Outstanding Recent Graduate Award 2014

Keira N. Wickliffe Berger, Nurs '05, '09
Keira is an RN and public health professional with a background in cultural anthropology and sociology. She has expertise in disaster preparedness, emergency and trauma medicine, infectious diseases, wilderness medicine, international health, and vulnerable populations. One of Keira’s major interests is looking at the interconnections between cultural practices, resurgence of certain infectious diseases, and the environment. Keira graduated from The Johns Hopkins University with two degrees in 2009: a Masters in Public Health Nursing from The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing and a Masters in Public Health from The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. She also received her BS in Nursing from The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing in 2005. She currently works as a Regional Epidemiologist for the Michigan Department of Community Health in Pontiac, Michigan. In this role she functions as a liaison between the local public health facilities and the Michigan Department of Community Health and assists in epidemiological and surveillance activities for communicable diseases, other emerging threats, and bioterrorism. Prior to moving to Michigan, Keira held numerous positions at the Johns Hopkins Hospital including Infection Control Epidemiologist and Nursing Coordinator in The Hopkins Emergency Department. She also was a Clinical Instructor in the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. While a student at Hopkins Keira was a Program Developer for Educational Perspectives, a student group at The Johns Hopkins University created to work with teachers and students by providing public health knowledge and life skills.

Heon-Jae Jeong, SPH '12
I believe that Heon-Jae’s achievements, both during his masters’ and doctoral programs and since his recent graduation in 2012, have been truly outstanding.  While still enrolled in the doctoral program Heon-Jae led several public health research projects in South Korea and became increasingly well-known there as a featured speaker on patient safety issues.  In 2013 he published a book in Korean on patient safety issues, which is targeted to the general public of South Korea.  The book, entitled “Hospital User’s Manual: 33 Safety Rules for Patients,” has become a national bestseller (health and medicine category) and is currently being translated into English and Arabic.  The book has encouraged a number of hospitals in Korea to develop their own patient engagement programs in order to continuously improve the safety of medical care.  In addition, based upon his book the Korean Organization for Patients, the largest patient advocacy association in Korea, is launching this month a national patient safety campaign entitled “Smiling Patient, Safe Hospital”  with funding from the Korean Ministry of Security and Public Administration.  Recently Heon-Jae was awarded the South Korean Minister of Health and Welfare Award for improving the national patient safety system.  He is also rapidly developing an international reputation for his efforts to promote patient safety and improve the quality of health care through both research and advocacy efforts.

Rita R. Kalyani, Med '03
Dr. Rita Rastogi Kalyani, MD, MHS, is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, & Metabolism, and sees patients regularly in the Johns Hopkins Diabetes Center.  She received her medical degree in 2003 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and masters in health science in 2009 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health.  Dr. Kalyani is NIH funded for her research on accelerated muscle loss and disability in adults with diabetes.  Other research interests include gender differences in diabetes and heart disease.  She serves on national committees for the American Diabetes Association and is an invited member of the American College of Physician’s Quality Connect steering group to improve the quality of diabetes care.  Dr. Kalyani is also on the editorial board of Diabetes Care, a leading research journal in her specialty.  She is the co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Johns Hopkins Diabetes Guide for healthcare professionals available both as a book and mobile app, now with over 200 topics.  She is also editor of the Johns Hopkins Diabetes White Papers for patients and their families.  In addition, she directs the Diabetes Management Service for Johns Hopkins’ Total Pancreatectomy Islet Auto Transplant Program.  Dr. Kalyani has previously been on the steering committee for the Trinidad and Tobago Health Sciences Initiative—a joint partnership with Johns Hopkins International.  She is also involved in local and national diabetes awareness efforts, including guest appearances on The Dr. Oz show and The Today Show.  For her professional and community services efforts, she was selected as one of Maryland’s Leading Women for 2013 by the Daily Record.

Yasmene L. Mumby, Ed '10
Yasmene Mumby is a tireless advocate for education reform.  After graduating from Johns Hopkins with a Master’s degree in Secondary Education in 2010, she began her career as the 7th and 8th Grade Social Studies teacher at KIPP Ujima Village Academy where her classroom was visited by Dr. Andres Alonso, former CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools; Arne Duncan, United States Secretary of Education; Reverend Al Sharpton; and Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.   Most recently, Ms. Mumby helped push passage of $1.1B in funding to improve Baltimore’s schools.  Working closely with the Baltimore Education Coalition (BEC), a citywide linkage of 25 organizations working for Baltimore’s children, Ms. Mumby and her fellow BEC supporters successfully advocated and won the passage of an unprecedented $1.1B financing plan to improve school facilities for Baltimore’s 85,000 students.  Ms. Mumby is also an education activist, co-chairing a February 2013 rally in Annapolis outside of the State House to urge passage of legislation to launch Baltimore’s education reform program.  Ms. Mumby also leverages her position as Co-Chair of KIPP Baltimore to make powerful and sustainable changes in Baltimore’s education system.  Additionally, Ms. Mumby, a TFA 2008 Baltimore Corps Member, was a 2010 semifinalist winner of the Sue Lehmann Excellence in Teaching Award and was a 2013 Peter Jennings Award for Civic Leadership finalist – Teach for America’s highest honor.  Currently, Ms. Mumby is a student at the University of Maryland, Francis King Carey School of Law.

Remington L. Nevin, SPH '04
Former Army physician Dr. Nevin has been a tireless advocate for public mental health and in particular the needs of vulnerable military personnel and veterans, focusing his research on the mental health effects of antimalarials. A board certified specialist in preventive medicine who earned his MPH at the Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2004, he now teaches undergraduate Public Health Studies students at Johns Hopkins, and continues his research as a student in the DrPH program in the Department of Mental Health at the Bloomberg School.  An outspoken critic of military antimalarial policy ever since his deployment to Afghanistan in 2007, where he observed the military-developed drug mefloquine being widely misprescribed to troops, Dr. Nevin published a series of papers documenting deviations from ideal prescribing, including the frequent co-prescribing of mefloquine and psychotropics.  While still in uniform, Dr. Nevin pressed senior military leadership for changes in Department of Defence antimalarial policy, leading to mefloquine being demoted from first-line antimalarial to the drug “of last resort”, and culminating in Senate testimony. Dr. Nevin was subsequently invited to present to a special panel of the FDA, where his recommendations informed the 2013 “black box” warning on mefloquine which cautions of a risk of long-lasting mental health effects.  Throughout his work, Dr. Nevin has been a frequent voice in the media, quoted or featured in dozens of national and international print and television media.

Zhengda Shen, Bus '05
Zhengda Shen, known to friends and colleagues alike as "Z", is a great credit to the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. In the past nine years since he graduated, he has risen quickly through the ranks at Merkle, a leading CRM firm and the largest privately held agency in the nation. In 2010, he was promoted to Executive Vice President and earlier last year, he was named to President of Merkle APAC. Merkle's client base is growing internationally, and it just opened its second operation in Nanjing (the first is located in Shanghai).  Under his leadership, Merkle projects that it will employ over 400 individuals in China by the end of 2014.  Shen also oversees nearly $100mm fast growing big data analytics business in Merkle US. Shen started his career at Merkle in 2000 and graduated from Carey Business School in 2005. Shen built his career in the United States, after moving here from China. He received his MS in Applied Statistics from the Ohio State University and his MBA from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. He is a proud alumnus of the School and brings great honor to the Carey Business School through his powerful work at Merkle.