The 125 Living the Hopkins Mission honorees were selected for their outstanding dedication to our core values, which include:

• Excellence & Discovery: Be the best. Commit to exceptional quality and service by encouraging curiosity, seeking information and creating innovative solutions.
• Leadership & Integrity: Be a role model. Inspire others to achieve their best and have the courage to do the right thing.
• Diversity & Inclusion: Be open. Embrace and value different backgrounds, opinions and experiences.
• Respect & Collegiality: Be kind. Listen to, understand and embrace others’ unique skills and knowledge.

Our 125 Living the Hopkins Mission honorees were nominated by their peers as part of the celebration of the 125th anniversary of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Read what their peers had to say about each honoree.

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Ted Alban

Associate Administrator
Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery

Ted Alban embodies the Johns Hopkins Medicine mission. Never one to shy away from a challenge, he has personally taken on the administrative lead of spearheading the Spinraza clinical service. Since this life-changing new injection was FDA-approved, Mr. Alban has worked endlessly to determine a practice location and operational pathway for our spinal muscular atrophy patient population who can benefit from this treatment. He has partnered with administrators and physicians across Johns Hopkins Medicine to identify service locations where this extraordinarily expensive injection can be administered. His leadership and dedication to our patients has resulted in 10 patients being treated to date. Mr. Alban embodies the JHM mission and is a role model to the many employees he encounters.

Holly Bashura

Lead Nurse Practitioner and Clinical Facilitator, JHH Inpatient Glucose Management Program
Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism

A dedicated inpatient diabetes management service nurse practitioner since June 2012, Holly Bashura’s strong communication and interpersonal skills, professionalism, superior knowledge of inpatient glucose management and scholarly approach to clinical practice have made her a local and international leader in glucose management in the hospital. She skillfully represents our team in quality improvement efforts and educational initiatives throughout the hospital, and has been a tireless champion for safe and effective glucose management for our hospitalized patients. An excellent speaker and educator, Ms. Bashura directs our Diabetes Nursing Superuser program, which consists of monthly case-based sessions on key topics related to inpatient glucose management. She has also developed practical clinical decision support tools, which have been highly received by our floor nurses. This work was summarized in a publication of the American Association of Diabetes Educators in September 2015. Her clinical expertise, knowledge base, patient-centered care, scholarship and passion for inpatient diabetes management make her a nursing leader to be emulated.

Eric Bass

Director, Johns Hopkins Evidence-based Practice Center
Professor of Medicine

Eric Bass lives the Johns Hopkins Medicine mission through his contributions as a researcher, educator and mentor. He promotes the practice of evidence-based, high-quality medicine through his leadership of the Evidence Based Practice Center. In his current role as vice chair for faculty development and promotions in the Department of Medicine, Dr. Bass guides faculty in navigating the promotions process and sponsors them for opportunities to disseminate their work and gain recognition. His respect and appreciation for the unique contributions each faculty member brings to Johns Hopkins serves him well as he helps faculty craft their paths forward.

Gail Berkenblit

Associate Program Director for Ambulatory Education, Osler Medicine Training Program
Assistant Professor of Medicine

Gail Berkenblit’s greatest contribution has been to internal medicine resident outpatient education. She is the top-ranked preceptor in all three categories of being a role model, being knowledgeable and being a good teacher. She serves as the associate program director for ambulatory education in the Osler Medical Housestaff Training Program. She led the redesign of the outpatient experience for medical residents. She designed a new rotation structure for interns, which increased the amount of dedicated time in their ambulatory education. She designed a curriculum for interns that provides training in team-based care, patient safety, preventive health and chronic disease management. She implemented multidisciplinary rounds to foster a team care approach for high-risk patients. She has continued to develop innovative approaches to resident education by instituting a successful weekly morning report for ambulatory interns as well as a clinical huddle, both of which foster the interns’ sense of ownership of their continuity practice. She believes strongly in empowering residents in their own education and created a clinic board so that they could have a more direct impact on their education.

Jaishri Blakeley

Director, The Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Neurofibromatosis Center
Professor of Neurology

Jaishri Blakeley has created and built the highly successful Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Neurofibromatosis Center. This has become one of the leading clinical and research centers for neurofibromatosis in the world. She has also continued to make major contributions to the growth of the Johns Hopkins Brain Cancer Program, positioning it as one of the top brain cancer programs in the country with one of the most sought-after fellowship training programs in neuro-oncology. Her clinical excellence and unique comprehensive approach to patient care have been recognized with several awards including the Thomas J. Preziosi clinical excellence award in 2005, the 2009 Make a Difference Award from the Neurofibromatosis Mid-Atlantic patient group, recognition as a top neurologist in Baltimore magazine in 2012, the Children’s Tumor Foundation Humanitarian Award in 2014 and this year she was nominated through the Office of Johns Hopkins Physicians for the Best Consulting Physician Award. I often point trainees and junior faculty to Dr. Blakeley as a shining example of compassionate care and true dedication to her patients.

Carolyn Bramante

Clinical Research Fellow
Division of General Internal Medicine

Throughout her medicine-pediatrics residency and now general internal medicine fellowship at Johns Hopkins, Carolyn Bramante has consistently demonstrated excellence in research and commitment to the Baltimore community, as well as leadership, integrity and kindness among the Johns Hopkins community. As a resident, Dr. Bramante led an initiative to develop and implement a nutrition education curriculum among low-income parents and their children at a local community center. Not only was this an important community endeavor, but Dr. Bramante also studied the program’s impact and has presented her results at several national conferences. Since transitioning to fellowship, she has expanded her research and clinical interests to obesity more broadly. Her research ideas focus on designing and testing innovative solutions to address obesity that are tailored to the busy primary care setting, as she desires to empower her primary care colleagues to be better equipped to handle the obesity epidemic. She has expanded her clinical interests as well, which now focus on the emerging field of obesity medicine. She has become a knowledgeable clinical resource in this area for colleagues in medicine and pediatrics alike.

Amanda Brown

Associate Professor of Neurology

Amanda Brown was appointed vice chair in the department to establish the Neurosciences Community Innovation Council in May 2015 and spearhead our community outreach initiatives. For 10 years she has served as director of the Johns Hopkins Internship in Brain Sciences Program (supported by philanthropy and an NIH R25 grant). This amazing program takes Baltimore City high school students into our research environment for an eight-week experience. Over 150 students have participated to date, with an 84 percent matriculation rate into college. My nomination is based on her exceptionally strong commitment to inclusivity, STEM pipeline augmentation, and community advocacy and outreach.

Ankur Butala

Assistant Professor of Neurology

Ankur Butala has been a movement disorders fellow for the past two years. I nominate him for this award, on behalf of our division and fellowship, for three reasons. On educational aspects, he is a role model for all the junior fellows and even some of his attending peers. He always takes the initiative to keep his peers up to date on medical knowledge. He is innovative in his teaching methods and inspires his junior fellows to be creative and constantly challenge oneself. On day-to-day clinical matters, Dr. Butala has been instrumental in improving the quality of our care and documentation through IT solutions for systemwide application within the movement disorders division. A third area where he excels is in integrating the work of our division with that of other divisions within neurology and neuroscience at large, bringing together people of disparate backgrounds to common interests, thereby promoting the transfer of knowledge as well as kindling new interdepartmental research interests.

Mary Calini

Credentialing Program Manager
Department of Medicine

Mary Calini has consistently demonstrated an exceptional commitment to high quality service in her challenging and sometimes thankless job as the department’s credentialing program manager. Although much of her work is done quietly behind the scenes, the department relies heavily on the work being done as efficiently as possible. The work can be very stressful when problems arise or deadlines are imminent, but Ms. Calini always stays calm, showing kindness and respect for every person. In this way, she contributes to the collegiality of the entire department.

Pablo Celnik

Director, Center of Excellence in Stroke Treatment, Recovery and Rehabilitation
Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

As director of the Johns Hopkins Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and physiatrist-in-chief at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Pablo Celnik serves as an outstanding mentor to junior faculty and a role model for the next generation of physician-scientists. His research is at the cutting edge. His lab focuses on investigating the mechanisms underlying motor learning while working to develop intervention approaches that modulate motor function in humans. The ultimate goal is to gain insight into how the central nervous system controls and learns to perform motor actions in both healthy individuals and in patients with neurological diseases such as stroke. Leveraging these insights could lead to strategies for enhancing motor function in neurological patients. Dr. Celnik also has a commitment to service and working to help our local Baltimore community.

Isaac Chan

Fellow
Department of Oncology

Isaac Chan is a second-year fellow (PGY4) in the Department of Oncology who embodies and fosters the culture of collegial inquiry that we strive for at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is insatiably curious, frequently prompting those around him to consider the larger questions regarding the biology of cancer in a manner that suits a promising clinician-scientist. His curiosity is coupled with a warm countenance and spirit that invites teamwork, collaboration and group inquiry. He is someone whose daily work and experiences serve as a wellspring of questions and hypotheses that drive him to tinker and experiment. In turn, he shares his infectious curiosity with those around him, generating group discussion and brainstorming. He takes delight in hearing others’ thoughts and opinions on these topics in which he maintains such fascination; one can’t help but share in his joy for discovery when he engages you in such a manner. I am nominating him because of the culture of inquiry and collegiality that he fosters.

Colleen Christmas

Director, Primary Care Leadership Track, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Associate Professor of Medicine

Colleen Christmas is never too busy to teach, and never too busy to be kind to her students, her team and her patients. She actively seeks to have all voices represented, both in her clinical care and in building the Primary Care Leadership Track. Though endorsed by the institution, she has taken on the work of creating a space within the school of medicine that will train excellent primary care providers. She solicits needs from students, then thinks of creative ways to meet their needs. Dr. Christmas is known for responding to “I wish we could/had/learned...” statements with “Let’s do/make/build it.” In her clinical practice, she does the right thing for patients, not the easy thing or the convenient thing; she does not refer away the hard problems; she recognizes the healing value of showing patients she cares by giving them her time to listen to their stories. Yet, she doesn’t take for granted how difficult it sometimes is to do the right thing and explicitly recognizes and praises it in others. She is a known leader in medical education, selected to teach the first communications classes at the partner school of medicine in China. Dr. Christmas truly is one of the most precious stars of the school of medicine.

