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SubscribeAs part of his mission to seek justice for victims of sexual assault, Attorney General Andy Beshear is partnering with the University of Louisville to provide accountability in Kentucky’s efforts to address the sexual assault forensic exam (SAFE) kit backlog.
Beshear said the Kentucky SAFE Kit Backlog Research Project, announced yesterday with the university’s Department of Criminal Justice, will provide valuable data to ensure a rape kit backlog never happens again.
The project will aid Kentucky’s law enforcement and victim advocacy communities when responding to sexual assaults and further transform sexual assault investigations and prosecutions.
The overall goals of the project are to examine the outcomes of kit testing, identify data-driven, victim-centered responses to sexual assault and provide justice to victims, Beshear said.
“This important project allows us to further support sexual assault victims in the pursuit of justice and to ensure no victim ever has their courage locked in a box on a self ever again,” Beshear said. “I am proud that we are not only ending the backlog, but are also committing to do better. As a community that cares about victims, we will learn important, much-needed data from this project.”
Dr. Bradley Campbell with U of L’s Department of Criminal Justice will serve as principal investigator on the project.
“I am excited about the opportunity to work with the Commonwealth to study this under researched area,” Dr. Campbell said. “The project represents an innovative and progressive commitment from AG Beshear and his office to add a research component to statewide testing efforts. Through this funding, the University of Louisville research team will be one of the first to examine the problem of untested SAFE kits at the state level.”
Dr. Campbell said specifically the study will collect baseline data in the cases associated with untested kits, examine connections of tested cases, evaluate pre-arrest decisions, training efforts and the impact of legislation, and provide evidence-based policy recommendations.
Kentucky’s state auditor uncovered more than 3,000 SAFE kits languishing in police departments and in the Kentucky State Police crime lab in 2015.
Upon taking office, Beshear made ending Kentucky’s backlog and providing justice for rape victims a top priority.
In 2016, Beshear provided $4.5 million in settlement money to lawmakers to fund requested Kentucky State Police crime lab upgrades. The SAFE Act of 2016 ensures the submission of all SAFE kits, requires police receive training to conduct victim-centered sexual assault investigations and that timelines are set for testing kits.
Beshear’s office provided an additional $1 million from the settlement to aid law enforcement and prosecutors in the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault cases.
In launching the Kentucky SAFE Kit Backlog Research Project, Kentucky is one of the first in the nation to examine the SAFE kit backlog at the state level, and the project places Kentucky at the forefront of national efforts to respond to the problem of backlogged sexual assault kits.
To date, single jurisdictions like in Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles and New Orleans conducted studies. Kentucky’s study will most closely replicate the Houston Sexual Assault Kit Action-Research Project, but at the state level.
Like other projects, a website and regular reports with stakeholders will help to inform the public of project findings.
Kentucky’s project was established through a competitive procurement process and will be funded using nearly $50,000 from Risperdal lawsuit settlement funds, as provided for in the state budget.
Beshear said his Office of Victim Advocacy and Department of Criminal Investigations are supporting KSP, Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, local law enforcement, prosecutors and victim advocates across the state in the implementation of the Safe Act.
Beshear’s office held a SAFE summit in September and is currently helping to train those working to end Kentucky’s SAFE kit backlog on how to conduct victim-centered investigations and prosecute sexual assault offenders.
In addition to working to seek justice for victims of rape, Beshear’s core missions for the Office of the Attorney General includes safeguarding children from sexual abuse, protecting senior citizens from scams and fraud and finding solutions to the state’s drug epidemic.
Gov. Matt Bevin today announced 10 appointments to the University of Louisville Board of Trustees’ 13-member board. The additional three members include student, faculty and staff representatives.
The Board is responsible for providing governance and oversight for the University’s administration and is accountable for the health, reputation and integrity of the University community in all aspects.
The following is a list of the appointments made:
- J. David Grissom, of Louisville, shall serve for a term expiring Jan. 13, 2023.
- John H. Schnatter, of Louisville, shall serve for a term expiring Jan. 13, 2022.
- Sandra Frazier, of Louisville, shall serve for a term expiring Jan. 13, 2021.
- Nitin Sahney, of Prospect, shall serve for a term expiring Jan. 13, 2021.
