health care

College of Public Health receives $250,000 gift from Sentara Healthcare to support student scholarships

Mary Cunningham — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 21:36:56 +0000

College of Public Health receives $250,000 gift from Sentara Healthcare to support student scholarships Mary Cunningham Mon, 04/03/2023 - 17:36

In This Story

Melissa J. Perry, Sc.D., MHS

The Sentara Scholars Scholarship will provide financial assistance to approximately 60 students from Virginia.

The ��AV College of Public Health is pleased to announce the Sentara Scholars Scholarship, funded by Sentara Healthcare, to provide tuition assistance to students interested in health care careers. Sentara’s gift of $250,000 will provide scholarships for approximately 60 Virginia students in the spring and fall of 2023. Graduate and undergraduate students in the Departments of Global and Community Health; Health Administration and Policy; Nutrition and Food Studies; and Social Work; and the School of Nursing may apply.

“Removing financial barriers to obtaining a public health degree is a top priority for the College of Public Health. This generous gift from Sentara Healthcare helps bolsters the education of future health care workers, with the goal of advancing health and well-being for all,” said College of Public Health Dean Melissa Perry. “The Sentara Scholars Scholarship provides additional support for students whose professional goal is to improve the health of others. We look forward to working with Sentara to advance student success.”

Sentara presented the College with a $250,000 check at the Celebrate Public Health on March 25.

Information regarding the application process can be found on the Mason website here.

About Mason

��AV, Virginia’s largest public research university, enrolls 39,000 students from 130 countries and all 50 states. Located near Washington, D.C., Mason has grown rapidly over the last half-century and is recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity, and commitment to accessibility.

About the College of Public Health at ��AV

The College of Public Health at ��AV is the first and only College of Public Health in Virginia, combining public health transdisciplinary research, education, and practice in the Commonwealth as a national exemplar. The College enrolls more than 1,900 undergraduate and 1,300 graduate students in our nationally recognized programs, including six undergraduate degrees, eight master’s degrees, five doctoral degrees, and six professional certificate programs. The College is comprised of the School of Nursing and the Departments of Global and Community Health, Health Administration and Policy, Nutrition and Food Studies, and Social Work.

About Sentara

Sentara Healthcare, an integrated, not-for-profit health care delivery system, celebrates more than 130 years in pursuit of its mission – “we improve health every day.” Sentara is one of the largest health systems in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, and among the top 20 largest not-for-profit integrated health systems in the country, with 30,000 employees, 12 hospitals in Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina, and the Sentara Health Plans division which serves more than 1.2 million members in Virginia and Florida. Sentara is recognized nationally for clinical quality and safety, and is strategically focused on innovation and creating an extraordinary health care experience for our patients and members. Sentara was named to IBM Watson Health’s “Top 15 Health Systems” (2021, 2018), and was recognized by Forbes as a “Best Employer for New Grads” (2022), “Best Employer for Veterans” (2022), and “Best Employer for Women” (2020).

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College of Public Health

$1.1 Million HRSA grant to create interprofessional health care learning lab in the College of Public Health

Mary Cunningham — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 14:59:48 +0000

$1.1 Million HRSA grant to create interprofessional health care learning lab in the College of Public Health Mary Cunningham Tue, 11/08/2022 - 09:59

In This Story

Rebecca Sutter, DNP, APRN, BC-FNP

Alison Evans Cuellar, PhD, MBA

Maria Uriyo, PhD, PMP, MHSA

Kenneth W. Griffin, PhD, MPH

Michelle S. Williams, PhD, MSPH

Patrice Winter, PT, DPT, MHA, FAAOMPT

Lisa M. Gring-Pemble

Anne Magro

Professor of Nursing Rebecca Sutter, along with faculty and students across colleges, will lead the creation of an interprofessional Learning Laboratory for Community Health.

Nothing has exposed the unmet health and social needs of communities more clearly than the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for the people and communities that historically have been marginalized. The pandemic impacts have elevated the need to improve how we train our future health care workforce, and the multidisciplinary teams in which they function. Faculty in Mason’s College of Public Health know that new, alternative approaches to delivering and accessing health care to individuals, families, and communities is essential, and they are playing a leading role in training the next generation.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) awarded Professor of Nursing Rebecca Sutter with a $1,150,000 grant to create an interprofessional Learning Laboratory for Community Health that trains students to serve and improve health care for underserved communities. The award was made possible by the efforts Congressman Gerry Connolly of Virginia's 11th District, who shepherded the proposal through Congress.

