Class notes

1960

Robert H. Gaither, A&S '60 , received a proclamation and a key to the city of Albemarle, North Carolina, for his contributions to the community. He received his medical degree from George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences and spent nine years in the U.S. Army as a major in the Medical Corps. He practiced obstetrics and gynecology at Stanly Regional Medical Center for more than 50 years and continues to serve there as physician emeritus.

1966

Joan Carole Hand, A&S '66 (MA), authored her fourth book of poems, Mommy and Other Poems, published in 2021 by Finishing Line Press. Her previous works include the chapbooks Entrances to Nowhere (1977), The Facts of Life (1987), and East of July (2004), all published by Cross-Cultural Communications. She is a retired English instructor who taught at Stony Brook University, Empire State College, C.W. Post, the New York Institute of Technology, SUNY Suffolk, Penn State, the University of Iowa, and Southampton College. She met her husband, David Axelrod, A&S '66 (MA), while they were both students in the Writing Seminars.

1967

John Carlos Rowe, A&S '67 , is USC Associates' Professor of the Humanities and professor of English, American Studies and Ethnicity, and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California. His most recent book, Henry James in Fiction, Film, and Popular Culture, was published by Routledge in July 2022. It is his fourth book on Henry James and his 10th scholarly book.

Vaughn Stelzenmuller, Engr '67 , published his new book Profiles in Smart-Aleck: Why Doesn't It Rain Beer? in November 2022 by Omega Man Press. He noted that he "always used the author name Rod A. Walters because his real name is too long to fit on a book's spine." He also credited his Hopkins education with teaching him to "write well with humor to make serious points."

Arthur Weinman, A&S '67 , who founded his architectural firm 40 years ago in Forth Worth, Texas, received a 2022 Merit Design Award from the Fort Worth Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The award was for the firm's design of the Lipscomb County Courthouse restoration, completed in December 2021. The 1916 building qualified for a Texas Historical Courthouse Preservation grant for its restoration. Weinman is the recipient of numerous awards for his work and is a member of the American Institute of Architects and the Texas Society of Architects, among many other civic and professional organizations.

1978

William Owings, Ed '78 (MS), is professor of educational leadership at Old Dominion University (ODU) and plans to retire at the end of the academic year after 50 years in education. He worked in public education for 26 years, as a teacher, elementary and high school principal, assistant superintendent, and superintendent, and in higher education for 24 years—three years at Longwood University and the past 21 at ODU. He and his wife, Leslie Kaplan, have researched and written together for more than 25 years, and their 17th book, Critical Resource Theory: A Conceptual Lens for Identifying, Diagnosing, and Addressing Inequities in School Funding, was published in October 2022 by Routledge. In 2019, he received ODU's A. Rufus Tonelson Award, the school's highest award for a faculty member for scholarship, research, teaching, and service. He is the treasurer and a Distinguished Fellow of the National Education Finance Academy.

1980

Arthur P. Bertolino, Med '80 (MD), '82 (PGF), '83 (PhD), was appointed in September 2022 chief medical officer of CytoAgents, a clinical stage, privately held biotech firm. Previously, he was chief medical officer at Innovation Pharmaceuticals Inc., where he was responsible for clinical and operational guidance for drug development and accountable for all business functions and clinical activities. He has held leadership positions at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research as vice president and global head of translational medicine for autoimmunity, immunology, and dermatology; at Revance Therapeutics as chief medical officer; at Peplin Inc. as vice president, medical affairs; and at Pfizer as senior director.

1981

Robert Lenhard, A&S '81 , a partner in the election and political law practice group at Covington & Burling, was appointed to the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts by President Joe Biden. Lenhard was a member of the JHU Barnstormers and performed onstage at Shriver Hall.

1984

Robert A. Bechhofer, Ed '84 (MS), is rabbi of Congregation Anshei Palisades in Rockland County, New York, where he lives with his wife and near some of their children and grandchildren. He earned a doctorate from the University of Huddersfield in 2019 based on his book The Contemporary Eruv: Eruvin in Modern Metropolitan Areas, which was reissued in its fourth edition in 2021. He credits a paper he wrote during an independent study at Johns Hopkins, "Judaism and Counseling Comparisons and Perspectives," as the starting point to a long, prolific career of writing articles and books.

1985

David Biderman, A&S '85 , is executive director/CEO of the Solid Waste Association of North America. In September 2022, he spoke at the International Solid Waste Association's World Congress in Singapore, where he discussed U.S. efforts to improve worker safety in the solid waste industry and potential lessons for countries in the developing world.

