July 20, 2009

Cheers: July 2009

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

Sandeep Bansal, a clinical fellow in cardiology, has received the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center House Staff’s Clinical Fellows Award. Voted on by house staff members, the award recognizes Bansal’s exceptional teaching.

R. Duane Cespedes has joined the Urology Department as an associate professor. As a specialist at the Johns Hopkins Women’s Center for Pelvic Health, Cespedes brings expertise in pelvic reconstruction and minimally invasive procedures to treat incontinence. He joins Bayview from Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, where he served as the Urology Residency Program director, chairman of the Urology Department and chairman of its institutional review board.

Hien T. Nguyen has joined the Department of Surgery as an assistant professor. After receiving his medical degree from the University of California, Davis and completing his residency in surgery at University of California, San Francisco East Bay, Nguyen recently finished his fellowship in minimally invasive and bariatric surgery at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He specializes in single-incision, natural orifice, robotic and laparoscopic bariatric surgeries.

Bloomberg School of Public Health

“Scrutinize,”an animated HIV prevention campaign produced in cooperation with the school’s Center for Communication Programs, has been honored with a Khuza Award, South Africa’s biggest research-based youth marketing and communications awards program. The awards are voted for by children and young adults. “Scrutinize” is a series of animated advertisements, or “animerts,” that use slang, identifiable characters and tricky situations that young people can easily relate to. The campaign is backed by the United States Agency for International Development, U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, Levi’s Red for Life initiative, Matchboxology and Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa, a joint venture between CCP and Jhpiego. The campaign earned a bronze award in the television category voted for by teenagers.

The Johns Hopkins Hospital

Redonda Miller, an associate professor of medicine, has been named vice president for medical affairs. Miller, a 1992 graduate of the School of Medicine, previously served as vice chair for clinical operations in the Department of Medicine and as assistant dean for student affairs. She succeeds Beryl Rosenstein, professor of pediatrics, who has been medical affairs VP for 15 years and will remain on the faculty.

Johns Hopkins International

David Caldwell has been appointed director of operations at Johns Hopkins Singapore International Medical Centre. He will be responsible for day-to-day operations of Johns Hopkins’ jointly owned and managed 30-bed oncology facility within Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Caldwell was most recently director of operations for perioperative services at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Judy Lee, assistant professor of gynecology and obstetrics, has been appointed medical director of Al Corniche Hospital, a 235-bed maternity facility in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The appointment is part of a long-term agreement with owner Abu Dhabi Health Services Co., under which JHI manages day-to-day operations of Al Corniche. Lee’s previous international medical experience includes work in the UAE, Japan, India, Honduras, China, Ghana, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Taiwan and Thailand.

Johns Hopkins Medicine

Jeff Nelligan has been appointed senior director for strategic communications in the Office of Marketing and Communications. He will supervise overall communications strategy and positioning. Formerly, he was the chief spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and spent more than a decade on Capitol Hill as spokesman for Rep. Bill Thomas of California and for the Government Accountability Office.

Elias Zerhouni, senior adviser, received an honorary degree from the American University of Beirut at a June 27 ceremony on the university’s campus. Zerhouni was one of five recipients of the degree Doctor of Humane Letters, which has been given annually since 2003 to accomplished figures from across the Arab world. A radiologist, he earned his medical degree in 1975 from the University of Algiers in his native country. Zerhouni, former JHM executive dean, was director of the National Institutes of Health from 2002 to 2008 and returned to Johns Hopkins in May.

Collaborative Partnerships and Interventions to Promote and Ensure Patient Safety, the JHM program that fields a team of 230 physicians, nurses and administrators to conduct research on patient safety issues, implement evidence-based changes to health care practices and systems, and rigorously measure safety progress, has received a top Innovator Award from Healthcare Informatics magazine. The Johns Hopkins program received the second place award. The Detroit Medical Center took first place.

Dome has won a bronze medal from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education Circle of Excellence. It was one of five prize winners selected out of 21 entries submitted by universities and colleges throughout the United States and Canada in the Print Internal Audience Tabloids and Newsletters category.

