food rights for the vulnerable amongst us. These young people will understand that food sovereignty means us valuing and protecting our food culture and food sources, and providing for the vulnerable: elderly, the disabled, and the income-less. The young people need to be passionate about food rights and hopefully will be in decision making positions where they ensure that nobody ever goes to bed hungry. They will do so because unlike now, they will understand the issues. What we need now is help for more capacity building programs.

Exposing postdocs to multiple institutional types: a PROMISE-ing intervention to prepare biomedical faculty

Biomedical faculty positions require experience as a postdoctoral scholar (or “postdoc”). However, there is a current misalignment with postdoctoral training and workforce needs within higher education. The majority of postdocs are trained to be research faculty while completing fellowships at research-intensive universities, despite the fact that the majority of US higher educational institutions (where these postdocs may be employed) focus on undergraduate education. This leads to postdoctoral scholars not having the opportunity to gain exposure to different institutional types where they could be employed. Importantly, they also lack the opportunity to build a network or receive mentorship from faculty at non-R1 institutions. This may be particularly true of underrepresented scholars. In this brief report, we describe the practice of the NSF-funded PROMISE Academy Alliance to bridge this training gap and support greater preparation for faculty careers at an array of institutional types by leveraging collaboration within a state university system. A survey of PROMISE Academy Fellows about their structured experiences engaging with other campuses (e.g., campus tours, workshops, speaking opportunities) reveals that visits to other campuses within the state system are informative and impactful, both on their research and their employment interests. The positive findings can hopefully inspire easy-to-implement changes in postdoctoral support across other university systems or regional consortia.

Minding the Body: The Evolution of the Psychology of Physical Activity

This essay, written as part of an invited address for the National Academy of Kinesiology’s 92nd annual meeting, with the overarching theme being “Honoring the Past, Celebrating the Present, Embracing the Future,” provides an assessment of the evolution of sport and exercise psychology, or what I refer to as the psychology of physical activity. Specifically, I examine the role that psychology of physical activity has played since the academy was established, with particular attention to the contributions of academy fellows. I then provide my reflections on the current status and critical issues for the psychology of physical activity. Finally, I offer some thoughts on future directions for the subdiscipline in the broader field of kinesiology and some thoughts on how the academy could advance the academic discipline of kinesiology.

Leading the American Academy of Nursing: A historical review of the Presidents’ words and actions on “rationality,” inclusivity, and health policy, 1973 to 2023

BackgroundLittle has been written about the history of the American Academy of Nursing (Academy). An examination of the association’s origins, purpose, early goals, and leaders’ words and accomplishments can illuminate the organization’s role within the profession today. PurposeThis paper begins the process of documenting the Academy’s history. It focuses on the words and accomplishments of the Academy’s Presidents, setting them within the social, political, economic, and health care context of the years between 1973 and 2023. MethodsTraditional historical methods with a social history framework. DiscussionThree themes emerged. These include the importance of “rationality” (later termed “scientific evidence”) as the basis for practice; the critical need for cultural, racial, and ethnic inclusivity in the association; and the necessity of engaging all Academy Fellows and Expert Panels in the work of driving health care policy. ConclusionUnderstanding the association's history, beginning with an analysis of the Presidents' words and accomplishments is a first step in documenting the Academy's history.

Interprofessional education programs to foster the use of Learning Health Systems

