Emory Magazine Winter 2024

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CONTENTS

THE

ART OF

BUSINESS AND THE BUSINESS OF ART

Emory alumna Sarah Arison, recently named board president at the Museum of Modern Art, stands as a powerful champion for emerging artists.

SHARING THE PATH TO KNOWLEDGE

From embracing the art of storytelling to practicing acts of “radical hospitality,”

Emory’s Center for Public Scholarship and Engagement seeks to make research and academic concepts accessible to all.

WEIGHING IN ON WEIGHT LOSS

Emory experts debunk popular fads and share proven, science-based tactics — including the many benefits of taking Ozempic or Wegovy — for improving your diet, fitness and overall health long-term.

40 UNDER FORTY

Meet the 2024 class of Emory's exceptional young alumni, singled out for their talents, drive and accomplishments.

Editor-in-Chief

Roger Slavens

Assistant Vice President, Content and Brand Story

Laura Douglas-Brown 95C 95G

Contributors

John Baker Brown, Melanie Buckmaster, Susan Carini 04G, Anna Chapman, Daniel Christian, Carol Clark, Martha Nolan, Georgia Parmelee, Michelle Ricker, Sylvie Wages

Production Manager Matilda Redfern

Advertising Manager Jarrett Epps

Art Director

Elizabeth Hautau Karp

Graphic Design

Elizah Huff

Selena Lim

Creative Director, Publications

Amanda C. Qubty

Photography Kay Hinton

Avery Spalding Sarah Woods

Vice President, Communications and Marketing Luke Anderson

University President Gregory L. Fenves

EMORY MAGAZINE (ISSN 00136727) is published by Emory’s Division of Communications and Marketing. Nonprofit postage paid at 3900 Crown Rd. SE, Atlanta, Georgia, 30304; and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Advancement and Alumni Engagement Office of Data Management, 1762 Clifton Road, Suite 1400, Atlanta, Georgia 30322.

Emory Magazine is distributed free to alumni and friends of the university. Address changes may be emailed to eurec@emory.edu or sent to the Advancement and Alumni Engagement Office of Data Management, 1762 Clifton Road, Suite 1400, Atlanta, GA 30322. If you are an individual with a disability and wish to acquire this publication in an alternative format, please contact Roger Slavens (address above).

No. 24-EU-EMAG-0068 ©2024, a publication of the Division of Communications and Marketing.

Emory University is an equal opportunity/equal access/ affirmative action employer fully committed to achieving a diverse workforce and complies with all applicable Federal and Georgia State laws, regulations, and executive orders regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action in its programs and activities. Emory University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnic or national origin, gender, genetic information, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and veteran's status. Inquiries should be directed to the Department of Equity and Inclusion, 201 Dowman Drive, Administration Bldg, Atlanta, GA 30322. Telephone: 404-727-9867 (V) | 404-712-2049 (TDD).

The comments and opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily represent those of Emory University or the staff of Emory Magazine.

Dear Emory alumni and friends of the university,

During a spectacular five days in October, thousands of Emory alumni, students, families and friends filled our campuses for Homecoming and Family Weekend. It is one of the university’s great traditions, and the spirit of Emory could be felt from start to finish.

The connections that are formed at Emory are like no other. I saw this while visiting with guests during the 50th reunion of the School of Law’s Class of 1974. I met alumni whose enduring friendships thrived through the decades. I heard incredible stories and learned about extraordinary career accomplishments in law, public service and an inspiring range of fields and businesses. And, more than anything, I could see and hear that after so many years Emory still felt like home for each one of these distinguished graduates.

Throughout the weekend, Carmel and I met many students and their families, and they were eager to share their stories with us. I was struck by the ambition of our students. They are focused and eager for opportunities, both in and outside of the classroom, to learn and get experience in the disciplines and careers that inspire them. I met budding entrepreneurs, scientists, artists, writers and more whose accomplishments are already astonishing.

Parents often asked me what Emory is doing to help students prepare for their next step in life — be it graduate studies or launching a career. And my answer was: a lot! I told them it all begins with Emory’s world-class liberal arts education, which

instills vital knowledge so students can understand the complexity of the world, think critically, communicate thoughtfully and develop skills that enable a lifetime of learning.

I mentioned the Emory College Pathways Center and the Oxford Center for Pathways and Purpose, which support undergraduate students through career development, internship funding, research and fellowship opportunities, pre-health and pre-law advising, and networking. I discussed the university’s experiential learning requirement, which ensures that all undergraduates participate in internships, study abroad or research. And I pointed out that Emory has some of the finest graduate and professional education programs in the country.

At Emory, we want our students to benefit from both their deep knowledge and the impactful experiences they have each day on our campuses. And we also want to keep a close eye on the future, and make sure the lessons learned here, along with the opportunities and connections made with faculty, staff, peers and organizations, in Atlanta and beyond, all serve to prepare Emory students for success in the years to come.

As I write this letter to you, I am getting ready for a fireside chat at EY’s Atlanta office. I want Emory alumni who are excelling in their careers at EY and other top companies to always think of our students — present and future — and find ways to engage them in their own journeys. This is how we help Emory students build for the next chapter in their lives, one opportunity at a time.

