The Johns Hopkins Medicine Alumni Association contributes to funding several medical student scholarships. The Association also enriches the lives of medical students by funding a variety of programs and activities, including grants for student-led initiatives.

The Johns Hopkins Medicine Alumni Association also supports the Medical Student Senate (MSS) by sponsoring initiatives and providing support for programs such as the Stethoscope & White Coat Ceremony and Match Day.

School of Medicine graduate students pursue unique paths to a range of advanced degrees. The Johns Hopkins Graduate Student Association (GSA) unites these diverse students and represents their opinions and ideals to the faculty and administration. It also provides support to students such as funding travel to conferences, and organizing social, educational and career-oriented activities. 

The Johns Hopkins Medicine Alumni Association helps to support the GSA by co-sponsoring activities and connecting the GSA to alumni.  

The Johns Hopkins House Staff Council gives house staff a voice in forging hospital policies that affect patient care, the community and the house staff itself, such as the efficient use of their time and salary and benefit planning. They also represent the house staff in broader issues concerning their working conditions and well-being.

The Johns Hopkins Medicine Alumni Association has helped offset the costs of council initiatives including public service projects, supporting house staff families through the Medical Auxiliary and child care scholarships, and funding the house staff lounge and social events.

Published three times a year, Hopkins Medicine—the award-winning magazine for all members of the School of Medicine family—is read by 32,000 people throughout the world. The magazine brings readers face to face with the people, issues and events that shape one of the world’s leading medical institutions. Included are robust articles about treatment advances and medical research, as well as campus issues and highlights from Hopkins’ rich history. 

Since 1976, the Johns Hopkins Medicine Alumni Association has financially supported Hopkins Medicine, providing as much as one-third of its production costs. Today, every member of Johns Hopkins Medicine Alumni Association receives the magazine free of charge.

The Johns Hopkins Medicine Alumni Association (JHMAA) invites students and trainees to apply for grants to support projects that address the needs of the School of Medicine community, including educational needs, activities, experiences, community service, health and well-being. Groups may request up to $1,500 in funding to support their projects. Examples of previously funded projects will be shared soon in the FY24 JHMAA and Office of Alumni Relations Annual Report.

Application Timeline:

Applications open – August 15, 2024

Applications close – November 15, 2024

Student and trainee groups notified of decisions by – January 6, 2025

Funds transferred to groups by – January 31, 2025

Apply for a JHMAA Grant Now

The Johns Hopkins Medicine Alumni Association sponsors five Young Investigator Awards annually, honoring the scientific accomplishments of a class of junior researchers. Awards are presented at Young Investigators’ Day.

The Johns Hopkins Medicine Alumni Association co-hosts Reunion and Alumni Weekend with the School of Medicine.  The weekend-long event provides a memorable opportunity to reconnect with fellow alumni and friends, discover groundbreaking work being done on campus today, and celebrate the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. 

Rich participated in the “2-5” program at Hopkins, earning a B.A. in 1980 and an M.D. in 1983. While at Hopkins, Rich worked in pediatric surgical research with Drs. Alex Haller and David Dudgeon. Following graduation, Rich completed a surgical residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital and a pediatric cardiac surgery fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Rich worked in academic cardiothoracic surgery for more than twenty years, serving on the faculty at the University of Iowa, Virginia Commonwealth University, Texas Tech, Southern Illinois University and Duke, where he obtained an MBA. Following his surgical career, Rich served as a Chief Medical Officer for several health systems in Virginia and Alabama and now works as Medical Director for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama. Rich and his wife Rebecca are parents to three grown children and have three grandchildren. One of Rich’s most cherished possessions is an African violet which was raised from a clipping of the Blalock-Thomas violets in the Hopkins Cardiac Surgery Lab.

