School of Health and Human Services Blog

The  Vets2BSN Project  celebrated its first annual Veteran’s Day Celebration at the La Jolla Marriott, November 11, 2016, to celebrate the accomplishments of the Vets2BSN Project’s  Vets2LVN pilot project, Military Student Nurse Mentoring Organization (MSNMO) and the Competency Based Education Coaching.  Key Note Speaker, Dr. William L. Tontz, SR., MD addressed the audience about his time as a U.S. Navy Medical Service Officer at Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton and Naval Medical Center, San Diego in an engaging and touching talk about remembering the service and sacrifice our corpsman and medics make for our country.  He also spoke to staying true to yourself as a nurse and always remembering that we have the privilege each day to be a part of our patient’s lives. Several awards were also presented as well.  Mr. Kyle Cigainero was presented the Outstanding Vets2LVN Mentee and Ms. Amanda Masarskiy was presented the Outstanding Vets2LVN Academic Coach....

Dr. Gloria McNeal, Dean of the School of Health and Human Services (SHHS) won a coveted “Women Who Mean Business Award” today at the 23 rd annual Special Awards Reception and Luncheon sponsored by the San Diego Business Journal . The sold out San Diego event was held at the Town and Country Convention Center in Mission Valley.  National University (NU) sponsored a table at the event that also raises funds for breast cancer research.  Several NU leaders and staff were at the event including all of the SHHS Department Chairs (Drs. Smith, Guertin and Myers), President Dr. David Andrews, Provost Dr. Gangaram Singh, Vice Provost Dr. Joseph Hoey, President Randy Frisch of City University of Seattle, Vice Chancellor Dr. Dave Lawrence and Executive Vice President Nancy Rohland-Heinrich (an Awardee last year). The event recognizes dynamic women business leaders and role models who have contributed significantly to San Diego’s businesses.  Dean McNeal joined a select few win...

Community engagement remains a top priority for SHHS Community Health students.  With the help of Assistant Professor Ritika Bhawal , students joined the CRY Walk for child rights last month on September 25 th .  The walk benefits the outreach of CRY America to give children access to education and healthcare, as well as basic protections from abuse and exploitation  The CRY San Diego walk event was a big success with the maximum number of participating teams and highest total fundraising as compared to the other CRY chapters across the nation.  The event inspired our students to continue working for and in the community to better serve the underprivileged.  You can still donate to the NU team here and click on the photos below to see the large image from this public event:

Dr. Schiltz poses with his award at the September 2016 Fall Assembly. The School of Health and Human Services (SHHS) Department of Health Sciences Professor Patric Schiltz is this year's recipient of the prestigious Dr. Jerry C. Lee Outstanding Faculty Service Award.  Dr. Lee was the long time Chancellor at National University and each year the award is given in his honor by the Faculty Senate to a faculty member who demonstrates exceptional service to the university.  Dr. Schiltz is currently serving as Vice-Chair of the Faculty Senate after serving as Secretary last year. His numerous services achievements include serving as the founding chair of the Health Sciences department, various committee work, and his recording and reporting of the faculty negotiations this past year.  Dr. Schiltz received the award at the Fall Assembly last month at the closing luncheon.

The Department of Community Health , led by Chair Dr. Tyler Smith , announced an important initiative to make it easier for students in the department to find and land that all important internship in their public health and health care administration programs.  Scripps Mercy Physicians Partners have hundreds of physicians under their umbrella that will participate.    The plan is to develop an online portal for internship positions to be posted and applied to in a one stop shopping approach.   Stay tuned for upcoming details.   The story has been widely covered in the media. Click on the links below for the whole story. NU Official Press Release San Diego Business Journal   NBC San Diego  

In May our Vets2BSN Project students, faculty and staff were treated to a wonderful tour of the USNS Mercy by our gracious hosts, LTJGs Leland Comer and Anthony Waite.  These U.S. Navy Nurse Corps officers are both mentors for our Military Student Nurse Mentoring Organization (MSNMO) which matches currently enrolled Vets2BSN Project BSN students with an active duty or civilian nurse mentor throughout his or her program.  Mentors serve as a resource to the student checking in on a weekly basis on classes, provide additional content knowledge, identify areas for improvement and growth, and help with networking and career development. The USNS Mercy is essentially the U.S. Navy’s floating hospital ship.  It was originally built as an oil tanker in 1976 and was later converted to a hospital ship in 1984. Its primary mission is to provide rapid, flexible, and mobile acute medical and surgical services to support Marine Corps Air/Ground Task Forces deployed ashore, A...

U.S. Representative Maxine Waters and Dean McNeal (center) and other local leaders cut the ribbon. “This is such an exciting day for us,” said Dr. Gloria McNeal, Dean of National University’s (NU) School of Health and Human Services (SHHS) last month at the grand opening of the National University Nurse-Managed Clinic.  The clinic will be community based in the Los Angeles area and is the result of a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to the SHHS .  The effort is based out of NU’s LA campus and is connected through telehealth technologies to five community sites in the area.  The public launch event was held at one of the sites, the Tree of Life Missionary Baptist Church in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. NU faculty, staff, and administrators were on hand to tour the site along with local, state, and federal leaders.  The grant allows funding for nurse practitioners from NU and other healthcare organizat...

“Bridge the Gap in Health, No Matter What the Wealth” SHHS Students help run the Health Fair open to the public [Photo credit to Phil Oels] For the second year in a row, National University (NU) School of Health and Human Services (SHHS) recognized and celebrated National Public Health Week (NPHW). To assist in reaching the NPHW goal of “Healthiest Nation 2030”, the SHHS Center of Excellence Community Engagement Core launched a multicultural health and career fair. Understanding that bridging the gap in health will require efforts and collaboration from many sectors, NU faculties partnered with community health students, nursing students, the NU library, NU student services, NU career services, and key members from the community in order to deliver an event, which celebrated both diversity and health. The event included health promotion activities such as integrated health, focusing on equine therapy, providing instruction on “Hands Only CPR”, career services, kids zone pr...