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.

 

Bayview Medical Center

William Greenough III, professor of medicine and international health, has received the William J. McCarthy Award from the Bayview board of trustees. The award, named in honor of the board's late director, recognizes employees and volunteers whose standards of service exemplify the best traditions of Johns Hopkins Medicine. Greenough has been a specialist in geriatric medicine and infectious diseases at Bayview for more than 40 years.

 

Carey Business School

Elena W. Thompson has been appointed director of alumni relations. She has spent the last 15 years in development and alumni relations, most recently as the director of MBA alumni relations for the F.W. Olin School of Management at Babson College.

Jim Zeller, vice provost for budgets and planning for the university, will join the school July 1 as associate dean for finance and administration. Zeller has been "on loan" from the Office of the Provost since the school's inception in January 2007, helping to address the financial challenges of planning and budgeting for a new school.

 

Centers and Affiliates

Leslie Mancuso, CEO and president of JHPIEGO, is among seven 2008 fellows of The American Society of Association Executives & The Center for Association Leadership. The fellows program recognizes individual accomplishments and contributions to ASAE & The Center. Fellows serve as models and ambassadors for the association, seek out opportunities to serve on boards and committees, and participate as speakers, authors, reviewers and mentors.

Lea Ybarra, executive director of the Center for Talented Youth, has been appointed to the Maryland Commission on Hispanic Affairs by Gov. Martin O'Malley. The 21-member commission focuses on economic, business and work force development for Maryland's rapidly growing Hispanic population. In addition, Ybarra was recently awarded recognition from the Promete Foundation of Spain for her work with gifted students, both in Spain and abroad.

 

Multidisciplinary

Five women affiliated with Johns Hopkins were named this month to The Daily Record's Top 100 Women list, an award that was created to recognize successful female professionals who also give back to their professions and their communities by mentoring others and by personal community involvement. They are Elizabeth Hunt, assistant professor, Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, School of Medicine; Leslie Mancuso, CEO and president, JHPIEGO; Redonda Miller, associate professor, Internal Medicine, School of Medicine; Stephanie Reel, chief information officer for the university and health system; and Cynda Hylton Rushton, associate professor, Nursing Systems and Outcomes, School of Nursing.

 

School of Advanced International Studies

SAIS received a gold and three silver awards for materials it entered in the 23rd Annual Admissions Advertising Awards sponsored by Admissions Marketing Report. The awards, all for a graduate school, were gold for SAISPHERE 2006 (the China issue), Best Internal Publication; and silver for the 2007-2008 SAIS catalog, Best Catalog; 2007 Summer Program marketing materials, Best Direct Mail Advertising Campaign; and 2007 Alumni College marketing materials, Special Publication.

 

School of Medicine

Nancy Davidson, a professor at the Oncology Center, will be honored with the 11th Annual American Association of Cancer Research Women in Cancer Research-Charlotte Friend Memorial Lectureship. The lecture, which honors renowned virologist Charlotte Friend, recognizes an outstanding scientist who has made exceptional contributions to the field of cancer research and who has, through leadership or by example, furthered the advancement of women in science. Davidson will present her lecture during the AACR Annual Meeting, to be held April 12-16 in San Diego. In addition, Davidson was recently presented with the seventh annual Rosalind E. Franklin Award for Women in Cancer Research at the National Cancer Institute's Intramural Scientific Retreat. The prize honors the commitment of women in cancer research and is given in tribute to chemist Rosalind Franklin, who played a critical role in the discovery of the DNA double helix.

Barbara Fivush, professor of pediatrics, has been selected as the first director of the new Office of Women in Science and Medicine, which has the mandate to increase the role of women in leadership positions in the university. The office will strive to eliminate gender issues and foster the goals of civility and respect for all SoM faculty and staff enunciated in the university's Vision 2020 report. For the past five years, Fivush has been co-chair of the school's Women's Leadership Council.

Ted Dawson and Gregg Semenza have been elected to the Association of American Physicians. Dawson, professor of neurology and neuroscience and co-director of the neuroregeneration program in the Institute for Cell Engineering, focuses on the molecular basis of neurodegeneration and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's. Semenza, professor of pediatrics and director of ICE's program in vascular cell engineering, concentrates on the molecular mechanisms underlying blood vessel formation and vascular remodeling in cardiovascular disease and cancer. Election to the AAP is considered one of the highest honors in American medicine.

John Gearhart, professor of pediatrics and director of Pediatric Urology at Johns Hopkins Children's Center, has been awarded honorary membership in the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons. Gearhart was honored for helping children worldwide and for his basic science and clinical contributions in the treatment of major birth defects of the reproductive organs and the urinary system. Gearhart will accept his honorary FRCS degree in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the fall. In continuous existence as a corporate body since 1505, the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh may lay claim to being one of the oldest surgical corporations in the world.

