Appointments
Penn State Intercom......September 12, 2002

Abplanalp to lead outreach services
at Penn College North Campus

Brenda G. Abplanalp has been named director of outreach services at Penn College of Technology's North Campus.

In her new post for the college, Abplanalp will be responsible for coordinating the noncredit programs and services offered at the North Campus. She also will work with the Office of Admissions to represent Penn College across the Northern Tier.

Abplanalp has more than 15 years of professional experience in education and nursing and more than 11 years of experience in management in the private sector. From 1982-91, she was employed at the North Campus in various roles, including interim director, assistant coordinator of practical nursing and practical nursing faculty member.

Since 1991, Abplanalp has been business manager at Garrison's Men's Shop, Wellsboro. A registered nurse, Abplanalp worked in nursing in a variety of capacities at Guthrie Clinic, Wellsboro; Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital, Wellsboro; and Strong Memorial Hospital, Rochester, N.Y.

A graduate of Wellsboro Area Senior High School, Abplanalp earned a bachelor's degree in nursing from the University of Rochester, School of Nursing, and a master's degree in education from Mansfield University.

Sports medicine pioneer
returns to Hershey

Dr. Alexander Kalenak, nationally renowned sports medicine pioneer, has rejoined the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation at Hershey Medical Center after spending the past several years in private practice. Kalenak will join Dr. Kevin Black, associate professor and interim chair of orthopedics, and Drs. Scott Lynch, Andrew Wren and Ellen Geminiani, assistant professors of orthopedics, in the sports medicine program.

A Penn State graduate, Kalenak earned his medical degree from Hahneman University in Philadelphia in 1961, and then served a year's internship at Akron City Hospital in Ohio before becoming a flight surgeon in the U.S. Navy. His experiences in orthopedic surgery during his residency and fellowship at the Medical College of Virginia led him into the sports medicine field.

Kalenak held a university appointment with Albany Medical College in New York and headed the Sports Medicine Program there before returning to his native state and alma mater in 1973 by accepting the newly created position of team orthopedist at the University. He established the liaison with the Department of Health and Physical Education and Hershey Medical Center and spearheaded the effort to develop the Sports Medicine Program. Thus began the evolution that led Penn State to the forefront of the field of sports medicine.

Kalenak was among the first group of surgeons in North America to explore the use of arthroscopy in caring for sports medicine problems and adapt the technique to medical practice. Kalenak's aspiration for a comprehensive, integrated sports medicine center became reality when, in 1994, the Penn State Sports Medicine Centers opened at University Park and in Hershey.

Kalenak is a member of the American Orthopedics Society for Sports Medicine, American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, American Orthopedic Association and American College of Sports Medicine as well as many other professional medical organizations. He has received numerous honors and awards throughout his career and has served on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Sports Medicine, Clinical Orthopedics and the Penn State Sports Medicine newsletter.

 

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