Idaho State University Division of Health Sciences names 2014 Graduates of Distinction

Students Kristin Moore, Cory Nelson and Sarah Weber are the Idaho State University Division of Health Sciences (DHS) 2014 Graduates of Distinction. Moore is Outstanding Researcher, Nelson is Outstanding Leader, and Weber is Outstanding Clinician.

DHS will honor the three at a reception May 9 in Pocatello.

The award celebrates the academic, professional and extracurricular achievements of graduate and undergraduate students in DHS programs. Candidates are nominated by faculty, staff, students, deans, community leaders and preceptors.  Recipients are selected by the DHS Executive Council.

Moore, who is based at the ISU-Meridian Health Science Center, will graduate in May with a Master of Public Health degree.  "When I was growing up, public health was often a topic of discussion at home,” recalled Moore, the daughter of a family physician and a community health nurse. Passionate about improving health care in underserved communities, Moore has played a key role in ISU-Meridian/Ada County Community Health Screening events by assisting with promotion and site location, organizing supplies, and maintaining the project’s complex computer database.

A gifted scholar and researcher, Moore has co-authored numerous presentations relating to the Community Health Screening events and other research projects.   For the past two years, she has served in the Career Path Internship program, which offers paid opportunities for students to gain professional experience in their areas of study. Raised in Joliet, Montana, Moore also holds a bachelor’s degree in social work from University of Montana.  Her goal is to continue to work with ISU-Meridian’s Community Health Screening program.

Nelson, who grew up in the northern Idaho community of Troy, will graduate in May with a Doctor of Pharmacy degree.  He studied chemistry at Washington State University and ISU before enrolling in the pharmacy program at ISU-Meridian.  “I’ve always wanted to do something in medicine and health care.  Pharmacy has helped me find my niche,” said Nelson.

Described as a “natural leader” by his professors and classmates, Nelson has held numerous elected positions in state and national student pharmacy organizations.  He has been active in community outreach events, including serving in a Career Path Internship for ISU-Meridian/Ada County Community Health Screenings. In 2012, Nelson participated in an international student exchange program in Kumasi, Ghana. His duties included shadowing clinical pharmacists and physicians during rounds at an 800-bed hospital.

After graduation, Nelson will begin a two-year residency at University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, focusing on the role of pharmacy in primary care and preventive health education.     

As an undergraduate, Sarah Weber intended to major in elementary education. But after taking a class in sign language studies, she switched her major to hearing and speech sciences. “I loved it,” she said, noting the personal fulfillment of helping people communicate and connect to the world around them.

Weber, who grew up in Coeur D’ Alene, completed a bachelor’s degree at Washington State University and enrolled in ISU’s audiology doctorate program in 2010. She completed her first two years in Pocatello, her third year in Meridian and the fourth in a clinical externship in Spokane.

A scholar and outstanding clinician, Weber is the recipient of numerous ISU scholarships and honors.  In summer 2013, she accompanied ISU audiology faculty on a medical mission to Ecuador where she helped identify hearing loss in hundreds of patients and fit many with hearing aids.

After Weber receives her Doctor of Audiology degree in May, she will begin working as a pediatric audiologist in Pullman, Wash.