For the Record: Cheers

Cheers is a monthly listing of honors and awards received by faculty, staff and students plus recent appointments and promotions. Contributions must be submitted in writing and be accompanied by a phone number.

BSO's Marin Alsop Named to Position at Peabody Marin Alsop, the new music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the first woman to head a major American orchestra, now has a new connection to the music of Charm City: She has been named distinguished visiting artist to the Peabody Conservatory, where she will work with Gustav Meier, her friend and colleague, to develop the next generation of American conductors in Peabody's highly selective conducting program. Alsop's appointment continues the long-established synergistic relationship between Peabody and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In 1942, Peabody Director Reginald Stewart became conductor of a newly revived BSO; just two years later, that orchestra made its successful Carnegie Hall debut under Stewart's baton. Today, many Peabody faculty and alumni are also BSO musicians, including recent interim Director Peter Landgren, a longtime member of that orchestra's horn section. This tradition of collaboration continues in January, when the BSO will celebrate Peabody's 150th anniversary with a performance of Strauss' massive Alpine Symphony and Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring in an expanded festival orchestra that will feature members of the Peabody Symphony Orchestra on stage with BSO musicians. These concerts at the Meyerhoff and the Music Center at Strathmore will be Alsop's first official appearance as BSO music director. Alsop's appointment at Peabody was made possible by a generous gift honoring the 90th birthday of Ryda H. Levi from her children, Vicki and Alex Levi, Susan Perry and Richard Levi, and Sandra Levi Gerstung. —Kirstin Lavin

 

Bayview Medical Center

Sean Leng, an assistant professor of geriatrics, has received the Paul Beeson Career Development Award in Aging Research, one of the most prestigious in the field of geriatric research. The award includes an $800,000 five-year grant jointly funded by the National Institute on Aging and private foundations.

Scott D. Lifchez has joined the faculty as an assistant professor of plastic surgery. He comes to Bayview after completing a fellowship in hand and microsurgery at the Curtis National Hand Center in Baltimore. He received his MD from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1999 and completed his integrated plastic surgery residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2005. Lifchez has been published in several medical journals and has presented his research at multiple national meetings, including the American Association of Hand Surgeons and the American Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery. His research interests include facial and hand reanimation and microvascular reconstruction of the hand.

Thomas Magnuson, associate professor and chief of general surgery, has received the 2006 Keith D. Lillemoe Faculty Teaching Award from the surgical residents. He is the first Bayview-based faculty member to receive this honor.

 

Health Divisions Administration

Andrew Dunsmore has been appointed director of development for the Department of Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Medicine, responsible for managing private sector fund raising. Dunsmore served most recently as director of development and alumni affairs for the University of Tennessee's School for Social Work. He previously served as associate director of medical development at Washington University in St. Louis, responsible for a capital campaign to establish a cancer center.

Nancy McCall, research associate in Medical Institutions Archives, was named a fellow of the Society of American Archivists at a ceremony held Aug. 4 in Washington, D.C., during the Joint Annual Meeting of SAA, Council of State Archivists and the National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators.

 

Homewood Student Affairs

Lellie Swords, who has served as the defensive coordinator of the women's lacrosse team for the last five seasons, has been promoted to associate head coach. A 1996 graduate of James Madison University, Swords coached at George Mason and Cornell before coming to Johns Hopkins. In addition to her coaching duties, Swords created the Little Jays Lacrosse Club, which provides coaching for girls in the sixth through 10th grades.

 

Krieger School of Arts and Sciences

Tony Williams, a graduate student in Economics, was this summer named a scholar in the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Program. The program, which selected 77 recipients from 1,100 nominees, covers tuition, room, board, fees and books for up to $50,000 annually for up to six years, making it among the most generous academic awards offered in the United States. Williams graduated in 2006 from Florida State University, where he majored in economics and math.

 

School of Medicine

L. Mario Amzel, professor of biophysics and biophysical chemistry, has been appointed director of the Department of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry. Amzel, a 37-year School of Medicine veteran, was a member of the Johns Hopkins team that produced the first high-resolution pictures of how antibody-antigen recognition occurs. An internationally recognized leader in his field, he went on to determine the structure of many proteins and protein complexes.

Seth Blackshaw, an assistant professor of neuroscience, neurology and ophthalmology and an investigator in the Center of High-Throughput Biology and the Institute of Cell Engineering, has won a five-year $1 million grant from the Keck Foundation to study the development of the retina.

