Corey Schaut

2024 Celebration of Distinction honors alumni leaders

Colleen Rich — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 16:41:32 +0000

2024 Celebration of Distinction honors alumni leaders Colleen Rich Tue, 10/15/2024 - 12:41

Each year, the ��AV Alumni Association’s annual Celebration of Distinction recognizes outstanding alumni, faculty members, and students.

Here are this year’s honorees:

Hollis Kosco. Photo provided

Hollis Kosco, BA Speech Communication ’94, is Alumna of the Year. She is the senior transportation manager for FIFA World Cup 2026 in Miami, Florida, where she oversees operational planning in three countries at 16 stadiums with 48 participating teams. Kosco was a member of both George Mason’s 1993 NCAA tournament runner-up women’s soccer team and the U.S. national handball team. Her international career in sports management and communications has included seven Olympic games, two Asian Games, the 2015 Pan American Games, the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Kimiko Lighty. Photo provided

Kimiko Lighty, MAIS ’10, received the Alumni Service Award. She is the founding executive director of Restorative Arlington (RA). An innovator in peace building and conflict resolution techniques, Lighty has been involved with RA since the initiative began in 2020. She led the design and implementation of RA’s Heart of Safety Restorative Justice Conferencing Program, a diversion program serving Arlington’s public schools, legal system, and community, and continues to serve as a strategic advisor to the organization. In partnership with the non profit Doorways, RA has been awarded a five-year $1.5 million grant award from the federal Office on Violence Against Women to address harms resulting from intimate partner violence, dating and domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault.

Kala J. West. Photo provided

Kala J. West, BA Communication ’15, received the Graduate of the Last Decade (G.O.L.D.) Award. She is an entrepreneur, media production consultant, and host of Sunday Morning Praise and Morning Inspiration on WURD Radio (96.1 FM/900 AM). She is also a media professional for the Penn Sports Network. West has been recognized by George Mason’s Black Alumni Chapter among its 2023 40 Under 40 Distinguished Alumni, as a 2023 20 Under 40 COGIC Achievers Award honoree, and among Funtimes magazine’s 30 Under 30 People to Watch in 2017.

Gabrielle Belle. Photo provided

Gabriele Belle, an instructional associate professor in George Mason’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, is Faculty Member of the Year. She supervises all astronomy and college physics lab courses and teaches physics in the Enlisted to Medical Degree Preparatory Program. Belle is also a member of the university’s Nano-IMAGINE Council, which supports the growth of Virginia’s nanotech sector. Her research has included investigating quantum well structures with laser spectroscopy in high magnetic fields, developing new semiconductor devices, and building satellites to explore the GPS signal above the GPS satellites orbiting the Earth, for which she received the Air Force Association’s Citation of Honor and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Special Recognition Award.

Celine Apenteng. Photo provided

Celine Apenteng, BA Conflict Analysis and Resolution ’24, is Senior of the Year. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in international security and expects to graduate in May 2025. As an undergraduate, she served as vice president in Student Government, speaker of the Student Senate, a member of the President’s Student Advisory Board, and co-chair of the Student Advisory Council for the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Over the past year, Apenteng interned at the White House in the Office of Public Engagement and for the U.S. Department of State. She also works with the Carter School’s John Mitchell Jr. Program for History, Justice, and Race to promote a more informed dialogue on the intersections between historical memory, justice, and racial reconciliation.

In addition to the five honorees, 18 alumni received Distinguished Alumni Awards from their school, college, or affinity alumni chapter at this year’s October event. See the full list of awardees.

See the full list of awardees

Connect with the Alumni Association

Annual Celebration of Distinction honors alumni leaders

Colleen Rich — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 16:41:56 +0000

Annual Celebration of Distinction honors alumni leaders Colleen Rich Thu, 10/19/2023 - 12:41

The ��AV Alumni Association’s annual Celebration of Distinction recognizes outstanding alumni, faculty members, and students. This year’s celebration was held October 20 at the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner.

Here are this year’s five honorees:

Shaza L. Andersen

Shaza L. Andersen, BA Area Studies ’89, is Alumna of the Year. She is the founder and CEO of Trustar Bank. In 2018 as CEO of WashingtonFirst Bank, Andersen completed the largest banking deal in the Mid-Atlantic region with the company’s $489 million sale to Sandy Spring Bancorp. She has been named among the Top 25 Women to Watch by American Banker and is a two-time Top Banker honoree by SmartCEO magazine. She has been named twice to the Top 100 Powerful Women list by Washingtonian magazine, designated as one of the Power 100 by the Washington Business Journal, and chosen as a March of Dimes Corporate Heroine. Andersen received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree during Mason’s 2021 Winter Graduation, where she was the featured speaker.

