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Dr. Abraham graduated with a Master of Science degree in occupational therapy and a Doctor of Occupational Therapy degree at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Abraham's doctoral work focused on increasing awareness and confidence among practitioners to use occupation-centered model and assessments that systematically look at a child's volition. The long term vision of her doctoral project was to increase the active engagement of children with disabilities in more meaningful occupations of choice, and in turn, increase participation and outcomes in occupations of development, learning and play. Dr. Abraham's experience working with the pediatric population includes evaluating and treating children with a variety of conditions. She has conducted in-services that teach practitioners about the importance of evaluating and utilizing their client's volitional information in outpatient settings. In an effort to serve the community, she continues to practice as a clinician in an outpatient setting. She currently teaches pediatric courses, and mentors student research groups at Midwestern University. She hopes to support and mentor future practitioners who will make an impact on the lives of many individuals and families.

Dr. Abraham has conducted research to understand medical staff perspectives on caring for children with autism in the hospital setting. Her current research focuses on increasing nursing staff self-efficacy when working with children with disability. Following is an abstract from one of the studies that was published in 2021.

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe nursing staff perspectives about caring for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in the hospital, strategies they use to support care, and relationships between these factors.

Design and Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional survey design with nursing staff at a large pediatric hospital system in the United States was employed. The researcher-designed, pilot-tested survey assessed participant demographics, knowledge about ASD, perceived effectiveness caring for children with ASD, previous training, and current strategy use. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics, correlations, and group comparisons based on interaction frequency with the population and previous training.

Results: The participants involved 90 pediatric hospital nursing staff members providing direct care. Respondents demonstrated 90% accurate knowledge of the characteristics of ASD. Self-reported effectiveness in caring for children with ASD did not correlate with knowledge and significantly correlated with an increased number of strategies. Nursing staff with frequent interaction with people with ASD or those with previous training reported significantly more strategies to care for children with ASD. Only 35% of participants reported that they have adequate strategies to care for children with ASD in the hospital.

Practice Implications: Having more strategies was the factor associated with higher self-efficacy, so training for nursing staff should focus on increasing the number of strategies to use with children with ASD in the hospital and provide mechanisms to collaborate with other professionals to individualize strategies to meet each child's needs.

Hilal Arnouk, MD, PhD is an Associate Professor at the Department of Pathology at Midwestern University. Dr. Arnouk has received his education and post-doctorates training at Roswell Park Cancer Institute , the State University of New York at Buffalo , the Medical College of Georgia and the University of Alabama at Birmingham . He has directed research studies in academia and biotech industry settings. His major areas of expertise include Cancer Immunotherapy, Biomarker Discovery and Precision Medicine. 
Dr. Arnouk also enjoys being an educator for professional students in the medical and biomedical sciences.

 

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT

 

Faculty Spotlight: Hilal Arnouk, M.D., Ph.D.

 

AWARDS

 

• Faculty Award in Medical Education-2022 "Raise the Line" from Osmosis by Elsevier to Hilal Arnouk.
• Arizona Medical Association’s 2024 Annual Meeting, First Place Presentation Award to Shuaa Rizvi (AZCOM 27). 
• Illinois Osteopathic Medical Society’s Presentation Award to Katy Flannery (CCOM 27) and Maryam Salik (CCOM 27), Role: Faculty Mentor.
• In Vitro Biology Annual Meeting 2023 First Place Presentation Award to Shuaa Rizvi (AZCOM 27), Role: Faculty Mentor.
• Honor B. Fell Award from the Society for In Vitro Biology (SiVB) to Shuaa Rizvi (AZCOM 27), Role: Faculty Mentor.
• Illinois Osteopathic Medical Society’s Presentation Award to Ziyi Sun (CCOM 24), Role: Faculty Mentor.
• IAMA Golden Stethoscope First Place Presentation Award to Rachna Karumuri (CCOM 23), Role: Faculty Mentor.
• Illinois Osteopathic Medical Society’s Presentation Award to Mourad Kerdjoudj (CCOM 23), Role: Faculty Mentor.
• MWU Student One Health Award to Mourad Kerdjoudj (CCOM 23), Role: Faculty Mentor.
• Illinois Osteopathic Medical Society’s Presentation Award to Rachna Karumuri (CCOM 23), Role: Faculty Mentor.
• Philip F. Dupont M.D., Ph.D. Memorial Scholarship Award to Sari Grad (CCOM 22), Role: Academic Mentor.
• Kenneth A. Suarez Research Day Outstanding Presentation Award to Rachna Karumuri (CCOM 23), Role: Faculty Mentor.
• World Summit on Cancer Science and Oncology Research Special Recognition Award to Hilal Arnouk.
• The University of Alabama at Birmingham Research Career Enhancement Award to Hilal Arnouk.
• The University of Alabama at Birmingham Postdoctoral Research Day Award to Hilal Arnouk.
• Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society Award to Hilal Arnouk.

 

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

 

• Pathology and Oncology Book Collection
• Identification of Novel Protein Biomarkers in the Era of Precision Medicine Oncology
• ResearchGate Profile
• Scholarly Community Encyclopedia
• Identification of Novel Protein Biomarkers in Precision Medicine Oncology
• My alma matter: Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Inst. (EST. 1898) First Institution In The World To Focus Exclusively On Cancer Research

 

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

 

• American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
• American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
• American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
• American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)
• Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC)
• Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO)
• Illinois Osteopathic Medical Society (IOMS)
• Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SiTC)
• Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society

The area of research in my laboratory is opioid tolerance and withdrawal. My research interests include exploring the signaling mechanisms involved in the pharmacological actions of opioid analgesics such as morphine and oxycodone. We are presently investigating the signaling pathways by which endothelin-A receptor antagonists enhance opioid analgesia and reverse analgesic tolerance. Our research is also focused on the role of endothelin-A and endothelin-B receptors in neuroadaptations in the brain during opioid withdrawal.

Dr. Bjork received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 2001. He completed his Postdoctoral Fellowship at Brigham & Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School Division o Genetics in 2011. He began his teaching and independent research career at Midwestern University in 2011 as an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry. He earned Tenure in 2017 and was promoted to Associate Professor in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics in 2018.

My laboratory focuses on the connections between cancer cell metabolism and regulation of gap junction communication. Gap junctions are regulated plasma membrane channels mediated by the connexin family of proteins. During early stages of cancer progression, gap junction communication is frequently lost due to decreased expression of connexin proteins or changes to subcellular transport. Loss of gap junction activity has been causatively linked to numerous cancer cell functions. However, this communication is dynamically regulated in cancer cells and can also be increased, particularly during the process of metastasis. This affects qualities including cellular invasion and adaptation to secondary metastatic sites. Additionally, changes to cancer cell energy utilization drive metabolic adaptability and induce therapeutic resistance. The goals of our laboratory are to understand the connections between metabolic pathways and regulation of connexin proteins which affect gap junction activity in the context of cancer.

Clinical faculty at Midwestern University promoting clinical reasoning at the entry level DPT, residency and fellowship levels of physical therapy education.

Currently in Clinical Practice at Palos Health a division of Northewestern Medicine

Previously served as Deptartment Chair and Medical Director/Palos Health

Borad Certified in Emergency Medicine

Served as Assistant Residency Director, Emergency Medicine Resiency Midwestern University 1991-1994

Currently Chair of Clinical Integration