Jeanne Clark

Director, Division of General Internal Medicine
Professor of Medicine

Jeanne Clark has demonstrated all our core values in her superb leadership of the Division of General Internal Medicine. She inspires everyone in the division to achieve their best, offering strong consistent support to clinicians, educators, investigators and staff. She has long been a leader in embracing and promoting diversity, and has incorporated the commitment to diversity into the fundamental fabric of the division. She is a great role model as a practicing general internist engaged in both research and education. She is an outstanding clinician-investigator, conducting seminal studies on the epidemiology and treatment of obesity and its consequences. In all aspects of her work, she demonstrates a commitment to excellence, integrity, diversity, respect and collegiality.

Joseph Cofrancesco

Director, Johns Hopkins Institute for Excellence in Education
Associate Professor of Medicine

Joe Cofrancesco is an internationally recognized leader in educational innovation. His passion, energy and talents as an educator are unique and tremendous. He has led the Institute for Excellence in Education since its creation and has brought a creativity and ambition to the IEE that has had impact across the globe. His vision for how to improve the skills of physicians has led to programs, curricula and workshops that have had international recognition. Perhaps his greatest trait is his absolutely limitless enthusiasm for education. Anyone who has the pleasure of meeting him cannot help but be inspired to participate in the teaching mission. Dr. Cofrancesco does this all by example, and I have yet to meet anyone who does it better (and may try every day!).

Alexis Coslick

Resident/House Staff PGY3
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Alexis Coslick has become a leader amongst our residents. She is reliable and sets the example with everything she does. She is dedicated to her patients, teams and fellow residents. While on inpatient, she goes above and beyond to communicate with patients, families and other providers as well as with our nurses and rehabilitation staff. This greatly contributes to a high standard of patient care and overall team cohesiveness. As well as many other endeavors, she is currently involved in launching a resident education platform to engage residents in daily learning despite being scattered between six sites.

Deidra Crews

Associate Vice Chair for Diversity and Inclusion, Department of Medicine
Associate Professor of Medicine

Deidra Crews has provided exceptional leadership in the Department of Medicine through her important role as the associate vice chair for diversity and inclusion. She has devoted substantial effort to promoting diversity within the department and across the school of medicine, introducing many novel initiatives that have had a measurable impact on improving the diversity of faculty and trainees at all levels. Dr. Crews has accomplished this while also continuing to be an outstanding clinical nephrologist and epidemiologist engaged in research addressing disparities in the care and outcomes of chronic kidney disease. She has consistently demonstrated outstanding leadership, integrity, respect and collegiality in all aspects of her work.

Thomas Cudjoe

Clinical and Research Fellow
Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology

Thomas Cudjoe is always ready and willing to volunteer his time to engage with the Baltimore community and mentor young people. As an example, he is part of a mentoring program through Thread: The New Social Fabric, wherein he mentors a Dunbar High School student. He also volunteers with Comiendo Juntos (Baltimore City Eating Together). He is a leader in our Department of Medicine Civic Engagement Initiative, and writes monthly departmental blog posts concerning the intersection of medicine, social justice and civic engagement. Dr. Cudjoe is a fellow in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Program, where his work is focused on social isolation among older adults.

Sanjay Desai

Director, Osler Medical Training Program
Associate Professor of Medicine

In his tenure as director of the Osler Housestaff Program, Sanjay Desai has been an exemplary leader who both recognizes and values the best of the Department of Medicine traditions and commitment to excellence, and recognizes that the program must change to meet the needs of patients and residents in current times. He has worked hard to make programmatic changes that support resident well-being and enables a more diverse group of residents to perform at their highest level. He has worked to incorporate evidence-based standards into education. He has also worked to institute pathways to aid the professional development of future physician researchers. All these changes also benefit patient care at Johns Hopkins, as a healthier and more productive house staff leads to that. In a department steeped in tradition, there can often be resistance to change, but Dr. Desai keeps the goals of excellent patient care, education and research at the forefront, listens carefully, collaborates and serves as a role model for us all. He has brought the Osler program into the 21st century and positioned it for continued success.

Jordan Duval-Arnould

Direction of Research & Innovation, Johns Hopkins Medicine Simulation Center
Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine

Jordan Duval-Arnould is driven to advance pediatric resuscitation science. He has co-authored scholarly works centered on resuscitation, technology and simulation-based research and training, and has presented his work both nationally and internationally. He has been involved in several multi-institutional endeavors to identify how technology can be used to increase resuscitation research efficiency and reliability. He combines these interests in his volunteer capacity as the Young Investigator member of the American Heart Association’s Pediatric Research Task Force, a co-investigator on the Quality of Pediatric Resuscitation in a Multicenter Collaborative (pediRES-Q) initiative, and as a founding executive committee member of the International Network for Simulation-based Pediatric Innovation, Research, & Education (INSPIRE) organization.

Michael Epps

Custodian Floor Tech
School of Medicine Admin Facilities Support Services

Michael Epps exemplifies the best of Johns Hopkins Medicine. As a facilities worker for the top floors of the Miller Research Building, he demonstrates an incredible work ethic, showing up every day without fail. He does not take sick days or make excuses. Perhaps the most distinguishing part of Mr. Epps’ character, though, is his kindness. He knows the name of everyone on the floors and takes the time daily to ask about our experiments, our families, our interests. He inspires everyone he meets to do good work, to work hard, to be friendly and inclusive, and to take care of ourselves. Not only does Mr. Epps keep things clean, he also makes the Miller Research Building feel warmer, sending us off every day with a “Have a good night and be safe!”

Crystal Evans

Outreach Director, ICTR Research Participant and Community Partnership Program
Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR)

Crystal Evans embodies the Johns Hopkins University spirit and mission by coordinating and engaging with numerous community members of Baltimore in many ways. She has been instrumental in the Henrietta Lacks activities sponsored by the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, while spearheading many other initiatives that connect Baltimore City neighbors, students, activists, health care providers and researchers. Her ability to unify research stakeholders and communities around Johns Hopkins toward a common purpose is truly inspiring. She is unique in her tireless dedication to advancing community well-being by joining people of diverse backgrounds together.

Hank Fessler

Director, Fellowship Training Program in Pulmonary and Critical Care
Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Professor of Medicine

In his role as assistant dean for undergraduate medical education, Hank Fessler has brought an unparalleled level of rigor and excellence to the educational standards for teachers and students alike. He took on the herculean task of ensuring consistency and quality across all blocks of the Genes to Society course, including course design, lecturers, PowerPoint materials and small groups. He has also revamped the assessment of students in the course using evidence-based methods and psychometrically sound exams. Dr. Fessler has also worked on several projects to help discover best practices in education and create innovative programs for students. One such topic he recently led a workgroup in is developing resources for struggling medical students, a topic not oft discussed openly. Dr. Fessler also has directed one of the premier pulmonary and critical care fellowships in the country for several years and has directly contributed to the success and careers of numerous medical students, residents and fellows.

Brenda Figueroa

Administrative Manager
Department of Pharmacology

Brenda Figueroa is an exceptional department administrator. She will find a way to figure anything out for anyone. She treats everyone well, is always a pleasure to work with and inspires others to do the same. She always goes above and beyond to make sure that faculty, staff and students in the department and beyond have everything they need. Ms. Figueroa also has a commitment to service. She raises money every year for juvenile diabetes and has brought others on board to do their own fundraising for causes that are important to them.

Mary Foy

Associate Dean and Registrar
School of Medicine Office of the Dean

Mary Foy has been devoted to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine for the last 50 years. She has been the registrar at the school of medicine for most of that time and knows or remembers every medical student who graduated during her years as registrar. Ms. Foy is a champion of the Johns Hopkins spirit, treating everyone as the most important person she has met and helping them in any way she can. Her office serves not only medical students, but graduate students, residents and fellows, as well as tracking our faculty from the very beginning. If you want to know something about a student or faculty member, Ms. Foy can tell you about them. She has served the school well, updating and modernizing the registrar’s office and championing what is right for our people. She advocated for health care for postdocs and has championed many other changes that have made academic life at the school of medicine better — and she takes no credit! She just does what is right for Johns Hopkins!

Eric Gapud

Instructor of Medicine
Division of Rheumatology

Eric Gapud is the proverbial triple threat. As a specialist in vasculitis, he takes extraordinarily thoughtful care of patients with rare and complicated disorders. He then takes that perspective to the bench, where he uses his Ph.D. in immunology to explore the pathogenesis of the diseases that we treat. Dr. Gapud also volunteers his time to teach an immunology seminar to fellows in the Division of Rheumatology, to train the next generation of clinician scholars.

Brian Garibaldi

Director, Johns Hopkins Biocontainment Unit
Associate Program Director, Osler Internal Medicine Residency Program
Assistant Professor of Medicine

Brian Garibaldi inspires us to return to the bedside and put patients at the center of our care. He developed and directs a curriculum that teaches our residents bedside skills in an evidence-based method. This curriculum led to publication and receiving the Jeremiah Barondess award from the ACGME. He then took his passion nationally and co-founded the Society for Bedside Medicine. As president, Dr. Garibaldi helps emphasize bedside medicine on a national scale. He brings his innovation, forward-thinking and tremendous productivity to these roles. He lives up to and advances the missions of Johns Hopkins Medicine every day.

Morton F. Goldberg

Joseph Green Professor of Ophthalmology & former director, Wilmer Eye Institute
Professor of Ophthalmology

Morton Goldberg epitomizes the consummate clinician and leader in academic medicine, becoming chair of an ophthalmology department right after his fellowship and building it into a top-notch eye center. He then led Wilmer Eye Institute as director for 14 years, maintaining it as a world center in eye care and research, and very substantially expanded its endowment and resources. He inspires, recognizes and embraces talent regardless of background. He has great curiosity about scientific advances, whether clinical or basic, with excellent judgment about their significance. At 80, he continues to offer service and advice at the international level.

Sherita Golden

Director, Inpatient Diabetes Management Service
Executive Vice-Chair, Department of Medicine
Professor of Medicine

Sherita Golden is the executive vice chair for the Department of Medicine. She developed ‘Journeys in Medicine,’ a forum for comprehensively engaging all department employees, our neighborhood and our learners. The Journeys project was inspired by Dean Rothman’s (served from 2012-2022) mandate for each department to respond constructively to the insurrection in Baltimore City following the death of Freddie Gray. Her work has sustained and grown into a mission-based project of inclusion and diversity involving multiple projects and stakeholders in and outside our department. Dr. Golden is an enlightened, innovative and charismatic leader who exemplifies many Johns Hopkins University values, but especially those of diversity and inclusion.

Carol Greider

Daniel Nathans Professor and Director, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics
Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics

Carol Greider is a stellar scientist, role model and leader. She has been a champion for women in science, in particular including women from underrepresented ethnic groups. She exemplifies excellence in every aspect of the Johns Hopkins Medicine mission.