Brandon O. Thompson

Brandon O. Thompson, BS Administration of Justice ’08, received the Alumni Service Award. He is the executive officer in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General, where he is an advisor to executives overseeing more than 1,100 employees across 60 divisions. A dedicated volunteer, Thompson has provided students with career advice through Mason’s University Career Services since 2016. He also mentors College of Humanities and Social Sciences students through LinkUp, professional networking events that connect students with alumni. He is also a youth instructor at his church and volunteers with his homeowners’ association.

Cordelia Cranshaw Skeete

Cordelia Cranshaw Skeete, BSW ’14, received the Graduate of the Last Decade (G.O.L.D.) Award. Skeete is a licensed clinical social worker and the founder of the nonprofit Acts of Random Kindness, which provides resources for children and families facing such challenges as incarcerated parents, housing insecurity, and foster care. A former foster care youth herself, she practices cognitive behavioral therapy with clients who have experienced trauma, anxiety, or depression. In 2019, Skeete was named Miss District of Columbia and placed in the top 10 during that year’s Miss USA Pageant. She is a motivational speaker and has created the guide Survivor to Thriver to help others overcome trauma through healing and relationship building.

Keith Renshaw

Keith Renshaw is Faculty Member of the Year. In August, he was appointed associate provost of undergraduate education. He was previously chair of the Psychology Department and director of Mason’s Military, Veterans, and Families Initiative, which he founded in 2020. The winner of multiple teaching and mentorship awards, he was named a fellow of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies in 2021. Renshaw has also served as Faculty Senate chair and as the faculty representative to the Board of Visitors.

Hannah Adamson

Hannah Adamson, BA Conflict Analysis and Resolution ’23, is Senior of the Year. She is currently a student in the accelerated master’s program in conflict analysis and resolution. As treasurer of the Student Environmental Justice Alliance, Adamson co-created the first Virginia Environmental Justice Summit in 2020. She works at the Carter School’s Mary Hoch Center for Reconciliation and is also a program manager at the Think Peace Learning and Support Hub for a project in the Horn of Africa focused on mental health, psychosocial support, and peacebuilding. Adamson has completed fieldwork in Finland and Kenya and plans to pursue a career focused on community-led environmental and social healing programs.

In addition to the five honorees, 16 alumni received Distinguished Alumni Awards from their school, college, or affinity alumni chapter at this year’s October event.

For the full list, please visit the Alumni Association website.

Connect with the Alumni Association

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Campus News

Celebration of Distinction

New graduate sees opportunities for social justice through community health

Mary Cunningham — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 19:34:14 +0000

New graduate sees opportunities for social justice through community health Mary Cunningham Mon, 06/05/2023 - 15:34

Samantha Harrison knew she wanted to pursue a career that advanced social justice when she enrolled in ��AV. When she discovered the community health major at a Mason event, her interest was piqued.

“Then I took Global Health, and I instantly fell in love with it,” she said. “This is definitely my career.”

Harrison, who is graduated this spring with a bachelor’s degree in community health with a global health concentration, said that discovering the community health degree provided her with a comprehensive way to achieve her ambitions to bring equity to communities through well-being.

She first got involved in community health while in high school in New Jersey. Having grown up in a county that is a food desert, she began volunteering with a community garden program to bring fresh produce to the area. Her passion for helping others continued at Mason. Harrison, who was scheduled to complete an overseas internship in 2020, found her program cancelled at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. So, instead she helped at COVID clinics and with vaccination education efforts in Northern Virginia.

In addition to her work during the pandemic, Harrison worked with an area nonprofit on a comprehensive sex education curriculum and as a social services intern in the Mason and Partners (MAP) Clinics to connect uninsured and low-income patients with needed services.

“The thing I love about public health is that it’s so diverse and holistic,” she said. “You really get to collaborate with different people to create programs that meet so many different needs.”

For her many efforts during her undergraduate career, Harrison was recognized at the College of Public Health Student Awards Ceremony with an Overall Excellence Award from the Department of Global and Community Health.

"Samantha Harrison has been an excellent student and is always looking for learning opportunities,” said Brian Gillette, director of student success for the Department of Global and Community Health. “Samantha has demonstrated outstanding leadership, service to her community, academic excellence, and there are no words to describe her value as a person.”

After graduation, Harrison will begin the AmeriCorps and Centers for Disease Control Public Health Informatics Training Program. She will again work with the MAP Clinics, this time to help create interactive dashboards to give providers better data to improve patient care. She will also be deployed to the Fairfax County Health Department for similar work.

While she’s participating in the informatics training program, Harrison says she will also expand her current part-time role as a patient access associate with Inova Health Systems to a full-time position. Eventually, Harrison hopes to become a public health analyst working on programs for uninsured and underrepresented populations.

