Geraldine (Gerry) Meyer Brodnitzki ’67 worked
at NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital on 12 West (women’s surgery) after graduation. On Easter in 1967, she married her college sweetheart, Bill, and they moved to northwest Connecticut, where she worked at Winsted Memorial Hospital and later at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital. She also did public health nursing and then worked at a general practitioner’s office for 50 years. The couple raised four wonderful children and now have nine delightful grandchildren, ages 6 to 19. She is very active in the local P.T.O. and her church, and was a member of the Norfolk Curling Club for many years. She is currently an EMT for the Norfolk Lions Club ambulance. She notes that she has lost touch with her classmates over the years and wishes warm regards to all. Helene DeMontreux Houston ’68 published The
Other Couch: Discovering Women’s Wisdom in Therapy in August 2015 with coauthor Patricia Peters Martin. The book tells the stories of 36 inspiring and courageous women whom both authors treated. The stories de-stigmatize mental health treatment and provide educational case studies for students of all the health sciences. Midge Harrison Fleming ’69, Janice Izlar ’06, and Ellen Soley Adkins ’81 co-hosted a
brunch for Columbia Nursing alumni and friends in Charleston, S.C. Dean Bobbie Berkowitz and associate dean for clinical affairs Stephen Ferrara addressed alumni from six decades at the event.
1970s Betty Chin Jung ’71 is an adjunct lecturer with Southern Connecticut State University Department of Public Health and has taught public health for nearly two decades. She developed a wellness course/writing project that helps students develop critical thinking skills by using evidence-based resources to develop public health interventions. She was invited to evaluate a fitness
textbook in 2015 regarding its relevance to health and wellness, and served as an ad hoc reviewer for the American Journal of Public Health. She was also asked to contribute the chapter on epidemiology for the public health nursing textbook, Community and Public Health Nursing, to be released in 2016. Rebecca Moldover ’71 recently moved from
Tenafly, N.J., her home for 25 years, to Northampton, Mass. She is retired and notes that Northampton is the perfect place to work or enjoy free time. She and her husband have two children in New York, while their other two children live outside of Boston, which enables them to see their six grandchildren often. Marsha Gottlieb Bronsther ’74 lives in Maryland and is an adjunct professor of nursing at George Mason University. She received her master’s In public health in Israel shortly after graduating from Columbia Nursing. She has four children.
Kathleen Doherty ’77 co-authored Yoga
and Grief: A Compassionate Journey Toward Healing. Ellen Wormser Jarocki ’78 and Willa Wing Lagasse ’78 saw their children marry one
another; Ben Wormser and Grace Lagasse wed in September 2015. Ben and Grace met while students in medical school and then discovered that their mothers had been classmates at Columbia Nursing. Ellen is a nurse midwife in New Haven, Conn., and Willa is a nurse anesthetist in Newark, Del. Janice Presser ’78, CEO of the Gabriel
Institute, gave a TEDx talk, “Timing Isn’t Everything. Teaming Is.”
1980s MJ Olson Campbell ’80 became a grandmother
in 2016 to Nathan David, born to Lara and Zack Alexander. Susan Keady ’80 is now an infection control
Judith Alban Pesce ’75 completed her nursing
graduate education at Regis University in Denver, receiving an MSN with a management focus. During her course of study, she was inducted into Sigma Theta Tau International. Lainey Berkowitz Rudolph ’75 went to Nepal with Anatta World Health & Education Outreach and the Canadian Engaged Buddhism Association. There they held a medical clinic in a remote village in Lumbini, treating 850 people in two days while working with Nepali physicians and a cohort of international volunteers. They also set up a medical and dental clinic at the Dada Gaun Children Home in Kathmandu. She notes that the extreme poverty and lack of adequate healthcare, in addition to the devastation of the massive earthquake last year, have left thousands still in great need. She says that the overwhelming feeling from the people there is one of joy and kindness, and she is grateful for the opportunity and experience.
practitioner at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Alice Bonner ’81 was appointed Massachu-
setts Secretary of Elder Affairs and Commissioner of the Department of Transitional Assistance. Janna Lesser ’81, associate professor, University of Texas Health Science Center School of Nursing at San Antonio, received a Distinguished Alumni Award in nursing education at the 2015 Alumni Reunion. Martha Cohn Romney ’81 received the Award for Teaching Excellence from the School of Population Health at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Deborah Navedo ’83 ’86 is the architect and
inaugural director of the Master of Science in Health Professions Education degree program at the MGH Institute of Health Professions and now leads faculty development across professions. With a PhD in higher education
Spring 2016
Columbia Nursing 33