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.

 

Robert A. Wood Named Director of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology

Robert A. Wood, a pediatric allergist and professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, has been named director of the Division of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology.

A world-renowned expert in the treatment of peanut allergy, Wood assumes leadership of a busy clinical and research division whose faculty and staff care for children with asthma, allergies and primary immunodeficiency diseases. As director, Wood says his priorities include expanding the division's food allergy program, increasing basic laboratory research and continuing the division's successful fellowship training program.

In addition, division researchers will continue to collaborate in an ongoing, multicenter National Institutes of Health inner-city asthma consortium. Wood is a lead investigator on a study examining the effects of inner-city allergens, such as cockroach dander and pollution, on children from birth to age 3 years.

A part-time faculty member in the division since 1988, Wood graduated with honors from the State University of New York at Buffalo and received his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. He completed his pediatrics internship, residency and fellowship at Johns Hopkins. He has been director of the Pediatric Allergy Clinics and director of the Pediatric Allergy Consultation Service at JHH since 1988.

Wood is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Allergy and Immunology, and the American College of Allergy and Immunology.

 

Applied Physics Laboratory

Nicholas J. Langhauser is the new chief financial officer and head of the Business Services Department. Langhauser, whose experience includes more than 10 years at defense contracting firms Martin Marietta, SEDCO Systems and Grumman Aerospace Corp., joined APL in 1991 as the financial manager for the National Security Technology Department. He went on to serve as supervisor of financial planning, supervisor of accounting and finance and then returned to NSTD as its assistant department head for operations and chief of staff. He holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from Brockport (N.Y.) University and an MBA from Long Island University.

Jacqueline Wells was recently appointed general counsel. She was previously vice president and general counsel for BlueCross BlueShield of the National Capital Area, and vice president and general counsel in Salt Lake City and later senior vice president and chief legal officer in Portland, Ore., for the Regence Group, an affiliation of four BlueCross BlueShield companies in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Utah. Earlier she was an in-house counsel at Inova Health Systems in Fairfax, Va., and associate attorney at the law firm of Donahue, Ehrmantraut & Montedonico in Washington, D.C. She received a bachelor's degree in biological sciences from the University of Maryland and her law degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law.

 

Krieger School of Arts and Sciences

Sonia Ryang, an associate professor in the Anthropology Department, will receive this year's George E. Owen Teaching Award from the Student Council for outstanding teaching and devotion to undergraduates.

Teaching Assistant Awards will be presented this year to Boncho Dragiyski, Romance Languages and Literatures; Daniel Levine, Political Science; and Aili Zheng, German. These teaching assistants are commended for the care and concern they take with their subject and with their students.

Ann De Leon and Regina Galasso, doctoral students, and Citlali Miranda-Aldaco, coordinator of intermediate Spanish-language courses, all in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, have been awarded a grant by the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation for their project "Spanish Through the Eyes: An Exploration of Hispanic Language, Life and Culture in Baltimore." The grant will allow them to continue creating supplemental audio-visual material for learning Spanish and developing a sense of community between JHU and Baltimore.

 

Johns Hopkins Bayview

Joseph Brady, professor of behavioral biology and director of the Behavioral Biology Research Center, has received the Lawrence R. Young Space Biomedical Research Award from the National Space Biomedical Research Institute and NASA. Brady was recognized for pioneering space research on animal and human behavioral neuroscience and outstanding service to the space biomedical research community.

Gary Shapiro has been named director of Oncology. Before joining Bayview, he served as medical director of the oncology programs and Vince Lombardi Cancer Clinic at Aurora Sinai Medical Center in Milwaukee. He was also associate professor and head of Medical Oncology and Hematology at the University of Wisconsin Medical School.

Tao Zheng, assistant professor of medicine, has received the 2005 American Academy of Asthma Allergy and Immunology/Sanofi Aventis Women Physicians in Allergy Junior Faculty Development Award.

 

School of Medicine

Rhoda Alani, associate professor in the departments of Oncology, Dermatology, and Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Kimmel Cancer Center, has been elected to membership in the American Society of Clinical Investigation. Alani, who was formally inducted in the society at its annual meeting in April, focuses on melanoma research.

