Diving Down to Find Cure for Deadly Disease
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Wednesday, April 17, 2013 VOLUME 31 / NUMBER 28 www.uicnews.uic.edu facebook.com/uicnews twitter.com/uicnews UIC NEWS youtube.com/uicmedia For the community of the University of Illinois at Chicago “Freshwater environments are a new frontier for drug-lead discovery.” Brian Murphy, a faculty member in the College of Pharmacy and the Institute for Tuberculosis Research, goes far afield in his research. Murphy collects bacteria from water throughout the world in his search for new antibiotics to treat tuberculosis, a disease that killed more than 1.4 million in 2011 as it continues to develop new drug-resistant strains. Read more about research by Murphy and his colleagues on page 5. Diving down to find cure for deadly disease INSIDE: Profile / Quotable 2 | Campus News 4 | Calendar 8 | Student Voice 9 | Police 10 | Sports 12 Maria Carrasco is rapturous about UIC Theatre’s latest production an Congressman gets a closer look Softball out-hits Valpo in raptors optimistic classic at UIC-developed technology weekend series More on page 2 More on page 4 More on page 6 More on page 12 2 UIC NEWS I www.uicnews.uic.edu I APRIL 17, 2013 profile Send profile ideas to Gary Wisby, [email protected] Maria Carrasco takes injured birds under her wing By Gary Wisby Maria Carrasco’s work with owls and other raptors can be traced to the 210 mil- lion-gallon BP oil spill in 2010. Carrasco, a staff member in the Jane Ad- dams College of Social Work, volunteered to go to the Gulf of Mexico to help clean the birds coated by oil. After she was turned down because she wasn’t a licensed bird rehabilitator, she signed up for training at the Ojai Raptor Center in Ojai, Calif. Now she returns there regularly to volunteer. Her duties include assisting with medical examinations — taking a bird out of its cage and holding it while it’s treated. “You have to grab tight and never let go,” she said. “The birds make this hissing sound.” When a bird is too weak to eat, Carrasco puts a feeding tube down its throat. With an injured bird, she swabs down the wound or wraps the damaged part. She feeds frozen or live rats to the raptors. “The live rats are used for training for birds that are going back to the wild,” Carrasco said. “You put the rat in a box with the bird and see if it can catch it.” She also cleans cages and replenishes food and water. A bird that won’t make it in the wild must be euthanized. “That’s hard,” Carrasco said. She’s cared for barred owls, barn owls, falcons, red-tailed hawks, golden eagles, bald eagles, red-shouldered hawks and great horned owls. Social work staff member Maria Carrasco, with a barred owl, volunteers with the Ojai Raptor Center in California. “It’s very fulfilling to be able Of the latter, she said, “They’re very powerful — their to nurse them back to health, and wonderful to release them back into the wild,” she says. “It’s the least I can do — that’s my contribution.” claws could probably crush your hand bone. I don’t try to pet them.” Of the red-shouldered hawks, she said, “I had the honor to structor evaluates that the student is meeting the competen- Until 2006, Carrasco was assistant to the associate dean, release one on my last day at Ojai. cies expected in his or her area of study.” then left to help with her mother’s health issues for a couple of “It’s very fulfilling to be able to nurse them back to health, Some of the field instructors are UIC grads. years before returning. and wonderful to release them back into the wild,” Carrasco “When they get placed, they contact us so they can set up She lives in Rogers Park with her husband, Mario Quesada, said. “It’s the least I can do — that’s my contribution.” the internship program and monitor students,” she said. office manager at the Center for Neighborhood Technology. In her office, she has photos of raptors on the wall behind She also organizes events such as workshops and an an- Carrasco enjoys hiking and birding. She has also volun- her computer. On top of a filing cabinet is a bowl filled with nual field instructors’ breakfast. teered at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Lincoln feathers she’s found on walks around campus, including ones Carrasco started out in what is now the Lakeview neigh- Park, replenishing food for birds in the butterfly exhibit — from Rosie, UIC’s resident peregrine falcon, and her mate. borhood, moving to Ecuador — where her diplomat father is nectar for honeycreepers, chopped fruits and greens for other Carrasco is assistant to the director for field instruction in from — when she was 2 or 3. songbirds, and a dry kibble for button quail. the