The Learning Laboratory will focus on building students' capacity to consider health care in the community in a broader context and will allow students to design and implement evidence-based solutions, while fueling their understanding of population health improvement for communities.

“We must train the next generation of health and social service students to better understand the role of community partnering, the use of data, and the deployment of novel technologies and approaches across the health and social care continuum,” said Sutter, director of the Mason and Partner Clinics

In partnership with community stakeholders, participants in the Lab will identify, design, and disseminate data-driven and evidence-based models of social health care improvement, and offer recommendations to community partners on opportunities to improve social health and community impact. 

Students participating in the Lab will help faculty develop a list of priority health and health care topics for Northern Virginia and develop case studies around these topics. Case studies will explore interventions and approaches with broad impact and potential to reduce disparities, with an emphasis on community-based health promotion, health care access, and disease prevention programs, services, and policies.

“By creating evidence-based projects with an interprofessional team, students will build their capacity to consider health care from many angles, which will fuel their understanding of population health improvements and help them become public health leaders who ensure access to care for marginalized communities in Northern Virginia,” said Sutter.

The interprofessional team includes faculty lead Alison Cuellar and Mario Uriyo from the Department of Health Administration and Policy; Kenneth Griffin, Michelle Williams, and Patrice Winter from the Department of Global and Community Health; and Lisa Gring-Pemble and Anne Magro from Mason Business for a Better World). Ashley Wiest is serving as the Program Coordinator. Megan Harvey is serving as the Partner Liaison. They are accompanied by a team of graduate-level research assistants: Lameck Chiwaka, Naga Tejaswi Veluri, Judy Gutierrez, Patricia Tran, Marissa Bolouri-rad, Jordan Turner, William McKinley, Ruhma Hand, Sarah Moore, Jaya Yannam, and Tumen Sosorburam.

Topics

Workforce Development

Research

Keynote Speaker Karen Dale Encourages Graduates to Live with Purpose

Mary Cunningham — Wed, 25 May 2022 19:27:23 +0000

Keynote Speaker Karen Dale Encourages Graduates to Live with Purpose Mary Cunningham Wed, 05/25/2022 - 15:27

Bachelor of Nursing alumna Karen Dale was the keynote speaker at the College’s Class of 2022 Degree Celebration on May 22. She is the market president and chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer for AmeriHealth Caritas’ Medicaid managed care organization (MCO) in Washington, D.C. Dale was originally scheduled to address graduates at the May 2020 Degree Celebration, which was canceled due to COVID-19, but returned this year to encourage graduates to find their individual motivations.

Read her speech below or watch it on the University’s YouTube channel. Dale’s remarks run 34:00-46:10. (Note, video closed captions are being edited to ensure correctness.)

Greetings, College of Health and Human Services Degree graduates. Indeed this is a momentous occasion, and I am honored to be here.

Today, I plan to speak with you about the importance of living with purpose.

I read a quote some time ago that said, “Positive psychology takes you through the countryside of pleasure and gratification, up into the high country of strength and virtue, and finally to the peaks of lasting fulfillment, meaning, and purpose.”

I imagine in the weeks leading up to today, you have been contemplating your future. What will your life and career look like? As life would have it though, our best plans can be upended by something unpredictable.

VUCA, an acronym introduced by the U.S. Army War College that describes an unpredictable environment, stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. This is how the U.S. Army War College described what the world felt when the Cold War ended in 1991. Over time the business world adopted this framework into its management practices. As we have experienced so much uncertainty in the past two+ years, it seems prudent to make managing VUCA also a life practice. An important strategy to managing VUCA is to respond to complexity with clarity.

One aspect of clarity that is critically important to maintain, no matter what, is your own clarity of purpose.

Dr. Martin Seligman introduced the five elements or components of his PERMA model which are distinct yet mutually reinforcing, that when consistently practiced result in people being more likely to thrive, be resilient, and have greater life and job satisfaction. The five elements are:

Positive emotion
Engagement
Relationships

Meaning
Accomplishments

Let’s go deeper on one of the elements – Meaning.