- Bonita K. Black, of Crestwood, shall serve for a term expiring Jan. 13, 2020.
- Brian A. Cromer, of Louisville, shall serve for a term expiring Jan. 13, 2020.
- Ulysses Lee Bridgeman, Jr., of Louisville, shall serve for a term expiring Jan. 13, 2019.
- Ronald L. Wright, MD, of Prospect, shall serve for a term expiring Jan. 13, 2019.
- James M. Rogers, of Prospect, shall serve for a term expiring Jan. 13, 2018.
- Diane B. Medley, of Ekron, shall serve for a term expiring Jan. 13, 2018.
Click here to view a video message from Gov. Bevin on the University of Louisville Board of Trustees appointments.
Gov. Bevin made these appointments pursuant to Sections 69 and 81 of the Kentucky Constitution, and KRS 164.821, as amended by SB12 during the 2017 Regular Session.
Download the executive order.
Gov. Matt Bevin has signed into law seven historic bills sent to his desk by the Kentucky General Assembly, following a record-setting first week of work in Frankfort.
The legislation includes transformative measures protecting the lives of unborn children, positioning the Commonwealth for economic growth, strengthening the University of Louisville’s governing structure and establishing a new era of transparency for public servants.
“This is truly a new day in Kentucky, as our General Assembly has worked in an unprecedented manner to advance the people’s business,” said Gov. Bevin. “It is an honor for me to sign into law these historic pieces of legislation that protect our most vulnerable, guarantee important freedoms for workers and set our Commonwealth on a course for unparalleled opportunity and prosperity.”
Pro-life legislation includes Senate Bill 5 (protecting children after 20 weeks of gestation) and House Bill 2 (requiring an ultrasound before a pregnancy is terminated).
Pro-business measures include House Bill 1 (providing right-to-work guarantees to all Kentucky workers), Senate Bill 6 (paycheck protection for employees of labor organizations) and House Bill 3 (repealing prevailing wage requirements for public works projects).
Senate Bill 12 authorizes a fresh start for the University of Louisville board of trustees, and Senate Bill 3 opens state legislator pensions to public scrutiny for the first time.
All of these laws contain emergency clauses and thus, take effect immediately.
Important Notice: Please be advised that House Bill 2, the Ultrasound Informed Consent Act, as passed by the Kentucky General Assembly, was signed by Governor Matt Bevin and became effective on Monday, January 9, 2017. This bill requires a signed form before a patient can have an abortion.
The link to the form is here: http://chfs.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/246DB74A-7FAA-4C73-A971-BC2EA7C8FA4A/0/HB2form.pdf.
For more information on House Bill 2 use this link: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/17RS/HB2.htm
Dr. Gil Liu, a Louisville pediatrician and member of the UofL School of Medicine faculty, has been appointed as the new medical director for the Kentucky Department for Medicaid Services (DMS) in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. CHFS Secretary Vickie Yates Brown Glisson announced the appointment for Liu, who was also recently named as the University of Louisville (UofL) School of Medicine Endowed Chair and Distinguished Scholar in Urban Health Policy Research.
A graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Medicine, Dr. Liu completed an internship and residency at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) School of Medicine as well as completing an additional fellowship in medical informatics and earning a master’s degree in biomedical engineering while at UNC. He resides in Louisville with his wife and four children.
“Dr. Liu’s impressive background and wealth of experience in the practice of medicine and public policy make him an ideal fit for this position. We are thrilled he is joining our Medicaid team,” said Sec. Glisson. “The Medicaid program provides health coverage for over a million Kentuckians and is vital to Kentucky’s healthcare landscape. As medical director, Dr. Liu will play a key role in providing oversight and directing clinical decisions to guide the program and improve delivery of services.”
“The Department is privileged to have someone of Dr. Liu’s caliber to serve as our Medical Director,” said DMS Commissioner Steve Miller.
Dr. Liu served on the faculty of the Indiana University Department of Pediatrics for 12 years and joined UofL as the director of General Pediatrics Division in 2013. In addition to his medical practice and teaching work, he also founded the Kentucky Pediatric Alliance for Transforming Children’s Healthcare, a learning collaborative to improve healthcare quality for publicly insured children in the Louisville metro area.