Kimberly Gudzune

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Kimberly Gudzune lives the Johns Hopkins mission in many ways. She is an effective researcher, leader and communicator, constantly challenging and teaching her trainees. She has vast knowledge about obesity prevention and treatment, patient-provider communication, health disparities, health services research, biostatistics and epidemiology. Dr. Gudzune teaches and mentors not only fellows and residents, but also medical and undergraduate students. She understands and works to eliminate every barrier to health that individual patients face, whether she is working with privately insured patients, or underserved public housing residents. Through her work nationally in obesity advocacy, she works to eliminate systemic weight bias, which negatively affects patients of all backgrounds. Through her research, Dr. Gudzune works tirelessly to improve the health of low-income Baltimore residents by deeply understanding and eliminating the roots of behaviors that contribute to overweight and obesity.
 

Amita Gupta

Deputy Director, Johns Hopkins University Center for Clinical Global Health Education
Associate Professor of Medicine

Amita Gupta is committed to improving the health of people living in resource-limited countries through clinical research and mentorship. Since 2002, her work has been focused primarily on India, where she leads the NIH-funded Indo-U.S. HIV research program and is an active clinical investigator in multi-country HIV/TB trials. Dr. Gupta has mentored more than 30 junior scientists in India and the U.S. to run research studies and submit their own scientific findings to peer-reviewed publications. She serves in leadership positions for Regional Prospective Observational Research in Tuberculosis (RePORT), an international consortium to expand global clinical research capacity in high-burden settings.

Sara Haile

Ph.D. Student
Department of Biophysics

Sara Haile shows true passion for diversity and inclusion. She is the president-elect of the Biomedical Scholars Association (BSA) and an executive board member for the Hopkins-UMB SACNAS chapter, which highlight her leadership abilities. Through both of these roles, she is continually fostering the inclusion of different backgrounds. She constantly challenges me to be more open to others’ situations that I may not be aware of. She even helped me include more diversity into my after-school program at a local elementary school by recruiting BSA volunteers to join me.

Bhakti Hansoti

Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine

Bhakti Hansoti has been nominated for this award for her tireless efforts as a mentor and intellectual at Johns Hopkins. Through her persevering work in the Department of Emergency Medicine and international research efforts, she sets a phenomenal example for future female intellectuals in the field. As my personal research mentor and role model, I can speak to her unrelenting commitment to her mentee’s development and learning. Dr. Hansoti empowers me to take ownership and think critically about a research problem and to have confidence in myself. As a young medical student, I have grown significantly from her instruction, encouragement and strong example.

Susan Harvey

Director, Johns Hopkins Breast Imaging
Assistant Professor of Radiology and Radiological Science

Susan Harvey has been a caring mentor for many medical students and is always looking to offer them opportunities to gain research experience while going out of her way to ensure the project suits their personal interests. She’s a helpful and patient mentor who is delighted to answer any questions or address any concerns and do her best to provide solutions. Her enthusiasm for her work is infectious. She has led research in breast imaging designed to determine how to improve efficiency, accuracy and access to services both locally and around the world. She has led studies to determine the acceptance and feasibility of initiating breast cancer screening programs in low-income countries, and studies that aim to reduce the financial and emotional burden of recall imaging for patients. Dr. Harvey is currently working on a study to determine the most appropriate way to initiate a mobile mammography clinic in Maryland to provide underserved communities with access to breast cancer screening. She also continues to seek improvement in her clinical work using the latest data and recommendations, and she holds her department to standards higher than the national average.

Carrie Herzke

Associate Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs, Department of Medicine
Assistant Professor of Medicine

Carrie Herzke is an exemplary leader and tremendous role model in her field. Her contributions to our Hospitalist Program and the Osler Residency Program, for which she serves as Firm Faculty Leader, have been invaluable. Additionally, Dr. Herzke has had a major impact on building new admitting services within our Department, growing our procedure team, and restructuring patient throughput across the entire hospital. She has distinguished herself within the Hospitalist Program, the Department of Medicine, and across the entire hospital for her skill in solving problems and leading change. She has used her leadership skills to engage multiple parties in creative problem solving in the face of seemingly unsolvable problems, consistently producing results. Dr. Herzke is a collaborator and consensus builder whose style is characterized by humility and a winning sense of humor. She exemplifies the integrity, wisdom, and passion for personal development that characterize the best of leaders. As such, she is an excellent candidate for a “Living the Mission” Award.

Samuel Holzman

Postdoctoral Candidate
Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases

Samuel Holzman is committed to Johns Hopkins’ mission of diversity, inclusion, respect and collegiality. In his daily work and interactions with patients, families and staff, as well as his personal life, he exemplifies simple openness and an authentic embracing of different backgrounds and perspectives. Dr. Holzman is willing to share his own experiences in a nonjudgmental manner.

Ralph Hruban

Director of the Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center
Professor of Pathology

For more than 27 years, Ralph Hruban has tirelessly given to Johns Hopkins in many ways. First and foremost, Dr. Hruban is the leading pancreas pathologist, the go-to guy for the pancreatic surgeons. As an educator, he has taught — and still teaches — medical students, having received the Professor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in the medical school and the W. Barry Wood Jr. Award for Excellence in Teaching. As a scientist, he has published over 700 peer-reviewed manuscripts, and is rated by Thomson Reuters as a highly cited researcher (top 1 percent). As a leader, Dr. Hruban currently serves as the pathologist-in-chief of The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He works to build a collaborative culture of generosity and respect, a culture that embraces diversity, that fosters team science, that values translational research and that encourages innovation in education. For example, Dr. Hruban created the first iPad app in the department, Atlas of Pancreas Pathology, and has encouraged other faculty members to create apps and other forms of digital media. Ralph gives selflessly. He answers the call when someone in, or outside, Johns Hopkins needs his expertise. In 2013, he received The Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumni Award.

James Hull

IT Manager
Basic Science Institute, Basic Biomed Sciences

James Hull works hard to keep IT operations in the basic sciences going. He doesn’t only provide leadership, but will also personally work on IT issues when you need him, even if at the last minute. We have had situations where equipment was being installed and we unexpectedly needed an IT person and Mr. Hull would come over himself, right away. He also is great at keeping everyone abreast regarding IT challenges and consideration, potential problems, etc. He is critical to research in the basic sciences.

Chidinma Ibe

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Chidinma Ibe is a model for engagement of community partners in the work of Johns Hopkins Medicine. An open and extremely warm person, she is associate director of stakeholder engagement for the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity. Dr. Ibe maintains engagement with the center’s community advisory board and trains community health workers involved in several research studies aimed at achieving health equity.

Jennifer Jackson

Medical Training Program Administrator
Department of Medicine, Osler Medical Residency Training Program

Jennifer Jackson is the heart of the Osler Medical Residency Training Program. She is often the administrative face of the residency program. She knows each and every resident personally, nearly 100 of them, and always has a kind word or positive thing to say about each person. Ms. Jackson is often on the receiving end of their struggles and frustrations, and always spends time listening, not overreacting, demonstrating respect for the person and their feelings. She also serves as the face of the program during interview season and warmly greets all applicants, shares their excitement and does what she can to ease their stress. We are sure we would not be as successful at recruiting talented residents if it weren’t for her. Ms. Jackson is the best of all of us in the office at continuing to demonstrate respect for others, even in heated situations, trying to separate the facts from reaction and maintain collegiality at all times. She never hesitates to jump in and help out when needed. We couldn’t ask for a better colleague or face of the program.

Erica Johnson

Program Director, Internal Medicine Residency Program, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center
Assistant Professor of Medicine

Erica Johnson embodies all the core values cherished by our institution. She is deeply committed to leading a strong internal residency program at Johns Hopkins Bayview that values creating the future generation of leaders who believe that “Medicine Is a Public Trust.” She cherishes clinical excellence, scientific discovery and collegiality. A native of Baltimore, Dr. Johnson is a leader in fostering efforts to value diversity and inclusion, highlighting these issues in residency program efforts to increase our involvement with marginalized populations in Baltimore and beyond. All in all, I think she would be ideal for this award!

Sewon Kang

Chairman, Department of Dermatology
Professor of Dermatology

Sewon Kang has led the dermatology department out of a period of instability into one of immense growth. He holds others to high standards — and sets an example of striving always for academic excellence. He inspires all in our department to push ourselves and gives us the support to achieve our goals. Dr. Kang is inclusive and sensitive to diversity. There is no one better in our department who embodies the mission and core values of Johns Hopkins.

David Kern

Professor of Medicine

David Kern has developed the model for curriculum development in medical education that is used all over the world. His six-step model has influenced almost all curricula developed for medical education at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. This model has been taught at professional meetings and medical schools across the world, and it has been transformed into a book (four or five editions) that has been translated into multiple languages. Dr. Kern’s impact on medical education cannot be overstated. On top of that, he’s been a role model faculty member at Johns Hopkins for over 40 years and is beloved by all.

Noori Kim

Assistant Professor of Dermatology

Noori Kim’s character embodies what Johns Hopkins strives to achieve. Her pursuit of academic excellence and clinical expertise is unparalleled, especially in such a young individual. Not only does she maintain these high standards for herself, but she shares her knowledge and enthusiasm with others. Dr. Kim advised me, a medical student who has an interest in dermatology, by sharing her own story as well as connecting me to colleagues in the dermatology department. Prior to meeting Dr. Kim, I had little interest and experience in research. However, she took initiative to involve me in research and, with her encouragement, I gained an immense appreciation for the emphasis that Johns Hopkins places on academic progress. In addition, Dr. Kim, although young, has shown great initiative to make an impact in clinical research not only through her own achievements and publications, but — even better — by inspiring a younger generation of medical trainees. In summary, she has served as a great mentor and her academic and clinical achievements are only bolstered by her warm, diligent and personable character. Her enthusiasm for education and academia as a whole is both inspirational and infectious.