Gregory L. Fenves President Emory University

PREPARING STUDENTS FOR SUCCESS

President Gregory L. Fenves

THE BIG PICTURE

PRACTICING KINDNESS IN ACTION

To celebrate World Kindness Day, Campus Life hosted a celebration in the Emory Student Center to recognize kindness in action — no matter how big or small the act. Students who had been caught in acts of kindness earlier in the week were given “kindness coins” they could trade for prizes, including plush Swoop toys and t-shirts. By the time the event began, hundreds of students filled the lounge and discovered they, too, could earn coins. All they had to do was participate in group kindness activities such as assembling care packages for families temporarily residing at the nearby Ronald McDonald House or by writing messages of inspiration and encouragement on cards to share with classmates and strangers.

Jericho Brown WINS MACARTHUR ‘GENIUS GRANT’

THE MACARTHUR FOUNDATION HAS NAMED JERICHO BROWN, ACCLAIMED POET AND DIRECTOR OF EMORY’S CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM, A 2024 MACARTHUR FELLOW. The prestigious fellowship, sometimes called the “genius grant,” awards $800,000 over five years to individuals exhibiting exceptional creativity in their work. No strings are attached to the grant, and no one can apply for it. Instead, nominees are selected by the program’s invited external nominators.

Brown is no stranger to accolades. His collection “The Tradition” (2019) won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and was a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award for Poetry.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation publicly announced this year’s honorees Oct. 1. Winning the coveted MacArthur Fellowship places Brown, Emory’s Charles Howard Candler Professor of English and Creative Writing, among a slate of fellows that reads like a who’s who of the wide landscape of ingenuity.

Through the decades, fellows have included choreographers, molecular biologists, legal scholars, artists and geophysicists, as well as writers including Octavia Butler, George Saunders, Ta-Nehesi Coates, Adrienne Rich and Laura Otis, Emory’s Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor Emerita of English, who was honored in 2000.

Of his work, the MacArthur selection committee notes, “Brown writes with frankness and vulnerability about love, both filial and erotic. He explores the complexities of his identity as a Black gay man and expresses tenderness and devotion toward his mother and other Black women. In poems with astonishing lyrical beauty, Brown illuminates the experiences of marginalized people and shows the relevance and value of formal experimentation.”

The MacArthur selection committee praised Brown’s creation of the duplex, his original poetic form that fuses the formats of the sonnet, the ghazal and the “ironic holler of the American blues.”

“The circular repetition lends itself to shifts between dissonant voices or images,” the selection committee explains. “[F]or example, in one duplex the speaker’s train of thought moves from a first love, to his abusive father, to his grieving mother. In other variations on the sonnet form, shifting perspectives bring the reader face-to-face with violence inflicted on Black lives.”

>> FACULTY EMINENCE

>> ACADEMIC GROWTH

LANEY GRADUATE SCHOOL LAUNCHES

PhD in Environmental Sciences

INFORMAL CAREGIVING NETWORKS

NURSING RECEIVES GRANT TO STUDY DEMENTIA AND

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than 11 million Americans provided an estimated 18.4 billion hours of care to adults with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in 2023, and more than 65% of older adults with dementia rely on two or more family members or friends to meet their needs, ranging from basic activities of daily living to self-care activities and care decisions.

To better understand this reality, the National Institute on Aging has awarded a $5.5 million, five-year grant to Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing researcher and professor Mi-Kyung Song to lead a longitudinal study on how informal caregiving networks affect persons living with dementia and their caregivers.

Song, principal investigator of the grant, says that most caregiving research has previously focused on the roles and burdens of a single primary caregiver. “The study of caregiving needs to expand to consider the substantial collaboration and co-management among multiple caregivers,” she says.

Through the grant, Song and her team will recruit nearly 900 caregiver informants and follow them for over two years to examine the characteristics of caregiving networks of persons living with dementia and the impact of informal caregiving networks on caregiver and patient well-being and health outcomes.

“Studying social networks over time is extremely rare,” adds Song. “Our results will inform the development of new interventions and strategies to alleviate the caregiving burden and improve the health outcomes of caregivers and persons with dementia.”

In a world where the stakes for the environment and society have never been higher, the need for innovative interdisciplinary research is crucial. The James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies (LGS) is rising to meet this need with a pioneering new PhD program in Environmental Sciences and Society.

The first of its kind at Emory University, this groundbreaking PhD program was designed for environmental researchers interested in studying the interdisciplinary aspects of complex societal challenges in a rapidly changing world. The inaugural cohort will begin in the fall 2025 semester.

“Environmental Sciences and Society will integrate the social and natural sciences to prepare graduates for broader career options by equipping them with the knowledge, skills, experience and community-engaged research opportunities necessary to help solve the world’s most significant environmental and sustainability challenges,” says Eri Saikawa, Winship Distinguished Research Professor of Environmental Sciences. Saikawa led the development of the new LGS program with strong input from faculty across multiple disciplines.

The Environmental Sciences and Society PhD program is looking for out-of-the-box thinkers interested in the multidisciplinary components of environmental issues, such as mitigating and adapting to climate change, mitigating environmentally mediated diseases and transforming urban development and agriculture with sustainability and justice at the core.

‘Sociology: Taylor’s Version’

NEW OXFORD COLLEGE DISCOVERY COURSE EXAMINED TAYLOR SWIFT’S IMPACT ON SOCIETY.

