CLASS NOTES

1957

Ethan L. Welch, Med '57 (MD), published Quackonomics!: The Cost of Unscientific Health Care in the U.S. … and Other Fraud Found Along the Way in January 2020 with Page Publishing Inc. The book examines the quackery practiced under the cover of complementary and integrative medicine.

1960

Alan L. Powdermaker, A&S '60, a recipient of the 1985 Johns Hopkins Heritage Award, published Journeys With Max: Life Skills for Young People—Understanding Money in October with Clovercroft Publishing. The book seeks to teach children about financial literacy and money management.

1962

Michael H. Cohen, A&S '62, Med '65 (MD), was one of the 2019 recipients of the Ellis Island Medals of Honor for career achievement in medicine. Each year, the Ellis Island Honors Society recognizes 100 Americans who are committed to using their time, talents, and resources to help those less fortunate than they and who have distinguished themselves in their own ethnic group while exemplifying the values and spirit of America.

1963

Erwin A. Bondareff, Med '63 (PGF), retired from his practice after 56 years as a pediatrician in Alexandria.

1964

Harry Finley, A&S '64, reports that thousands of items in the archive of the Museum of Menstruation, which he operated from his house between 1994 to 1998, are being acquired by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. The Museum of Menstruation website was recently selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in its historic collection of internet materials related to the Women's and Gender Studies Web Archive.

1967

Sergio Cervetti, Peab '67, released Mortal Dreams in October 2020. The album, with four vocal works, is his ninth CD on Navona Records.

1971

Alexander Rosenberg, A&S '71 (PhD), published his third novel, The Intrigues of Jennie Lee, in May 2020 through Top Hat Books. The historical-political thriller reimagines the life of Scottish politician Jennie Lee during 1930s Britain. Rosenberg is also the author of two academic books, How History Gets Things Wrong: The Neuroscience of Our Addiction to Stories, published by MIT Press in 2018, and Reduction and Mechanism, published by Cambridge University Press in April 2020. He is the R. Taylor Cole Professor of Philosophy at Duke University.

Peter M. Swartz, SAIS '71 (MA), received the Naval Historical Foundation's prestigious Commodore Dudley W. Knox Naval History Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020 for his lifelong body of work in the field of U.S. naval history. Swartz is an expert on 20th- and 21st-century Navy strategy, policy, and operations and on general military history, organization, and culture.

1973

Jeffrey A. Gelfand, HS '73, a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and part-time professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, is actively involved in laboratory research again and recently reopened a government-funded laboratory.

Robert "Bob" Gribbin, SAIS '73 (MA), former U.S. ambassador to Rwanda and the Central African Republic, released his novel, The Last Rhino, in April 2020. The adventure story touches upon wildlife conservation in the Democratic Republic of Congo and reflects Gribbin's 50 years of experiences in Africa.

1977

Carol Bogash, Peab '77 (MA), received the eighth annual Frank Miller Spirit of Partnership Award from the United Way of Central Maryland for work by her and her graduate students at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, to help find solutions to the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) crisis in Maryland.

Henry T. Wasserman, Med '77 (MD), SPH '84 (MPH), HS '85, retired after 25 years as a public health physician and epidemiologist with the Ministry of Health in his home country of Costa Rica and relocated to Miami to be closer to his children and grandchildren.

1978

Peter S. Conti, A&S '78, HS '90, Med '91 (PGF), a professor of radiology and director of the Molecular Imaging Center at the University of Southern California, was awarded the 2020 Benedict Cassen Prize during the annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. The award is bestowed every two years by the Education and Research Foundation for Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging for outstanding innovations in nuclear medicine science. Conti was honored for his pioneering work in the diagnosis and management of cancer, as well as his volunteerism and service to the molecular imaging community.

Gary S. Ledley, Engr '78, accepted the position of regional director of clinical cardiology services for the Tower Health System in Southeastern Pennsylvania. He continues to practice general, invasive, and interventional cardiology in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, and is a professor of medicine at the Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia.

Steven F. Rubin, A&S '78, was the recipient of the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians. Rubin is a family and sports medicine physician in Paramus, New Jersey, and has served as a clinical professor of family medicine, director of manipulative medicine, and in other faculty positions at several colleges of osteopathic medicine.

