CLASS NOTES

1952

Gerald S. Spear, Med '52 (MD), HS '59, released Yosi: The Life and Times of Josef Hassid, an intimate biography about his cousin and legendary violinist whose professional career was cut short by schizophrenia. This complimentary e-book chronicles Hassid's life from his early childhood in Poland, to his studies with Carl Flesch, and his experiences in the Blitz during World War II.

1963

Cornelius "Neal" Grove, A&S '63, '64 (MEd), published his third book, A Mirror for Americans, in September with Rowman & Littlefield. The book investigates why American students perform at a mediocre level on international tests by comparing American preschool and primary school teaching with approximate grade levels in East Asia. Grove also contributed entries on cross-cultural pedagogy to two new encyclopedias: the International Encyclopedia of Intercultural Communication and the Encyclopedia of Intercultural Competence.

Alan Sorkin, A&S '63, '64 (MA), '66 (PhD), professor emeritus at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, received the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association's 2019 Heritage Award for exceptional and devoted service. The award was presented at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore in October 2019.

1967

Henry S. Cohn, A&S '67, a senior judge in the Connecticut Superior Court, co-authored "A Challenging Inheritance: The Fate of Mark Twain's Will," which was published in the Spring 2020 edition of the Mark Twain Journal. The article looks at the final years of Mark Twain's life in Connecticut from a legal perspective.

Joseph Napora, Bus '67, released his second book, The Mindful Guide to Managing Diabetes, published by the served on the governance/government relations and human resources and compensation committees. Napora served on the staff of the Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Diabetes Center for more than 25 years.

1975

Craig Thornton, A&S '75 (MA), '78 (PhD), was elected president of the Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis in January 2019. The society, which holds an annual conference and publishes a triannual journal titled Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, is dedicated to improving the theory and practice of that field.

1977

Eric A. Klein, A&S '77, received the 2020 Richard D. Williams, MD Prostate Cancer Research Excellence Award from the Urology Care Foundation for contributions to prostate cancer research. He also received the 2020 SUO Medal from the Society of Urologic Oncology, which recognizes career contributions to the field. He is currently chair of the Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute of the Cleveland Clinic.

Warren C. Lovinger, Med '77 (MD), retired from his office and hospital practice of internal medicine on Dec. 31, 2019. He earned the Certified Physician Executive designation during his career and hopes to continue serving as an advocate for rural health care.

1978

Martin J. Geitz, A&S '78, was elected chair of the board of directors of Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston in February. Geitz was previously the executive regional director of Liberty Bank and served as president and CEO of the Simsbury Bank & Trust Company of Simsbury before it was acquired by Liberty Bank in 2019. A member of Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston's board of directors since 2014, Geitz has led the board's risk committee and American Diabetes Association in October 2019.

Enrique Hernandez, HS '78, '81, Med '83 (PGF), an obstetrician-gynecologist at Temple Health, was inducted into the Academy of Master Surgeon Educators of the American College of Surgeons in 2019.

William A. Owings, Ed '78 (MA), professor of educational leadership at Old Dominion University and distinguished fellow of the National Education Finance Academy, received Old Dominion University's A. Rufus Tonelson Award, the highest honor ODU can bestow on a professor for research, teaching, and service.

1980

Robin A. Sykes, Med '80 (MD), a board-certified plastic surgeon, illustrated a children's book called Macgregor and the Sea Turtles, written by Nancy Macgregor and released in October 2019 by Friesen Press.

1981

Emmett F. McGee Jr., A&S '81, was featured in the Chambers USA 2020 Guide, a publication ranking the leading lawyers and law firms across the country. McGee is a principal in the Baltimore office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He represents employers in all aspects of employment law and human resources management, including employment discrimination, wage and hour issues, and affirmative action planning.

1982

John T. Repke, HS '82, Med '84 (PGF), established an annual lectureship, "The John T. Repke, MD, FACOG Lectureship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine," in October at Penn State University, where he was chairman of the OB/GYN Department from 2002 to 2017. The lectureship will provide an annual forum for students, residents, and faculty to learn from prominent physicians working in specialty areas and in the general field of women's health.

1984

Joyce Chaplin, A&S '84 (MA), '87 (PhD), the James Duncan Phillips Professor of Early American History at Harvard University, was inducted into the American Philosophical Society.

1986

Rosemary Tuck, Peab '86 (MM), wrote about Beethoven's favorite pupil, Carl Czerny, for International Piano and Limelight magazines. She is recording a series of albums featuring the music of Czerny and his recently discovered manuscripts housed in Vienna's Gesellschaft Der Musikfreunde.