OXFORD COLLEGE LAUNCHED A NEW SOCIOLOGY COURSE THIS FALL FOCUSING ON SINGING ICON TAYLOR SWIFT. “AS A SOCIOLOGIST, I’M INTERESTED IN ALL THINGS POP CULTURE,” says Devon Goss, assistant professor of sociology at Oxford, who developed the class. “I’m definitely a Swiftie, and I’ve been following this massive hype around Taylor. I just kept seeing Taylor Swift being tied to a lot of things that we study and think about in society.”

The course, “Sociology: Taylor’s Version,” aimed to examine social processes, identities and institutions through Taylor Swift’s reputation. It explored various eras of Swift’s career,

from being a teen country star to a cultural, music and performing phenomenon.

It was offered as part of Oxford’s Discovery Seminar Series, from which each incoming Oxford student must choose a course. These seminars are introductory-level classes that help students become familiar with college and develop a relationship with a faculty member who will later become their advisor. Students from all majors are welcome, and those taking the class are not expected to have a background in sociology.

Sociology often studies communities and identities. Goss noticed ongoing conversations, particularly online, such as whether Swift is a feminist or her status as an ally to the LGBTQ+ community.

Goss was inspired to create this course partially because so many people are already having these discussions. She thought the class would be something more “tangible” for students since it offers them the opportunity to really focus on the topic and discuss it with peers who share the same interest.

The structure of the course is unique, given there are few published academic resources on such a niche subject. Students explored more general theories and how they relate to celebrities and popular culture. They then were asked to apply them to the Taylor Swift phenomenon.

The course incorporates a fair number of popular information sources ranging from online stories and newspaper articles to videos. Students watched the Taylor Swift documentary “Miss Americana” in class and analyzed it; some of her song lyrics were also studied throughout the course.

While the class focused on discussing Taylor Swift’s popularity and drawing correlations to what this says about society through a sociological lens, the skills students learned can be applied to examining other sociological phenomena, says Goss.

“What I’m hoping is that it develops a skill that they can take with them when they see anything in society — maybe something that’s super popular, maybe something that’s not, and use sociology as a way to explore it deeper,” Goss says. — Sylvie Wages

SWIFT DECISION Students connected with the current pop culture moment.

Former U.S. President and Emory University

Distinguished Professor Jimmy Carter turned 100 on Oct. 1, and the Emory community joined in the celebration. Students, faculty and staff gathered in the Emory Student Center, enjoyed sweet treats and signed oversized cards for him while learning about his life and legacy of leadership.

Just two weeks earlier, more than 120 Emory and Oxford College students joined a sold-out crowd at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta to celebrate Carter’s milestone birthday and his enduring love for music.

“Jimmy Carter 100: A Celebration in Song” featured a high-powered lineup of musicians, movie stars and other public figures paying tribute to the former president.

Short videos between music performances detailed his accomplishments as president and founder of The Carter Center — a nonprofit that works to resolve conflicts, advance democracy and prevent diseases. Emory’s close ties with The Carter Center go back to the center’s genesis in 1982, fostering a community of scholarship and practice that has had an impact far beyond the two institutions.

Though retired from public life now, Carter was a steady presence on campus for decades. He delivered the annual Carter Town Hall, gave lectures and today still inspires the Emory community.

>> MILESTONES

EMORY CELEBRATES President Jimmy Carter’s 100th Birthday

HAIL TO THE CHIEF Students, faculty and staff gathered at Emory and at the Fox Theatre to share their appreciation for former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and all that he has done.

ONLY IN ATLANTA

Meet six Emory students making the most of the city through immersive internships.

BY ANNA CHAPMAN

Nationally and internationally, Atlanta is known for many things to many people. Some identify the city with the 1996 Olympics, some are familiar with the flourishing arts and film scenes, and others connect Atlanta with robust health care systems and groundbreaking research.

At the heart of all these associations are the organizations and companies that call Atlanta home. From the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and The Carter Center to the High Museum of Art and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, iconic institutions that make a difference in the immediate community and beyond abound in the city.

Meet six Emory undergraduate students who dove into the Atlanta internship scene and see how their internships have enhanced their studies, experiences and growth.

RESEARCHING LAWS TO IMPLEMENT BEST PRACTICES IN NATIONS WORLDWIDE

JEAN QIAN, A FOURTH-YEAR STUDENT FROM MIAMI STUDYING POLITICAL SCIENCE, has always known she wanted to be a lawyer — but she didn’t know what area of practice most interested her. That is, until she worked at The Carter Center as a Rule of Law intern during summer 2024. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who holds the title of Emory University Distinguished Professor, established The Carter Center in Atlanta in 1982 in collaboration with Emory.

“My internship at The Carter Center was so transformative and it introduced me to a field that I had not previously considered within international public interest law,” says Qian. “Public interest law attracted me but doing it in an international field and navigating different cultural contacts was not something I knew I could do within a legal profession.”

As an Emory student, one of Qian’s goals was to work at the center. In fact, she applied for an internship during her first year and did not get the role. It was a nice time capsule to look back on when she reapplied and a refreshing reminder of the skills she’d built that helped her land the internship the second time.

During her time at The Carter Center, Qian conducted a literature review and led a stakeholder mapping process to inform research on women’s access to information in Bangladesh. Additionally, she helped author a grant application for Sierra Leone focused on working with survivors of domestic and sexual violence to obtain justice and navigate their cultural and

JEAN QIAN THE CARTER CENTER

legal systems. “The whole point of the Rule of Law Program is to ensure people have access to justice and information,” says Qian.