This is an incredibly exciting and challenging time to lead health care transformation. I am convinced that Kentucky can advance towards better health for its citizens through higher quality health services, stronger more diverse partnerships, and commitments to creativity and sustainability. I plan to especially contribute2016 expertise in using data and careful analysis to identify effective solutions, I am glad to bring the voice of a clinician to the Medicaid team; and as a pediatrician, I will always be drawn to endeavors that champion child health, taking a family based approach.
Dr. Liu has taught general pediatrics and his research interests include obesity prevention, environmental health, spatial analysis, and improving medical education. His studies of how neighborhoods and schools affect health and health behavior have been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the US Department of Education, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Dr. Liu serves as the current Chair for the American Academy of Pediatrics Pediatric Leadership Alliance, a globally recognized initiative to improve the leadership capacity of pediatricians and other health care providers
Mayor Greg Fischer, joined by representatives of the University of Louisville and local and international compassion organizations, today announced a new Compassionate Cities Index.
The Index, a project from U of L’s Institute for Sustainable Health & Optimal Aging, in partnership with Louisville Metro Government, the University of Louisville School of Medicine, the International Center for Compassionate Cities, Compassionate Louisville and the International Charter for Compassion, is a comprehensive study designed to measure compassion at the city level within the context of individual communities.
Fischer and the Louisville Metro Council formally committed to the international Charter for Compassion in 2011, and today, for the fifth year in a row, was named a Model City for Compassion by the Charter of Compassion.
Louisville was honored for its focus on compassion and for programs such as the Mayor’s Give A Day Week of Service, and the success of Compassionate Louisville, a grassroots network of organizations that have adopted the Compassion Resolution.
“Compassion is one of our three city pillars, reflecting our commitment to ensuring that all in our city have the opportunity and resources necessary to reach their full human potential,” Mayor Fischer said. “We are honored to be named a model for that work, and we’re excited about this new tool for measuring that work.”
The Compassionate Cities Index carries this work further by defining and measuring the components that make cities compassionate. University of Louisville Drs. Joe D’Ambrosio and Anna Faul, both with the Institute of Sustainable Health & Optimal Aging, plan a comprehensive study that looks beyond dollars donated and hours volunteered, to measure how people feel and act with compassion within the context of their specific community.
“This study is unique because we are capturing both subjective and objective measures that indicate compassion,” said Faul who is executive director of the institute. Data will be gathered from the 37 standard ZIP codes in Jefferson County, with the goal of 67 survey responses per ZIP code.
D’Ambrosio, director of health innovation and sustainability for the institute, explained the goals of the research: “This will allow us to understand how people practice compassion within the context of their neighborhood and examine how the city as a whole is promoting a culture of compassion.”
“The Compassionate Cities Index answers the call from cities around the world for an adaptable tool that measures their definition of compassion. It is an honor for Louisville to be the first location to implement the Index,” said Corinne Witzel of the International Center for Compassionate Cities.
“There is a strong correlation between individual health and the quality of life for a community’s citizens as they grow older. Compassion is a key component of both quality of health and quality of life. This index will provide valuable guideposts for improving wellbeing for all of us at every stage of our lives,” said Toni Ganzel, M.D., M.B.A., dean of the UofL School of Medicine.
Participants in the study must be over the age of 18 residing in Jefferson County. Participants can complete the survey online at http://www.optimalaginginstitute.org/meaure-compassion or contact the institute at (502) 852-5228 to receive a paper survey to complete.
Study volunteers also are needed to participate in a 30-minute semi-structured interview. If you are interested in being interviewed, please contact Lauren Humpert, study coordinator, at (502)852-5228 or lauren.humpert@louisville.edu.
By: Jill Scoggins, UofL Academic Communications
A University of Louisville faculty member has been tapped for leadership roles with the world’s largest organization of professionals who provide psychosocial services to people with cancer and their families and caregivers.
Tara Schapmire, Ph.D., has been elected president-elect of the Association of Oncology Social Work. Her three-year term begins in January 2017 with one year as president-elect, followed by one year as president and the final year as past president.
Also elected as Director-at-Large are Jane Dabney, a certified oncology social worker in the Blood & Marrow Transplant program at The Cleveland Clinic; and as Education Director, Chelsea Kroll, an outpatient social worker with the East Alabama Medical Center.
