With the health, safety, and well-being of the university community top of mind, WPI has hired a new Director of Health Services, along with two health-related coordinators, as students, faculty, and staff prepare to return to campus.
The university also has created a Respiratory Clinic, which will be the center of WPI’s actions to test and manage any students with COVID-19 symptoms.
“We are excited to welcome three experienced and knowledgeable staffers to Health Services,” says Charles Morse, associate dean and director of counseling in WPI’s Student Development & Counseling Center “In addition to bringing on a new Director of Health Services, we are expanding the depth of our bench in the department in light of the ongoing pandemic to best take care of the entire WPI community.” Morse, along with nurse practitioners Zack Henderson and Jillian Brooks, have been supporting the WPI Health Services group since Regina Roberto retired in June after serving as Director of Health Services for the past 19 years.
“We are excited to welcome three experienced and knowledgeable staffers to Health Services. In addition to bringing on a new Director of Health Services, we are expanding the depth of our bench in the department in light of the ongoing pandemic to best take care of the entire WPI community.” -Charles Morse
Lisa Pearlman, who has worked in student health care for the past 19 years, is joining WPI as the new director of the department. For the past three years she was a family nurse practitioner with Optum Student Health Services in Boston, providing primary medical care to 11,000 college and graduate students from MassArt, Wentworth Institute of Technology, and Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. She has worked in positions ranging from family nurse practitioner to director of health services at Bard College, Brandeis University, Brown University, and Lasell College.
WPI also has hired Chloe Green, who was a contact tracer at Boston-based Partners in Health, as the new testing coordinator. She will oversee WPI’s contact tracing program and all aspects of its COVID testing strategies, which are central to its comprehensive approach to supporting students’ health during the pandemic.
And Jen Hapgood-White, who worked for seven years as director of the Housing & Residential Experience Center at MIT, also has been hired as an Isolation/Quarantine Coordinator, managing protocols and procedures for students who have tested positive for COVID-19 and quarantining close contacts. She will be the primary contact and advocate for all students in WPI isolation and quarantine to support their health and recovery, and will help with day-to-day support.
All three will start work this month.
WPI’s new Respiratory Clinic is being established at 32 Hackfeld Road, formerly the site of the school’s Student Health Center, which is being relocated to 27 Hackfeld Road. The Student Health Center will provide care for students with non-COVID-related health issues, while the Respiratory Center will be focused solely on COVID-related cases.