She participated in a weekly series called Conscious Connections, which focused on racial and social justice topics and included speakers from all levels of leadership. Qian shared anecdotes about her own experiences as someone who struggled with housing insecurity and how Emory’s Case Management and Intervention Services supported her.

As a patient care technician, she put her classroom knowledge to work. During the first half of her internship, she recorded vital signs, monitored intakes and outputs, tested glucose levels and supported daily patient care like giving baths, changing linens and feeding patients. During the second half, she served as a practicum student, learning how to manage patient assignments. She also received a PEARS (Pediatric Emergency Assessment, Recognition and Stabilization) certification, completed Marcus Crisis Prevention Program training and presented a case study.

My internship at The Carter Center was so transformative and it introduced me to a field that I had not previously considered within international public interest law.

“It was great to cover those topics. At The Carter Center, we do all this work on the international scale about improving equity, and it was nice to know that within The Carter Center too, people are genuinely invested in caring about the people around them,” says Qian.

Looking back on her internship, she appreciates her mentors and others who helped her understand the profession. “Speaking with so many people who worked in the space of international and transitional justice — who spent their whole careers preparing to work at The Carter Center — gave me a lot of insight into how to get into that position and how to simultaneously balance work and life,” says Qian.

A WORLD-CLASS HEALTH CARE EXPERIENCE AT

EMORY’S DOORSTEP

WHEN JACQUELINE MARTINEZ, A FOURTHYEAR NURSING MAJOR FROM CHICAGO, came to Emory, she knew she wanted to work with children and families at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA).

Lucky for her, CHOA’s Egleston campus (which recently moved a few miles down the road as the new Arthur M. Blank Hospital) was right next to Emory’s Atlanta campus. After meeting with Jeannie Weston, CHOA faculty advisor and assistant professor in the School of Nursing, Martinez got the news that she was accepted as an extern with CHOA’s pediatric elective program. For two months this summer, she worked on a neurology, endocrine and respiratory floor.

During her internship, Martinez was able to relay questions and concerns from Spanish-speaking families to their care teams. The experience motivated her to pursue her medical interpreting license, allowing Martinez to better support Spanish-speaking patients.

While she gained invaluable hands-on experience on the hospital floor, Martinez says her learning extended beyond nursing skills.

CHOA’s value and mission aligned with the kind of nurse I aspire to be.

“CHOA’s value and mission aligned with the kind of nurse I aspire to be,” Martinez says. “I always hoped to be a part of that environment, especially given my passion for working with children and their families.”

“I learned lessons about resilience and perseverance,” says Martinez. “As a first-generation college student, I sometimes grapple with imposter syndrome, feeling inadequate and out of place, which is overwhelming at times. As I progressed through my externship, I grew more confident in my clinical abilities and learned the importance of mentorship — my preceptors were incredibly encouraging and patient, allowing me the time to grasp complex concepts and pushing me to seek help when I needed it.”

JACQUELINE MARTINEZ

CHILDREN’S HEALTHCARE OF ATLANTA

A LOVE OF CLASSIC FILM BROUGHT ELIZABETH FULTON TO HER INTERNSHIP WITH WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY’S TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES television network as a brand marketing intern during the spring 2024 semester.

Fulton, a Woodruff Scholar and Oxford College continue from Evans, Georgia, is studying creative writing and film. She served in a variety of roles at Turner Classic Movies, from copywriting to contributing materials for the TCM Classic Film Festival in Los Angeles.

For the film festival, Fulton wrote and edited online and print content to introduce the films being shown and selected photos to accompany those write-ups. While in Los Angeles, not only did Fulton get to see her work in action, but she also rubbed elbows with stars and directors including Alexander Payne, Billy Dee Williams and acclaimed filmmaker Steven Spielberg.

“I got to see ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind,’ and Spielberg introduced the film and talked about it in the TCL Chinese Theatre in the middle of Hollywood,” says Fulton. “I got a lot of unique experiences at the festival, and it was also cool while I was there to have seen the back end of how that all came together.”

Fulton says she enjoyed the inperson element of her internship, which allowed her to explore a unique

ELIZABETH

FULTON TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES

SUPPORTING YOUR FAVORITE CLASSIC FILMS ON TELEVISION

side of the entertainment industry.

“I’m interested in film from the side of writing and possibly development or agency roles, but it was a cool step out of my comfort zone,” says Fulton. “At the time, I was taking a marketing class in Emory’s Goizueta Business School as part of the film and media management concentration, so it was cool to see what I was learning in class being applied.”

She also recognized the value of the coworkers guiding her through the internship.

Matthew Bernstein, who I had [for a class] at the time,” says Fulton. “It led to a great interview.”

HAVING

PEOPLE TO GUIDE

NOT

ONLY

MY

CRAFT AS AN ARTIST BUT ALSO IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT HAS BEEN AMAZING.

“The team that I worked for was really inspiring. They demonstrated strong teamwork despite a lot of industry changes. My supervisors were great mentors and very receptive to any questions I had about going into the film industry and about my postgraduation plans,” says Fulton. “I learned so much, and it was amazing.”

Fulton’s connection to Emory allowed her to create relationships with Warner Bros. Discovery staff even before her first day on the job.

“The person interviewing me did her master’s degree at Emory under

On the precipice of graduation, Fulton says the internship with Turner Classic Movies also helped solidify her professional goals. “Last year, I was not completely sure what I wanted to do in the film industry. You come in knowing about writers, directors and actors, but that’s about it,” says Fulton. “I enjoyed film marketing, and the talent aspect of festival planning encouraged me to look more into representation as a future career path. It was so valuable to get that kind of direction from the experience. It gave me a lot of context to go into future internships with.”

