Archives: People

Leanne Wright is the Director of Environmental Health and Safety. She oversees George Mason University’s laboratory and occupational safety and environmental compliance initiatives. Leanne joined George Mason in 2022 after over ten years leading health and safety initiatives at American University in Washington, D.C. Leanne enjoys building new programs and dreaming up creative solutions to complex problems. At American University, she developed the university’s COVID-19 contact tracing infrastructure, training program and team and served as a public health advisor to campus leadership throughout the pandemic.

Leanne graduated from William & Mary with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston with a Master’s degree in Public Health and holds a Certified Safety Professional designation. While not working on safety initiatives, Leanne is likely training for a long-distance race or spending time with her husband and two school-age children.

Mrs. Knight joined Safety, Emergency, & Enterprise Risk Management (SEERM) in March 2020 as a Laboratory Safety Compliance Specialist. In this role, Mrs. Knight supports the Responsible Official and Alternate Responsible Official in oversight of the Select Agent Program. She also supports laboratory safety programs to ensure compliance with State and Federal regulations in the Environmental Health Safety Office at the Sci-Tech campus.

Before joining George Mason University, Mrs. Knight worked in the Health Care industry, providing patients with over 8 years of customer service experience.

Marina Paniara joined Operational Risk Management in October 2011 as a Claims Examiner. In this position, she is responsible for accident and incident investigations, auto and property claims investigation and processing, and the management and annual update of the Commonwealth’s auto and property databases determining Mason’s annual auto and property policy insurance premium renewal. In addition, Marina serves as the Action Officer for the University’s Accident Review Committee and supports the University’s Safe Driver Program reviewing and processing motor vehicle record checks for Mason’s drivers. Marina also assists the Risk Management team with special projects.

Marina holds the Associate in Insurance Data Analytics (AIDA) designation and the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation awarded by The Institutes. Marina has also completed Property Technical Certificate I, II, and III, Introduction to Claims, Introduction to Risk Management and Ethics in Risk and Insurance courses offered by The Institutes.

Prior to joining Mason, Marina worked in the public accounting industry as a Staff Accountant specializing in tax-exempt organizations and in the travel and tourism industry as a travel consultant.

Marina earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Mason’s School of Business and an Associate of Applied Science degree in Travel and Tourism from Northern Virginia Community College.

Deisy Flores joined SEERM on October 31, 2022, as Employee Health & Well-Being’s, Employee Health Coordinator. She coordinates ongoing medical surveillance activities which include scheduling, follow-up, and recordkeeping for Hepatitis B vaccine, Respiratory exams, BSL3 medical evaluations and vaccines, Animal Handler medical evaluations and vaccines, and other medical surveillance requirements. Prior to joining SEERM, Deisy was a volunteer at Inova’s same day surgery unit, where she served as a nurse assistant.
Deisy worked as a shift lead/ambassador for Mason’s Office of University Branding. During her sophomore year of undergrad, she was part of Mason’s COVID19 Response Team at Eagle Bank Arena. She graduated with honors (cum laude) from George Mason University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Community Health with a concentration in Global Health. Deisy was recently accepted into Mason’s Master of Public Health, Epidemiology program, and will be starting in Fall 2023.

Catherine Martini joined the Environmental Health & Safety program in January 2021 to fill the roles of Biosafety Officer and Responsible Official (RO) at George Mason University’s Biomedical Research Laboratory on the Science and Technology Campus.  The Biosafety Officer is responsible for maintaining a comprehensive biological safety program in accordance with local, state, and Federal regulations while ensuring biosecurity and biocontainment of the agents and facility.  The RO is the designated entity official responsible for ensuring compliance with the Federal Select Agent regulations for work with high risk biological materials, while also ensuring the safety of the personnel.

Prior to joining George Mason University, Catherine worked for almost 20 years at American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) as the Alternate Responsible Official for ATCC’s Select Agent Program.  During this time, she also worked as the Manager of Regulatory Compliance, responsible for reviewing Federal permitting requirements for the importation and exportation of biological materials.  She also provided biosafety knowledge and support for ATCC’s BSL-2 and BSL-3 High Containment Laboratories biosafety program.

Catherine is an alumni, having graduated from George Mason University in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology.

Kenneth (Ken) McGrath joined SEERM in July 2021. In his role as a Fire Safety Technician, He works with the Fire Safety team, testing and inspecting the sprinkler systems and related equipment. He maintains, certifies and inspects the fire extinguisher inventory on all VA campuses, also performing fire drills, and assisting with the fire alarm system testing. He began his employment at Mason in the summer of 2011 in the Office of Housing and Residence Life working in Maintenance Grounds. He transferred in OHRL to Special Projects Housekeeping and also assisted in Building Maintenance at various times. Previously to working at GMU, he has worked in graphic production for trade show exhibit displays, and in custom picture framing. He has studied at Northern Virginia Community College, Virginia Commonwealth University, and George Mason University. He is continuing to deepen his knowledge in Fire Safety and plans to study for the required NICET certifications.