Harrison credits Mason and the College of Public Health faculty for the many opportunities she’s had as a student. “When I was in high school, I was told that [faculty at college] would be hard on you, that they wouldn’t care. That’s been the furthest from the truth about the faculty here at Mason,” she said. “Their number one priority is to see you succeed, and they will help you in any way possible.”

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bachelor of science in community health

GCH Students

College of Public Health

Graduation

Community Health

Department of Global and Community Health

Health Informatics

Students

Social Work associate professor registers U.S. patent to reduce substance use relapse, the department’s first patent

Mary Cunningham — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 15:20:43 +0000

Social Work associate professor registers U.S. patent to reduce substance use relapse, the department’s first patent Mary Cunningham Wed, 04/26/2023 - 11:20

In This Story

Holly Matto, PhD, LCSW-C

Padmanabhan Seshaiyer

Substance use disorder affects more than 46 million Americans according to the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Recovery can be a difficult path, but an interdisciplinary team led by Holly Matto, associate professor in the Department of Social Work, aims to make it a little easier through a recently patented technology-based recovery support system.

Matto and College of Science Professor Padmanabhan Seshaiyer received the patent for a mobile technology to help those in recovery overcome triggers that lead to relapse. The technology is a real-time, cloud-based support system that helps manage behavioral responses—for example, the desire to use opioids—by monitoring physical symptoms, such as changes to a person’s heart rate, to identify when someone needs help to overcome a triggering event. With up to 60 percent of patients experiencing relapse within one year of treatment, the support is critical.

“The patent recognizes our unique contribution to the expanding availability of digital health technologies designed to improve access to timely support,” says Matto. The patent is believed to be the first received by a faculty member from the Department of Social Work.

Known as Recovery Engaged Mind-Health (REMind-h), the technology allows individuals in recovery to identify personally meaningful recovery-affirming sensory cues, which might include positive images, sounds, or other sensory stimuli that reinforce their commitment to recovery. Some examples might include peaceful nature scenes, a soundscape, motivational quote, or a sponsor’s message. These data are stored in the system’s cloud server and are activated and delivered to the person when their physiological metrics rise above the trained threshold, cycling through the available cues until regulation is restored.

“By using technology to monitor physiological responses, people in recovery can immediately have a personalized support system right there on their phone when they need it to help them manage the triggering moment,” says Matto. “The goal is to avoid relapse and, ultimately, to improve their quality of life.”

Matto says the patent has allowed the research team to partner with LifeSpan Digital Health LLC, which will license the technology. The technology prototype has already been developed by Rudra Nagalia, a graduate student in Health Administration and Policy and a member of the research team.

Matto began work on the idea behind the patent several years ago. She and Seshaiyer first teamed up to develop the technology after receiving a multidisciplinary grant from the provost’s office in 2015. They were selected for Mason’s National Science Foundation Innovation Corps Site Program in 2018, where they conducted interviews and gathered preliminary feedback on the concept.

Since then, Matto and Seshaiyer have also received a National Institutes of Health Small Business Technology Transfer sub-award to further test some of their recovery cue ideas. Bryce Dunn, PhD student in bioengineering, worked with the team on the grant to examine the regulating impact of recovery cues after exposure to substance-related cues in a virtual reality simulation. College of Engineering and Computing faculty member Nathalia Peixoto, a member of this interdisciplinary research team, offered expertise in measuring physiological and neural responses in the VR simulation, to help test the theory that personalized recovery cues help regulate reactivity to drug-stimuli exposures.

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public health research

Research

2022 Celebration of Distinction honors alumni leaders

Colleen Rich — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 15:43:13 +0000

2022 Celebration of Distinction honors alumni leaders Colleen Rich Thu, 10/20/2022 - 11:43

More about the Alumni Association

For more than 30 years, the ��AV Alumni Association has honored outstanding alumni, faculty members, and students at their annual Celebration of Distinction. This year’s celebration was held Friday, October 21. The 2022 awardees include a diverse group of Patriots who exemplify service to others.

David J. Freeman

Alumnus of the Year David J. Freedman, BA Philosophy ’98, is a partner with the Pennsylvania law firm Barley Snyder LLP, where his practice focuses on employment litigation and higher education and immigration law. He has received numerous accolades, especially for his extensive pro bono work. The Central Penn Business Journal recognized Freedman as one of the 30 most influential legal professionals in central Pennsylvania and awarded him the Legal Excellence Award for pro bono service. The Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center has awarded Freedman its Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award three times, most recently in 2021.

Victoria N. Salmon

Victoria N. Salmon, DA Education (Community College) ’97, received the Alumni Service Award. She is associate dean emerita for graduate studies in Mason’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA). In 2007, Salmon established the CVPA Office of Graduate Studies, which added seven new graduate degrees in the college in seven years. When she retired in 2014, CVPA established the Victoria N. Salmon Outstanding Graduate Student Award in her honor. Salmon continues to serve the university as chair of the Arts at Mason Board and as an adjunct faculty member in the Arts Management Program.

