Class Notes

1950

Earle S. "Jock" Freedman, Engr '50, retired from the Maryland State Highway Administration's Office of Structures, where he was director for more than 40 years. He was responsible for all bridge design, bridge remedial engineering, and inspection of all structures on Maryland state highways. At his retirement, Freedman was Maryland's longest-serving state employee, with more than 65 years of service.

1957

Vivian Adelberg Rudow, Peab '57 (Cert), '60, '79 (MM), continues to compose, arrange, and perform music worldwide. Her solo piano music was selected for the 2016 Hong Kong Students Piano Olympics Competition, and she arranged music for an October performance by the Hong Kong Community Philharmonic Orchestra.

1962

Murry Sidlin, Peab '62, '68 (MM), is a music creator and conductor whose concert/drama, Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín, was performed at the Vienna Concert House on September 20. The work recalls performances of Verdi's Requiem sung by Jewish prisoners at the Nazi Terezín concentration camp.

1966

Nan Phifer, A&S '66 (MLA), led a writing workshop at the Waking the Dreamer Within Festival in Longmont, Colorado, in October.

1967

Stefan Sommerfield, A&S '67, retired from retail work in 2014. He volunteers with the small-business nonprofit SCORE in its chapter covering Florida's Sarasota and Manatee counties, leading its education and training efforts and mentoring small business startups. He visited the Galapagos Islands in 2015.

1969

John K. McComb, A&S '69 (MA), '72 (PhD), practices psychotherapy and psychoanalysis in Baltimore. From 1985 to 2008, he taught at Johns Hopkins as an adjunct instructor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.

Steven B. Oppenheimer, A&S '69 (PhD), is a professor emeritus of biology at California State University, Northridge. He received a U.S. Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring in 2010 and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. At his retirement party, he received a personal letter from President Barack Obama.

1971

Sam Katz, A&S '71, received the 2016 Wyck-Strickland Award for outstanding contributions to the cultural life of Philadelphia. He founded History Making Productions, which produces documentaries about Philadelphia's history, and has been active in biotech venture capital and financial services, as well as in politics.

1972

James S. Economou, A&S '72, Med '80 (MD/PhD), is past president of the American Surgical Association and the Beaumont Professor of Surgery at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine.

George F. Koob, SPH '72 (PhD), director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National Institutes of Health, was named a knight of the French Legion of Honor for his contributions to the development of scientific collaborations between the U.S. and France.

1973

John C. Duke Jr., Engr '73, '76 (MSE), '78 (PhD), who was a professor of biomedical engineering and mechanics in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, was named professor emeritus in July.

1974

Victor G. Vogel III, A&S '74, SPH '86, was named a fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He is a director of the cancer service line of the Geisinger Cancer Institute in Pennsylvania.

1976

Rick Botti, A&S '76, Bus '81 (MAS), joined Howard Bank, based in Ellicott City, Maryland, as senior vice president and relationship manager team lead.

1977

Muriel S. Richardson, Nurs '77, retired from nursing at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2001, earned a master's degree, and became a licensed clinical professional counselor. She served as parish nurse in the Health & Human Resource Ministry of the Transformation Church of Jesus Christ in Baltimore. Earlier this year, she joined the church's missions team and traveled to Liberia to teach health and "learn firsthand about the spirituality and culture of the citizens."

1978

James Herman, Med '78, is dean of the University of Oklahoma–Tulsa School of Community Medicine. 

Eric Weisblatt, A&S '78, joined Hunton & Williams as a partner in the law firm's intellectual property group in Washington, D.C.

1979

Aaron Rosenblatt, A&S '79, is a principal with Gordon & Rosenblatt, a New York–based consulting firm specializing in the prevention of Legionnaires' disease and other building-associated waterborne illnesses.

Charles Weinstein, A&S '79 (MLA), is the new executive vice president and chief real estate and facilities officer at Children's National Health System in Washington, D.C. He previously worked at Boston Children's Hospital and Johns Hopkins.

1980

Thomas M. Messana, A&S '80, founder and managing shareholder of Messana law firm in Florida, was named 2017 Litigation–Bankruptcy Lawyer of the Year for Fort Lauderdale by The Best Lawyers in America.

1982

Robert J. Owens, A&S '82 (PhD), retired from the faculty of General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in New York and was appointed professor emeritus of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible. In May, he was awarded the Clement Clark Moore Medal for advancing the seminary's mission.

Edmund A. Pribitkin II, A&S '82, a professor and the academic vice chair of Thomas Jefferson University's Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, received his executive MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in May.

1985

Sharon Sirota Rubin, A&S '85, was promoted to division chief of the Recoveries and Financial Services Division of Maryland's Department of Health & Mental Hygiene. She manages Medicaid recovery for the state.

