Distinguished Alumnus Award 2014
Koki Agarwal, SPH '94
Dr. Koki Agarwal, a DrPH graduate of the JHU-BSPH Department of Population Dynamics in 1994, has been a global leader in reproductive, maternal, neonatal and child health for over 25 years. Dr. Agarwal began her career as a physician in rural India and Bangladesh, providing lifesaving interventions to women and their children. Working with Jhpiego, she advanced to serve as Director of two USAID flagship projects, MCHIP and ACCESS under the auspices of Jhpiego for over ten years, which worked in more than 45 countries to reduce maternal and newborn mortality, and served as Deputy Director for the UASAID-funded POLICY Project. She has been a prominent voice in several key MNCH advocacy groups. She served for four years as a Board Member and Secretary Elect of the White Ribbon Alliance (WRA), a global movement for raising awareness of and advocating for safe motherhood. Dr. Agarwal currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Malaria in Pregnancy Working Group of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership. Dr. Agarwal has exemplified strong public health management and technical skills during her career and is active in various maternal and reproductive health advocacy committees and organizations. She exemplifies a commitment to public health that deserves recognition by our university, school and alumni association.
Zuill Bailey, Peab '94
Zuill Bailey is widely considered one of the premiere cellists in the world. His schedule for the 2013/14 season is extensive, including touring Australia, leading the Northwest Bach Festival's Connoisseur concert series in December and March, and being the featured guest soloist with more than ten different orchestras across the country. He has performed in Disney Hall, The Kennedy Center, the United Nations, Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd Street Y and Carnegie Hall. He also performs regularly with fellow Peabody graduate, pianist Awadagin Pratt. Zuill is an exclusive recording artist on the Telarc International label. His "Bach Cello Suites" CD immediately soared to the Number One spot on the Classical Billboard charts. Zuill has been awarded the Classical Recording Foundation Award for 2006 and 2007 for Beethoven's complete works for Cello and Piano. In addition to traditional performances, he has appeared on network television including a recurring role on the HBO series "Oz," NBC's "Homicide," A&E, NHK TV in Japan, and a live broadcast of the Beethoven Triple Concerto performed in Tel Aviv with Itzhak Perlman conducting the Israel Philharmonic. He has been heard on NPR's "Morning Edition," "Performance Today," BBC's "In Tune," XM Radio's "Live from Studio II," Sirius Satellite Radio's "Virtuoso Voices," and RTHK Radio Hong Kong. In addition to holding a Cello Professorship at the University of Texas at El Paso, he is Artistic Director of El Paso Pro-Musica, the Sitka Summer Music Festival in Alaska, and the Northwest Bach Festival in Washington.
Andrew G. Cappucino, Engr '84
Andrew Cappuccino, one of the first doctors in the state of New York approved to perform artificial disc replacement, now heads a team of professionals at Buffalo Spine Surgery as an orthopedic surgeon. Dr. Cappuccino received a dual BES degree from Johns Hopkins in Materials Science and Biomedical Engineering, and he also played lacrosse for the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays. He went to medical school at the State University of New York at Buffalo and completed his orthopedic surgery residency at Monmouth Medical Center. He returned to Johns Hopkins to complete specialty training in spine surgery with Dr. Paul McAfee. Currently, Dr. Cappuccino teaches spine surgery techniques internationally, and has operated in Europe, South America, Australia, Asia, and Africa as a guest spine surgeon. Dr. Cappuccino was honored by Business First and selected as Western New York's "Health Care Hero 2005" for his contributions as an innovator of medical technology. Dr. Cappuccino has served on the medical staff of the Buffalo Bills, and in this capacity, was the treating surgeon for Kevin Everett, the Bills tight end who suffered a cervical fracture and dislocation (broken neck) in 2007. Dr. Cappuccino was Everett’s attending surgeon and used new, innovative techniques to treat the patient. Though at first it was feared Everett would be permanently paralyzed, the player eventually regained full movement in his limbs.
