MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Joins Crouse Medical Practice

Emily Weston, RN, FNP-S, has joined the pulmonology team at Crouse Medical Practice’s downtown location. She earned an master’s in nursing/family nurse rractitioner from SUNY Polytechnic Institute; a bachelor’s in nursing from SUNY Upstate Medical University; and her associate’s degree from Crouse Hospital’s Pomeroy College of Nursing.

Wassel tabbed for director of social services position

The Centers at St. Camillus has named Mary Wassel as its new director of social services. Wassel has been active in the health care field for more than 25 years with a focus on long term care services. She received her Bachelor of Arts with a concentration in gerontology from SUNY Cortland and was integral to the first upstate New York student symposium on aging in coordination with SUNY Stony Brook.

Wassel received her master’s degree in social work with a concentration certificate in gerontology from Syracuse University and has worked in a variety of aging services, from adult day care, home care and assisted living to Hospice, skilled nursing and rehabilitation services in both proprietary and not-forprofit settings.

She has served on a number of boards of directors for long term care providers and was a selected panelist for SUNY Cortland alumni to speak on careers in health care. Wassel is a 2014-15 graduate the LeadingAge NY Leadership Academy, where she served as a coach for four years.

Wassel’s passion is to provide long term care education and serve the community with a fresh, innovative outlook, as well being part of a supportive interdisciplinary team.

Joins St. Joe’s Women’s Health team

St. Joseph’s Physicians welcomes Melissa Bunce, physician assistant to St. Joseph’s Health Women’s Health Services in Auburn.

A board-certified physician assistant, Bunce brings more than 17 years of clinical experience to St. Joseph’s Health Women’s Health Services. Before joining St. Joseph’s Health, Bunce served as a physician assistant in primary care, internal medicine and HIV medicine at clinics in Arizona and Texas.

Prior to that, Bunce worked in Syracuse as a physician’s assistant in gynecology, performing patient exams such as pap smears, breast exams, assessments as well as developing suitable treatment plans such as hormone therapy.

Bunce is certified by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants and holds basic life support certification from the American Heart Association. Bunce is also an HIV specialist certified by the American Academy of HIV Medicine.

Bunce earned her master’s degree in physician assistant studies from Le Moyne College and her bachelor’s degree in biology from the State University New York Geneseo.

New doctor joins OB-GYN practice

St. Joseph’s Health has welcomed Dr. Monideepa Baruah to its Health Primary Care Center OB-GYN in Syracuse. In her new role, Baruah joins a team of diverse and highly qualified specialists to provide comprehensive women’s care to the community.

Dr. Baruah is a board-certified physician with more than a decade’s experience in women’s healthcare. Before joining St. Joseph’s Health, Dr. Baruah served as an OBGYN for Slocum Dickson Medical Group in New Hartford. While there, she focused on testing, diagnosing, treating, and monitoring diseases and issues related to women's health and providing medical counsel and support to women during pregnancy and childbirth.

Dr. Baruah earned her bachelor of medicine degree from Gauhati Medical College and Hospital in Guwahati in India and completed her medical training with a four-year residency with Baystate Health Medical Center in Springfield, Mass.

Dr. Baruah is a certified physician by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG) and a fellow of American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (FACOG). She assumed her new role in July.

Two promoted at Oswego Health

Oswego Health has announced the recent promotion of Theresa Fitzgibbons to director of clinical quality and patient safety. Theresa has been a licensed registered nurse since 1998 and began her career at Oswego Health in 2007 as a per diem RN in the intensive care unit. In 2008 she

joined Oswego Health fulltime and has served in various roles over the years including seeing patients at several primary care practices, RN case manager in 2013, RN clinical documentation specialist in 2014, and DSRIP coordinator in 2018.

Heather Elen was recently promoted to human resources operation manager.

Elen began her career at Oswego Health in 2016 as a senior recruiter and quickly advanced to recruiting and retention manager in 2017, before becoming employment manager in 2019.

In this newly created position at Oswego Health, Elen will focus on overall compensation, benefits, recruiting, employment, reporting, and compliance.

“Heather has been instrumental in assisting the department with making various improvements across recruiting, employment, and employee relations,” stated Vice President of Human Resources Marq Brown. “In the new role, I’m confident she will help streamline our processes in order to make our department more efficient.”

Elen earned her bachelor’s degree in communications from University of Phoenix.

Brooks-Rolling named UMEA executive director

The Upstate Minority Economic Alliance (UMEA) has named Me’Shae Brooks-Rolling as its new executive director. Brooks-Rolling has served as interim executive director for the past year managing the organization’s day to day operations. “On behalf of the board of directors, we are excited to have Me’Shae join UMEA as our executive director,” said Calvin Corriders, president of the Upstate Minority Economic Alliance and regional president, Syracuse market at Pathfinder Bank. “Me’Shae brings a diverse skill set that will prove beneficial to our minority business community. As interim executive director she has helped this organization grow in impact and reach, and connect more minority and women-owned businesses to the resources they need to grow and succeed.”

As executive director, Brooks-Rolling will work with minority businesses to help them grow and expand, engage in strategic networking, and identify technical assistance and financial support resources they may need. She will also be responsible for managing stakeholder relationships.

Brooks-Rolling is a serial entrepreneur who brings more than 25 years of experience in special events, conferencing and hospitality industries. Prior to becoming a business owner, she was the director of special events and conferences at the Institute for Veterans & Military Families at Syracuse University, where she was responsible for vendor procurement. She made history in 2018 when she became the first franchise owner/operator of EventPrep, Inc. in New York state and the northeastern territory. Just The Basics Financial Literacy is her micro-socio business enterprise. Additionally, Brooks-Rolling is an author and certified educator in personal finance; and is the executive producer of the 2021 Financial Empowerment Summit.

Brooks-Rolling is MWBE-certified with the city of Syracuse, New York state and the NY/NJ Minority Supplier Development Council. She earned her master’s degree in public administration from The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, having attended on a full fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Brooks-Rolling volunteers on a number of executive and advisory boards and contributes philanthropically to the Syracuse community.

The UMEA is a minority chamber of commerce for the 16-county Upstate New York region. To learn more about UMEA

visit www.upstatemea.com.