Ithaca College

The School of Health Sciences and Human Performance is pleased to announce that the Spring 2021 edition of Conversation on COVID will continue on Friday, March 26 from 11am- 12.   This event provides an opportunity to hear from two more HSHP Ithaca College faculty

The guests for this event will be Kari Brossard Stoos of the Dept of Health Promotion and Physical Education and Jennifer Wells of the Dept of Recreation and Leisure Studies.

Courtney Gray, Clinical Professor of the Department of Exercise Science and Athletic Training will moderate.

As more vaccines are administered, some have the opportunity to do things they have not done in over a year. Yet, many questions remain about  equ​itable​ access​,​​ long term viability, and emerging variants​.

​Programmed every month, Conversations on COVID is a one-hour event that features interviews with featured guests followed by a Q & A with our audience. You can join this meeting using this LINK​.​​

Bios for our guests this week:

Jennifer Wells, M.S. is Assistant Professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies. She is an outdoor recreation enthusiast, educator and professional as well as an entrepreneur, leader, and educator in the outdoor recreation industry and teaches our future professionals

Her entrepreneurial spirit has driven Jennifer to create several outdoor recreation businesses, including Paddle-N-More, Finger Lakes Adventure Camp and Outdoor Transformations. As a professional outdoors person, Jennifer harnesses the power of adventure and outdoor recreation to help others grow both personally and professionally. She became a community example of an organization that implemented strict protocol in response to COVID. More than ever, outdoor recreation became a necessity for many, and Jennifer wanted to make sure outdoor recreation was accessible to all. 

Kari Brossard Stoos, PhD is Associate Professor in the Department of Health Promotion and Physical Education. She has been studying noncommunicable and communicable diseases since 2001. At IC, she shifted her focus to center more around public health and the importance of prevention, and detection of diseases.

The main focus of her current research studies understanding impacts on wildlife health and also human health as a result of human encroachment in the tropical forests of Costa Rica.  Additionally, she is part of a research team developing diagnostic and screening tests for the detection of human pathogens.  She also serves on the IC Health and Safety Advisory Group and the Public Health Task Force. She was a key developer of the Student Health Emergency Liaison program (SHEL), an internship program designed to give students interested in public health hands-on field training to care for current on campus students requiring COVID quarantine or isolation. 

The pandemic constitutes a historic moment for students enrolled in health degrees. They can study the current disruptions and begin to rethink how to challenge the health status quo in order to produce more equality in the health system and to reduce systematic racism in health institutions and practices.

For more information and requests for accommodations, please contact Dr. Stewart Auyash, auyash@ithaca.edu.