1988

Jeannine E. Johnson-Maia, SAIS Eur '88 (Cert), SAIS '89 (MA), published the English translation of her novel, Rossio Square N.°59, in March. It takes place in turbulent Lisbon during WWII and revolves around two intertwining stories: that of Claire, who encounters a dangerous secret while fleeing wartime France, and that of Antonio, a waiter who becomes involved in an anti-Nazi sabotage operation. The novel was originally published in 2018 in Portugal, where she now lives and writes.

1991

Alison M. Parker, A&S '91 (MA), '94 (PhD), the Richards Professor of American History at the University of Delaware, will release her book Unceasing Militant: The Life of Mary Church Terrell in January 2021. Terrell was an often underrecognized civil rights activist, the first president of the National Association of Colored Women, and a founding member of the NAACP.

1992

Matthew D'Amario, A&S '92, successfully defended his dissertation, Recovering the Pneumatological Title of the Finger of God: Biblical and Patristic Origins and Implications for the Sacraments. He was awarded a ThD degree from the Providence Theological School in December 2019.

1994

Benjamin Matis, Peab '94, edited the newly published academic anthology Studies in Polish Jewry Volume 32: Jews and Music- Making in the Polish Lands. With five thematic sections covering genres from liturgical to classical to pop to klezmer, the volume's essays provide an original and much needed exploration of the activities and creativity of musicians of the Jewish faith.

Marija Temo, Peab '94 (MM), a flamenco and classical guitarist, singer, and dancer performed in the second round of finals of the NBC Telemundo La Voz U.S. competition. The competition took place on March 29.

Diego Wyszynski, SPH '94 (MPH), '96 (PhD), Med '97 (PGF), is the principal investigator and executive director of the International Registry of Coronavirus Exposure in Pregnancy. The IRCEP provides information about COVID-19 and pregnancy, including a chatroom for one-on-one interactions, and will soon register pregnant or recently pregnant women who were tested for SARS-CoV-2 or had a clinical diagnosis of COVID-19. The IRCEP is backed by a distinguished scientific advisory committee of world-class experts in pregnancy and COVID-19 from various countries.

1997

Michael Frakes, Nurs '97, and Malisa Iannino Frakes are happy to announce that their son Gabriele was born on July 23, 2019, in Boston. Gabriele joins his brother, Charlie, who just turned 3. Michael is chief quality officer and director of clinical care for Boston MedFlight, and Malisa is a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.

1998

Joseph Gruber, A&S '98 (MS), '02 (PhD), joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas in May as executive vice president and director of research. Gruber comes from the Federal Reserve System's board of governors, where he served as deputy director of the International Finance Division.

2000

Kristen Toedtman, Peab '00 (MM), directs the Community Chorus of Peabody, a choir that brings adults of all ages and backgrounds to make music together in Baltimore City. The group gave a virtual performance of "We Shall Be Known" by MaMuse in March.

2001

Nettie Owens, Engr '01, a certified professional organizer in chronic disorganization and founder of Momentum Millionaire Network, was quoted in a viral April 2020 article, "10 Tips From CEOs on Working From Home Effectively and Happily," on Entrepreneur Magazine's website.

2003

Miriam Marwick, Engr '03 (MS), '09 (PhD), research staff member at the Institute for Defense Analyses, was among the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association International's "40 Under 40" award winners for 2020. This program recognizes an employee's significant contributions in a STEM field by providing innovation, thought leadership, and support to their client or organizations using information technology.

2006

Devin Gray, Peab '06, was featured in the March issue of DownBeat, a magazine dedicated to jazz and blues, and spoke about the experience with jazz drummer Gerald Cleaver in a live discussion called Shed Threads on April 3 on Instagram and Facebook.

2007

Lewis Patzner, Peab '07, was featured in an article titled "Going Freelance: What It Takes to Make It as a String Player in the Gig Economy" in the March/April issue of Strings magazine. He and his fellow musicians in the Town Quartet discussed their lives as freelancers and their feelings about their career choices.

2008

Regina Galasso, A&S '08 (PhD), associate professor of Spanish and Portuguese Studies and director of the Translation Center at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, was recently featured in an interview with Words Without Borders, an online magazine for international literature.

Finbarr Malafronte, Peab '08, '09 (MM), released a new album, Maestros of the Baroque, on April 17 with the label Quartz. The album features Malafronte's arrangements of music by Jean-Philippe Rameau and Domenico Scarlatti.

