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.

Centers and affiliates

Joseph Harkness, a research statistician with the Housing Research Group of the Institute for Policy Studies, and Sandra Newman, IPS director and professor of policy studies, received an award from the Association for Public Policy and Management for their paper "Homeownership for the Poor in Distressed Neighborhoods: Does This Make Sense?"

Health Divisions Administration

Leslie Waldman, assistant director of marketing for Johns Hopkins Medicine, has been named director of strategic marketing. Waldman has served in various Hopkins marketing and public affairs positions since 1983.

Johns Hopkins Health System

Douglas Hall, previously director of ambulatory services at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, has been named director of business development for Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Murray G. Welsh-Lofts, director of nonimmigrant services and international services for JHMI, has been awarded a 2001 German-American Grant from the J. William Fulbright Scholarship Board. The grant will enable Welsh-Lofts to participate in seminars focused on German higher education and society, and includes visits to higher education institutions in Berlin, Mechlenburg-Vorpommern and Hamburg, as well as participation in selected government appointments and cultural events.

Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center has been named in the "100 Top Hospitals: ICU Benchmarks for Success" list. The list is based on an independent study recently released by the Solucient Leadership Institute that included data from 1,200 hospitals with ICUs. It is one of the first comparative analyses of ICU performance among the nation's hospitals. Solucient, the result of a recent merger of HCIA-Sachs and HBSI, specializes in providing strategic information and analysis for the health care industry.

Krieger School of Arts and Sciences

Eaton E. Lattman, chair of the Department of Biophysics, was appointed to the National Advisory General Medical Sciences Council by Donna Shalala, then health and human services secretary. Lattman, one of five new members, will serve a four-year term.

Angela Paik Schaeffer has joined the Communications Office as writer/editor. Schaeffer comes to Hopkins from The Washington Post, where she has been metro reporter covering Howard County. She also has written for the Raleigh, N.C., News & Observer and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Peabody Institute

Brandy Brewer, a junior, was selected as the alternate bassist in the 2001 Jazz Sisters in Jazz Collegiate Competition co-sponsored by the International Association of Jazz Educators and Black Entertainment Television's Jazz Channel. Brewer is a student of Paul Johnson in the Double Bass Department.

School of Medicine

William Baumgartner, professor of surgery and cardiac surgeon in charge, has been elected president of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, beginning in January 2002. He will serve as vice president for this year. With more than 4,300 members, the society is recognized as the leading advocate for thoracic surgeons and their patients.

Charles W. Cummings, Andelot Professor of Laryngology and Otology, and chairman of otolaryngology, has been named guest of honor for the annual meetings of the American Head and Neck Society and the American Triological Society. Both are held in May.

Louis R. Kavoussi, Patrick C. Walsh Professor of Urology and vice chairman of the Department of Urology, has received the Award for Excellence (First Prize), presented at the annual Jackson Hole Urology Seminar. The competition features internationally known, invited speakers whose presentations are critiqued by a panel of experts and judged on style and content. Kavoussi discussed minimally invasive urologic surgery.

Anita Clare Lewis, editor of the online publishing program in the Office of Consumer Health Information, has been appointed managing editor of Hopkins-Health, the consumer health information licensing program of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.

Verna Scheeler-Weller, senior referral coordinator/acting supervisor of the consultation and referral services of the Oncology Center, has joined the Office of Consumer Health Information as assistant editor for Hopkins-Health.

Jay Shake, a surgery fellow, has won the Thoracic Surgery Directors Association Award for the best abstract submitted by a resident. The award was presented at this year's meeting of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons.

Levi Watkins Jr., professor of cardiac surgery and associate dean of postdoctoral programs, served as grand marshal in Baltimore's first parade to celebrate the life and accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Watkins grew up in Montgomery, Ala., where he was a member of King's Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and knew the slain civil rights activist personally. The inaugural parade took place on Jan. 15, which would have been King's 72nd birthday.

Michael A. Williams, assistant professor of neurology and neurosurgery and co-chair of the Hospital Ethics Committee, has received an award for "Commitment to Collaboration: Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Organ and Tissue Transplantation" from the Transplant Resource Center of Maryland. The honor is in recognition of Williams' work in developing a new method to train ICU physicians, nurses, clergy and transplantation coordinators to care for the families of patients who may become potential organ donors.

School of Nursing

Cheryl A. Barto has been named associate dean of development and alumni relations. Most recently, Barto was director of development and alumni relations at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. Prior to that, she spent 13 years as director of development at the Institutional Advancement Office at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.

June Eick Miller, an assistant professor in Community Health Nursing, received a 2000-2001 Fulbright scholar grant. She is a visiting scholar at Hashemite University in Amman, Jordan.

School of Public Health

Thomas A. Burke, an associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, has been asked to chair the National Academy of Sciences' Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, Committee on Risks from Toxicants and Pathogens in Biosolid Fertilizers (2000- 2002).

Trudy L. Bush, a professor in the Department of Epidemiology, was the 2000 Elizabeth Blackwell Lecturer in Internal Medicine at the Mayo Medical Center.

Laura E. Caulfield, an associate professor in the Department of International Health, was the 2000 Avanelle Kirksey Lecturer at Purdue University.

William Eaton, a professor in the Department of Mental Health, received the 2000 Rema Lapouse Award from the American Public Health Association.

Lynn R. Goldman, a professor in the departments of Environmental Health Sciences and of Health Policy and Management, was newly appointed to four advisory boards and commissions, including the National Research Council's 2000 Commission on Geosciences, Environment and Resources, and the Board of Trustees of Environmental Defense. Also, she was asked to deliver the 2000 Charles C. Shepard Science Award Lecture at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Wen Hong Linda Kao, an assistant professor in the Department of Biostatistics, has won the American Diabetes Association's 2000 Michaela Modan Award for excellence in research in epidemiology and biostatistics.

Kung-Yee Liang, a professor in the Department of Biostatistics, has been named the 2000 Bernard G. Greenberg Distinguished Lecturer by the Department of Biostatistics at the University of North Carolina.

Ellen MacKenzie, a professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, has been asked to chair the Advisory Committee for Injury Prevention and Control. Also, MacKenzie received the 2000 Award of Merit from the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine.

Wayne Mitzner, a professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, received the 2000 Distinguished Service Award from the American Lung Association of Maryland.

Cecile M. Pickart, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, has been appointed chair of an NIH Special Study Section.

Barbara Starfield, University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, received the 2000 Maurice Wood Award for Lifetime Contribution to Primary Care Research from the North American Primary Care Research Group. Also, Starfield served as the Wei-Lun Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in October 2000.

Mei-Cheng Wang, a professor in the Department of Biostatistics, was recently elected program chair for the section on nonparametrics for the American Statistical Association Board of Directors.

Peter P. Zandi, a research associate in the Department of Mental Hygiene, received from his department the 2000 Morton Kramer Award for the Application of Biostatistics and Epidemiology in Research on the Prevention and Control of Mental Disorders.

Sylvia Eggleston Wehr, associate dean for external affairs, has been named one of Maryland's Top 100 Women for the year 2001 by The Daily Record, which will profile the 100 women on March 24.

Tomoko Kanto, a researcher from Tokyo Woman's Medical College, is the subject of a video documentary chronicling her work with children and with Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders. The video has received the Emmy International Competition's highest award.