Faculty/Staff Newsletter

P.J. Maddox, who has served for 20 years as chair of the Department of Health Administration and Policy and is co-director of the Virginia Center for Health Workforce, has established a legacy of unparalleled dedication, innovation, and impact. 

Health care AI expert Farrokh Alemi highlights the underutilized power of predictive artificial intelligence to detect and prevent multiple common cancers as editor of a special issue of Quality Management in Health Care.

The CPH Development Team would like to extend their heartfelt gratitude to each of you who made a gift during Mason Vision Day. Your generous support plays a crucial role in helping us achieve our shared vision for the college, and your contributions will have a lasting impact on our students, faculty/staff, and future initiatives.

It is because of dedicated faculty and staff like you that the College of Public Health continues to thrive and push the boundaries of academic excellence and innovation. Together, we are making a difference at the College of Public Health.

Stay tuned for the results next week!

Lastly, we would like to recognize and say thank you to all of the Mason Vision Day unit volunteers: Isela Caballero, Shanti Chang, Bethany Cieslowski, Pierre Eklou, Jhumka Gupta, Emily Ihara, Allison McKay, Kyeung Mi Oh, Tracy Shevlin, and Patrice Winter.

University Business Consulting (UBC) is holding focus groups this week to hear faculty and staff perspectives on the creation of CPH’s next strategic plan. A few more voices are needed!

Staff Focus Group: April 8, 10-11 am, Peterson Hall  

Faculty Focus Group: April 10, 11-12 pm, Peterson Hall 

We acknowledge the short notice – please email ubc@gmu.edu today (April 7) if you would like to participate!

Stay informed on updates on the CPH strategic plan webpage.

The full week features volunteering opportunities, games, movies, skill-building, and engaging discussions. Share this flyer with your students!

April 9 | 6 – 8:30 pm | Merten Hall Room 1202 | RSVP here

Faculty – consider inviting your students to attend the event. Please ask students to RSVP if they plan to attend.

 April 17 | 1:30 pm | Peterson Hall Room 2000 or Zoom

Associate Professor Judy Sng from the National University of Singapore is pioneering the use of generative AI to enhance psychiatric medical education. Her work features AI-generated videos of simulated patients tailored to different cultural context, helping medical students develop empathy, diagnostic skills, and clinical decision-making.

In addition to sharing this project, the session also explores how educators and students can build their own AI-powered chatbots—equipping them with the tools to co-create educational content and innovate within their own learning environments. 

Thank you to Yanika Kowitlawakul for making the connection.

The COACHE survey has been exteded until April 7! Link in your email. The College is hoping for 100% CPH participation from all instructional term and tenure-line faculty who started before 2025. Thank you to everyone for completing this important survey! This will be the last time you will be asked to complete the COACHE survey for a couple of years.

April 18 | 12 pm | Zoom

Presenters for the last Lightning Talk of the academic year are:

The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences is hosting a conference and special issue on Inequality in America: Beliefs, Attitudes, and Actions. Original research contributions pertaining to the relationships between societal inequalities and individuals' psychology in the U.S. are invited. Submission deadline is June 4.

The Donaghue Foundation seeks to advance promising approaches to achieving a higher-value healthcare system. LOIs are due April 29, 2025. Learn more.

Don’t forget to check George Mason's Research Development LinkedIn for 10 grant announcements posted by ORIE each week.

Over the next several newsletters, we'll share details about the pilot research projects CPH is supporting.

Jeah Jung, HAP: Unmet health-related social needs are prevalent among Medicare beneficiaries. Recently, Medicare embarked on a large-scale initiative to address unmet health-related social needs through regulatory changes to Medicare Advantage (MA), which is a private alternative to traditional fee-for-service Medicare (TM).

While TM provides coverage only for legislatively determined medical services, MA insurers can provide supplemental benefits not covered in TM. This pilot project will examine how offering expanded supplemental benefits is associated with patient outcomes. It will generate preliminary data estimating causal relations between the provision of expanded supplemental benefits and patient outcomes, using a quasi-experimental design.

All spring 2025 Blackboard courses will be migrated to Canvas by the end of May 2025. Summer 2024 and fall 2024 courses should already be migrated. Check your list of migrated courses from 2022-2024 to ensure all desired sections are present. Some courses may not have migrated due to their Courseleaf configuration, including independent study courses.

If you find missing summer 2022-fall 2024 courses, submit the Migration Request Form by May 6, 2025. This form is only for missing sections from summer 2022 through fall 2024. Do not use it for spring 2025 courses or migrated courses already visible in Canvas.

Note: due to space limitations, not all events and reminders are listed every week. If you see an event you want to attend, please put it on your calendar.

April 10 | 1-2:30 pm | The Hub, Ballroom | Register here

President Gregory Washington sits down with Don Graham, Chairman Emeritus of Graham Holdings Company, to discuss his journey of creating positive change — especially his work supporting undocumented students through TheDream.US. Don’t miss this inspiring conversation! 

Next session: April 29 
Our yoga instructor, Teri Patterson, will be at a yoga retreat and will miss a few sessions. No yoga on April 8, 15, and 22.

These events previously have been in the newsletter; to see full event descriptions, please consult previous newsletters.

April 10 | 12 pm | Multipurpose Room | Followed by lunch | RSVP 

April 8 | 10:30-11:30 am | Merten 1201 | Learn more

HAP continues leading the units, with Nutrition and Food Studies in second place. Naren Durbha had the most steps for an individual this past week. Report March 31-April 6 steps by midnight today, April 7.

PUBLICHEALTH.GMU.EDU

Access the CPH brand toolkit, including new CPH and department logos here.

View the newsletter archives here.