CAHS 17th Annual PRaISE Conference

University of Cincinnati College of Allied Health Science graduate students Sarah Hackett and Melanie Raines were proudly standing by their poster in the midst of rows upon rows of other presentations lined up in UC’s Fifth Third Arena on Friday, April 24. 

An audience member stops, looks up at their poster and asks the pair, "Do caregivers really communicate differently to children with pediatric brain trauma based on the gender of the child?”

Hackett begins, "Yes, what we found was that mother-daughter combinations use more positives…” and the two young researchers readily jump into explaining their research project hypothesis, their findings and even the design flaws.

The discussion is exactly the purpose for the 17th Annual Presentation of Research and Innovative/Scholarly Endeavors (PRaISE) Conference:  To celebrate the introduction of students to research early in their academic lives and expose them to analysis and conclusions before they start their career in allied health professions.

At the conference, held in conjunction with UC’s 2015 Undergraduate Research Conference, more than 1,000 research projects will be represented, making it the largest student research conference in the state and the Top 3 in the country, said Associate Dean of Research and Professor Melinda Butsch-Kovacic, PhD.

 "About 72 percent of our students do research, and this is a culminating event for their time at UC,” Butsch-Kovacic said.

During the morning session, the college also presented distinguished alumni awards, listed below,  and hosted keynote speaker Michael Topmiller, PhD, with HealthLandscape. 

Distinguished alumni awards for 2015 were presented to:

Dana Harley, PhD, MSW, LISW-S, ‘03

Julie Honaker, PhD, ’99, ‘06

Debra Lierl, Med, RRT, ’75,

Thais C. Morata, PhD, ‘90

Lauren Niemes, Med, RD, LD, ‘83

Micahel Sclafani, DPT, CSCS, ‘13