Peabody Institute

Jee In Hwang, a Graduate Performance Diploma candidate studying with Boris Slutsky, won the second and public prizes in the advanced category at the 10th Annual International Russian Music Piano Competition, held last month in San Jose, Calif.

Lura Johnson, of the Keyboard Studies faculty, has been named artistic director of Music in the Great Hall, a chamber music series at Towson Unitarian Universalist Church. In 2009–2010, the series will include a concert by early music ensemble Harmonious Blacksmith, featuring several Peabody alumni, and a recital by Yale Gordon Competition winner Hans Kristian Goldstein, cello.

Faculty member Harlan D. Parker conducts the Peabody Wind Ensemble on a new Naxos release called Trendsetters, the ensemble’s third in the Wind Band Classics series. Post-production for all three recordings was done at Peabody. For every Peabody Wind Ensemble CD purchased through Naxos Direct, Naxos will contribute $1 toward scholarships for Peabody brass students.

School of Medicine

Scott Berkowitz, a clinical fellow in cardiology, has received the Osler Medical House Staff Fellow Teaching Award from house staff members at JHH in recognition of his superb pedagogical skills.

Patrick A. Brown, an assistant professor in Pediatric Oncology, and Andrea Cox, an assistant professor in Medicine, have received two-year $300,000 continuation grants from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. The grants support clinical investigators who are approaching the end of their original awards and need extra time and funding to complete a promising avenue of research or initiate/continue a clinical trial.  Brown is leading two national phase I/II clinical trials focused on the first use of a small molecule inhibitor drug for the treatment of two types of pediatric leukemias, acute lymphocytic leukemia and acute myelogenous leukemia. He is also developing a new test to predict patient response to this drug. Cox is involved in several clinical trials to develop a vaccine for chronic hepatitis C virus, which often leads to liver cancer, the third-leading cause of cancer death worldwide.

Noel Rose, director of the JHMI Autoimmune Disease Research Center, was awarded the Nicolaus Copernicus Medal by the Polish Academy of Sciences. The award is the academy’s highest honor. Rose, who is a professor in the School of Medicine’s Department of Pathology and in the Bloomberg School of Public Health’s W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, was recognized for his discoveries on thyroiditis, which ushered in the modern investigation of autoimmune disease. The award will be presented to Rose at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., by Poland’s ambassador to the United States.

Chuan-Hsiang Huang, a postdoctoral fellow in Cell Biology, has been named a Damon Runyon Fellow by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. The recipients of this prestigious three-year, $140,000 award are outstanding postdoctoral scientists conducting basic and translational cancer research in the laboratories of leading senior investigators. With his sponsor Peter N. Devreotes, Huang is studying chemotaxis, a process by which cells migrate in response to naturally occurring chemical cues in the human body. This process is essential for normal cellular movements as well as for the spread of cancer cells (metastasis). Better understanding of chemotaxis will facilitate the development of strategies to block cancer metastasis.

Pradeep Ramulu, assistant professor of ophthalmology, has been chosen to receive the Dennis W. Jahnigen Career Development Scholars Award from the American Geriatrics Society. Funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation and Atlantic Philanthropies, the award provides a two-year grant of $200,000 to help young faculty launch and maintain a career in research and education in the geriatrics aspects of their specialty. Ramulu was cited for the promise demonstrated in his research proposal, “Real-World Assessment of Mobility in Glaucoma and Macular Degeneration.”

Anthony Tufaro, associate professor of plastic surgery and oncology and vice chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, has received the American College of Surgeons’ 2009 Health Policy Scholarship for General Surgeons. A highly competitive scholarship, it is awarded annually to two surgeons to subsidize their attendance at the organization’s Executive Leadership Program in Health Policy and Management at Brandeis University.

Levi Watkins Jr., professor of surgery and associate dean for postdoctoral programs, was given a Living Legend award by the Associated Black Charities at its annual gala in June. Lisa Cooper, professor of medicine, was acclaimed a Trailblazer at the same event. As previously reported, Phyllis Sharps, professor and head of the School of Nursing’s Department of Community Public Health, was named an Emerging Leader.