Arthur M. Feldman MD, PhD is a physician-scientist who graduated from Gettysburg College. After graduation he entered the graduate program at the University of Maryland: receiving a PhD in Physiology in 1974. After a three-year post-doc with Dr. Saul Brusilow at Hopkins, he received an MD degree at the LSU School of Medicine in Shreveport where he was elected to AOA and received the Lewis Gottlieb Scholar Award. Feldman then returned to Hopkins as an intern and resident on the Osler Medicine service after which he completed his training in cardiovascular disease under Dr. Myron Weisfeldt. He joined the faculty in the Department of Medicine in 1986 with a joint appointment as an assistant professor in the Department of Physiology. He was appointed as Associate Professor in 1991 and in the same year became the Director of the Peter Belfer Laboratory for Molecular Biology of Heart Failure and Co-Director of the Belfer Laboratories. In 1994 he left Hopkins to become the Harry S. Tack Professor, Chief of Cardiology and Director of the University of Pittsburgh Heart Institute which later became the Heart Institute of the UPMC Health System. In 2002 he left Pittsburgh to become the Magee Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine at the Jefferson Medical College. From 2011 to 2016 he served as the Executive Dean of the Temple University School of Medicine and Chief Academic Officer of the Temple Health System. Appointed the Laura H. Carnell Professor of Medicine in 2015, he returned to the lab full-time in 2016. Throughout his career Feldman’s research has focused on understanding the molecular and cellular biology of the failing heart being one of the first to use transgenic mice to dissect the pathways that played a role in cardiac failure. In 2014 he founded Renovacor, a biotechnology company focused on developing gene replacement therapy for monogenic causes of heart failure and with a specific focus on a protein called BAG3. He obtained “A” round financing for Renovacor in 2018 and the company went public in 2021.

He has been elected to numerous academic societies including the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the American Clinical and Climatological Association and the John Hopkins University Society of Scholars. In 2023 he was elected to the National Academy of Inventors. He has served in many leadership roles including as President of the Heart Failure Society of America and the Association of the Professors of Cardiology and as a member of the councils of the AUC and the ACCA. He has received awards including the Rolex Achievement Award from the United States Inter-Collegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA), the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Gettysburg College, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Heart Failure Society of America, the President’s Innovation Award, Temple University and the 2019 Distinguished Scientist Award from the American College of Cardiology. An excellent clinician as well as a scientist, he has led or co-led numerous clinical investigations – three of which have resulted in FDA approvals and was listed for many years by Best Doctors in America.

Julia A. Haller, MD, Ophthalmologist-in-Chief at Wills Eye Hospital, is a trailblazing retina surgeon-scientist and leader who has innovated translational advances against blindness on many fronts.

Dr. Haller was educated at the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore, Princeton University and Harvard Medical School. After her Halsted internship in surgery at Johns Hopkins, residency in ophthalmology and retina fellowship at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins, she served as Wilmer’s first female Chief Resident. Recruited to the Hopkins faculty thereafter, Haller directed the retina fellowship, was named to the inaugural Katharine Graham Chair in Ophthalmology, and subsequently to the inaugural Robert Bond Welch, M.D. Professorship. In 2007 she was appointed Ophthalmologist-in-Chief and William Tasman, MD Endowed Chair at Wills Eye Hospital, and Professor and Chair of Ophthalmology at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University and Hospitals. She is a Consultant at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. One of the world’s most renowned retina surgeons, Dr. Haller has published over 400 scientific articles and book chapters, with research interests in retinal pharmacology, macular surgery, venous occlusive disease, diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, complicated retinal detachments, health care disparities, and gender equity.

Elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2019, Dr. Haller’s honors include the Rolex Achievement Award (to a past NCAA lacrosse player), the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) Honor Award, the AAO Senior Achievement Award, the Vitreous Society Senior Honor Award, the Crystal Apple Award (for mentorship) of the American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS), the Kreissig Award from EURETINA, the President’s Award from Women in Ophthalmology (WIO), a Secretariat Award from the AAO, the Gertrude Pyron Award from the Retina Research Foundation/ASRS, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the AAO, the Louis Braille Award from Associated Services for the Blind, the Heed Award from the Society of Heed Fellows, the Donald Gass Medal from the Macula Society, the Strittmatter Award from the Philadelphia Medical Society (their highest honor), the AAO EnergEYES Award, the WIO Suzanne Véronneau-Troutman Award, the Charles L. Schepens, MD, Keynote Lecture Award from the Retina Research Foundation/AAO, and election to the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars. She holds Chair XVI of the Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis. She is president of the Women in Medicine Legacy Foundation, Chairs the Board of the Society of Heed Fellows and the Council of the American Ophthalmological Society, and serves on the Boards of the Heed Ophthalmic Foundation and the AAO Foundation Board of Advisors. She is past president of the Retina Society, the American Society of Retina Specialists, and the Board of Trustees of the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology, as well as a founding member of Women in Retina. Her editorial board service includes RETINA, Retinal Physician, Retina Times, Ocular Surgery News, Retina Today, and Ophthalmology Times.

