J U N E 2 0 0 2 Alumni News
Editors: Emily Richards, MA '97, Jeanne Johnson
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Eric Noji, SPH '87
As a disaster medicine specialist, Eric Noji has helped
victims of wars, hurricanes, volcanoes, and earthquakes from
Kosovo, to East Timor, and in 17 African countries. A former
ER physician, he's guided mass casualty preparations in the
United States. He's studied injuries from building
collapses, written a book on toxicology, and steeped himself
in bioterrorism preparedness.
"I've had to draw on every aspect of my emergency medicine
and public health knowledge," says Noji, who in November was
named director of medical research and development in the
Office of Homeland Security, Executive Office of the
President.
Immediately after the September 11 attacks, Noji spent three
weeks focusing on World Trade Center emergency medical
response and recovery. The day he planned to return home to
his wife, Pamela, in Atlanta, word arrived about the first
anthrax victim in Florida. He canceled his reservation.
In his work with the Office of Homeland Security, Noji
translated CDC and other medical reports on anthrax for the
administration. Then colleagues drew on his refugee health
experience to help prepare for Afghan refugees fleeing their
country to Iran and Pakistan in anticipation of the U.S.
offensive. Once the U.S. troops were in Afghanistan, his
toxicology knowledge was tapped after the discovery of Al
Qaeda labs suspected of making chemical and biological
weapons.
"My major focus right now is trying to develop the national
biodefense system," says Noji, a former
emergency physician
at Hopkins Hospital and faculty member in the
Schools
of
Medicine and Public
Health. "That would encompass everything
from training doctors to recognize early signs of infection
by potential biological agents, to electronically connecting
hospitals with health departments and the CDC."
Other priorities include improving national pharmaceutical
stockpiles to better prepare for biological weapons,
increasing the number of sophisticated labs that can
identify biological agents like anthrax, and advising on
fundamental research for a new generation of drugs and
vaccines.
Noji, president of the Society of Alumni at the Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, meets daily with
medical officials from the military, as well as
representatives from national health agencies.
While the pace has been relentless and the "temporary"
assignment is now a permanent post, Noji shrugs off the
disruption to his personal life. "We're in a war," he says.
"I'm certainly not in the situation that our troops in
Afghanistan are in."
To keep the stress of his current work in perspective, Noji
just has to remember his life in the ER. "Nothing compares
with simultaneous arrivals of a gunshot victim, an overdose
victim, a patient with asthma, and a patient having a heart
attack, which is not unusual at all in an emergency room,"
Noji says. "That's stress." --Brian Simpson
Angela Revis Taylor (Peab '94) had a good year. Her 2001
debut album, Songs for Strong Girls, was named one of
the
year's best albums by the editor of Music Monthly and
the
magazine's readers named her best regional vocalist. In
addition, Baltimore's City Paper awarded her a spot
in their annual Best of Baltimore issue. She was also a
finalist in both the Lilith Fair Talent Search and an IMX
Discovery Contest.
Taylor earned all this acclaim for a CD published under her
own label, with help from
Peabody in the
form of a small grant. Taylor, who double-majored in flute
and recording engineering at Peabody, with a minor in voice,
composed all
the tracks on the "alternapop" album herself. "My biggest
influences are probably Sheryl Crow and Fiona Apple," she
says.
After spending four intense months in production, Taylor is
now learning that the really steep part of the road to
success comes after the album is released. "I'm on the phone
and the computer 12 hours a day," she says, of her efforts
to get her music played on the radio and elsewhere. In
recent months she's aimed at getting exposure for her music
on television and in films. So far, all of the tracks from
Songs for Strong Girls have been featured on cable
TV's Food Network. --Emily Richards
In 1996, in his second season with the New York Yankees, Cy
Young pitcher David Cone was bothered by a strange numbness
in his fingers. Orthopedist Melvin Rosenwasser was called in
to take a look.
By day, Rosenwasser is professor of hand surgery at Columbia
University and chief of the hand and orthopedic trauma
service at New York Presbyterian Hospital. But any time of
the night he can be called upon to fulfill his role as hand
consultant to the Yankees.
A long-time baseball fan, Rosenwasser now holds the hands of
some of the best baseball players in the world, on one of
the most beloved teams in the world. His purview--from the
elbow to the fingertips--makes him particularly essential to
the Yankees' pitching staff. "There aren't many humans who
can do what they do," he says of the team's players. "They
just have this special skill."
