Ashley is an acute care nurse practitioner in cardiac surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. She received a bachelor of science from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, a master of science and a doctor of nursing practice from the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Ashley has worked in cardiac surgery for more than a decade as a critical care nurse, an advanced practice provider and as a clinical research nurse coordinator for the Department of Transplant Surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine as part of the Xenotransplant Cardiac Research Team. She is passionate about cardiac surgery and incorporating research into clinical practice.

Amy is a medical student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with majors in public health and interdisciplinary studies. Her thesis project was in philosophy.

Since coming to medical school, Amy has been involved in various clinical outcomes research projects. Her research interests include cardiothoracic and transplant surgery, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). In her free time, Amy loves to run, climb, read and hang out with her friends and family!

Maria Jennings is a medical student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She received her bachelor of science in chemical engineering from Northeastern University with honors distinction. During her time at Northeastern, Maria was inducted in the Tau Beta Pi engineering honors society. Following her undergraduate degree, she pursued a Ph.D. in chemical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. As a graduate student, Maria developed and engineered an enzyme therapeutic to combat immunosuppressive adenosine metabolism in solid tumors, for which she submitted a patent application. During her Ph.D., Maria was awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Ziegler Award for best Ph.D. proposal.

As a graduate student, Maria was introduced to the art of surgery and quickly realized that she wanted to operate forever! Since arriving at Johns Hopkins to complete her M.D., Maria has been putting her problem-solving skillset to use by pursuing surgical outcomes-based hypotheses. Maria is particularly interested in developing and evaluating risk stratification indices to better predict adverse post-operative outcomes.

Skylar Mackay is a medical student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He majored in international relations and was a member of the Parachute Team at the United States Military Academy at West Point. After serving in the Army as an officer in military intelligence, Skylar became very interested in medicine while working with patients with schizophrenia and developmental disabilities in his hometown. He became inspired to pursue medicine and obtained a second bachelor's degree (in biology) at Hood College and worked at the National Cancer Institute, studying the protein neurofibromin. At Johns Hopkins, Skylar is particularly interested in research related to cardiothoracic and transplant surgery, as well as quality improvement projects.

Dr. Patel is a Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellow at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He received his B.S. in biomedical engineering from the University of California, San Diego, an M.S. in biomedical engineering from California Polytechnic State University and an M.D. from Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine. He completed his general surgery residency at Cedars Sinai Medical Center.
 
Prior to his current role, Dr. Patel has been actively engaged in academic research and has multiple publications to his name. His dual background in medicine and engineering enables him to apply innovative engineering solutions to complex medical problems. His research interests are primarily focused on the intersection of biomedical engineering and surgery to improve surgical techniques and patient outcomes.

See a list of his publications.

Ria is an undergraduate student at Johns Hopkins University. She is majoring in molecular and cellular biology and minoring in psychology. Ria plans to go to medical school, with the goal of becoming a cardiovascular surgeon. Her research interests include postoperative care as well as long-term outcomes.

Alexandra Rizaldi is a medical student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Alex received her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Pennsylvania, where she conducted research in COVID-19 epidemiology, emergency medicine and acute care surgery, heart failure, and wildlife health. While in Philadelphia, she works as an EMT and as a medical assistant at the Unity Clinic, a free clinic primarily serving Indonesian immigrants.

At Hopkins, Alex has been working on clinical research projects with the divisions of cardiothoracic surgery and hematology. Her research interests include evaluating populations-based and perioperative care outcomes, with a particular focus on cardiac transplantation.

Dalila Cabrieles Rodriguez is currently a senior at Johns Hopkins University, where she studies public health and psychology. She plans to apply to medical school and is interested in addressing health disparities in minority communities. Dalila is a Woodrow Wilson Research Fellow and has participated in basic science mouse models aimed at understanding the pathology of congenital heart defects.

Alexander Tinana is a fourth-year undergraduate student at Johns Hopkins University, pursuing a bachelor of science in materials science and engineering, with a concentration in biomaterials. His research interests lie in the intersection of medical technology and engineering, with a focus on advancing health-care simulation and diagnostic tools.

Dr. Wang is a cardiac surgeon at Johns Hopkins Suburban Hospital and an assistant professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Grinnell College, an M.D. from Dartmouth Medical School, and a Ph.D. in computational biology and bioinformatics from Duke University. She completed her general surgery residency at Duke University Medical Center and a cardiothoracic surgery fellowship at Johns Hopkins. 

Dr. Wang is deeply invested in research that bridges the gap between computational biology and clinical practice. Her research interests extend to the development of computational models for predicting surgical outcomes, the application of machine-learning algorithms in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases and the integration of bioengineering techniques to advance surgical interventions.

As an educator, Dr. Wang is committed to the mentorship of medical students, residents and fellows, fostering an environment of academic curiosity and clinical excellence. Dr. Wang holds a certificate in college teaching from Duke University and has previously served on the faculty at Durham Technical Community College, where she taught anatomy and physiology.

See a list of her publications.

• Duke Cameron, M.D.
  Professor of surgery, Cardiac Surgery, Johns Hopkins Hospital 
• James Gammie, M.D.
  James T. Dresher Sr. professor of surgery, Cardiac Surgery, Johns Hopkins Hospital 
• Harry Dietz III, M.D.
  Victor A. McKusick professor of genetics, Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins Hospital

• Allen Everett, M.D.
  Professor of pediatrics, director of the Pediatric Proteome Center, Johns Hopkins Hospital
• Virginia Hahn, M.D.
  Assistant professor, Medicine, Johns Hopkins Hospital 
• Jochen Steppan, M.D.
  Associate professor, Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins Hospital

• Ifeanyi Chinedozi
• Zachary Darby
• Albert Leng