Heritage Award 2015 | Johns Hopkins Alumni

Andrew Albstein, A&S ’78
For decades, Andy has been an active volunteer for Johns Hopkins. He served on both the Second Decade Society and the Alumni Council. He currently serves on the Arts & Sciences Advisory Board as well as the President’s Parents Roundtable. Mr. Albstein has been a strong and strategic supporter of the faculty and students of the Krieger School. He is committed to helping find a cure for Alzheimer's disease and to that end has supported the research of faculty member Michela Gallagher. On the undergraduate side, Mr. Albstein named two undergraduate scholarship funds and supported the Undergraduate Teaching Laboratory, recognizing that we must first afford students without means the scholarship support to attend Johns Hopkins and then provide them with the best learning opportunities once they arrive at Homewood.

Grace Brush, Engr Faculty
Paleoecologist Grace Brush, a professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering in the Whiting School of Engineering, is known for her work on the pre- and post-Colonial ecology of the Chesapeake Bay. Her groundbreaking studies have helped scientists and geographers better understand how the clearing of forests surrounding the bay in the 18th century impacted the ecosystem. She has earned the Student Council's George E. Owen Teaching Award for outstanding teaching and devotion to undergraduates, Maryland Sea Grant's Mathias Medal for scientific research benefiting the Chesapeake Bay region, and the Estuarine Research Foundation's Odum Life Achievement Award

Peter D. Byeff, Med ’74
Dr. Peter Byeff is a hematologist-oncologist in central Connecticut and is the Medical Director of the George Bray Cancer Center of the Hospital of Central Connecticut, which is an affiliate of Memorial Sloan Kettering. He is also the founding member of the Cancer Center of Central Connecticut. Under his direction, the cancer program was recently given the Outstanding Achievement Award of the American College of Surgeons, which only 75 hospitals nationally received. He was a Damon Runyon Cancer fellow at Columbia-Presbyterian. He has been very active in clinical research, serving as the Principal Investigator for numerous ECOG, NSABP, and pharmaceutical industry trials. He served on the ASCO Oncology Workforce Taskforce, investigating future workforce needs for oncologists. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association for several years. He has been extremely generous with his time and his philanthropy over the years to Johns Hopkins. No matter what the demands on Dr. Byeff, he always makes room for Johns Hopkins. When asked about this he says "because it is the right thing to do." Dr. and Mrs. Byeff have also allowed us to use their story for a promotional video and print piece on scholarships. He has two sons who graduated from the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, and his younger son also received a Master's degree from SAIS.

Robert Clayton, A&S ’84
Robert (Bob) Clayton has been an engaged and tireless volunteer for Johns Hopkins for more than 25 years in a multitude of different roles. His list of activities is long and varied--from local Los Angeles Chapter and 20th Reunion committee member, to his longstanding role as President of the Society of Black Alumni (SOBA). He served as an active member of the Alumni Council Executive Committee (2004-06) and the Alumni Council for six years. Bob participated as a member of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences Second Decade Society, assisted as a member of the Undergraduate National Alumni Schools Committee beginning in 2003, and contributes to the career development of our current undergraduates through the Alumni Career Network. Bob has a deep love, appreciation of, and connection to Hopkins as a whole, but his true passion is shown through his involvement in SOBA. Established in 1995, SOBA seeks to create an environment that facilitates the development of black students into active and contributing alumni and is committed to encouraging diversity at Hopkins. He has been involved since its inception and has served as President since 2002 creating programs in support of students of color that bring alumni and students together to build relationships. In collaboration with other alumni he helped to create a mentor program for Black and African-American male students--the Men of Color Hopkins Alliance (MOCHA)-- and serves as a mentor himself. Bob was also instrumental in the development and creation of the SOBA Presidential Professorship (/SOBAprofessorship) and the SOBA Scholarship Fund that provides undergraduates with financial assistance to complete their education. Bob's selfless and generous service to the university, its students and alumni is worthy of recognition.

Jared Cohon, Engr Faculty
Jared Cohon is President Emeritus and University Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering & Engineering and Public Policy at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. He started his teaching and research career in 1973 at Johns Hopkins University, where he was a faculty member in the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering for 19 years. He also served as Assistant and Associate Dean of Engineering and Vice Provost for Research at Johns Hopkins. In 2014, CMU announced that the University Center would be renamed in honor of President Cohon. Additionally, he served in 1977 and 1978 as a legislative assistant for energy and the environment to the late Honorable Daniel Patrick Moynihan, United States Senator from New York. President Clinton appointed Cohon to the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board in 1995 and appointed him as chairman in 1997. In 2002, President Bush appointed Cohon to the Homeland Security Advisory Council, and in 2009 he was reappointed by President Obama. Jerry remains very involved at Johns Hopkins. He is now the Chair of the Advisory Board for the Environment, Energy, Sustainability, and Health Institute (E2SHI), a center that brings together researchers from across the institution to address global issues.

