Stronger Together - The Impact of Social Ties on Public Health
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
6 - 8:30 pm Reception and Panel Discussion
Merten Hall Room 1201
Is social isolation truly a public health crisis? Dean Melissa Perry is convening national thought leaders for a panel discussion on the impact of loneliness across the life span. This conversation will explore the root causes of social isolation, its psychological and physical consequences, and the broader societal implications of a disconnected world.
Panelists will assess the true scope of this issue, asking: How severe is loneliness as a public health challenge? Are we facing a crisis, or is the problem overstated? The discussion will also highlight real-world solutions, from mental health strategies to community-based initiatives, that can help foster belonging and social resilience at every stage of life.
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Moderator
Melissa J. Perry, ScD, MHS
Inaugural Dean, College of Public Health
George Mason University
Panelists
Jawad H.
Student, BA, Government and International Politics, Class of 2025
Former Student Senator, George Mason University
Mary Louise Pomeroy, PhD MPH
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Center on Aging and Health
Bloomberg School of Public Health
Johns Hopkins University
LaToya Thomas, MRP, BS
Principal & Founder, Brick & Story
Weave Community – an Aspen Institute Initiative
Rachel Wernicke, PhD
Associate Dean and Chief Mental Health Officer
George Mason University
Speaker Bios
Jawad H.
Jawad is an undergraduate student at George Mason University, studying Government and International Politics. He recently concluded his term as a Student Senator at GMU’s Student Government, where he worked on preserving and expanding community building spaces on his campus. During his tenure as a senator, Jawad sponsored a resolution and initiated talks with university administrators to keep at least one dining hall on campus open 24/7 as a space for students to gather and socialize over late-night dinners. He also published an op-ed in the school newspaper to highlight the importance of social spaces like dining halls to revitalize campus life and reduce students’ feeling of isolation.
Mary Louis Pomeroy, PhD MPH
Pomeroy is a health services researcher, gerontologist, and an NIH-funded postdoctoral research fellow at the Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health. Her research seeks to improve aging in place for older adults with limited social connections. Her current work examines associations between social isolation and avoidable health care utilization among older adults with and without dementia. Additionally, she is interested in leveraging home and community-based services to reduce social isolation. She received her MPH from Johns Hopkins University in 2017 and her PhD in health services research from George Mason University in 2022. She is an active member of several professional organizations including AcademyHealth and the Gerontological Society of America. Pomeroy's work is supported by a National Institute on Aging T32 training grant in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics of Aging.
LaToya Thomas
Thomas is the Principal & Founder of Brick & Story, an urban & regional planning consulting practice centered on telling the stories of the built environment and, in turn, using those stories to push for positive action in communities. In finding creative ways to tell these stories, Brick & Story provides engagement and creative storytelling strategy and implementation services to government agencies, for- and non-profit organizations, and other partners working to improve and strengthen the built environments in which we live, work, and play.
In her nearly 20 years of experience working in the built environment, Thomas has developed a particular unique focus in the areas of affordable housing, urban revitalization, and community development. She has a strong commitment to creating opportunities for marginalized and historically underrepresented populations and seeks to engage a diverse set of voices across lines of age, race, gender, and class in her work. Her career has merged her knowledge of planning, policy, and real estate development with her talents as facilitator, consensus-builder, and convenor.
Thomas obtained both a Master of Regional Planning and a Bachelor of Science in Urban and Regional Studies with a Concentration in Architecture from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.
Rachel Wernicke, PhD
Rachel Wernicke is a clinical and consulting psychologist and executive coach. She started her career as an officer in the U.S. Army, where she served in active and reserve duty positions. Since then, she has provided psychological services and held leadership positions in mental health and higher education settings for more than 20 years, including her current role as an Associate Dean and Chief Mental Health Officer at George Mason University. In this role, she provides strategic oversight for health, mental health, and disability-related student support functions. Her areas of clinical expertise include college student mental health, anxiety disorder treatment, and trauma. At George Mason, she has worked on mental health-focused initiatives including the implementation of a public health approach to the prevention of suicide and serious substance use and the cultivation of a culture of mental health and well-being.
As a psychology consultant, Rachel has provided keynote talks and workshops to organizations interested in creating cultures of mental health and well-being in the workplace. Her Tedx talk, Mental Health in the New Normal, addresses these themes in the post-COVID era.
Wernicke holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology from American University and a B.A. in political science from the University of Pennsylvania. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in psychology at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School.