2021 Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award
Daniel Ahn, A&S '00
Daniel Ahn serves as a Deputy Chief and federal prosecutor at the United States Department of Justice. Daniel trains new prosecutors and personally prosecutes a wide array of complex criminal matters, from domestic terrorism and public corruption to organized crime and human trafficking. Daniel has an unassailable reputation for integrity and is widely respected among defense attorneys for his empathy and compassion. His personal story is well known in the region: He grew up poor, fell in with the wrong crowd (getting kicked out of two high schools), and cared little for academics. However, through family and faith, he turned his life around: He excelled in college and graduate school at Hopkins, and graduated near the top of his law-school class at the elite University of Southern California, where he was editor-in-chief of the law review—the most prestigious honor a law student can receive. In addition, Daniel freely gives back to his community: He serves on the board of two community organizations, teaches part time at a local university (receiving the most outstanding lecturer award), and actively participates as a mentor to many young minority attorneys within and outside of the Justice Department.
”Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” – James 1:2-4
Allison Barlow, BSPH '97
Allison Barlow is a committed advocate and partner of Native American communities. She joined the Center for American Indian Health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health in 1991 and has served as director since 2016. Through the Center, she develops public health interventions with tribal communities to promote health equity. These programs employ Indigenous outreach workers who design, direct, and evaluate interventions with and for their communities. In spring 2020, Dr. Barlow and her team at the Center recognized that the living situations of many Native communities would place them at high risk for COVID-19. They embedded their workforce with the Indian Health Service to do COVID-19 testing, contact tracing, vaccination, and extensive wrap-around services, including delivery of food, water, medicines, hygiene kits, baby supplies, pet food, and other supplies. They created dozens of free resources for tribal communities, such as COVID-19 and vaccination data tracking tools, fact sheets, radio scripts, videos and social media posts. They continue to partner with Navajo Nation to address water insecurity and scale solutions to other tribal communities in need. Dr. Barlow’s leadership of the Center has also included the creation of the Family Spirit early childhood home-visiting program now active in more than 130 tribal communities; the Native Vision program that partners with professional athletes to promote Native American youth development; and, the Arrowhead youth entrepreneurship program. In addition, she helped launch the first-of-its kind graduate Public Health Training Certificate in American Indian Health at Johns Hopkins.
Janice Bowie, BSPH '97
Janice Bowie is a nationally recognized expert in health disparities and community-based research methods. Her collaborative research across Hopkins and the Baltimore community explores approaches that actively engage community partners to improve the health and wellbeing of their communities, which leads to the success and sustainability of community-based interventions. One partnership has examined the unique association of spirituality and health in prevention and treatment decision making. Dr. Bowie’s multi-disciplinary approach brings together researchers from across Johns Hopkins and the communities the enterprise inhabits. She is core faculty in the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, which connects research, programs, and resources from across the Schools of Public Health, Medicine, and Nursing. She is also affiliated with the Urban Health Institute, which aims to strengthen and support collaborations between the Baltimore community and Johns Hopkins through community gatherings, capacity building workshops, neighborhood leadership programs, symposiums, and highlighting local research. In September of 2020, Dr. Bowie was named a Bloomberg Centennial Professor, an endowed position that is part of the Bloomberg American Health Initiative at the School of Public Health. She is a faculty member in the Department of Health, Behavior, and Society at the Bloomberg School where she also directs the schoolwide Doctor of Public Health degree program. Her leadership of the program has tripled enrollment, demonstrating her remarkable commitment to training and equipping a new generation of public health leaders who will tackle the challenges facing their communities.