Tamala Knox

Senior Administrative Assistant and Program Coordinator
Department of Medicine--Chairman's Office, Vice-Chairs Programs

Tamala Knox, senior administrative assistant to the Department of Medicine vice chair leadership team, has revolutionized our organizational structure to enhance the impact of our work. In addition to supporting the efforts of the executive vice chair, Mrs. Knox also supports six other vice chairs. She has set the bar high for this inaugural position. Two weeks after Mrs. Knox started her position, the Freddie Gray riots occurred in West Baltimore and Dean Rothman (served from 2012-2022) asked each department to create a forum for faculty and staff to dialogue openly about the community issues surrounding the riots. Dr. Golden created a committee to bring the Department of Medicine Journeys in Medicine Summer Series to life, and Mrs. Knox blossomed as the individual to execute our ideas into a successful program using her creativity and innovation, which became the foundation of the department’s civic engagement initiative. Because of her leadership in the Journeys series, she is now the primary project coordinator for the Department of Medicine’s civic engagement initiative. She also demonstrates resourcefulness, dedication and commitment. She embodies the mission of Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Colleen Koch

Mark C. Rogers Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine
Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine

Colleen Koch is the Mark C. Rogers Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine and anesthesiologist-in-chief at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. She is the director of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Koch is looked up to by many, including junior faculty and fellows, for her leadership abilities and scientific accomplishments. Dr. Koch’s research is impactful and focuses on clinical outcomes in cardiac surgery, transfusion and quality of life. Dr. Koch always has wisdom to share about how to develop an academic career and how to identify opportunities for growth. She is also a strong voice for equality in academic medicine. In addition to her leadership at Johns Hopkins, she is a leader nationally through service in esteemed scientific societies.   

Heather Kristjanson

Ph.D. Student
Center for Functional Anatomy

Heather Kristjanson is a tremendous student leader. She played a major role in the governing of the graduate student associate for a couple of years and has been a strong voice and advocate for graduate students. She also is dedicated to her academic pursuits.

Shawn Kwatra

Assistant Professor of Dermatology

In addition to his boundless compassion, integrity and impressive clinical acumen, Shawn Kwatra is an absolute research powerhouse in the field of dermatology. He is constantly reading the most recent publications in all the top journals, and has developed a unique ability to identify ideas for research projects that are (almost without fail) accepted for publication within months of submission. He has more publications as a first-year attending than many of the faculty members who helped teach him as a resident, and he regularly presents his research at world congresses. Perhaps more importantly than his impressive resume is Dr. Kwatra’s unwavering kindness toward others and commitment to teaching medical students. Dr. Kwatra has helped countless medical students publish in the field of dermatology, offered advice on everything from studying for Step 1 to succeeding on the wards, and invited students to come to clinic with him. Dr. Kwatra represents excellence and discovery, but he also represents every other core value that the Johns Hopkins medical mission stands for. I cannot think of a more deserving person for this award than Dr. Kwatra.

Sophie Lanzkron

Director, Sickle Cell Center for Adults, The Johns Hopkins Hospital
Associate Professor of Medicine

Sophie Lanzkron is a role model for junior faculty, house staff and physician extenders alike. She insists on excellent care for her patients and is successful because she leads persuasively with patient-centered values. She recruited an interdisciplinary team from transfusion medicine, emergency medicine, pediatric hematology and psychiatry to ensure that patients with sickle cell disease get world-class care at Johns Hopkins. There are few centers in the world that provide the level of care for this underserved patient population. The Sickle Cell Center for Adults is an innovative solution to patient care that is yielding impressive results. Emergency department visits among patients with sickle cell are reduced all over Baltimore! Dr. Lanzkron is generous with her time, providing clinical and research mentorship to people across the learning spectrum; she is committed to bringing others along as she pursues excellent, patient-centered sickle cell research because this is the way to move the field forward. Finally, Dr. Lanzkron is a world citizen, using a novel telementoring clinic to train people in the region and around the world to care for people with sickle cell disease.

Jennifer Lawton

Chief, Division of Cardiac Surgery
Professor of Surgery

For Jennifer Lawton, the patient always comes first. Her exceptional service as a physician makes her the go-to surgeon whenever a staff member or family member becomes ill. She embraces diversity by hiring fellows with broad backgrounds into her lab and inviting international medical students to visit her division during the spring and winter semesters. Dr. Lawton is a leader among thoracic surgeons in the country, renown for her accomplishments as a translational scientist and appointment as chief of cardiac surgery at an early age. All along, she finds the balance to attend to family life.

Sean Leng

Professor of Medicine

Sean Leng leads the effort promoting geriatrics development in China. He has played a key leadership role in establishing the Department of Geriatrics at Peking Union Medical College, a premier medical school in China founded 100 years ago and modeled after Johns Hopkins. To meet the daunting challenge of an aging tsunami in China, Dr. Leng also works with the Chinese Medical Association Geriatrics Branch, Chinese Geriatrics Society and China’s Ministry of Health on geriatrics workforce training and promoting excellence in clinical geriatric medicine, as well as aging research across China. He is collegial, respectful and open to different opinions and experiences so that he can establish international collaboration with these Chinese national organizations and foster rapid geriatrics development in a very different, complex and evolving health care system. Dr. Leng also works with an American medical philanthropist and serves as the president of the Milstein Medical Asian-American Partnership Foundation (mmaapf.org), further facilitating the U.S.-China relationship overall, and development of geriatric medicine and other medical fields.

Rachel Levine

Associate Dean for Faculty Educational Development
Associate Vice Chair for Women's Academic Careers, Department of Medicine
Associate Professor of Medicine

Rachel Levine has provided exceptional leadership in her role as the Department of Medicine’s associate vice chair for women’s careers in academic medicine. She has been a tireless advocate for supporting the career development and success of women in the department and throughout the school of medicine. Her efforts have had a major impact in strengthening the department. Dr. Levine also has continued to conduct high-quality innovative work as an educator, with a special interest in teaching communication and clinical skills. She is an exceptional mentor and consistently demonstrates a strong commitment to excellence, integrity, diversity, respect and collegiality.

Shih-chun Lin

Division Chief of Johns Hopkins Neurosurgery, National Capital Region
Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery

I work in Shih-chun Lin’s clinic, and I watch him take the time with every single one of his patients. He spends 30 minutes, sometimes an hour, with each patient. He is so dedicated to his patients’ care that he never takes a lunch break because he lives his motto of “Patients come first.”

Rafael Llinas

Director, Neurology at Johns Hopkins Bayview
Professor of Neurology

Rafael Llinas is a master clinician as exemplified by his induction into the Miller-Coulson Academy of Clinical Excellence. These “master clinicians” are evaluated on 15 realms of expertise and undergo merit assessment by national experts. He was the first Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine neurologist to be selected for MCACE. Under his leadership, Johns Hopkins Bayview has achieved Joint Commission certification as a comprehensive stroke center, one of only three in Maryland. The Bayview Organ Donation Task Force, under Dr. Llinas’ leadership, won the Medal of Honor from the Department of Health and Human Services for excellence in tissue donation in 2006. Dr. Llinas received national recognition by the American Academy of Neurology as an Educator of Distinction in 2004. He is an elected fellow of the American Heart Association and American Neurological Association. He has established himself as an internationally known clinician, clinical researcher in stroke, and an educator in neurology. He works tirelessly and effectively for Hopkins Bayview and the Department of Neurology, as well as the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, as is evident from the awards and recognition he has received. Most recently he was named to AOA.

Joetta Love

Administrative Supervisor
Department of Medicine/Bayview Cardiology

Joetta Love is extremely professional and helpful, and deserving of recognition. For the past several years, I have worked with her when we have placed visiting clerkship students for the Department of Medicine Diversity Council in the Division of Cardiology at Johns Hopkins Bayview and have found her to be extremely responsive, courteous and kind. She has even helped administrative staff in other divisions process the onboarding of our visiting students. Because these are students from underrepresented and/or disadvantaged backgrounds, having a staff member like Ms. Love welcome them and seamlessly onboard them has been particularly valuable in helping us show these students that Johns Hopkins is welcoming place.

Frederick Luthardt

Research Compliance Manager
Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical and Translational Research

Frederick Luthardt works diligently to educate the public about research and safety by organizing opportunities for the public to meet with the Institutional Review Board (IRB). The IRB is a committee established to review and approve applications for research projects involving human subjects. The primary purpose of the IRB is to protect the rights and welfare of the human subjects. Dr. Luthardt works in the Compliance Monitoring Program, where he helps investigators and research staff ensure standards and regulations through routine monitoring visits and directed audits.

Donald MacGlashan

Senior Laboratory Investigator
Professor of Medicine

Donald MacGlashan has been a faculty member within the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology for almost 35 years. He is a deeply respected member of our faculty, and his extensive experience and leadership skills make him a wonderful director.

Carolyn Machamer

Director, Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology Graduate Program
Professor of Cell Biology

Carolyn Machamer is a great scientist and one of our strongest leaders in graduate education. She has served as the director of one of our largest graduate programs — the biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology graduate program — for 12 years and during that time has recruited hundreds of graduate students and helped to guide them to graduation and success. She is also a vocal advocate for diversity and inclusion. Carolyn is a go-to faculty member for students. Students across programs seek her out to get her support and advice. She has managed to balance all this with doing innovative and important research. Dr. Machamer is an amazing contributor to Johns Hopkins and has given so much to make sure that our education and research missions are served.

Seth Martin

Director, Advanced Lipid Disorders Program of the Ciccarone Center
Associate Professor of Medicine

Aligned with Johns Hopkins Medicine’s strategic priorities and mission, Seth Martin is a leader of an interdisciplinary team of Johns Hopkins clinicians, students, patient advisers and Whiting School engineers building the first cardiology CareKit application (“Corrie”), which is focused on better patient-centered communication to guide patients through each step of the acute myocardial infarction recovery process, with an overarching goal of improving outcomes, including reducing hospital readmissions. The Corrie Health team, started by Francoise Marvel, is composed of physician champions like Dr. Martin in preventive cardiology, nurse champions, engineers, medical students, premedical students, nursing students, pharmacists in digital health, patient safety, quality improvement, prevention and innovation here at Johns Hopkins. Corrie has tremendous diversity in its team members, which allows for unique opportunities including an initiative to tailor Corrie for Latino patients who are at disproportionate risk for cardiometabolic health conditions.

Justin McArthur

Director, Johns Hopkins Department of Neurology
Professor of Neurology

I am nominating Justin McArthur because of his decades of leadership and caring about the Johns Hopkins community. In addition to his scholarly accolades as a world expert in HIV, Dr. McArthur has selflessly committed his time to building the #2 Neurology department in the country with a diverse faculty and strong representation in every sub-specialty of neurology. His efforts as co-leader of United Way fundraising for Johns Hopkins are a remarkable example of his desire to support the community we live in. At the same time, he chairs the professorial promotions committee to maintain academic rigor and ensure fairness.

