Distinguished Alumnus Award 2017

Henry D. Abraham, Med ’67

Before attending Johns Hopkins, Dr. Abraham graduated as valedictorian from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Following medical school at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, he served an internship in Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Subsequently he served as the medical advisor of the National Medical Audiovisual Center at the Communicable Disease Center and in the Department of Community Medicine at the University of Arizona. He completed psychiatric training at the Massachusetts General Hospital.  Over time he has served as Unit Chief of the Westboro State Hospital, Director of Psychiatric Research at the St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Boston, Director of Substance Abuse programs at the Tufts Medical Center, and Chief of the Alcohol and Drug Treatment programs at Butler Hospital, an affiliate of Brown University. He has also served as a consultant to the National Academy of Sciences, and as advisor for several revisions of the Diagnostic Manual (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association. Honors include the IRIS, Peabody and Emmy Awards for Best Public Television Programs in 1978, 1979 and 1982. A founding member of Physicians for Social Responsibility and the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Dr. Abraham was an author of the constitution of those organizations, and in 1985 shared in the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize at Oslo. In 2007 he was elected Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. In 2014, he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Muhlenberg College.

 

Rebecca A. Aslakson, BSPH ’13, Med Faculty

Dr. Aslakson is an Associate Professor at The Johns Hopkins University. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, from Washington University in St. Louis, a medical degree from Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology, and a Masters of Science degree with Distinction from the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. Dr. Aslakson completed anesthesia residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and surgical critical care fellowship at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she has been faculty since.  In 2013, she obtained her Ph.D. in Clinical Investigations from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with her dissertation concerning integration of palliative care in intensive care units. Triple boarded in anesthesia, surgical critical care and palliative medicine, Dr. Aslakson is an active researcher and clinician; her goal is to improve delivery of palliative medicine, particularly to perioperative and critically ill populations. She has published over 50 peer-reviewed papers and chapters and received multiple research grants. Dr. Aslakson serves on national committees for professional societies including the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM), the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) and the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM). Dr. Aslakson has received national awards including the 2015 AAHPM Early Career Investigator Award and the 2014 ASA Presidential Scholar Award. Dr. Aslakson lives in Parkville, MD, with her husband and two young sons.

 

Sanju Bansal, Engr ’90

Sanju Bansal is a highly successful American businessman, angel investor, and entrepreneur. Mr.Bansal is currently the chief executive officer and co-founder of Hunch Analytics, an incubator focused on delivering analytic outcomes on a mashup of private and publicly held data in the healthcare and education fields. He founded Hunch Analytics in 2013, alongside fellow Hopkins alum, Aneesh Chopra, KSAS ’94. Prior to Hunch, Mr. Bansal co-founded MicroStrategy, a worldwide provider of business intelligence software that enables customers to comb databases for sales trends, customer behavior, and other data used for marketing, forecasting, and fraud detection. MicroStrategy develops and sells business intelligence, mobile software, and cloud-based services for some of the top Fortune 500 companies and technology companies in the world including Facebook, eBay, and Yahoo. MicroStrategy was one of the first companies to pioneer data-driven enterprises with Business Intelligence and now is enhancing Big Data capabilities with its army of data scientists. He served as the company’s Executive Vice President and chief operating officer from 1993-2012. MicroStrategy now has over 3,000 employees and $600 million in revenues. Prior to co-founding MicroStrategy in 1989, he was a Consultant at Booz Allan & Hamilton, a worldwide technical and management consulting firm, from 1987-1990. Mr. Bansal also serves on the board of directors for a number of companies that he has invested in including Cvent, a cloud-based event management software provider; EverQuote, an operator of an online auto insurance marketplace in the U.S. for consumers and insurance providers; The Advisory Board Company, a research services company; Clarabridge, a software company; and NavHealth, a patient mediated population health analytics company. Mr. Bansal also served as a member of the Clinton Foundation's Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), a non-partisan organization that convenes global business and government leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to the world's most pressing problems.

