The Knowledge for the World Award 2011*

2011 Recipients

Jose Miguel De Angulo, SPH ’86
José Miguel De Angulo and his wife, Luz Stella Losada De Angulo, are the Bolivia directors for Medical Assistance Programs (MAP) International, working to improve community health and bring about change in the court system to address issues of child sexual abuse in Bolivia. MAP Bolivia consists of five main programs: the Community Health Clinic, A Breeze of Hope Center (CUBE), Family Health Guardians, Health Promoter Training, and Community School outreach. Over the last 15 years, the Community Health Clinic has assisted over 7,800 patients annually. The clinic started the Health Promoter Training program, which has trained 1,112 Health Promoters from 400 communities. MAP has also facilitated the formation of more than 600 Family Health Guardians in marginal urban neighborhoods. MAP Bolivia’s most prominent accomplishment, however, has been to raise awareness and push for cultural and legal change on the issue of child sexual abuse. According to research conducted by MAP Bolivia, one in three girls and one in five boys in Bolivia are sexually abused by a caregiver. The Support Centre for Child Victims of Sexual Abuse is one of the most comprehensive and holistic programs on child sexual abuse prevention in the country, providing comprehensive services for the care of child victims of sexual abuse. Perhaps most importantly has been the passage of Law 3773: The Solidarity with Victims and Against Sexual Aggression Act. Legal, psychological, social and medical support has been provided to 537 victims of sexual abuse, achieving convictions in 98 cases. Top

Joanne Katz, SPH ’93 (ScD)
Joanne Katz’s impressive career has been marked by key findings in ophthalmology, nutrition, and reproductive, maternal and child health. She has spent decades working diligently on collaborative research projects that aim to reduce mortality and morbidity in underserved populations both in the U.S. and overseas. A professor in the Department of International Health and director of the Global Disease Epidemiology and Control Division, her specific areas of focus include macro- and micronutrient deficiencies, neonatal and maternal health, the interaction between nutrition and infection, and ophthalmic epidemiology and blindness prevention. Some of her key research projects have focused on iron and zinc supplementation for preschoolers and antenatally, maternal influenza immunization, and newborn vitamin A supplementation. She has also been involved in the very successful JiVitA project (Bangladesh), one of the largest nutrition trials of its kind, which has recruited 100,000 pregnant women and their babies. As an educator, Dr. Katz is known for her openness and willingness to share insight and expertise. Her insistence on academic rigor and ethical responsibility is paired with an equally strong insistence on cultural sensitivity, which is critical for investigators when tackling diseases in the world’s neglected corners. In addition, she enlightens students about the practical and ongoing challenges of global health research by drawing on her own experience with community trials, illuminating for them the difficulties and obstacles that they will face. She has been—and continues to be—an invaluable mentor for countless clinicians, investigators, students and junior faculty. Top

Peter Wen-Chih Lee, Peab ’06, ’08 (MM)
Tenor, Peter Wen-Chih Lee was born in Tainan, Taiwan and came to America in 2000 to study voice at Duquesne University. He later enrolled in the bachelor of music program at Peabody as a voice student of William Sharp. During the summer of 2009, Peter was awarded first place in two categories of Taiwan’s prestigious Golden Melody Award, presented by the government of Taiwan as an equivalent of the American Grammy Award. The Golden Melody committee recognized Peter as best vocalist and gave him the award for the best religious album of the year. In this album, entitled “Stabat Mater,” Peter presents the works of Pergolesi and Vivaldi with Peabody Conservatory faculty member, soprano Ah-Hong and Peabody Conservatory faculty specialists in Early Music. He continues to have an active international career, most recently performing at venues in Canada, California, Washington, and his native Taiwan. Peter is not only busy forwarding his own career, but is also consistently offering ways to help Peabody. Over the summer of 2009, he arranged a tour of Taiwan for three Peabody faculty members, who performed recitals, gave master classes and recruited students to Peabody. His many connections and skill as a translator were so successful that over the summer of 2010 he took faculty members from Peabody's Early Music Department on a similar recruiting tour. His efforts have been instrumental in connecting Peabody with the music community in Taiwan. Top

Jeffrey L. Marsh, A&S ’67, Med ’70
Dr. Marsh is chief of pediatric plastic surgery at the St. John’s Children’s Hospital in St. Louis and director of the Hospital’s Cleft Lip/Palate and Craniofacial Deformities Center. There, Dr. Marsh established Kids Plastic Surgery in 2003. He also serves as clinical professor of plastic surgery at the St. Louis University School of Medicine. Prior to joining St. John’s, Dr. Marsh served for 25 years as chief of pediatric plastic surgery at the Appoline Blair St. Louis Children's Hospital and as professor of surgery, professor of surgery in pediatrics, and professor of radiology in research at the St. Louis Children’s Hospital. In 1978, he established the Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Deformities Institute at the Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Marsh is recognized both nationally and internationally for his expertise as a pediatric plastic surgeon and craniofacial expert. Over the years, he has treated more than 2,000 patients with cleft lip and palate and 1,500 with major craniofacial anomalies. Dr. Marsh also is known for his work with children who have Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome, a rare condition with symptoms including an enlarged tongue. Dr. Marsh is one of the few doctors to focus on non-malignant symptoms of this condition. He has evaluated 300 children, from all over the world, with the problem and operated on 150, with his patients hailing from Israel to Romania. Dr. Marsh has performed volunteer surgery and surgical education worldwide. He currently serves as medical director of the Bhutan Cleft Care Project and the Lao P.D.R. Cleft Care Project, assisting in the development of indigenous cleft care teams. Dr. Marsh assumed medical directorship of the WEcare cleft training program, established in 2000 in Bhutan. In 2003, he participated in the First Thai International Cleft Congress in Khon Kaen, Thailand, as a lecturer and live surgery demonstrator, and met with Laotian doctors and administrators from Handicap International to formulate a plan for the development of local cleft care. Dr. Marsh is past-president of the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association and of the Cleft Palate Foundation. Top

