Mayor names head for biotech project in East Baltimore

Mayor Martin O'Malley last week named John T. Shannon Jr., an administrator at the University of Pennsylvania, to lead the operations of revitalization efforts in the East Baltimore neighborhood around the Johns Hopkins medical campus.

Shannon, an economic and community development executive, is a lawyer and former official of the Philadelphia and Camden, N.J., governments.

As chief executive officer of the nonprofit East Baltimore Development Inc., Shannon will spearhead the development of a biotechnology park and hundreds of housing units, both new and renovated. He will assume the post May 3.

The project is expected to take 12 years.

Engineering adds new programs geared to medicine, biology

The Whiting School of Engineering is offering three new programs for students interested in studying and applying engineering principles to contemporary problems in medicine and biology.

Starting in the fall, students can choose from programs in Biomolecular Engineering, Biomaterials Engineering and Biomechanics, in addition to the already established Biomedical Engineering program. The programs differ mainly in the technical content and are geared to students interested in careers in research, medicine, industry and academia.

Additional information is available on Web sites for Biomolecular Engineering, Biomaterials Engineering, Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering.

Diversity Leadership Council seeks membership nominations

The Diversity Leadership Council is in the process of identifying new members to replace outgoing faculty, staff and students on the council, which advises President William R. Brody on diversity issues in the university and health system.

The DLC meets once a month. Membership is for one or two years with a time commitment of four to six hours per month and requires previous experience in community activities, leadership capabilities, change management skills, a commitment to inclusion and the ability to communicate across and about differences.

Nominations, including a short biography of the candidate and his or her reasons for wishing to serve on the council, should be marked "Diversity Leadership Council Nominations" and submitted to Ray Gillian at N-710 Wyman Park Building, Homewood. Self-nominations are encouraged from all levels of the university. The deadline for receiving nominations is April 30.

More information on the DLC is available at www.jhu.edu/~dlc.

SAIS to host book release event for 'Reading Lolita in Tehran'

The Nitze School of Advanced International Studies will host an event to celebrate the release of Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi at 5:30 p.m. today, April 7.

Nafisi, a fellow at the SAIS Foreign Policy Institute, will talk about her poignant tale of seven young women who came together to read and study classics of Western literature with Nafisi in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The book was published March 25 by Random House.

Carl Gershman, president of the National Endowment for Democracy, and Leon Wieseltier, literary editor of The New Republic, will provide introductory remarks.

The event will be held in the auditorium of the Nitze Building. Members of the public should reserve a place by calling 202-663-5832 or e-mailing acrusso@jhu.edu.

Doctors Without Borders exhibit on medical campus

For two days this week, Doctors Without Borders will bring an interactive exhibit to the block of Jefferson Street between Wolfe and Washington streets to highlight the need for more research and development into treatments for diseases that affect the world's poor.

From 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday, April 7 and 8, visitors will be placed in the shoes of five patients, each with a treatable disease, from Doctors Without Borders projects around the world to better understand the need for better access to medical treatment in poor countries.

At 7 p.m. on April 7, Your Money or Your Life, a documentary about sleeping sickness and HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, will be shown in the School of Nursing's Alumni Auditorium. A discussion will follow.

Relay for Life, event to fight cancer, rescheduled for May 2

The University Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society has been rescheduled for Friday, May 2, from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., on Homewood's upper quad. The team relay event will raise money to fight cancer and increase cancer awareness.

During the relay, organized cooperatively by several Baltimore area universities, team members camp out and enjoy friends, food, music, educational activities and ceremonies to honor both cancer survivors and those who have lost their lives to the disease. The event features a ceremony at which participants light hundreds of luminaria to honor loved ones.

In past years, many Johns Hopkins teams have worn costumes, created matching T-shirts or carried banners. If you are interested in forming or joining a team, contact Jenny Ward at the American Cancer Society at 410-933-5138.

Welch Library to hold Information Day this week

To celebrate Medical Information Day, Welch librarians will sponsor an information table from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Friday, April 11, outside the cafeteria near the Children's Center. Information about new services and products in the Welch Medical Library and departmental libraries will be available. Welch Library liaisons for departments will be on hand, and visitors will be able to learn about the history of the Welch Library and pick up some product giveaways.

Neighborhood Author Series to look at Marylanders in WWII

Michael H. Rogers, author of Answering Their Country's Call: Marylanders in World War II, will be the April lecturer in the JHU Press Neighborhood Author Series. The event will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 9, in the Peabody Room at the Episcopal Diocesan Center on North Charles Street and University Parkway.

Rogers' new book focuses on 31 of the 288,000 Maryland men and women who served their country during WWII, a war that cost 6,454 of them their lives.

Among the ordinary citizens thrust into extraordinary circumstances were Ensign Calvin S. George Jr., a Naval Academy graduate who was captured by the Japanese in Manila in 1942 and survived four years of brutal conditions in POW camps and aboard the infamous Japanese "Hell Ships"; Dorothy E. Steinbas Davis, a nurse who served with the 57th Field Hospital in Europe and treated wounded soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge; and Baltimore Colts legend Art Donovan, who served in the Marines as an anti-aircraft gunner on the carrier San Jacinto before being transferred to a machine gun crew on Okinawa.

The Neighborhood Author Series is organized by the Office of Community Affairs and the JHU Press, America's oldest university press and the area's leading publisher of books about the history, people and environment of Maryland and the Chesapeake region. For more information about the book, go to: www.jhupbooks.com.