So is he in baseball heaven? Actually, Rosenwasser believes
it's important not to become starstruck. "We try not to
fraternize with the players," he says. "You've got to keep a
professional distance."
In that sense, athletes are like any other patients. But
there are some ways in which professional athletes are
different, primarily because their bodies become commodities
and team owners have a vested interest. "If you or I
sprained an ankle, we wouldn't have a million tests run
right away," says Rosenwasser. But in the Major Leagues,
"everybody wants the worst-case scenario right away. Nobody
wants to be surprised. So we run a battery of tests
immediately. Just on the off-chance it's a zebra and not a
horse."
In David Cone's case, it was a zebra: an aneurysm in his
axillae (under the shoulder) was sending blood clots down to
his hand and fingers, restricting blood flow. This rare
condition can lead to loss of arm and hand function, and
even prove fatal. A vascular surgeon, assisted by a team
including Rosenwasser, removed the damaged arteries and
replaced them with a vein graft from Cone's leg. Immediately
following the operation, New York newspapers were filled
with dire predictions of Cone's retirement. Would he ever
pitch again? Even if he did, would he be any good?
Four months after his surgery, Cone was back on the mound.
In the third game of the 1996 World Series, with the Yanks
down by two games against Atlanta, Cone pitched six innings
of a 1-run victory that marked the beginning of the Yankees'
first Series win since 1978. Three years later and still a
Yankee, Cone pitched baseball history's 14th perfect
game.
Under the leadership of team physician Stuart Hershon,
Rosenwasser and his colleagues are charged with evaluating
all Yankees players and potential players, even those in the
franchise's minor leagues. "They don't want to pay $100
million for someone with significant elbow problems,"
Rosenwasser explains.
That said, Rosenwasser notes, "Even though we're working for
the owners, we're the advocate for the patients. Our
responsibility is to the patient, not the team or the
standings. That has to be jealously guarded." --ER
Kevin Kaliher, A&S '90
It's not easy being a "child genius" and 14-year-old
freshman on the campus of Johns Hopkins, but it sure makes
for some great story-telling material, says Kevin Kaliher
(pictured at right).
Kaliher, who graduated from Hopkins at the age of 16, is now
an animator and storyboard artist for the Cartoon Network,
where he works on such shows as The Powerpuff Girls,
Dexter's Laboratory, and the forthcoming Robot
Jones. It's
all part of what he jokingly refers to as "the dangerous and
often fast-paced world of professional cartooning."
For story ideas, Kaliher draws upon a combination of his own
experience and observation of human interaction, distilling
the universal into stylized cartoon behavior. "It's a window
into the way we behave and the things we do that are funny,"
says Kaliher. "Formulas of human behavior, twisted the right
way, can be elegantly funny. But sometimes," he admits, "I'm
just going for the belly laugh."
Kaliher majored in humanistic studies at Hopkins and studied
art with Craig Hankin and Tom Chalkley in the
Homewood Art
Workshops. Of his education, he quips, "I use my
humanities foundation again and again. And it's always good
for impressing the executives."
In 1994, he created and directed Home, Honey, I'm
High, a
three-minute animated film that became an instant cult hit.
During 1995-96, he was a technical director at DreamWorks
Interactive where he directed production of all the artwork
for "Someone's in the Kitchen," a CD-ROM game. And in 2001,
the Entertainment Industries Council presented Kaliher with
a PRISM award for "Mojo Jonesin'," a Powerpuff Girls
episode
that addressed substance abuse.
For each show, Kaliher takes a brief plot outline and
creatively spins a full-fledged story, step-by-step adding
visual composition, dialogue, and humor. "That's mostly the
job, to do the jokes," he says. Storyboarding is one of the
more creative jobs in cartooning, but Kaliher's next goal is
to be a creator/producer. Working with his wife, Meaghan
Dunn, he created a pilot for The Kitty Bobo Show.
The show's main character is a young cat adopted by a dog
family. (Not so coincidentally, Kaliher was born in Korea
and adopted at the age of 10 months by an American family
living in the Midwest.) The lanky young cat desperately
wants to impress his friends with his use of the latest,
full-feature cell phone, but the whole scheme ultimately
backfires.