Martin Burke, A&S '98
Martin Burke is a renowned professor and chemist focused on organic chemistry and chemical biology. Currently the May and Ving Lee Professor for Chemical Innovation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he leads a university initiative called SHIELD for rapid-result COVID-19 saliva tests on campus. This new diagnostics test was authorized for emergency use by the FDA over the summer of 2019 and put into immediate practice. Students, faculty, and staff have been tested through this method twice weekly, with daily tests totaling up to 20,000 per day, or approximately 2% of the testing done in the entire country. SHIELD implemented testing twice per week due to their finding that this frequency is more likely to catch individuals within the window of transmission when they are most infectious and likely to spread the virus to others. Because the test utilizes saliva instead of nasal swab samples, the results are quicker, there are fewer specialized supplies required, and the process is up to 70% less expensive. Dr. Burke has been instrumental in leading the SHIELD initiative, which offers 14 on-campus testing stations and the ability to receive results through a university-created mobile app within five hours. In addition to his recent work with COVID-19 saliva tests, he is also the founder of four biotechnology companies – REVOLUTION Medicines, Ambys Medicines, Sfunga Therapeutics, and Cystetic Medicines – which are focused on cancer cell therapies, regenerating liver function and tissue, and clinical research for life-threatening fungal infections.
Gary Darmstadt, Med '92
Gary Darmstadt is a leading scholar, innovator, and one of the most important voices worldwide on strategies and interventions to save the lives and improve the health and development of young children in low- and middle-income countries globally. He trained in Pediatrics at JHU and led the creation and implementation of global research for the Saving Newborn Lives initiative at Save the Children, funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). As a JHU faculty member, he established the only center in the USA dedicated to improving the health of mothers and newborns in developing countries. At BMGF, he led the development of global strategies for maternal, newborn and child health, nutrition, family planning, and gender equality, and has been instrumental in revitalizing and advancing global efforts in these areas. At the Stanford University School of Medicine, he founded the Global Center for Gender Equality and is Associate Dean for Maternal and Child Health and Professor of Pediatrics. He has pioneered topical emollient therapy for preterm infants, improving neonatal growth, and reducing sepsis and mortality by 50% and 25%, respectively. He also played a leading role in development of newborn umbilical cord cleansing with chlorhexidine, cutting severe cord infections by 75% and neonatal deaths by 24%, and demonstrated that community-based care for mothers and newborns can reduce neonatal mortality by 30-50% in low resource settings. These findings have informed WHO recommendations and global practice, and when scaled-up could save hundreds of thousands of lives each year.
Jason Farley, Nurs '03, '08
Jason Farley is a true nursing leader, consistently representing the nursing profession, Johns Hopkins University, and the School of Nursing in the media during the COVID-19 pandemic. He has been at the forefront of the pandemic, and has been interviewed a number of times by local news, radio stations, and research websites since the onset of the pandemic, providing information about vaccine updates and antibody testing. Dr. Farley was among the five representatives from Johns Hopkins University & Medicine during a congressional hearing in early March regarding the coronavirus. Dr. Farley is a trusted resource and has brought credit to the University, School of Nursing, and nursing profession. He is the director and founder of the REACH Institute at the School of Nursing, which launched in 2015 and leads evidence-based prevention, care, and support for those at-risk for or living with HIV in Maryland. In 2019, he was inducted as a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, and he is the inaugural Leadership and Innovation Endowed Chair at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing.
Brian Garibaldi, Med '04, Ed '18
Brian Garibaldi is Director of the Johns Hopkins Biocontainment Unit and Associate Professor of Medicine. Dr. Garibaldi has led a career specializing in pulmonary diseases, critical care, and internal medicine. He is a top respiratory and critical care doctor who helped design a specialized ward to treat the sickest and most contagious patients in the country. The Hopkins Biocontainment Unit opened in response to the Ebola outbreak in 2014 and served as a model for more units rushed into use for the most severe cases of COVID-19. In addition to treating and advising on the care of COVID-19 patients, he has been researching the disease, including once as a participant in a trial of the drug hydroxychloroquine to see if it prevented coronavirus infections in those exposed. He recently published a paper in the Annals of Internal Medicine on a prediction model he developed to anticipate whose condition was likely to worsen. When President Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19, Dr. Garibaldi was consulted by the White House and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda to develop a treatment plan for the President. He spoke in televised press conferences alongside the team of doctors giving an update on the President’s recovery.