Fulton says the interdisciplinary experience at Emory helped prepare her for life after graduation.

“I’ve always felt challenged in my classes, and I’ve met a lot of professors at Emory who have guided my development. Having people to guide not only my craft as an artist but also in professional development has been amazing,” says Fulton. “I’ve also learned so much from my peers, who are just as academically engaged and innovative.”

CAMPUS SUPPORT FOR ATLANTA EXPERIENCES

Formative experiences like these internships can only be found in Atlanta. Even before her High Museum internship, Ava Herrin knew this to be the case. When evaluating where to attend college, she says the abundance of possibilities in the big city enticed her.

“I determined where I wanted to go to college based on location. I was really excited about being in Atlanta, and all of the personal and professional chances to get involved with the Atlanta community,” says Herrin.

The internships reinforced the passions and directions of these Emory students, and they wouldn’t have been possible without support from across campus.

Jacqueline Martinez and Marc Goedemans received funding from the Pathways Center, allowing them to focus on work and professional development instead of living expenses. “I am extremely grateful to have received this support as I wouldn’t have been able to complete this experience without it,” Martinez says. “It took a big weight off my shoulders and allowed me to focus completely on doing my best at work.”

The Pathways Center also offers career coaching, interview prep, connections to scholarships and more to help Emory students reach their full potential.

AVA

PROGRAMMING ALONGSIDE SOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS ART

AVA HERRIN CONNECTED HER PASSION FOR LEADERSHIP AND ADMIRATION OF ART during her summer 2024 internship at the High Museum of Art.

Herrin, who grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, is a fourth-year student studying film and media studies as well as sociology. She secured the internship through the Servant Leader Summer Internship Program, presented by the Ethics and Servant Leadership Program (EASL), a division of Emory’s Center for Ethics.

Herrin worked with the Community Dialogue and Engagement team, and, on Fridays, she and the other members of the Servant Leader Summer Internship Program convened to discuss what they were working on at

their internships, frameworks of ethics and servant leadership and how those principles had shown up in their work.

“The [program] informed my interest in the High because they have a really direct focus on community engagement and a lot of the placement positions are related to that,” says Herrin. “My time at the High was made possible exclusively through my experience at Emory.”

Throughout the summer, Herrin contributed to a few major projects focusing on programming and organizing resources from past partnerships. She worked with Oasis, a mindfulness-centered art program at the High Museum, on partnerships and also day-of administration. Herrin also worked on a community newsletter to keep attendees and museum staff informed of work being done across the museum.

Herrin’s favorite moments during her internship were seeing programs come to life. “Being able to witness the work that you have put in come to fruition and be able to talk to people who are excited to be at the museum is gratifying,” says Herrin.

Being able to witness the work that you have put in come to fruition . . . to talk to people who are excited to be at the museum is gratifying.

Her internship at the High Museum laid the groundwork for what a future career could look like. “I learned that I want to go into a communitycentric role, hopefully in an artistic establishment,” says Herrin. “I have a strong personal and academic interest in the arts, so getting to see what a career might look like in that field was very fulfilling. It made me more inclined to stay in Atlanta for a career after graduation, which is something that I didn’t expect.”

HERRIN

HIGH MUSEUM OF ART

MARC GOEDEMANS CDC FOUNDATION

COMMUNICATING CRITICAL STORIES

THAT EXTEND THE WORK OF THE NATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH AGENCY

MARC GOEDEMANS, A FOURTH-YEAR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES AND COMPARATIVE LITERATURE STUDENT FROM LOS ANGELES, is no stranger to interviewing sources for articles. For the past two years, he has worked in various positions for The Emory Wheel.

Last summer, however, he moved into new territory as an intern interviewing major donors and contributors to the mission of the CDC Foundation, an independent nonprofit extending the work of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is headquartered in Atlanta.

During his internship, he talked with major contributors to create stories for the CDC Foundation’s website and other publications, to increase interest in their efforts to advance public health.

The experience combined his interests in journalism and global health research while helping expand his view of what a career in writing might look like.

His most memorable article, though, was about Dr. Peter Drotman, current editor-in-chief of the Emerging Infectious Diseases journal at the CDC. Dr. Drotman was a member of the first team to respond domestically to the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. Goedemans wrote about Dr. Drotman’s contributions and history with the CDC.

Having the network and resources that Emory gave me allowed me to broaden my own definition of where I could apply my journalistic skills.

“When I came to Emory, I was thinking that the only way to pursue a career in journalism was to work in a newsroom,” says Goedemans. “I didn’t realize that writing was such a broad career. Having the network and resources that Emory gave me allowed me to broaden my own definition of where I could apply my journalistic skills.”

Throughout his time at the CDC Foundation, he authored stories about individuals working in preventive health care, ethical leadership and applications of business principles to public health.

“I felt so privileged to have the opportunity to sit down and hear his story,” Goedemans says. “That was when the mission of the CDC Foundation made the most sense to me. I felt very invested in his story and thought it was worth sharing.”

Considering his next steps, Goedemans notes that the experience and education he’s gained at Emory are invaluable.