Seligman described meaning as “belonging and/or serving something greater than ourselves.” Having a purpose in life helps individuals focus on what is really important in the face of significant challenge or adversity aka VUCA: volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.

Meaning gets us to that higher peak that research tells us supports good health, a longer life, well-being, and resilience.

A few steps to help you identify your meaningful purpose (which may certainly evolve over time).

Identify your unique gifts, and how you may use them to make a difference. For example in health care, the ecosystem is a web of interrelated components designed to create a health producing delivery system. Creating change and positive outcomes requires strong leadership competencies, systems-thinking, and tenacity. In addition, I have found three traits that have consistently supported success in my career:

Engagement – leaders by my definition never stand alone. So they must have the ability to engage a diverse group to co-author a vision, align around the journey to achieving it, and cohesively do the hard work on the steps to bringing the vision to fruition. To be clear, you are all leaders. A leader is not defined by their title, rather by their actions. You have had many life experiences, including your time at George Mason that have prepared you to be a highly engaging leader.

Courage – I can’t say enough about this one – to be humble and admit your mistakes, decide to be an upstander and not a bystander to wrongs, and because your efforts can always make things better tomorrow than they were today, you must challenge the status quo when it no longer works for good.

Inclusive – as a leader be curious, adaptable, self-aware, fair, and collaborative. Constantly evaluate the spaces where you live, work and play and ask who or what perspective is missing and work to include it.

After you have identified your gifts, next work to discover your passion. The Britannica definition of passion is “a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something.” Ask yourself “why” you chose what you did at least three times to hone in on what is truly your passion. “Doing good or helping people” is not specific enough to get out of bed with a road map for the day tied to your passion.

My purpose statement is to be a force to create an equitable health care delivery system for historically marginalized populations. I get out of bed working toward this every day and created a focus on changing the model of how we engage with our members – including their voice and perspective as we design interventions, focus in on food as medicine (meal delivery to address food insecurity and medically tailored meals to help address chronic disease), taking services to members in their homes, implementing a medical-legal partnership. Most people don’t say they love their insurance company. It warms my heart when our members, who I am happy to give my cell phone number, send a text that says, "I love you and how you fight for us."

If you are feeling particularly bold, you may want to utilize guidance from Simon Sinek’s book The Infinite Game. He advises that we should aim to create and or be a part of a “Just Cause,” a part of a specific vision of a future state that does not yet exist. A Just Cause must be:

For Something (affirmative and optimistic)
Inclusive (open to all those who would like to contribute)
Service Oriented (for the primary benefit of others)

Resilient (able to endure political, technological, and cultural change)
Idealistic (big, bold, and ultimately unachievable)

For example, your purpose could be in support of what has been defined in Healthy People 2030 as Health equity, which is "the attainment of the highest level of health for all people.” And choose to get out of bed every day working towards the drivers of change outlined in Healthy People 2030, such as “ensuring that every part of our health care system is valuing everyone equally with focused and ongoing societal efforts to address avoidable inequalities, historical and contemporary injustices, and the elimination of health and health care disparities.”

The book Infinite Game provides a relevant business example in the chapter “the courage to lead” where an organization made a courageous decision to be aligned with their stated Just Cause.

CVS had a sign in its corporate headquarters lobby that said “Helping people on their path to better health.” However, the fact that they profited from selling cigarettes in their stores did not match their Just Cause. In February 2014, they boldly announced that they would stop selling tobacco products in their nearly 3,000 stores. This decision cost them $2 billion a year, and they made it without anyone putting pressure on them to do so.

Was this a bad decision? In fact, despite the criticism from some using the lens of a finite mindset, it turned out to be a good decision aligned with their purpose. Cigarette sales in markets where they had stores overall decreased because their decision caused some smokers to finally kick the habit, and partners who previously didn’t allow some of their health-focused products to be in their stores were now willing to join their just cause and focus on “Helping people on their path to better health” by having their products in CVS stores.

Accountability matters - Whatever path you choose to identify your purpose, be sure to build in accountability. Write out your purpose statement, and share it with at least three people who know you well. These are your accountability partners on your journey.