“The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.” – Sir William Osler
William Kaelin, Jr., Med '84, '86
William G. Kaelin, Jr., is the 2019 Nobel Prize recipient in medicine or physiology. Dr. Kaelin received his MD from Duke University in 1982 and was a house officer and chief resident in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was a medical oncology clinical fellow at Dana-Farber and a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. David Livingston, where he began his studies of tumor suppressor proteins. He became an independent investigator at Dana-Farber in 1992, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School in 2002. The 2019 Nobel was awarded jointly to Kaelin, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability. He is the newest member to the Johns Hopkins Osler Advisory Board, joining in November 2019, and has been an active participant.
Thomas Koenig, Med '89
Thomas Koenig has spent the last 35 years at Johns Hopkins, with the exception of his internship year at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He received his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1989, and after internship, he returned for residency and chief residency in psychiatry at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Upon joining the faculty in the Department of Psychiatry in 1994, Dr. Koenig became the director of the psychiatry clerkship, a position he maintained for 10 years. In 2005, he received the George J. Stuart Award, a recognition given annually to a member of the faculty chosen as the outstanding clinical teacher by graduating medical students. In addition to his roles with students, Dr. Koenig is a dedicated clinician in the Johns Hopkins Community Psychiatry Program’s Hispanic Clinic, providing mental health services for individuals of Hispanic origin in Maryland. Without doubt, though, it is as associate dean for medical student affairs that he has made the greatest impact. Over 16-plus years, Dr. Koenig has advised nearly 2,000 medical students, shaping the next generation of healers and leaders in medicine. His compassionate and gentle approach has helped students navigate medical school and professional life. Many will immediately recall his broad smile each year as he celebrates the students’ accomplishments at convocation, and his meticulous pronunciation of each student’s name. He recently retired; his impact as an adviser and passionate advocate for medical students will be impossible to replace.
Wui-Chiang Lee, BSPH '02, '05
Wui-Chiang (John) Lee received an MD in Taiwan and then an MHS (2002) and PhD (2005) from the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Currently he is the Director of the Department of Medical Affairs and Planning at the Taipei Veterans General Hospital in Taiwan. During the past year, Wui-Chiang has made an extraordinary effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan and to support Johns Hopkins. As part of the leadership team guiding the prestigious medical center through its own COVID-19 response, he appreciated early last winter how critical masks are to keeping healthcare providers and others safe. When he discovered that Hopkins was experiencing shortages, he worked with several Taiwanese donors to coordinate the manufacture, purchase and shipment of 100,000 facemasks to the campus in Baltimore. In 2003, while a PhD student at the School of Public Health, Wui-Chiang worked with faculty and fellow Taiwanese students to draft a comprehensive SARS epidemic control program, which was adopted almost in its entirety by the Taiwanese government. Taiwan’s experience with SARS created the groundwork for their recent successful effort to combat COVID-19. Wui-Chiang explains how grateful he is for his Hopkins training that helped him and his fellow Taiwanese public health and medical community members manage COVID-19 and SARS. He writes, “I am honored to have an opportunity to pay back my alma mater when she needs me.”
"The wise are not misled, the benevolent are not worried, and the brave are not afraid.” –
The Analects of Confucius
Lisa Maragakis, Med '98, BSPH '07
Lisa Maragakis is an associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Maragakis is the Senior Director of Infection Prevention at The Johns Hopkins Health System, and the Hospital Epidemiologist for The Johns Hopkins Hospital. In these roles, she is responsible for the conceptualization, planning, implementation, and development of the Johns Hopkins Health System's infection control and prevention program. Her research interests are the epidemiology, prevention and control of healthcare-acquired infections and antimicrobial-resistant gram-negative bacilli. Dr. Maragakis serves as the Executive Director of the Johns Hopkins Hospital Biocontainment Unit and as Incident Commander for the Johns Hopkins Medicine COVID-19 response. Dr. Maragakis has been at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic and has served as the face of Johns Hopkins Medicine's response to this health crisis. She also serves as the IDSA Co-Chair for the 2014 and 2020 Updates of the Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare Associated Infections, and as the Co-Chair of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee.
