Howard Gwon, senior director of the Office of Emergency Management for the Johns Hopkins Health System, will retire on March 31. Gwon, who is affectionately known as the "master of disaster," has held various roles during his 37-year career with Johns Hopkins, including serving as an administrator for the departments of Emergency Medicine and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, before becoming administrator and later senior director of the Office of Emergency Management.
In this position, he has assured Johns Hopkins' readiness for countless events, including weather emergencies, labor actions, and the active shooter tragedy that occurred at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2010. Inside and outside Johns Hopkins, Gwon is a recognized and well-respected leader in emergency management.
"This is not an easy job, but somehow it's been the best job I've ever had," Gwon says.
Gwon will remain with Johns Hopkins Medicine in a part-time capacity to help manage the transition and assist with other projects. After his retirement, he says, he plans to continue to advance the disaster preparedness field, and he has plenty of projects to keep him busy—perhaps even eventually writing a book.
As Gwon prepares to leave his current role, Johns Hopkins welcomes Robert Maloney as senior director of the Office of Emergency Management for the health system. Maloney oversees emergency preparedness operations for the Johns Hopkins Hospital and the School of Medicine, and works closely with the Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response.
Maloney recently retired as the director of the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management in Baltimore, where he coordinated the city's public safety and emergency management and related operational agencies. Prior to this position, he served as the chief of staff, emergency medical services lieutenant, and a firefighter/paramedic with the Baltimore City Fire Department. He also served in the U.S. Navy Reserve as a petty officer second class, functioning as a corpsman for the U.S. Marines. Maloney has previously served on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Advisory Council, Maryland's Emergency Management Advisory Council, and the U.S. State, Tribal, and Policy Advisory Council, and as the vice chair of the Baltimore City Veterans Commission.
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