Meet some of our talented D.P.A. students...
mai abuali
Mai Abuali is currently a doctoral student in the public administration program. She holds a master’s degree in public administration from Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California and a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Girls College of Education in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. She is from Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Mai is a King Abduallah Scholarship recipient for her work on her master’s and doctoral degrees. Her research interest focuses on the “glass ceiling” phenomenon and women in the public sector, particularly Saudi women. Mai hopes for better opportunities for all Saudi women as a result of the Saudi Vision 2030 initiative.
shane chung
Shane Chung was born in Kingston Jamaica. He earned a Diploma in Architectural Technology from the College of Arts Science and Technology (now the University of Technology) in 1984. After immigrating to the United States, Shane worked at the North American Reassurance Company in New York where he completed the Life Office Management Association Certification Parts I and II.
In 1986, Shane enlisted in the United States Navy where he completed Basic Training, Hospital Corps Class “A” School, Field Medical Service School, Advanced Laboratory Technician and Independent Duty Hospital corpsman class “C” schools. He also earned a Bachelor’s Degree (Cum Laude) in Healthcare Management and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration (concentration in Healthcare Administration). Shane is a member of Pi Alpha Alpha (International Academic Honor Society: Public Affairs and Administration) and the American Society of Public Administrators (ASPA).
On active duty Shane served on isolated duty in the Comoros (Africa), Guantanamo Bay Cuba and Diego Garcia. He has also served two combat tours as a member of the Multi-National Training and Transition Team (Iraq) and as a Laboratory Technician with 2 FSSG that deployed to Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Additionally, he completed a tour with the Fleet Marine Force as an 8404/8506 in Okinawa, and two tours aboard ship as an Independent Duty Hospital Corpsman. Shane retired from Active Duty as a Chief Hospital Corpsman with the ESWS, EAWS and FMF warfare designations after 24 years of Naval Service in May 2010. Soon after he was employed as a Healthcare Administrator at the Joint Task Force NCR Medical (JTF CapMed).
His civil service career allowed him to provide recommendations regarding the development, coordination, and monitoring of clinical operations within the National Capital Region (NCR) under JTF CapMed, NCR Medical Directorate’s (NCR MD) and NCR Market Office’s (NCR MO’s) purview. He prepared business proposal analysis to determine the feasibility of development, implementation, and monitoring of short-term Military Healthcare System (MHS) and NCR MO’s capabilities and establishment of new clinical services available to beneficiaries. He developed several Business Case Analysis (BCAs), these documents facilitated the establishment a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) treatment center and a Residential Treatment Center to care for beneficiaries diagnosed with Substance Abuse Disorder at the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital. His analysis justified the acquisition of a MRI scanner and personnel to reduce beneficiary reliance on the purchased care network for MRI studies, and the establishment of the Department of Defense’s only Child and Adolescent inpatient Behavioral Health unit. His work demonstrated that employing nurse practitioners in WRNMMC’s Neurology Clinic would increase patient access and reduce cost to provide neurology specialty services. He is currently involved in the establishment of a DoD VA joint venture in Fredericksburg to create an enrollment site for 10,000 enrollees and another that will establish WRNMMC as a Maryland EMS trauma center and allow non-DoD patients to receive trauma care under Section 717 of NDAA 2017 in support of clinician readiness.
In his off time, Shane is completing a Doctorate in Public Administration (Healthcare Administration Concentration), has served as a Member of the Board of Directors CALMRA Inc. (Dec 2016 – 2017) to provide housing to Maryland Residents with cognitive challenges. Shane was an English Tutor in the Union of The Comoros, Africa (2008 – 2009). He tutored children enrolled in the I have a Dream Foundation (1991 – 1993) in Washington D.C. His daughter Shannon, will complete a Bachelor’s Degree in Healthcare Administration at the University of Colorado in 2021.
elson nash
Elson Nash is a student in the Doctor of Public Administration program, with a research focus on the impact of community organizing on the creation of community benefits agreements for large-scale real estate development. He is a long term public servant, currently serving as the director of the School Choice and Improvement Programs Division in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education in the U.S. Department of Education. For the last nine years Elson has focused his attention on the impact of wrap-around supports on schools and neighborhoods to close the achievement gap. During this time he also supported community capacity building using results based accountability and data systems to target services for those in greatest need. As the director he supervises the following portfolio of programs affecting thousands of children across the nation: Statewide Family Engagement Centers, Magnet Schools Assistance Programs, Full-Service Community Schools, Promise Neighborhoods, and Opportunity Scholarships.
Elson holds a Master of Public Health from Emory University and a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science from the University of California, Berkeley. He also is an Excellence in Government Fellow from the Partnership for Public Service and is a Real Estate Fellow from the University of Baltimore.