J. Mario Molina, Med '87
Mario Molina’s service to Johns Hopkins Medicine is unparalleled as a University Trustee, Chair of the Osler Advisory Board, and generous supporter of the Molina Scholars through the physician-scientist pathway in the Osler Medical Residency Program. Dr. Molina has funded three professorships in the School of Medicine – the C. David Molina Professorship in the Welch Center, the Myron L. Weisfeldt Professor of Medicine in the Osler Residency Program, and the J. Mario Molina Professorship in the History of Medicine. However, Dr. Molina’s vision and funding for the physician scientist pathway in the Residency Program will have a lasting impact because of the power of and translational science on human health. In addition to his service to Johns Hopkins, Dr. Molina was named the Founding Dean of the KGI School of Medicine, a member of the Claremont Colleges, in 2019. Dr. Molina is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Molina Healthcare, a FORTUNE 500 company founded by his physician father in 1980 to provide health care to low income individuals receiving benefits through government programs, such as Medicaid and Medicare. Through his generosity, Dr. Molina has secured his legacy and commitment to Johns Hopkins Medicine. The impact will resonate for decades to come.
Jennifer Nuzzo, BSPH '14
Jennifer Nuzzo is an epidemiologist and researcher lending her experience to the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic response. Dr. Nuzzo is a Senior Scholar at the Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, a Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations, and director of the Outbreak Observatory, which conducts operational research to improve outbreak preparedness and response in partnership with frontline public health practitioners. Her newly visible and timely work focuses on pandemic preparedness, outbreak detection and response, health systems as they relate to global health security, bio surveillance, and infectious disease diagnostics. This work is not only critical to our fight against COVID-19, but will also serve the world through continued vigilance and preparation. Dr. Nuzzo shares her expertise on pandemic preparedness and response widely and regularly, from leading news outlets to national governments and for-profit and non-profit organizations. She is the lead epidemiologist for the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Testing Insights Initiative, housed within the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, and co-leads the development of the first-ever Global Health Security Index. Through her deft use of social media and appearances across traditional media, she reinforces valuable and useful information in an easily digestible format. Dr. Nuzzo is a credible, trusted voice of public health during a time when our world is looking for guidance, answers, and hope.
Payal Patel, A&S '05
Payal Patel attended Hopkins as a recipient of the Yaffe scholarship and was President of the Class of 2005, graduating with a BS in Public Health. Following graduation, she spent a year in Kenya on a grant investigating breastfeeding. At the University of Texas Health Science Center, she was President of the Medical Class of 2010 and received her M.D. with Distinction in Research. She completed her residency at UTHSC in 2013 in internal medicine. She then enrolled in Harvard School of Public Health for a Master of Public Health in Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy, and completed a fellowship in Internal Medicine/Infectious Disease at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Dr. Patel is a physician with the VA Healthcare System, an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan, and member of The Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. An author of 60+ publications, Dr. Patel’s training and research experience put her in the forefront of COVID-19 response efforts. Her research played a critical role in developing treatment guidelines, optimizing the use of antibiotics, and the diagnostic stewardship of COVID-19 testing. Dr. Patel has appeared on NBC Nightly News, BBC World News, and NPR discussing infection prevention and vaccine trials. She is an active supporter of JHU, serving on the executive board of the Second Decade Society, and chairing the Meg Walsh Award Selection Committee. She serves on her reunion committee, and is an alumni admissions interviewer and a mock interviewer for medical school interviews for pre-med students.