Is Kitty Bobo just a simple story that resonates with anyone
who has ever attempted to adjust behavior in order to win
favor? Or could it be a morality tale about the futility of
using material things to win love? Or both?
As Kaliher sees it, cartoons can be appreciated on many
levels. Children enjoy their simplicity, but since the
Cartoon Network also attracts viewers who are college
students and parents, Kaliher thinks it's appropriate to
throw in "obscure references that don't detract from the
overall story." For humor, Kaliher's cartoons usually rely
on bizarre situations or unexpected juxtapositions rather
than violence.
If cartoons seem simple, they are deceptively so, says
Kaliher. "Cartooning is satisfying because it allows me to
combine interests like music, math, drawing, storytelling,
collaboration and communication," he says. "Plus, it allows
me to contribute something to the culture. The deeper I get
into cartooning, the deeper it is." --Jeanne
Johnson
In March, Hopkins alumnus and trustee Samuel Palmisano, A&S
'73, became the new CEO of IBM, the nation's eighth-largest
corporation. The 50-year-old Palmisano joined IBM as a sales
representative in 1973 and went on to head several of its
divisions. In 2000, he was promoted to president.
IBM, the world's largest computer consulting company and
preeminent patent holder, has become in recent years a
leading provider of computer chips to companies like Apple
and Dell. While IBM still loses money on its sales of PCs,
it has become an aggressive and successful competitor with
its servers and corporate machines.
In a February cover story, Business Week noted that
Palmisano is "not the typical Big Blue exec. Instead of
making safe bets, he has repeatedly challenged old thinking
and taken risks. That brash style could be key when the
upturn begins."
Georgette Gaskin, Engr '90, helps the aircraft division of
the U.S. Navy hold things together--literally. Gaskin, who
double-majored in
biomedical
engineering and materials
science at Hopkins, has served as the Navy's adhesives
and
sealants team leader since 1996.
At this year's Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference,
she was presented with the award for Outstanding Technical
Contribution in Government. Gaskin, who has been a leader in
the development of water-based, environment-friendly
adhesive systems, says, "My job is to make certain that
whenever pilots fly, I have done my best to make sure they
return home safely."
Political candidates "should have enough money to run
credible campaigns, but not enough to make them beholden,"
says Deborah Goldberg, A&S '80 (PhD). It's a viewpoint she
successfully argued before the Supreme Court in 1998, as
counsel of record on a case that ultimately upheld the
constitutionality of limiting campaign contributions.
A Harvard-trained lawyer and former Columbia University
philosophy professor, Goldberg now works for the Brennan
Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.
She describes the center, which has won both of the two
cases it has taken to the Supreme Court, as "a mixture of
think tank and public interest law firm, designed to bridge
the expertise of the academy and the practical experience of
the bar." As deputy director of the center's Democracy
Program, Goldberg also advocates on issues of the judiciary,
voting rights, and election laws. --ER
Former Hopkins roommates Bill Faria, A&S '01, and Josh
Kampf, A&S '01, were both living in Colorado on September
11. Like many Americans, they wanted to do something to
help. So both men quit their jobs, packed their backpacks,
and on New Year's Day set off on a nearly 3,500-mile walk
across the U.S., from California through 15 states. Their
goal: to reach Ground Zero by September 11, 2002.
"Others have walked across the continental U.S. before and
many will do it after us, but we believe that our journey
will be a unique experience, for those we encounter and
ourselves," they write on their Web site,
www.walk-for-america.org.
Along with their tent and sleeping bags, the men carry
4,000 miniature American flags, one for each of the September
11 dead. Money donated will purchase frames for each flag,
which they'll present to each victim's family, and fund
scholarships for children of the victims. --ER
Alumni Honored at Rec Center
Dedication
At the dedication of Johns Hopkins University's new
recreation center at Homewood on April 12, the facility was
named for Ralph S. O'Connor (A&S '51) of Houston, who
provided exceptional support for the building. "Hopkins does
so many things so well that I'm just delighted to play a
part," said O'Connor.
Alumni are encouraged to use the new facility. For pricing
information, call (410) 516-5229.
"The new rec center is a
great place
Memories
It all started with invitations that piqued their curiosity,
patriotism, and sense of adventure.
