Faculty Highlights
Maria Mazalkova, Associate Professor, Cardiovascular Technology
Maria Mazalkova is an Associate Professor in the School Of Nursing and Health Sciences. She teaches in the Cardiovascular Technology Program, part of the Allied Health Sciences Department. A medical doctor with over 25 years of experience, specializing in Cardiology and Echocardiography, Maria has over 25 years of clinical experience and 20 years of teaching.
Being an advisor of the Cardiovascular Technology Club, brings her great joy and satisfaction. The goal of the program is to spread awareness of various risk factors of cardiovascular disease, and teach the Molloy community how to take care of their hearts. Over the years, there have been many fundraisers and events at Molloy where we highlight healthy lifestyle and diet choices, and provide important information about the risk factors for heart disease.
This year she was especially proud of the event with the Nursing Department talking about Heart Diversity. This event delved into ethics, cultural sensitivity, and treatment options for patients from different backgrounds. Fundraising goes to support the Long Island chapter of the Children’s Heart Foundation. Maria is proud to announce that since 2019, over $4000 has been donated to the organization. What could be better and more meaningful than giving a child with congenital disease a chance at life changing surgery? She finds this incredibly rewarding.
Also a member of the Heart Health Community at Molloy, which promotes hands on CPR skills, Maria believes that knowledge is power. You can save a life, if you know how. That’s why throughout the year, she travels with her students to different middle and high schools teaching faculty and students hands on CPR. Multiple CPR training sessions are also held at Molloy in the lobby of Public Square.
Since her Alma Mater is located in Grodno, Belarus, Maria keeps a close relationship with her medical university. She has over 10 publications about the physiological aspects of the heart muscle oxygenation process in patients with coronary artery disease. Maria is also interested in metabolic changes in the myocardium with different risk factors like diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia. Everything about the heart fascinates her!
Maria's research is based now on psychosomatic versus physiological symptoms patients may experience, to evaluate them as quickly as possible and provide the highest level of care. How do we differentiate increased heart rate as a result of anxiety vs the same heart rate with a heart attack? We may send patients home with the recommendation to avoid stress and meditate, and the next thing you know, they die from heart attack. Both symptomology and the presentation of certain diseases can look very different in today's world, so we should update our approach too.
Maria Mazalkova, Associate Professor
"I love the challenges that teaching poses, and the privilege of playing such an important role in students' lives. I am always trying to find an individual approach to each of my students, to motivate them, and to support them on their journey." "My motto is knowledge, motivation, hard work, and making as many people as we meet on our life path aware of heart disease!"
Dr. Aliya Kuerban - Professor of Nursing
Dr. Aliya Kuerban is a Professor of Nursing at Molloy University and a practicing Family Nurse Practitioner with over a decade of clinical experience, specializing in home-based care for underserved populations. With a unique academic background that bridges sociology and nursing, Dr. Kuerban leverages her training in quantitative analysis and public health to address complex health disparities, particularly among Asian immigrant communities. She is a CDC-certified National Diabetes Prevention Program Lifestyle Coach and has designed and led a structured, home-based exercise program for Asian adults aimed at improving metabolic health—an initiative funded by Molloy University’s Faculty Scholarship & Academic Advancement Grant in 2023.
Dr. Kuerban’s research focuses on immigrant health disparities, diabetes management, and access to mental health services among Asians in the United States. She is an expert in the secondary analysis of large national datasets and has published widely on topics such as the healthy migrant effect, cultural and linguistic barriers to care, and the integration of biostatistics into nursing education. Her peer-reviewed work appears in top journals including the Journal of Immigrant and Migrant Health, the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, and the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. Through both scholarship and service, Dr. Kuerban remains deeply committed to advancing health equity and developing culturally tailored interventions to improve outcomes for vulnerable populations.
Dr. Aliya Kuerban PhD, RN, FNP
Dr. Kuerban’s research focuses on immigrant health disparities, diabetes management, and access to mental health services among Asians in the United States.
Meet Kaitlin Brooks! Licensed and Certified Speech Language Pathologist
Kaitlin Brooks, Assistant Professor, is a licensed and certified speech language pathologist with over 15 years of experience working with adults and caregivers of individuals with communication and swallowing disorders. Throughout her clinical and academic career, she has worked collaboratively with healthcare professionals and experienced the positive impact that a team approach can have on the lives of our clients. This experience, combined with her previous scholarly publications, has inspired several current research projects involving interprofessional collaboration. Kaitlin is currently working with first responders both nationally and internationally to educate the public on aphasia, a language disorder that commonly occurs after a stroke. A stroke can also result in impaired swallowing, or dysphagia. She is currently working with a Molloy SONHS team to develop a badge to provide nurses with additional knowledge and skills in the area of dysphagia management. Kaitlin continues to work with multidisciplinary teams of healthcare professionals at both Mercy University and Molloy University.
Kaitlin Brooks
"I am proud of our recently funded grant to develop the Hispanic Mothers of New York Research Training Center (HiMNY-RTC). As a PI on this grant, I am working with a team of researchers (Occupational Therapy and Psychology) to develop a center to train students to conduct research in the area of maternal mental health. This will improve access to mental health services and provide evidence-based solutions for Hispanic mothers in the surrounding communities. I am proud and excited to represent Molloy while working on such an important initiative."