Darcenia McDowell

Laboratory Service Coordinator
Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics

Darcenia McDowell has been extraordinary in taking her time and effort to reach out to our local community at the inner city. I recently had the luck to recruit her to work with me on handling the logistics of the annual summer science camp for inner city elementary school students. She came on board with a level of enthusiasm and capacity that completely blew me away. She does everything spontaneously and tirelessly, and she remained calm and methodological even under the tremendous pressure when our operation was all of the sudden dropped by the office we used to work with. Only someone who truly cares about the community we live in would have her level of passion and dedication. She was able to touch upon every single young kid and their families who came to the camp and cultivated a true sense of caring and nurturing that Johns Hopkins is keen to deliver. I recommend her most highly and wish Johns Hopkins could recognize more staff members like her.

Sharon McGrath-Morrow

Program Director, Pediatric Pulmonary Fellowship Program, The Johns Hopkins Hospital
Professor of Pediatrics

Sharon McGrath-Morrow exemplifies the mission of Johns Hopkins Medicine. Her research into bronchopulmonary dysplasia, ataxia telangiectasia, secondhand smoke, and e-cigarettes is informed by her clinical work, and her results in turn shape the field and improve outcomes for patients. She is also a master clinician in pediatric pulmonology and serves as a resource not just for the division or Johns Hopkins as a whole, but also for national guidelines committees. As fellowship director, Dr. McGrath-Morrow is an excellent teacher and an amazing role model as a female faculty member who can balance NIH-funded research, a robust clinical practice, mentoring junior faculty and fellows, and a family. Equally as important, she is a trusted colleague who is more than willing to do more than her fair share of work and collaborate with anyone whom she can help.

Christina Mitchell

JHU Research & Clinical Fellow
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics-Reproductive Endocrinology

Christina Mitchell clearly embodies all the core values and has even been recognized before for her outstanding care of patients (as Dr. Cordeiro at the time, her maiden name). She is always respectful and inclusive with her patients and her colleagues. She commits time out of her busy schedule to teach medical students and residents, and she greatly enjoys these interactions. As a strong leader, she also embraces diversity, inclusivity and integrity. Additionally, she has been recognized for her excellent work in the field of obstetric and gynecologic research. Dr. Mitchell is planning to pursue future research and clinical care to improve fertility preservation in patients diagnosed with cancer. Her work contributions are unique in that she excels in so many different areas without sacrificing other areas!

Tina Moore

Administrative Divisional Manager
Neuromuscular Division

Tina Moore, a native of Baltimore City, has been the administrative neuromuscular divisional manager here at the school of medicine and at Johns Hopkins Bayview for several years. In this role she works with colleagues at all levels who come from a variety of backgrounds. To help foster more cohesion and a sense of community, she spearheaded a department wide initiative titled Project Synergy, which brought together employees in a fun and interactive way and also informed us about opportunities to engage with the local Baltimore community.

Carol Morris

Division Chief, Orthopaedic Oncology
Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery

Carol Morris is a terrific leader, partner and mentor. She helped cultivate and lead the sarcoma team at The Johns Hopkins University, delivering the highest level of clinical and surgical excellence. Dr. Morris exemplifies and promotes diversity in every aspect. She is among the leading educators in the country for orthopaedic surgery. There is no better personification of the Johns Hopkins mission.

Ellen Mowry

Associate Professor of Neurology

Ellen Mowry successfully juggles her many roles within Johns Hopkins and national organizations, and at home as a mother of two (even bringing her kids to conferences!). While working to set up one of the new precision medicine centers, conducting multiple research projects and seeing patients in clinic, she still makes time to provide career guidance and research mentorship to students like myself. Dr. Mowry fully embraces trainees from all backgrounds, and constantly encourages curiosity through new research ideas. She truly is the epitome of a strong, female role model in academic medicine, someone I hope to emulate in my own career.

Surekha Mullangi

Medical Student
School of Medicine

Surekha Mullangi, a second-year medical student, has an unwavering commitment to clinical research and improving patient outcomes. Ms. Mullangi is leading a novel research protocol assessing the effectiveness of point-of-care cardiac ultrasound (POCUS) for assessing heart failure in hemodialysis patients. Even prior to starting her clinical rotations, Ms. Mullangi completed training for cardiac POCUS to help facilitate this clinical investigation. Ms. Mullangi has actively participated in several other research projects, and her scholarly activities include three co-authored published manuscripts in 2017, one co-authored manuscript under review, a poster on a novel POCUS curriculum for nephrology fellows presented at the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) 2017 meeting, and two first-authored manuscripts under preparation. Ms. Mullangi has also received the 2017 ASN STARS (students and residents) and TREKS (Tutored Research and Education for Kidney Scholars) awards, highlighting her national impact. In summary, Ms. Mullangi personifies the core values of excellence and discovery by “encouraging curiosity, seeking information and creating innovative solutions” that are integral to our mission.

Jamie Murphy

Director of Obstetric Anesthesia
Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine

Jamie Murphy is an exemplary model of the qualities a Johns Hopkins physician should have: integrity, selflessness, intelligence, commitment to excellence and loyalty. She embodies, at the highest level, all the qualities that the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine seeks in its faculty.

Alexandra Murray

M.D./Ph.D.
Molecular and Cellular Medicine

Alexandra Murray is an M.D./Ph.D. candidate in the third year of her Ph.D. in the lab of Robert Silicano. Her research focuses on characterizing the latent reservoir of an HIV analogue in monkeys for antiretroviral therapy monitoring. This requires close collaboration with multiple laboratories at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Harvard University, partnerships she quietly leads at biweekly lab meetings. She is the silent workhorse in a collaboration with transplant surgery, monitoring HIV latency in lymph nodes of HIV-positive organ donors, slipping into the hospital at all hours of the night to harvest specimens during surgery. She is uniquely situated at the intersection of clinical and laboratory medicine across multiple institutions. She is a brilliant collaborator who deflects attention and redirects the spotlight on others.

Omar Najjar

Medical Student
School of Medicine

I’ve known Omar Najjar for a little over a year now, and I am always impressed by his enthusiasm to enrich the educational experience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Mr. Najjar continually exemplifies respect and inclusion both inside and outside the curriculum, and he is a gem in our class of 2020. He is the embodiment of spirit during Taussig College’s festivities, and he attends several events hosted by the Medical Student Senate. Further, Mr. Najjar served as fellow student leader when he ran and served as a referee for several CAP Olympics events in October 2017. In addition to promoting respect and collegiality in the medical student body, Mr. Najjar demonstrates leadership and a desire to embrace different backgrounds, opinions and experiences, and always makes an effort to learn more; this can be demonstrated in his scholarly concentration abroad and his leadership in the Refugee Health Partnership (RHP), where he spearheads the Introduction to Refugee Health Selective for first-year medical students and coordinates several events pertaining to refugee health. Through his involvement with RHP, Mr. Najjar engages students on issues pertaining to health disparities, diversity and global health.

Jeremy Nathans

Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics

Jeremy Nathans is a Renaissance man, a living example of what a true scholar should be. Every year he offers a course titled “Great Experiments in Biology,” where students are exposed to great science throughout the ages. I took this course several years ago and to this day I can still feel its influence; I remember fondly his discussions on Benjamin Franklin, Newton’s Opticks, landmark experiments in genetics and many others. Professor Nathans makes boring-looking papers come alive, making his students appreciate the beauty of science. He strikes the right mixture between being gentle and demanding. Even though Professor Nathans also has a distinguished history of research accomplishments, spending the time to be a great teacher in the classroom to make a difference to his students can be a thankless task, and it is the one aspect of Professor Nathans I appreciate most.

Chiadi Ndumele

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Chiadi Ndumele is a wonderful example of a faculty member contributing to the three pillars of the Johns Hopkins Medicine mission of patient care, research and teaching. Excellent at all three, he devotes considerable time serving our institution via his care of patients with heart disease, research in the relation of obesity to heart failure, and teaching residents, students and cardiology fellows. Dr. Ndumele serves on the Department of Medicine Diversity Council, among other committees. He is among the most collegial of our faculty at Johns Hopkins — representing our very best.

Paul Ness

Director, Division of Transfusion Medicine
Professor of Pathology

Paul Ness is the epitome of a faculty member who has fulfilled all three arms of the Johns Hopkins Medicine tripartite mission. As a scientist he has applied academic rigor to the study of blood product safety on an international level. He has championed state-of-the-art blood banking, worked to reduce blood wastage and implemented tests to ensure blood product safety through his service activities as director of the Transfusion Medicine Division for 37 years and through his simultaneous scientific direction for organizations such as the Chesapeake Region Red Cross. Finally, he has trained 29 transfusion medicine fellows, some of whom have assumed academic positions at Johns Hopkins and other institutions. Dr. Ness has shared his knowledge through over 250 scientific publications, 35 book chapters and three books on the science of transfusion medicine. He has received many honors and lectureships from professional societies, and he was the editor of Transfusion for 15 years.

David Newman-Toker

Director, Division of Neuro-Visual & Vestibular Disorders, Department of Neurology
Professor of Neurology

David Newman-Toker is tackling a core of clinical practice: How should diagnosis be done in the 21st century? A master clinician in his own right, he has mapped out the huge gap between medical knowledge and clinical practice, and how medical knowledge itself needs bolstering from new forms of data. As an example, he worked out the errors in clinicians’ triaging of dizzy patients into potential stroke and non-stroke, derived the required testing characteristics, created a fitting bedside test, and invented video goggles to disseminate that test, all with rigorous evidence. His having identified diagnostic error as a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in the health system led to his co-founding the nationwide (and beyond) Society for Improvement of Diagnosis in Medicine, and he is an international leader in the rethinking of clinical practice. Through his brilliance, passion and good humor, Dr. Newman-Toker has motivated dozens of other faculty and students on this campus to work with him to tackle these thorny questions. He includes in this group clinicians, psychologists, informaticians, implementation scientists, statisticians and many others, recognizing the contributions each can make.

Lauren Osborne

Assistant Director, Johns Hopkins Women's Mood Disorders Center
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Lauren Osborne set up the women’s reproductive psychiatry fellowship and has been totally faithful to her commitments with unwavering enthusiasm over the past 1.5 years. She helped set up the inaugural psychiatry-OB clinics and inpatient consult service. Her research activities involve a K-award investigating anxiety in the peripartum and the immune system. She is always positive and will look for solutions fearlessly. In addition, she is pragmatic and realistic and knows how to get things done without offending anyone. I fully trust her judgment, and if she is wrong she is the first to admit it. Dr. Osborne values honesty and hard work and expects the same in return. She is not afraid to roll up her sleeves and get stuck in. She is also not afraid to advocate for her staff and does so in a very effective yet sensitive way. She relates to all grades of staff in the same manner and dislikes elitist attitudes. I required a huge amount of paperwork to obtain the visa necessary for my fellowship, and she never once complained or made me feel that I was an inconvenience. The best thing about her is that she probably doesn’t even realize that she deserves this award!