Healthcare management continues to worsen, with process inefficiencies, wastage, unsafe practices and accordingly, non-optimal patient care. The concept of the Learning Health Systems (LHS) demonstrates the potential for the utilisation of health data in real time, through rapid and continuous cycles of data interrogation, implementation of insights into practice, and eventually practice change (Friedman & Flynn, 2019). Yet, the lack of appropriately skilled workforce results in an inability to leverage existing data to design innovative solutions. We identified a need to develop tailored professional development programs to foster skilled interdisciplinary learning communities in the healthcare workforce, as well as digital health champions that understand each other’s roles and capabilities, to collaboratively solve these complex problems. Thus, we have developed multiple educational programs of work, including a professional development short course and a year-long Academy Fellowship program, to teach LHS principles. The short course is wholly online, open to interdisciplinary professionals working in the digital health arena. To foster interprofessional learning, we assigned participants into working groups of five interprofessional members, who worked together and shared knowledge, perspectives and experiences in workshop activities throughout the 13-week course. We employed a flipped classroom approach, utilising various eLearning tools such as crowdsourced evidence synthesis Mind Maps; Jupyter Notebooks for hands on data interrogation, data visualisation and interpretation of machine learning models; clinical process modelling software (LucidChart); and virtual care platform for prototype testing digital health solutions (Datos), which showcasing the potential of technology. We undertook a mixed methods evaluation, to determine the utility and success of our programming. This framework consisted of pre and post-surveys with identical measures of self-efficacy, ratings scales for engagement, usefulness, applicability and value for various aspects of the course. Participants were also invited to participate in a semi-structured interview post course. This allowed a deeper dive into themes relating to utility, barriers, recommendations for future applicability, and evolving digital health identity. The evaluation results demonstrated that participants found the teaching model useful, engaging, applicable and valuable to their daily tasks and workplace LHS projects. Self-efficacy scales revealed a significant increase in perceive confidence. From interviews and analysis of free text responses, we discovered that the program gave participants a shared language and common understanding to converse with other interprofessional peers; transformed their perceptions of their role and the potential of data and technologies; provided a framework to organise their transformation plans; and finally provided a toolkit to refer to and operate from. The most notable observation from the LHS Academy Fellows, was a significant increase in the number of fellows identifying themselves as leaders at the end of their foundational coursework compared to at the start of the program. It is clear that in order to transform healthcare systems to their full potential, it requires a workforce with an understanding of LHS and the potential of data driven approaches, as well as an appreciation for the need for diversly skilled learning communities to tackle these problems together.

Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.

Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.

The International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics (IAHSI): IMIAs Academy is Now Established and on Track.

Summary Objectives: To summarize the major activities of the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics (IAHSI) from 2018 until 2019, and to provide an outline of actions planned for 2020. Method: Reporting about these activities and actions by the members of the Academy's first Board. Results: Academy bylaws were accepted by the Academy Plenary and the IMIA General Assembly on August 25th, 2019 and August 26th, 2019, respectively. Academy's strategy and focus areas were developed. Based on the Academy's eligibility criteria, the 2018/2019 Class made of 26 new Academy Fellows was elected. Future activities will concentrate on building taskforces for developing and implementing major Academy focus areas. Conclusions: We are glad to report that the Academy is strong and thriving.

<i>PCSK9</i> rs11591147 R46L Loss-of-Function Variant Protects Against Liver Damage in Individuals with NAFLD

Background and Aims: The proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) plays a key role in cholesterol homeostasis, and its inhibition represents an effective therapy to lower LDL-C levels. In this study, we examined the impact of PCSK9 rs11591147 loss-of-function (LOF) variant on liver damage in a multicenter collection of patients at risk of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), in clinical samples and experimental models. Methods: We considered 1,874 consecutive individuals at risk of NASH as determined by histology. The SNP rs11591147, encoding for the p.R46L variant of PCSK9, was genotyped by TaqMan assays. We also evaluated 1) PCSK9 mRNA hepatic expression in human liver, and 2) the impact of a NASH-inducing diet in mice with hepatic overexpression of human PCSK9. Results: Carriers of PCSK9 rs11591147 had lower circulating LDL-C levels and were protected against NAFLD (OR 0.42;95%C.I0.22-0.81;P=0.01), NASH (OR 0.39;95%C.I.0.20-0.75;P=0.005) and more severe fibrosis (OR 0.44;95%C.I.0.26-0.74;P=0.002) independently of clinical, metabolic and genetic confounding factors. PCSK9 hepatic expression was directly correlated with steatosis (P=0.03). Finally, liver-specific overexpression of human PCSK9 in mice drives NAFLD and fibrosis upon a dietary challenge. Conclusions: In individuals at risk, PCSK9 was induced with hepatic fat accumulation and PCSK9 rs11591147 LOF variant was protective against liver steatosis, NASH and fibrosis, suggesting PCSK9 inhibition may be a new therapeutic strategy to treat NASH. Funding Statement: This work was supported by project grant by the Swedish Research Council [Vetenskapsradet (VR), 2016-01527], the Swedish state under the Agreement between the Swedish government and the county councils (the ALF-agreement) [SU 2018-04276], the Novonordisk Foundation Grant for Excellence in Endocrinology [Excellence Project, 9321- 430], the Swedish Diabetes Foundation [DIA 2017-205], the Swedish Heart Lung Foundation [20120533], the Wallenberg Academy Fellows from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation [KAW 2017.0203]. LV was supported by MyFirst Grant AIRC n.16888, Ricerca Finalizzata Ministero della Salute [RF-2016-02364358], Ricerca corrente Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Fondazione Sviluppo Ca Granda [PR-0316], the European Union Programme Horizon 2020 [No. 777377]. Declaration of Interests: SR has been consulting for AMGEN, SANOFI, Astra Zeneca, Pfizer, AKCEA, Celgene, Medacorp, Foresite Labs, CAMP4 and received research grants from Astra Zeneca, AMGEN, SANOFI. SB, DK-P, A-CA, GP, MB-Y and DL are AstraZeneca employees. LV reports having received during the last 5 years speaking fees from MSD, Gilead, AlfaSigma, AbbVie, having served as a consultant of: Gilead, Pfizer, Astra Zeneca, Novo Nordisk, Diatech Pharmacogenetics and Intercept, and having received research grants from: Gilead. Ethics Approval Statement: The study was carried out in accordance with the principles of the Helsinki Declaration, and with local and national laws. Approval was obtained from Internal Review Boards and their Ethics Committees, and written informed consent for the study was obtained from all patients All animal experiments were performed with humane care and were approved by the Gothenburg Ethics Committee for Experimental Animals in Sweden. The holding facility has received full accreditation from the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC).