As Virginia Thompson MacMillan, Nurs '40, explains it,
"Someone came up to me while I was still a nursing student
in 1940 and asked, 'If there is a war, would you join a
Hopkins unit and go overseas?' And I said yes."
As William Grose, Med '39, recalls, "I was passed in the
hall by one of our older surgeons, and he said, 'Hey Bill,
how about joining the 18th General Hospital?' I said, 'I
don't know,' and he said, 'Okay, I'll sign you up.'"
So began an intense experience for both that would test
their medical skills, strength, and endurance. Both
MacMillan and Grose became part of the Army's 118th General
Hospital, one of two overseas Hopkins-staffed hospitals
during World War II. The 18th General Hospital, formed
before the war, would go on to serve in Fiji and the
India-Burma theater. MacMillan and Grose joined
approximately 90 Johns Hopkins medical personnel as part of
the 118th, stationed first in Sydney, Australia, and then on
the island of Leyte in the Philippines, by way of New
Guinea.
Grose, a surgeon, and MacMillan, a nurse who headed the
surgical unit in the Philippines, remember that their
journey began in 1942, with a crowded and dusty train trip
to California. There, they were packed onto the former
cruise ship S.S. America with about 6,000 others, mostly
medical personnel. "We were told we were going to have a
convoy to fight off any submarines that would attack us,"
says Grose. "We kept looking for that convoy all the way
across the Pacific and it never turned up. There was so
little left of the Navy after Pearl Harbor that there
weren't enough ships left to escort us."
They arrived in Sydney by way of Melbourne, and helped set
up a hospital at Herne Bay--jokingly referred to as "Hernia
Bay."
The 118th worked hard but also had time for an active social
life. Once in the Philippines, however, work was
all-consuming. Torrential rains during the wet season meant
dealing with mud and muck. The heat and insects were so
oppressive that sweat and bugs would drop into open wounds
during surgery. The workload was often non-stop, says
MacMillan. "Sometimes cases would be lined up in the hall
and we would operate all day and all night, taking
Benzedrine to stay awake."
MacArthur's invasions continued and "soon casualties were
coming from all directions," says MacMillan. In January and
February of 1945, 5,800 patients were admitted, many
severely wounded. In 1945, everyone was preparing for an
invasion of Japan when the U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
MacMillan returned to the States, married a Navy man she met
while stationed at Herne Bay, and raised four children.
Grose was reunited with his wife and son and became chief
resident surgeon at Hopkins Hospital.
Today, both widowed, they happen to live in the same
Baltimore retirement home. Though confined to a wheelchair
as the result of hip fractures, MacMillan has the same
quickness and organizational ability that no doubt served
her well in the operating room. Grose still exhibits a keen
intelligence and gentle sense of humor that must have helped
him cope with the misery of wartime.
For the sick and wounded who came through Herne Bay or
Leyte, it was the skillful care of MacMillan, Grose, and
their colleagues that made the difference between sickness
and health, life or death. --JJ
Back in his Hopkins days, Ric Francke, A&S '69 (not
pictured), played alto sax with the pep band. "We stopped
marching when I was a freshman. We were tired of marching, I
guess. Marching had gone out of style," he recalls. At
Homewood Homecoming, JHU band members through the ages
attended a Band Reunion Cookout, then accompanied current
pep band members at the Homecoming lacrosse game (Blue Jays,
12; U of Maryland, 11).
United States
Atlanta Chapter
Baltimore Chapter
Boston Chapter
Chicago Chapter
Los Angeles Chapter
Philadelphia Chapter
Pittsburgh Chapter
San Francisco Chapter
St. Louis Chapter
Saturday, August 10: 17th Annual Maryland Crab
Feast
Washington D.C. Chapter
London, England
Nearly 100 alumni attended a reception at the Royal
Automobile Club on March 4. Iredell Iglehart III, Med '83,
president of the JHU Alumni Association, hosted the
event.
On Saturday, December 7, 2002, alumni are invited to attend
the world premier of Peabody professor and acclaimed
composer Nicholas Maw's opera, Sophie's Choice, at The Royal
Opera House, Covent Garden. The performance will be followed
by a private reception for Hopkins alumni and friends with
Maw. Call for more about the trip.
Florence, Italy
On March 19, alumni and their guests enjoyed an idyllic
luncheon at Villa Spelman, home of Johns Hopkins' Charles S.