Ian Rosenbaum, Peab '08, Victor Caccese, Peab '11, and Terrence Sweeney, Peab '13, along with their colleague Jonathan Allen, make up the quartet Sandbox Percussion. Starting in March, the quartet began a series of livestreams from their respective homes each Sunday on Facebook.

2009

Evan L. Adams, SPH '09 (MPH), is the chief medical officer of the First Nations Health Authority in British Columbia, Canada, and is joining Indigenous Services Canada for a two-year appointment as deputy chief medical officer of public health. Adams will be working with Tom Wong, director general and chief medical officer of public health, First Nation and Inuit Health Branch, Government of Canada.

2011

Jacomo Bairos, Peab '11 (GPD), and the Nu Deco Ensemble were featured in the Grammy Awards article "6 Classical Music Live Streaming Experiences to Ease Quarantine Anxiety" in April. The Nu Deco Ensemble continues to pay its musicians and lead educational programs.

Lee Hunter, Peab '11, '13 (MM), wrote a paper titled "Spirituals and Identity in the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement," which was accepted by the Society for Musicology in Ireland's 18th Annual Plenary Conference, taking place virtually from October 29 to 31. Hunter will present this paper as a lecture recital in collaboration with soprano Chelsea Buyalos, Peab '11, '12 (MM).

Gleb Kanasevich, Peab '11, participated as an audio engineer in Heartbeat Opera's virtual performance of Leonard Bernstein's masterpiece "Make Our Garden Grow," from Candide. He also played the clarinet and was the sound engineer in the group's virtual performance of Lady M, which was featured in The Washington Post.

Mark Meadows, A&S '11, Peab '11, '13 (GPD), performed "Birthday Edition Live Stream Concert" on March 27 through Facebook and Instagram Live. It included some of his favorite covers and originals, as well as requests from his previous concert.

Jacob P. Runestad, Peab '11 (MM), '12 (MM), released a new piece in April called "Elegy," written for conductor John Byun in remembrance of his unborn twin girls and explores the tradition of keening, a traditional vocal lament. Runestad released a recorded performance by the Riverside City College Chamber Singers at the 2020 American Choral Directors Association's Western Region Conference in early March.

2015

David Chentian, Peab '15 (MM), '15 (MM), '16 (GPD), recently released four new albums, Cello Spirit, Charming Cello, Magnificent Cello, and Melodious Cellotune. A student of Chentian's, Justin Lee, won the American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition at Carnegie Hall in 2019.

Robert Kahn, Peab '15, A&S '15, a conducting fellow at the Curtis Institute of Music, led student musicians at the conservatory in a virtual performance of "America the Beautiful" dedicated to health care workers.

2016

Taylor-Alexis Dupont, Peab '16 (MM), sang in Heartbeat Opera's virtual performance of Leonard Bernstein's masterpiece, "Make Our Garden Grow," from Candide. She also performed as one of the Weird Sisters in the group's virtual production of Lady M, which was featured in The Washington Post.

2017

Ryan Mandado, Ed '17 (MS), helped start a new public charter school in Hawaii, DreamHouse 'Ewa Beach, and serves as its chief academic officer. The school enrolls predominantly Native Hawaiian students with the mission to empower future leaders for their island communities. Prior to this position, Mandado was the Special Education Department head at James Campbell High School in 'Ewa Beach. In this role, he supported 30 "SPEDucators" who served 300 students in special education across multiple settings.

Melody Quah, Peab '17 (DMA), joined the Penn State School of Music as assistant professor of music beginning in August. She teaches graduate and undergraduate piano students, including piano literature courses.

2019

Dominic Redd, Ed '19 (MS), was appointed middle school director at the Maret School in Washington, D.C.

2020

Mofan Lai, Peab '20, was one of three recipients of the 2020 Johns Hopkins University President's Commendation for Achievement in the Arts, a service award established in 1989 by then Johns Hopkins President Steven Muller to honor a graduating senior who has contributed extensively to the arts by service to the Homewood and/or Baltimore communities.

John R. Porter, Ed '20 (EdD), president of Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Illinois, was elected to the Midwest BankCentre St. Charles Advisory Board in May. Previously, Porter worked at IBM for 33 years, the last 15 in senior management. Immediately prior to joining Lindenwood University in 2019, he was vice president of services for Gulf Business Machines, a premier IBM business partner, in Dubai. He has served as a member of the board of trustees at Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri, where he earned his bachelor's degree.

Matthew Wecht, Ed '20 (MS), a history and computer science teacher, is launching the first computer science department at Freedom Preparatory Academy Charter School in Camden, New Jersey.