Mental Health

Nandini Koka joined George Mason University in April 2023 as executive director of Student Health Services, where she leads a staff of nearly 50 that includes doctors, nurse practitioners, counselors, and nurses. As a medical doctor with training in family medicine and urgent care, she is passionate about helping patients get better quickly and enhancing access to care. At the largest and fastest-growing public research university in Virginia, Koka has found a place where the need for that care continues to grow.

Professor Farrokh Alemi receives NIH grant to pilot first-of-its-kind, evidence-based artificial intelligence tool to address the medication needs of Black and African American people with depression. This is part of the college’s Innovate for Good story series. 

MeAgainMeds.com, a free AI-powered website, helps clinicians more effectively match patients with the optimal antidepressant using big data.

Gary T. Taylor, MSW ‘15, is destigmatizing mental health support and normalizing therapy in the Black community one barbershop at a time. “Barbershops are this safe space for Black men,” explains Taylor who has been working with local barbershops in the Rappahannock region since 2022 to foster healthy discussions about mental health by educating barbers on “mental health first aid” for their patrons.

Rachel Wernicke has worked as an Army officer, psychologist, therapist, and coach. In 2019, she moved into her current role: associate dean and chief mental health officer at George Mason University.

Melissa Perry, dean of Mason’s College of Public Health, is an ardent proponent of virtual reality as a tool to help solve the nation’s health challenges. But she also worries that technology has helped create an “epidemic of loneliness” that has heightened the importance of a shared humanity and “being present for each other.”

On Friday, Oct. 27, Mason’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences and Department of Psychology hosted a grand opening of its new facility for the Center for Community Mental Health and Center for Evidence-Based Behavioral Health, two centers whose research and community services are deeply connected to strengthening our communities.

Interim Provost Ken Walsh and University Life Vice President Rose Pascarell introduce two important resources that will help the Mason community use the “right words” to discuss mental health and mental illness, and stress the importance of student accommodations.

Federal funding for five Mason projects promises to extend far-reaching benefits to the commonwealth and beyond.

College of Public Health students learn about the emerging field of equine assisted psychotherapy (EAP) in associate clinical professor Vicki Kirsch’s advanced Trauma and Recovery course.