March 29, 2017

Health and science this week’s topics On Infinite Opportunities

Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu

Harrisburg – The chair of Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Physician Assistant Studies will be joined by a recent program graduate to talk about both the growth in the utilization of advanced practice clinicians and the continuing shortage of healthcare providers across the U.S. in this week’s episode of Infinite Opportunities. The coordinator of California University of Pennsylvania’s Mechatronics Engineering Technology Program also will appear on the program.
This week’s episode also will include video visits to the campuses of Cheyney, East Stroudsburg and Slippery Rock Universities of Pennsylvania, as the program explores health and science opportunities available at the universities that comprise Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education.
Infinite Opportunities airs at 9:30 a.m. each Sunday on the Pennsylvania Cable Network. The half-hour, public affairs program features roundtable discussions with faculty, staff, students and alumni from the 14 State System universities talking about a range of higher education issues. State System Chancellor Frank T. Brogan moderates the weekly discussions. Each program also offers viewers the opportunity to “travel” back to the universities to learn more about how they address the various topics on campus.
Walt Eisenhauer, a professor in Lock Haven’s physician assistant program, and Jeremy Lazorka, a 2012 program graduate, will discuss the growth in the number of both nurse practitioners and physician assistants working in medical practices. Even with the higher numbers of such advanced practice clinicians, however, there remains a “critical shortage and maldistribution of healthcare providers across the United States,” Eisenhauer says.
Dr. Jennifer Wilburn from Cal U. will talk about robotic assisted surgery and automated pharmacy and mobile floor-to-floor delivery systems.
Each episode of Infinite Opportunities airs twice on PCN. This week’s program will be rebroadcast at 6 p.m., April 8. Prior episodes, including those from the first two seasons, also can be viewed at www.passhe.edu/InfiniteOpportunities.
Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth, enrolling more than 100,000 degree-seeking students and thousands more in certificate and other career-development programs. Collectively, the 14 universities that comprise the State System offer more than 2,300 degree and certificate programs in more than 530 academic areas. Nearly 520,000 State System university alumni live in Pennsylvania.
The State System universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. The universities also operate branch campuses in Oil City (Clarion), Freeport and Punxsutawney (IUP), and Clearfield (Lock Haven), and offer classes and programs at several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg and in Center City in Philadelphia.