"Believe in life! Always human beings will progress to great, broader, and fuller life. – W.E.B. Du Bois
Raymond Reid, BSPH '81
Raymond Reid earned an MPH from JHSPH in 1981, completed a Preventive Medicine Residency in 1982, and joined the JHSPH faculty thereafter. He received his MD from the University of Utah in 1979. Among the first Native American physicians trained in public health, he has applied this knowledge to life-saving work with Native American populations for 40 years, including the White Mountain Apache, San Carlos Apache, Hopi, and Navajo tribes. Working and living on both the White Mountain Apache and Navajo reservations since 1983, he has made outstanding contributions to the health of Native populations that have scaled to the globe, saving millions of children’s lives, including: landmark studies on Oral Rehydration Solution and treatment of diarrheal diseases that have changed international policies; pivotal studies to prove new vaccines for H.influenzae type B (Hib), Pneumococcal disease and Rotavirus that affected Native children at higher rates. These vaccines are now the standard of care throughout the world. He co-founded the Center for American Indian Health’s Training program, through which he has mentored hundreds of Native American health care workers and researchers. Dr. Reid, as the first Navajo alumnus of Johns Hopkins, has combined the highest standards of excellence with a humanitarian compassion that knows no bounds. He has been singularly focused on promoting health and educational equity for Native Americans, who have suffered the most deep-seeded disparities in the US.
Susan Shurin, Med '71
Susan Shurin was deputy director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As deputy director, Dr. Shurin represented the NHLBI in a wide variety of activities across the NIH and the Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Shurin joined the NHLBI as deputy director in February 2006, coming from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. In October 2009, she assumed the role of acting director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) while continuing to serve as the deputy director of NHLBI. In December 2009, Dr. Shurin was named acting director of the NHLBI and served in this role until August 2012. As acting director, she oversaw an extensive national research portfolio with an annual budget of approximately $3 billion. Through the support of research from bench to bedside, Dr. Shurin led the NHLBI's effort to transform new scientific knowledge into tangible improvements in health.
“The lessons of our 50th and 51st postgraduate years have hammered home the key themes of our medical education: observation and discovery based on caring for patients are the key to improving public and private lives and health. The responsibilities we assume as physicians carry awesome opportunities."
Ted (Edgar) Sniffin, Bus '97
Ted Sniffin is a Fortune 500 business leader, who has led strategy, market development, and delivery of portfolios of up to $300 million in annual revenue, providing consulting, analytics, digital, cyber, and solutions to U.S. Defense and Civil Agency clients. He spent over 20 years as an executive at Booz Allen Hamilton, where he led business development for Booz Allen’s U.S. Defense, Intelligence, and Civil Agencies. He directed management consulting, large-scale transformation, strategic planning, reorganization, business process reengineering and automation, and change management engagements. Ted has been recognized as a GovCon Washington 100 leader, one of “the most influential and impactful executives of consequence at the intersection of government and industry.” Currently, he leads global bid and capture/global growth for the Amazon Web Services Worldwide Public Sector business, comprised of the U.S. Federal, International, State and Local, Educational, and Non-profit market sectors. He is a former member of Carey’s Dean’s Alumni Advisory Board and is a Carey Executive in Residence.
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." — Philippians 4:13
Allen Y. Wang, Engr '06, '08
Allen Wang is the Global Technical Lead at Ethicon Biosurgery, a medical device subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. In 2008, after obtaining his PhD from the Johns Hopkins University, Allen joined Johnson & Johnson Wound Management R&D and quickly set the standard of excellence. He holds over 70 patents and had developed several innovative surgical products to save countless lives. His most recent Class III invention, SURGICEL Powder Absorbable Hemostat, has been widely adopted by surgeons to serve numerous patients in more than 40 countries since its launch in late 2017. He received a 2020 Johnson Medal, the most prestigious award within J&J, and several renowned international awards such as Gold Medical Design Excellence Award and R&D 100 Award. Currently, Allen continues to work with worldwide J&J divisions to expand the Biosurgery product portfolio, and to create novel products to address surgical unmet needs. During his tenure at J&J, Allen has always been committed to giving back to his community as a mentor. He actively seeks internship opportunities for Hopkins students as well as supports other local high school and college students with development opportunities. He also serves on the board of directors of the Taiwanese American Association of Biotechnology with strong devotion to ensuring the broadened collaborations between the United States and other nations in biotechnological development. Allen is truly a leader in the medical device field and has displayed an unyielding dedication to the transformation of patient care.
“Innovation can come from anyone and anywhere.”
“It is ok to fail, but we need to learn from it.”