You are Here: Mapping your Route to Global Leadership

James Bridge

Pre-Health and Sciences academic advisor

VCU

James Bridge joined VCU as an academic advisor last September after a family gap year, which followed a 17-year span designing, promoting, and leading overseas programs for high school and college students. James has had particularly impactful intercultural experiences in Colombia, Cuba, India, and the United States.

Michael Muhoozi

Ph.D. student of Healthcare Policy

VCU

Michael Muhoozi is a PhD student of Healthcare Policy at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he works in a research lab focused on HIV and global health policy. His current research uses mathematical modeling and cost‑effectiveness analysis to assess alcohol use disorder across the HIV care continuum.

Michael has extensive experience conducting health services and population‑based research in Sub‑Saharan Africa, having worked with Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation–Uganda, the Infectious Diseases Institute, and the Makerere University. His work draws on large‑scale global datasets to support health policy decision‑making. He also serves on the committee of a global reproducibility community, where he advocates for open, transparent, and reproducible research practices across international and interdisciplinary research teams. Through a student‑centered lens, Michael’s work emphasizes data literacy, cultural agility, and ethical global leadership, highlighting how emerging scholars can navigate international research spaces and translate analytic skills into meaningful policy impact.

Oscar Kemp

Graduate Student

VCU SSW Alumni; UVA Batten School for Masters in Public Policy

Oscar Kemp (MPP'26) is a critical thinker whose experiences stretch across the U.S., Sub-Saharan Africa, and Europe. Born and raised in Danville, VA, Kemp, a first-generation college graduate, has received appointments for roles at the local, state, national, and international levels in education, foreign affairs, board governance, and fiduciary oversight. While in the VCU School of Social Work Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) program, he was appointed by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) to the Board of Directors as the BSW Student Representative and youngest Investment Chair in the organization’s 74 years long history, leading a strategic reform of socially responsible investments worth $2.4 million. During the summer before his senior year at VCU, he studied at the University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy Junior Summer Institute as a Public Policy and International Affairs Fellow and returned to VCU with newly discovered passions for education, foreign affairs, and law. After graduating from VCU, Kemp was selected by the U.S Department of State's Critical Language Scholarship Program to study Swahili in Tanzania for eight weeks and the Fulbright U.S. Student Program to teach English in Uganda for nine months where he led English lessons and workshops for over 340 students. Currently, Kemp is enrolled at the UVA Batten School in the Master of Public Policy Program while serving as a Fulbright Alumni Ambassador, promoting the Fulbright program to prospective applications and communities. After graduating with his Masters degree form UVA, he is taking a gap year to apply to law school programs. "My passion for cultural exchange, diplomacy, and mentorship," he says, "stems from the synthesis of my experiences combined with a curious mind to learn more about who we are, meeting people where they are with the tools they have at their disposure to solve complex problems."

Carrie LeCrom

Executive Director

VCU Center for Sport Leadership

Carrie LeCrom has served as the Executive Director of the Center for Sport Leadership (CSL) since 2015, holding various roles within the CSL since joining the staff in 2003. Under her leadership, the program has launched a dual degree program (M.S.L./MBA), a strategic partnership with Real Madrid FC, and been regularly ranked top 10 in the world among graduate programs in sport business. LeCrom is passionate about the use of sport for social change, and has generated over $2 million in grant funding from sources such as the U.S. Department of State and the NCAA. She has worked with coaches and sport administrators in over 20 different countries, and won a Fulbright Fellowship which allowed her and her family to spend all of 2019 living in Stellenbosch, South Africa, initiating an afterschool gender empowerment program focused around soccer. LeCrom is married to the Director of Coaching for Richmond United’s soccer club; they have one daughter and one son.

Kalyn McDonough Smith

Assistant Professor

VCU Center for Sport Leadership

Dr. Kalyn McDonough Smith is an Assistant Professor at the Center for Sport Leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University, her research focuses on sport for social change and social justice predominantly with youth involved in justice systems. In addition to her research she leads a sport-based leadership program at Bon Air juvenile correctional facility.

Kezia Reji Thomas

Third Year Medical Student

VCU Medical School

Kezia is a third-year medical student who currently serves as a leader within the ACCESS Global Health Program, an interdisciplinary initiative dedicated to advancing global health equity through education, research and development of culturally responsive approaches to global health challenges. Her academic interests include global surgery, health systems strengthening, biomedical innovation, and medical missions. 

Kezia earned a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences with a minor in Business Administration from Liberty University. Raised in the United Arab Emirates, she brings an international perspective to her leadership and aspires to contribute to meaningful global health advancement.

 

Vandanaa Jayaprakash

Third Year Medical Student

VCU Medical School

Vandanaa Jayaprakash is a third year medical student at VCU who is a leader at the VCU ACCESS Global Health Program with interests in global surgery, health policy and biomedical innovation. She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned degrees in Biology and Medical Anthropology with a minor in Neuroscience. Currently, she conducts critical care systems research based on an ICU in Rwanda and collaborates with Rwandan medical students to explore the impact of global surgery. She has also worked with fellow medical and engineering students on a project aimed to design a low-cost and innovative bronchoscope. Having worked with diverse populations, including refugees and in community clinics, she hopes to continue to strengthen her knowledge to improve health outcomes in resource-limited settings as a future physician. 

Joslyn Bedell

Special Assistant to the Vice President and Director of Strategic Initiatives Instructor, Global Leadership Study Abroad : Doha, Qatar

VCU Division of Student Affairs

With over 23 years of experience in higher education roles, 12 of those years at VCU, ranging from student activities, orientation, leadership & service, career and academic advising and employer development, Joslyn supports the VP and leadership team with project management, strategic initiatives, and day-to-day Division operations.  Joslyn has been a participant in, supporter of, and instructor for both domestic and study abroad student travel experiences since her undergraduate days at the University of Georgia as a student of Latin, Greek and Religion. Mrs. Bedell has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Latin from the University of Georgia ('99) and a Master of Education in Higher Education and Student Affairs from the University of Vermont ('01).