1988

JHU trustees Heather Miller (formerly Heather Hay Murren), A&S '88 and William H. Miller III married on June 21, 2022. Heather has been a JHU trustee since 2013 and has been chair of the JHU Applied Physics Lab Board of Managers since 2021. Bill majored in economics and European history at Washington and Lee University, graduating with honors in 1972. He later served as a military intelligence officer overseas and studied at Johns Hopkins before turning to his career in investments. Please join the JHU family in congratulating Bill and Heather!

1992

Amy Chen, Med '92 (MD), is the Willard and Lillian Hackerman Professor of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at Emory University School of Medicine and a member of Winship Cancer Institute's Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program. She received the Margaret Butler Outstanding Mentor of Women in Head and Neck Surgery Award from the American Head and Neck Society for promoting gender diversity in the field.

Myint Htwe, BSPH '92 (DrPH), authored Tackling the Challenges of the Healthcare Delivery System in Developing Countries, published in September 2022 through the Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance Network. In addition, he has published Reflections of a Public Health Professional and Health System Challenges: A Developing Country Perspective. Htwe is formerly union minister for health and sports and a staff member of the Ministry of Health, both in Myanmar. He also was the director program management of the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia. He was named a Distinguished Hopkins Alumnus in 2020.

1993

Tatiana Klein, Peab '93, Ed '17 (MS), '18 (Cert), a Spanish teacher at the Key School in Annapolis, Maryland, was named Volunteer of the Year by the Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County.

1995

Adriana Blanco, A&S '95 , and several classmates were part of a 12-member team that competed in the Reach the Beach Ragnar Relay road race in New Hampshire in September 2022. Blanco was joined by Marc Vaillant, Engr '95, '97 (MS), Med '08 (PhD); Mike Winters, Engr '95; Amy Waters, Engr '95, '97 (MS), '01 (PhD); Juri Pyun Schauermann, Engr '95; Salil Pradhan, A&S '95; and Ed Benson, Engr '95 , for the race, which started in Bretton Woods and finished 200 miles away in Hampton Beach.

Howard Turner, Engr '95 , was named North American director of energy preconstruction services for Trane Technologies. He and his team conceptualize, scope, and ensure the constructability of projects that advance client sustainability and decarbonization efforts.

1996

Rashid Chotani, BSPH '96 (MPH), '97 (PGF), Med '99 (PGF), is chief science officer and vice president of medical affairs at Carelife Medical, chief science officer at Washington Vascular Services, and adjunct professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. In November 2022, he received the Pride of Pakistan–Medal of Excellence Award from the president of Pakistan. He was recognized for his public health, post-disaster, and health-related philanthropy work conducted over the past two decades.

1998

Merrill Warschoff Press, A&S '98 (MA), is senior vice president of development and innovation at the National Association of Community Health Centers, which promotes efficient, high-quality, comprehensive health care that is accessible, culturally and linguistically competent, community-directed, and patient-centered for more than 30 million medically underserved people. Press has more than 20 years of experience as a consultant to community health centers on a variety of policy, legislative, fundraising, and business development issues.

1999

Brian Erling, Med '99 (MD), is CEO and president of Renown Health, Nevada's largest not-for-profit integrated health care network, which also serves Lake Tahoe and northeast California. He has more than two decades of experience in leading teams in diverse health care settings, including at Centura Health and Envision Healthcare and as a founding partner of Apex Emergency Group in Denver. He also served as medical director for Denver-based American Medical Response. Erling is board-certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine.

2002

Michael Walsh, A&S '02, SAIS'03 (Cert), '04 (MA), is senior adjunct fellow at Pacific Forum and affiliate researcher at the Center for Australian, New Zealand, and Pacific Studies at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. An expert in Pacific studies, he was interviewed about the U.S.-Pacific Island Country Summit, hosted by President Biden in September 2022, on Government Matters, a multiplatform news program.

2003

Jasmine Bridges, Engr '03 , is pursuing an MBA at Hult International Business School in London. Previously, she was a renewable energy researcher for Tacoma Power and an engineer for the Boeing Co. before founding her own consulting business. She consults with governments, companies, and organizations in manufacturing, technology development, and technology transition.

2004

Ian Bartman, Ed '04 (MA), principal attorney at Offit Kurman, was appointed chair of the board of trustees of the Community Foundation of Frederick County. The Community Foundation connects people with causes that enrich the quality of life in the county now and for future generations. In 2022, the foundation awarded more than $6.3 million in grants to nonprofits and $1.8 million in scholarships to high school graduates continuing their education. At Offit, Bartman's practice focuses on commercial litigation matters, construction law, real estate litigation matters, land use and zoning matters, estate litigation, and commercial landlord-tenant matters.

