Things are starting to look up in 2021 and not a moment too soon. The COVID Tracking Project is reporting a 37 percent drop in cases, 23 percent drop in deaths, and percent drop in hospitalizations in the U.S. over the last two weeks. The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines continue to be shipped and administered around the country, and the FDA will review data for emergency authorization on promising new vaccines this Friday. We still have a long way to go and continued vigilance with public safety measures is key, but the recent progress provides hope. It is yet to be determined if this devastating disease, which has already claimed the lives of more than 500,000 Americans, will continue to be a part of our lives for years to come. However, the response of the health care and scientific communities at GW and around the globe ---despite failures by local and federal governments along the way—has been heartening. At this point, GW is planning for a largely typical Fall 2021 semester and campus life but continues to monitor the regional situation very carefully.
There is much to be proud of in this month’s “Heartbeats,” and ample evidence of the significant impact HS teams are having in the classroom, the community, and in science. I am particularly excited about the hybrid BSHS programs that we will begin recruiting applicants next month, then launch in Fall 2021 at VSTC. This advancement in undergraduate education for HS, made possible by many hours of work by our faculty and staff, is a truly milestone moment. Through our shared commitment to increasing diversity within the health professions and growing regional pathway programs (not to mention advocacy at GW to support these causes), we soon begin a new chapter in Health Sciences’ academic life. In front of us is a unique opportunity to help shape undergraduate students with the foundational skills to not just survive but thrive in graduate health professions and research programs in HS. To be successful, we will need everyone’s participation in the implementation and promotion of these BSHS programs to ensure robust enrollment and the highest quality student experience at VSTC.
Let me conclude, in recognition of Black History Month and SMHS’ commitment to equity and social justice, with a short clip featuring Dr. Maya Angelou. Her divine gift for storytelling, her mastery in the classroom as a professor, and the power of her words as a blueprint for a righteous life all continue to inspire and direct me. In this short interview, she reminds us that “Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.” Her courage (against major life obstacles), humor, and hopefulness are lessons, and her message should be heard that no one truly claims freedom and equality, until we all do. So, let us find the courage within ourselves and nurture it within those we teach and mentor, then work together to dismantle the structures and processes that drive inequality in our community. There are many opportunities to get involved at SMHS for this essential work, and I invite all of us to join in.
--Reamer Bushardt, Professor and Senior Associate Dean
LOOKING EAST.
Lisa Bagby, OTD, OTR/L, MHA, has never visited Washington, D.C., but she's eager to make the city her home. Bagby, an assistant professor in the Department of Health, Human Function, and Rehabilitation Sciences (HHFR), joined HS in February and plans to move this summer from Omaha, Nebraska. "Friends say, 'You're moving to DC and you've never been there?' That's part of the excitement," Bagby said. "Helping to start a new OT program was really appealing. And I want to live in a more progressive and diverse area." A native of Iowa, Bagby has lived in the Midwest for all of her life, though she has worked in California, Alaska, Chicago, and Oregon as a travel therapist. "You do therapy on contract for 13 weeks and then you move on," she explained. "I worked in five different states on 10 different contracts over five years." Besides the rigor of our Occupational Therapy Programs (OT), GW's reputation and the opportunity for professional development attracted Bagby to HS. She will coordinate academic fieldwork for the OT programs. "Academia is a really great fit for me," she said. "I can impact peoples' lives every day." Bagby joins us from Creighton University, where she was an assistant professor and director of clinical education for the past four years. So what is she looking forward to when she moves to DC? Visiting museums and seeing the city by foot alongside Biscuit, her Australian Cattle dog. Other hobbies include adventure travel, camping, hiking, cross-country skiing, talking politics, and trivia. "I have quite a memory; I remember random knowledge which I share readily whether you want to hear it or not!" she said with a laugh. Bagby has an MHS from Des Moines University and her doctorate from Creighton.
NEW ROLE.
Rohini Ganjoo of the Department of Biomedical Laboratory Sciences (BLS) has been named senior director of undergraduate studies in Health Sciences. In this new role, she will partner will faculty leading various BSHS programs in Health Sciences and lead efforts to create a home for hybrid undergraduate programs at the Virginia Science and Technology Campus. Four of seven hybrid BSHS programs, part of a division-wide initiative to expand undergraduate education and advance diversity in the health professions, will enroll their first cohorts in August 2022. The initiative will provide a pathway for graduates of the Governor's Health Sciences Academy, the Health Careers Opportunity Program, along with other traditional students to pursue health careers. Future plans include a fully residential BSHS experience and development of early selection and on-ramp programs that link BSHS students to graduate training programs in HS. Ganjoo, assistant professor, will continue as director of the MSHS in Medical Laboratory Science, MSHS in Immunohematology and Biotechnology, and MSHS in Translational Microbiology programs. She joined HS in 2015 and is the recipient of the 2020 SMHS Distinguished Teacher Award.
PREVENTION SCIENTIST.
Moving from London to a town of 30,000 in Washington state was a bit of culture shock for Senait Tekle, MS, MA. Needless to say, Tekle, a research program associate in the Biomedical Informatics Center (BIC), has had an easier time adjusting to life in the DMV. The big pluses: not having a five-hour drive to an international airport, restaurants with her native Ethiopian/Eritrean food, and being closer to family on the East Coast. Count her work in BIC as a positive, too. "I really like the team; they are very approachable and helpful," Tekle said. "I'm finding a lot of research that we can collaborate on." Tekle expects to finish her PhD in prevention science from Washington State University this year; she's interested in researching social issues, such as suicide and opioid addiction. "Prevention science is a new field that focuses on social issues using a human developmental framework to improve health and well-being," she said. "It's moving from intervention to prevention." Before joining HS last November, she was a research translation graduate intern with the National Prevention Science Coalition. When Tekle was a teen her family left Ethiopia to vacation in England. While there, a civil war broke out in Ethiopia. Her family was eventually able to return home, but Tekle stayed behind at an English boarding school so her education wouldn't be interrupted. She ended up living in England for 20 years and met and married her husband there. She and her husband, a pharmacist whose work brought them here, live in McLean, Virginia, with their 12-year-old son and two daughters, 13 and 15. Away from work and writing her dissertation, Tekle enjoys volunteering at her children's three schools. "I get to spend more time with them and I like that," she said. Tekle has an MA in international business management from the University of Westminster in London and a MS in prevention science from Washington State University.