 

Esther L. Bush, Ed ’78

Esther L. Bush is the the current President and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh. Under her leadership, the League recently ranked as one of the nation’s top performing affiliates for the second time in succession, a feat accomplished by only two affiliates. In February 2013, Ms. Bush was one of ten Americans recognized at the White House as a Champion of Change in the Educational Excellence for African Americans Program. Ms. Bush is nationally recognized as a strong and very vocal advocate for economic and social equality initiatives that benefit African Americans and whole community reform. This advocacy impacts the traditional education, employment and housing programs of the League, as well as more contemporary programs such as helping formerly incarcerated parents find jobs, encouraging African American adolescent men to set high standards and challenging goals for themselves, developing a charter school, overseeing community-based family support centers, offering classes on preparing for home ownership, facilitating early childhood services, youth development activities, and more. Ms. Bush graduated from the School of Education with a Master's in Education in 1978. She began her career as a high school teacher, then moved through administration to become a college administrator and corporate consultant. She started as the Assistant Director in the National Urban League in New York City in 1980, then as Director of the Staten Island Branch and Manhattan Branch before returning to Pittsburgh in 1994.    Ms. Bush also received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Hartford in 1997, an Honorary Doctor of Humanities from Carlow College in 2004, and an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Allegheny College in 2009. 

 

Carlos Castillo-Salgado, BSPH ’81, ’88, Faculty

During the last 35 years, Dr. Castillo-Salgado has developed advanced professional epidemiology training programs that set a gold standard worldwide. He has trained thousands of Latin American and Caribbean public health professionals, senior international health advisors and academic and health leaders, including Health Ministers and Chile’s president, Michelle Bachelet.  During his tenure as PAHO’s Regional Advisor for Communicable Diseases, he developed the “Epidemiological Stratification of Malaria”, which is one of the most important strategies for addressing malaria control in the Americas. This strategy called for moving from the “one-size-fits-all” approach of DDT spraying to recognizing risk factors operating at local levels and population groups with active transmission. Control strategies were adjusted to respond to specific determinants affecting different malaria areas. Dr. Castillo-Salgado has personally trained thousands of health professionals and community leaders and team leaders, resulting in a successful implementation of this strategy in all endemic Latin American countries.  In addition to his contribution to advanced training in professional epidemiology, he developed the World Health Organization/Pan American Health Organization “Regional Core Health Indicators Initiative”. In order to move this initiative forward he reinstalled the “Regional Advisory Committee of Health Statistics” of the Americas. He also developed the first web-based health information tabulator, which offered the most relevant health indicators and statistics from the Americas. To support advanced training in public health, Dr. Castillo-Salgado has also developed several training materials currently in use by Ministries of Health and schools of public health.

 

 Nathaniel J. Dominy, A&S ’98     

Nathaniel J. Dominy, PhD is a professor of Anthropology and Biological Sciences at Dartmouth College. His research is focused on the evolution and foraging ecology of humans and nonhuman primates, with a particular emphasis on populations in East Africa and Southeast Asia. He has been awarded fellowships from NASA (Planetary Biology Fellowship, 1998), the National Institutes of Health (Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award, 2002-2004), and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation (Fellowship in Science and Engineering, 2007-2012). He has received honors from the faculties of the University of Hong Kong (Dr. K. P. Stephen Chang Gold Medal, 2001; Li KaOShing Prize, 2002) and Dartmouth College (Karen E. Wetterhahn Award, 2012; Friedman Family Fellowship, 2012, John M. Manley Huntington Award, 2015, C. Troy Shaver 1969 Fellowship, 2015); and he is an Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Explorers Club, the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain, the Royal Geographic Society, and the Linnean Society of London. Professor Dominy is also committed to science communication and public outreach, for which he has been described as a ‘Brilliant Ten’ scientist under the age of 40 (Popular Science magazine, 2009) and as one of '100 Most Influential People in the Upcoming Decade' (in 2011 by Channel Young, a Shanghai-based media group).

