Accolades: Jazz Journalists Honor Two UVA Legends

Besides performing, D’earth is an accomplished composer and ensemble leader. At UVA, he leads the UVA Jazz Ensemble, a student musical group, and has been a member of the faculty Free Bridge Quintet for more than 25 years.

“John routinely contributes his time and talents to causes in the region and is frequently found on the bandstand if there is money to be raised for a progressive cause,” Perry writes. “In demand as a teacher, he is as known for his deep musical knowledge as he is for his encouragement and support of young players.”

Gantt, who performs as Nicole Mitchell, is a flutist and composer who emerged from the Chicago avant-garde music scene in the late 1990s, where she also served as president of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. At UVA, she is a professor of composition and computer technologies.

In 2022, the University of Minnesota Press published Gantt’s “The Mandorla Letters,” which it described as: “Part memoir, part manifesto, part Black speculative novella, this book explores inequity, the musical legacies of jazz, creative music, and intercultural collaboration to guide readers toward an alternative society that disrupts binaries, hierarchies, and Western ideas of progress. Paying homage to inspiring artists, it opens channels for artistic proliferation that are integral to the collective survival of our planet.”

All four of UVA Health’s medical centers, including University Medical Center in Charlottesville, above, earned ‘A’ grades for patient safety. (Photo by Sanjay Suchak)

All UVA Health Medical Centers Earn ‘A’ for Patient Safety

For the second consecutive grading period, all four UVA Health medical centers earned “A” grades for hospital safety from The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit that rates patient care quality.

The UVA Health hospitals honored with top marks on Leapfrog’s Hospital Safety Grade for spring 2024 are:

• UVA Health University Medical Center, Charlottesville
• UVA Health Culpeper Medical Center
• UVA Health Haymarket Medical Center
• UVA Health Prince William Medical Center, Manassas

The hospital safety grades are based on performance measures of patient safety as well as the systems hospitals have in place to protect patients and ensure they receive the best care.

“Our team continually is focused on finding new and better ways to provide the highest-quality care to all of our patients,” said Wendy Horton, chief executive officer of UVA Health University Medical Center. “This ‘A’ grade from The Leapfrog Group is a testament to our team’s hard work to serve our patients.”

Add Two More Fellows to University’s Biomedical Engineers

UVA Today’s last Accolades roundup reported the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering had named biomedical engineering professor Mete Civelek a fellow – a distinction that represents ranking among the top 2% of accomplished medical and biological engineers in the nation.

Shortly thereafter came word two other members of the UVA biomedical engineering faculty, Timothy Allen and Brian Helmke, also were elected as fellows. With their selections (and March 25 induction), more than half of the UVA Department of Biomedical Engineering faculty hold this honor.

Allen, a professor on the academic general track who primarily focuses on teaching, was recognized for his contributions to biomedical engineering education, including developing novel research training programs and integrative teaching laboratories.

Left to right, Timothy Allen, Mete Civelek and Brian Helmke and are the latest UVA faculty members to be named fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. (UVA School of Medicine photos)

An expert in computational bioengineering and bioinformatics, Allen’s education research evaluates the optimal approaches for teaching lab concepts and skills, computational modeling approaches and professionalism within design classes. Since 2016, he has been the primary investigator and director for a National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates site in multi-scale systems bioengineering and biomedical data sciences.

Allen has earned dozen of awards for teaching, including the Hartfield Excellence in Teaching Award from the Jefferson Scholars Foundation and the All-University Teaching Award. Last spring, the undergraduate biomedical engineering majors chose him as the 2023 Favorite Professor of the Year.

Helmke, an associate professor, was recognized for leading the call to integrate evidence-based teaching practices into technical biomedical engineering education to advance engagement and equity. 

Across his career, Helmke designed creative approaches to biomedical engineering education. He also developed and validated novel methods to bring equity, inclusivity and collaboration into the biomedical engineering learning environment. He shared these approaches by publishing original education research that has since shaped biomedical engineering pedagogy and made tangible contributions to promote diversity in biomedical engineering education.

