By Elisabeth Costanzo Stewart
Dr. Jennifer Musa (CHDC ’23; HSCD ’23) has one of the biggest hearts (if not the biggest) on campus. As a biology professor, Musa would quickly correct this anatomical exaggeration. Big hearts, however, aren’t measured in cardiac muscle tissue; instead, they are weighed in selfless acts of generosity. While many may be familiar with Musa’s decade-long commitment to global service through the Health for Haiti initiative, they may not know about her most recent calling — to serve her community as a Credentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselor (CASAC). Through earning a degree from her employer, Musa is able to extend her giving heart in new, meaningful ways.
Musa moved to New York State’s Southern Tier as a toddler, following her father’s IBM career. The product of deeply service-oriented parents, she was encouraged to channel her skills and talents toward tangibly supporting others in need.
Musa was first drawn to science as a little girl. Fascinated by the intersection of the mind and body, she earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and psychology from SUNY Oswego. Aspiring to spend her life in a research lab, Musa was selected as one of only two Ph.D. students at The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, (where she was recently recognized with the 2024 Distinguished Graduate Alumni award.) She focused the next five years on conducting post-doctoral research at Cornell University. While she thrived in Cornell’s pharmacology and molecular medicine laboratories, commuting from Endicott to Ithaca with a young daughter and a newborn was unsustainable. SUNY Broome’s proximity to home and family-friendly schedule came at the perfect time.
What started as a part-time adjunct position in SUNY Broome’s biology department, soon developed into a more than two-decade community college career, touching the lives of thousands of anatomy and physiology students through her highly innovative and student-centered pedagogy.
While many know Musa for her work in the classroom, she is equally revered and respected for her work as a global citizen. In 2014, Musa and retired Dental Hygiene chair and professor Maureen Hankin, launched ‘Health for Haiti’, the College’s first faculty-led, credit-bearing, global service-learning course. Under their direction, SUNY Broome students, faculty, and community partners have supported a community in rural Grande Saline, Haiti, in the areas of health/sanitation, nutrition, education, and community development. Sadly, travel to Haiti has been temporarily paused due to widespread civil unrest. Unable to be a physical presence in Haiti, Musa experienced a first — free time.
Interested in learning more about Health for Haiti’s continued work in Grande Saline? Visit https://healthforhaiti.org/ to stay connected to the cause.
Saddened by the rampant rise of substance use disorder (SUD) in her community, Musa wondered if her background in anatomy and neurobiology could somehow be of help. Ardently believing in the connection between science and service, she privately contacted Mary Whittaker, who was chair of the Chemical Dependency Counseling: A.A.S program at the time. Insisting that they meet off campus, Musa confided in Whittaker as they lapped Otsiningo Park. By the end of their walk, Musa was encouraged to take advantage of her employee tuition benefits and enroll in the program.
“I definitely worried about what my colleagues would think of ‘student Jen Musa’ versus Professor Jen Musa’,” Musa explained. “I hadn’t been an official student in years, and I was full of self-doubt.”
On her first day of classes, Musa nervously scanned the room. She panicked when she realized that the young woman sitting to her left had been a student in her anatomy and physiology class the previous semester. Though fully convinced that she was making a huge mistake, the class began, and her lifelong learner’s muscle memory kicked in. Instantly, the space in her mind that once housed her worries was now filled with the content of fascinating lectures and genuine admiration for her instructors.
“I always liked to think that I was sensitive to my students’ needs, but the experience of being a working community college student was more eye-opening than I could have ever imagined,” Musa reflected. “Here I was, writing papers, working on group projects with my classmates, and also balancing my responsibilities as a professor. The whole experience was an excellent exercise in broadening my view on how to support our students who juggle their studies with jobs, family obligations, and countless other responsibilities.”
When it came time for Musa to complete the program’s clinical internship, she applied for sabbatical and headed to the Binghamton branch of the Addiction Center of Broome County (ACBC).
Officially the oldest chemical dependency counseling intern in ACBCs history, Musa worried that she wouldn’t be able to connect with her fellow interns, most of whom were Binghamton University students in their early 20s. But details like age become insignificant when a group is drawn to the shared mission of rehabilitation and recovery.
Together, Musa and the other CASACs in training supported the outpatient rehabilitation clinic, implemented harm reduction strategies, and provided family navigation services.
Encouraged by her ACBC colleagues to draw on her areas of expertise, Musa developed “Brain Academy”, a series of weekly classes exploring the most complex organ in the human body. Structured like a SUNY Broome lecture and discussion, Brain Academy classes cover how a unique collection of cells, chemicals, and tissues can impact our thoughts, behaviors, and feelings.
“Brain Academy covers all the cool stuff that I don’t always get to touch on during my standard anatomy and physiology classes,” Musa said. “We get to delve into topics like how Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) change the architecture of our brains or how, at its core, the mechanism behind addiction is a brain-based push and pull. Everything impacts the brain — stress, sleep, anger. We explore it all.”
While most of ACBC’s programs focus on developing life skills or mechanisms to stay sober, the clients who opt to participate in Brain Academy enter the sessions simply to learn, just like a traditional college student. As a result, the program’s response has been overwhelmingly positive.
Musa graduated with both the Chemical Dependency Counseling associate degree and certificate in May 2023. Since then, she has divided her workday into three parts: teaching at SUNY Broome, supporting the mission of Health for Haiti, and floating as a CASAC at ACBC. All rooted in service, each role enriches her soul and the lives of countless others.
“I can’t speak highly enough about our incredible CDC faculty! Thank you to Dani Berchtold, Dr. Kristen J. Ericksen-Hrehor, Justin Lynady, and Mary Whittaker. You all inspire me!” Photo Credit: Matt Ebbers
Read more inspiring stories in Spring 2025 edition of BROOME Magazine: https://bit.ly/broomespr2025
Tags: Alumni, Chemical Dependency Counseling AAS and Cert, Health for Haiti, Liberal Arts Division, Profile, STEM Division, SUNY Broome Foundation
