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College of
Health Sciences

Gabi Waite

Vice Chair of Education
Professor of Physiology and Immunology
Department of Medical Education
Research & Scholarship
North Campus

LOCATION(S)
Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
Medical Sciences Building
525 Pine St.
Office 202W
Scranton, PA 18509
570-955-1329
Fax: 570-504-9639
gwaite@som.geisinger.edu

Gabi N. Waite, PhD

Research interests

Gabi Waite, PhD, is professor of physiology and immunology in the Department of Medical Education at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. Prior to joining Geisinger Commonwealth, Dr. Waite spent 15 years on the faculty at Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM), where her career has encompassed most aspects of the delivery of medical education, including program and curricular development, basic science simulation teaching and competency assessment. She is a passionate educator and received four trustee teaching awards from IUSM and five teaching excellency awards. Prior to Geisinger Commonwealth, Dr. Waite studied the biophysical and redox regulation of inflammatory T lymphocytes by therapeutic electromagnetic fields. She spent a research sabbatical year at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Her recent research focuses on the improvement of heart rate variability as a diagnostic and prognostic clinical tool. Dr. Waite is the editor or author of several books and book chapters, and over 60 other publications. Dr. Waite is also a research ambassador for the German Academic Exchange Service.

Heart rate variability (HRV) is a cardiology assessment derived from inexpensive electrocardiograms (ECG). It indicates the physiological state of the autonomic nervous system, which monitors and regulates the health of most body organs. In retrospective studies, it has been shown that convolutional neural networks can evaluate HRV to accurately diagnose a variety of human diseases and hence potentially lead to vastly improved and less costly healthcare. In prospective studies, HRV has been used for cardiovascular risk assessment and as health indicator for a variety of other diseases. However, HRV has not yet attained its clinical potential. Dr. Waite’s research employs a new big data platform to extract HRV from dis-structured archived ECGs and will apply deep learning based algorithms to determine a prognostic relationship between HRV and health. In the Human Performance Laboratory at Geisinger Commonwealth, studies are ongoing to determine clinically meaningful physiological HRV states and to better understand rhythmic HRV events. This knowledge is applied to clinical community studies, in order to develop HRV into a potent monitor of disease, of patient compliance to therapeutic instructions, and of lifestyle factors, all of which strongly influence HRV.

The 2017 implementation of the U.S. Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) expects clinical facilities to optimize therapeutic outcome, maximize economic efficiency and improve patient satisfaction. One path to all of these goals is to develop and deploy diagnostic tools that are accurate, have broad diagnostic applicability and are ideally noninvasive and economic. Dr. Waite is evaluating whether analysis of the very small differences in time between each heartbeat, known as heart rate variability (HRV), can be developed into such a clinical tool. This is likely since HRV is a monitor of the autonomic nervous system, which controls many critical organ functions. Thus, Dr. Waite’s research implements technologies to extract HRV data from stored electrocardiograms of normal and diseased individuals to determine whether there are specific changes in HRVs values that signal specific diseases. Similar, ongoing studies in the Scranton area measure HRV of normal and ill volunteers and patients. This work will ultimately help determine the role of HRV analysis in healthcare.

Recent publications

Books

  • Waite. G.N. and Sheakley, M.S. Integrated Medical Physiology, USMLE Test Prep. Thieme Medical Publishers. New York, Stuttgart. The book will be available in November 2017.
  • Nindl Waite, G. and Waite, L.(Eds). Applied Cell and Molecular Biology for Engineers. McGraw-Hill Professional, June 2007.
  • Johnson, M.T. and Nindl, G. Clinical Science: Laboratory and Problem Solving. XanEdu Publishing. ISBN 1-59399-169-X, Ann Arbor, MI, 2005.

Book chapters teaching

  • Waite, G.N. Blood Components. In: Medical Physiology: Principles for Clinical Medicine, 4th Edition, Rhoades, R and Bell, D. (Eds). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, U.S.A., Chapter 9, 2011.
  • Waite, G.N. Immunology, Organ Interaction and Homeostasis. In: Medical Physiology: Principles for Clinical Medicine, 4th Edition, Rhoades, R and Bell, D. (Eds). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, U.S.A., Chapter 10, 2011.
  • Nindl Waite, G., Kennedy, B.G. and Echtenkamp, S. Physiology Questions. In: Appleton and Lange’s Review for the USMLE Step 1, 6th Edition. King, M.W. (Ed.). The McGraw Hill Companies, U.S.A., Chapter 2, 6th Edition, March 2008.
  • Waite, G. Blood Components. In: Medical Physiology, 3rd Edition, Rhoades, R and Tanner, G. (Eds). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, U.S.A., Chapter 9, February 2008.
  • Waite, G. Immunology, Organ Interaction and Homeostasis. In: Medical Physiology, 3rd Edition, Rhoades, R and Tanner, G. (Eds). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, U.S.A., Chapter 10, February 2008.
  • Nindl Waite, G. Cell Differentiation. In: Applied Cell and Molecular Biology for Engineers, (Nindl Waite, G. and Waite, L. (Eds.). The McGraw Hill Companies, U.S.A., Chapter 8, pp. 255-286, June 2007.
  • Nindl, G., Kennedy, B.G. and Echtenkamp, S. Physiology Questions. In: Appleton and Lange’s Review for the USMLE Step 1, 5th Edition. King, M.W. (Ed.). The McGraw Hill Companies, U.S.A., Chapter 2, 5th Edition, pp. 55- 105, 2005.

