Terrier Sports
Annais Cummiskey Earns Prestigious Conference Honor
Sophomore All Northeast Conference runner Annais Cummiskey ’ 19 was named co-winner of the 2016 Northeast Conference Scholar Athlete Award for Women ’ s Cross Country . Cummiskey sports a 4.0 grade point average in Mathematics , and earned a bronze medal last fall at the NEC cross country championships . The Tenafly , New Jersey native set the St . Francis record at the meet and earned All-Conference honors for the second straight year .
“ It ’ s definitely a huge honor because our conference has talented athletes and great students all-around ,” a humbled Cummiskey said . “ To even be considered for it was great .” Throughout the season , Cummiskey strung together a number of quality performances on the course . She placed fourth in the Monmouth Kickoff Meet to open the season , and followed that up with a seventh place finish at the Fordham Invitational .
“ It ’ s a huge honor and it ’ s great to be recognized because I work really hard not only training for cross country , but also on my schoolwork ,” Cummiskey said of her balancing act . “ I think it ’ s great that they have an award like this in our conference . It ’ s definitely something that I will continue to strive for .” ●
Annais Cummiskey ’ 19
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John J . McDermott ’ 53 was named by TheBestSchools . org to their list of The Most Influential Living Philosophers . McDermott holds the position of University Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Texas A & M University . His work is primarily focused on the philosophy of culture in American literature and philosophy . He has written , compiled , or contributed to books on William James , Josiah Royce , and John Dewey , and is a former President of the William James Society .
Anthony A . Lombardo ’ 69 was appointed Chief Business Officer of Advaxis , Inc . this April . Advaxis is a biotechnology company developing cancer immunotherapies . Lombardo brings nearly 30 years ’ experience in the field of life sciences to the position . Previously , Lombardo was President and CEO of E-Z-EM Inc ., a company focusing on oral imaging contrast agents where he transformed the company in eight years to a combined value of approximately $ 450 million , up from a market value of approximately $ 10 million .
Joseph L . Sclafani ’ 70 has been a member of the Board of Directors for E * TRADE Financial Corporation since 2008 . He was formerly Executive Vice President and Controller of JPMorgan Chase & Co ., responsible for corporate financial operations , regulatory reporting , financial accounting and reporting and accounting policies until December 2006 . His 38 years of experience include 27 years at JPMorgan Chase & Co . and its predecessors . Mr . Sclafani also spent 11 years at KPMG as a certified public accountant .
Steven Virgadamo ’ 77 was selected to launch the Entrepreneurial Leadership Series at New York ’ s Fordham University . The series focuses on Leading through Crisis . Virgadamo is a long-time advocate of school choice and an expert in managing and leading schools , colleges and universities through dynamic planning processes . He spoke about Planning to Avert Crisis on November 4 , 2016 , at the Fordham Lincoln Center Campus before hundreds of Board Members as well as the Chief Executive Officers and the Chief Operation Officers representing hundreds of schools from throughout the United States .
Patricia ( Laguerre ) Nicholas ’ 89 was inaugurated in June as the 75th president of the New York State Podiatric Medical Association ( NYSPMA ). She is the first Caribbean-born female to hold this position . Born in Haiti , Dr . Nicholas has been a practicing podiatrist for over 24 years and currently works at her private practice , Lite Step Podiatry in Wading River , NY . After graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree and minors in French and Philosophy , Nicholas earned her doctoral degree at the New York College of Podiatric Medicine in 1993 and completed her residency at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center .
“ When I entered St . Francis College , I was just 16 years old . I was majoring in biology / pre-med but was unsure of which area I wanted to pursue . Then , during my senior year , Dr . Frank Spinosa (’ 76 ), a St . Francis alumnus and NYSPMA member , called looking for pre-med students to work in his office … and that is when I was introduced to the field of podiatry .”
Dr . Nicholas is also the founder of the Kindest Hearts Foundation which she founded after volunteering in the wake of the 2010 earthquake . Kindest Hearts is focused on helping to rebuild the town of O ’ Rouck ( Anse-a-Veau ).
Sabrina Bejaoui ’ 08 ( left ) is engaged to be married to Javier Lee this July .
Alia Kasem ’ 13 is working to improve traffic on Staten Island . After graduating with a BA in English from SFC she went to NYU Tandon School of Engineering and earned her master ’ s degree in transportation planning and engineering . She now works for the Department of Transportation as a borough-wide planner , analyzing traffic and finding ways to alleviate it .
Jeannette Raymond ’ 14 was the lead author for a paper published in the March 2017 issue of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology . The article , “ Use of Unannounced Telephone Pill Counts to Measure Medication Adherence Among Adolescents and Young Adults Living With Perinatal HIV Infection ,” found that people who completed all the phone calls were more likely to take their medication .
Nicole Cisek ’ 15 and Giuseppe Pellegrino ’ 16 are proud to announce their engagement . Giuseppe is an NYC firefighter working in Dyker Heights and Nicole is an Examiner for the Financial Industry Regulatory
Authority ( FINRA ) in lower Manhattan . ●
8 | ST . FRANCIS COLLEGE TERRIER | SUMMER 2017