From Student to Director<\/strong><\/p>\nFurman is a special place for Cass, who was recently named director of its MS-CEM program. Her story with the university goes back further than that, though. She graduated with a bachelor\u2019s degree in Health and Exercise Science and Spanish.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving experienced a liberal arts education as a student here, it’s really fulfilling to be able to experience it and know the value of that and then to help shape that for both undergraduate and graduate students,\u201d Cass says.<\/p>\n
She went on to earn a master\u2019s in public health from the University of Kentucky and a Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University of South Carolina. She moved back to Greenville in 2004 when her husband, Jeremy Cass \u201900, became a faculty member at Furman.<\/p>\n
Her Own Kind of Path<\/strong><\/p>\nSince then, she\u2019s worked in a hospital setting and in medical education. Both roles taught her the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration as she worked with professionals from different departments. That work changed the way she viewed how healthcare professionals are trained and gave her a deeper compassion for the challenges they face. She\u2019s also learned how to approach health problems through different perspectives and disciplines.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that is something that I emphasize and value, being able to bring that multidisciplinary appreciation to a critical evaluation of a health problem and hearing different voices,\u201d she shares.<\/p>\n
Cass tells her students their paths don\u2019t have to run straight from point A to point B. Her own path has had plenty of unexpected turns along the way. Where she is now feels like the intersection point of all her previous professional roles, more like a Venn diagram than a straight line.<\/p>\n
No matter the role, community has remained a constant throughout her career. While at Prisma Health, she focused on how to improve health outcomes for her community of patients. As a researcher, she focuses on understanding community needs and why health outcomes differ from person to person. At Furman, her community includes the students in her classroom. All these roles have molded the educator she is today. Now, she helps students consider the needs of those in their own communities.<\/p>\n
Community Connections<\/strong><\/p>\nFieldwork is at the heart of the MS-CEM program and is where all the coursework comes together. Each student takes something different from fieldwork, based on their own needs and career goals. The placements allow students to see \u201cupstream\u201d factors such as housing, education and access to healthcare. At the same time, they learn about \u201cdownstream\u201d factors, like health events that occur when patients interact with a healthcare facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think it’s fundamental to shaping the way that their viewpoint will be as they move forward,\u201d Cass says.<\/p>\n
Cass makes sure she works and volunteers in the community on a regular basis. Being involved in the community allows her to see health barriers. To her, that is just as important as reading the latest scientific literature.<\/p>\n
Similar to her own Venn Diagram, she sees that Greenville offers the same kind of intersection between academic, healthcare and nonprofit worlds. First, it has the academic institution of Furman. Second, Greenville has a strong healthcare system and an active nonprofit community. Third, it has health challenges, which show up in both rural and urban ways, that students can learn from.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe population itself has grown and changed over the past 10 years,\u201d Cass notes. \u201cIt\u2019s an environment for the students to learn a lot from and then also to give back to at the same time in a way that I think is pretty unique.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere medicine meets humanity.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nThe phrase captures what the MS-CEM program is all about.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think in general terms, it serves as a reminder that at the heart of any practice of medicine or public health is humans,\u201d Cass says. \u201cHopefully, it makes us all more compassionate practitioners of health or medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n
For students in the program, the phrase carries meaning that will be specific to each student\u2019s professional journey. No matter what field they enter, the person in front of them has a life outside the exam room that influences their healthcare needs.<\/p>\n
Cass sees this as more than just a lesson for students. She applies it to her own work too, remembering that each data point in her research represents a human life.<\/p>\n
Building on a Strong Foundation<\/strong><\/p>\nAs the new MS-CEM director, her vision for the future is centered around the value that the program offers. From coursework to fieldwork placements, students learn about community resources, strengths and challenges. They come away with more than just the science.<\/p>\n
Students bring a rich diversity of perspectives to the program. She wants classroom discussions to stay this robust moving forward. She also hopes to see an ever-strengthening applicant pool of students who bring passion to a wide range of careers.<\/p>\n
Cass plans to strengthen partnerships with community organizations, many of which serve as fieldwork placements and future workplaces for students. She also intends to build advising and mentoring connections with the strong Furman alumni network.<\/p>\n
That vision is already coming to life, one Monday morning at a time. At Place of Hope and fieldwork placement sites across the community, Cass and her students serve their community, learning its needs and giving back in return. It\u2019s proof, she says, that no path has to be a straight line to be meaningful.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo experience is ever wasted as long as you’re learning,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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