Sanctae Crucis Awards presented

The sixth annual presentation of the Sanctae Crucis Awards, the highest non-degree recognition bestowed by the College on an alumnus or alumna, took place on May 2. Awards are given in three distinct categories—Distinguished Professional Achievement, Outstanding Community Service and Outstanding Young Alumnus/Alumna.

This year’s recipients are: Distinguished Professional Achievement category, Joyce A. O’Shaughnessy, M.D., ’78; Outstanding Community Service category, Brendan J. Cassin ’55 and Peter J. O’Connor ’63; Outstanding Young Alumnus/Alumna category, Sharon Ryan ’86.

Joyce O’Shaughnessy, M.D., ’78 graduated from Yale University Medical School and did her internship and residence in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by a fellowship in medical oncology at the National Cancer Institute. Serving as special assistant to the National Cancer Institute director from 1988 to 1990, she coordinated the development of new cancer drug approval guidelines for the National Cancer Institute and Food and Drug Administration. As a senior investigator in the Medical Breast Cancer Section of the National Cancer Institute from 1990 through 1995, she conducted many breast cancer treatment clinical trials. In 1997, O’Shaughnessy became the regional director of Chemoprevention, as well as the associate director of Breast Cancer Research, at PRN Research, Inc., a subsidiary of Physician Reliance Network. Today, she is practicing internal medicine and medical oncology at Baylor-Sammons Cancer Center and is affiliated with the Baylor University Medical Center.

Brendan J. Cassin ’55 is the co-founder of Xidex Corporation—established in 1969, it achieved Fortune 500 status in 1987 with sales of $752 million. A venture capital investor and the financial founder of over 15 public companies, Cassin is also a former director and president of the Association of Image Information Management, a 10,000-member trade association. He is currently on the board of directors of Cerus Corporation, PDF Solutions, Inc., and Symphonix Devices, Inc. A member of the board of trustees of St. Mary’s College of California, he also has served as director of the Daper Investment Fund at Stanford University. As the founder, chairman and president of the Cassin Educational Initiative Foundation, he has worked with religious orders, teachers and parishes to establish faith-based middle- and high-schools in economically deprived areas across the country.

Peter J. O’Connor ’63 is the founder and executive director of Fair Share Housing Development, Inc., of Cherry Hill, N.J., a nonprofit corporation that has built more than 800 units of affordable rental housing in Camden, N.J., and the surrounding region. O’Connor was one of the lead attorneys in two landmark state Supreme Court decisions, known as “the Mount Laurel Doctrines,” which require each community in the state to provide affordable housing opportunities for all citizens. A graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center, O’Connor is a recent recipient of the Sister Margaret Cafferty Development of People Award presented by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the domestic anti-poverty program of the Catholic Bishops of the United States.

Sharon Ryan ’86 joined the Jesuit Volunteer Corps upon graduating from Holy Cross. Moving to the Bronx and, later, Camden, N.J., she taught disadvantaged children and refugee teens, and, also, coordinated a soup kitchen and homeless shelter. In 1988, she became a JVC East area director, serving as the liaison for 20 Corps volunteers and their site agencies in four cities. She provided crisis support and peer counseling, planned retreats, coordinated administrative tasks, and initiated feasibility and demographic studies, which led to an expanded number of volunteers. In 1993, Ryan became the associate director of JVC East, based in Philadelphia. In this capacity, she handled budget and finance issues, coordinated human services and designed staff development and retreat programs. Last year, she lived as a volunteer in an international, ecumenical community in Belfast, Northern Ireland, serving adults with developmental disabilities. Ryan is currently working toward a master’s degree in pastoral counseling at Loyola College.