“I’ve been very proactive in seeking out the opportunities I’ve had. I wouldn’t have had those opportunities had I not been at Emory and if I hadn’t leaned into my classes for my major and looked for new opportunities to build on what I was learning in the classroom,” Goedemans says.

“We’re lucky there is so much in the Atlanta area for us to learn from.”

JULIA NAGEL, A FLUTIST, HAS EXPLORED A NEW ASPECT OF HER YEARS-LONG LOVE FOR MUSIC SINCE JANUARY 2024: she serves as an intern in the development department of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO). The internship has been continuous, with Nagel only taking a break during the summer to intern with the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico.

As the only intern in the department, she holds lots of responsibility, from setting up dinners with donors and tracking responses to writing speech notes for the executive director. Her decision to apply to the position came from her flute instructor, who is the ASO’s principal flutist.

“At the beginning of my first year at Emory, she was talking a lot about her job, which inspired me to seek out opportunities there,” says Nagel, who came to Atlanta from Charlottesville, Virginia, and is studying music and philosophy, politics and law.

Her story echoes that of many development staff members with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

“Most people grew up playing music and are like me. They went to a liberal arts school and got a very well-rounded education that didn’t only focus on music and then decided that they wanted different career

JULIA NAGEL ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

COORDINATING ON BEHALF OF A HISTORIC MUSICAL

opportunities outside of playing their instruments,” says Nagel.

“Where I’m from, there isn’t a professional symphony in the area, and that was one reason why I chose Emory,” she explains. “Not only does Atlanta have a symphony, but it’s also a big city, so there are so many different opportunities that I might not have had if I’d gone to school in Virginia. I have access to the big city whenever I want.”

Earlier this year, Nagel was at the helm of planning a unique event inviting donors to an open symphony rehearsal. She was responsible for checking people in, creating signage for the event and serving as a resource for anyone who needed assistance.

INSTITUTION

As a fourth-year student, postgraduation jobs are already on Nagel’s mind. She says her time at the ASO will no doubt help her succeed in her first full-time role.

“This internship has given me the foundational knowledge and soft skills needed to be successful in arts administration,” says Nagel. “It will give me a leg up when I’m going into future roles because I already have experience that I can use to adapt to whichever organization I’m working for.”

With my major, I’m doing musical analysis and also having to pivot to more philosophical thinking and problem solving.

“It’s really fun when you can see how the work you’ve been doing accumulates into something bigger,” says Nagel. “I got to meet so many people I was corresponding with, and they all seemed really excited about the event.”

Not only has her internship with the ASO prepared Nagel for her next steps, but also she recognizes the value of those experiences paired with an Emory education.

“I learned to think critically through different lenses at Emory. With my major, I’m doing musical analysis and also having to pivot to more philosophical thinking and problem solving,” she says. “That has really helped grow my abilities to be analytical and think outside the box, which will be important to my future career.”

Discovery Could Change Autoimmune Therapy Landscape

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a chronic autoimmune disorder in which antibodies block communication between nerves and muscle, resulting in weakness of the skeletal muscles. It can cause double vision, difficulty swallowing, and, occasionally, serious breathing difficulties, among other symptoms. Many autoimmune diseases such as MG, as well as a range of other human illnesses, result from the inability to regulate activity of IgG antibodies — collectively, these diseases are referred to as IgG-mediated pathologies.

The enzymes we discovered can modify antibodies in such a way that they no longer cause disease.

In a paper published recently in Cell, Emory researchers have discovered a family of enzymes that work to reduce IgG-mediated pathologies in diseases like MG.

The findings, involving mouse models, show that a specific enzyme (an endoglycosidase called CU43) was particularly effective in treating those diseases caused by overactive antibodies.

“Human antibodies, although critically important for mounting an immune

response to pathogens and fighting disease, sometimes cause disease themselves — including autoimmune diseases,” says Eric Sundberg, principal investigator on the study and a biochemistry researcher at Emory’s School of Medicine. “The enzymes we discovered can modify antibodies in such a way that they no longer cause disease.”

The newly discovered enzyme was used to treat a number of different IgG-mediated pathologies in mice and found to be extremely effective. Compared to drugs currently on the market to treat MG, the new enzyme was found to be much more effective in reducing symptoms, and at a much lower dose — 4,000 times less of the enzyme was needed to create the same biological effect. For patients, a more effective, lower dose could mean fewer side effects and different options for how the drug is administered.

“We hope to leverage these promising results in mice to move this enzyme rapidly into clinical trials in humans,” says Sundberg, who also chairs the Department of Biochemistry at Emory. “It potentially could be used to treat a wide range of autoimmune diseases and other IgG-mediated pathologies.” Georgia Parmelee

EMORY RANKS NO.5

IN GUIDE TO GREEN COLLEGES

EMORY UNIVERSITY HAS SECURED THE FIFTH SPOT IN THE PRINCETON REVIEW’S 2025 GUIDE TO GREEN COLLEGES, RISING TWO PLACES FROM LAST YEAR’S RANKINGS.

This marks the fourth consecutive year that Emory has placed in the Princeton Review’s top ten green colleges list. The Princeton Review created the rankings based on data from its surveys of college administrators and students from 511 universities on a scale of 60 to 99.

In the new rankings, Emory received a score of 99, the highest possible. The scores are based on each school’s use of renewable energy, recycling, conservation programs and the availability of environmental studies in their academic offerings.