Implementation of Competency Based Educational Strategies into a First-Year Seminar for InterProfessional Healthcare Science Majors

Introduction: The Health Educators Academy at Western Carolina University was developed by the Dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences. Interdisciplinary fellows in the 2015 HEA focused on competency based education (CBE), which naturally incentivizes collaborative, interdisciplinary and interprofessional work. The 2015 Health Educator Academy Fellows researched healthcare competencies and designed curriculum changes that aligned within these parameters. This article discusses the creation of a first-year, interprofessional healthcare course that emphasizes CBE as well as interprofessional practice. Interprofessional Goals: The 2015 Academy Fellows believed that a collaborative course in the first-year curriculum that builds upon integral competencies would help introduce a structure that would support further IPE in later courses. Background of CBE: The recent expansion of CBE in higher education is a result of a number of factors, including changing demographics, the increase in student debt, declining state funding, and the need for accountability markers and improved learning outcomes. First- Year Experience: First-year seminars were first designed to ease the transition to college for students and to increase both retention and persistence to graduation. Proposed CBE Course: Three foundational interprofessional global health competencies domains were implemented into the first-year experience course: collaboration, partnering and communication; ethics; and sociocultural and political awareness. Reflection and Lessons Learned: In reflecting upon the process of designing a first-year interprofessional, competency-based course, the members of the Health Educator Academy organically implemented many educator and curricular best practices that facilitate collaboration in health care delivery. Future Plans: Rather than deal with complex health issues from a single, specialized approach, healthcare providers will need to work as a team to meet the needs of patients as well as the broader community. Courses such as a first-year seminar based on interprofessional competency-based curriculum can begin the process of teaching students to think collaboratively and critically. This type of course will provide some of the tools that students will need once they leave the university and enter the professional realm.

Editor's Spotlight/Take 5: How Does Accounting for Worker Productivity Affect the Measured Cost-effectiveness of Lumbar Discectomy?

Editor's Spotlight/Take 5: How Does Accounting for Worker Productivity Affect the Measured Cost-effectiveness of Lumbar Discectomy?

Mentoring Nurse Authors and Editors with EMINENCE

Mentoring Nurse Authors and Editors with EMINENCE

Якоб фон Штелин, придворный историограф и педагог XVIII в.