Kathleen Page

Associate Professor of Medicine

Kathleen Page is an excellent faculty member at Johns Hopkins in the school of medicine and is also a leader of Centro SOL, which aims to promote equity in health and opportunity for Latinos. She’s an example of someone who is excellent academically and engaged in our local community.

Drew Pardoll

Director, Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
Professor of Oncology

Drew Pardoll exemplifies the role of living the mission of Johns Hopkins Medicine. He attended The Johns Hopkins University, where he earned his M.D./Ph.D. in 1982 and completed his medical residency and oncology fellowship in 1985. Dr. Pardoll joined the departments of oncology and medicine in 1988. Dr. Pardoll has published over 300 papers as well as over 20 book chapters on the subject of T cell immunology and cancer vaccines. In his long and illustrious career at Johns Hopkins, he has trained and mentored roughly 50 biomedical researchers, including roughly 40 graduate students and over 30 postdoctoral fellows. Over half his trainees currently hold faculty positions at leading university medical centers in the U.S. and around the world. Dr. Pardoll has developed collaborations throughout the university between departments, labs and individuals to further the goal of finding cures for cancer. He is well-respected and is a highly sought after mentor to junior faculty and students. He also cares deeply about the community of Johns Hopkins as well as the community of Baltimore. Dr. Pardoll is a true example of someone who is living the Johns Hopkins Medicine mission.

Arvind Pathak

Associate Professor of Radiology and Radiological Science

Arvind Pathak has great integrity and has followed his own path, though difficult, for career progression. Dr. Pathak has been a great mentor and is always open to answering questions about career development. He suggests avenues that are not easily visualized by junior faculty, and this helps moving us forward.

Kimberly Peairs

Clinical Director, General Internal Medicine at Green Spring Station
Assistant Professor of Medicine

Kimberly Peairs is truly the epitome of Johns Hopkins Medicine. For more than 25 years, she has delivered superior patient-centered care and has mentored numerous medical students and residents. As a clinician, Dr. Peairs is constantly being asked to take on faculty and staff members as patients. She is truly the “doctor’s doctor.” As further testament to her clinical prowess, she is regularly approached by the Department of Medicine and the dean’s office to serve in a consultative or primary care role for numerous referrals. She gladly takes these patients on, despite having had a “closed” practice for many years due to her popularity. Dr. Peairs has built one of the very few clinical programs in cancer survivorship in the country, an area in which she has become a nationally recognized expert. She displays aequanimitas with patients and colleagues and has remained a steadfast role model for young trainees and faculty. Her calm and kind demeanor has not only led to her recognition as a caring primary care physician but has translated into her being asked to take on numerous leadership roles. Dr. Peairs has thrived in these roles while taking little of the credit.

Monica Pearl

Director of Faculty Experience
Associate Professor of Radiology and Radiological Science

Monica Pearl has developed a brand new position in the Department of Radiology — the director of faculty experience. The department chair, Karen Horton, selected Dr. Pearl from among several candidates, and she has been very creative in developing the role. Over the last year and a half, Dr. Pearl organized monthly events for the faculty, often including their significant others and sometimes also their children. One of my favorites was when she announced to the faculty at their monthly business meeting, “Some of you have difficulty attending the hosted events, so in July, I will be coming to you.” She rented an ice cream cart and spent the hot July afternoon visiting all the radiologists in all the reading rooms on campus, serving them ice cream. Dr. Pearl helps bring the joy back to medicine. She also has a very big heart. For the first time in my 18 years in the department, she and the chair took United Way to heart in a way that produced record participation. Thank you for considering her to be a recipient of this award. She truly represents the very best that we are.

Tim Phelps

Director of Production, Department of Art as Applied to Medicine
Professor of Art as Applied to Medicine

Reading the description of this honor, I felt that the four pillars described above exemplify who Tim Phelps is as a role model of our community and his contributions to our department, graduate program, university and Johns Hopkins Medicine. Professor Phelps is a rare individual whose excellent work and generosity toward his students and colleagues has contributed to better quality of learning and discovery in medicine. He is highly regarded in the field of medical illustration both nationally and internationally. He served in numerous leadership roles, including president of our professional association (Association of Medical Illustrators) and on countless committees, both to serve colleagues and to mentor new professional members and students. He exemplifies a commitment to quality service of the highest standard, constantly discovering new techniques in the communication of science and medicine. Professor Phelps has always been a role model for students, faculty and colleagues. His generosity includes years of service volunteering as a classroom assistant weekly at Tench Tilghman elementary/middle school. As my mentor, his encouragement and honesty has had a lasting impression since I graduated from Johns Hopkins nearly 20 years ago. Professor Phelps’ collegiality simply brings out the best.

Damani Piggott

Assistant Dean for Graduate Biomedical Education and Graduate Student Diversity
Assistant Professor of Medicine

Damani Piggott is an exemplar of the best of Johns Hopkins Medicine. A brilliant researcher, studying HIV and frailty, he also devotes significant time to promoting diversity and inclusion in the school of medicine, especially at the trainee level. In addition to formal leadership roles as assistant dean for graduate biomedical education and graduate student diversity and as an active member of the Department of Medicine Diversity Council, Dr. Piggott volunteers his time generously through mentorship in the MERIT Baltimore program, as well as other student programs. He is someone who you can always count on to support efforts in diversity and inclusion.

Rheanna Platt

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Rheanna Platt is a tireless champion for the health of Latino immigrant families. Trained as a pediatrician and child psychiatrist, she knows that children can only be as healthy as their families, and she has created elegant family-based therapies and put them into practice in a pediatric setting. Dr. Platt is always looking out for what is best for the patient. For example, I’ve been especially impressed by her going the extra mile to find the appropriate mental health treatment for pregnant adolescent Latinas who need treatment by a perinatal mental health team instead of a pediatric team. She also works well within an interdisciplinary team, and was helpful and responsive and creative when I recently tried to find outpatient care for an inpatient with a complicated set of needs (thinking about the best combination of therapist, psychiatrist and school services for a child with multiple issues).

Sarah Polk

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Sarah Polk, as medical director of the Children’s Medical Practice (CMP) and the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center Care-A-Van, co-director of Centro SOL, and pediatric medical director for The Access Partnership, has worked tirelessly to improve the health of the local Latino community. She has transformed the CMP to serve the medical and psychosocial needs of its patients through expanding social work and mental health services and offering multiple classes and support groups for families. Dr. Polk has also worked with schools and community organizations to develop novel programs supporting Latino youth and families. She is a kind and compassionate physician, leader and co-worker, who never runs out of patience or time to support staff and mentees.

Hans Adrian Puttgen

Vice Chair Clinical Operations, Department of Neurology & Neurosurgery
Assistant Professor of Neurology

I am proud to nominate Hans Puttgen for living the Johns Hopkins Medicine mission. He is a wonderful example of a “serving leader” in his role as vice chair for clinical operations. He devotes an enormous amount of time to improving the efficiency and safety of the neurosciences functional unit, and in addition, he is an outstanding neurointensivist recognized for the consistently high quality of his care. During a difficult time in the neuroscience critical care unit when there was interim leadership and a degree of uncertainty, he provided calm leadership and helped maintain the high standards of care that the unit is recognized for.

Labchan Rajbhandari

Research Specialist
Division of Neuroimmunology

Labchan Rajbhandari has worked in the Division of Neuroimmunology for at least six years. He is the kind of person who, when you ask him a question (about anything), he will stop what he is doing and assist you or engage in conversation. When he meets you in the hallway, it is always with a smile and greeting. Over the years he has aspired to and completed advanced degrees, all the while sharing any newfound knowledge that might be helpful to those around him. He is such a wonderful person and colleague and deserves this honor!

Rajini Rao

Director, Graduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Professor of Physiology

As a scientist, Rajini Rao is both fearless and rigorous in her approach, model systems employed and questions that she asks. As director of the Graduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Dr. Rao is at the forefront of the institution’s efforts to create a diverse and inclusive environment. In this capacity, she has demonstrated leadership while respecting her colleagues.

Darius Rastegar

Medical Director, Inpatient Chemical Dependence Unit, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center
Associate Professor of Medicine

Darius Rastegar is a soft-spoken leader who consistently commits himself to excellent, evidence-based patient care that he models for learners and colleagues alike. He demonstrates great integrity in his work in clinical care, teaching and research. He is an attentive mentor who pushes collaborators and trainees to think critically about questions big and small. He is extremely generous in giving his time to teaching for residents and students, leading the chemical dependency rotation for Johns Hopkins Bayview internal medicine residents and a portion of the addiction medicine curriculum for Johns Hopkins Hospital internal medicine and med-peds residents. He is a strong leader of the chemical dependence unit (detox unit) at Johns Hopkins Bayview, and recently started a rapidly successful addiction medicine consult service at Bayview.

Mariah Robertson

Resident
Johns Hopkins Bayview Internal Medicine

Mariah Robertson inspires medical students and younger residents to be their best, and she allows others to shine even when she herself is experiencing stress and hardship. She always brings her best face to work, is forthcoming and honest in her observations of what can be improved in clinical and organizational work, and acts on those observations by modeling what a good doctor is for everyone with whom she works. She never fails to do what she believes is the right thing for patients, even when it means longer hours and more work for herself. Dr. Robertson is a servant leader and a role model for everyone in her program.

Carolyn Robinson

Medical Training Program Administrator
Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology

I met Carolyn Robinson almost 2.5 years ago when I started my geriatrics fellowship. I found her early on to be organized, dedicated and passionate about her work as an administrator. In addition, she has led efforts to promote camaraderie and inclusion throughout our division. Specifically, she initiated various efforts including starting our divisional climate survey, annual faculty and staff picnic, and divisional town hall meeting. I recently was also informed that she, through her participation in the Johns Hopkins Bayview leadership development program, helped create our division’s Mason F. Lord Staff Award of Excellence. She co-chairs our division’s Mosaic Initiative workgroup, which hosts timely discussions on a variety of diversity and equity issues. Her contributions have been previously recognized from the following awards:
 2007 - Award of Excellence in Graduate Medical Education Administration, JHU
 2008 - Award of Excellence in the Department of Medicine, JHU
 2010 - Award for Outstanding Service in the Division of General Internal Medicine, JHU
 2016 - Diversity Recognition Award, JHU
It is with great pride that I nominate Ms. Robinson for “Living the Johns Hopkins Mission.”