This exciting news coincides with this year’s effort to develop Emory’s third Sustainability Vision and Strategic Plan for 2025-2036. As Emory approaches its bicentennial, the Sustainability Vision and Strategic Plan will establish and guide the university’s ambitions to model transformative practices and sustainable choices at every level.

Emory’s Sustainability Vision is modeled on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which provide a blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and in the future. The vision builds on last year’s Climate Action Plan, providing a roadmap to fulfilling the two climate commitments Emory President Gregory L. Fenves signed in 2021.

EMORY HELPLINE

45 Years of Supporting Student Mental Health

Decades before the nation’s colleges and universities regularly discussed collegiate mental health concerns, Emory Helpline began delivering support to students who are struggling.

Helpline is a confidential telephone line operated by student volunteers trained and advised by staff from Emory’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), part of Emory Campus Life. Now celebrating its 45th anniversary, the student-run volunteer organization continues to provide paraprofessional peer support for generation after generation of Emory community members.

“Helpline supports students coping with various concerns,” says Irene Daboin Dominguez, a licensed psychologist, Helpline’s staff advisor and CAPS’ interim senior coordinator of outreach and suicide prevention. “It provides vital peerto-peer support, a proven approach to supporting the mental health of college students.”

Helpline began in 1979 as a collaboration between the dean of students along with psychology

department graduate students and faculty members before Emory had a counseling center. The effort subsequently inspired creation of the center.

Today, Helpline operates from 8:30 p.m. to 1 a.m., including weekends, during fall and spring semesters. The line closes for summer, when most students are away from campus. The program has averaged more than 100 calls annually during the past decade, with most calls from self-referrals and typically lasting 20-30 minutes each. Caller concerns range from relatively low-risk academic and interpersonal issues to high-risk crises involving suicidal ideation. The safety of high-risk callers is prioritized with specific protocols and limits to confidentiality.

Although Helpline is unique and important, Daboin Dominguez emphasizes it is only one of Emory’s many tools for addressing students’ mental health needs — one component of a network of programs and services that CAPS makes available to all Emory students.

John Baker Brown

>> RESEARCH EXCELLENCE

5 Questions with James Rilling THE NATURE OF FATHERS

IN HIS NEW BOOK CALLED “FATHER NATURE: THE SCIENCE OF PATERNAL POTENTIAL,” EMORY FACULTY MEMBER JAMES RILLING interweaves his personal experiences as a son, husband and dad with the latest scientific insights into fatherhood. “It’s about how and why human males evolved the capacity to be involved caregivers, how that care benefits their children and the circumstances in which it is more common,” says Rilling, a professor in the Department of Psychology and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. “The intended audience is anyone who is, has or knows a father.”

Rilling explores the neural basis of human social cognition and behavior as the director of the Laboratory for Darwinian Neuroscience. Around the time of the birth of his first child, he realized that paternal caregiving was a neglected

PATERNAL INSTINCTS Professor of Psychology James Rilling studies human social cognition and teaches a class on fatherhood.

research topic and he decided to make it a focus of his lab.

He also began teaching an undergraduate course on fatherhood. Rilling’s son Toby, now 13, and daughter, Mia, 8, continue to inspire and inform his pioneering research on dads.

“I have often thought that [my daughter] was perfectly designed by natural selection to make me love her,” Rilling writes. “Her power over me is astounding. For example, she loves playing with her Barbie Dreamhouse, and I would probably list that dead last in terms of my favorite activities. Yet when she asks me to play it with her, I am powerless to say no. Indeed, I have dutifully committed to memory the names of all of Barbie’s sisters.”

In the following 5 Questions, Rilling discusses the current scientific understanding of fatherhood and some highlights from his book.

WHAT IS

UNIQUE

ABOUT YOUR RESEARCH INTO FATHERHOOD?

I’m interested in trying to understand the hormonal and neurobiological changes that men experience when they become fathers and how those changes may relate to whether men are more, or less, involved with their children. There are not many labs investigating that. The goal is to find ways to support fathers and to help improve the quality of caregiving that they deliver.

Paternal care is not obligate in the human species. The potential is there but it is not always realized. There is a lot of variation among fathers in terms of how involved they are with their children. And yet, we know that children who are raised by more positively engaged fathers tend to have better outcomes socially, behaviorally and, also, academically.

That doesn’t mean that a child cannot do well without an engaged father, only that the odds improve.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MORE SURPRISING FINDINGS ON THE BIOLOGY OF FATHERS?

The idea that, analogous to women, men experience biological changes that prepare them for their role as caregivers.

For example, for a long time people thought oxytocin was just a maternal hormone involved in mother-infant bonding. Emerging evidence suggests that it also promotes father-infant bonding.

Fathers with more oxytocin in their blood stimulate their infants more through activities like bouncing them up and down or poking them playfully to get their attention.

When fathers have more skin-toskin contact with infants, that actually increases the fathers’ oxytocin levels. Studies have also found that after fathers are given oxytocin in a nasal spray they interact and play with their infants more.

HOW CAN SOCIETY BETTER SUPPORT MORE POSITIVE ENGAGEMENT OF FATHERS?

More women have entered the workforce and many new parents live far away from extended family members. And yet, the U.S. is the only high-income country whose government does not provide any paid maternity leave. We are a massive outlier in this area.

The U.S. government also does not offer paid paternity leave, unlike 47 other high-income countries around the world.

