Noted author Tom Clancy dedicates JHM professorship

With gifts to Johns Hopkins totaling $2 million, one of the world's best-selling authors, Tom Clancy, has funded a new professorship in ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Terrence P. O'Brien was named the inaugural Tom Clancy Professor of Ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute during a dedication ceremony held April 8 in the School of Nursing Auditorium.

Clancy, the literary master of such million-selling thrillers as The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and many others, is one of O'Brien's patients and a longtime supporter of the Wilmer Eye Institute.

"Mr. Clancy has created a legacy that will benefit generations to come," said Peter J. McDonnell, director of the Wilmer Eye Institute. "The endowment will provide a distinguished faculty member with the resources necessary to pursue research into effective treatments and cures for ocular diseases."

O'Brien is an internationally recognized expert in refractive eye surgery with extensive experience in performing PRK, LASIK and newer procedures to correct refractive errors. He is the medical director of the refractive surgery service, Ocular Infectious Diseases Service and Ocular Microbiology Laboratory, a multidisciplinary group of scientists investigating rapid diagnostic techniques and improved treatments for severe, potentially blinding eye infections.

 

Dean campaign manager to speak at Internet Strategies class

Joe Trippi, campaign manager for Howard Dean's presidential campaign, political and technology consultant, MSNBC contributor and author of The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Democracy, the Internet and the Overthrow of Everything, will be speaking and taking questions at the Washington Center, room 405, from 5:15 to 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday, April 12.

Trippi will be speaking to Adam Segal's Internet Strategies course.

This class session is open to everyone in the Johns Hopkins community. Space is limited, so students/visitors must RSVP to adamjsegal@jhu.edu.

 

KSAS colleagues to raffle handmade quilt honoring Suzy Bacon

To honor a beloved colleague and friend who died last fall, the staff of the Krieger School's Dean's Office will raffle a handmade quilt, the proceeds of which will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Suzy's Quilt, made by systems administrator/programmer Mimi Guest, measures 76 inches square and reverses to pink ribbons. Guest made the quilt in memory of Suzy Bacon, coordinator of the Woodrow Wilson Undergraduate Research Program, who died in September at the age of 47 after a prolonged battle with cancer. The Dean's Office paid tribute to Bacon's commitment to the program by creating the Suzy Bacon Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson Undergraduate Research Program, an award bestowed annually on someone who manifests the qualities of commitment, caring and scholarship that Bacon embodied.

Raffle tickets for the quilt may be purchased for $1 each, or six for $5. A winner will be drawn on May 20. For more information and to see the quilt, stop by 237 Mergenthaler on the Homewood campus. Tickets can also be purchased by contacting Guest at 410-516-7946 or mimig@jhu.edu or Sonia Guggenheim at 410-516-8220 or soniag@jhu.edu.

 

Black Student Nursing Assoc. holds inaugural conference

The Black Student Nursing Association at Johns Hopkins will hold its inaugural conference, Nursing: Beyond Color, Beyond Culture, on April 22 and 23 at the School of Nursing.

Senior LaTonya Jackson, president of the BSNA, said the conference will bring nursing students and nursing professionals together to address the issues of diversification, pursuit of higher degrees and research in nursing. Through informative and motivational sessions, she said, the group's ultimate goals are "to encourage professional growth and to provide a layout for bridging the gap of health disparities."

The keynote speaker is Alicia Georges of the Lehman College Department of Nursing. An educator, practitioner and community activist, Georges was the president of the National Black Nurses Association from 1987 to 1991 and is currently president of the National Black Nurses Foundation and secretary-treasurer of the board of the International Society on Hypertension in Blacks.

Participants will be able to attend sessions on a variety of topics including research opportunities, diversity within nursing and increasing participation in student nursing organizations. The two-day conference also includes a meet-and-greet, a panel discussion on health disparities, poster presentations and a multitude of vendors.

All nurses and nursing students are invited to participate. Registration is $15 for students and $25 for professionals who register by April 19. To register, go to www.son.jhmi.edu/groups/bsna/docs/regform05.pdf or contact Cassandra Jones at cjones@son.jhmi.edu or 410-955-7548.

 

HBO's 'Something the Lord Made' receives Peabody Award

The HBO-told story of two Johns Hopkins medical pioneers in the Jim Crow South — Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas — last week received a prestigious Peabody Award. Blalock, an ambitious white surgeon, and Thomas, a gifted black lab technician, defied racial structures to pioneer the field of heart surgery in 1944.

Peabody Awards do not recognize specific categories but are given to productions considered the best in electronic media for the given year.

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