Walter H. Ettinger, Jr., Med '78
Dr. Walter Ettinger received his M.D. from JHU School of Medicine in 1978, completed his fellowship in Rheumatology and Geriatrics in 1985 and served as an assistant professor of geriatrics at Hopkins until 1987. He has published over 100 manuscripts, 20 book chapters and three books. Currently, he serves as the senior VP and chief medical officer for the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS). At UMMS, Dr. Ettinger works with the system leadership and the Board of Directors to provide leadership and direction for clinical quality and patient safety, population health management and fostering the development of physician leadership. Before UMMS, Dr. Ettinger was executive VP and chief medical officer at Accretive Health, Inc. Prior to Accretive; he served as president of UMass Memorial Medical Center, where he was also professor of medicine. While there, Dr. Ettinger assembled a team dedicated to advancing the quality and safety of care delivered at affordable costs. UMass received national recognition for clinical innovation and quality under his leadership. Other past positions include: VP of medical affairs and medical education at Lenox Hill Hospital, executive VP of Virtua Health, and professor of medicine at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine and director of the J. Paul Sticht Center on Aging. Dr. Ettinger is currently serving on the editorial board of the American Journal of Medical Quality and has served on numerous expert panels and advisory boards, and has been repeatedly named among the Best Doctors in America in geriatric medicine.
Alan E. Freeland, A&S '61
Dr. Freeland received his M.D. from the George Washington University School of Medicine and was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. He practiced hand and upper extremity surgery at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) from 1978 – 2013. He founded the Orthpedic Hand Surgery Fellowship Program at UMMC in 1991 and was the Director from 1991 – 2004. He authored numerous articles, book chapters, and two authoritative books on the treatment of hand and wrist injuries using miniature implants. He chaired and/or was a leading faculty member on national and international hand trauma courses and a highly sought “Visiting Professor” throughout his career. He won the American Association for Hand Surgery (AAHS) National Teacher/Clinician of the Year Award in 1998. He was President of the AAHS in 2002. He was elected to the pantheon of hand surgeons as a “Pioneer of Hand Surgery” by the International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand (IFSSH) in 2013. The Alan E. Freeland M.D. Chair of Orthopedic Hand Surgery has been funded at the UMMC in his honor. Dr. Freeland retired as Physician and Professor Emeritus on June 28, 2013.
Marc C. Hochberg, Med '73
Dr. Marc C. Hochberg is an internationally recognized expert in osteoarthritis. He received his medical degree from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1973 and his master’s in public health from The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1979. Since 1991, Dr. Hochberg has been professor of medicine and epidemiology & public health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine; in 1995, he was appointed head of the Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology in the Department of Medicine. He is the principal investigator of the Baltimore Clinical Center of the Osteoarthritis Initiative and co-principal investigator of the Baltimore Hip Studies; previously, he was principal investigator of the Baltimore Clinical Center of the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures and the Men’s Osteoporosis Study. Dr. Hochberg has received numerous awards and honors throughout his career, including: the Clinical Research Award from the Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) in 1999, named one of only 50 "Postdoctoral Fellow Heroes" by the Arthritis Foundation in 2001, the Mary Betty Stevens Clinical Research Award from the American College of Physicians (Maryland Chapter) in 2002, the Roger Demers Prize from the Laurentian Society of Rheumatology in 2011, the Distinguished Clinical Investigator Award from the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) in 2012, and most recently the Lifetime Achievement Award from OARSI in 2013. He is a Founding Fellow of the American College of Rheumatology, a Master of the American College of Physicians and a member of the American Clinical and Climatological Association.
Kaumudi Kapoor, Bus '97
Kay Kapoor serves as President of AT&T’s $4.5B Government Solutions business. She leads a team of 4,000 professionals who are focused on delivering innovative network solutions, voice and data solutions, information technology, and cyber security across Defense, Civilian, Public Safety and National Security agencies. Before joining AT&T, she served as CEO of Accenture Federal Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Accenture LLC. Prior, Kapoor worked 20 years for Lockheed Martin Corporation, ultimately serving as Vice President and COO of Lockheed Martin’s IS&GS-Civil Unit. Kapoor has a Master’s degree in Business from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor's degree in Information Systems from the University of Maryland. She has completed executive programs at MIT and Harvard Universities. She is the recipient of numerous company, industry, and government awards and also is involved in various industry and non-profit activities in the greater Washington, DC area. Kapoor immigrated to the U.S. from India to pursue her education and credits her background with her desire to give back every day. She credits her Johns Hopkins education for giving her tools to rise from producer to manager to leader. She reminds students to “always keep ethics front and center,” noting that her reputation for integrity has paved the way for her professional progress.
