Mary E. Costanza, MD, the president of NAP, is Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. A graduate of RadcliffeCollege (now Harvard) and the University of Rochester Medical School, she has been in the practice of medical oncology for over 35 years. Dr. Costanza’s clinical career has been focused on breast cancer treatment. Currently her clinical practice is limited to breast cancer prevention, heading a breast cancer risk clinic that focuses on identifying women at increased risk for breast cancer and developing a personal risk reduction program. In addition, over the last 20 years she has being doing funded research in cancer control that has included breast, colon and prostate cancer screening. The author of over 90 peer-reviewed papers, Dr. Costanza recently received the Clinician of the Year Award by the Worcester District Medical Society and the Emerita Award for Excellence in Medical Education by the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Arthur I. Hazlewood. DDS. MPH is Chairman Emeritus of the department of Dentistry at Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center (OLM) where he developed new and innovative programs and procedures to enhance the delivery of dental care to the community. Dr. Hazlewood has been a practicing Dentist since 1962. He completed his residency training in prosthetic dentistry at Sea View Hospital in New York and the Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital in New York. Board qualified in prosthetic dentistry, Dr. Hazlewood is a past member of the American College of Prosthodontics and is 1icensed to practice dentistry in the States of New York and Massachusetts.
In addition to his training in dentistry, he studied for and earned a Master's degree in Public Health from Columbia University and has also completed course work for a Master of Science in International Organization. Over the years he has pursued many continuing education courses, one of which culminated in the Advanced Certificate for the Chiefs of Services at Harvard University School of Public Health. Dr. Hazlewood has represented the best of the dentistry, beyond the profession and in many areas of the world.
Prior to joining OLM, he served as Assistant Commissioner of Health for the Nassau County Health Department. He then went on to serve as Director of the Bureau of Health Care Administration for Nassau County. In that position Dr. Hazlewood was instrumental in establishing the Department’s Outreach Programs. He initiated and implemented the conversion of the Health Department's preventive services to a program of comprehensive ambulatory care. He is to be recognized for his accomplishments and achievements in the area of ambulatory care services.
Serving as Co-Chairman of the Nassau County Health Department’s planning committee he assisted with the development of the county’s first neighborhood health center. The center’s educational preventive and treatment programs were developed through his leadership. While serving as Medical Director at Misericordia/Morrisania NFCC, he was responsible for all professional services within the ambulatory center,which averaged 110,000 visits annually. This total included both mental health, chronic and acute care visits.
As Director of Program Planning and Development for the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation, he brought together several task forces on ambulatory care and successfully developed plans to save clinic programs in the New York City Municipal Hospital System from closure. He was appointed by the New York Health and Hospitals Corporation to coordinate the new facilities budget, which allocated funds to develop hospitals and neighborhood health centers. His contributions were seminal in the development of New York City’ Health Services under the NYC Health and Hospitals Corp. Hazlewood was also appointed the First Director of Dental Affairs for the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.
Dr. Hazlewood has built a distinguished career that spans the globe. His professional interests and experiences have not been limited exclusively to the field of dentistry, having held a number of positions in the health care field and in the private sector.
Indeed, he has served as consultant and educator at a wide range of organizations, some of which include the American Public Health Association, the United Nations Development Program for the Government of Guyana, the Caribbean Women’s Health Association, the Health Volunteers Overseas Steering Committee and the Government of Barbados.
He has taken a leading role in promoting education in the areas of health services and programs for developing countries and inner cities in the United States. Dr. Hazlewood served as a consultant to the United Nations Development Program and created a National Oral Health Care Plan for the Government of Guyana. He also served as special advisor to the Minister of Health in the development of the Cheddi Jagan National Dental Center.
In academic areas Dr. Hazlewood is an adjunct professor of Community and Preventive Medicine at the New York Medical College and was a founding faculty member/ lecturer at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He was also a thesis advisor for Columbia University’s School of Public Health. He is a passionate defender of education and the pursuit of education for all individuals, and served on the Fellowship Council of the American Association of Hospital Dentists.
Dr. Hazlewood devotes a large portion of his time and energies to developing and implementing plans to advance teaching hospital programs and their residency programs. He has a long-standing interest in the continued growth and expansion of successful dental and residency programs nationwide. Within the confines of highly regarded teaching hospitals, Dr. Hazlewood directed and implemented action plans to develop all of the medical support and administrative programs for two new hospitals. He later created and established a formal hospital planning process for a major teaching hospital that included all control systems and documentation.
In addition to an abiding interest in the field of dentistry he has served as consultant to the medical profession, the private business sector and the government. Some of his independent consulting activities have included working with the US Department of Health and Human Services and National Institutes of Health focusing on the evaluation of administrative organization and structure in both the sickle cell and in dental grant programs and with DHHS in setting the guidelines for the AIDS dental reimbursement program.
Dr. Hazlewood served as consultant on dental care programs for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, evaluating the organization and administration of grantee hospitals. In 1979 he was appointed a member of the New York State Governor’s Task Force on Dental Health Policy, which addressed the issues of access and which achieved changes in the state’s Medicaid program.
His memberships in professional associations include the American Dental Association, the New York State Dental Association, The American Association of Hospital Dentists, The American College of Dentists and the New York Academy of Dentistry. He is a Past Chairman of the New York Section of the College of Dentistry, and Co- Chairman the National Academies of Practice. He is currently serving as President-elect
In addition, he served as president of the American Association of Hospital Dentists, 1994-95 and was Chairman from 1995-96. Dr. Hazlewood is a member of the council of the National Academies of Practice.