Jamie Robison

School of Medicine Nurse
Department of Neurosurgery

Jamie Robison is an incredibly accomplished nurse in the department of neurosurgery. She embodies the spirit of the tripartite Johns Hopkins mission. She is incredibly diligent, kind, caring and compassionate. As an example, she provides her personal cellphone number to patients to contact her day and night. She routinely is answering questions and requests from patients well into the early hours of the morning. She is universally lauded by all our patients, families, referring physicians, students, residents and support staff. She is heavily involved in research programs for individuals with brain cancers and hydrocephalus. She balances an incredible workload with an ongoing nurse practitioner degree. She maintains an atmosphere of inclusion and integrity, taking exceptional care of individuals across a diverse spectrum of backgrounds. Ms. Robison is such an outstanding human being that she makes those around her even better. She is kind and caring and thoughtful and willing to do anything to help others. I cannot think of anyone more qualified for this recognition than Jamie Robison.

Lin Rucker

Administrative Supervisor / Office Manager
Division of Infectious Diseases at Bayview

Lin Rucker has been at Johns Hopkins for 21 years. She is currently an administrative supervisor at Johns Hopkins Bayview within the Division of Infectious Diseases. Ms. Rucker has simply transformed the infectious diseases division into a family. Through acts of thoughtful kindness, great good humor and an infallible commitment to cherishing and caring for each and every member of the ID team, Ms. Rucker has been our mother, our friend and a cheerleader for all our successes. She has done this in addition to being a superb administrative supervisor. I believe Ms. Rucker represents the best of what Johns Hopkins has to offer.

Justin Sacks

Director, Oncological Reconstruction
Co-Director, Microsurgery Fellowship
Liaison, Medical Student Clerkship
Associate Professor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

Justin Sacks is an innovator in medicine and is constantly challenging himself and others to improve patient care outcomes through research and invention. He designed a device to help prevent pressure ulcers in immobilized patients, and he is leading a research study to help improve fat grafting outcomes in plastic surgery. He is a true role model and mentor. What is most remarkable about Dr. Sacks is that he will have 4 million things on his plate, but he will never make you feel as if he is too busy for you. He is always available, attentive and ALWAYS goes out of his way to help. Every person who he works with is treated with utmost respect, and he demonstrates that everyone has something valuable and new to offer.

Jessica Schmidt

Clinical/Office Manager (Administrator)
Department of Ophthalmology (Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute), Bethesda satellite location

As a new team member, I nominate Jessica Schmidt because she is so warm, welcoming, comforting, encouraging and positive, and she exceeds all my expectations as a new employee. I have found when you start somewhere new you feel alone, but being at the Bethesda office (ophthalmology), Ms. Schmidt has made me feel a part of the team. She is always willing to go the extra mile to acknowledge our accomplishments, and I would like to acknowledge her great efforts to keep all faculty team members always running a smooth clinic with phenomenal patient care. I’m very thankful and appreciative to have Ms. Schmidt as my administrator/ manager and could not want anything more!

Holly Sellers

Sr. Administrative Coordinator
Department of Medicine

Holly Sellers’ contributions as an administrative coordinator are exceptional. She is highly professional and has an amazing work ethic. She is always seeking ways to do things more efficiently. She serves as coordinator for the Department of Medicine Diversity Council, and in that role, she coordinates our annual visiting professorship event (among several other programs), which is essentially like planning a wedding … every year. Mrs. Sellers’ project management skills are put to good use in this role, as she troubleshoots issues with ease and never complains about the workload. She represents the best at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Eugene Shenderov

Fellow
Department of Oncology

Eugene Shenderov co-founded the Charm City Clinic in 2009. The clinic involves students and faculty and has assisted 3,800 East Baltimore residents, connecting them to sustainable high-quality care. This thriving clinic continues to carry out this major Johns Hopkins mission, reaching out to those most in need in our community. Some of its accomplishments were written about in the fall 2014 Hopkins Medicine magazine article, “The Brothers Shenderov.” This approach has served as a model for others across the country.

Robert Siliciano

Professor of Medicine

Robert Siliciano’s laboratory provided the first demonstration that latently infected CD4+ T cells were present in patients with HIV-1 infection, and latently infected cells persist indefinitely even in patients on prolonged anti-retroviral therapy (ART). These studies indicated that eradication of HIV-1 infection with ART alone would never be possible and the latent reservoir for HIV-1 in resting CD4+ T cells is now widely recognized as the major barrier to curing HIV-1 infection. His laboratory explores potential strategies for eradicating the virus, including searching for and evaluating drugs that target the latent reservoir. In recognition of his groundbreaking work, Dr. Siliciano is an investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and has been recognized by a Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and two merit awards from the National Institutes of Health. He is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, Association of American Physicians, the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences.

Charalampos Siotos

Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

Charalampos Siotos is the best example of excellence and discovery. He is a young, tireless researcher with great interest in helping patients with breast cancer and their families. His research is focused on enhancing the quality of health care and alleviating disparities. Along with our team at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Siotos is studying women’s quality of life outcomes following breast reconstruction in order to identify the optimal mode of reconstruction for each patient. His work has been recognized during the last Plastic Surgery Research Council meeting as one of the best papers of the meeting. Apart from that, he was able to secure private funding to study his innovative idea for keloids treatment that affects so many patients. Finally, Dr. Siotos is devoted to patient safety and quality improvement and he is one of the future leaders of the High Value Practice Academic Alliance.

Stephen Sisson

Executive Director, Ambulatory Services, Johns Hopkins Hospital
Professor of Medicine

Stephen Sisson is the consummate educator. He prefers to have impact rather than to produce content. His vision and ambition are tremendous and inspire all lucky enough to work with him. Dr. Sisson has created the largest ambulatory online educational curriculum I am aware of, and has deployed it across more than 200 programs in the U.S. and internationally. There are few programs I can think of with this reach and effectiveness. He has shared the impact of Johns Hopkins Medicine with learners across the globe and subsequently improved the skills of physicians globally. His talents have led to invitations to speak across the world as well. His impact in education is only rivaled by his own skills as a master clinician. Dr. Sisson is the physician’s physician and the person we all turn to when care becomes too complex for us to understand. He is truly the role model for all of us in the missions of Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Nara Sobreira

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Nara Sobreira has been at Johns Hopkins since 2007 when she started her Ph.D. Since then she also did a postdoc and a residency in clinical genetics before she was hired as an assistant professor in July 2015. During this time, Dr. Sobreira has mentored many Ph.D. students and clinical genetics residents. During her Ph.D., she developed a new generation sequencing analysis tool, PhenoDB Variant Analysis tool (phenodb.org) that has been used by many Ph.D. students, residents, clinicians and researchers at Johns Hopkins and has been downloaded in more than 500 centers around the world. She also adapted this tool to be used as a teaching tool, and it will be used in the new TIME course, named Genomic Medicine, of which she is the director. During her postdoc, Dr. Sobreira created a tool intended to connect researchers around the world, called GeneMatcher (genematcher.org). This tool is now used by 3,986 users from 69 countries. It has facilitated the identification of many novel disease genes and the diagnosis of many patients. Now she plans on putting together a multidisciplinary clinic to care for patients with disorders characterized by cartilage tumors and vascular anomalies.

Nikolai Sopko

Chief Resident
Department of Urology

Nikolai Sopko is truly living the Johns Hopkins Medicine mission. In addition to being an excellent surgeon and clinician, he is an innovator in the research laboratory. Through unique collaboration with colleagues in Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, he has helped to lead cutting edge research in penile transplantation (see several peer-reviewed publications on this work, e.g. “Penile allotransplantation for complex genitourinary reconstruction” J Urol 2017). This level of innovation is exceedingly rare, especially from a trainee. I cannot think of anyone more deserving of this recognition than Dr. Sopko. He represents the excellence and discovery that make Johns Hopkins Medicine unique.

Paul Sponseller

Chief, Division of Pediatric Orthopaedics
Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery

I view Paul Sponseller as a living legend in modern medicine. He simply possesses super-human attributes: omniscience in the clinic, hands superior to the da Vinci robot in the operating room, Einstein-like scientific inquiry, and so much endurance and energy that his residents and colleagues liken him to the Energizer bunny. He possesses an uncanny ability to inspire young people to want to be like him, and he is well-equipped with decades of experience in mentoring students and residents to prepare them for success. He is the epitome of “lead by example,” working harder and healing more children than anyone I know. Whenever I feel tired, I think of Dr. Sponseller and all that he does, and I realize that there’s no excuse for me than to want to work harder and do more, too.

Erin Staub

Instructional Therapist
Department of Neurology, Cognitive Neurology/Neuropsychology

Erin Staub constantly strives to be better at her job. She regularly initiates collaboration with her teammates, seeks feedback often, and generously shares her creative expertise with others. It is also common for Ms. Staub to do more than what is asked of her. Recently she was asked to reorganize some materials that are crucial to our everyday work. She took it upon herself to develop a new organizational system and to replace, refresh and expand the bank of materials therein. Her partnership is a valuable asset to our team. ERIN = Enthusiastic, Receptive, Innovative, Noted.

Rebecca Stone

Assistant Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics

I have co-managed a number of patients with Rebecca Stone, which may seem unusual since she is a gynecological oncologist and I am a maternal and fetal medicine specialist. She definitely goes the extra mile to meet her patients’ needs. A perfect example is the time she called me for an intraoperative consult on a gynecological oncology case. A patient was referred to her from an outside Ob/Gyn because of her difficult fibroids, including one that invaded her cervix. This woman very much desired another pregnancy, and Dr. Stone wanted an obstetrician to assist her in appropriately evaluating the patient’s cervical integrity at the time of surgery. I subsequently followed this patient during her next pregnancy and successfully delivered her with Dr. Stone present for delivery. This was an amazing team effort; it was greatly appreciated by the patient. I have also worked with Dr. Stone during life and death hemorrhages on labor and delivery. She is always available to help, works incredibly well with the OB team (sometimes under less than ideal circumstances), and is an excellent surgeon on top of that! The entire labor and delivery staff loves it when she comes over because she has the perfect combination of skill and temperament, which are both important during a critical case.

Margaret Strong

Laboratory Manager
Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics

Margaret Strong is a leader beyond her lab. She is also a leader in the basic sciences overall. She organizes community engagement and volunteer events that enable scientists to go out and work in the community. She is also tremendously collegial and is always willing to help others get resources for their work. Her efforts also often focus on making sure that diverse groups are served through community service efforts.

