Press Release

Contact: Kaylyn Kendall Dines
(973) 972-7276

UMDNJ Hosts Allied Health Professions Week Celebration
Free Presentations on Various Wellness Topics and Careers

11/1/05—The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) will celebrate National Allied Health Professions Week with a series of four lectures and an information session from November 7 to November 16.

Administrators at the UMDNJ-School of Health Related Professions are sponsoring this series of workshops as part of a national celebration that was established by The Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions (ASAHP). The focus of the week is to promote allied health careers. ASAHP statistics show there are more allied health professionals in the United States health care workforce than physicians or nurses. Faculty members from the UMDNJ-School of Health Related Professions will facilitate the following workshops, which will be live on one campus and televised on three other UMDNJ campuses.

Enrollment representatives from the UMDNJ-School of Health Related Professions will answer questions and distribute brochures and information on various careers at an Information table on Monday, November 7, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the UMDNJ-University Hospital cafeteria, 150 Bergen Street, in Newark.

Each lecture will begin at noon. The schedule is as follows:

Piscataway Campus on Tuesday, Nov. 8: Stephen McKenzie, instructor in the Department of Primary Care at the UMDNJ-School of Health Related Professions, will present "Physician Assistants - Partners in Medicine," an overview of the role of this profession as part of the health care team. For more information, call Barbara Weisberg at 732-235-4445.

Scotch Plains Campus on Wednesday, Nov. 9: Dr. Kenneth Gill, professor of psychiatric rehabilitation at the UMDNJ-School of Health Related Professions, will discuss the cost of behavioral health disorders on our society, its interaction with overall health, special considerations for all health care professionals, and potential resilience of many people with mental illness during the "Mental Health: It’s Not All in Your Head" workshop. For more information, call Frances Dudley at 908-889-2400.

Newark Campus on Thursday, Nov.10: Dr. Adam Perlman, executive director of the Institute for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the UMDNJ-School of Health Related Professions, will explore various cultural beliefs and perspectives that contribute to the growth of this discipline worldwide. The lecture is entitled, "Complementary and Alternative Medicine: A Multicultural Perspective." For more information, call Jimalyn Jainga at 973-972-8530.

Stratford Campus on Wednesday, Nov. 16: Dr. Laura Byham-Gray, assistant professor in the Department of Primary Care at the UMDNJ-School of Health Related Professions, will present "Fad Diets: Fact vs. Fallacy" and highlight research that measures the effectiveness of fad diets. For more information, call Patricia Kelly at 856-566-2891.

Each lecture will be shown on all campuses in the following locations:

UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 675 Hoes Lane, the Main Lecture Hall, in Piscataway
UMDNJ-School of Health Related Professions, 1776 Raritan Road, Room 506, in Scotch Plains
UMDNJ in the Stanley S. Bergen Building, 65 Bergen Street, Third Floor Auditorium, in Newark
UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine, 40 E. Laurel Rd., Academic Affairs Ctr. Rm. 276, in Stratford