In recognition of his many efforts and achievements, Dr. Hazlewood received the Physician of the Year Award from Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center in 1995, and the National Academy of Practice has honored him with the Distinguished Practitioner Award
He was also appointed US delegate at the African/African-American Summit in the African nations of Senegal in 1995, Zimbabwe in 1997, and Ghana in 1999.
Dr. Hazelwood’s tireless efforts over the years attest to his commitment to serving health care needs and improving the lives of the less fortunate throughout the world. For his efforts, he received the “Award of Distinction” from the Academy of Dentistry International and The Distinguished Alumnus Award from Howard University College of Dentistry. The American Association of Hospital Dentists presented its highest award, the Lawrence Chasko Award for Distinguished Service in hospital dentistry to Dr. Hazlewood. He received the Service Award from the American College of Dentists.
Since his retirement from Our Lady of Mercy Medical center, he continues to be active in a number of areas, such as assisting hospitals prepare for accreditation and in program development; as serving two years on the Steering Committee of the American Dental Association Health Volunteers overseas; as well as being Co- Chairman of the Dental Academy of the National Academies of Practice, a national interdisciplinary organization, and recently assisted Columbia University School of Dental Medicine in their minority recruitment efforts.
He has served on the Committee of Fellowship of the American Association of Hospital Dentists and has recently been elected President-elect of the National Academies of Practice. Dr. Hazlewood also serves as an Associate on the Council of Public Representatives- an advisory council to the Director of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Hazlewood’s wide ranging activities includes service as a Trustees of Daytop Village Incorporation- an internationally famous drug treatment organization.
Jeannette Yeznach Wick, RPh, MBA, FASCP is a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. As an active duty officer with the United States Public Health Service, she served as the Chief Pharmacist and Director of Quality Improvement in what was the nation's largest psychiatric facility during her tenure. She currently serves as a Senior Clinical Research Pharmacist at the National Cancer Institute, where she manages a portfolio of investigational agents.
Ms. Wick is a frequent contributor to the medical literature, and the author of two books, Supervision: A Pharmacy Perspective and Pharmacy Services in an Aging Society. Her areas of expertise include mental health and psychiatry; management and personnel; public health issues; geriatric pharmacy; drug nomenclature; quality improvement; patient empowerment and informed consent; and cancer. She is a certified immunizing pharmacist, and holds a certificate in epidemiology. Her interests and hobbies include community involvement, animal rescue, reading, and domestic arts. She currently lives in Arlington, Virginia.
David A. Rodgers, PhD, is Emeritus Staff of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, where he established the Section of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology in 1966. Following his PhD from the University of Chicago and VA post-doctoral training through Stanford University, he joined the Psychology Faculty at the University of California in Berkeley. He later moved to an NIMH Research Fellowship at the Brain Research Institute at UCLA and has since held adjunct faculty appointments at several universities, including an Adjunct Full Professorship at the University of California in San Diego. Before transferring to the Cleveland Clinic, he established the Section of Medical Psychology in the Dept. of Psychiatry at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla, Calif. He has been Principal or Co-principal Investigator for research grants from NSF, NIH, USPHS, and FAA. He has authored numerous papers and book chapters.
Dr. Rodgers has served on the Council of Representatives and on major Boards and Committees of the American Psychological Association, including the Policy and Planning Board and two Blue-Ribbon Commissions to review the structure of APA. He was instrumental in writing the Ohio Psychology Licensing Law, twice served as President of the Ohio Psychological Association and served as President of the Ohio Psychology Regulatory Board. He served on the Executive Committee of the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards and on many other boards and committees. With Ronald Fox, a Founding Member of NAP, he was instrumental in establishing the School of Professional Psychology at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. He has received many awards for scholarly and professional achievement.
Dr. Marie DiCowden is a nationally known healthcare psychologist and behavioral medicine specialist. She graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from The George Washington University, Washington, D. C. She completed her internship at Georgetown University Medical Center.
Dr. DiCowden joined the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital staff in the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation in 1981, working closely with Dr. Barth Green and Dr. John Bowker in establishing a premier program for psychological and physical rehabilitation for children and adults with brain injury, spinal cord injury, amputations and chronic diseases. Dr. DiCowden maintains her faculty appointment with the University of Miami School of Medicine and teaches at various graduate schools across the country.
Dr. DiCowden serves as Executive Director of The Biscayne Institutes of Health and Living, Inc. as well as Chairperson of the Biscayne Foundation. She was elected a Fellow of the American Psychological Association by both the divisions of clinical and rehabilitation psychology. She has held numerous offices with APA divisions. In 2001, she was also elected as a Fellow in the National Academy of Practice, an invited, interdisciplinary honorary.
Dr. DiCowden writes and lectures extensively, both nationally and internationally, on issues of disability, healthcare and healthcare policy. She has been at the forefront of implementing functional accountability in the United States through the use of the International Classification of Functioning system developed by the World Health Organization.
Dr. DiCowden is known in the community for her work with disadvantaged populations and her ability to integrate multiple cross cutting agendas with various community agencies. Currently she is the Chair of Public Field Hearings on the Health Care Crisis, with the hearings panel to be chaired by several Members of Congress and state legislators on September 20, 2008. She provides expert testimony for the legal community and has testified in both State and Federal hearings on the need for patient care and healthcare reform. She has a passionate concern for the role of women and the arts in health and healing.