Book chapters research

  • Balcavage, W.X and Waite, G.N. Effects of therapeutic and low-frequency electromagnetic fields on immune and anti-inflammatory systems. In: Electromagnetic Fields in Biology and Medicine, Marko Markov (Ed.). CRC Press, U.S.A., Chapter 10, 2015.
  • Waite, G.N., Millonig, G., Waite, L.R., Mueller, S. Novel enzymatic method to study the impact of hypoxia and hydrogen peroxide on cells. In: Principles of Free Radical Biomedicine, Vol 1. Kostas Pantopoulos and Hyman Schipper (Eds.). Nova Science Publishers Inc, Biochemistry Research Trend Series, 3rd quarter, 2011.
  • Mueller, S, Millonig, G., Waite, G.N. Role of hydrogen peroxide in biology and ultrasensitive method to detect it. In: Principles of Free Radical Biomedicine, Vol 1. Kostas Pantopoulos and Hyman Schipper (Eds.). Nova Science Publishers Inc, Biochemistry Research Trend Series, 3rd quarter, 2011.
  • Markov, M., Nindl, G., Hazlewood, C., and Cuppen, J. Interactions Between Electromagnetic Fields and the Immune System: Possible Mechanism for Pain Control. In: Bioelectromagnetics Current Concepts of the Mechanisms of the Biological Effect of Extremely High Power Pulses in Bioelectromagnetic Medicine. NATO Advanced Research Workshop Publication Series. Markov, M. and Ayrapetyan, S. (Eds.). Springer Publishing, pp. 213-226, 2006.
  • Nindl, G., Johnson, M.T. and Balcavage, W.X. Low-frequency Electromagnetic Field Effects on Lymphocytes: Potential for Treatment of Inflammatory Diseases. In: Clinical Applications of Bioelectromagnetic Medicine. Rosch, P. and Markov, M. (Eds.). Marcel Dekker Inc., New York, NY, U.S.A., Chapter 25, pp 369-389, 2003.
  • Rahmann, H., Slenzka, K., Anken, R., Appel, R., Flemming, J., Hilbig, R., Kappel, T., Körtje, K.H., Nindl, G. and Paulus, U. Structure- and Function-related Neuronal Plasticity of the CNS of Aquatic Vertebrates During Early Ontogenetic Development under Microgravity Conditions. Scientific Results of the German Spacelab Mission D-2, Sahm, D.R., Keller, W., Schiewe, B. (eds), WPF D-2, c/o DLR, Germany, pp. 621-637, 1995.

Journal articles education

  • Berlin, K.L., Geib, R.W. and Waite, G. N. Integrating health education specialists into healthcare primary care practices. American Journal of Health Education. Submitted, April 2017.
  • Danek, R., Berlin, K., Waite, G. N. and Geib, R. Perceptions of nutrition education in the current medical school curriculum. Family Medicine, brief report, in press 2017.
  • Patel, S.^^, Taylor, K.H.^^, Berlin, K.L., Geib, R.W., Danek, R. and Waite, G.N. Nutrition education in U.S. medical schools: An assessment of nutrition content in USMLE STEP preparation materials. Journal of Curriculum and Teaching, 4(1), 108-113, 2015. doi:10.5430/jct.v4n1p108. URL: Full text.
  • Geib, R. W. and Waite, G. N. Thoughts on an integrative approach to teach wellness within the context of a traditional science/ bioengineering curriculum. Biomedical Science Instrumentation 50, 2014.
  • Waite, G. N., Geib, R.W. and King, M. W. Neuropeptides as biological system integrators – mini review. Biomedical Science Instrumentation 50, 2014.
  • Waite, G.N., Orndorff, B., Hughes, E.F., Saxon, D., White, G., Becker, S.G. and Duong, T. Remote learning in medical sciences: Is there value added? Medical Science Educator, 2014, DOI 10.1007/s40670-014-0020-7.
  • Waite, G. N., Hughes, E.F., Geib, R.W. and Duong, T. Human patient simulation to teach medical physiology concepts: a model evolved during eight years. Journal of Teaching and Learning with Technology 13(2), 79-89, 2013 (jotlt.indiana.edu).
  • Orndorff, B. and Waite, G. Interactive remote medical curriculum through creative technology integration. Biomedical Science Instrumentation 49, 201-8, 2013.
  • Waite, G.N., Kennedy, B. G. and Owegi, H.O. Let the sunshine in. Omera Jatelo’s Medical Odyssey. MedEdPortal, ID 9188, July 2012.

