Derick Stace-Naughton (C'11)
Many Georgetown students succeed in shaping national policy after graduation, but senior Derick Stace-Naughton (C’11) has gotten a head start by authoring Congressional legislation while juggling classes and applying for international fellowships.
The English and Physics double major has written a bill to increase screening for and awareness of bleeding disorders—potentially dangerous conditions like hemophilia that prevent an individual’s blood from clotting properly. “In short, the Screening Awareness and Further Education Act of 2010 (SAFE) authorizes funding for grant programs that would ideally increase the diagnosis rate of genetic bleeding disorders,” Stace-Naughton explained.
The bill’s inspiration was “pretty personal,” Stace-Naughton continued. “Genetic bleeding disorders run in my family—it’s something my mother has, my twin sister has, I have—so I wanted to work on something related.” Part of his mission arises from the fact that only about 1% of people with the most common bleeding disorder, von Willebrand disease, have received a diagnosis. Individuals and doctors with little exposure to these disorders may explain away symptoms like bruising and easy bleeding that are indicators of the condition. The SAFE Act would provide funding for organizations to increase public awareness and screening rates for at-risk patients.
Stace-Naughton’s passion for political action was inspired by a course in the College’s Program on Science in the Public Interest. “It turned out that the course [Shaping National Science Policy] was actually designed to take students like me who had a passion for a topic and translate that into legislative action,” he explained. During the semester he worked on a congressional “concurrent resolution” before developing his ideas into potential legislation under the guidance of Physics Professor Francis Slakey.
To gain legitimacy on Capitol Hill, Stace-Naughton reached out to stakeholder organizations like the Hemophilia Federation of America, the National Hemophilia Foundation, the National Institute of Health, pharmaceutical companies, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With their endorsements, he garnered the support of Rep. Carolyn McArthy (D-NY) and Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI). While the bill remains under consideration after the recent congressional elections, Stace-Naughton emphasized, “That class, that experience, and that program has certainly been one of the most transformative and empowering experiences I’ve had here at Georgetown.”
For his impressive start shaping national health care policy, Stace-Naughton has also been awarded a prestigious George J. Mitchell Scholarship to study Health Communications at the University of Ulster in Ireland. He credited the support of faculty and the Office of Fellowships and Awards as a large part of his success. “Georgetown has a phenomenal infrastructure for helping students like me get fellowships like this,” he stressed. During his graduate study in Ireland, Stace-Naughton explained that he is most interested in learning how good policy ideas become reality. “Over the past couple years I’ve been trying to do that through the legislative process, trying to translate my ideas on bleeding disorders into an actual legislative item,” he noted. “So health communications seemed like a natural fit. It’s all about translating a good idea into something that a population will actually embrace.”
Before he graduates, however, Stace-Naughton will finish his English honors thesis: an exploration of blood and bleeding in contemporary American cinema and television. “I began thinking about when somebody becomes aware of say, hemophilia, the way that they think about that condition is inevitably shaped by the way we experience images of blood and bleeding every day,” he explained. His work ventures into the macabre territory of monster movies, zombies, and the vampire cast of the television series “True Blood.”
In addition to his coursework, Stace-Naughton oversees the community service initiatives of the College’s prestigious Baker Scholars program. While all his activities keep him busy, he ranked the Baker Scholars, the Science in the Public Interest Program, and the fellowship process among his favorites. “I’d recommend any of those things to any other Hoya,” he said.
Stace-Naughton credits his recent success to a combination of dedication and precociousness. “Both the fellowship application process and the legislative advocacy process require a belief that you can accomplish something, which is maybe a naïve belief, but at the same time a really pragmatic sort of action.” For current students who might follow in his footsteps, he advised, “If you’re passionate about it, just make time. DC has the resources and Georgetown has the resources to support you. So, you really just need to seek them out.”
--Jessica Beckman
Photos by Yovcho Yovchev.
