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Greetings!
As we usher in a new year, there's a palpable sense of excitement in the air! It's a time for fresh beginnings and building on the incredible achievements we've already made this academic year. Some of our programs have kicked off January classes, and we eagerly anticipate the return of the rest of our programs at the start of the spring 2025 semester. Spring is a season of renewal and energy, inspiring us to "spring forward" with plans to unite our faculty, staff, and students for a series of thrilling events, including our upcoming Outstanding Alumni Awards reception, Interprofessional Education Day, and Annual Research Day.
Since our last newsletter in June 2024, our faculty, staff, and students have been hard at work, launching new initiatives and hosting remarkable events. We co-hosted the second annual Inclusion Done Right! Conference, celebrated our second Diversity Day, and participated in the university's Black Men in White Coats Youth Summit. Collaborating with our campus-wide partners has been a joy, allowing us to showcase our programs and promote interprofessional education and research that align with the mission and vision of Stony Brook Medicine and Stony Brook University.
Looking ahead to the new year and the spring semester, my hope is that we continue to thrive in every aspect of our school. Our goal remains to educate the next generation of exceptional healthcare professionals who will serve the diverse needs of our community, region, and beyond.
I invite you to take a moment to read through our newsletter. I'm incredibly proud to share our accomplishments with you. If you have any news items you'd like to contribute to our next newsletter, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.
Warm regards,
Stacy Jaffee Gropack, PT, PhD, FASAHP
Dean and Professor
Stony Brook School of Health Professions
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SHP Participates in the Stony Brook Southampton Tradition: Lighting of the Windmill | Stony Brook Southampton continued a cherished annual tradition on December 5th with the Windmill Lighting and Winter Wonderland Reception, attended by members of the local community as well as faculty, staff and students from Stony Brook University. | | | |
2nd Annual Inclusion Done Right! Conference Champions Inclusive Community-Based Opportunities | The second annual Inclusion Done Right! Conference promoted inclusion, enhanced participation, and community accessibility. | | | |
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Distinguished Fellows in the
National Academies of Practice
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Congratulations to Ann D. Cuccia and Dr. Renee Fabus, both of whom have been accepted as Distinguished Fellows of the Respiratory Care Academy and the Speech-Language Pathology Academy, respectively, in the National Academies of Practice (NAP). NAP is a non-profit organization founded in 1981, dedicated to advancing interprofessional education, scholarship, research, practice, and public policy. Its mission is to transform health and well-being through collaboration among healthcare professionals, ensuring patient-centered, inclusive and equitable care for all.
Distinguished Fellows are elected by their peers from multiple different health professions. Ms. Cuccia and Dr. Fabus will be inducted in March 2025 in Washington, DC.
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Ann D. Cuccia, MPH, RT, RRT-NPS, RPFT, AE-C, FAARC
Director, Clinical Education
Clinical Professor
Department of Respiratory Care
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Renee Fabus, PhD, CCC-SLP, TSHH
Chair
Associate Professor
Department of Speech-Language Pathology
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CELT Thank-A-Teacher Program
Congratulations to our faculty and staff who were recognized by Stony Brook University's Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching Thank-A-Teacher program as making a difference in our students' learning experiences!
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2024 Pre-College Summer Program | |
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During the week of July 15th, the School of Health Professions teamed up with the School of Professional Development to launch the inaugural 2024 Pre-College Summer Program. Twenty high school students plunged into the world of healthcare, starting with the discovery of a simulated car accident and the ensuing EMS response and extrication. This immersive experience immediately highlighted the critical role and value of the healthcare team.
Throughout the week, students were expertly guided by our dedicated faculty and staff, exploring a variety of health professions through hands-on activities that showcased interprofessional collaboration. They discovered that their unique skills and perspectives are essential to the fabric of compassionate care. Empowered to dream big, work hard, and make a difference, these students left the program full of hope and a clear roadmap for their futures.
A heartfelt thank you to our faculty and staff for planting the seeds of inspiration. These young visionaries now know they can be part of something greater—a network of compassionate healers poised to shape the world. Special thanks to Stony Brook's Division of Enterprise Risk Management, Stony Brook EMS, the Fire Safety Division and the University Police Department for your collaboration and efforts during the simulation event. We couldn't have done it without you all!
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Photo by John Griffin, Stony Brook University | |
Congratulations to our 2024-25 Scholarship Recipients | |
Community Service & Engagement | | |
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On October 25th, Occupational Therapy faculty, staff, and students came together to celebrate World OT Day in a big way! This year's inspiring theme, "Serve through Volunteering & Occupational Therapy for All," fueled their passion for community engagement.
They teamed up with Island Harvest at their Brentwood Farm, where they planted seeds for next year's harvest and collected over 100 pounds of fresh produce for our local food pantry. It was a day filled with purpose, as they contributed to an incredible organization fighting food insecurity right here on Long Island. Together, they're not just making a difference; they're cultivating hope and resilience in our community!