Dave T. Fuhrmann, SAIS ’82
David T. Fuhrmann is a former owner and partner of Glenwood LLC, Glenwood GmbH, and several other pharmaceutical/medical supply businesses based in the U.S. and Europe. The parent company Glenwood, Inc., founded by David’s father in the 1950s, later expanded into the manufacture and distribution of niche drugs and medical supplies, with a particular focus on wound care products. David was formerly IT Manager and Chief Operating Officer of Glenwood Inc., the parent pharmaceutical and medical bandage company. In 1997, Glenwood-Palisades LLC was established in a merger between Glenwood, Inc. and Palisades Pharmaceuticals, Inc. David served as Chief Operating Officer and ran the manufacturing side of that business. In addition to his activities with these companies, David was active Managing Partner of sister companies in England and Germany. Following the breakup of the LLC in 2000, and the subsequent divestment of the specialty wound care line, he turned his full attention to oversight and management of the family’s pharmaceutical businesses in the U.K and Germany. In 2013 the combined companies were sold to a group in Germany, leading to David’s early but not entirely regretted retirement.

Sheldon and Saralynn Glass, Ed ’66, Ed ’72, ’77
Dr. Sheldon Glass received his Master of Education from the Johns Hopkins University in 1966. He has been educating students at Hopkins for over forty years and was heavily involved in instruction for the School of Education for twelve years, introducing five new courses during his tenure. He has also been on faculty for the Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine since 1968. In 1971 Dr. Glass founded the Glass Health Systems, a private psychiatric service in Baltimore. He is a founding and current member of the National Advisory Council of the School of Education. Saralynn received both degrees of Bachelor of Science in Psychology in 1972 and Master of Science in Counseling in 1977 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Education. Saralynn has retired from the practice of social work, and is an active volunteer for The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, participating in a reading program to pre-K and Kindergarten children in Baltimore City Public Schools. Saralynn is currently a member of the Johns Hopkins School of Education National Advisory Council. After more than half a century of marriage, they continue to share their passion for active perpetual learning and help foster that passion in others. Together they have endowed the Sheldon D. and Saralynn B. Glass Counseling Scholarship and provided substantial contributions to Psychiatry and Education. The impact of their generosity on individuals and the community will be felt for generations to come.

Wilda M. Heiss, Peab ’62, ’64
Wilda was principal flute of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 1964-1974. She taught flute at University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, University of Montevallo, and Birmingham-Southern College. During this time she was also founder, artistic director, and flutist for Connoisseur Concerts, a chamber music group that performed at the Birmingham Museum of Art. She later moved to Washington D.C. where she was a member of the Cherry Blossom Wind Quartet and performed flute and piccolo with the National Concert Band of America. She worked at the Library of Congress for twenty-eight years and nine months, part of that time as a copyright examiner in the Performing Arts Section of the Copyright Office, and the remainder of the time as Music Specialist in the Acquisitions and Processing Section of the Music Division, where she processed the Aaron Copland Collection, the Otto Klemperer Archive, the Mendelssohn Collection in the Gertrude Clarke Whittall Collection, and the collections of the Damrosch brothers, Frank and Walter, and David Mannes and his wife Clara Damrosch, among others. Since her return to the Baltimore/Washington area, Wilda has become very involved with her alma mater. She has served on the Society of Peabody (SPA) Executive Committee since 2009, serving as corresponding secretary from 2010-2012. She has led the Homecoming/Reunion committee since 2011, and been the key organizer for Reunion 2011, 2013 and 2015. She has served Peabody in other roles as well including bringing her skills from the Library of Congress and working as a volunteer in the Peabody archives organizing and processing the music in the Charlie Byrd collection, and making regular donations for more than 15 years to the Britton Johnson Memorial Fund. She continues to also donate her extensive collectin of chamber and flute music to the Music Library. Most recently she she helped curate and paid for a permanent exhibit at Peabody to share images from the archives.

Donald A. Henderson, BSPH ’60
Donald A. Henderson, MD, MPH ’60, LHD '94, Dean Emeritus of the Bloomberg School, served as dean from 1977-1990. From 1966 to 1977, D.A. had directed the World Health Organization’s global campaign to eradicate smallpox. Success was proclaimed in 1980. It is the first disease in history to be eliminated worldwide. D.A.'s deanship was marked by growth in diverse fields of public health and extension of the School's activities throughout the world. He erased the school’s deficit and attracted major private and government funding. Under his leadership, 12 new centers were established, including the Welch Center for Epidemiology, the Center for Immunization Research, the Center for Communication Programs, the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing, the Prevention Research Center, and the Injury Prevention Center, each of which was the first of its kind and is still active today. By 1990, the school’s budget had more than quadrupled and enrollments had grown by 40 percent. As an administrator, D.A.’s commitment to equity and fairness resulted in the appointment of the University's first women as deans, respectively of Academic programs and of External Affairs and the first African American dean. After leaving Hopkins, D.A. served as Associate Director of President Bush's Office of Science and Technology Policy and, later, as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health. He is the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Science, the Japan Prize, Thailand's Prince Mahidol Award as well as recognition from many other universities and institutions. In his work and leadership, D. A. has brought honor to the Hopkins legacy.