On the GMU website, it says, “the end is just the beginning.” This is the beginning, an opportunity for you to leverage your unique gifts to lead and be a catalyst for good with clarity of purpose. I wish you immense success in all your endeavors and hope that you leave this ceremony with Positive emotion in your heart, a focus on intentional Engagement in all your Relationships, a sense of urgency to define your Meaning and purpose, and the courage to lead in ways that help you to achieve yet unimagined Accomplishments.

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Creators Syndicate: Dr. Martha Kubik quoted on screening children for anxiety

eander6 — Wed, 27 Apr 2022 17:27:44 +0000

Creators Syndicate: Dr. Martha Kubik quoted on screening children for anxiety eander6 Wed, 04/27/2022 - 13:27

In This Story

Martha (Marti) Y. Kubik, PhD, RN, FAAN

Indicators Facing Wrong Direction for the Health Care Industry.

Topics

College of Health and Human Services

College of Health and Human Services School of Nursing

Department of Health Administration and Policy Awarded HRSA Cooperative Agreement to Create Health Workforce Resilience Training

John Brandon Cantrell — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 14:34:25 +0000

Department of Health Administration and Policy Awarded HRSA Cooperative Agreement to Create Health Workforce Resilience Training John Brandon C… Tue, 02/22/2022 - 09:34

Funding supports efforts to improve mental health and well-being of health care providers.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has awarded ��AV’s Department of Health Administration and Policy in the College of Health and Human Services a $2 million three-year cooperative agreement to create a Health and Public Safety Workforce Resiliency Training Program. The goal is to support the mental health and well-being of the current health care workforce and preserve and enhance the psychological well-being of future health professionals.

“Burnout is not new to health care and public health professionals, but it has reached a crisis point due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Debora Goldberg, associate professor in the Department of Health Administration and Policy, who will lead the Program. “Health care professionals are dealing with longer work hours, inadequate staffing, sleep deprivation, and increased exposure to death and dying. All these factors lead to extraordinary levels of stress, burnout, and serious psychiatric symptoms, including increased risk of suicidal thoughts and suicide.” In addition to the health of individual workers, this also has a negative effect on patient care and health care organizations.

The mission of the Mason Health and Public Safety Workforce Resiliency Training Program is to develop and deliver accessible education and training activities that advance the overall safety, health, and well-being of a diverse population of nurses, social workers, public health practitioners, and leaders practicing in rural and underserved communities. Mason's interdisciplinary team will take a systems approach to address resiliency and optimal well-being of the individual within their health care organizations and working environments.

“The pandemic has shown us how vital it is to take care of ourselves, especially for our health care professionals who are facing immense challenges on the front lines of COVID-19,” said Senator Tim Kaine (VA-D) in a press release. “As we’ve seen the last two years, to ensure our nation has the medical workforce necessary to respond to public health crises, we need to support our health care providers.” Mason is one of three Virginia universities that received funding as part of the American Rescue Plan that U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is distributing across the country to reduce burnout and promote mental health among the health workforce.

The Program at Mason is an interdisciplinary, collaborative effort. Nance Lucas, executive director of Mason’s Center for the Advancement of Well-Being will lead the Program’s short-term trainings. Cheryl Oetjen, Interim Chair of the School of Nursing; Holly Motto, Associate Professor of Social Work; and Ali Weinstein, Associate Professor of Global and Community Health, will serve as leads for curriculum enhancement in their departments.

Additionally, the program will draw on the expertise and outreach capabilities of a wide range of national and regional partner organizations, which will help the Mason Program understand the needs of health professionals in rural and underserved areas. National partners include America’s Essential Hospitals (AEH), the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO). Regional organizations include the Northern Virginia Area Health Education Center (NVAHEC), Virginia Community Health Association (VCHA), the Virginia Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW-VA), and the Virginia Association of Colleges of Nursing (VACN).

