Outstanding Recent Graduate Award 2017
Stefan Baral, BSPH ’07, Bus ‘07
Dr. Stefan Baral is an outstanding investigator, public health practitioner, teacher and mentor, and human rights advocate. A Canadian physician, Dr. Stefan came to Johns Hopkins for the joint MPH-MBA program in 2005, finishing in 2007. Early on in his time at Hopkins he offered to work on any projects, unpaid, just for the opportunity to work together. After completing his joint degrees. Dr. Stefan returned to Canada but also continued as a post-doc fellow with Dr. Chris Beyrer, Professor at the Bloomberg School. He did groundbreaking work on a multi-country project on HIV among gay and bisexual men in Africa, which helped open a new field of inquiry. He is now an Associate Professor at the Bloomberg School, has won mentoring and teaching awards, and is consistently sought out by his students. Dr. Stefan is an outstanding researcher and scientist, with some 140 publications; leading keynote presentations at leading scientific meetings and conferences. Dr. Stefan is truly revered by community groups, rights advocates and HIV communities for his effort on health care for sexual and gender minorities in Africa and for his compassion, commitment, and tireless efforts on behalf of both health and social justice.
Marquett Burton, Ed ‘11
Marquett Burton received his Masters of Art in Teaching in Elementary Education in 2011 from the Johns Hopkins School of Education (SOE). In 2009, as a student in the School of Education’s Teach for America program, Marc was a middle school teacher at Booker T. Washington and The Crossroads Schools. In 2011, Marquett was chosen as a Baltimore City Mayoral Fellow under Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. In this prestigious role, he operated as a liaison between the mayor’s office and the CEO of Baltimore city schools. Following the fellowship in the mayor’s office, and as a site director for the Johns Hopkins medical institutions, Everfi, a leading education technology company, recruited him. While pursuing his passion in education technology, and travelling to over a 100 schools throughout the northwest, he began to notice a challenge that was affecting our entire country; the fact that about 50% of college students never graduate. In 2014, he founded Fletch. Fletch is an application company that offers students crowdsourcing help from classmates, finding study groups, and receiving notifications about support services such as tutoring, advising, financial aid and career services. It also provides analytics for optimizing on-campus student support services and attendance. Marc has received the excellence award from California State University, was 1st place startup weekend Los Angeles Champions, and was one of the top companies in the g-startup worldwide competition in South Korea.
Laura Garcia, Nurs ’10, ‘14
Laura Garcia earned both her BSN and MSN from the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. Prior to coming to Baltimore, Laura was a health educator for the Peace Corps in Morocco, and continued her commitment to public health while in school as she volunteered at the House of Ruth, a domestic violence shelter in Baltimore. In 2014, she earned her Masters degree as a Family Nurse Practitioner and started working at Health Care for the Homeless in Baltimore. Very impressively, after only 2 years as a nurse practitioner, Laura was promoted to Director of Adult Medicine where she specializes in family and women’s health and chronic disease management. This year, Health Care for the Homeless will care for 12,000 individuals in the Baltimore area providing a range of services from medical, dental and psychiatric care. In her role, Laura ensures quality of care, identifies high-priority quality improvement issues and manages evidence-based research to address these issues. Recently, Laura presented at the 2016 National Health Care for the Homeless Conference & Policy Symposium on a performance improvement project that increased depression screening rates from 17% annually to 70% within one year at her clinic. Laura is an active member of the Nurse Practitioner Association of Maryland, and was elevated to the leadership board as the Political Action Committee chair in 2016. She was selected as a New Leaders Council Fellow for 2017, and she also serves as a preceptor to JHSON students in their clinical rotations to help develop the next generation of nurse practitioners. She is an outstanding leader in her field and an inspiration to other young nurses.
Kyun Hee (Ken) Lee, Engr ’05, BSPH ’08, ‘13
Kyun Hee Lee earned both his MHS and DrPH from the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Currently Ken serves as the Director of Value Analytics for the Johns Hopkins Medicine Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality. In that role he leverages expertise from engineering, finance, and quality improvements to create tangible benefits for patients, the organization and the healthcare industry. He also served as an adjunct assistant professor at the BSPH. Thee impact of his teaching are immeasurable and will contribute to higher levels of analytic competency, a critical ingredient to accelerate change among healthcare professions.. During his time in Baltimore, he has worked throughout the city to insure access to health care through limiting the barriers. Ken embodies what the Bloomberg School represents, he is a healthcare leader committed to the public’s access to health services, changing the lives of many through his work.
