NSU Horizons Spring 2018

39 NSU HORIZONS with the Children’s Diagnostic and Treatment Center to create an early intervention program for children with symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of autism. Alexander has assisted in raising $1 million to support an Endowed Chair in Developmental and Communication Disorders at NSU. HALMOS COLLEGE OF NATURAL SCIENCES AND OCEANOGRAPHY Vincent P. Richards , B.S. (’01), M.S. (’06), Ph.D. (’10), is an assistant professor at the College of Science at Clemson University in South Carolina. Before joining the Clemson faculty in 2014, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship in genomics at Cornell University and also served as a research associate at Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine. He was awarded a fellowship by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. As a doctoral student at the Halmos College, Richards was a research assistant at the university’s National Coral Reef Institute and the Guy Harvey Research Institute. During his graduate career, he focused on population and evolutionary genetics. Richards’ postdoctoral research focused on the genomics of bacterial pathogens. He contin- ues this research at his lab at Clemson. He also designed and implemented a new genomics/bioinformatics class for under- graduate and graduate students—the first of its kind at Clemson University. H. WAYNE HUIZENGA COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP Daniel E. Dawes , B.S. (’03), is the executive director of government affairs and health policy at Morehouse School of Medicine and senior adviser and general counsel to the Satcher Health Leadership Institute in Atlanta, Georgia. Dawes was instrumental in shaping the Mental Health Parity Act, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act, and the Affordable Care Act. He founded and chaired the largest advocacy group focused on developing comprehensive legislation to reform the health care system and address disparities in health care. Dawes has written the book 150 Years of ObamaCare and several publications on health reform and health equity. He is the cofounder of the Health Equity Leadership and Exchange Network, a nationwide network of more than 1,400 leaders. He also is a senior legislative and federal affairs officer at the American Psychological Association. NSU UNIVERSITY SCHOOL Lauren Book is a Florida state senator and the founder of Lauren’s Kids, a nonprofit foundation and advocacy organi- zation working to end the sexual exploitation of children. A child advocate, former classroom teacher, and author, Book represents the Broward County-based District 32 in the Flor- ida Senate and serves as the Democratic Leader pro tempore. A survivor of childhood sexual abuse, Book created Lauren’s Kids to help protect other children. She has successfully advocated for the passage of almost two dozen Florida laws to protect victims—including the nation’s toughest manda- tory reporting laws and ending the statute of limitations for prosecution of sexual crimes committed against children. Book has written the memoir It’s OK to Tell , which chronicles her years of abuse, and the children’s picture book Lauren’s Kingdom . She also developed the first-of-its-kind abuse prevention and personal safety curriculum pro- gram, Safer, Smarter Schools, while she was a teacher. SHEPARD BROAD COLLEGE OF LAW Susan Maurer , J.D. (’80), became a partner in Panza, Maurer & Maynard, P.A., in 1984 and assumed responsibili- ties as managing partner in 1996. Her primary practice areas have been in commercial, health care, and academic law. As a commercial arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association, Maurer has arbitrated health care, insurance, and commercial matters. Maurer served as an adviser to for-profit corporate com- pliance committees. She successfully mediated multimillion- dollar Office of the Inspector General and U.S. Attorney General investigations on behalf of health care providers as well. The Florida Insurance Guaranty Association appointed Maurer as a state insurance commissioner and treasurer. She was the governor’s appointee to serve statewide on the Community Hospital Education Council and on the Florida Commission on Ethics. She has also served on several boards, including the Board of the American Lung Association South Area, and was a founding scarlet member of the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women campaign. ¨