1979

Stuart W. Davidson, A&S '79, a partner at Willig, Williams & Davidson—a Pennsylvania labor, employment, and workers' compensation law firm—will serve as a co-chair of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy Advisory Board. In 2018, Davidson joined the advisory board of LAANE, which is the largest social justice advocacy group on the West Coast. In 2019, he was honored at the organization's City of Justice Awards in Los Angeles, which recognize outstanding leaders who help to improve the lives of working people.

1983

Peter C. Ho, A&S '83, released a book in June 2020 titled Making Our Home Across the Seas. The collection of essays and short stories details his parents' journey of living in Asia, Europe, and North America using translations of their first-person accounts. At a time when the value of immigration in the United States is under question, even assault, the book is a timely reminder of the wealth of perspective, experience, and commitment that immigrants bring to America.

1984

William M. Alley, Engr '84 (PhD), and his wife, Rosemarie Alley, published their third general-interest environmental science book, The War on the EPA: America's Endangered Environmental Protections, with Rowman & Littlefield in January 2020. The book examines hurdles faced by the EPA in tackling modern environmental issues, delving into the science, politics, and human dimension of these and other problems.

1988

Lia Logio, A&S '88, Med '92 (MD), was named the vice dean at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine on July 1, 2020, having previously served as chair of the Department of Medicine at Drexel University. She also became director of Case Western Reserve's Center for Medical Education.

1990

Michael P. Boyle, Med '90 (MD), HS '94, Med '99 (PGF), A&S '18 (Cert), became president and CEO of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation on Jan. 1, 2020. Prior to this appointment, Boyle served as the foundation's senior vice president of therapeutics development.

1994

Joan M. Duwve, Med '94 (MD), became the director of public health at the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. Duwve was previously the associate dean of practice for the Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health in Indianapolis. She is grateful for all of her public health and health care colleagues who have been working long hours under extraordinarily challenging and heartbreaking circumstances.

1995

Michael Hersch, Peab '95, '97 (MM), had a filmed production of his opera On the Threshold of Winter, featuring Ah Hong, Peab '98, '01 (MM), become publicly available in its entirety online in June. The monodrama in two acts adapts Marin Sorescu's collection of poems, The Bridge.

1998

Andrew Parasiliti, SAIS '98 (PhD), is president of the award-winning Middle East news site Al-Monitor, host of the Al-Monitor podcast On the Middle East, and an adjunct political scientist at the RAND Corp.

1999

Inna Faliks, Peab '99, '01 (MM), '03 (GPD), a concert pianist and professor of piano performance at UCLA, has been presenting weekly online "Corona Fridays" concerts. She also wrote an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times titled "How Isolation Is a Golden Opportunity for Musicians."

2000

Dawn Graham, Bus '00 (MS), the director of career development for the executive MBA program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, published Switchers: How Smart Professionals Change Careers—and Seize Success through AMACOM in June 2018. Her show, Dr. Dawn on Switching Careers, airs on SiriusXM, and she contributes weekly columns to Forbes.com.

2003

Michael M. McGovern, A&S '03, became the deputy general counsel at Vault Health Inc., a health care startup focused on COVID-19 testing and men's health, in August 2020. Previously, McGovern was an employee benefits and executive compensation attorney at Jones Day, an international law firm.

2006

William Mezzanotte, SPH '06 (MPH), head of research and development and chief medical officer at global biotech company CSL Behring, was appointed to the board of directors at the University City Science Center in Philadelphia. The Science Center is a mission-driven nonprofit that commercializes promising technology, cultivates talent, and convenes people to inspire action.

2007

Jennifer Yang, A&S '07 (MS), a management consultant, joined the board of directors of the Mid-Atlantic Gigabit Innovation Collaboratory in August 2020. As an entrepreneur, Yang was a winner in the 2020 Carroll Biz Challenge with her business concept for a nano distillery in Westminster, Maryland, called Covalent Spirits. MAGIC is headquartered in Westminster and works to build a tech ecosystem that creates and nurtures talent, entrepreneurship, and tech businesses, elevating the Westminster gigabit community to lead the Mid-Atlantic region.

2009

Peter Folliard, Peab '09 (MM), was appointed the inaugural dean for the Augustana University School of Music in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in May 2020. Folliard originally joined the university in 2017 as the conductor of the Augustana Orchestra. He also created Augustana's world-class recording studio, Studio 47, which produces a number of podcasts and recordings.