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Fall Prevention Screening | |
Our Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program joined the Renaissance School of Medicine and the School of Dental Medicine in early November for a health fair at Jefferson Ferry, a life plan community in Port Jefferson, NY. DPT students, supervised by Chris Burke and Cheri Gostic, performed fall prevention screens on the Jefferson's ferry residents.
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Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging | | |
SHP Hosts 2nd Annual Diversity Day | |
This October, the school's Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging hosted its second annual Diversity Day. The event served as a catalyst for promoting and celebrating diversity within our SHP learning communities. This year’s theme was the intersectionality of disability and diversity. Diversity Day sessions were tailored to prepare our faculty, staff, and students to effectively provide compassionate and culturally competent care for diverse populations. | |
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SHP Participates in Stony Brook University's
Black Men in White Coats Youth Summit
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School of Health Professions faculty and staff participated this November in the university's Black Men in White Coats Youth Summit. This event, hosted by the Renaissance School of Medicine, sought to inspire students to see themselves in diverse healthcare careers, offering them a supportive community and the resources needed for success. Thank you to everyone who participated--your dedication to mentorship, hands-on activities, and career exploration is truly shaping the future of healthcare. Together, we are empowering the next generation! For more information about this event, please click here for the SBU News article.
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Celebrating two of our health science
certificate program students!
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Jennifer Chen '24, Health Science
'25, Medical Dosimetry
Jennifer Chen is a 2024 summa cum laude graduate of the health science major. She is currently enrolled in the medical dosimetry certificate program through the Mount Sinai Center for Radiation Sciences Education at Stony Brook University. Jennifer is a recent recipient of the Siemens Healthineers scholarship, the American Society of Radiologic Technologists scholarship, and author of Smart Scheduling: A Pilot Project of Workforce Scheduling in Radiation Oncology, in the Journal of Scientific Innovation in Medicine.
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Andrea Diaz '24, Health Science
'25, Radiation Therapy
Andrea Diaz is a 2024 graduate of the health science major. She is currently enrolled in the radiation therapy certificate program through the Mount Sinai Center for Radiation Sciences Education at Stony Brook University. Andrea is a recent recipient of the 2024-25 Elekta Foundation Student Scholarship, established in partnership with the American Society of Radiologic Technologists Foundation to assist six of the best and brightest U.S. students financially as they study to become radiation therapists.
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Hamnah Khan '24, Health Science | |
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Congratulations to Hamnah Khan, selected as the 2024 Ann Marie Brown Memorial Scholarship recipient. This scholarship is awarded annually by the Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council (NSHC) and its communications committee.
Hamnah received her bachelor's degree in health science, with a concentration in healthcare management from the School of Health Professions. She is currently a master of health administration graduate student at Stony Brook University.
Click here to learn how Hamnah's undergraduate degree helped shape her career aspirations and path to graduate studies.
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Jessica Rotolo, MA
Director of Accreditation and Outreach
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Jessica Rotolo serves as director of accreditation and outreach for the School of Health Professions. She has worked for the school since November 2019. As director, Jessica is responsible for the coordination of all professional accreditation activities, strategic planning, advancement and scholarships, marketing and communications, and standard operating procedures.
Jessica is a two time graduate of Stony Brook University, with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies. She began working at the university in 1999, when she first came on board as a temp, and later the assistant to the chair in the Department of Philosophy, and has since held various positions throughout east and west campus over her career, including roles in the Department of Art, the Registrar’s Office and the Department of Ob/Gyn. In these varied positions, she has served in many capacities, responsible for administrative operations, budget and personnel oversight, student advising, graduation and degree audit, and management of physician schedules. Additionally, Jessica lived briefly in southern California, where she worked at Mt. San Jacinto College, assisting the dean of the division of math and science with managing budget, personnel, class schedules, and teaching workload assignments. Upon moving back to New York, and prior to her return to Stony Brook in 2019, she held the position of registrar at Five Towns College.
Recently, Jessica completed a certificate in institutional effectiveness with SUNY’s Center for Professional Development. With this certificate, she plans to be a champion of change for the school, coordinating initiatives in strategic planning, assessment and continuous process improvement. Additionally, Jessica completed a SUNY course in grant writing to support the school’s research efforts, and attended SBU training sessions this past fall on communication, including active listening, facilitating difficult conversations, and coaching and feedback.
In her free time, Jessica enjoys cooking, crafting, DIY projects and home repairs, spending quality time with family and friends, and most recently, she has begun volunteering her time as a member of her condo’s HOA board of managers. She is also an advocate for animals and donates to local and regional animal shelters and rescue initiatives. She hopes to adopt a cat from a local shelter soon!