Karen Swartz

Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Karen Swartz is an outstanding clinician, teacher, mentor, role model and program builder. Her extraordinary enthusiasm for psychiatry and passion for her work has been inspirational to others. Mentorship is about developing professional as well as personal relationships. By opening the doors of her office and home, Dr. Swartz has created a sense of collegiality, making women and minorities feel they are valuable members of the program. Among the lessons she imparts is to treat nurses, social workers and other clinical staff with respect and learn from them whenever possible, recognizing the expertise they have which you may not.

Edward Tanner

Assistant Professor of Gynecologic Oncology
Department of Gynecology & Obstetrics; Division of Gynecologic Oncology

Edward Tanner champions leadership and integrity. As our gynecologic oncology fellowship program director, he is dedicated to ensuring that our trainees acquire the values, attitudes and behavior associated with professionalism, humanism and ethical practice. His personal qualities of compassion and integrity, his excellence as a surgeon and kind interaction with patients and their families, as well as his ability to effectively teach the practice and principles of our subspecialty, make him a cherished role model to all those who work with him. In similar capacity, Dr. Tanner leads the comprehensive unit-based safety programs (CUSP) in our operating room as well as on our inpatient service to ensure that all providers feel safe in their patient care endeavors and have a viable mechanism for implementing improvements. His CUSP leadership inspires a collective commitment to always “do the right thing.” Edward’s service so enriches our Johns Hopkins community that when I think of school of medicine members who live its mission, he is at the very top of my list.

Tim Teeter

Nurse
Department of Medicine, Infectious Diseases

Tim Teeter is a nurse in the Bartlett Specialty Practice (formerly Moore Clinic). I have nominated him because he delivers exceptional patient care even in challenging situations. He partners effectively with physicians and has innovative solutions to help patients succeed with their treatment for HIV disease. He also respects patients and treats all patients equally regardless of their background.

Paul Thompson

Maintenance Worker
Admin Facilities Maintenance and Operations

Everyone knows Paul Thompson. If you walk through the Miller Research Building you see him there, and he greets you. His dedication and commitment to his job are amazing to me.

Greg Thornton

Academic Program Manager
Institute for Clinical and Translational Research

Careers in academic medicine and research are largely dependent upon securing funding from major funding agencies. Now, in order to get the necessary, career-sustaining funding, a grant must first be written. Sounds simple. But who has time for that? Most would just say no and carry on, but Greg Thornton has always managed to say yes. As an academic program manager in the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR), he manages two programs and still finds time to assist others with our programmatic responsibilities and questions. If that is not enough, he contributes greatly to the grants that are submitted by the ICTR and the school of medicine. At times, he partners with world-renown scholar-practitioners. Other times he’s leading the charge when it comes to data collection/extraction, writing the narrative portions, and weaving the data into the research. A warehouse of knowledge and information, if he doesn’t have the information on hand he knows exactly what resources to seek out in order to get the best yield. He unselfishly shares information along with the methodology and explains the why! Truly, Mr. Thornton is an asset to Johns Hopkins. 

Maria Trent

Director, Interdisciplinary Training-Leadership in Adolescent Health Program
Professor of Pediatrics

Maria Trent is overwhelmingly committed to the mission of Johns Hopkins. She has dedicated her career to helping vulnerable communities. She collaborates across the disciplines of medicine, nursing and social work to improve patient care. She is the principal investigator of the TECH-N intervention, which implements a community health nurse to improve the care of adolescents treated for pelvic inflammatory disease and sexually transmitted infections. Her research is redefining the standards of care. She gives her heart to patients and their families. She is the doctor you want caring for your loved one. She is an exemplary role model.

Megan Tschudy

Assistant Medical Director, Harriet Lane Clinic
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Megan Tschudy is a transformative leader in pediatric health. From beginning her medical training at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, she has risen to become the Harriet Lane Clinic’s medical director. Her mission is to eliminate child health disparities through research, teaching and clinical care. She has translated her goals into innovative solutions, including curricula on social determinants of health and home visitation; community- and school-based interventions for asthma through public-private partnerships; and an initiative integrating school attendance data into health care. Dr. Tschudy demonstrates passion for her work and compassion for those she treats. She inspires mentees and collaborators to dream bigger and bolder.

Stephanie Van

Resident/House Staff PGY3
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Stephanie Van stands out from her resident cohort as a leader, an engaged and curious self-learner and an excellent clinician. She actively took the reigns of a struggling opioid reduction project and has reinvigorated it such that it has caught the attention of the larger hospital. Among many other endeavors, she is also currently working on a project to capture meaningful patient functional outcome data for key patient populations that will help inform treatment plans. Dr. Van’s enthusiasm for learning and questioning the status quo is infectious amongst her fellow residents and has led to increased resident engagement and curiosity.

Stephen Wegener

Director, Rehabilitation Psychology and Neuropsychology, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Stephen Wegener’s contributions to the literature on self-management of disabling conditions have propelled the field of rehabilitation psychology and chronic pain, and emphasized the importance of patients being in charge of their own health. As the chair of our division and a mentor to countless faculty members and trainees, past and present, he leads by example in his clinical and research emphasis on collaboration with patients to improve health outcomes. Despite his many career achievements, Dr. Wegener is humble and kind, and he spends much of his time eliciting and highlighting others’ strengths in order to empower all those around him.

Reginald Wells

Custodian Floor Tech
Admin Facilities Support Services

Reginald Wells works hard and is warm and kind to everyone who he interacts with. He goes the extra mile in his work and is someone who people enjoying seeing and talking with from day to day. One example of how much Mr. Wells cares about members of the Johns Hopkins community was when he carried a colleague quite a distance through a building to get them to where they needed to go to get medical attention. Mr. Wells is an exemplary member of our community.

Dionna Williams

Instructor of Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology

Dionna Williams is a star postdoc. She is scientifically very accomplished. She has been awarded a prestigious grant from the NIH, for instance, that will allow her to transition to a faculty position anywhere in the nation. Beyond this she is a leader on campus. She helped to found the Diversity Postdoc Alliance, which supports students and postdocs from underrepresented groups and also holds campuswide events to elevate awareness of diversity. One initiative that Dr. Williams began is a mentoring family program where students are matched with postdocs and faculty to comprise mentoring families. These families have been important to many of our students in particular. She is an exceptional scientist and leader, who at a very early career stage has had a marked positive impact on the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine community.

Antonio Wolff

Professor of Oncology

Antonio Wolff is a leading breast cancer researcher who is also dedicated to caring for patients with breast cancer. Dr. Wolff exemplifies commitment to both being a physician and a scientist. His work is of great importance and focuses, among other things, on improving treatment options for patients with breast cancer and improving quality of care. Dr. Wolff is a skilled teacher and mentor with a deep commitment to those he trains. Dr. Wolff exemplifies excellence in research, in teaching service and in ensuring that the environment that trainees are working in is inclusive. Dr. Wolff is widely admired by those who work with him and is someone to whom junior faculty can look for an example of a productive and rigorous physician-scientist.

John Woller

PGY-1
Department of Medicine, Osler Medical Housestaff Training Program

No matter how busy he is, John Woller takes the time to teach fellow residents and medical students about topics we may not know. He also makes sure to always be on top of the latest literature to make optimal decisions for the patients on the service. He is also very humble and kind, despite this amazing fountain of knowledge that he possesses, and he allows other team members to shine as well. Dr. Woller is an excellent role model, teacher and colleague.

Scott Wright

Chief, General Internal Medicine
Professor of Medicine

Scott Wright exemplifies all core values. He is an exceptional leader, creating a culture of collaboration and warm collegiality in our division, mentoring many dozens of faculty and trainees in scholarship (and life), and does so with respect, kindness, humility and an openness to people of diverse backgrounds. His own scholarship in the area of medical education is outstanding, and Dr. Wright constantly encourages those around him to be curious and innovative and seek to excel.

Jie Xiao

Associate Professor of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry

Jie Xiao is an exceptional mentor and person. She is incredibly innovative, winning a Hopkins Discovery Award for a revolutionary superresolution in situ sequencing technology. She believes strongly in discovery, her motto being “the data is what the data is, it’s up to us to figure out what it means.” Despite funding issues, she persevered in continuing to host a very successful science camp for local Baltimore elementary school children, and encourages her own lab members to participate in this camp and other outreach efforts. Dr. Xiao seeks out new collaborations, bringing her single molecule expertise to a variety of diverse subfields, from bacteriophage biology to Drosophila development; it’s her enthusiasm about learning new things and uncovering the truth that make these collaborations successful. Overall, she’s indefatigable in her pursuit of truth and unwavering in her optimism about new discoveries and being part of the greater community.

Joshua Yang

MD-PhD Student
MD-PhD, Bioengineering

Within his first year of matriculation at the Johns Hopkins M.D./Ph.D. program, Joshua Yang developed an inexpensive, point-of-care diagnostic method with Bloomberg Distinguished Professor Taekjip Ha which led him to co-found and become CEO of Helispot, Inc., collaborate with Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures on a patent application and win an industry grant by Integrated DNA Technologies. While enrolled at Johns Hopkins, Mr. Yang published a first-author review in Nature Reviews Genetics, the highest impact factor journal in biology. As chair of the Gertrude Stein Society, Mr. Yang hosted events for the Hopkins LGBTQ community, including socials attended by students from the school of medicine, school of nursing and school of public health.

Jelani Zarif

Instructor of Oncology

Jelani Zarif has made several contributions to the Johns Hopkins medical community. He has won many awards and received much recognition for his knowledge and skill in medicine. His love for science and his undeniable prowess in the lab has not only inspired me professionally, but also personally. Dr. Zarif served as my mentor for a year and in that time introduced me to my passion for research and my desire to go into cardiology. His emphasis on leadership, individuality and determination not only inspired me to pursue a science career, but also pushed me to apply for college at The Johns Hopkins University. I am now a freshman there, and his motivation is to thank for that.

Carol Ziminski

Associate Professor of Medicine

Carol Ziminski inspires us to stand up and achieve all we can every day. She is a role model not only for women, but all of us in the school. Dr. Ziminski was the first female assistant chief of service in the Osler Program and has devoted her career to clinical care and education. She is the mentor for countless students and faculty. She reminds us to not let anyone ever tell you that you cannot achieve something about which you are passionate. And that nothing is a match for integrity and perseverance. Dr. Ziminski displays the Johns Hopkins Medicine mission every day by example.