Singleton Center for Italian Studies. Walter Melion,
professor in residence at the Villa and chairman of the
Hopkins Department of the History of Art, talked about his
recent research and the history of the Villa.
Paris, France
On March 21, 30 SAIS students and faculty and 20 SAIS alumni
gathered at the Swedish Circle in Paris for a lecture and
Q&A on war and terrorism with Professor Eliot Cohen.
A little bit of money can go a long way, as Denise Graves
learned last summer when she organized a program that
exposes children from Baltimore City to art and the joy of
artistic expression.
Thanks in part to a $1,000 grant from the Hopkins Alumni
Association's Community Service Grants Program, Graves
created a one-month "Arts and Culture Mini-Summer Program"
that allowed nearly 30 children, ages 7 to 12, to dabble in
collage, clayworks, painting, paper sculpture, and beadwork
under the guidance of visiting artists at a local community
center, the Milton/Montford Improvement Association. In
addition to trying their hands in various media, the
children--some for the first times in their lives--visited
the Visionary Art Museum and the Baltimore Museum of Art
(BMA).
"The children were excited to work with a professional
artist," says Graves, an MBA student at the Hopkins
School
of Professional Studies in Business and Education, "and
more
excited about their pieces being displayed at the
museum."
The Alumni Association hopes that start-up funding for
projects like this will lead to ongoing community programs
that can attract funding from additional sources and keep
participants involved long after the Hopkins funding ends.
In Graves' case, initial support from the Alumni Association
helped attract additional dollars from other sponsors,
including the Johns Hopkins Health System, the East
Baltimore Community Corporation, and Casey Family Services.
The Milton/Montford Improvement Association has been able to
continue the arts program into 2002, thanks to such city and
foundation funding. "What the Alumni Association offers is
seed money," explains Alumni Association President Idy
Iglehart, Med '83. "And if you plant a seed, something
should grow." --ER
Deep Souths, by J. William Harris, A&S '76
(MA), '82 ( PhD), Johns Hopkins University Press (2001)
One of three finalists for this year's Pulitzer Prize in
history, Deep Souths masterfully explores changes in
three distinct locales between the end of the Civil War and
the beginning of World War II. The narrative of life in
these regions emerges through the voices of individuals:
planters, educators, sharecroppers, businessmen, and
artists. --SD
The trumpet player/author takes a virtuoso run through the
literature on music's place in the brain and argues that
crude rhythmic beginnings indeed caused human intelligence.
Then it's on to how we react to sounds. Benzon eventually
finds musicking (his word) progressive in its changes from
blues to jazz and even on to rap. --Lew Diuguid (SAIS
'63)
Hagerty offers a mini-collection of photos and reflections
about the baggage that women carry when they tuck their
favorite bag beneath their arms. It turns out that these
toters, once properly pursed, have the world on a
drawstring. --LD
Larcia Premo, A&S '88, returned to Homewood this spring to
teach Hopkins' first course in sculpture. "Hopkins students
take a different approach than art students do. They think
it all out. They engineer it," she says.
Recognizes distinguished government or public
service
Zeid Raad al Hussein, A&S '87, Jordan's ambassador and
permanent representative to the United Nations, has
dedicated his career to his country and to international
peace and justice. As chair of the UN's Informal Working
Group on Elements of War Crimes, he has been instrumental in
establishing the International Criminal Court in The
Hague.
Recognizes outstanding service to Johns Hopkins
University
Robert S. Buxbaum, Engr '51, '53 (M.S.), retired from
Teledyne Energy Systems near Baltimore. He has actively
served the Whiting School as a member of the Alumni Council
and charter member of the Society of Engineering Alumni. He
helped organize his 50th class reunion and has endowed a
fund in Materials Science and Engineering.
Alumni awards are presented to alumni and friends at events
throughout the year. Deadline for nominations: December
1.
Recognize personal, professional, or humanitarian
achievement
Aristides Melissaratos, Engr '66, has used his vision and
leadership in key defense and commercial industrial
activities to help raise the level of importance of
manufacturing in national science and technology policy.
Previously the chief technology officer at Westinghouse
Corporation, he is now chairman, president, and CEO of ArMel
Scientifics, LLC, with offices near Baltimore. |
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