Che Parker, A&S '09 (MA), released a new novel called The Peregrine in May 2020. The book is about a teenage girl growing up in Washington, D.C., who discovers she has supernatural powers. This is his third book.

Colin Sorgi, Peab '09, '13 (GPD); David Sexton, Peab '19, '20; and Andrew Bohman, Peab '20, were interviewed for The Baltimore Sun story "More Than 'Just Turning On a Camera': How Some of Baltimore's Liveliest Classical Music Livestreams Are Made," which examines the skills musicians need to livestream concerts.

2010

Thomas Kotcheff, Peab '10, of the Los Angeles–based piano duo HOCKET, along with Sarah Gibson, performed miniature compositions by 50 composers between June and September in a project titled "#What2020SoundsLike," which is meant as a musical response capturing the mental, emotional, physical, and sociological experiences of the year.

Oleg Svet, SAIS '10 (MA), published a novel called The Divine Madness in June 2020. At heart a love story, the book is infused with philosophical and psychological self-reflections informed by Svet's experience as a student at Johns Hopkins.

2011

Mark G. Meadows, A&S '11, Peab '11, '13 (GPD), was featured on WJLA-TV, a Washington, D.C., news station, for his song "Be the Change" in June 2020, and spoke about using music to spread a message of hope during an uncertain time. He has also been regularly performing livestreamed concerts from his porch.

2012

Jennifer Hughson, Peab '12 (MM); Stephanie Ray, Peab '12 (MM); Taylor Hillary Boykins, Peab '14 (MM); Randi Withani Roberts, Peab '16; and Tyrone Page Jr., Peab '16, '18 (MM), were featured on a virtual variety show in July 2020, by musical arts cooperative Mind on Fire in partnership with the Enoch Pratt Free Library. The variety show included art performances with music, poetry, prose, improvisation, opera, and puppetry.

2013

Norman Huynh, Peab '13 (MM), was appointed the new music director of Bozeman Symphony in Bozeman, Montana. He has been serving as the associate music director of the Oregon Symphony.

2015

Kristopher A. Kast, Med '15 (MD), an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, became the clinical director of the Addiction Consultation-Liaison Service at Vanderbilt University Hospital in 2020.

2016

Sean A. Meyers, Peab '16, is a founding member of the award-winning Vanguard Reed Quintet, which released its debut album Red Leaf Collection in June 2020. The full-length album features six world-premiere recordings of compositions for reed quintet, a chamber music ensemble comprising five woodwind instruments: oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bass clarinet, and bassoon.

2017

Nicholas Bentz, Peab '17, '18 (MM), was awarded the American Prize in Composition for orchestral music in the student division for his piece "A Cosmos in Stone, Respawning," commissioned by the Charleston Symphony.

Dilawer Singh, Engr '17 (MS), and his Punjabi spice company, Dil's, were featured on WMAR-TV in Baltimore. Singh had intended to open a brick-and-mortar Indian restaurant in 2020 after successful pop-up shops but postponed those plans due to the pandemic.

Ryo Usami, Peab '17, a violinist, joined "The President's Own" U.S. Marine Chamber Orchestra in Washington, D.C. He will continue to perform with the Santa Barbara Symphony as its principal second violin.

2018

Richard Drehoff, Peab '18 (MM), was commissioned by the Dina Koston and Roger Shapiro Fund for New Music at the Library of Congress to compose a piece for solo oboe, "shadow of a difference/ falling," as part of the Boccaccio Project: A Series of Musical Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The piece was performed and recorded virtually by Andrew Nogal of the Grossman Ensemble.

Warren Duffie Jr., A&S '18 (MA), published on Medium an article titled "The Haunting Beauty of the Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay." Written as part of his master's thesis, the article discussed the "ghost fleet" of wooden shipwrecks near his home in Southern Maryland.

2019

Jonathan T. Rush, Peab '19 (MM), and Daniel E. Sampson, Peab '19 (MM), are creative directors for the inaugural International Florence Price Festival, the first annual classical music festival in the U.S. named after a woman of color. It features discussions on the significance of Price and her contemporaries, as well as her music.

2020

Andrea Gonzalez Caballero, Peab '20 (GPD), collaborated remotely with composer Dustin Carlson to compose and perform Picture Wandering Ground for solo guitar in May 2020 as part of the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music's COVID-19 response to raise money for performers who have lost employment due to the pandemic.