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.

 

Sandra Gray Named Executive Director of Alumni Relations

Gray Photo by Will Kirk / HIPS

Sandra Gray — an alumna, wife of an alumnus, mother of a recent graduate and longtime staff member of Johns Hopkins — has been named executive director of the Office of Alumni Relations.

Gray has served as senior associate director of Alumni Relations since 2001. During her nine-year tenure in that office, she restructured the Regional Chapter Program, assisted in forming stronger relationships and professional teamwork among development counterparts, strengthened alumni giving and international chapter leadership, enhanced student programs and services, and formed a close bond with the Alumni Council.

"Her contributions, as well as her management of long-range and strategic planning, have proven her ability to lead the Alumni Relations team with vision and passion," said Michael Eicher, vice president for development and alumni relations, when announcing the appointment.

Gray graduated from the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences in 1976 and since then has held a variety of positions at Johns Hopkins in the offices of Student Financial Services and Development and Alumni Relations.

 

Bayview Medical Center

Jonathan Ellen, associate professor of pediatrics and director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Child and Community Research, has been named director of the Department of Pediatrics. Ellen, whose research focuses on preventing sexually transmitted infections in adolescents, is also director of the Adolescent Medicine Training Program in the School of Medicine and an adviser to the Baltimore City Health Department.

 

Bloomberg School of Public Health

Ruth Faden, the Philip Franklin Wagley Professor of Biomedical Ethics and director of the Berman Institute of Bioethics, has been named one of the six Mothers of Bioethics by the Women's Bioethics Project, a nonpartisan public policy think tank. The honorees were nominated in recognition of Mother's Day by their colleagues in the field.

 

Krieger School of Arts and Sciences

Gregory F. Ball, professor in Psychological and Brain Sciences, has been selected as president-elect of the Society of Behavioral Neuroendocrinology for a two-year term. The group sponsors the journal Hormones and Behavior and is dedicated to studying interrelationships among hormones, brain and behavior. Ball will serve as president of the organization from 2009 to 2011.

Silvio Contessi, a graduate student in Economics, was recognized as best teaching assistant with a 2007 Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching Award.

 

Johns Hopkins Health System

Gai Cole, senior project administrator, operations integration, has received a Best Practice Award from Courtemanche & Associates, a North Carolina-based health care consulting firm, recognizing his business continuity plan for JHH in the event of a disaster.

Kim Martin, a communications specialist formerly with the Bloomberg School of Public Health, has been named director of the Office of Communications and Public Affairs at the Children's Center. Martin will play a key role in developing visibility for the Children's Center as it prepares for the opening of its new pediatric hospital in early 2011. She and her team also will enhance communications about the faculty's research and patient care.

 

School of Medicine

Kenneth Brady, an assistant professor specializing in pediatric intensive care, has received the Hartwell Foundation's award for biomedical research, which honors cutting-edge work in the field of biomedicine with high potential for direct clinical benefit to children. The award from the Memphis-based foundation provides $100,000 in annual funding for three years and recognizes Brady's work on a monitor that tracks blood flow changes in the brains of children with serious brain injuries.

Roger Blumenthal, associate professor in Cardiology and director of the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, has been named one of Men's Health magazine's top cardiologists for 2007.

Ying-Jun Cao, research and clinical fellow in Clinical Pharmacology, is the first recipient of the Young Investigator Award from the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. His research seeks to improve use of therapeutic armamentarium to prevent the progression and transmission of HIV.

Edbert Hsu, assistant professor of emergency medicine, has received a Young Investigator Award from the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.

Gabor Kelen, director of the Department of Emergency Medicine, received the 2007 Leadership Award from the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine at its annual meeting, held last week in Chicago.

Seyun Kim, a doctoral candidate in Biological Chemistry, is one of 12 graduate students from North America and Asia who have received the 2007 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. The award recognizes Kim's work on the structural skin protein keratin, which also earned him this year's Martin and Carol Macht Research Award.

Jennifer Lee, a fellow in Pediatric Critical Care, is one of nine postgraduate fellows to be in the inaugural class of Hartwell Foundation Fellowships. The award provides an annual $50,000 grant for two years to support Lee's biomedical research.

Donna Magid, associate professor of radiology and orthopedic surgery, has received the 2007 Joseph E. and Nancy O. Whitley Award from the Association of University Radiologists for the best manuscript on a radiology education subject. David Feigin, professor of radiology, was her co-author.

Russell Margolis, professor of psychiatry and neurology, has received a distinguished investigator grant of $100,000 from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, the world's largest donor-supported philanthropy for psychiatric research.

Akira Sawa, assistant professor of psychiatry and neurobiology, has received the $250,000 Staglin Family Music Festival NARSAD Schizophrenia Research Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. This award is made annually to a leading researcher in schizophrenia.

Levi Watkins, cardiac surgeon and associate dean for postdoctoral affairs, has received the Southern Christian Leadership Conference/W.O.M.E.N. Health Award.

The Donald W. Reynolds Cardiovascular Clinical Research Center in the School of Medicine has received an additional $12.6 million from its namesake, the Las Vegas-based Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, to continue studies into the causes of sudden cardiac death. Center director Eduardo Marban says the money will fund research in three areas most likely to produce new therapies for the heart condition.

 

School of Nursing

Kathi White, associate professor and director, Master's Instruction, and co-authors received the Dean Janet Allan Distinguished Abstract Award for their submission to the conference Your Practice Based on Evidence at the University of Maryland School of Nursing.

 

University Libraries

Winston Tabb, Sheridan Dean of University Libraries, vice provost for the arts and director of Homewood and Evergreen museums, is this year's recipient of the American Library Association Joseph W. Lippincott Award. Founded in 1938, the award is given annually to an individual for distinguished service to the profession of librarianship and consists of a 24K gold-framed citation and $1,000 donated by the award founder's grandson, Joseph W. Lippincott III. The award recognizes Tabb's "significant and enduring" contributions to the profession during his long and distinguished career at the Library of Congress. Tabb served as associate director there for a decade before joining Johns Hopkins in 2002.

 

Whiting School of Engineering

Jim Aumiller has been named associate dean for finance and administration. In this role, he will oversee the areas of finance, human resources and information technology. Aumiller has been with Johns Hopkins for 19 years, most recently as project manager of the HopkinsOne finance and sponsored research teams. He previously served as the university's director of cost and research accounting, director of accounting services, manager of cost analysis, manager of payroll and manager of research accounting for sponsored projects. He received his bachelor of science degree in accounting from the University of Maryland and is a member and formal faculty member of the National Council of University Research Administrators. He also is a member of the Council of Government Regulations and of the National Association of College and University Business Officers.

Mark Franceschini, a lecturer in the Center for Leadership Education, is the 2007 recipient of the Robert B. Pond Sr. Excellence in Teaching Award.

Gloria Olivier, a graduate assistant in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has received the George M.L. Sommerman Engineering Graduate Teaching Assistant Award.

Lester Su, assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering, is the recipient of the 2007 Capers and Marion McDonald Award for Excellence in Mentoring and Advising.

Trac Tran, associate professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, received the William H. Huggins Excellence in Teaching Award for 2007.

 
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