A Director of Bristol Myers Squibb, Eyenovia, and Opthea, a former Director of Celgene Corporation, and past Trustee of both Princeton University and the Bryn Mawr School, Dr. Haller serves as Immediate Past President of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Alumni Association, Vice-Chair of the Board of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and on the Board of the Philadelphia Orchestra Association. She and her husband, John D. Gottsch, M.D, the Margaret C. Mosher Professor of Ophthalmology at Hopkins, have five children: John, Natalie, Will, Alex, and Clare.

Kelly Harris was born and raised in Connecticut and studied religion at Washington and Lee University in Virginia. From there, she started medical school at Johns Hopkins and chose to remain in Baltimore as a urology resident at the Brady Urologic Institute. She is currently in her chief year and will be continuing her surgical education in pediatric urology at the University of Colorado. She hopes to become a leader in the field of transitional urology, helping to optimize the transition of pediatric patients with congenital anomalies into adult urologic care. In her time outside of the hospital, she enjoys doing crossword puzzles, reading non-fiction books, playing pickle ball and spending time near the water or the mountains. She loves all that Johns Hopkins Medicine has done for her and is incredibly grateful for this opportunity to give back. 

Dr. Denise Howard grew up in Mississippi. She did her undergraduate work at the University of Mississippi and then attended Johns Hopkins receiving a MD, MPH in 1993. She completed a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Pittsburgh's Magee Women's Hospital in 1997 and then a fellowship in Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery at the University of Michigan. Dr. Howard remained on faculty there until 2001 when she relocated to the Atlanta area where she was in private practice until 2010. She and her family moved to the Middle East where she worked in various leadership positions in Abu Dhabi and Doha before returning to the U.S. at the end of 2019.

She is Board Certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and a Certified Physician Executive. She is also a member of the American Urogynecologic Society, Society of Gynecologic Surgeons, and the American Association for Physician Leadership.

Currently, she is the Chief of Gynecology for Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pennsylvania where she also has a faculty appointment at the medical school and serves as core faculty for the residency program. Dr. Howard is committed to quality health care for women. She believes improving health literacy and incorporating technology into healthcare delivery is the way to equitable health. To this end she authored, The Essence of You: Your Guide To Gynecologic Health and focuses her quality work on streamlining preventative care.

Dr. Dawn LaPorte is a Professor and Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her clinical interests are surgery of the hand and wrist. She has served as orthopaedic Residency Program Director at Johns Hopkins for over 10 years and has served on the governing committee of the Council of Orthopedic Residency Directors (CORD) and as Vice Chair for the ACGME Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Review Committee. She is a member of the American Society of Surgery for the Hand (ASSH) Council and has also served as co-chair of the Resident Educator Workshop at the ASSH Annual Meeting since 2007 and as chair of the ASSH Resident Education Committee and the ASSH Resident Review Course. She is the Review Section editor for the Journal of Hand Surgery American. She is also the Immediate Past President of the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society and is a founder of Women in Orthopaedics Worldwide (WOW).

Giannina Lissa Garcés-Ambrossi Muncey, M.D. is a double board-certified anesthesiologist and intensive care physician who founded the first ICU and first NeuroICU in her hometown of Jupiter, Florida. She lives in Florida with her young son and husband, and is currently a Writing Scholar at Harvard University.

After learning English as a second language in childhood, she graduated college Phi Beta Kappa at 18 years old with an M.Litt. in Shakespearean Literature, then received her M.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine after winning the Cushing Neurosurgery Research Award; she is now on the Medical & Surgical Association of Hopkins Med. She trained in neurosurgery, anesthesia, and critical care at Harvard Medical School’s Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, winning the Accomplished Teaching Award in Surgery; she was the first critical care fellow to be nominated for the Compassionate Care Award. Dr. Muncey is a former journalist whose articles have appeared in The Nation, the country’s oldest news magazine. 