Peter D. Verheyen, A&S '85, received the Guild of Book Workers 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award for his pioneering use of digital technology to build community around the book arts. He founded the Book Arts listserv and affiliated website in 1994 and started The Bonefolder, an online book arts journal, in 2004.

1987

Jane Buckner, Med '87, president of the Benaroya Research Institute, a Seattle-based nonprofit that studies autoimmune diseases, received the 2016 Northwest Women in Life Science Award from Life Science Washington.

Edward W. "Ted" Smith, A&S '87, was named to the 2016 Financial Times 400 Top Financial Advisers. He is the senior vice president of Smith Winstead Wealth Management at UBS Financial Services in Baltimore.

1989

Alicia Harvey-Smith, Ed '89 (MS), joined Lone Star College in Houston as executive vice chancellor in October. She is married to Donald W. Smith.

1992

Cherie Butts, A&S '92, '97 (MS), associate director of immunology at Biogen, a biotechnology company, received a 2016 BIG Champion of Inclusion award from the company. She is the lead organizer for the 2017 Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology focusing on biobetters, or improved biologic drugs.

Indranil Goswami, Engr '92 (PhD), received the 2016 Engineering Education Excellence Award from the National Society of Professional Engineers. He is a lecturer and graduate coordinator at Morgan State University in Baltimore.

Myint Htwe, SPH '92 (DrPH), was elected in August as Myanmar's minister of health.

Caren Levine, Peab '92, made her conducting debut with Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw, a chamber opera, at the Miami Summer Music Festival in July. Levine has been an assistant conductor and prompter at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York since 2003.

1993

Tim Schaller, Bus '93 (MS), is chief financial officer of New Enterprise Associates, one of the world's largest venture capital firms. His wife is Bridget B. Schaller, Bus '95 (MS).

1995

Howard M. Turner Jr., Engr '95, is director of energy contracting offerings at Trane Building Advantage in Richmond, Virginia. He and his wife, Hanna, enjoy life with their two daughters in Glen Allen, Virginia.

1996

Ilise Feitshans Charoy, SPH '96, and Dominique Charoy renewed their wedding vows on August 13 in Haddonfield, New Jersey.

Prerna Mona Khanna, SPH '96, Emmy Award–winning journalist, physician, and disaster volunteer, received a 2016 Ellis Island Medal of Honor from the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations for inspired service and accomplishments in her field.

1997

Eileen Cunningham, A&S '97, a litigation attorney, joined the New York office of Kaufman & Company in September.

Seth Jaffe, A&S '97, and his wife, Valerie Vega, welcomed their first child, Nicholas Jeremy Jaime Escalante Pablo Cruz De La Torre Vega Jaffe.

1998

Jehan Pei-Chung Chu, A&S '98, an art adviser in Hong Kong, recently founded the Ethereum HK meetup. Ethereum provides new scripting language for professionals to execute contracts using a cryptocurrency called ether. Chu married Nydia Zhang in June with several Johns Hopkins alumni in attendance.

2000

Daniel E. Schlosberg, A&S '00, Peab '00, '01 (MM), was profiled on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra website csosoundsandstories.org. The Chicago-based pianist's latest album, Gaul Me Maybe, was released in March by Centaur Records and features Schlosberg performing French baroque keyboard music.

Thomas Timmes, Engr '00, (MSE), served as commander of the U.S. Army Public Health Center for Environmental Health Research for three years before becoming director of the center's Environmental Health Engineering unit. He enjoyed taking his family to their first Johns Hopkins lacrosse game in June.

2001

Ian M. Wasser, A&S '01 (MA), '05 (PhD), joined Cantor Colburn as an associate in the intellectual property law firm's Detroit office.

Maja Zecevic, SPH '01, launched Opinionato, a company that connects clients around the country with top U.S. fertility experts. The Silicon Valley–based startup was recently awarded a Y Combinator fellowship.

2003

Stephen B. Brauerman, A&S '03, a director at Bayard law firm in Delaware, was selected for inclusion in the 2017 edition of The Best Lawyers in America for his work in corporate and intellectual property litigation.

Carole Fakhry, Med '03, SPH '06, is one of the leading scientists behind a study identifying a possible marker for recurring HPV-linked oropharyngeal cancer. The study was covered in the February issue of Cancer Prevention Research.

Allison Larson, Engr '03 (BS/MS), Med '08, was promoted to assistant dean of academic affairs at Boston University School of Medicine, where she is an assistant professor of dermatology.

Gavin Macgregor-Skinner, SPH '03, joined Abt Associates, an authority on global threats from infectious disease, as senior global health security adviser. Macgregor-Skinner remains an assistant professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey.

Shachi K. Mankodi, A&S '03, senior counsel in Broad and Cassel's Fort Lauderdale law office, was elected to the executive council of the Florida Bar's Health Law Section and was appointed vice chair of the Broward County Bar Association's Women in Leadership Committee.

