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¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ President and Chief Executive Officer Kathleen H. Goeppinger, Ph.D., honored four new recipients of the Littlejohn Award at the University’s annual faculty and staff recognition events held on the Downers Grove, Illinois, and Glendale, Arizona campuses this fall.

This year’s honorees from the Downers Grove Campus are faculty member Kathleen O’Hagan, Ph.D., Associate Dean, Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine; and staff member Robert Jansey, B.A., Technology Support Specialist, Information Technology (IT) Services. Glendale Campus Littlejohn Award honorees are faculty member Christina A. Esposito, O.D., Medical Director, ; and staff member Barbara Fajardo, B.S.A.M., M.S.L., Project Manager, Facilities.

Joining the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine (CCOM) in 1993 as an Assistant Professor, Dr. O’Hagan was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor in 1997 and Professor in 2004. Dr. O’Hagan served as Chair of the Department of Physiology (Downers Grove Campus) from 2007-2021. In 2021, she received an administrative appointment as Associate Dean, Academic Affairs, for CCOM with a continuing faculty appointment in the Department of Physiology. Dr. O’Hagan earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from the College of the Holy Cross and a Ph.D. in Physiology & Neurobiology from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She completed postdoctoral training in neural control of circulation at the Veterans Administration (VA) Medical Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Dr. Esposito currently serves as the Medical Director for the ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ Therapy Institute, a post she has held since 2022. She is a 2013 graduate from Midwestern's Arizona College of Optometry (AZCOPT) and was hired as an Assistant Professor at AZCOPT in 2014. In 2016 Dr. Esposito was promoted to Clinical Care Coordinator at the ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ Eye Institute and became an Associate Professor in 2019. While studying at AZCOPT, Dr. Esposito earned the ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ Excellence in Community Service Award and the 2013 COVD Award for Excellence in the College's Vision Therapy Program. Dr. Esposito graduated from the University of Arizona in 2009 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology.

In his role at ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ, Mr. Jansey is responsible for providing technical support and expertise in managing audio-visual equipment, multimedia systems, and IT infrastructure for students, faculty, and staff. He also collaborates with faculty and staff to ensure seamless operations during lectures and events. Mr. Jansey earned a Bachelor of Arts in Radio and TV from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale (SIUC). He currently holds an IT Certification and has completed multiple IT training courses over his career. Before joining the IT Services team at ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ, Mr. Jansey worked as an IT/Audio-Visual Specialist providing in-house technology support for all employees and several clients in a corporate training environment for the Q Center, a meeting and conference center in St. Charles, Illinois.  

Ms. Fajardo has worked at ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ's Glendale Campus since 2019. Originally hired as an Associate Project Manager in 2019, she was promoted to Project Manager, Facilities, in 2022. Before coming to work at Midwestern, Ms. Fajardo was the sole proprietor at Elegant Renovations from 2000 to 2015, and she served as the Director of Facilities at Grand Canyon University from 2008 to 2018. Ms. Fajardo graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science in Applied Management and earned a Master of Science in Leadership in 2013, both from Grand Canyon University.

The Littlejohn Awards take their name from the Littlejohn brothers, physicians who in 1900 founded the American College of Osteopathic Medicine & Surgery, the precursor to the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, the founding college of ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ. The awards, which have been presented annually since 2000 by Dr. Goeppinger, are ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ’s highest honor. Littlejohn Award winners are selected from Midwestern faculty and staff for their outstanding service to the community, healthcare professions, and the University.

¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ extends the warmest congratulations to these outstanding representatives of the University and the healthcare community.