Philip C. Wong, associate professor in the departments of Pathology and Neuroscience, is one of three recipients of the annual MetLife Foundation Awards for Medical Research in Alzheimer's Disease. Wong was recognized for his work on molecular mechanisms and experimental therapies for Alzheimer's. Winners will receive a $25,000 personal award in addition to a $175,000 award to their institutions.

 

School of Nursing

Jerilyn Allen, professor in Acute and Chronic Care and associate dean for research, will direct a $1.1 million federal training grant to continue the Interdisciplinary Training in Health Disparities Research program aimed at preparing nurse scientists in identifying, preventing and reducing health disparities among underserved populations. The grant is funded through the National Institute of Nursing Research, a branch of the National Institutes of Health.

Jacquelyn C. Campbell, professor in Community Public Health Nursing, has been named director of the new Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholars program, which will be headquartered at the school. RWJF will provide $28 million over the next five years to outstanding junior nursing faculty to help them advance in their fields and seek faculty positions earlier in their careers by providing mentorship, leadership training, salary and research support.

Cynda Rushton, associate professor in Nursing Systems and Outcomes, has been named an "Edge Runner" by the American Academy of Nursing in recognition of her role as program director of the Harriet Lane Compassionate Care program, which provides comprehensive management of the physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs of children with life-limiting conditions and their families. At Harriet Lane, Rushton leads a core team, leadership committee, pediatric palliative care network and comprehensive bereavement program. AAN Edge Runners are recognized as the practical innovators who have led the way in bringing new thinking and methods to a wide range of health care challenges.

Jodi Shaefer, assistant professor in Nursing Systems and Outcomes, recently presented "Fetal and Infant Mortality: Using Qualitative Data to Address Issues Related to Health Disparities" to the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Infant Mortality, which makes recommendations to Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Levitt. Her presentation focused on FIMR's program successes in reaching underserved populations.

 

University Administration

Sunanda Holmes has been named assistant director for international business operations compliance, a new position, in the Controller's Office. Holmes has a juris doctorate from Howard University, a master of law from Georgetown University, an MBA from Johns Hopkins and a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland. She has more than 17 years of experience as an attorney practicing corporate and business law, and working on policy-related issues in international law, education, health care and governance. She just returned from the West Bank as a Fulbright Senior Scholar teaching human rights law at Birzeit and Al Quds universities.

 

Whiting School of Engineering

Joelle Frechette, assistant professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development award. The CAREER award is given in recognition of young scientists' commitment to research and education. Frechette's CAREER program in materials design and surface engineering will support her research to harness interfacial phenomena and achieve external, reversible and local control of wetting and adhesion properties between surfaces. Her award also supports the development of workshops created in conjunction with the National Federation of the Blind for visually impaired students.

Kevin Hemker, professor and chair of Mechanical Engineering, has been elected a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Being elected a fellow is the highest grade of membership within ASME, the attainment of which recognizes exceptional engineering achievements and contributions to the engineering profession. Hemker is considered one the world's leading researchers at the interface of materials science, novel test methods and solid mechanics. His experimental work is leading to a better understanding of ceramic thermal barrier coatings for jet engine turbine blades.

Benjamin Hobbs, a professor in DoGEE, has been elected a fellow in the class of 2008 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for "integration of economic and environmental concerns into power systems design and operation." The grade of fellow recognizes unusual distinction in the profession and is conferred by the board of directors upon a person with an extraordinary record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest. Hobbs' research focuses on the analysis and economics of environmental and energy systems.

Howard E. Katz, a professor in Materials Science and Engineering, was named one of 34 inaugural fellows of the Materials Research Society. This honor was given "for introducing multifunctional organic materials into electronic and optical devices including transistors and electro- optic modulators; for innovation in materials synthesis; and for serving the materials community through society leadership, editorship and government outreach." Katz was an MRS board member from 2000 to 2005 and will assume the presidency of the International Union of Materials Research Societies in 2009.

Hai-Quan Mao, assistant professor in Materials Science and Engineering, has received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development award. The CAREER award is given in recognition of young scientists' commitment to research and education. Hai-Quan's CAREER program will support his research to understand the roles of nanofiber scaffold as an artificial stem cell niche in presenting topographical and surface-tethered biochemical cues that can potentiate neural stem cell adhesion, contact guidance and growth factor signaling and thereby regulate NSC proliferation, differentiation and migration. The long-term goal of this study is to provide new methodologies for efficient stem cell expansion and directed differentiation that facilitate stem cell-based regenerative therapies, particularly for treating degenerative diseases and traumatic injuries of the central nervous system.

 
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