Karungari (Karusa) Kiragu-Gikonyo, SPH '91
A public health specialist and epidemiologist, Karungari (Karusa) Kiragu is the Senior Maternal and Child Health Advisor at the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Geneva, Switzerland. She provides senior technical leadership and support to define, implement and manage the global transformative agenda to end new pediatric HIV infections. She supports the coordinated UN-wide program for intensifying service delivery, catalyzing action and leveraging opportunities to shape the HIV response for women and children. Dr. Kiragu has dedicated her work and research to improving the health and well-being of women and children in Africa. Her focus ranges from adolescent sexual and reproductive health to the prevention of transmission of HIV from mothers to children, pediatric access to health care, and to HIV prevention, and everything in between. Both an advocate and a researcher, Dr. Kiragu has consistently and effectively changed the landscape of women and children’s health at the population level. In addition to authoring or co-authoring books, journal articles, studies, and proposals, Dr. Kiragu has presented internationally on her research. Additionally, Dr. Kiragu has demonstrated a keen eye for collaborations, building lasting relationships between governments, NGOs, and international non-profits to benefit underserved populations. Additionally, she possesses an aptitude for identifying broad problems and developing targeted solutions. Dr. Kiragu’s success with putting public health in action honors the school and university. She has worked tirelessly, as is the Hopkins tradition, through research and advocacy to effect significant improvements in the health and wellbeing of women and children. A native of Kenya, she received her doctoral degree from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in 1991.
Huan-Ying Li, SPH '52
Dr. Li worked for WHO as a technical expert on Treponemal Diseases Control in Indonesia, Yaws and then in STD in Burma after obtaining her MPH degree from Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1952. She then served as a Member of WHO Leprosy Technical Advisory Group from 1991-2000. She never got married but instead married to leprosy control. She was instrumental in introducing multidrug therapy (MDT) for leprosy treatment in China and played a critical role in leprosy control. At the age of 93, she still maintains an active research program on leprosy and is currently developing a molecular test PCR and whole blood IGRA assay for early diagnosis of leprosy. Dr. Li’s dedication to leprosy research is impressive, especially her courage and optimism in the face of difficulty. For her contribution to leprosy control in China, she received numerous awards including Ma Haide Leprosy Foundation Award in 1990, First Prize of Beijing Science and Technology Progress Award in 2000, First Prize, Chinese National Award for Progress in Science and Technology in 2001, which is the highest honor by a scientist in China, in recognition for her contribution to leprosy control in China.
Olugbenga O. Obasanjo, SPH '96, '99
Olugbenga Obasanjo is currently serving as the health director of District 4 Public Health located in LaGrange, Georgia. District 4 Public Health is a twelve county public health service area with a total population of more than 780,000 people spanning 3,788 square miles. It is centrally located between three major metropolitan areas; Atlanta, Columbus, and Macon, and ranges from urban to very rural settings. Ten of the 12 counties are part of the Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which was the 9th largest MSA in January of 2010. In 2000, Bill Gates founded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. That same year, Obasanjo joined the AIDS Prevention Initiative in Nigeria, the first grant funded by the Gates foundation. Obasanjo worked with the grant to develop social and medical interventions to control HIV infection in Nigeria. Obasanjo has been a medical officer in the commissioned corps of the United States Army Reserves since 2010. In December 2012 Obasanjo deployed to Kuwait for six months as the Preventive Medicine Officer for Camp Arifjan. There he was in charge of the health of 10,000 men and women who were voluntarily defending a country. The weight and importance of that job and the pride at having done it well is a personal career highlight for Obasanjo. He has also worked as a Medical Officer at the USFDA monitoring food safety and as Public Health Physician in Prince William County, Virginia, running the counties TB, STD, Travel and refugee clinics.
Keith L. Oberg, SAIS '77
A social entrepreneur, Keith Oberg is founder and Executive Director of Bikes for the World (BfW; www.bikesfortheworld.org), an innovative non-profit that recycles used bicycles donated in the United States to community development non-profits in Africa, the Caribbean Basin and Asia. BfW promotes volunteerism and the recycling culture in the US while supporting the least advantaged abroad. Keith created BfW in 2005, separating from another bicycle reuse organization. Today, BfW is the largest bicycle recycler in the world, having shipped more than 84,000 bikes since 2005. To collect bikes in the mid-Atlantic region, BfW partners with more than 100 churches, scout troops, schools and other community organizations, and thousands of volunteers, a network built largely by Keith. Bikes also come from across the country, thanks to relationships Keith has cultivated with retailers such as Dick’s Sporting Goods. The diverse overseas partners donate or sell bikes at low cost—some with microfinance—providing transportation to work, school, and other life destinations; and create jobs in bicycle repair and entrepreneurial opportunities. From an all-volunteer organization, Keith has drawn upon his administrative experience in international development to provide for a growing permanent staff. In the last year, Keith and the BfW Board have developed a strategic plan and begun an ambitious expansion—locally, nationally, and globally. Keith’s vision and incredible hard work have translated into an efficient, productive organization that measurably enhances the quality of life for some of the world's poorest and some of its richest.