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Hants Williams, PhD, RN
Clinical Associate Professor
Director of Scholarship, Innovation, and Analytics
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Dr. Hants Williams holds a Bachelor of Arts in Behavioral Science and Psychology from San Jose State University, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from San Francisco State University, and a PhD in Nursing - Behavioral Science from Duke University. He completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.
Dr. Williams is clinical associate professor in the Department of Applied Health Informatics. He teaches courses on cloud computing, research design and methodology, and data science. In addition, as of September 1, 2024, Dr. Williams has assumed the crucial position of director of scholarship, innovation, and analytics for the school.
In this new role, Dr. Williams brings a rich history of diverse skills across academia, data operations, and innovation. His scholarly contributions include leading NIH-funded studies that span basic, translational, and applied research areas in health and care delivery services. The research methodologies and technologies he has leveraged range from ethnographic to RCT, RNA-seq to fMRI, in addition to the creation of novel psychometrically validated patient-reported outcome tools. Dr. Williams’ expertise in data and innovation is rooted in his unique private sector experiences, which range from EHR software vendors to chronic disease management solutions, specialty care services within nephrology and behavioral health, to venture investment funds. Within these companies, he has successfully led R&D projects, developed public-private collaborations, architected advanced analytics and reporting solutions, and built custom data technologies to automate business operations. In his new role, Dr. Williams is committed to increasing the research enterprise in the School of Health Professions while assisting with analyzing data important for the operations of the school and its programs.
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Gerald Simons, MPAS, DFAAPA, PA-C
Clinical Assistant Professor
Physician Assistant Education
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Gerald Simons is a 1993 graduate of the cardiorespiratory science program at Stony Brook, where he served as class president and an emergency vehicle operator. His work in respiratory care and perfusion led him to pursue surgery, graduating from the Weill Cornell surgeon assistant program in 1995, where he was also class president. He has since taught PA courses on wound care and suturing, worked in vascular surgery, and served as academic coordinator for the Weill Cornell PA program for over a decade.
In 2018, Jerry played a key role in establishing the Southampton PA cohort and joined the faculty at the Southampton campus, where he co-advises the PA student society and is active in the Center for Community Engagement, known for organizing community health fairs. He is involved in the Healthy Libraries program, a partnership providing healthcare resources through Suffolk County public libraries. Jerry coordinates the PA program's psychiatry, surgery, and neurology units, teaches various medical topics, and, alongside Dr. Kelly Warren, researches the link between Lyme and fatigue, winning first place for original research at the 2024 NYSSPA CME Conference. He also serves as a founding medical advisor to the Stony Brook Southampton Tick-Borne Disease Center, publishing on tick bite prevention and delivering community awareness lectures for over a decade.
Jerry is sought after in clinical practice for his special interest in complex GI disorders, assessment and management of the gut microbiome, and persistent tick-borne disease. His experience in the management of chronic vascular wounds led him to learn hyperbaric medicine, and these skills expanded to undersea medicine, where he has worked with divers all over Long Island.
Jerry has held numerous national and state leadership positions, including as the long serving president of the American Association of Surgical PAs. He has been the chief delegate for surgery to the American Academy of PAs House of Delegates for 15 years. He is an award winning international CME speaker on surgical and GI topics, and has been featured in the New York Times, NPR, Redbook magazine, Shape, and others. He has received the March of Dimes Health Career Award, the Kirklin Award for Excellence in Surgical Skills (less than 35 have been awarded in more than 50 years) and a NYSSPA Educator of the Year award. He has received the National PA leadership award from the Student PA Association and is the 2024 American Association of Surgical PAs National PA Preceptor of the Year.
Jerry is active in the Nature Conservancy, a LIPA solar pioneer, certified eco-America climate ambassador, and an ordained Presbyterian Elder. He is also an exempt volunteer fireman, and won his department's top award for firefighting service.
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Welcome New Faculty and Staff | | |
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Luke Beermann, MS, ATC
Clinical Assistant Professor
Athletic Training
Luke Beermann is a BOC certified and New York State licensed athletic trainer with over 10 years of experience in both the clinical and educational fields. He returns to Stony Brook University as a clinical assistant professor after previously working as an assistant athletic trainer with the baseball, women's soccer, and football teams here on campus from 2019-2022. Luke earned his Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training from King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in 2013 and his Master of Science in Athletic Training from A.T. Still University in Mesa, Arizona in 2019.
Luke's previous clinical experience includes working with the men's basketball team at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, student-athletes at Brophy College Preparatory School in Phoenix, Arizona, as well as working in outpatient orthopedics at Orlin and Cohen Orthopedic Associates as a practice athletic trainer. His educational experience includes teaching in the professional practice and pre-professional rehabilitation sciences tracks in the Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training program as well as the professional practice and advanced clinical practice Master of Science in Athletic training program at East Stroudsburg University in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.
