Jeanie McHugo has been named program director for the Physician Assistant Program in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
McHugo is an assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine. She has been a physician assistant since 1998 and has been involved in physician assistant education since 2004. Hugo's clinical experience includes urgent care - family medicine, general medicine with an emphasis on psychiatry, and clinical and surgical orthopedics.
McHugo earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology in 1993 from Mankato State University, a Bachelor of Science in Physician Assistant Studies in 1998 from the University of South Dakota and a Master of Physician Assistant Studies in 2000 from the University of Nebraska-Omaha. She completed her Ph.D in Higher Education: Teaching and Learning at UND in 2008. She is a member of the American Academy of Physician Assistants, the Physician Assistant Education Association and the North Dakota Academy of Physician Assistants.
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Nursing program receives $200,000
BISMARCK The Medcenter One College of Nursing recently received its largest donation from a living donor. Hank Swierenga of Mesa, Ariz., donated $200,000 in memory of his wife, Vivian (Hoff) Swierenga, who graduated from the college in 1953. After graduation, she spent several years working as a nurse and student nursing teacher at Bismarck Hospital, now Medcenter One.
The donation will help the College of Nursing to continue to prepare students for their future careers as nurses. The gift has been set up as a charitable gift annuity, a planned-giving option that provides the donor a fixed income as well as a tax deduction. Upon the donor's death the money left in the fund will be placed into an endowment at the college.
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Diabetes groups present Legacy Award
Sen. Byron Dorgan was presented with the Legacy Award by North Dakota families representing the American Diabetes Association, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the National Indian Health Board. The award was presented to Dorgan for his leadership in advancing diabetes research, treatment and prevention.
Dorgan is the lead sponsor of bipartisan legislation (S.3058) to renew the Special Diabetes Program, which funds diabetes research through the National Institutes of Health and diabetes prevention, treatment and education through the Indian Health Service. He also chairs of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, where he has led efforts to raise awareness about the burden of diabetes on tribal communities. Since its creation in 1997, the Special Diabetes Program has brought nearly $18 million to the tribal communities of North Dakota to fight diabetes.
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ACS names new district executive director for N.D.
The American Cancer Society has recently named Tom Burns to the position of district executive director for District E, which covers North Dakota.
Burns is a graduate of Minnesota State University-Moorhead. Prior to his new position, Burns served the American Cancer Society for 11 years as a district manager and three more as a Regional Vice President.
As district executive director, Burns will be based out of Fargo and will coordinate all statewide activities pertaining to the organization's income development and cancer control programs.