CHHS Faculty

Dr. Tompkins, Associate Dean for Faculty and Staff Affairs and Professor, teaches human behavior, research, and gerontology courses in the Social Work Department. She is interested in developing new programs for undergraduate students and developing innovations in distance education.

Michael Wolf-Branigin, MSW, Ph.D., PStat® is a Professor of Social Work. His research focuses on complex adaptive systems and their application to social work practice specifically with disabilities and behavioral health populations.

Katherine (“Kat”) Scafide is a tenured Associate Professor, forensic nurse and scientist in the School of Nursing. Her research primarily focuses on advancing equity in the medical identification and forensic documentation of injuries, particularly for patients of color, through innovative use of technology. She has received several federal awards to support these efforts.

Dr. Margie Rodan is Professor and Acting Director in the School of Nursing at George Mason University.

Holly Matto, PhD, LCSW-C is a Professor in the Department of Social Work in the College of Public Health at Mason. Dr. Matto values interdisciplinary collaborations and has established research relationships with colleagues in social work, bioengineering, mathematics, visual and performing arts and others at Mason that have resulted in grant-funded projects.

Dr. Ali A. Weinstein is a Professor of Global and Community Health (GCH) and a Senior Scholar in the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being. She has extensive experience conducting human biobehavioral experiments in the laboratory and field, conducts survey research, as well as a small research portfolio of qualitative research.

Oetjen’s educational interests include nursing leadership, advancing the role of nurses in health care, and quality care of children and adolescents.  She is an expert on pediatric care where most of her career has been focused on improving quality care and removing barriers to access for vulnerable and uninsured children. 

Dr. Caroline Sutter is nationally recognized for her work implementing and evaluating models of community healthcare access and system navigation to improve care and promote collaboration between public health, public safety and health to ensure that evidence-based treatment is available for at risk and marginalized individuals, families, communities and populations.

Laura Wheeler Poms is a Professor, Undergraduate Program Director, and Graduate Program Director in Global and Community Health.  She is an occupational health psychologist focusing on how an individual's work environment influences physical and mental health.

As a doctorally trained and credentialed Family Nurse Practitioner, Dr. Sutter serves as the Director of a network of eight Academic Nurse-managed community clinics. Dr. Sutter has a history of extensive successful community collaborations on a variety of multidisciplinary implementation programs and research studies.