 

Martin E. Fraenkel, SAIS ’84, SAIS-Bol ’83

Martin Fraenkel is President of S&P Global Platts, a division of S&P Global and the leading independent provider of information and benchmark prices for the commodities and energy markets. Based in London, Martin is a member of the S&P Global Operating Committee.  Prior to becoming President of Platts in September 2016, Martin was Global Head of Content, responsible for leading Platts’ 450-member global editorial and analytics team, as well as being a member of the Platts Executive Committee regarding the division’s strategy and offerings in data, pricing, news and analysis.  Martin joined Platts in June 2015 from CME Group, where he was Managing Director and Global Head of Energy. In a diverse 30-year career in the commodities markets, Martin has held senior roles across both physical and financial markets. These have included managing global sales and trading businesses for top-tier investment banks, such as Credit Agricole (2007-2011) and Dresdner Kleinwort (2005-2007) as Global Head of Commodities and for JP Morgan Chase as Global Head of Energy, Agriculture and Base Metals Trading and Head of Commodities for EMEA (1993-2001). Martin has also provided consulting services to leading exchanges, hedge funds, trade houses and proprietary traders. Among other highlights, Martin has chaired the London Gold Market, the operator of the global gold price benchmark. Martin began his career in New York in 1984 as a base metals trader.

 

Nancy E. Glass, Nurs ’94, 96, Faculty

Nancy Glass, PhD is a nurse clinician, researcher, cross-discipline bridge builder, and educator with a focus on public health, health disparities, and intimate partner violence, particularly in developing countries. Currently, she is conducting major research studies in Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the United State and is an associate director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health—a program that bridges the international work of the university's schools of Nursing, Medicine, and Public Health. As an ambassador for Research America's Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research, Dr. Glass serves as a global health scientist-advocate. She is a past-president of the Nursing Network on Violence Against Women, International and is committed to ending violence against women and girls throughout the world. Co-founder of both Rabbits for Resilience and Pigs for Peace, economic development programs benefitting children and families in the DRC, she has seemingly tireless energy to affect change in the lives of women and children throughout the world. In all her global outreach roles, Dr. Glass works to educate policymakers, thought leaders, the media, and the public about the importance of global health research.

 

Deborah A. Levy, BSPH  ’97

Deborah A. Levy received her PhD from the Department of Epidemiology of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1996. She then joined the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Ga. She rose through the ranks in a twenty-year career (1996-2016), culminating as Captain with the U.S. Public Health Service. Throughout her time at the CDC she responded to many pandemics/disasters including SARS, Ebola, Zika, MERS, Hurricane Katrina and the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. She developed the Healthcare Preparedness program at the CDC, which is based on working with communities to assist them with integrating planning of the public health, healthcare, emergency medical services and emergency management sectors to improve responses to public health emergencies. This is a true case of “shoe leather epidemiology”. Dr. Levy was Chief of Healthcare Preparedness in the Division of Strategic National Stockpile at the time of her retirement. Her publication record covers many issues, but primarily focused on all-hazards preparedness and emergency response of the healthcare system. Today, Dr. Levy is Professor and Interim Chairman of the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health. As epidemiology shifts from a focus on etiological factors to more evidence-based practice, Dr. Levy is a wonderful example of an epidemiologist who has labored in the public sector and truly made a difference in the health of the U.S. population.

 

Stephen P. Mahinka, A&S ’71

Stephen Mahinka graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins with a degree in Social and Behavioral Sciences in 1971 and he went on to serve as one of the first Young Alumni Trustees on the University's Board of Trustees. Mr. Mahinka continued on to Harvard Law School where he received his J.D. in 1974. His career spans over 40 years as a leader in the legal community. He is a partner at Morgan Lewis, now the 8th highest rank in the AM Law 100 rankings. Mr. Mahinka founded the firm's life science and interdisciplinary healthcare practices, he lead the antitrust and competition practice, and he has served on the Washington office's management team. As a member of the Johns Hopkins alumni community, Mr. Mahinka has served as a Trustee, a member of the Krieger School’s Second Decade Society, a Reunion Class Agent, and he now serves on the Executive Committee of the Alumni Council. Mr. Mahinka has hosted events for the University and is a model citizen of the JHU alumni community. Mr. Mahinka and his wife, Nancy Casper, have also been generous supporters of undergraduate scholarships at Johns Hopkins.

 

Nikolas Matthes, BSPH ’98                                                                                                         

Nikolas Matthes is an assistant professor at the School and member of the JHU Alumni Council’s Executive Committee and Steering Committee as Treasurer, Nikolas’ service to the JHU alumni body is unparalleled. He is always at the ready to attend meetings and events at the School. Nikolas’ research interests focus on the integration of clinical process, outcomes, and patient reported outcomes measures. He also works on pay for performance and public reporting initiatives in the context of health care reform. Nikolas works at Press Ganey as the Vice President for Clinical Performance Measures and Research where he leads research and development of clinical product offerings.