Selected journal articles research (total of 47)

  • Noone, P., Pagnacco, Gl, Carrick, F. R., Keiser, N., Wright, C, H. G. , Waite, G. N. and Oggero, E. Using posturography in a practice-based setting to investigate the effect of saccades in healthy subjects. Biomedical Science Instrumentation 53, 2017.
  • Cox, J.H. III, Balcavage, W.X., Panta, M. Geib, R.W., Oggero, E. and Waite, G.N. Heart rate variability during sitting, standing, and treadmill exercise: A case study. Biomedical Science Instrumentation 53, 2017.
  • Panta, M.^^, Cox, J.H. III, Gurovich, A., Geib, R.W., Alakhdhair, S.^^, Rahmatullah, A., Waite, G.N. Use of wearable technology in monitoring heart rate variability during Mind-Body Exercise (Tai Chi). Biomedical Science Instrumentation 52, pp.278-283, 2016.
  • Li, H., Geib, R.W. and Waite, G.N. A pilot study on the effect of tai chi exercise on peripheral blood cytokines associated with nociceptive pain in healthy volunteers. Biomedical Science Instrumentation 50, 2014.
  • Geib, R.W., Li, H. Waite, G.N., Pagnacco, G., Oggero, E. and Roberts, B.L Using posturography to measure balance control during seated tai chi. Biomedical Science Instrumentation 50, 2014.
  • Waite, G.N., Egot-Lemaire, S.J.P., Bouwens, M., Owegi, H.O.^^, Narotam, P., and Waite, L.R. Measurements of low oxygen tension in vitro and response of macrophages to levels applicable to peri-and postoperative treatment of traumatic brain injury. Biomedical Science Instrumentation 48, 462-469, 2012.
  • Waite, G.N., Egot-Lemaire, S.J.P. and Balcavage, W.X. A novel view of biologically active electromagnetic fields. The Environmentalist, 31(2), 107, 2011. DOI 10.1007/s10669-011-9319-8.
  • Mueller, S. Millonig, G. and Waite, G.N. The GOX/CAT system: A novel enzymatic method to independently control hydrogen peroxide and hypoxia in cell culture. Advances in Medical Sciences 54(2), ISSN: 1896-1126 (print) 1898-4002 (online). pp. 121-135, 2009.
  • Waite, G.N. and Balcavage, W.X. From redox homeostasis to protein structure modulation and redox signaling therapy. Cell Science Reviews 5(3), 95-127, 2009 (featured review).
  • Chen, H-K.^^, Nindl Waite, G., Miller P.L. Hughes, E.F. and Waite, L.R. Monitoring temperature and light exposure of biosamples exposed to ultraviolet light and low energy radiation. Biomedical Science Instrumentation 43, 2007.
  • Trobaugh, D.W.^^, Balcavage, W.X., Hughes, E.F., Waite, L.R. and Nindl Waite, G. Critical analysis of biologic water oxidation as novel mechanism of T cells and antibodies. Biomedical Science Instrumentation 42, 308-313, 2006.
  • Nindl Waite, G., Waite, L.R., Hughes, E.F. and Balcavage. Biophotonic hydrogen peroxide production by antibodies, T cells and T cell membranes. Biochemical Biophysical Research Communications 338(2), 1110-1117, 2005.
  • Nindl, G., Hughes, E.F., Johnson, M.T., Spandau, D.F. Vesper, D.N. and Balcavage, W.X. Effect of ultraviolet B radiation and 100 Hz electromagnetic fields on proliferation and DNA synthesis of Jurkat cells. Bioelectromagnetics 23: 455-463, 2002.
  • Sandrey, M.A., Vesper, D.N., Fox, M.T., Nindl, G., Swez, J.A., Chamberlain, J. and Balcavage, W.X. Effect of electromagnetic fields on rat mass in short-duration studies. Bioelectromagnetics 23(1): 2-6, 2002.
  • Nindl, G., Swez, J.A., Miller, J.M., and Balcavage, W.X. Growth stage dependent effect of electromagnetic fields on DNA synthesis of Jurkat cells, FEBS Letters 414: 501-506, 1997.

Education

Bachelor/ Master – University of Hohenheim, Germany
PhD – University of Hohenheim, Germany
Postdoctoral – Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis

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