Raquel Gonzalez

Raquel Gonzalez, BA Integrative Studies ’07, MS Conflict Analysis and Resolution ’12, received the Graduate of the Last Decade (G.O.L.D.) Award. They are a first-generation college graduate and public servant dedicated to uplifting marginalized communities. Prior to their current work in government leadership training and inclusivity efforts, they spent four years in New York state government, leading operations, policy, and diversity and inclusion initiatives. They were named a 40 Under 40 Rising Latino Star by the Hispanic Coalition of New York in 2018. Previously, Gonzalez was a presidential appointee in four federal agencies and at the White House during the Obama administration.

Wendi Manuel-Scott

Faculty Member of the Year Wendi Manuel-Scott is a professor of integrative studies and history and an affiliate faculty member in the Women and Gender Studies Program, African and African American Studies Program, and the Carter School’s John Mitchell Jr. Program for History, Justice, and Race. Manuel-Scott was integral to the Enslaved Children of George Mason project, which led to the creation of the Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial on Wilkins Plaza. She is the co-chair of Mason’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force.

Dominique Dowling

Senior of the Year Dominique Dowling, BA Integrative Studies ’22, is currently pursuing a master’s in early childhood education for diverse learners at Mason. She has served in several leadership roles on and off campus, including as president of the Mason chapter of the NAACP and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Ambassadors and as student representative on university committees, such as the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force. In 2021 Dowling selected to be part of the 2021 Virginia Governor’s Fellows Program and worked for then Virginia Secretary of Education Atif Qarni, MA History ’09.

See the full list of honorees, including the 14 distinguished alumni chapter recipients.

Topics

Campus News

Alumni Association

Alumni

Celebration of Distinction

Senior of the Year

Faculty Member of the Year

Spirit Fall 22

Ending Market Exclusivity for Statins Saves U.S. $12 Billion and Individuals Nearly $1,000 Annually

mthomp7 — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 18:09:21 +0000

Ending Market Exclusivity for Statins Saves U.S. $12 Billion and Individuals Nearly $1,000 Annually mthomp7 Wed, 11/17/2021 - 13:09

In This Story

Hong Xue, PhD

Alison Evans Cuellar, PhD, MBA

New study from ��AV is first to comprehensively assess the economic impact of generic competition for statins.

Prescription drug costs represent nearly 10 percent of total health care expenses for Americans, pushing the issue to the forefront of national health care policy conversations. With rising costs an ongoing concern, a paper released today in JAMA Network Open, published by the American Medical Association, shows the impact that introducing generic medications to the marketplace can have on bringing down prices.

In a recent study, ��AV Associate Professor Hong Xue, PhD, in the College of Health and Human Services Department of Health Administration and Policy (HAP), and colleagues including doctoral students Shuo-yu Lin and Weiyu Zhou, evaluated the impact of ending market exclusivity for brand-name statin drugs on generic statin purchases. Statin drugs are used to lower cholesterol to prevent and treat cardiovascular disease, a leading cause of death for men and women across racial and ethnic groups.

“Generic competition is effective for reducing prescription prices in the United States. Encouraging generic competition and access to generic medication should be considered as important regulatory policy options to reduce health expenditures,” according to Xue and Lin.

On average, more than 21 million statin prescriptions were purchased annually during the study’s 17-year period. After the market introduction of the generics, brand-name statin purchases decreased by 90.9 percent nationally and 27.4 percent individually. The study found that average annual cost savings per individual were $370.0 for private insurers, $281.0 for Medicare, $72.34 for Medicaid, and $211.9 for out-of-pocket, translating to an $11.9 billion savings for the US.

This study is the first to comprehensively assess the economic impact of generic competition for all available statins. The research team used a difference-in-difference design with data drawn from the annual nationwide Medical Expenditure Panel Survey for the years 2002 to 2018. The paper is entitled “Trends in utilization and expenditures for brand-name statins following introduction of generic statins in the United States, 2002-2018.”

The Center for Drug Evaluation and Research estimates that the average generic drug price is 49 percent of the corresponding brand-name drug. When six or more generic competitors exist, the amount saved is up to 95 percent. The authors note that there were seven brand-name statin drugs available prior to the end of market exclusivity. The study tracks market entry of five generic statins.

The transdisciplinary research team included Alison Evans Cuellar, PhD (HAP) and Weiyu Zhou from Mason’s Department of Statistics; Kyle Baumann, DO, from the University of Minnesota Medical School; and Chenxuan Zhou, Master of Finance, from the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.