Jane Addams College of Social Work. The family returned to Chicago when she was 9 or 10, She loves the birds she watches and cares for, and feels a She handles paperwork for master’s degree students doing moving from there to Baton Rouge, La. responsibility towards them. their internships. Her office has placed about 300 students She pursued secretarial work after high school and started “We are stewards of the earth,” she said. “It’s important for with 252 agencies. her studies at UIC when she was in her 30s. us to preserve and protect the birds. She also works with field instructors. After earning a bachelor’s degree she taught English as a “They’re so free. To see them soaring in the sky, the free- “They supervise the social work intern in the field, where second language at Truman College from 1998 to 2003, when dom of flight — they are just beautiful creatures.” theory and practice come together,” she said. “The field in- she joined UIC. [email protected] quotable “The Screen Actors Guild commissioned a study that “If the Internal Revenue Service had the capacity to “A lot of girls in my class, including me, are like, ‘Eh, shows only one-half of 1 percent of words spoken on catch those who knowingly or unknowingly evade the we don’t know if we want to be in big manufacturing television are by people with disabilities.” law, the burden on those who comply with the law plants where they make big engines and it’s noisy.’” could be lowered.” College of Engineering senior Nadya Fogarty, who in- Carrie Sandahl, associate professor of disability and hu- James Thompson, associate professor of public adminis- terned at a GE locomotive plant, in an article on the lack of man development, on the inaccurate portrayal in the media tration, on the need for stricter IRS enforcement of tax laws, women in manufacturing, April 15 Crain’s Chicago of the lives of people with disabilities, April 14 ABC 7 News April 14 USA Today Business APRIL 17, 2013 I UIC NEWS I www.uicnews.uic.edu 3 Training health sciences students to work together By Christy Levy For each patient, there are many pieces to the puzzle. After being admitted to the hospital, patients interact with nurses, doctors and pharmacists. Meanwhile, their records are in the hands of staff members who work in health infor- matics. And specialists may be consulted. With so many people involved in the health care delivery system, communication is key, said Mary Keehn, clinical as- sociate professor of occupational therapy. It’s crucial to educate the next generation of health care workers about the importance of collaboration, she said. “One of the biggest problems related to patient safety is the amount of errors made in medical care, and a lot of that comes down to communication,” said Keehn, associate dean for clinical affairs in the College of Applied Health Sciences. “Research shows that when health care professionals work together more successfully, it improves patient outcomes and reduces costs.” More than 800 UIC students — and 150 via satellite from the College of Medicine’s Rockford campus — gathered at the UIC Forum April 5 for Interprofessional Immersion Day. Health sciences students were assigned tables and col- laborated with their peers to discuss three fictional patient scenarios. Students from 11 health sciences programs were divided so that a variety of disciplines were present at each Photo: Mark Mershon table — from physical therapy and medicine to nursing and UIC health sciences students talk through medical scenarios during Interprofessional Immersion Day April 5 at the UIC Forum. nutrition. A faculty member joined each table as a group facilitator, make this kind of collaboration happen in a real setting,” said Garwood took the opportunity to teach her peers about guiding students to share their perspectives on each scenario, Bell, project coordinator in the University Health Service. her profession. simulated onstage by the Graham Clinical Performance Cen- Bell’s group decided that regularly scheduled meetings “What we bring to the table is a bigger, holistic view of a ter. among members of a patient’s health care team would im- person,” she said. “We look at what motivates a person to do The event was sponsored by the Collaborative for Excel- prove communication. Using his expertise, Bell also suggested something and find ways to help people return to their best lence in Interprofessional Education, which includes faculty that health care workers review each other’s reports and charts life possible.” members from the health sciences colleges, library science through digitized medical records. Garwood’s group talked about improving collaboration and the Office of Diversity.