Networking Luncheon Table Hosts

I am a tenure-track assistant professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Data Science at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. My work focuses on statistical genetics research, such as identifying multi-omics contributors to complex diseases and precision medicine initiatives, including pharmacogenomics. My research portfolio spans multiple omics technologies, including genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, metabolomics, and the microbiome. Given the magnitude of these data, I also work to develop computationally efficient tools and pipelines within High Performance Computing (HPC) environments. I recently joined ClinGen, an NIH-funded initiative dedicated to building a central resource for defining the clinical relevance of genes and variants (Rheumatologic Autoimmune Disease Clinical Domain Working Group).

I am a 2010 Salem College graduate (Chemistry major; Sociology minor); and I received my PhD from Wake Forest University in Molecular Genetics and Genomics.

Sallie Smalley Beason graduated from Salem Academy in 1985 and earned a BA in Economics from UNC Chapel Hill in 1989. After college, she moved to Philadelphia and began a career as a commercial loan officer for a regional bank. In 1997, she earned an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, double majoring in Finance and Real Estate. Upon graduation from Wharton, Sallie worked in New York City on Wall Street for five years in Commercial Real Estate Investment Banking and continued this career in Charlotte with senior positions at Bank of America and Fifth Third Bank. In 2009, she founded her own consulting company where she works directly with financial institutions, debt and equity funds, and national due diligence companies to provide real estate, banking, and capital markets expertise.

Sallie is currently serving on the Salem Academy and College Board of Trustees (as Finance Chair), the Salem Academy Alumnae Board, and on the Board of Directors of the Children’s Theatre of Charlotte as Chair-Elect.

Sam is the Clinical Director of the Memory Counseling Program where they provide counseling, education, referral to resources, and support groups to people living with dementia and their care partners. She majored in Psychology and minored in Sociology at Salem College and earned her Master of Social Work from UNC-Chapel Hill. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, she specializes in trauma and grief work and has experience working with people with multiple chronic health conditions in integrated and collaborative medical settings.

Christina Hugenschmidt, PhD, is the Rebecca E. Shaw Professor and Director of the Memory Counseling Program and Associate Professor of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine. She is a neuroscientist committed to research that maintains dignity and purpose for older adults across the range of physical and cognitive function they experience, and Her research investigates how age-related changes in movement and metabolism interact with the brain and cognition, and the potential of lifestyle interventions to support healthy brain and body function in aging. Her work on arts and aging with her close collaborator and Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow Christina Soriano, MFA, has led to community collaborations and unique outreach opportunities.

Dr. Katie Fanning joined Salem College in 2023 as an Assistant Professor of Health Science and Coordinator of Salem Scholars having previously served as an adjunct in 2017.

Dr. Fanning’s research experience is as a NIH T-32 Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Comparative Medicine/Molecular Medicine and Translational Science at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Her research focus was on understanding the mechanisms of diabetes mellitus as a long-term side effect of radiation exposure in Rhesus macaques.

Dr. Fanning’s clinical interests include preventative medicine, animal behavior, and palliative care. She worked in corporate, private practice for a number of years where she prioritized mentorship of students (high school- professional school) ultimately becoming a regional coordinator of student externship experiences. Most recently, she served as Medical Director at Forsyth Humane Society for 3 years to support their transition into the county shelter. There, she developed policy and procedures related to: medical staff onboarding and training, preventative care and infectious disease management, minimizing animal stress, surgery, and euthanasia.

Dr. T. Sharee Fowler has 25 years of experience working to advance meaningful social change through community organizing, advocacy, and systemic transformation strategies. She is currently an Associate Professor and Program Director of Nonprofit Management & Community Leadership at Salem College, where she also co-directs Salem’s Center for Action & Public Service and the Health Advocacy & Humanitarian Systems program. In addition to her academic roles, Sharee is a Courage & Renewal Facilitator prepared by the Center for Courage & Renewal.

Sharee completed her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Teaching with a specialization in Cultural Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is a proud Salem College alumna (C ’97). She serves on the Governing Council for 18 Springs Community Healing Center and is a member of the Voices of God’s Children, a multi-racial community choir dedicated to the preservation of African-American spirituals as a musical art form.

Dr. Beth Harmer is an assistant professor of Social Work at Western Carolina University and the Bachelor of Social Work Program Director. She received her Doctor of Social Work degree in 2021 from the University of St. Thomas, her Master of Social Work degree from Western Carolina University in 2010, and her BA in Sociology from Salem College in 2004. She is a board member for the Addiction Professionals of North Carolina, the NC Foundation of Alcohol and Drug Studies, Smoky Mountain Harm Reduction, and The Coalition for a Safe and Drug Free Swain County. She holds credentials as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Licensed Clinical Addiction Specialist, and Certified Clinical Supervisor in NC. Her passion lies in improving the understanding of mental health and addictive disorders through the provision of education and training.

Rebecca Jordan is an Associate Professor of Literacy Education at Salem College. She is a former elementary school teacher, instructional coach, and program specialist for student interventions. She has taught most of the elementary grades but considers herself a first grade teacher. She is also licensed to teach English as a Second Language. She is a staunch advocate of every child seeing themselves as readers and writers. Her research centers on the development of teacher knowledge and skills necessary to develop literacy skills and engagement in young children. She is a leader in the state as we recognize and implement the science of reading in all classrooms, PK-16. She sees literacy education as central to health leadership because the ability to access health services and advocate for oneself are greatly diminished without literacy.

