Master of Science in Health Communication Boston University College of Communication and Metropolitan College
Faculty
Paul Buta
Paul Buta is president of Choiceplex, delivering comprehensive marketing solutions for financial services, health care and retail companies. Prior to Choiceplex, he was Vice President of business development at Dendrite International, a provider of sales and marketing solutions to the pharmaceutical industry. Previously, he was co-founder of Optas, a software services company supporting relationship marketing in the pharmaceutical industry. He has also held management positions at IMS Health, AC Nielsen, Cognitive Systems and Dun & Bradstreet.
Currently focused on the intersection of social networks and privacy, Paul recently published the book Privacy Panic, helping consumers take charge of their personal privacy. Choiceplex clients seek to reach customers in this new environment, balancing privacy with personal service in a trusted relationship.
Cara Cheyette
Cara Cheyette is the newest member of the faculty in the Master of Science in Health Communication program. In addition to teaching the Ethical Issues in Medical and Public Health Information course, Cara will continue to co-teach Introduction to Human Rights and Health at Boston University School of Public Health. In that capacity, Cara has been developing course materials on topics about the United Nations, non-governmental organizations and the International Criminal Court, as well as case studies concerning the relationship between environmental health and human rights, and on some sensitive issues concerning the rights of women and children. Cara is also currently working as a research consultant for Physicians for Human Rights in connection with its Campaign Against Torture.
Cara's interest in the areas of health law, bioethics and human rights began 20 years ago with her work on behalf of Guatemala and Salvadoran immigrants and refugees. It grew in law school where she delved into topics at the intersection of law, ethics and medicine — from the very public question of the use of epidemiological evidence as a litigation tool, to the very private issue of harvesting organs from legally incompetent individuals. As an attorney in private practice at Palmer & Dodge LLP in Boston, Cara devoted many pro bono hours working with minors in proceedings that determined whether they were sufficiently mature to give their informed consent to medical procedures.
As the Health Law, Bioethics and Human Rights Fellow at BUSPH, Cara continued to focus her research in the areas of medical ethics, governmental intrusion into health care decision-making, and the proper balance of public and private rights in the health arena. In addition, she had the opportunity to observe ethics consults at Boston Medical Center. The experience gave her an appreciation for how key ethical questions — who should decide? how should decisions be made? — are resolved in a clinical setting, and the extent to which communication break downs among caregivers create real but surmountable obstacles in the path toward implementing difficult decisions concerning a patient's care.
Dorothy Clark
Professor Dorothy Clark has taught communication writing courses at Boston University since 1985. For 10 years she had a communication writing business, Media Wise. Professor Clark wrote for a variety of companies, including Swarovski and Gorham, as well as hospitals, including Rhode Island Hospital and Boston Medical Center. Prior to that, she was the public relations manager at Gorhan/Textron.
Her teaching at Boston University is the most rewarding work of her career. In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate writing courses, Professor Clark is the coordinator of the adjunct writing faculty and serves as faculty advisor forthe Collegeof Communicationonline newsletter, The COMmunicator. In 2004, she was the recipient of the department's first Professor of the Year for Teaching Excellence award.
Tom Fauls
Professor Fauls is a marketing communications consultant who's been an ad manager for a Fortune 500 company, a principal in his own integrated marketing agency, an agency exec and currently a specialist in interactive marcom.
His agency career began with two years as an AE before becoming a copywriter, creative director and executive creative director. He has worked at NWAyer, Leo Burnett, TLK (now Euro RSCG), JWT, FCB, Cramer-Krasselt, et al. Experience includes work in all media — general, direct and interactive — and on many brands including United Airlines, various Kraft brands, Sears, Motorola, Kemper, ABC/Chicago, GM MasterCard, MCI, GE Capital, medical/pharma accounts, Frito-Lay, Southwest, Coors, Kellogg's, McDonalds, Discover Card, HP, Zenith, software accounts, Activision and multiple P&G brands.
Prof. Fauls is a co-author of The Media Revolution Edition of Advertising & The Business of Brands.
Maureen Flynn
Professor Flynn has lead communication efforts in government, non-profit, and health care organizations including the United Way, The American Cancer Society, The Boston Partnership for Older Adults, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Department of Mental Retardation and the Elderly Commission for the City of Boston. She recently served as Program Administrator for the Lance Armstrong Foundation's Survivorship Program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.She has served as a speaker and workshop presenter on crisis management, media relations and social marketing.
In partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the City of Boston, Professor Flynn developed several successful social marketing campaigns including Boston's Crusade Against Cancer which was hailed by the US Conference of Mayors as the largest and most successful public health initiative in the country. Partnering with local TV network affiliates, she produced the nation's first "simulcast" to support the work of local charities supported by the United Way. Her awards include a Points of Light Foundation Award and The Fleet Leadership Award. Her research includes 100,000 Voices – On Growing Older in Boston, April 2003 and No Place Like Home – Lodging Houses In The City of Boston, 1990. She has also been instrumental in creating national health and housing policies. She led the medical and communication team that created the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/NCCN Cancer Survivorship Information™ web-page.
Professor Flynn's areas of expertise include media relations, social marketing, crisis management, special events management, community relations and communications in non-profit, health care and government organizations.
Pauline C. Hamel
Pauline C. Hamel, Ed.D, PT has been teaching in the Master of Science in Health Communication program at Boston University since its inaugural semester in the Fall of 2008. Prior to this, she was a Clinical Professor and Director of Clinical Education in the Physical Therapy Department at Northeastern University's Bouve´ College of Health Sciences, in Boston, MA., where she was responsible for doctoral level clinical education internship placements, student mentoring, advisement, contract negotiations, and recruitment/development of physical therapy clinical sites across the country. She continues to teach as adjunct faculty in Northeastern's Health Sciences Department. For over 25 years, Dr. Hamel's professional career has included numerous roles as professor, clinician (physical therapist and rehabilitation/geriatric specialist), administrator, public speaker and consultant in both academia and the health care industry.
Dr. Hamel was named to the Board of Directors of Easter Seals Massachusetts in Fall 2009. Easter Seals provides disability services, advocacy, youth empowerment, employment, and assistive technologies across the lifespan to ensure that children and adults with disabilities have equal opportunities to "live, learn, work and play."
In partnership with the Department of Public Health, the New Bedford Health Department and leading health-funding foundations, Dr. Hamel was named the Project Coordinator for the New Bedford Mass in Motion Municipal Wellness and Leadership grant which includes community assessment schools, worksites, healthcare sites, community institutions/organizations, and the community-at-large to address childhood obesity and related chronic diseases through policy, systems and environmental change strategies.
More recently, she was hired as a Special Project Consultant to the Greater New Bedford Health Equity Initiatives Integration Project, acting as Liaison between the Greater New Bedford Health and Human Services Coalition, Mass in Motion, ACHIEVE, and Healthy People 2020 grants. Her work will include conducting area-wide town hall forums on the social determinants of health and their effects on health outcomes.
Dr. Hamel has also worked and consulted with patients/clients of all ages (with a specialization in older adults) in acute and subacute rehabilitation, community health, and home care settings in Boston, Cape Cod, and the New England area. She is currently a member of the American Public Health Association and the American Medical Writer's Association. While a member of the Education, Geriatric, and Health Policy/Administration Sections of the American Physical Therapy Association, she presented her work on health communication, health literacy, and geriatric rehabilitation at national and regional conferences, including the American Physical Therapy Association's national conferences, expositions and combined sections meetings in San Francisco, Denver, San Antonio, and Boston; as well as the Institute of Healthcare Advancement (IHA)'s National Health Literacy Conference in Irvine, CA, and the Medical Education for the 21st Century/Teaching for Health Equity conference in Havana, Cuba. Additionally, she has provided interviews on various areas of expertise, including a recent podcast on intergenerational health communication.
Donald Hurwitz
Donald Hurwitz is a principal at Synapse Marketing/Gravity Communications, providing strategic marketing and communication services to professional services firms, technology-based start-ups and non-profits. Previously, he was a Director at Cegedim Dendrite, an international provider of marketing and sales data solutions to the pharmaceutical industry.
Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President/Marketing Director at internet and direct marketing firm Digitas, and in similar roles at advertising agencies Ingalls, Quinn & Johnson and Arnold Advertising. At the start of his career, he was a member of the communications faculties at Boston College and the University if Illinois.
Don's health care credits include bringing new products and marketing services initiatives to market on behalf of such companies such as J&J, GSK, Wyeth, Shire, Dey and Coderyte.