Dr. Shermak is an internationally recognized expert in breast and body contouring, publishing scientific articles, chapters and a definitive textbook, with a focus on patient safety and individualizing and optimizing surgical outcomes. Dr. Shermak went to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and from there completed a combined General and Plastic Surgery training at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She then completed a fellowship in Breast and Body Contouring in Nashville with Drs. Maxwell and Fisher. She joined the Johns Hopkins faculty immediately after that, and served as Chief of the Johns Hopkins Bayview Division of Plastic Surgery. Dr. Shermak remained on faculty at Johns Hopkins for 11 years until transitioning to private practice in 2010.

Dr. Shermak has served as an active member within the ASPS, ASAPS, AAPS and ABPS. She most recently served as a visiting professor for PSF, teaching plastic surgery trainees and faculty around the country plastic surgery techniques and safety.

Dr. Thompson, Chief Medical Officer of Humana Healthy Horizons and CEO of Dr. Traci’s House, is a highly accomplished and seasoned healthcare executive who has extensive experience in using her clinical expertise to meet healthcare challenges.

Dr. Thompson was educated at Georgetown University, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Howard University. Following her graduation from medical school at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Dr. Thompson completed her residency program in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Throughout her career, Dr. Thompson has shown strength in managing complex clinical operations and healthcare leadership responsibilities. She has served in leadership roles for healthcare organizations, including as the Program Medical Director for Cogent HMG, Hospital Medicine Program Director for Team Health, Locum Tenens Hospitalist for Weatherby Healthcare, and Chief Medical Director of Medical Management at WellCare Health Plans. In 2020, dedicated to being a community advocate and providing resources to social determinants of health, Dr. Thompson began Dr. Traci’s House—a 501c(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the health, wellness and sustainability of communities through holistic healthcare services, advanced career opportunities and comprehensive community development. Dr. Thompson currently serves as her Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine class representative and is grateful for the opportunity to serve the alumni association’s mission.

Dr. Winrow is the founder of Black Girls Dive Foundation, a non-profit organization that focuses on supporting science identities amongst girls who are historically underrepresented STEM. Dr. Winrow is a Johns Hopkins School of Medicine-trained Pediatric Neuropsychologist who has served as a clinical practitioner, and a Professor, administrator and trustee in higher education for over a decade in roles as Dean, Provost, and Senior Executive Vice President, and a trustee on the Board of Trustee of two HBCUs. She has also served as a member of the Fulbright Scholars Review Board and the Board of Examiners for Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards. Nevada is the alumna of several institutions that include Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Howard University, and Lincoln University and completed fellowships in Neuroradiology, Psychoneuroimmunology, Cognitive Neuroscience and Neurochemistry. She is an affiliate member of many professional organizations that include Maryland Civil Air Patrol (CAP) where she serves as a CAP aerospace educator and an associate member of the Women's Diving Hall of Fame and the American Academy of Underwater Sciences. She currently serves as the National Chairwoman of the Youth programs for the National Association of Black Scuba Divers.

Sherri-Gae Scott is a goal- and solutions-oriented Ph.D. level scientist with extensive experience in program and project management. She serves as program manager of medical innovation at the American Gastroenterological Association’s Center for GI Innovation and Technology. Dr. Scott is also a certified project management professional (PMP). Dr. Scott completed her postdoctoral fellowship in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Following the completion of her fellowship, Dr. Scott served as an adjunct faculty instructor at Anne Arundel Community College and as a grants proposal manager at FASEB. Additionally, she has held many volunteer positions throughout her career, including roles for the Minority Postdoctoral Alliance, the Biomedical Scholars Association, the Graduate Student Association and the Professional Development Office while as a student and post-doctoral fellow at the School of Medicine, and roles for Women in Biology, the Postdoctoral Preparation Institute at FASEB, and Science Montgomery after leaving the School of Medicine. Dr. Scott looks forward to serving on the JHMAA council and is grateful for the opportunity to continue to build and grow meaningful relationships among the School of Medicine community.