About Us

Victor Tringali, EdD, CSCS, provides leadership for the development and delivery of organization-wide well-being initiatives for the University of Virginia’s employees and their families. Prior to arriving at UVA, he served as the Executive Director of University Wellness at Drexel University, where he led a nationally acclaimed well-being initiative for faculty, staff, and students.

In addition to his administrative duties, Dr. Tringali holds a faculty appointment at the University of Virginia School of Medicine within the Department of Public Health Sciences, where he founded and co-chairs the Education Collaborative for Health Promotion and Well-being – an experiential learning and research program for graduate students in the Master of Public Health program. As a scholar and practitioner, Dr. Tringali has a special research interest in the relationship of physical activity and measures of health and work performance.

He is a member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association and the American College of Sports Medicine. He serves on the Editorial board of the American Journal of Health Research and is the current Vice-President of the National Consortium for Building Healthy Academic Communities.

Sarah Patterson majored in exercise science and holds a Master’s degree in human services-health and wellness counseling. She is currently a member of the American College of Sports Medicine, and is a certified Exercise Physiologist. Sarah enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband and daughter Caroline.

Mr. Fritts has 20+ years of professional experience implementing and evaluating large-scale programs for wellness promotion, health education, disease prevention, and public health. He has 15+ years of experience conducting and leading clinical research projects on contemplative practices and integrative medicine modalities, resulting in 12 peer-reviewed publications. He completed a two-year Presidential Management Fellowship at the National Institutes of Health and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP®) with experience managing projects and programs with budgets up to $10 million. In 2018 he returned to his alma mater and joined the Hoos Well team to apply these skills and experience toward supporting the mental and emotional well-being of UVA faculty, staff, and team members.

An experienced yoga teacher (E-RYT 500), Mr. Fritts has been practicing and teaching yoga, meditation, and other contemplative practices for 25 years. He serves on the Board of Directors for two non-profit organizations dedicated to bringing contemplative practices into the contemporary world in accessible and relevant ways, to increase individual and societal flourishing.

Mr. Giandonato holds masters degrees in exercise science and business administration and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He possesses over a decade of experience in higher education, where he's assisted with the conceptualization, deployment, and evaluation of employee and student wellness initiatives in tandem with responsibilities of overseeing recreational programming, fitness and athletics facilities, and varsity strength and conditioning. Giandonato also serves as an adjunct faculty member at a number of colleges where he teaches exercise science and health promotion electives.

A Hoos Well Champion is someone who is a role model for living a healthy lifestyle and takes their well-being practice to work. A champion is a Hoos Well point of contact for the department.

We hope that you will be able to:

• Let your colleagues know you are the Hoos Well Champion for your department
• Distribute our monthly communications to your departments (when applicable to your colleagues)
• Hang flyers or posters for our current programs on bulletin boards, in break rooms, restrooms, etc.
• Stay up-to-date on our programming to answer your colleagues’ questions, or redirect them to us
• Attend a lunch two to four times a year

Absolutely not. Hoos Well Champions come in all shapes and sizes. A Hoos Well Champion makes health a priority and might be in the middle of a health journey. Enthusiasm for great health is the only requirement.

• Put Hoos Well Champion in your email signature
• Forward our communications (with management approval)
• Participate in our programming and talk about your experiences

Contact the team at hooswell@virginia.edu. We’re happy to answer your questions and welcome you to our team.