 

Kenneth J. Pienta, Med ’86, A&S ’83, Med Faculty

Dr. Pienta is the Donald S. Coffey Professor of Urology and serves as the Director of Research at the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is also a Professor in the Departments of Oncology and Pharmacology and Molecular Science. He serves as a faculty member in the Cellular and Molecular Medicine Program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and is a Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in the Whiting School of Engineering at The Johns Hopkins University.  Dr. Pienta has a proven track record in organizing and administering a translational research program that successfully incorporates bench research, agent development, and clinical application. Dr. Pienta is a two-time American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor Award recipient. Between 1995-2013, Dr. Pienta was the Director of the Prostate Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) at The University of Michigan. Dr. Pienta was the Associate Vice President for Research, Health Sciences, for The University of Michigan from 2012-2013.  Currently, Dr. Pienta is involved in research to define the tumor microenvironment of prostate cancer metastases, as well as developing new therapies for prostate cancer. He is the author of more than 400 peer-reviewed articles, and has been the principal investigator on numerous local and national clinical trials. Throughout his career, Dr. Pienta has effectively mentored more than 50 students, residents, and fellows to successful careers in medicine and science.
 

Marvin A. Riley, Bus ’02

Marvin Riley received his graduate degree from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School in 2002. Prior to attending the Carey Business School, Marvin received his bachelors from Howard University in Electrical Engineering. Marvin began his career at General Motors where he worked in various leadership positions in manufacturing, remaining with General Motors for about ten years. Marvin later transitioned into an executive role at EnPro Industries, a global industrial company as the Vice President of Operations. Marvin has continued to stand out, quickly establishing himself as a leader at General Motors and later EnPro Industries. Marvin is currently the President of Fairbanks Morse and Engine at EnPro Industries. Throughout Marvin’s career at General Motors and now EnPro Industries, he has proven to have shown exemplary leadership and executive qualities. Marvin not only exemplifies a leader in the executive world, he is committed to education. He is a board member at Books at Work, which provides the opportunity for professor-led literature educational seminars in the workplace and community settings.
 

Ashutosh K. Roy, Engr ’89

Ashutosh Roy launched his distinguished career as an entrepreneur and successful businessman directly following his graduation from Johns Hopkins, becoming a director for Digital Equipment Company, a leading vendor of computer systems and software. Just three years later, in 1989, Mr. Roy co-founded his first company, Parsec Technologies, an international call center software company based out of India. Following Parsec, Mr. Roy co-founded his second company, WhoWhere?, Inc., a free people search and yellow pages search engine. WhoWhere? became the largest email directory on the web offering more than 80 million personal and business listings in English, Spanish, and French. The company was sold to Lycos, Inc. in 1998 for $133 million. Mr. Roy continued his entrepreneurial pursuits, co-founding eGain, a leading provider of multichannel customer service and knowledge management software. Mr. Roy has served as the chief executive officer and chairman of eGain since its founding. eGain has received numerous awards and recognitions as a leader in the software field including its inclusion in Software’s Magazine’s list of the top 500 software companies and KMWorld's list of 100 Companies That Matter In Knowledge Management. In addition to his MS degree in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins, Mr. Roy holds a BS in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi as well as an MBA from Stanford University.

 

Steven P. Schulman, Med ’81

Dr. Schulman graduated from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1981.  He fulfilled his training in internal medicine and chief residency, as well as completing his cardiology fellowship at Hopkins. Dr. Schulman joined the faculty in 1988 and became Director of the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) in 1992, where he led several clinical trials looking to improve care in patients with acute myocardial infarction. Dr. Schulman currently attends in the CCU 4 months a year, admitting critically ill patients and treating them with advanced cardiovascular care. He has won numerous teaching awards from Hopkins residents and fellows over the years. While attending in the CCU, Dr. Schulman teaches and guides the next generation of residents and fellows about acute cardiac care. Additionally, over the last seven years Dr. Schulman has run the fellowship selection process for cardiology fellows. In July 2012, Dr. Schulman became the Cardiology Fellowship Program Director at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Schulman’s current efforts include his work in the area of acute myocardial infarction (heart attacks). His team is on the cusp of being able to identify: what differs in the clot that causes acute myocardial infarctions, genetic factors that may predict which patients respond to standard therapies, and who is at increased risk of a second heart attack as they don’t respond to standard therapies.

