ALUMNI

1966

Daniel Kincaid is working full time and taking cardiology calls with Mayo Clinic Health System at the age of 84. He has worked at the organization for over 52 years.

1976

Jesse Hackell (HS, pediatrics, 1976–79) is the 2024 recipient of the Charles “Buzzy” Vanchiere Award from the Section on Administration and Practice Management of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The Vanchiere Award recognizes outstanding contributions in the education of pediatricians in administrative pediatrics, practice management and payment. Recipients are practicing or administrative pediatricians who enhance patients’ quality of care by providing educational services at the local and national levels.

1983

In August 2024, David Wheadon was named to the board of directors of Seaport Therapeutics. Wheadon is a distinguished pharmaceutical leader who most recently served as senior vice president of global regulatory affairs, patient safety and quality assurance at AstraZeneca. 

1992

Christopher Garcia (Ph.D.) is the scientific founder of Synthekine, an engineered cytokine therapeutics company developing disease-optimized treatments. The company recently announced a global partnership with Sanofi. Under the partnership, Sanofi and Synthekine will collaborate to research cytokine therapies and develop IL-10 receptor agonists for inflammatory diseases. Garcia has also been named the recipient of the 2024 Passano Award by the Passano Foundation to recognize his discoveries in the structure and function of cell surface receptors and how they interact with the molecules that bind to them.

1998

Benjamin Abella has been appointed chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai Health System. In this role, he will oversee the seven emergency departments and two emergency medicine residency programs in the Mount Sinai network.

1999

In 2022, Brian Erling was named president and CEO of Renown Health, which offers health care across northern Nevada and is ranked the #1 hospital in Nevada. He is a seasoned health care executive with more than 20 years of experience leading teams in diverse health care settings, including locally governed, not-for-profit hospitals and integrated health systems; physician practices; publicly traded health care companies; and private equity-backed health care ventures.

2000

In June 2024, Hyung Chun was promoted to a partner at Foresite Capital, a multistage health care and life sciences investment firm. In his new role, Chun will lead investments across the Foresite portfolio, focusing on a broad range of therapeutic areas, and will continue to seek out new investment opportunities.

2004

David Shook (HS, pediatrics, 2004–07) was recently promoted to chief medical officer and head of research and development at Nkarta. In his new role, he will oversee the R&D organization and continue his responsibilities in leading the clinical development, regulatory and translational science functions.

2006

Stephen W. Chang and Mark P. Eid started a registered investment advisory firm called Acts Financial Advisors to offer wealth management, tax strategy and personal financial advising services to fellow physicians and business owners. The company recently surpassed $100 million in assets under management.

2008

Peter Campbell (SPH ’08; HS, medicine, 2008–09; HS, ophthalmology, 2009–12) is co-founder and CEO of Siloam Vision, a company revolutionizing pediatric retinal imaging by introducing two laser-based artificial intelligence-enabled retinal imaging systems. In October 2024, the company received an NIH grant for ultrawide field nonmydriatic portable pediatric retinal imaging.

2011

Jeanelle Spencer (Ph.D.) started a functional training gym in Baltimore, which focuses on strength building, healthy nutrition and training for longevity. To date, Spencer has helped over 60 clients improve their fitness.

FORMER FACULTY, FELLOWS & RESIDENTS/HOUSE STAFF

Gordon Klein (PGF, pediatric gastroenterology, 1976–78) published a model in eLife that shows chronic inflammatory conditions can result in coronary vascular calcification. He also presented this model at a symposium held at the World Congress of Osteoporosis in London. 

Kelly Dunn (Ph.D.) (PGF, psychiatry and behavioral sciences, 2009–12; faculty, psychiatry and behavioral sciences, 2012–present; M.B.A. ’19) has recently been named the inaugural director of the University of Maryland School of Medicine Kahlert Institute for Addiction Medicine. She will also serve as a professor in the Department of Psychiatry with a secondary appointment in the Department of Neurobiology. Dunn was previously a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with a joint appointment in health policy and management at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Kieren Marr (faculty, medicine, oncology, 2008–24) co-founded Elion Therapeutics, a biotechnology company dedicated to transforming the treatment of life-threatening invasive fungal infections. Marr also currently serves as its president and chief medical officer.

Julie Deutsch (A&S ’12; HS, medicine, 2016–17; HS, pathology, 2019–22; PGF, dermatology, 2022–23) recently received the 2024 Career Development Award from LUNGevity Foundation, the nation’s leading lung cancer-focused nonprofit organization. Deutsch and her team aim to use the next generation of pathology biomarkers, including machine learning and multispectral imaging, to identify which patients with lung cancer are most likely to benefit from immunotherapy-based treatment regimens.

In August, Kimberly Skarupski (faculty, medicine, 2013–24) began work as the associate vice provost of leadership development in the Office of Faculty Affairs at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), a professor of internal medicine at UTMB’s John Sealy School of Medicine and professor of epidemiology at the UTMB School of Public and Population Health.

CisionVision, a company revolutionizing medical imaging, recently received up to $22 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health’s Precision Surgical Interventions program to develop solutions to critical anatomy visualization in surgery. Jeffrey Jopling (faculty, surgery, 2021–present) will be part of the team that will contribute to this project.