Ben Carson, director of pediatric neurosurgery, has been awarded the William E. Simon Foundation's Prize in Philanthropic Leadership. Carson was honored for his Carson Scholars Fund, which encourages high achievement in science, math and technology. Every year, the fund awards $1,000 scholarships to students (grades four through 12) with 3.75 grade point averages or higher and a strong commitment to public service.

Gregory B. Bulkley, the Mark M. Ravitch Professor of Surgery and director of surgical research, has received the annual Doctor's Award from the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America in recognition of his "dedicated support to myasthenics through decades of extensive patient education, and the active pursuit of the most effective thymectomy procedure available." He received the award at a special banquet held April 23 during the foundation's annual meeting in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Linzhao Cheng, assistant professor in the Institute for Cell Engineering, has been awarded a two-year $100,000 research grant by the Stem Cell Research Foundation for his project "Gene Traps in Human Embryonic Stem Cells by Novel Lenti-vectors." The grant, which was awarded to Cheng and five others across the country, is given by the foundation to "find treatments and cures for a wide range of diseases by supporting innovative research into the development of cell therapies."

Lisa A. Cooper, associate professor of general internal medicine, has been elected to membership in the American Society of Clinical Investigation. Cooper was recognized for her contributions to research on health care disparities and patient-physician communication.

Andrew Feinberg, King Fahed Professor of Medicine, has been named director of the new Division of Molecular Medicine. Feinberg is principal investigator of the NIH-funded Center of Excellence in Genome Sciences in Epigenetics at Johns Hopkins. His work focuses on the mechanism of epigenetic variation and its relationship to human disease.

John Flynn, the D. William Schlott, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, has received the David M. Levine Excellence in Mentoring Award. Flynn served as a model of integrity and professionalism by teaching the skills and work habits needed for career development. Flynn also has been appointed editor in chief of Advanced Studies in Medicine, Johns Hopkins' evidence-based primary care journal.

Carolyn Machamer, a professor in the Department of Cell Biology, is the winner of the Professor's Award for Distinction in Teaching in the Basic Sciences 2004-2005. The award recognizes "those men and women whose investment in the teaching of students in both the pre- and post-doctoral levels in the School of Medicine is of the highest order."

Neil R. Powe, professor of medicine and director of the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research, has been elected to membership in the Association of American Physicians. The association was founded in 1885 by seven physicians, including William Osler, for "the advancement of scientific and practical medicine."

Sandy Swoboda, surgical intensive care nurse, has been awarded the Norma J. Shoemaker Grant from the Society of Critical Care Medicine for her project involving isolation for infection control.

 

School of Nursing

Seniors Sara Angelino and Anna La-grotteria received recognition at the National Student Nurses Association annual convention, held April 6 to April 10 in Salt Lake City. Angelino was awarded the Isabel Hampton Robb Leadership Award for her innovative leadership as president of the Maryland Association of Nursing Students. Lagrotteria accepted a Gold Award for Membership Recruitment on behalf of the Hopkins NSNA chapter for its outstanding increase in enrollment.

 

University Administration

Dale Keiger, senior writer for Johns Hopkins Magazine, received a gold medal in the Best Articles category of the annual CASE competition for his story "The Rivalry," which chronicled the week leading up to the historic 100th lacrosse game between Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland. It appeared in the June 2004 issue. The magazine is produced by the Office of Government, Community and Public Affairs.

The Office of News and Information, part of Government, Community and Public Affairs, received a bronze medal in the General News Writing category of the national CASE awards competition. The entries were written by Glenn Small, assistant director of News and Information, and senior media relations representatives Amy Cowles, Lisa De Nike and Phil Sneiderman.

 

Whiting School of Engineering

Gregory Christopherson of Materials Science and Engineering has been named the recipient of the George M.L. Sommerman Engineering Graduate Teaching Assistant Award.

Noah Cowan, an assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering, is the winner of the William H. Huggins Excellence in Teaching Award, which recognizes outstanding teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and a demonstrated dedication to students.

Jason Eisner, an assistant professor in Computer Science, is the winner of the Robert B. Pond Sr. Excellence in Teaching Award, which is given for commitment to and excellence in instruction, success in instilling the desire to learn and dedication to undergraduate students.

The school's 2003 Annual Report received a Distinguished Technical Communication award in the Society for Technical Communication's International Technical Publications Competition and was also given the ITPC Best of Show award for the 2004-2005 competition year. The project was overseen by Diana Whitman, manager of the Office of Communications.

 
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