The Program at Mason will offer a variety of in-person and distance learning pathways to students and working health care professionals. The program will include special guest speakers in the Leading to Well-Being Speaker Series, Leading Thriving Organizations Certificate Program, a specialized Resilience Badge for frontline health workers, and the Mental Health First Aid Certificate program. Funding will also support enhancing the College of Health and Human Services’ curriculum to include evidence-based strategies to reduce burnout, suicide, mental health complications, and substance use disorders, and promote resiliency among health care professionals. Students will also use the College’s Virtual Reality and Simulation lab to prepare for challenging situations in an interprofessional team and learn strategies to increase resiliency.

Topics

Department of Health Administration and Policy

HAP Faculty

workers

workforce

Mason Department of Statistics welcomes new faculty

Rena Malai — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 16:32:42 +0000

Mason Department of Statistics welcomes new faculty Rena Malai Tue, 12/14/2021 - 11:32

In This Story

The ��AV Department of Statistics welcomed eight new faculty members in 2020 – 2021.

“The research portfolios of these new faculty members are excellent, representing wide-ranging important fields in modern statistics and data science,” says Jiayang Sun, department chair.

The new faculty members, listed alphabetically, are as follows: Jonathan Auerbach, Isuru Dassanayake, Inchi Hu, David Kepplinger, Ben Seiyon Lee, Mary Meyer, Kenneth Pasiah, and Lily Wang.

According to Kepplinger, the Department of Statistics, which is a part of the School of Computing within Mason’s College of Engineering and Computing, is poised for growth.

“The research culture at Mason and the statistics department, in particular, is built around the idea of collaboration,” he says. “Everyone is open to sharing ideas and joining forces.”

A recent article in AMSTAT News describes the background of each of the eight new hires, who are internationally recognized experts in the areas of health care, economics, technology, clinical trials, and public policy. 

Topics

Department of Statistics

health care

economics

Science & Technology

Mason’s College of Health and Human Services Joins Johns Hopkins Clinical Research Network

dhawkin — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 14:04:05 +0000

Mason’s College of Health and Human Services Joins Johns Hopkins Clinical Research Network dhawkin Tue, 03/02/2021 - 09:04

Mason joins university and health care system collaboration to conduct translational research to improve health outcomes.

��AV’s College of Health and Human Services (the College) has recently joined the John Hopkins Clinical Research Network (JHCRN). This collaboration between regional health care systems and research institutions will have a direct impact on health care delivery throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region.

The JHCRN is a translational research organization dedicated to facilitating collaboration between diverse, community-based health care delivery systems and researchers. Translational research focuses on applying knowledge to address the needs of health care systems; it is specifically designed to improve health outcomes.

The JHCRN specializes in clinical trials across a variety of disciplines including oncology, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal conditions, neurological disorders and genomics. Sites within the network also collaborate with Johns Hopkins physicians. Some of the topics the College plans to explore with JHCRN include health disparities, social determinants of health, and health care costs.

“As part of the JHCRN, we look forward to improving the flow of scientific information and bringing a collaborative approach to clinical and translational research,” said Dr. Rosemary Higgins, associate dean of research for the College.

Collaborations between regional health care systems are an important part of the College’s dedication to making a positive impact on local communities in the surrounding areas. The College will join a number of other regional sites within the network including the Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, Luminis Health, TidalHealth and Reading Hospital, an affiliate of Tower Health.

“We are proud to join this highly-respected network of health care delivery organizations to bring research discoveries into clinical practice in a timely manner to improve the health of those we serve,” says Dr. Germaine Louis, Dean of the College. “It is only through partnerships such as these that we can improve health equity and make health visible and accessible for all people.”

About ��AV

��AV is Virginia's largest and most diverse public research university. Located near Washington, D.C., Mason enrolls 39,000 students from 130 countries and all 50 states. Mason has grown rapidly over the past half-century and is recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity and commitment to accessibility. For more information, visit https://www2.gmu.edu/.

About the College of Health and Human Services

��AV's College of Health and Human Services prepares students to become leaders and shape the public's health through academic excellence, research of consequence, community outreach, and interprofessional clinical practice. George Mason is the fastest-growing Research I institution in the country. The College enrolls more than 1,900 undergraduate and 1,370 graduate students in its nationally-recognized offerings, including: 5 undergraduate degrees, 13 graduate degrees, and 7 certificate programs. The college is transitioning to a college of public health in the near future. For more information, visit https://chhs.gmu.edu/.