“AOSW is honored to welcome such well respected and experienced oncology social workers to its Board of Directors,” AOSW President Alison Mayer Sachs said. “We are grateful for the participation of our members in the election process, which reinforces AOSW as a recognized leader in support of oncology social work professionals.”
About Tara Schapmire, Ph.D.:
Schapmire is an assistant professor at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Palliative Care and Medical Education of the Department of Medicine. She also is on the faculty of the Kent School of Social Work.
As a long-time oncology and palliative care social worker, Schapmire’s research interests include psychosocial care of cancer survivors and their families, gerontology, health disparities, communication and cancer, caregiver issues, palliative care, survivorship, end of life care and interprofessional education.
She is co-investigator on a Health Resources and Services Administration grant aimed at development of an interdisciplinary gerontology curriculum for learners in medicine, nursing, social work, dentistry and pharmacy. As a co-investigator on the $7.5 million Kentucky LEADS Collaborative, she and her team are dedicated to reducing the burden of lung cancer in Kentucky and beyond through development, evaluation, and dissemination of novel, community-based interventions to promote provider education, survivorship care prevention and early detection regarding lung cancer. Her past research includes a National Institutes of Health grant focused on development of an interdisciplinary oncology palliative care curriculum for schools of medicine, social work and nursing and chaplaincy residency programs and an American Cancer Society-funded study of emotional distress in older adults with cancer.
Schapmire has been involved in the interprofessional education, research and service efforts of the School of Medicine. She also has taught classes in the Kent School since 2008, most notably in the master’s degree program and the psychosocial oncology specialization, in addition to other master’s level practice and research classes.
Schapmire is a past national board member of the Association of Oncology Social Work and vice president of the American Clinical Social Work Association. She is a Distinguished Scholar and Fellow in the Social Work Academy of the National Academies of Practice and has received the AOSW/American Cancer Society Leadership in Oncology Social Work Award. She also is a past recipient of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine’s Research Scholar Award and the American Cancer Society’s C.A.R.E. Award for service to people with cancer and their families.
Storytellers and activities are set for the 2016 Corn Island Storytelling Festival.
The University of Louisville, Blackacre State Nature Preserve & Historic Homestead and the International Order of E.A.R.S. will present the Corn Island Storytelling Festival Oct. 21-22 with events kicking off at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 21.
Named after Louisville’s first settlement, the Corn Island Storytelling Festival was a nationally known autumn fixture that drew thousands of fans for three decades before ending its run in 2007. This will be the fifth year that UofL and the Corn Island organizers have partnered on the event. Blackacre joined the event last year.
Additional sponsors include Louisville Metro Government and Kentucky Homefront.
Storytellers and musicians for the weekend include:
- The Juggerloos, a local jug band that uses a mix of early jazz and ragtime tunes mixed with a few more modern covers.
- Leigh Ann Yost, Louisville storyteller and songwriter
- Graham Shelby, writer and professional storyteller. He’s performed in hundreds of venues including Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Texas Storytelling Festival and the Moth Mainstage in New York City.
- Roberta Simpson Brown, “The Queen of Cold-Blooded Tales,” a paranormal investigator and author of more than a dozen books and tapes of ghost stories.
Details for each day of the festival are below:
Friday, Oct. 21
Storytelling begins at 7:30 p.m. with a mix of family-friendly stories and spooky tales in the George J. Howe Red Barn, Belknap Campus. Col. Bob Thompson, storyteller and writer for the Kentucky Homefront radio program, will be the master of ceremonies.
Organizers will also host a series of free storytelling and music workshops during the afternoon on campus. Led by Brown, Yost, the Juggerloos and Louisville musician and storyteller John Gage, the workshops will cover topics including writing and performing.
All Friday events are free but registration is required at http://cornisland16.eventbrite.com.
Saturday, Oct. 22
Storytelling will be held at Blackacre State Nature Preserve & Historic Homestead, 3200 Tucker Station Rd.
Kids activities begin at 6 p.m. and storytelling begins at 7 p.m.
Saturday’s events are $7 for adults and $3 for children and tickets may be purchased onsite.
For more information on the festival, contact Bob Thompson, 502-553-2406.