Penn Lupovich, A&S '58
Dr. Penn Lupovich has long demonstrated a great appreciation for his alma mater and commitments to the area of undergraduate research in the sciences. He has continued to frequent the Homewood campus by attending Homecoming and other special events as well as the medical campus attending a continuum of lectures on medical topics. At Oz Steinwalds Sr.’s behest, he started its Washington, DC alumni chapter and helped to grow it for today’s purposes. He has had a wide ranging career as Professor of Pathology at GW, University of Pittsburgh, University of Florida medical schools and has served as visiting professor of lab medicine at NIH, Johns Hopkins Hospital, GW and many others. He authored multiple grants including early research of lead exposure in Pittsburgh while at the Children’s Hospital. As director of the earliest microchemical diagnostic childrens laboratory he went to the FDA to expose aspirin as the causal agent in Reye’s Syndrome thereby eliminating that scourge. He cofounded the Pittsburgh Free Clinic which with Dr. Tim Oliver evolved into the adolescent medicine department of Children’s Hospital. As well, with other colleagues he started the Poison Center network (Mr. Yuk :( ). In his spare time, he served as the Wizard of Lupovich on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. In 1975, he moved to Washington DC where he worked for the Group Health Assoc. for twenty-one years while proving the concept of prepaid, not for profit, group practice. He spent twenty more years trying to arrange medical care delivery systems for those Americans, neither wealthy nor poor, who were unable to buy medical insurance. That quest was ultimately successful. There are other pleasing outcomes and successes but he claims no one should be allowed to have that much fun.

Anne B. McKusick, Med ’50
Dr. Anne Bishop McKusick received her medical degree from Johns Hopkins and completed her residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital as a member of the Osler House Staff. She secured a trainee fellowship under the Arthritis Foundation from 1954 to 1962, and most of her career has been as a specialist in rheumatology. Prior to receiving her medical degree, Dr. McKusick was part of a significant number of scientists involved in wartime research on the atomic bomb who abandoned physics to join the biomedical sciences. Dr. McKusick completed extensive research in clinical and metabolic studies of the shoulder-hand syndrome among tuberculosis patients from 1958 to 1961, and bacterial studies of paranasal sinuses in rheumatoid arthritis from 1961 to 1964. She was also involved in establishing the Arthritis Clinics at Baltimore City Hospitals (now Bayview Medical Center), where she worked from 1954 to 1982. She was an assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine from 1969 until her retirement in 1993. She is considered a key ambassador for the School of Medicine, as well as for women in her field and genetics. Dr. Anne McKusick married Dr. Victor McKusick, Class of 1946 and they had three children. Drs. McKusick remained involved not only in research and clinical work at Hopkins, but also as leaders of their respective classes. Together they have supported many initiatives at Hopkins with their philanthropy.

Laura L. Morlock, BSPH Faculty, A&S ’73
Dr. Morlock has made outstanding contributions to the University over her forty-year tenure. She has helped drive the Bloomberg School of Public Health's development of both PhD and DrPH education, expanding the educational mission, tuition base, and research capacity of the school. She developed several international educational programs that enhance the Johns Hopkins reputation globally and provide critical leadership development in these nations, to the benefit of the local populations. Further, she has provided countless hours as a mentor, teacher, and advisor to students and faculty and important service to JHU.

Alfred Sommer, BSPH ’73
Dr. Sommer is Dean Emeritus of the Bloomberg School, serving as dean from 1990-2005. In his own right, Al is a public health giant. In the 1980s, Al’s research identified vitamin A deficiency as a leading cause of child mortality that leaves children especially vulnerable to dying from diarrheal illnesses and measles. Al devised an intervention, biannual oral doses of vitamin A, and in exhaustive multisite clinical trials among 30,000 children in 450 Indonesian villages, he conclusively proved that vitamin A could not only prevent blindness, but also reduced child deaths by 34 percent. Al’s dedication to convincing leading international health agencies about the real and positive impact of vitamin A supplementation led to its widespread use. Dubbed the “4-cent solution” for its low per-unit cost, vitamin A supplementation is known as one of the most cost-effective public health interventions in history. Today, more than 60 nations have vitamin A supplementation programs that are credited with reducing childhood mortality by a third. In his work and in his leadership, Al has furthered the mission of Hopkins around the world.