Patricia N. Mechael, A&S ’95, SPH ’98
Dr. Patricia Mechael works in the field of mobile health (or mHealth) initiatives, the practice of medicine and public health supported by mobile devices. She has worked with a broad range of institutions, beginning in 2001, when she began her doctoral studies exploring health-related uses of mobile phones in her native country, Egypt. She is the mHealth and telemedicine advisor to the Millennium Villages Project at the Earth Institute at Columbia University, working on the integration of mobile phone-based applications for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in collaboration with Ericsson and mobile phone operators in 10 countries in Africa. Dr. Mechael has been actively involved in the field of international health for over 13 years with experience in over 25 countries. In addition, she has been engaged in mHealth research and strategic planning with the Global Observatory for eHealth at the World Health Organization and the Inter-American Development Bank. She serves on the steering committee of the newly launched mHealth Alliance; a collaboration between government, international organizations, non-government organizations and private corporations to improve health outcomes in underserved communities. Additionally, Dr. Mechael serves as a research affiliate at the Rutgers University Center for Mobile Communication Studies and provides guidance on the application of information and communication technologies, to CARE-USA, Catholic Relief Services, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, Abt and Associates, the UK Partnership for Global Health, and UNFPA and the World Health Organization Global Observatory for eHealth. Top

Peter J. Pronovost, Med ’91, HS ’91, Med ’96 (PGF), SPH ’99 (PhD)
Dr. Pronovost is professor in the Departments of Surgery and Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is also professor at The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and School of Nursing. In addition, he serves as director of the Quality and Safety Research Group, the Division of Adult Critical Care Medicine, and the Center for Innovation in Quality Patient Care at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Pronovost currently leads several large national and international safety projects. One of his most notable contributions to date resulted from his focus on bloodstream infections from central venous catheters used in intensive care units (ICUs). Dr. Pronovost culled lengthy guidelines into a simple checklist of five precautionary steps; the checklist saved 1,500 lives and $100 million in the State of Michigan during its first 18 months and is currently being replicated by hospitals across the United States and Europe. In 2008, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released a report strongly endorsing Dr. Pronovost’s ICU infection prevention program. Dr. Pronovost’s other projects include a web-based ICU safety reporting system, methods for minimizing the incidence of aspiration pneumonia and acute lung injury in patients receiving ventilator assistance, and quality care measures for patients suffering from severe sepsis. Dr. Pronovost received the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, commonly known as a "genius grant," for his work and was named one of the world's "most influential people" of 2008 by Time magazine. Top

Gregory H. Tignor, SPH ’69 (ScD)
Dr. Gregory Tignor is an arbovirus researcher studying viruses transmitted by blood sucking arthropods: mosquitoes, ticks, and biting midges. He has worked on over 300 arboviruses throughout his career, first becoming interested in the study of arboviruses during his work on his doctoral dissertation with Dr. Winston H. Price at JHSPH in the late 1960s. There he helped devise a system for rapid diagnosis of selected arbovirus infections. Dr. Tignor later left JHSPH for the Yale Arbovirus Research Unit (YARU), where he worked with Dr. Jordi Casals, a giant in the arbovirus field. There he worked on Lassa fever, hemorrhagic disease in Africa and the O’Nong-nong virus in Uganda. In his collaborations with Dr. Casals, Dr. Tignor was instrumental in adopting more stringent rules for biological safety including: anti-smoking regulations in laboratories; the wearing of special suits with respirators; the introduction of various devices used to avoid mouth pipetting; the use of one of the first biological safety hoods; and ensuring that laboratories operate under negative pressure. Due in part to the success of some of these measures, Dr. Tignor was elected as a councilor of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and was appointed to a committee that was making recommendations to Centers for Disease Control to reduce the risk to laboratory workers from arboviruses. Top

Tien Y. Wong, SPH ’97, ’02 (PhD)
Tien Y. Wong is professor and director of the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI), National University of Singapore. Dr. Wong’s pioneering research over the past 10 years has resulted in the development of a suite of advanced computing imaging software and diagnostic platforms, which allows scientists, doctors and clinicians to assess a patient’s cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk through a retinal photograph. This simple technology has great public health significance for Singapore and other countries where cardiovascular disease and diabetes are the leading causes of death and morbidity. In September 2010, Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), which awards the country’s highest honors in science and engineering, presented Dr. Wong with the President’s Science Award. A*STAR recognized Dr. Wong for “his outstanding contributions in translational research and the development of a novel research platform linking eye imaging to diagnosing human vascular and metabolic disease.” Dr. Wong has received awards not only in ophthalmology, but also in the fields of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. In 2004 he became the only ophthalmologist worldwide to receive the Sandra Doherty Award from the American Heart Association. He recently became the youngest member of the Academia Ophthalmologic Internationalis, an international organization that has only 70 members worldwide. Dr Wong has published over 500 peer-reviewed articles, delivered 150 invited lectures, holds seven patents and sits on five journal editorial boards. Top

*As of November 2013, this award is now known as the Global Achievement Award.