David Narrow, Engr ’13
David Narrow graduated Johns Hopkins in 2013 with a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering. David is the founder and CEO of Sonavex, a Baltimore-based medical device company developing ultrasound solutions to visualize and quantify critical data – directly at the point of care. Sonavez has raised $11 million through Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and initial seed funding from the Abell Foundation and the Blue Jay Syndicate. Their first product, the EchoSure clot monitoring system, makes it possible for nurses without specialized sonographic training to monitor patients for clot formation prior to a serious problem. In addition to Sonavex, David also runs MonoMano Cycling, a company that makes adaptive bikes for stroke survivors and people with similar limitations. David’s work has changed the lives of many, and inspired others in the engineering field.
Wendy Osefo, A&S ‘09
Dr. Wendy Osefo is a 2009 graduate of the Krieger School of Arts & Sciences, and went on to become the first black woman to earn a PhD in Public Affairs-Community Development from Rutgers in 2016. Since graduating, Wendy has been a trailblazer for issues affecting our nation’s most vulnerable populations, and is currently a visiting assistant professor in the Doctor of Education Program at Johns Hopkins’ School of Education. She started her career in Washington, DC as an advocate for low-income children and families. Her research examines how race and class influence the learning, achievement and educational trajectories of non-dominant students in schools and community settings, and explores the intersections between race, equity and underserved student groups in K-12 and postsecondary learning communities. Wendy was the Director of Family and Community Engagement for the DC Promise Neighborhood Initiative (DCPNI) under the Obama Administration. She designed culturally competent engagement strategies and successfully launched the first adult learning academy in the D.C Kenilworth-Parkside Community. After DCPNI, Wendy became the Director of the Master of Arts in Management Program at Goucher College. There, she provided administrative leadership for the program. In 2016 she founded The 1954 Equity Project, a nonprofit organization that helps underrepresented students thrive in universities by providing academic support, mentorship and training. Wendy is a board member for the education foundation for Baltimore County Public Schools, the Elijah Cummings Youth Program in Israel, and the Obama Green Charter School. She is also a board trustee of the Children’s Scholarship Foundation of Baltimore, and presents nationally on urban education, leadership and social equity. Dr. Osefo is also the recipient of the Johns Hopkins Diversity Recognition Award for her research on equity and inclusion. She is a champion and a true reflection of the Johns Hopkins mission.
Meng Su, Peab ’09, ’11, ‘15
Meng Su is an outstanding talent who is “living the dream” of every musician. This past fall, she performed a solo debut in New York and was featured in the Baltimore Sun as one of the 10 Up-and-Comers Whose Name You Should Know. Meng is the first guitarist to have won both youth and the main Parkening Competition as well as the first female guitarist to make it to the final round of the main competition and win the gold medal. Meng has performed all around the world and has collaborated with various orchestras such as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Guang Zhou Symphony Orchestra and the Mid-Atlantic Symphony. Meng’s performances and recordings have impressed the public with an ability and artistry that exceeds her years. She is a role model for many at Peabody.
Xuchen Yao, A&S ’14 and Guoguo Chen, Engr ’13, ‘15
Xuchen Yao and Guoguo Chen are redefining the natural language processing space by developing new and improved voice technology bettering the existing Google, Apple, and Amazon products. They are the co-founders of the Seattle-based start-up company, KITT.Al, focused on Natural Language Understanding Technologies (NLU) and NLU-enabled interfaces. The company is building artificial and intelligence platforms that will let developers build apps, devices, and services that communicate conversationally with users through natural language. Dr. Yao and Dr. Chen both received their Doctorates from Johns Hopkins and are making waves in the natural language processing world with a bright future ahead of them.
Hao Yu, Bus’ 12
Hao Yu is a member of the Carey Business School’s Global MBA Class of 2012. Hao is a member of the Dean’s Alumni Advisory Board where he serves on the Alumni Engagement and Student Engagement Committees. Hao is a successful entrepreneur. He served as an Executive Director of CITIC Guan Capital Management Co. and is CCO of NVIGEN, Inc., a nanobiotechnology company. . Hao works closely with the Carey school to ensure success for the students and faculty, he is a committed member of the community that has helped the Carey School in various aspects.