With a New Department Name Comes a New Department Chair in Allied Health

The name of the department is new and the person leading the department is new to the position. However, Charity Accurso, PhD, the newly named chair of the renamed Department of Clinical and Health Information Sciences at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Allied Health Sciences (CAHS) is in very familiar territory. As director of the medical laboratory science program (MLS) Accurso has been with CAHS since it was granted college status in 1998.

Being a Bearcat is in Accurso’s blood. Her mother, Rose Einhaus worked at UC as an administrative assistant in the UC Libraries for more than 20 years before retiring in 2008. After graduating from Walnut Hills High School in Cincinnati, Accurso earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from UC, where she also did her graduate studies in pathobiology and molecular science. 

During her graduate studies, she taught in the medical science program, then called medical technology, in the Center for Health Related Programs, the precursor to CAHS. 

"It’s an exciting opportunity,” Accurso says of being named department chair. She helped develop the MLS program and was involved in the launch of the distance learning (DL) program, which now has over 500 students currently enrolled.

"The department is continuing to grow and add online programs and that's one area where the university can grow because we're not limited by space,” Accurso says. "This gives me the opportunity to help further that growth, and one of the great things about our online programs is that we have the ability to help individuals who can't move to a city that has a four year program.”

"Dr. Accurso has a long history in the department, having served on the faculty for almost 17 years,” says Tina Whalen, EdD, dean of CAHS. "She is instrumental in the success of the DL baccalaureate completer in MLS and will continue to serve as the MLS program director for the online offering.”

Accurso takes over as department chair for Shane Keene, DHsc, who has been named associate dean of e-learning delivery, development and innovation, a newly created position.

"Shane has been a great resource and mentor for the other department chairs and program directors who manage and/or are developing e-learning programs,” says Whalen. Keene will also continue to serve as the director of the online BS completer in the respiratory therapy program.

The Department of Clinical and Health Information Sciences was formerly known as the Department of Analytical and Diagnostic Sciences. ”The new name is much more representative of the programs in this department,” says Whalen. 

"We needed to update the name to try to include everyone who was in our department now,” says Accurso. "We have added health informatics and health information management and changing the name to Health Information Sciences made it encompass all the different programs that are in our department.”