A MESSAGE FROM THE HCOP TEAM
The GW Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP) made great strides in its second grant year, advancing its goal to create a future generation of health professionals from diverse backgrounds to provide culturally competent care for underserved populations. The HCOP team led improvements in project operations, produced innovative new training to address student needs, and helped student ambassadors overcome myriad challenges related to COVID-19.
This year, HCOP invested more than $250,000 in scholarships and stipends to ambassadors. Six ambassadors successfully completed requirements in their program of study and took the next steps in their health care careers. HCOP also added 25 new participants this summer, bringing individuals with important new backgrounds and fields of study to HCOP such as military/veteran students, future PAs, and public health majors.
Our story was shared through a variety of press releases, news, and magazine stories that detailed how our health workforce pathway is serving students across Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia, and Maryland. Health Sciences was honored as a “Distinguished Partner Award” by the Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) Educational Foundation. The HCOP team has presented our work nationally and internationally at the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions (ASAHP) Annual Conference and the last two Association of Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) meetings.
The GW HCOP team includes faculty and staff from both SMHS and the Graduate School of Education and Human Development, and the program is fueled by the generous contributions of many from our community. We especially want to recognize the HS faculty and staff who have served as advisors, mentors, event planners, and teachers for HCOP activities. It is clear you are passionate about creating unique and transformative experiences for the ambassadors and believe in their capacity to care for unserved and underserved populations in our region. If you would like to learn more about HCOP, go online or email Blake Harrison, program coordinator, at BHarrison@gwu.edu.
Besides Harrison, the HCOP team includes: Reamer Bushardt, program director; Catherine Golden, HS academy lead; Carmen Session, case manager; Ellen Scully-Russ, co-investigator; Joyce Maring, evaluation lead; Lloyd “Chip” Taylor, consultant; Maggie Zhu, data manager; Maranda Ward, ambassador program lead; Marcia Firmani, summer program lead; Patrick Corr, HS academy co-lead; Russell Korte, co-investigator; and Sonia Crandall, consultant.
HCOP YEAR IN REVIEW
PEOPLE
COMING HOME. Matt Garber, PT, DSc, OCS, FAAOMPT, is looking forward to putting down roots. Garber, who has joined the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program as associate professor and assistant director of clinical education, lived in nine houses in his first 13 years of marriage due to his military career. “We plan to settle here since our children are in school,” Garber said. “We are looking forward to more stability.” Garber first joined the Department of Health, Human Function, and Rehabilitation Sciences (HHFR) as an adjunct faculty member in January. Retiring from the U.S. Army as a colonel, he’s eager to join GW full time. “I was always interested in getting into academics,” Garber said. “I always found that when I was in the academic environment I was happiest.” He’s looking forward to in-person classes and continuing his development as an educator. A native of Virginia, Garber and his wife, Lisa, who is a PT with the Fairfax County Public Schools, live in Fairfax Station, Virginia, with their three school-age children. So how is virtual school going? “It’s been harder on my wife,” Garber said. “The kids seem okay, but for the teachers and staff it’s been a challenge.” Away from work, Garber enjoys cooking, playing golf, doing yard work, and watching college basketball – he’s a Duke fan. During Garber’s 30-year Army career, he served with Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2010 in Balad, Iraq and with the Army’s Special Operations Command in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He has spent the last five years with the Office of the Surgeon General at U.S. Army Medical Command in Falls Church, Virginia. Garber has a doctor of science degree from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, a master of strategic studies from Air University in Montgomery, Alabama, and a master of physical therapy from the U.S. Army-Baylor University Graduate Program in Physical Therapy in San Antonio, Texas.
AN EARLY CHEMIST. You could say Lauren Ragle, PhD, owes her career to her grandmother’s tarnished silver. Ragle, who has joined the Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Medicine (PBPM) Program as a visiting assistant professor, said it was a childhood experiment using baking soda to remove tarnish that led her to study chemistry. “What I was doing wasn’t just science – it was chemistry,” she said. “It’s the building blocks of life.” She also recalls being fascinated by another experiment turned a Petri dish into a mirror. Those aha moments are why she enjoys teaching. “I love seeing students get it – they go from that confused look to the lightbulb effect when you’re explaining something,” she said. Ragle once considered going to medical school, so she says she relates well to the PBPM students. “We’re all family,” she said. A bioorganic chemist with 10 years of research experience, Ragle enjoyed research and writing grants, but she’s happiest teaching. She joined the Department of Physician Assistant Studies (PAS) in the spring as an adjunct assistant professor and is currently teaching organic chemistry online and in-person sections simultaneously. Before coming to GW, she taught at Trinity Washington University in Washington, D.C. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, she moved to Bethesda, Maryland, to join the National Institutes of Health as a postdoctoral fellow. Away from work, Ragle enjoys crafting, including knitting, sewing by hand, and woodworking –she’s made shelves and a blanket ladder. “I like creating things,” she said. “You can point to it and say, ‘I made that.’ “ Ragle earned a master of science degree and her doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of Memphis.
PROGRAMS
TALKSPACE. All GW Health Sciences students have access to Talkspace virtual therapy as of September 22, a resource being financially supported by the Office of Student Services (OSS). Talkspace is an app-based tele-behavioral health service that connects users to a dedicated therapist through its secure, HIPAA-compliant platform. There are thousands of licensed mental health counselors in the Talkspace network, and students can regularly communicate safely and securely from mobile devices, tablets, or computers no matter where they live or train. Over the past year, OSS staff met with students, faculty, and staff to discuss needed student services and a top request was access to mental health resources. OSS and GW partnered with Talkspace to ensure free access to the virtual therapy program for all residential, hybrid, and online students. Faculty and staff are also eligible to take advantage of Talkspace, depending on your GW insurance plan. For more information about student access contact SMHSstudents@gwu.edu For faculty/staff access contact AskHRMD@gwu.edu. OSS has been partnering with the Counseling and Psychological Services team in GW Colonial Health to improve access and quality of care for our students. Talkspace is not intended to replace GW’s on-campus services, rather give students multiple options and immediate access to counseling and mental health support services.
