HOME > SHS > Executive Education > Diversity Management Program > Faculty

» Faculty

The Diversity in Management Program is pleased to have professionals whose expertise in the field of management and diversity will allow program participants to take their career portfolio to the next level.

John M. Lowe, III, Ph.D

Department Chair, Associate Professor of Health Care Administration
B.S. Duke University
M.S. Ohio State University
Ph.D. University of Illinois/Chicago
john.lowe@simmons.edu

John Lowe has taught at Simmons College for fifteen years. He teaches patient safety and quality, health systems, and operations and project management in the HCA curriculum. Dr. Lowe is a principal investigator on a project funded by the National Center for Health Care Leadership to incorporate leadership competencies into health management curricula. He is the recipient of a Sloan Fellowship at Simmons College designed to prepare senior faculty for positions in academic administration.

Dr. Lowe conducted research on using continuous improvement (CI) methodologies to address community health issues (such as teen pregnancy, domestic violence and adolescent health). He was co-principal investigator on a Helene Fuld Fund grant to incorporate CI methodologies into the community health-nursing curriculum at Simmons. He directed a study panel for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health on breast and cervical cancer screening for uninsured women and co-authored a study of post-9/11 mental health and substance abuse services for adolescents in Somerville, MA and a community health report card in Mattapan, MA. He directed school-based health center needs assessment projects in Boston and Fall River, MA.

More recently, Dr. Lowe is leading an effort, in cooperation with the Institute for Diversity of the American Hospital Association, to develop a program in diversity management in health care for diversity practitioners in the health care field.

Dr. Lowe is chair of the board of Emerson Hospital and a board member of the Domestic Violence Victim Assistance Program, both in Concord, MA. He is chair of the board of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration, Washington, DC. He is a member of the Health Professions Education committee of the Mayor's Task Force on Health Disparities in Boston. Dr. Lowe also serves on the Trustee Advisory Committee of the Massachusetts Hospital Association.

Previously, Dr. Lowe was research associate in urban planning at the University of Illinois at Chicago, vice president of the Hospital Research and Educational Trust, research affiliate of the American Hospital Association (Chicago), and dean for development and administration at Temple University School of Medicine (Philadelphia). He served a postgraduate fellowship in health management at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Alice Sapienza, DBA

B.S. Stonehill College
M.A. Boston College
M.B.A. and Ph.D Harvard University

Alice Sapienza, DBA has a rare combination of credentials: experience as a general manager in a Harvard teaching hospital (Beth Israel); consultant to national and international science and technology organizations as well as government organizations; and wide graduate and executive teaching experience. Since 1990, she has been on the faculty of the Healthcare Administration Department at Simmons College.

Some examples of institutions for which Professor Sapienza has consulted are the U.S. Veterans' Administration and the Birmingham National Health Service (U.K.). She has provided leadership training since the 1980s for such diverse organizations as Hoffmann-LaRoche and NASA.

Professor Sapienza also has extensive board experience in a nonprofit institution. She was Chair of the Board of Directors of St. Francis House, the largest day center for the homeless in New England, from 1992 to 1995. She was a member of the Board of this institution 1988 through 1996.

Dawna M. Thomas, Ph.D.

B.A., M.S. University of Massachusetts, Boston
Ph.D. Northeastern University

Dawna Thomas is an Assistant Professor in the Africana Studies and Women and Gender Studies departments at Simmons College. Her doctoral work Understanding Disability in the Cape Verdean Community: An Analysis of Race and Disability in Massachusetts was the first to research the issue of disability in the Cape Verdean community. Her current research The Cape Verdean Women's Project is an ethnographic study on women's experiences with marriage, family life, immigration, family violence, and health.

At Simmons, Dr. Thomas teaches courses in the areas of race and health, family violence, African American history, and women's studies. Her research focuses on health and disability policy, racial/ethnic and gender disparities in health, family violence, community-based participatory research and the development of culturally relevant service programs. Dr. Thomas is a member of a number of professional organizations and a cofounder of Common Threads, a grassroots community cultural initiative dedicated to the preservation and celebration of cultural and historical traditions of the Cape Verdean Diaspora in the U.S. and transnational Cape Verdean community. She has presented her work at national conferences, local community groups as well as publishing in leading journals.

 

 

type size
normal | large