Kobeissi, Suscavage receive 2025 Values Award
Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston closed out the year by celebrating employees who best exemplify its values of integrity, innovation, collaboration, respect, and excellence.
Receiving the 2025 Values Award were Mahrokh “Mitzy” Kobeissi, DNP, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, CPAHA, an associate professor in the Department of Graduate Studies, and Layla Suscavage, a staff ombudsman III with the Harris County Long-Term Care Ombudsman program, which Cizik School of Nursing administers.
Established in 2023, the Values Award recognizes one faculty and one staff member each year who are selected from among employees nominated by their colleagues.
Mentoring and technology leadership
Kobeissi is a leading telehealth scholar who is helping shape policy related to artificial intelligence and technology-enabled care at UTHealth Houston and nationally. She freely shares her knowledge and expertise with colleagues and frequently collaborates with faculty and students.
“Dr. Kobeissi embodies the rare blend of scholar, mentor, and friend. She leads with humility, purpose, and grace. She invests her time and expertise not for accolades but to cultivate excellence in others,” her nominator wrote. “She dedicates herself to mentoring students and colleagues, guiding aspiring authors to translate ideas into impactful manuscripts and DNP projects.”
A Cizik School of Nursing alumna, Kobeissi joined the faculty in 2018.
Modeling our values and advocating for others
Suscavage spends her days advocating for residents of long-term care facilities, training others, and coordinating volunteers who visit nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
“She consistently conducts herself with honesty, transparency, and professionalism, earning the trust and respect of colleagues, residents, and leadership alike,” her nominator wrote. “As a team member, Layla is collaborative, dependable, and supportive, fostering an environment of mutual respect and shared purpose.”
Layla joined the ombudsman staff in 2018 and has been a leader in several key quality indicators, particularly in her volume of casework and the number of fair hearings in which she has successfully represented nursing home residents.
2025 Nominees
Congratulations to all of our nominees for inspiring others, and thank you for leading by example:
- Cavishia Roberson Murray
- Rashmi Momin
- Alicia Stubblefield
- Joyce Ju
- Jennifer Jones
- Vuong Prieto
- Nancy Crider
- Miguel Rivera
- Linda Roussel
- Karen Trevino
- Haley Delagarza
- Sonya Roberts
- Higinio Fernández-Sánchez
- Zhiyin “Jane” Yu
- Kelli Galle
- Tamika Tyler
- Fidelia Nwokedi
- Michael Perez
- Alaye John