2006

Priscilla K. Brastianos, Med '06 (MD), HS '07, is director of the Central Nervous System Metastasis Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she leads a multi-R01-funded laboratory. Her research focuses on understanding the genomic mechanisms that drive primary and metastatic brain tumors, and she has led studies that have identified novel therapeutic targets in brain tumors. She was recently named to the scientific advisory board of Kazia Therapeutics, an oncology-focused drug development company.

2008

Andrew McIntyre, Bus '08 (MBA), is senior managing director of development for RangeWater Real Estate, a multifamily company headquartered in Atlanta, with developments across the Sun Belt and Mountain West. McIntyre has two decades of professional experience in the construction industry, based in the Washington, D.C., market.

2009

Rozalina Grubina McCoy, Med '09 (MD), is associate professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic and also a practicing primary care physician, endocrinologist, and health services researcher in Rochester, Minnesota. She received the 2022 Minnesota Rural Health Hero Award for her work as medical director of the Mayo Clinic Ambulance Community Paramedic Service. The program delivers essential medical care to people experiencing homelessness, rural residents, and other patients in need of acute and chronic illness care.

2010

Andrew Farber-Miller, A&S '10 , completed his medical residency in emergency medicine at the Lehigh Valley Health Network, and married Sarah Kerestes, an ICU nurse, both in June 2022. He is a fellow in emergency medicine with a toxicology specialty at the Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

2012

Karina Lipsman, Engr '12 (MS), was a candidate for Congress from Virginia's 8th District in the November 2022 election. A Ukranian-born U.S. citizen, Lipsman has worked in the financial and national defense fields and serves as a member of the JHU Alumni Council.

2014

Alyssa Dittmar, A&S '14, BSPH '17 (MHS), is director of CSD Health, a new division of Communication Service for the Deaf prioritizing equitable and accessible health care for the deaf community. She also is an adjunct professor in the School of Science, Technology, Accessibility, Mathematics, and Public Health at Gallaudet University. In 2022, she was named a "40 Under 40" honoree by the Baltimore Business Journal.

James E. Fanto, A&S '14 , is an associate in the broker-dealer litigation practice group at Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick in their Sarasota, Florida, office. He was recognized in the 2021 edition of The Best Lawyers in America as "One to Watch" for litigation— securities.

Edward Gerety, Bus '14 (MBA), received a doctorate in business administration from Drexel University in June 2022.

Thomas Kelly, Bus '14 (MBA), is managing director on the health care solutions team at FTI Consulting Inc., headquartered in Washington, D.C., with locations in 31 countries.

2015

Gerard Battersby, Bus '15 (MS), was promoted to lead data scientist and solution engineer in the strategic accounts area for the Midwest, West, and Canadian regions of Celonis, a decacorn software startup headquartered in Munich and New York City. The company is the market leader in process mining and AI/MLenhanced execution management with more than 500 clients and valued at $13 billion.

J.D. Merrill, Ed '15 (MS), '16 (Cert), founded a consulting firm to support schools, school districts, and charter management organizations. Julia Ellis, Ed '20 (MS), joined the firm as a consultant.

2019

Endia Santee Crabtree, A&S '19 (MLA), is senior clinical evaluation scientist, peripheral interventions clinical product risk at Boston Scientific, a position she accepted in March 2022. Also last year, she was selected as a member of the inaugural Diversity and Inclusion Assessment Task Force of the American Medical Writers Association and was elected to the board and secretary of the Cincinnati Dry Dredgers, an association of amateur geologists and fossil collectors. She earned a master's degree in public health education from the University of Michigan-Flint and a doctorate in public health education from the University of Cincinnati.

2020

Rachel Webber Holm, A&S '20 (MA), is a communications associate with ACCELERATE, a USAID/PEPFAR-funded project implemented through the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The project aims to improve the quality of life for people living with HIV and end the AIDS epidemic in India by 2030. Holm is an experienced science writer and was a science communication fellow at Hiroshima University.

John Porter, Ed '20 (EdD), is president of Lindenwood University in Saint Charles, Missouri. He was featured in an article in the Aug. 18, 2022, St. Louis Business Journal titled "Lindenwood Inc.: Facing declining enrollment and revenue, ex-IBM exec turns university itself into a business. Here's how."

2021

Nhat Le, A&S '21 (MS), finished sixth at the World Chinese Chess Tournament in Malaysia and became an International Chinese Chess Master. He is a member of the U.S. National Team, which finished in second place in the team tournament for the first time in history.