Marcia Canto, an associate professor of medicine and oncology, has received a two-year $500,000 grant from the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research. She will work on refining methods for detecting the disease in its early, curable stage. With matching funds from the National Cancer Institute, more than $1 million has been committed to this project.

Ying-Jun Cao, a postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology, has been named the first recipient of the Young Investigator Award of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. The award will support Cao's work involving the use of existing therapies to prevent progression and transmission of HIV.

Mark Donowitz, professor of medicine and director of the Hopkins Center for Epithelial Disorders, has received the American Physiological Association's Davenport Award for career achievements. Donowitz is also a founding member of the Faculty of 1000, the online medical literature service, and president of the American Gastroenterological Association.

Frank Frassica, professor and director of orthopedic surgery, has received the American Orthopaedic Association's Smith & Nephew Endoscopy Distinguished Clinician Educator Award. He also has received the 2006 Distinguished Southern Orthopaedist Award from the Southern Orthopaedic Association.

Ahmet Hoke, an associate professor and director of the Neuromuscular Division in the Department of Neurology, has received a $100,000 grant from the Neuropathy Research Foundation. The foundation is dedicated to finding a cure for peripheral neuropathy, which can lead to paralysis and total sensation loss.

Anirban Maitra, an associate professor of pathology and oncology, has received the 2006 Maryland Outstanding Young Scientist Award from the Maryland Academy of Sciences. The award, which is conferred by the Maryland Science Center and includes a monetary prize, seeks to encourage important work by young scientists and increase public awareness of their achievements. Maitra's research has led to several potential new treatments for pancreatic cancer.

Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa, an assistant professor of neurosurgery and oncology, has been named to the Alumni Hall of Fame of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, the nation's leading organization supporting Hispanic higher education. He also has received a Physician-Scientist Early Career Award from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a Herbert W. Nickens Faculty Fellowship from the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Charles Silberstein, an associate professor of orthopedic surgery, has received the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's Thomas Brady Award, recognizing his exceptional treatment of local athletes. He has been a team physician and orthopedic consultant for the Orioles, as well as an orthopedic consultant to the Johns Hopkins athletic teams.

 

School of Nursing

Patricia Abbott, an assistant professor, has been awarded a postdoctoral fellowship by the National Library of Medicine. The two-year full-time Medical Informatics Research Fellowship will focus on understanding how human behaviors are influenced by health information technology interfaces. Abbott will explore the growing problem of "unintended consequences" of health information technology--instances where HIT is inappropriately designed and employed without systemic considerations of user characteristics, and results in an increase in medical errors rather than the reduction envisioned.

Robin Newhouse, an assistant professor, has received a Mentored Scientist Award from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The award supports her work in building health services research skills and conducting a study to evaluate the effects of legislative and market influences on rural nursing structure and patient outcomes.

Elizabeth Jordan, an assistant professor, was elected to the national board of directors of the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses.

Cynda Rushton, an associate professor, is one of 20 nurse leaders nationwide chosen as a 2006 Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellow. As part of the fellowship, Rushton will have an opportunity to undertake a nursing leadership project with support from the foundation and matching funds from the School of Nursing. She has chosen to develop a program of renewal and self-care for nurses, which is an outgrowth of her work in ethics and palliative care and her belief that for nurses to be able to care for others, they must first learn to care for themselves.

 

Whiting School of Engineering

William P. Ball, professor in DOGEE, and Thanh Helen Nguyen, his former advisee, have been awarded the 2006 Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award by the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors for Nguyen's dissertation work, "Exploring the Role of Surface Characteristics in Determining Sorption Properties of Chars and Soots." Nguyen is currently a postdoctoral student at Yale and in November will become an assistant professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Dan Horn, assistant dean for academic programs, has received the University Member of the Year Award from the National Consortium for Minorities in Engineering and Science, known as GEM. The award is given annually to "the representative of a university member in good standing who sets a new standard of excellence in developing, growing and institutionalizing his/her institution's partnership with the consortium."

Kalina Hristova, an assistant professor in Materials Science and Engineering, will receive the Margaret Oakley Dayhoff Award from the Biophysical Society. The award is given to a junior woman scientist of promise in the field of biophysics and recognizes Hristova's "extraordinary and outstanding achievement in biophysical science, specifically for her work on lipid bilayers and protein folding at bilayer surfaces."

The Johns Hopkins Information Security Institute has been recognized as a National Security Administration/Department of Homeland Security Center of Academic Excellence.

 
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