School of Nursing

Anne E. Belcher, associate professor in Acute and Chronic Care, has been honored with two awards for excellence in teaching: a National League for Nursing Award and a Nursing Spectrum Nursing Excellence Award. Belcher, who serves as director of the school’s Office of Teaching Excellence, is a 40-year veteran of nursing education with expertise in oncology and the psychological effects of cancer. She will receive the NLN award at the organization’s Education Summit in September. She is one of six regional winners of the Nursing Spectrum award, whose names were announced in June; the finalist will be named at the end of the year.

Jacquelyn C. Campbell, the Anna D. Wolf Professor in the Department of Community Public Health, has been named to a three-year term on the Institute of Medicine’s Board on Global Health.  Campbell is a national leader in research and advocacy in the field of domestic and intimate partner violence, and on their effect on communities and families.

Cheryl Dennison, associate professor in Health Systems and Outcomes, has been named chair of the PhD Admissions and Progressions Committee.

Sharon Kozachik, assistant professor in Acute and Chronic Care, has received a 2009 ONS Foundation Research Grant. The ONS Foundation awards this grant to principal investigators actively involved in an aspect of care, education or research for patients with cancer. The title of Kozachik’s proposal is “Sleep, HPA Axis Activity and Paclitaxel-Induced Neuropathic Pain.” The grant is supported by the Oncology Nursing Society and Sigma Theta Tau International Foundation for Nursing.

Daniel Sheridan, associate professor in Community Public Health, has been named curriculum chair for the Doctor of Nursing Practice program.

Julie Stanik-Hutt, associate professor in Acute and Chronic Care, has been appointed director of the Master’s in Nursing Science program.

Sarah Szanton, assistant professor in Nursing Systems and Outcomes, is the recipient of a 2009–2011 John A. Hartford Foundation Claire M. Fagin Fellowship in geriatric nursing research, awarded by the American Academy of Nursing. Working under the mentorship of Professor Jerilyn Allen, Szanton will conduct research on how chronic stress affects the health of older adults. Her long-term goal is to identify innovative solutions to decrease health disparities among low-income older adults. Szanton is one of nine Claire M. Fagin Postdoctoral Fellows, who will each receive $120,000 to support advanced research training, mentorship, leadership and career development.

Jo Walrath, associate professor in Health Systems and Outcomes, has been appointed director of the Baccalaureate Program. Sarah “Jodi” Shaefer, assistant professor in Community Public Health, will serve as Baccalaureate curriculum chair. Linda Gerson, assistant professor in Acute and Chronic Care, will serve as chair of the Baccalaureate Admissions and Progressions Committee.

Sheridan Libraries/JHU Museums

Winston Tabb, Sheridan Dean of University Libraries and Museums, has been elected to the board of directors for the National Information Standards Organization. NISO is a nonprofit organization that works to foster the development and maintenance of standards that facilitate the creation, persistent management and effective interchange of information for trusted use in research and learning.

Dawn Hale, Sheridan Libraries head of Technical Services, has been reappointed for a two-year term to the editorial board of the journal Library Resources and Technical Services.

Whiting School of Engineering

Ben Schafer, associate professor, has been appointed chair of the Department of Civil Engineering. Schafer joined the Whiting School faculty in 2000 and last year was named the inaugural Swirnow Faculty Scholar. His research in the fields of structural stability and computational mechanics has garnered him wide recognition, including an NSF CAREER award in 2005 and a faculty fellowship from the American Institute of Steel Construction in 2006. He is a past recipient of the school’s Robert S. Pond Sr. Excellence in Teaching Award.

The 2008 Advertising and Promotion class, offered by the W.P. Carey Program in Entrepreneurship and Marketing, was a winner of a 2009 Marketing Excellence Award presented by the American Marketing Association, Baltimore Chapter, at its annual awards event. The student marketing group, named HopComm, was recognized for the traditional and nontraditional tactics it used to target recruitment of Johns Hopkins premedical students to join the U.S. Navy’s Health Professions Scholarship Program. With a budget of $2,500, they achieved “a tremendous increase in positive perception and a 20 percent increase in likelihood to join the Navy.” At the event, the class’s instructor, Leslie Kendrick, a senior lecturer in the Center for Leadership Education, was recognized for her service and commitment to the AMA’s student job search workshop.