Last fall, Helmke was elected a Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society. He received two UVA teaching awards this spring, the Hartfield Excellence in Teaching Award and the Alumni Association Distinguished Professor Award, among the top honors for UVA educators.

Association for Computing Machinery Taps Computer Science Professor

The Association for Computing Machinery named associate professor of computer science Briana Morrison as a distinguished member, one of 52 inductees in the class of 2023. The distinction recognizes her commitment to teaching and an inclusive approach.

Computer science professor Briana Morrison’s inclusive approach to teaching won her distinguished member status in the Association for Computing Machinery. (Photo by Tom Cogill)

A major research interest of Morrison’s involves “if, when and how we can apply educational psychology principles to overcome obstacles to learning,” she said.

In a news release announcing the new distinguished members, Morrison is cited for her “scholarship, leadership and service to computing education and its communities.”

The designation of distinguished member is given to longstanding association members selected by their peers for work that has “advanced computing, fostered innovation across various fields and improved computer science education,” the release said.

The release notes that the distinguished members grade recognizes up to 10% of the association’s worldwide membership.

Professors’ Scholarship Among 10 Best Corporate Law Articles of the Year

School of Law professors Kristen Eichensehr and Cathy Hwang’s paper analyzing the growing role of national security in corporate transactions has been named one of the top 10 corporate and securities law articles of 2023.

In a poll conducted for Corporate Practice Commentator, Eichensehr and Hwang’s fellow academics chose the paper “National Security Creep in Corporate Transactions” from among more than 400 entries, marking the fifth time Hwang’s papers have been lauded by this poll. Hwang is among the top five authors recognized in the poll over the past five years.

The paper, published in the Columbia Law Review, discusses the expanded government review of cross-border investments for potential national security issues. Some of that “creep” has been driven by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an interagency committee in the executive branch that reviews foreign investment in the U.S. for national security concerns.

Eichensehr and Hwang presented their paper at the 2022 Harvard/Yale/Stanford Junior Faculty Forum.

Law professors Kristen Eichensehr, left, and Cathy Wang co-wrote one of the top 10 corporate and securities law articles of 2023. (UVA School of Law photos)

Eichensehr directs the National Security Law Center and is a senior fellow at the Miller Center. She writes and teaches about cybersecurity, foreign relations, international law and national security law.

Hwang is the Barron F. Black Research Professor of Law. Her research and teaching focus on business law, including mergers and acquisitions, corporate contracts and corporate governance.

Battle Building Earns National Sustainability Award

For its efforts to reduce waste and find innovative sustainability solutions, UVA Health University Medical Center’s Battle Building earned the 2024 Greening the OR Recognition Award from Practice Greenhealth, the nation’s leading organization for environmental sustainability in health care.

UVA Health’s Battle Building was recognized for its waste management and reduction, medical device reprocessing, energy management and anesthesia use. (Photo by Kevin Blackburn)

The award recognizes waste management and reduction, medical device reprocessing, energy management and anesthesia use. A team of UVA Health clinicians and staff members have been actively seeking to reduce medical waste in the operating rooms and UVA Health Children’s outpatient clinics at the Battle Building. In 2023, more than 9,700 pounds of single-use devices were collected for reprocessing and reuse, saving $730,000.

Other UVA Health sustainability initiatives include:

• A pilot program led by two nurses that significantly reduces single-use plastic bags to store patient belongings during outpatient surgeries by using reusable bins and encouraging patients to bring their own bag.
• Expanding recycling by surveying the presence of recyclable materials, recycling bin locations and signage as well as the engagement of staff members.
• Continuing countertop composting in kitchenettes.

The award is one of Practice Greenhealth’s Environmental Excellence Awards, given annually to honor health care achievements in sustainability. UVA Health also received Stryker’s Environmental Excellence Award for its collection and purchasing of reprocessed single-use devices.