Sabreet kang rajeev
Sabreet Kang Rajeev is a full-time social science research analyst at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and an award-winning author of the book, Generation Zero: Reclaiming My Parents’ American Dream. Sabreet was born in New York and has been raised in Maryland her entire life. She has a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Maryland, College Park and a master’s degree in applied sociology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Sabreet began her career in the public sector at the U.S. Department of Labor where she researched, evaluated, and made recommendations toward the issuance of prevailing wage and fringe benefits for the nation. Her true passion for being a researcher began at her volunteer intern position at the White House, where she listened to the different concerns voiced by the American people to the Office of Presidential Correspondence. As a researcher for the federal government, Sabreet is responsible for independently planning, designing, and implementing research studies to assess the effectiveness of Medicare products, tools, and communication by using both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Her current research passions include understanding the interdisciplinary relationship between the federal and state government, health care services, and public policy. To learn more about her research passions, you can connect with her on LinkedIn. As a proud daughter of immigrant parents, Sabreet is also driven to raise awareness and empathy for a minority group of South Asian Americans who do not historically come from educational or economic privilege. To learn more about her book, please visit www.sabreetkangrajeev.com.
Margo Settles
Margo Settles is a student in the Doctor of Public Administration program. She is a recipient of Baltimore City Fellows through the City of Baltimore and University of Baltimore partnership. Her research focus is on understanding how to decrease homicide and community violence specific to Baltimore City. She earned her master's degree in social work in 2004 from the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. Also, Margo was an awardee of the National Health Service Corps and served for several years in an underserved area in Southeast Washington, DC. The majority of Margo's career has been in public service. Since 2013, Margo Settles has served as the City of Baltimore's Chief of the Employee Assistance Program. In this capacity, Margo is responsible for the program overview and clinical supervisory functions to ensure best practices, confidentiality, and quality service. She is the active CEO of Bruner & Associates (part-time private practice) and has over eighteen years of clinical experience with diverse populations in medical and hospice facilities, domestic violence shelters, correctional facilities, foster care, and addiction treatment centers. In community service, Margo and her husband (a U.S. Marine Corps Veteran) manage a Vets IOU Program in Baltimore City, which offers homeless veterans housing and resources. She had the privilege of being a licensed foster parent in Florida and Maryland and is now a proud mother of their one-year-old son and adult stepdaughter.
MFON USIERE
Mfon Usiere is a doctoral candidate in the School of Public and International Affairs at The University of Baltimore, specializing in healthcare systems administration. His dissertation is about equitable healthcare access in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Mfon is interested in investigating the relationships that exist between the region's telemedicine policies and access to telemedicine-based health services for the socially disadvantaged members of society in the aftermath of the pandemic.
He has a Master of Public Administration from The University of Baltimore with a concentration in healthcare administration, as well as a bachelor's degree in applied chemistry with a minor in pharmaceutics from the University of Uyo in Nigeria. In the fall of 2014, he was selected as a Presidential Management Fellow prior to graduating from the M.P.A. program.
Mfon has extensive professional experience in the United States healthcare industry, including managed care, care outcome research, policy/program development, and implementation. He is currently employed by Cigna Corporation, a global health insurance company. He is the regional program director for the Medicare Risk Adjustment Payment methodology. In his current position, he manages a variety of health programs and associated incentives, creates training materials, serves as a subject matter expert on RA-based coding, and helps Cigna-affiliated clinicians develop their medical documentation capacity in the northeast region of the United States.
Prior to his current position, he worked in a similar capacity for United Healthcare Group, the U.S. Veteran Affairs healthcare system, Medstar Healthcare System, and the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Institute of Human Virology. Mfon's greatest professional accomplishment was at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he oversaw the development of laboratory infrastructure and human manpower in support of HIV care and treatment in Sub-Saharan Africa under President George W. Bush's Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a key foreign policy initiative.
tou xiong
Tou Xiong is a first generation Hmong-American doctoral student in the public administration program. His research interests are ethics, education, and organizational strategy. He earned both his Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration and Masters of Public Administration (MPA) from California State University, Fresno. As an undergraduate student, he participated in the Panetta Congressional Internship Program where he served on Capitol Hill as a Congressional Intern. This experience sparked a distinct interest in public policy and public service. More importantly, he was inspired to help other disadvantaged students in their pursuit of attaining a college degree and breakthrough the cultural stigma of minorities as practitioners and scholars in the field of public administration. Therefore, his professional and academic careers are dedicated to public service with over 11 years of progressive work in education. He has served different roles within the education system (K-12, community college, university) and was able to impact students at multiple levels from academic counseling at Fresno City College and admission advising at Fresno State, to proposing a (passed) policy on retrofitting classrooms for 4th graders; his passion to improve the educational experience of students is the driving force for his research and work as a practitioner.
Currently, Tou's dissertation is focused on exploring ways public universities, particularly universities within the California State University system, can improve in planning and strategically navigating through political, economic, demographic, and technological pressures. His aim is to enhance the strategic behavior and flexibility of university administrators by using empirical and contemporary research to make informed ethical decisions.