The article outlines the life of Jacob von Staehlin, member of the St. Petersburg (Russian) Academy of Sciences, who lived under several Russian monarchs beginning with Anna Ioannovna, and died in St. Petersburg in 1785. Being a typical man of the Age of Enlightenment, Staehlin had many talentsand, during his service in the Russian Academy and at the court, showed his worth in different positions: as a master of fireworks, author of panegyric poems, educator of Prince Pyotr Fyodorovich (future Emperor Peter III), editor of the Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti, permanent secretary of St. Petersburg Academy, founder of the Academy of Fine Arts, member and, later, secretary of the Free Economic Society. A writer, author of numerous articles on Russia in the foreign press, art historian, numismatist, teacher, memoirist, one ofthe first ideologists of what is now called the method of oral history – that is an incomplete list of interests of the main character of this article. However, relying on sources that are little-known in Russia, the author reconstructs thehistorical portrait of “another” Staehlin, a man of a difficult nature, acrimonious, ambitious, and inclined to intrigues. The researcher outlines both the portraits of Staehlin-scientist and Staehlin-courtier, analyzing the pedagogical principlesthat he applied while training the heir to the throne, his mordant characteristics of some Academy fellows, his administrative cares, his attempts to become the official historiographer of the Imperial Court of Russia. The author pays particular attention to the history of creation and publication of “Anecdotes” about Peter the Great which formed, alongside with other similar works, a stereotype image of the first Russian Emperor and his time.

Let’s celebrate our accomplishments and harness the power of our diversity

Let’s celebrate our accomplishments and harness the power of our diversity

Peer Review of Manuscripts Submitted Via the Academy Fellowship Track

When the American Society for Microbiology set out to create a topflight entry into the new world of online, open-access journals, it had a number of assets in its favor. Endorsement by the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM), ASM’s honorific branch, was one of the critical assets. The AAM is home to more than 2,000 Academy Fellows, each of whom has been identified by a highly selective election process as an outstanding, internationally respected scientist. When mBio was launched, AAM Fellows were given the opportunity to submit their research findings on a privileged track (see http://mbio.asm.org/site/misc/fellows.xhtml for complete details), similar to that provided to members of the National Academy of …

Patient Participation in Surgical Site Marking

Wrong-site surgery is defined as an operation conducted at the wrong site, on the wrong person, or resulting in the wrong procedure. Since 1993, more than 2200 wrong-site surgeries have been reported by the National Practitioner Data Base. A 2005 survey reported, 5.6% of replying academy fellows encountered a wrong-site surgery incident. Multiple interventions have been since suggested for prevention of these occurrences by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. This institutional review board-approved study was conducted to investigate patient compliance and reliability in marking the surgical site. Two hundred patients undergoing orthopedic surgery who agreed to participate were enrolled at the time of preoperative testing and clearance for surgery. The patients received instructions to mark the surgical site with a "YES." Patient data collected included age, sex, procedure type and location, history of previous orthopedic surgeries, workmen's compensation status or motor vehicle collision involvement, employment status, primary language, level of education, presence of depression or toxic habits, and the time between enrollment and day of surgery. We achieved an overall compliance rate of 68.2%. There was no difference with respect to sex, tobacco use or history of depression, level of education or occupation, workmen's compensation, or government insurance status. The mean age of compliant patients was 48.6 years versus 53.3 years for those who did not comply (P = 0.05). About 72% of those who spoke English as a primary language complied, as opposed to 49% in others (P = 0.009). The time between enrollment and surgery was 10.4 days in compliant patients versus 23.1 days in noncompliant patients (P = 0.05). No statistically significant difference was noted with all other variables recorded. In no instance did patients mark the wrong side or make any marks likely to contribute to the wrong operation. Patient's ability to be involved in this preventative measure is independent of most demographic variables previously thought to be significant. However, in view of the 68.2% compliance, patient involvement in surgical site marking is unreliable and may not help in decreasing the chances of wrong-site surgery.

Joint international workshop: March 22–25 2010, Morocco

This meeting was a joint initiative between the IAWS Executive Committee and 7th ESTB (School of Wood Science and Technology) with the aim of promoting wood science in Africa, a continent presently under-represented in terms of Academy Fellows. The meeting took place partly in the Faculty of Sciences, Rabat, and partly at the Al Akhawayn University, Ifrane. Position papers were presented by several fellows: Past-President Deglise on behalf of President Beall (Non-destructive evaluation methods applied to African wood and derivative industries); Antonio Pizzi (Sustainable adhesives and wood composites for developing countries), Vice President Lennart Salmen (Trends and opportunities in biorefinery) and Academy Treasurer Howard Rosen (Wood culture in the US). A further position paper was presented by Pascal Kamden of Michigan State University on challenges and opportunities in wood production. In addition to the position papers, there were 29 oral presentations and 18 posters. A major highlight of the meeting was the presentation of the Academy Lecture by Academy executive Secretary Uwe Schmitt. His lecture was entitled ‘‘Wounding of trees, consequences and defence strategies’’. The meeting was a great success with 153 delegates attending from 17 countries. In addition to a large representation from the host nation, African countries represented included Algeria, Benin, Cameroon, Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal and Togo. Delegates from nine nations outside Africa were also present. An encouraging feature was the number of young scientists who attended, promising a successful future for wood science in Africa. The meeting closed with a round table session discussing prospects for future research in Africa. In order to identify priorities it was decided to take steps towards establishing an electronic network of wood scientists and technologists throughout the continent.

