Everyday Americans support our military troops with care packages and letters but Launch Workplaces member The Geneva Foundation goes way beyond that with their mission — facilitating medical research to support our military so they can get the latest and greatest in medical care. Cancer, PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and infectious diseases are just a few areas that The Geneva Foundation has facilitated research studies with American soldiers. Geneva works with researchers from idea inception through the successful completion of the program: accommodating individual research interests, locating suitable funding sources, developing research proposals, hiring staff and managing research projects. Once they even needed to hire an astronaut psychologist! Working with the military is a win-win power to improve patient lives and to provide security for the health and well-being of U.S. service members, their families, and the global community.
The Geneva Foundation is a non-profit organization founded 25 years ago in Tacoma, Washington boasting over 500 employees nationwide. The office at Launch Workplaces is home to six people who work with military bases along the East Coast, such as West Point, Ft. Detrick, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and Ft. Belvoir. An example of a current project the local team is working on is a partnership at West Point with the NCAA focusing on improving concussion treatment. Each cadet at West Point receives a concussion baseline added to their medical file. Throughout the service member’s career, treatment for any future concussions can be compared against that baseline to improve the outcome.
Human Resources Manager, Melissa Hajjar, the main point of contact at Launch, says “I love supporting the mission of Geneva and supporting our staff!” The HR expert is responsible for employee relations and holds two Master’s degrees from the University of Maryland, an MBA and a Master’s in Management with Human Resources. She is currently studying for the Professional Human Resources (PHR) exam and likes to find time to play mahjong. Prior to working at The Geneva Foundation, she was the Human Resources Manager for The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Joining Melissa at the Launch space is Ava Richardson (Grants & Contracts Administrator), Deline Glover (Federal Acquisition Activity Program Manager), Jessica Prophet (USU Sponsored Program Administrator), Kelli Blaize-Wise (Regional Client Relationship Manager), Kelly Lehner (Regional Grants and Contracts Director), and Marjorie Osmer (Director of Federal Acquisition Activity).
“Launch Workplaces offers a great central location for my team to meet. We get the space we need to collaborate and connect on projects. Plus, it’s affordable and night and day a nicer space than where we were before,” explains Melissa.
Thanks to Melissa and her team at The Geneva Foundation, it’s nice to know that the well-being of our service men and women is being looked after beyond basic care packages. If you’d like to support their mission please visit their website at www.genevausa.org. The Geneva Team at Launch welcomes fellow members to reach out to them at any time with any questions or for information.
