October 2025 Newsletter

A note from Dean Orlikoff

Warm greetings, CAHS!

As we move past our annual fall “spooky” season toward one of thanksgiving, please allow me address what is clearly and appropriately on everyone’s mind in CAHS—the formation of a new, unified health college. In Chancellor Rogers’ October 9 memo, he called for “the creation of a new college at ECU, which will combine our College of Allied Health Sciences and our College of Health and Human Performance. This new college is intended to better align our academic community and create greater opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration and teaching.” At a time when many units across the university are seeing cuts and downsizing, in my opinion, this represents a unique opportunity to build something that allows us to continue our strong programs and maintain our outstanding student outcomes while providing enhanced options for student engagement, community impact, and research development. The resulting college aspires to greater efficiency, effectiveness, visibility, and sustainability. That is a remarkable goal, especially within a university that has mandated a cut of at least $25 million from its permanent budget by the beginning of the 2028-29 academic year.

Let me reiterate that the only decision made by ECU upper administration is to create a unified health college and that, in doing so, CAHS and HHP will be dissolved. Our long, successful, and vibrant history will certainly be reflected in ECU’s newest college. But there is no predetermined blueprint for what this new college will include or how it will be organized or administered. There are probably as many “visions” for a unified college of health as there are those who do the imagining. Of course, those visions are informed by unique perspectives, but none can fairly take all programs, faculty, staff, and students into account. As such, Provost Buddo has constructed and will soon convene a United College Taskforce of 21 members to develop a comprehensive proposal that, hopefully, will address many of the questions that you and others may have. This Taskforce includes me as well as Dr. Nicole Bromfield, the Dean of HHP, as well as three department chairs and four faculty from each college. I am grateful that Drs. Asagbra, Atherton, Donica, Durland, Rothermich, Turbeville, and Wheeler have agreed to serve on this very important Taskforce. I have been assured that, as the Taskforce grapples with specific issues, there will be several opportunities for you and others to participate in the discussion and to provide feedback.

Our success has always depended on our people—students, staff, and faculty. If we are to integrate successfully within a new health college, it will depend on these same individuals. Transition naturally introduces a modicum of threat despite new opportunities to advance our mission-driven success. Knowing CAHS as I do, I am positive that the opportunities represented by a consolidated health college that bridges both ECU campuses far outweigh any threats to our continued academic, clinical, and research success.

Sincerely,
Bob Orlikoff

HSIM Alumni Honored as one of ECU Distinguished Military Service Society members.

One of our Health Services and Information Management alumni was honored by the Distinguished Military Service Society in a main campus ceremony and during an East Carolina University football game.

US Army Maj. Jessica Georgi ’20 earned her master’s degree in health informatics and information management.

Georgi currently serves as the director of the Health Information Management Division at the U.S. Army Garrison Fort Belvoir Hospital as well as deputy patient administration consultant to the Army Surgeon General. In 2021, she graduated from the Command and General Staff Officers College and has served in specialized military roles nationally and internationally. She deployed to Helmand Province, Afghanistan, as part of Operation Enduring Freedom from 2012 to 2013.

Georgi is a member of the D.C. Metro Chapter of the ECU Alumni Association and supports ECU by connecting prospective students to health-related education options at ECU and serving as an advisor to the ECU chapter of the Student Health Information Management Association.

She also mentors commissioned officers in the ECU ROTC program. You can read more about Georgi and other Distinguished Members on the alumni page.

The North Carolina Health Information Management Association (NCHIMA) in partnership with East Carolina University hosted the “Charting the East: Advancing HIM Together In-Person Education” event on Friday, September 26th. The event was held at the East Carolina Heart Institute at East Carolina University. This engaging event brought together Health Information (HI) professionals, students, and industry leaders from across the region for a day of networking, learning, and collaboration.

Attendees enjoyed insightful presentations on emerging HI trends, compliance updates, and innovations shaping the future of health information. The event also provided valuable opportunities to earn continuing education units (CEUs) and connect with peers passionate about advancing the HI profession.

Thank you to everyone who joined us to make this event a success and for continuing to support professional growth and excellence within the HI community.

This project is a collaboration between the SCONE Lab, Drs. Sungwoo Ahn and Moritz Dannhauer (ECU), Mackenzie Rountree (CSDI MS alumna, now at MGH Institute of Health Professions), and Dr. Catherine Caldwell-Harris (Boston University).

We found that autistic adults had more difficulty than non-autistic adults in recognizing when someone was being sarcastic or telling a “kind” lie, but both groups were equally accurate at judging whether a speaker’s emotions were positive or negative. Interestingly, autism trait scores predicted lower accuracy in the non-autistic group, but not in the autistic group—suggesting that autistic adults may rely on different strategies to succeed in these social situations.

Read the full preprint here: https://lnkd.in/eN9_shQr