Medical Errors in Orthopaedics

There has been widespread interest in medical errors since the publication of To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System by the Institute of Medicine in 2000. The Patient Safety Committee of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons has compiled the results of a member survey to identify trends in orthopaedic errors that would help to direct quality assurance efforts. Surveys were sent to 5540 Academy fellows, and 917 were returned (a response rate of 16.6%), with 53% (483) reporting an observed medical error in the previous six months. A general classification of errors showed equipment (29%) and communication (24.7%) errors with the highest frequency. Medication errors (9.7%) and wrong-site surgery (5.6%) represented serious potential patient harm. Two deaths were reported, and both involved narcotic administration errors. By location, 78% of errors occurred in the hospital (54% in the surgery suite and 10% in the patient room or floor). The reporting orthopaedic surgeon was involved in 60% of the errors; a nurse, in 37%; another orthopaedic surgeon, in 19%; other physicians, in 16%; and house staff, in 13%. Wrong-site surgeries involved the wrong side (59%); another wrong site, e.g., the wrong digit on the correct side (23%); the wrong procedure (14%); or the wrong patient (5% of the time). The most frequent anatomic locations were the knee and the fingers and/or hand (35% for each), the foot and/or ankle (15%), followed by the distal end of the femur (10%) and the spine (5%). Medical errors continue to occur and therefore represent a threat to patient safety. Quality assurance efforts and more refined research can be addressed toward areas with higher error occurrence (equipment and communication) and high risk (medication and wrong-site surgery).

Historical Underpinnings

FigureFigure: Jan Colwell Elected to American Academy of Nursing: Jan Colwell was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing during their annual meeting in Washington, DC. Induction is the highest peerage offered in nursing; candidates must be sponsored by 2 academy fellows and only a portion of persons nominated are inducted. Sponsored by Dorothy Doughty and Mikel Gray, Jan was recognized for her clinical expertise, writing skills, and leadership. Additional contributions included her 12 chapters in nursing textbooks, 4 chapters in medical textbooks, and 24 articles in nursing and medical journals, her presentations to multidisciplinary professional societies at regional, national, and international meetings such as the Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurse's Society, World Council of Enterostomal Therapy, American Society of Colorectal Surgeons, and Society for Urologic Nurses and Associates. Jan was also recognized for helping to set the standard for medical and resident education in ostomy nursing through her service on the American College of Colorectal Surgeon's Stoma Core Curriculum Committee, and Patient Skills Education Task Force.

American Academy of School Psychology survey on the independent educational evaluation for a specific learning disability: Results and discussion

AbstractThis article reviews the results of a survey of the Fellows of the American Academy of School Psychology (Academy; AASP) regarding the independent educational evaluation (IEE) for a specific learning disability (SLD). Academy Fellows were asked about important components of the IEE, desirable evaluator qualifications, and recommended criteria for a diagnosis of SLD in an IEE. Survey results are used as the basis for a discussion of (a) what comprises a sufficiently comprehensive IEE, (b) what evaluator qualifications are important, and (c) how a clinical determination of SLD in an IEE is formulated, documented, and evaluated. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 43: 771–780, 2006.

Motor Behavior: From Telegraph Keys and Twins to Linear Slides and Stepping

Motor behavior is a significant area of scholarship with 64 Fellows from the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education engaged in that work since 1930. This paper provides a brief overview of the history of research in motor development and motor control/learning, particularly noting the contributions to scholarship of Academy Fellows. Specifi cally, Academy Fellows who are frequently cited are highlighted as are the highly cited papers. In addition, significant books authored and edited by Academy Fellows from motor behavior are listed.