His ongoing activities include consulting and advising on issues of marketing strategy, practice and programming to senior management in professional services, consumer and B2B start-ups, and non-profit organizations.
Wayne LaMorte
Dr. LaMorte received his MD from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and received a PhD in biochemistry and an MPH from Boston University. He has been a faculty member at Boston University for more than 20 years and currently teaches three courses in the School of Public Health: "Introduction to Epidemiology," "The Biology of Public Health," and "Introduction to Public Health". He is currently the Assistant Dean for Education at Boston University School of Public Health, and he is also the director of the MD-MPH dual degree program, the BS-MPH dual degree program, and the undergraduate public health minor at Boston University. Dr. LaMorte also teaches Evidence-based Medicine in the Boston University School of Medicine.
He has been actively involved in public health practice. He has worked actively with the New England Alliance for Public Health Workforce development to create and provide both online training and face to face training to public health practitioners in Massachusetts. Dr. LaMorte has also worked with high school students to develop videos promoting healthy choices by teens. These include videos on personal decisions on smoking, physical activity and healthy eating, and alcohol use.
Kristen Pufahl
Kristen Pufahl works as a Registered Dietitian in the Nutrition Services program at Jewish Family & Children's Service in Waltham, Massachusetts. She develops nutrition programs, provides individual nutrition counseling, and educates staff, clients, and the community about healthy eating practices. She has also worked as a teaching fellow at Boston University, a high school nutrition teacher, an inpatient dietitian at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, an outpatient dietitian at Children's Hospital, and a private practice nutrition consultant.
Professor Pufahl received her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Georgetown University, after which she worked in the information technology consulting field. She received her Master of Science in Nutrition degree from Boston University's Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, and completed her dietetic internship at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. She was recently awarded the Leadership Education in Adolescent Health (LEAH) Nutrition Fellowship in the Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston.
Professor Pufahl is a member of the American Dietetic Association and the Massachusetts Dietetic Association.
Stephen Quigley
Professor Quigley just completed his tenth year teaching public relations at Boston University and his fourth year as faculty coordinator of the University's public relations program. Steve serves as co-coordinator of the Master of Science in Health Communication program along with Dr. Domenic Screnci.
In addition to teaching, Steve is a public relations consultant whose work is concentrated in the areas of media relations, public affairs, community relations, and crisis communication. Prior to launching a public relations consulting business, he was a partner with the Boston public relations firm of Schneider & Associates. He has provided strategic counsel and created public relations campaigns for a broad range of national and international clients.
Steve serves as faculty advisor to the Boston University chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America and was honored in 2009 with the establishment of the Stephen Quigley Public Relations Scholarship Fund in recognition of his "encouragement, guidance and inspiration to students aspiring to pursue a career in public relations." He is the recipient of the 2009 Boston University Student Activities Faculty Advisor of the Year Award, the Publicity Club of New England's 2006 John J. Malloy Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2004 Lyndon Baines Johnson Student Advisor of the Year Award, the 2004 COMSA Faculty Advisor of the Year Award, and is an Honorary Member of the Golden Key International National Honour Society.
Professor Quigley is an APR, a member of the National Commission on Public Relations Education and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Communication in Healthcare. Steve is past president of the Boston Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and a former delegate to the National PRSA Assembly. He is a frequent speaker at professional and industry conferences and seminars where his recent presentations have focused on the impact of social media on the practice of public relations. His writing and opinions have appeared in various business, trade and legal publications.
Jean van Seventer
After finishing veterinary school, Dr. van Seventer worked as a small animal practitioner on Cape Cod, while assisting in research studies at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and the Marine Biological Laboratories in Woods Hole. Subsequently, she received research training as a Research Fellow in Comparative and Veterinary Pathology at Harvard Medical School, during which time she served as an Intern in Pathology at Angell Memorial Animal Hospital, and then as a Research Fellow in Pathology in the Immunopathology Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr. van Seventer received further research training focused on immunology as a Fellow at the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute,in the Experimental Immunology Branch and the Laboratory of Pathology. After completing her training, she spent six years as an independent researcher at the University of Chicago, studying human T cell and dendritic cell biology. In 2000, Dr. van Seventer moved to the Boston University School of Public Health, where she now teaches and does immunology research.
Her ongoing research focuses on the role of type I interferons in regulating T cell and dendritic cell responses in human autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