He is a member of the National Athletic Trainer's Association (NATA), Eastern Athletic Trainer's Association (EATA), as well as the New York State Athletic Trainer's Association (NYSATA).
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Michael Fama
Clinical Assistant Professor
Physical Therapy
Dr. Michael Fama graduated from SUNY Albany in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology. He furthered his education to obtain his Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from Stony Brook University in 2016.
Dr. Fama has extensive clinical experience providing physical therapy services in the private practice, out-patient setting. Prior to joining the faculty at Stony Brook University, Dr. Fama was a clinic director for an outpatient orthopedic practice and, later, transitioned to a clinical education specialist, where he served as a mentor for colleagues and new clinicians. In 2017, soon after graduating from the DPT program, Dr. Fama was hired as a teaching assistant for two classes in the DPT first-year curriculum. Since that time, he has consistently been a part of the fall semester coursework and, in 2024, joined the faculty full-time as a clinical assistant professor.
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Alexis Forde
Staff Assistant
Physical Therapy
Alexis Forde received her B.A. in Journalism and Sport Studies from Ithaca College. She began her professional career at Professional Sports Publications where she started as a proofreader and, then, advanced to the role of production assistant/executive assistant. She is excited to apply the skills and knowledge she has acquired over the years in her position here at Stony Brook University.
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Michelle Fuentes, MS
Staff Assistant
Southampton Campus Operations
Michelle brings experience in school counseling, college admissions, recruitment, advising, test coordination and social-emotional support. She is committed to fostering a positive and inclusive environment conducive to student success.
Michelle holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts and a Master of Science in School Counseling from Long Island University.
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Diane Henry-Vanisko, MS
Instructional Support Technician
Clinical Laboratory Sciences
Diane Henry-Vanisko received a Bachelor of Science in Marine Science/Biology from Southampton College, Southampton, NY and a Master of Science in Marine Environmental Science from Stony Brook University with completion of a DEC/Brookhaven National Laboratory molecular biology thesis on the characterization of an aquaculturally significant marine phytoplankton, Isochrysis galbana. For the majority of her career, she has served as laboratory manager, researcher and peer reviewed author in two NIH funded laboratories at Stony Brook University: Dr. Kenneth Marcu, Biochemistry and Cellular Biology studying antibody class switching in B cells and Dr. Gary G. Matthews, Neurobiology and Behavior studying ion channel genes in bipolar cells of the retina.
Diane is now responsible for laboratory supply management, maintenance, safety, and assistance to professors in clinical teaching laboratories.
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Malmi Kiriwandalage
Staff Assistant
Dean's Office
Malmi Kiriwandalage, born and raised in Sri Lanka, migrated to the U.S. to pursue her higher education studies where she graduated with Bachelor of Arts in Earth & Planetary Sciences from Stony Brook University. She is an astronomer, a professional dancer mastered in traditional Sri Lankan dance and Bollywood, an avid reader who loves to travel, and is always looking for an adventure. Fun fact: Malmi is a NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador for New York State where she educates her community about ongoing NASA missions.
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Dawn Trotter
Peer Certification Academic Center Program Assistant
Center for Public Health Education
Dawn Trotter brings a 12-year history of providing outreach, education, and client services at community-based agencies and various statewide workgroups. She is an active member of NY Links and the Center for Quality Improvement and Innovation with HRSA and AIDS Institute, a content expert with ECHO Collaborative, NYS AIDS Institute Consumer Advisory Board since 2014, and an NYS Department of Health HIV Stops with Me spokesmodel. Dawn was the second peer in New York State to be certified as a New York State Certified HIV Peer Worker. She earned her Associate in Applied Science from Bryant & Stratton College.
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Sharon Verity, MPAS, PA-C
Clinical Associate Professor
Physician Assistant Education
Sharon Verity holds a Bachelor of Arts from Binghamton University, a Bachelor of Science in Physician Assistant Studies from Stony Brook University, and a Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies from the University of Nebraska. She has a clinical background in emergency medicine, inpatient medicine, and family medicine and currently practices in emergency medicine in New Haven, CT. Sharon also brings extensive experience in PA education to Stony Brook University. Having served in various leadership roles, including didactic education director, associate program director, program director, and founding program director, she has contributed to the development and success of several PA programs.
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3.26.25 - Giving Day
3.26.25 - Outstanding Alumni Awards Ceremony
3.28.25 - Interprofessional Education Day
3.29 & 4.12.25 - Admitted Students Day
4.2.25 - Lecture Series w/ Joy Kling
4.6.25 - Women's History Month Alumni Panel Event
4.9.25 - Wellness Wednesday
4.11.25 - CELT Neurodiversity Program
4.23.25 - Lecture Series w/ Eric Lamberg & James Pierre Glaude
4.30.25 - Research Day
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School of Health Professions
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