Newsletter Winter 2022

Northeastern Spotlight

Winter 2022 Volume 17 – Number 1

News and Announcements

We have three new staff who have recently joined the GTBI team, please see below for their information. Please join us in welcoming them to TB.

This Fall Derrick Bruno joined the Global Tuberculosis Institute (GTBI) as our newest Public Health Representative. A graduate of the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor of Science degree in public health Derrick was previously employed as a contracted Public Health Advisor at the CDC Quarantine Station at Newark International Airport conducting COVID-19 contact tracing. Derrick is excited about working at GTBI and is looking forward to the work ahead.
Karen Fountain has over 15 years of experience working in public health. Prior to coming to GTBI, she created a mobile health screening program for Union County, worked with the Global Division of Planned Parenthood, and, most recently, was Program Director for a rare disease foundation. She is excited to work in the TB arena and looks forward to collaborating with partners in GTBI's COE region. Outside of work, she enjoys yoga, travel, hiking and working on a charity she started with a friend, Savvy Giving by Design NJ. They redo rooms of children with serious medical issues to create healthy, healing environments.

Ursula Garris is our new Nursing Care Coordinator at GTBI’s Lattimore Practice. She was previously the COVID supervisor in an innovative Rutgers program that provided PCR test kits to Rutgers staff and students from vending machines. She has been a registered nurse for 18 years and worked in a variety of settings: elementary school, substance use treatment center, neuro behavioral research unit and as Nursing Director at the Carrier Clinic. Her passion is to take care of underserved populations. Ursula, a Kean University graduate, is originally from Maryland and she likes to read, prepare meals for her family, and take long walks with her children, Dwayne and Olivia. She’s also mom to two feline fur babies: Gabby and MJ. She is excited about working in Lattimore Practice at GTBI and merging interests in education and clinical care.

 

For a complete list of our staff, please click here for the staff directory page.