 

Dorry L. Segev, Med ’96, BSPH ’09

Dr. Segev studied computer science, electrical engineering, and music at Rice University and then made the pilgrimage to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine for his medical degree (1996), general surgery residency (2004), transplant surgery fellowship (2006), and Ph.D. (2009 Bloomberg School of Public Health). He is now the Marjory K. and Thomas Pozefsky Professor of Surgery and Epidemiology, Associate Vice Chair of Surgery, and the founding director of the Epidemiology Research Group in Organ Transplantation, the largest and most prolific group of its kind in the galaxy. Dr. Segev was the first to demonstrate the survival benefit of incompatible kidney transplantation, and is responsible for the first HIV-to-HIV transplants in the United States. His NIH-funded research includes incompatible transplantation, living donor risk, novel ways to expand transplantation, HIV- to-HIV transplantation, geographic disparities in organ allocation, and the intersection between transplantation and gerontology. Dr. Segev has published over 300 high-impact peer-reviewed research articles and is  ranked number one worldwide in transplant expertise and influence (ExpertScape). He was recently awarded a Global Thinkers award from Foreign Policy and the American Society of Transplantation’s prestigious Clinical Science Investigator Award. His work has directly influenced policy, including two Congressional bills (Norwood Act for kidney exchange and HOPE Act for HIV-to-HIV transplants), and he received a letter of recognition from President Obama for his work “to successfully increase access to life-saving organ transplants.” Dr. Segev is most inspired by his role as a mentor, having mentored over 100 medical students, graduate students, residents, and junior faculty.

 

 Elizabeth A. Small, Med ’77

Dr. Small grew up on a grain farm in north-central Illinois. Her family lineage is one of farmers and teachers. Elizabeth was the first physician in the family. Dr. Small received her bachelors in biological sciences at Wellesley College and her medical degree at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1977. She completed her medical internship at Northwestern and returned to Hopkins for dermatology residency under Drs. Irwin M. Freedberg and Thomas T. Provost.  During her 32 years of practice, she has been in solo, partnership and group-specialty settings, in Illinois and Louisiana where she first encountered fire ant bites and Cajun traiteurs. She volunteered in medically indigent clinics, taught medical students and residents, and has been active with Johns Hopkins. The Elizabeth A. Small Endowed Scholarship  Fund was established in 1998 and to date 19 awards have been given. Additionally, Dr. Small supports the Hopkins chapter of American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA), providing grants for women interested in primary care in underserved urban areas.  Dr. Small remains involved in the Johns Hopkins Department of Dermatology, serving in an advisory role on the Chairman’s Circle for Dr. Sewon Kang, Noxell Professor and Chair, and by consistently supporting the Residents Fund. Since relocating to Texas she has found a new calling as an ESL teacher and reading tutor  in the Dallas public schools. Dr. Small continues her medical volunteerism on return trips  to Illinois. She received the knowledge to practice the art of medicine from Johns Hopkins. Now is the time for her to pass on to others healing and learning.

 

Daniel W. Webster, BSPH ’91, Faculty

Dr. Webster is an incredibly influential national and international leader in the prevention of gun violence, an effective voice of reason in an area often influenced by opinion rather than science. Since 2001, he has served as codirector of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, where his work has helped steer the national conversation on the most effective methods and policies for preventing gun violence. It is impossible to estimate how many lives have been saved, suicides and gunshot injuries prevented, or domestic violence incidents avoided thanks to Dr. Webster's work, but it is certain that his untiring commitment to achieving these goals has made an enormous difference in communities from Baltimore to Los Angeles. He has accomplished these successes despite the lack of federal funding for gun violence prevention research, which he has transcended by attracting major private support from a wide spectrum of foundations and non-profit organizations. In addition to all of his other activities, Dr. Webster has made mentoring and relationship-building with Bloomberg School students and faculty a top priority. Daniel Webster, because of his effectiveness as a researcher, teacher, community advocate, policy advisor, and private citizen, has had a transformational effect on the lives of many people who he has never met and who will never know the violence that has been prevented.