Matthew S. Polk, Jr., A&S '71
Matthew S. Polk, Jr. graduated from the School of Arts and Sciences in 1971 with a B.A. in Physics. While at Hopkins, he ran track and was an active member of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. Since graduation he has continued his support of the university, serving as a member of the Second Decade Society, the School's volunteer leadership organization for younger alumni, from 1991-1994. He currently sits on both the Physics and Astronomy Council and the Peabody Advisory Council. He is the co-founder, former chairman and head of product development of Polk Audio, known for its high-quality, affordable loudspeakers (he holds more than twenty loudspeaker patents). Currently, he is a principal at MSI-DFAT, Inc., a Maryland based startup performing Direct Field Acoustic Testing of spacecraft. He is a former member of the Board of Trustees for the Baltimore Museum of Art and recently retired President of the Gibson Island Corporation. He and his wife, Amy Gould, have parlayed their love of ancient and historic textiles into The Historic Textile Research Foundation, whose mission is to create database of textile related carbon dating information.
Mark S. Schlissel, Med '83, '86
Dr. Mark S. Schlissel received his medical degree and Ph.D. in 1986 from the Medical Scientist Training Program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and his postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Whitehead Institute. In 1991, Dr. Schlissel returned to join the Hopkins faculty at the medical school where he earned a number of awards and fellowships for his research and for his teaching. His research has focused on the developmental biology of B lymphocytes, the cell type in the immune system that secretes antibodies. His work has led to a detailed understanding of genetic factors involved in the production of antibodies and how mistakes in that process can lead to leukemia and lymphoma. He is the author/co-author of nearly 100 scientific papers and trained over 20 successful doctoral students in his lab. In 1999, Dr. Schlissel accepted a position at the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California–Berkeley. He served as chair of the department’s graduate admission committee and vice-chair of the department from 2002 to 2007. In 2008, he was appointed dean of biological sciences and the head of Berkeley's Life Sciences Initiative. Nationally, he has served as a member (2002-04) and chair (2004-06) of the Immunobiology Study Section at the National Institutes of Health and as a member of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Scientific Review Board. Dr. Schlissel was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigators in 1998, the Association of American Physicians in 2012 and as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2013. He has been a member of the American Association of Immunologists since 1992. In July 2011, he was named the 11th provost of Brown University and as of July 1, 2014, is the 14th president of the University of Michigan.
Julie A. Sosa, Med '94
Dr. Julie A. Sosa received her medical degree in 1994 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She completed an internship and the Halsted residency program in surgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1994 to 2001. From 1996 to 1998, she was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at JHU, and from 2001 to 2002, she was an Assistant Chief of Service and completed a fellowship in surgical oncology, also at JHH. She began her academic career at Yale University, where she established herself as an outstanding endocrine surgeon and outcomes researcher. In 2013, she joined Duke Medicine as chief of the Section of Endocrine Surgery and director of Health Sciences Research in the Department of Surgery, as well as leader of the Endocrine Neoplasia Diseases Group at the Duke Cancer Institute and the Duke Clinical Research Institute. She is a tenured professor of surgery and medicine (oncology). She has been funded by the American Geriatrics Society, the Association for Academic Surgery, the Donaghue Medical Research Foundation, and the State of Connecticut, and the Duke Cancer Institute for her research on health care delivery, quality of life issues, hyperparathyroidism, and thyroid cancer. She has published 167 manuscripts in peer reviewed journals, along with 50 book chapters and reviews and 22 editorials and case reports. She has had leadership positions in national organizations including: recorder and traveling fellow for the Association for Academic Surgery (AAS), vice president of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons (AAES), Program Committee Chair of the American Thyroid Association, AAS, and AAES, and associate editor of the Journal of Surgical Research, World Journal of Surgery, and Current Opinion in Oncology. She serves on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Endocrinology and the Journal of Thyroid Research. In 2014, she was inducted into the JHU Society of Scholars. Dr. Sosa has been a mentor to many, including over 30 students, 10 residents, 12 fellows, and 8 faculty members. She is a superb teacher and has been a sought-after speaker and lecturer.