2004

Claudia Kretchmer, A&S '04 (MA), co-president of the Johns Hopkins Phoenix regional alumni chapter, received an award from the Women's Jewelry Association for her work at Steven Kretchmer, the jewelry company started by her late stepfather.

2005

Joseph M. Selba, A&S '05, joined Tydings & Rosenberg as counsel in the Baltimore law firm's departments of bankruptcy/creditors' rights and litigation.

Allen R. Tackett, A&S '05, a U.S. Department of State Foreign Service officer, was posted to Lima, Peru, as a political officer in July.

2006

Rajesh Panjabi, SPH '06, was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People for 2016. His global organization, Last Mile Health, aims to put health care workers within reach in order to save lives in the world's most remote villages.

2008

Ya He, Bus '08 (MS/Cert), founded Alpha STEM, a Northern Virginia–based company that provides programs and events to help gifted children meet their potential.

Swanzeta "Swann" Nciweni, Bus '08, A&S '08, '09 (MAG/MBA), founded the organization Untappedhope in 2015 to empower governments, community members, and service providers to create sustainable and safe global water resources. In August, she traveled to Haiti to provide water filtration systems for families in the country's central region.

Raffi Wartanian, A&S '08, a multiplatform storyteller, produced a video titled "A Void" that explores the intersection of music and genocide in the context of Turkish politics. Featured on the World Policy Institute blog and on The Huffington Post, the video highlights fellow Armenian-American Ara Dinkjian, who travels the world playing Ottoman Armenian music.

2009

Liz Specht, Engr '09, is a senior scientist at the Good Food Institute, a food science organization in Washington, D.C. She works to identify and address areas of need for plant-based and cultured scientific innovation, and encourages funding agencies to prioritize research that aids companies like Beyond Meat, a leader in the plant protein movement.

2010

Anne Mumford Chiruvolu, A&S '10, and her husband, Pramode Chiruvolu, Engr '09, welcomed their first child, Marina, in July. The family resides in California.

Anna Johnston, A&S '10, and Chris Mihalsky, Engr '10, were married on May 28 at a wedding in Washington, D.C., officiated by Rob Doverspike, Engr '10, '11 (MSE). In the Blue Jay–filled wedding party, Abigail Tonge Genovese, A&S '10, was matron of honor, and John S. "Jack" Berger IV, A&S '10, was best man.

Jordan Isaac Litner, A&S '10, manages the Global Innovation Index's reporting and marketing efforts. The GII is an annual report that measures levels of innovation in global economies. It is co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD graduate business school, and the World Intellectual Property Organization. Litner helped coordinate the ninth annual worldwide launch of the GII on August 15 at the United Nations Office in Geneva.

Lee Ouyang, Engr '10, a student at Eastern Virginia Medical School, was elected vice chair of the American Medical Association Medical Student Section in June.

2011

Christine Y. Kim, SPH '11, received the National Security Education Program's David L. Boren Fellowship, which supports fields of study, particularly languages, identified as vital to U.S. national security. The award will allow Kim to travel to Uganda, where she plans to immerse herself in Swahili and Luganda and to evaluate a community-based family planning and HIV services project.

2012

Kimberly A. Moore, Bus '12 (MBA), and David Auerbach, A&S '12 (MS), Bus '12 (MBA), were married on September 10 in Leesburg, Virginia. She is a project director for AstraZeneca, and he is a project manager for MedImmune.

Sarah Mae Smith, A&S '12, a student at UC Irvine School of Medicine, was elected a delegate of the American Medical Association Medical Student Section in June. She will lead the section's caucus at the AMA House of Delegates.

2014

Kerry Holahan, Peab '14 (MM), soprano, was featured in the American Bach Soloists Festival performance of Bach's Mass in B Minor on August 7 at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in San Francisco.

2015

Audrey Buckland, SPH '15; Isaac Lief, SPH '15; and Julien Xuereb, Peab '15 (MM), are members of Baltimore Popscope, a multicity movement that aims to reconnect diverse urban communities to the night sky and to each other through pop-up astronomy nights in public spaces. The team in Baltimore is working with mentors at Johns Hopkins University's Social Innovation Lab to make the group a permanent fixture in the city.

Jesse Chen, Engr '15, A&S '16, curated vintage political cartoons while working in the Special Collections and Archives of the Sheridan Libraries after graduating from Johns Hopkins with a Writing Seminars major in May. She recently relocated to San Francisco for a public relations job at Sard Verbinnen & Co.

Angelica Sogor, Ed '15 (Cert/MEd), was named One to Watch by the Association for Talent Development in August 2016. She works for the Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies in Maryland, where she designs, develops, and manages maritime training curricula.