
DATE: Friday, April 25, 1997                TAG: 9704250598

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PAT DOOLEY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:  100 lines

EVMS JOINS WITH ODU TO OFFER 2 NEW HEALTH DEGREE PROGRAMS

Eastern Virginia Medical School is launching two new degree programs, school officials said this week.

In July, about 21 students will begin work toward a master's degree in public health, said Charles R. Applebach, a spokesman for the school. The program is a partnership with Old Dominion University, and students will take classes at both schools.

In January, another 20 students will start a new undergraduate program for physician assistants, he said. A physician assistant works under a doctor's supervision, but can examine patients, make diagnoses and prescribe some medications.

With the new two-year degrees, the school adds to a roster of programs to train medical doctors, clinical psychologists and art therapists, Applebach said.

Dr. Suzanne Dandoy, director of the Virginia Beach Department of Public Health since 1994, will leave that post to head the master's program in public health.

``It's an exciting new opportunity to get a new program off the ground,'' said Dandoy, who has served in various faculty appointments around the country during her 30 years in public health.

A medical doctor, she holds a master's degree in public health from UCLA. Prior to directing the Virginia Beach health department, Dandoy was deputy director for the Virginia Department of Public Health in Richmond.

The new program is designed for health professionals - physicians, pharmacists, nurse practitioners, for example - who want to enhance their careers or work in public health, Dandoy said. Faculty from both schools will teach the evenings-only courses.

The program will follow two tracks: epidemiology, or the study of disease among certain groups, and health management and policy, Dandoy said.

Students will be trained to look at health problems from a community perspective. For example, a public-health professional might examine the effects of air pollution on children with asthma, or fluoride levels on the dental health of the elderly.

When problems are solved at the community level, groups and individuals benefit, Dandoy said.

Interest in public health is mushrooming, Dandoy said, as the emphasis in medical care shifts away from treatment to prevention of disease. Also, health-maintenance organizations are looking for ways to provide for groups that enlist with them, she said.

School officials hope many of the graduates of both programs will remain in Virginia.

That is in keeping with the school's purpose: It was founded in 1973 after a communitywide effort to stem a shortage of physicians.

Still, some areas of Hampton Roads are underserved, said Catherine Gemmiti, head of the school's new physician assistant program.

Nationwide, about 30,000 assistants help fill the gap by working with physicians to extend the amount of care to patients, she said. About 125 physician assistants work in Hampton Roads.

The profession dates to the late 1960s, when medics returning from war in Vietnam brought their own combination of skills to health care, said Gemmiti, a physician assistant, who formerly directed that program at the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine.

A graduate of a pilot program at Dartmouth, Gemmiti's training includes a practice in rural, underserved areas of New Hampshire.

The local program is designed to get more primary-care physician assistants into underserved urban and rural areas, she said. Some might even train in Roanoke, as part of an exchange with the College of Health Sciences.

Students will complete 24 months of ``compact, intense curriculum,'' she said. The first year includes basic sciences, such as anatomy and pharmacology. The second year consists of rotations in various settings, such as geriatrics, pediatrics and family medicine.

Candidates must have earned 60 college credits, with an emphasis on the sciences, or a bachelor's degree with a related focus, she said. The school is reviewing applications for its first class, and will interview candidates this summer, Gemmiti said.

Traditionally, physician-assistant programs have attracted older students looking toward second careers, she said. But the field is becoming more popular with young people interested in a medical career. It takes less time to become a physician assistant than a medical doctor, she said, and the responsibility is not as great.

``This is growing, and it fits in well with how medicine is growing,'' she said.

Managed-care providers are interested in hiring physician assistants, she said. Assistants have more time to spend with patients, freeing busy physicians to focus on the most critical cases.

Studies show patients are receptive to physician assistants, Gemmiti said. ``They want to have someone who listens to them, who cares about them.'' MEMO: Deadline for applications to the physician assistant program is

June 1. For information, call 446-5812.

Students have been selected for the first class in public health. For

information, call 446-6090. ILLUSTRATION: Catherine Gemmiti has been named to direct the Eastern

Virginia Medical School's new physician assistant program.

VICKI CRONIS/The Virginian-Pilot

Dr. Suzanne Dandoy is leaving her post as director of the Virginia

Beach Department of Public Health to head Eastern Virginia Medical

School's new master's program in public health.