Katie Manthey is an associate professor of English and director of the writing center at Salem College. Her research and teaching are both influenced by cultural rhetorics—a way to see systems of power through meaning making in cultural contexts. Her research sits at the intersections of queerness, size, and multimodal rhetorics. Her teaching focuses on professional writing and trains students to find, examine, and ultimately participate in systems of power regardless of their field of study.

In addition, as the co-director of the Health Humanities program at Salem College, her research and teaching often focus on how size and health are rhetorically constructed and how systems of power work through language in ways that live in and on the body.

Jewel Mullen, MD, MPH, MPA is the Associate Dean for Healthy Equity and Associate Professor of Population Health and Internal Medicine at the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School. She also serves as Director of Health Equity at Ascension Seton and Director of Health Equity and Quality at Central Health, the Travis County, Texas Health District. Throughout a career encompassing clinical, academic, policy and administrative roles, her purpose has been to improve the health of all people, especially the underserved.

Dr. Mullen formerly served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) and Director of the Bureau of Community Health and Prevention at the Massachusetts DPH. She is recognized nationally and internationally as a leader in building effective community-based chronic disease prevention programs and for her commitment to improving individual and population health by strengthening coordination between community, public health and health care systems.

She serves on a number of national committees and advisory boards and is a member of the Ann Richards School Foundation Board of Directors. Dr. Mullen received her bachelor’s and Master of Public Health degrees from Yale University where she also completed a post-doctoral fellowship in psychosocial epidemiology and her MD from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She also holds a Master in Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a certificate in bioethics from Georgetown’s Kennedy Institute of Ethics.

Maria is currently a program manager for the Healthy Opportunities Pilot initiative at NC Medicaid in NC DHHS. In this role she oversees the implementation of the provision of services that address health-related social needs. Maria’s experience with healthcare has focused on designing and implementing new programs with an emphasis on alternative payment models and social drivers of health for low-income and high-end populations. Before working with NC DHHS, Maria represented clients in public benefits appeals and led regional outreach efforts for Medical-Legal Partnership and Healthcare Navigator programs to help North Carolinians access clinical care services. Maria holds a Master of Public Health from UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.

Anshu Shrestha, PhD, MPH, is a senior epidemiologist/Research Unit manager at Cancer Registry of Greater California (CRGC), a program of Public Health Institute (PHI). Dr. Shrestha has extensive experience in conducting a wide range of epidemiological studies involving both primary data collection and secondary data analysis using large databases such as registry data. Her research areas include investigating disparities in cancer occurrences, treatment utilization, and survival as well as understanding factors associated with cancer risks and survival in various populations. Dr. Shrestha currently serves as a PI on Pattern of Care 2020 study and as a CRGC/PHI PI on a multi-site study investigating factors associated with prostate cancer occurrence and survival among African American men (RESPOND Study). She also leads multiple collaborative efforts with external researchers to investigate cancer disparities in various cancer areas including bladder cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and renal cell carcinoma. Prior to joining CRGC/PHI, Dr. Shrestha conducted research focused on health economics and outcomes in various disease areas. She earned her MPH and PhD in epidemiology from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. She earned her MS in clinical epidemiology and health services research from Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Dr. Shrestha graduated cum laude from Salem College, where she earned her BS degree in biology and mathematics with a minor in chemistry.

Melissa currently works as a Stewardship Care Liason at Novant Health Foundation iInforming and inspiring current and prospective donors with the mission of the Novant Health system, the stewardship care liason develops personalized opportunities for interaction and engagement to show appreciation to our donors and helps foster an institutional culture of philanthropy.Prior to working with Novant Health, Melissa has extensive experience in the nonprofit sector working with the Healthcare Hospitality Network, Inc. as their Executive Director and SECU Family House as the Director of Operations. Melissa is a Salem College graduate with a Major in Communications and Minor in Not-for-Profit Management.

My name is Jackeline Vázquez. I am originally from Humacao Puerto Rico and moved to the United States in 1985. I graduated from Liberty University in 2017 with a Master’s in Professional Counseling and have been working in private practice ever since. I specialize in trauma, addiction, and family/marital counseling. I enjoy helping immigrant populations navigate the varying systems that facilitate acculturative processes, from filling out FAFSA forms for children of immigrants to writing recommendation letters to the USCIS on behalf of immigrant applicants. Some of the presentations I have given within the Latin community have to do with raising children in between different cultures, how cultural and socioeconomic differences impact family roles in the United States, and developing a sense of cultural identity that is “ni de aca ni de allá” (neither here nor there), with the ability to embrace both.

My own acculturation journey began in a fairly segregated Winston Salem, learning first white Southern English in the only elementary school that offered ESL at that time and shortly after being introduced to black Southern english when I began attending the school in my home district. It was here that I was introduced to the racial systems that existed, in my community and prompted kids to ask me “Are you mixed?” Having never had an awareness of what they meant, or an understanding that I was in the world’s biggest “melting pot” I would answer “Mixed with what?”.