on
March 9, 2017
Employee Updates
When Fabius native Karen Fabrizio graduated from college, her bags were packed and she was ready to move to Texas. She consulted her family in the area and had her resumes all printed. But everything changed when Fabrizio was offered an amazing job at Community General Hospital on the last day of her internship. She stayed in Central New York and has been touching the lives of people here ever since.
Fabrizio’s years of professional and personal experiences have prepared her well for her current position. After graduating from Ithaca College, she worked at Community General Hospital (CGH) for 8 years. While at CGH, she began teaching at OCC in 1988. Then she got a job at Van Duyn Home & Hospital where she stayed for 19 years before becoming a full-time professor in 2012.
Fabrizio is the author of two books on health information coding, which she’s spoken about on both a national and regional level. Recently, she earned her master’s degree in health care administration from SUNY IT. It’s something few in her field have achieved and is even more impressive when you learn Fabrizio was teaching full-time while completing her coursework. She was fond of telling her students that she understood their situation and frequently expressed her distaste for pop quizzes.
In her personal life, she thrives as well. She married and had a son Michael, who is now pursuing a degree in physics at SUNY Geneseo. Her husband of 26 years has just completed remodeling the house they have owned in Skaneateles since 1992. Now, Fabrizio hopes they can start traveling more with the extra free time and money.
It’s clear when you meet her, why Fabrizio has achieved so much success. Her boundless passion for her profession and educating youth speaks to her strength as a professional, professor and parent.
“The most important thing to me, besides my friends and family, is making a difference,” Fabrizio said. It’s reflected in both her in-person and online classes. “The Health Information Technology Degree at OCC really prepares our students for a job right after graduation. For me, helping students find a job and passion makes it all worth it.”
Karen Fabrizio is the Coordinator of the Health Information Technology program at Onondaga Community College. She serves on the Institutional Effectiveness Committee, Middle States Steering Committee, Learning Outcome Assessment Committee, and Scholastic Standards Committee. Fabrizio has also been the Faculty Advisor for the Health Information Technology Club on-campus and remains highly involved with their activities.
