A Sage on Middle Age
Think the change of life signifies an ending? Ivy Alexander, MS’92, has news for you.
“Menopause is often an amazing teaching point,” explains the Yale School of Nursing associate professor.
For instance: “If women have had it in the back of their minds that they always wanted to be healthier, changes experienced during the transition to menopause can be a powerful motivator,” she says.
As director of Yale’s adult, family, gerontological, and women’s health primary-care specialty and a practicing clinician in the internal medicine department at the university’s Health Services, Alexander has listened to and treated countless women of all ages.
She knows that, despite increased research and media attention, menopause is still a taboo topic for many. And old wives’ tales often trump facts. “There is a lot of misinformation that is readily available,” Alexander says. “There are an astonishing number of myths.”
So, in 2005, she coauthored a book titled 100 Questions and Answers about Menopause. A second volume, 100 Questions and Answers about Osteoporosis and Osteopenia, followed the next year.
“I’m a bit unusual in that I don’t do all my work in articles,” says Alexander, who lives with her husband and daughters in the New Haven area. “I outreach to people directly and write for a lay audience.”
She discovered the joys of teaching while attending Northeastern and working at the Youville Hospital School of Nursing, in Cambridge. She went on to earn her doctorate from the University of Connecticut.
Taking a cue from her mother, who’s also a nurse, Alexander understands that patients profit from her exactitude.
“Symptom management is attention to detail. I find it very interesting really trying to find the things that help women in their particular context,” Alexander says.
As a scholar, she is dedicated to improving the lives of the half of the population who are her target readership.
“I have a passion for educating women and helping them,” says Alexander. “There’s nothing better than hearing a patient say she has gotten control of her life back.”
And middle-aged women are ready to grow. “Menopause is a time in life when women often take stock and re-evaluate their lives,” she says.
— Katy Kramer, MA’00
New Approaches, New Peaks
“I’m just a regular guy,” says Jeffrey Mahoney, AS’00, an inspector in the Massachusetts attorney general’s office, in Boston. “When you see me for the first time, I look very different. But when I reach out and shake your hand, it all disappears.”
Matthew Penney, a Northeastern doctoral student who used to be Mahoney’s physical therapist, offers a more succinct take on his former client: “You should meet him!”
Born with arthrogryposis, a birth defect that “freezes” joints in utero, Mahoney has endured surgeries and countless hours of physical therapy, many with Penney. The payoff: Mahoney can rock an active lifestyle.
“I’ve tried everything,” he says, including climbing Mt. Eisenhower in the New Hampshire Presidential Range last summer. “Next year, I’ll climb Mt. Washington.”
Mahoney’s also into horseback riding, soccer, and snowboarding, and he says he “throws a mean Frisbee.” But, at one time, sports were his Achilles heel. A couple of years ago, his left ankle was deteriorating.
Fortunately, Mahoney knew how to fight. When it appeared ankle-fusion surgery was his only remaining option, Penney suggested a surgeon at New England Baptist Hospital, who performed a first-of-its-kind operation on the adult arthrogryposis patient.
The doctor arthroscoped the ankle, Mahoney says, and “cleaned out the crap—the arthritis, broken cartilage, bone chips. I was off my feet for all of September 2006. Now I have no pain in the ankle and more flexibility than I had before.”
Penney has documented six years of Mahoney’s progress in a case report, “Orthopaedic Management of Degenerative Joint Disease in a Patient with Arthrogryposis (Amyoplasia),” written toward his doctoral requirements. It’s a significant contribution to the currently scanty literature on adult arthrogryposis patients.
“Jeff’s success can be attributed to his outstanding personality, dedication, perseverance, and family support in the face of a potentially devastating congenital condition,” Penney says.
Mahoney is quick to return his friend’s appreciation. “My years of physical therapy with Matt and his staff have given me more opportunities to enjoy the activities I might not otherwise have been able to do,” he declares.
— Katy Kramer, MA’00
Guitar Hero
The Fretlight guitar was an innovation born of desire. “I kept playing with bands, but I just didn’t have the time to practice to get better at lead guitar,” says John “Rusty” Shaffer, L’03.“And I thought, Why doesn’t someone put these notes on the guitar in the form of lights?”
With a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from the University of Connecticut, coupled with a minor in economics, Shaffer was that someone.
Today, he makes six-string electric and acoustic guitars that hook up to a computer and an amplifier. Power up, choose a programmed lesson or song, and LEDs in the guitar’s neck show you where to put your fingers for chords or solos.
In the beginning, though, the San Jose, California, native’s ideas exceeded the reach of technology. He completed his first prototype in 1992. “It plugged into the wall, and you dialed up a chord or a scale and the fret board lit up,” he says. “We connected the guitar to the computer when Windows 95 came out. Unfortunately, without the advent of USB, connecting to a computer was difficult and costly.”
Business didn’t boom. “In 1998, things were spiraling downward, and we shut the doors,” Shaffer says. In 2000, he enrolled at Northeastern’s School of Law.
But guitar fans were restless. Says Shaffer, “I put a one-page website up while we were re-engineering the product, and I got e-mails saying, ‘How dare you close down?’ But I thought, If I’m even going to think about resurrecting the company, I have to know what I did right and wrong.”
His interval of reflection paid off. Shaffer, who lives with his family in Reno, Nevada, is currently the president, chief executive officer, and founder of Optek Music Systems.
He relaunched the company in 2004. It now boasts a variety of Fretlight models, award-winning software, and millions in annual sales. Thanks to his law degree, Shaffer also acts as his own intellectual-property attorney.
He’s upbeat about how long it took Fretlight to catch on, knowing that early success often ends up falling a little flat. “I think it’s a better journey going from a grade of C to an A, instead of someone who gets an A the first time out,” he says.
“You actually end up learning more.”
— Katy Kramer, MA’00