COVID-19 Commemoration

In March 2020, the first patients were first diagnosed with COVID-19 in Johns Hopkins Medicine’s hospitals. Two years later, we commemorate those we lost to the virus and those we discharged safely to their loved ones. The challenges continue, but we are optimistic about what’s ahead. Together, we are moving forward with hope.


How Did COVID-19 Push Medicine Forward?

The COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult time. In many ways it has also pushed medicine forward, accelerating many developments in medicine that would have taken decades to happen under normal circumstances. We asked team members from across Johns Hopkins Medicine what they thought were the big ideas that emerged as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Enduring Legacy of Our Pandemic Experience

Watch a video message from Redonda Miller, president of The Johns Hopkins Hospital. See how hospital staff have developed new ways of working and caring that were so brilliant, so forward-thinking and so impactful that they are now part of who we are and what we do on behalf of our patients, families and colleagues.

Additional Commemoration Events

President Shafeeq Ahmed and chaplain Csaba Szilagyi of Howard County speaking
President of Howard County speaking to crowd
Staff with heads bowed during moment of silence
Dr. Bennett speaking at podium outside
Violinist playing outside
Bayview staff in a circle surrounding candles surrounding flowers
  • Howard County General Hospital president Shafeeq Ahmed and Csaba Szilagyi, director of spiritual care, lead a moment of silence on March 11, 2022.

  • Colleagues across Johns Hopkins Medicine participated in the Moment of Silence for Inspiration and Hope as part of the commemoration program recognizing the organization’s two-year response to the pandemic.

  • Staff gather in front of Howard County General Hospital to reflect.

  • Richard Bennett, president of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, welcomes employees and guests to the hospital’s two-year commemoration of the COVID-19 pandemic on March 16, 2022. The theme was Celebrating Our Strength.

  • Violinist Claire Hebeisen, a graduate student at the Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University, performs a Bach selection.

  • Staff and members of the Spiritual Care and Chaplaincy Department reflect on what gives them strength, value and truth at the hospital’s labyrinth.

Innovations and Research Gained During the Pandemic

One-Year Commemoration Video Gallery

March 2021 marks one year into the professional and deeply personal journey with the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the toll the pandemic has taken on everyone, the Johns Hopkins Medicine team has kept on going – with strength, resilience and hope.

Reflections in Strength, Resilience and Hope

March 2021 marks one year into the professional and deeply personal journey with the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the toll the pandemic has taken on everyone, the Johns Hopkins Medicine team has kept on going – with strength, resilience and hope.

Capturing Our Resilience in Poetry

Mia Scharper, a Johns Hopkins Medicine International employee, delivers “March,” a moving poem she wrote about employees’ resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic and their hope and healing moving forward.

Reflections in Strength, Resilience and Hope: The Medical ICU at Johns Hopkins Bayview

The staff of the medical intensive care unit at Johns Hopkins Bayview reflect on the lessons they’ve learned from an extraordinary year of caring for critically ill patients with COVID-19.

Reflections on the Pandemic: Nurse Jennifer Ford

One year after our response to the pandemic, a third-generation Johns Hopkins employee looks back on her time leading a team of nurses who have cared for the most critically ill patients with COVID-19 for nearly a year.

'We are Resilient': Liz Fox Shares Her Experience With COVID-19 One Year After Her Diagnosis

New York resident Liz Fox, one of the first people diagnosed with COVID-19 at a Johns Hopkins hospital, says she was ‘terrified’ when she was told she had the virus. An emotional Fox shares her gratitude for the care she received from nurses and doctors.