Paternity leave gives fathers more of an opportunity to forge a bond with an infant and to develop confidence as a parent. A lot of evidence shows that fathers who take paternity leave tend to continue being more involved fathers.

WHAT PART OF WRITING THE BOOK DID YOU ENJOY THE MOST?

It was fun researching and writing about parental caregiving in different species. The female velvet spider, for example, regurgitates her intestines to feed her young and then the babies also end up eating her. It’s crazy.

A remarkable example of paternal caregiving is the Emperor penguin. The dads incubate the eggs by forming these giant huddles in the Arctic during the winter when it’s minus 40 degrees. They do that for months while the mothers are off at sea. They can’t eat anything while incubating an egg so

they lose a lot of their body weight.

Only about 5% of males in mammalian species are involved in raising their offspring. Titi monkeys of South America are especially interesting. The males carry their infants on their backs through the forest and only give them back to the mothers to nurse. As a result, the infants form stronger attachments to their fathers than to their mothers.

The lack of paternal care among our closest living primate relatives — chimpanzees and gorillas — suggests that it newly evolved during human evolution. Because human males have likely been provisioning their offspring throughout human evolution, paternal caregiving likely played an important role in allowing our large-brained species to multiply rapidly and spread across the globe.

WHAT DISTINGUISHES HUMAN FATHERS AS DIRECT CAREGIVERS?

Fathers, mothers and other caregivers have overlapping roles. There are few roles that fathers play that cannot be played by others.

However, fathers often gravitate toward a couple of important roles. One is introducing a child to the world outside of the home and supervising their exploration of that world. They help kids understand that the novelty and unpredictability that they encounter is not always something they need to be afraid of but can be an opportunity for growth.

Fathers also seem to be very important in helping children learn to regulate emotions of anger and frustration and to correctly read the emotions of others. Many dads, for example, engage in rough-and-tumble play, which helps children learn to empathize and interact more skillfully with others. If you’re having fun and want to keep playing, you need to make sure your playmate is also having fun and isn’t getting upset.

— Carol Clark

two decades, less than half of Americans say they are “very satisfied” with the way things are going in their personal lives.

The new course covers topics such as the history of paid work, women at work, work/life balance, reflection tools, value identification and goal setting. The trip was designed to inspire both group discussion and introspective thought on career, life and the future of work.

>> GLOBAL LEARNING

FROM CLASSROOM TO COPENHAGEN

MBA students at Goizueta Business School explore Denmark’s model for work and well-being.

More than 25 MBA students from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School ventured out of the classroom and across the globe, traveling to Copenhagen, Denmark, to explore how the Danes approach their short work week — a standard 37 hours — while having some of the most productive companies in the world.

The immersive experience was part of a new course at Goizueta, Life Design for the Modern MBA, focused on helping Goizueta students, who are passionate, ambitious and often working in overdrive, to find meaning and fulfillment in both career and life.

According to a recent study from Deloitte, 91% of respondents say having an unmanageable amount of stress or frustration negatively impacts the quality of their work. For just the third time in more than

“It’s incredible to see top business schools offer happiness and life design courses as part of the curriculum,” shares Marina Cooley, assistant professor in the practice of marketing at Goizueta. “With our tight-knit community, I thought we could go even deeper and ricochet against a work-life culture that is so different from our own in order to be inspired about what the future of work and leadership could look like.”

For MBA student Alex Banoczi, the course offered a restart and a change in perspective. “As a professional coming from the world of consulting, I’ve dealt with my fair share of intense work weeks and tight deadlines,” he says. “On paper, I achieved success, but indelibly felt the impact of those years on both my health and relationships — missed dinners, canceled events and computers I brought on vacation. As someone returning to consulting after business school, I yearned for more knowledge on not only how to be a great leader, but a great balancer as well.”

During the trip, students visited the Happiness Research Institute, an organization dedicated to scientifically studying well-being, happiness and quality of life. They met with a panel of accomplished expats and a leading

HAPPINESS QUEST Goizueta scholars visited with Danish companies and business leaders.

sociologist at Copenhagen Business School to compare the work/life experience in the U.S. and Denmark. And they traveled to LEGO, one of the most profitable consumer product goods companies in the world, to uncover how family life integrates with work. A common theme emerged: the Danes are committed to the happiness and welfare of their people. Denmark operates as a universal welfare state and with that comes high taxes and far-reaching benefits for all social classes. These services include incredibly low-cost and high-quality childcare. Add to this free health care, free college (Denmark actually pays students a $900 stipend each month to attend) and high-quality elder care that focuses on keeping individuals in their own homes as long as possible — and you can see why people and policymakers

across the world have studied Denmark in their search for a thriving society.

Now that students are back and the course is complete, Cooley and Goizueta MBA students are reflecting on lessons learned and what they will bring to their version of the future of work. The future of happiness and fulfillment may just begin at work. Could the Danes point the way? It’s a timely and thought-provoking question as there are many hurdles to overcome.

“It’s a great starting point,” says Cooley. “A workplace that values play, innovation and the whole human is a wonderful step in the right direction. The MBA students of today will be managing Gen Z and Gen Alpha behind them, and these cohorts have different expectations of work/life balance. We need to manage them in a new way.”

— Melanie Buckmaster

SHORT LIST

ARTISTIC UPGRADE

Emory has joined a program at the High Museum of Art that offers the campus community unprecedented opportunities to engage with the Southeast’s premier art museum. Undergraduate, graduate and professional students, along with all staff and faculty, now get upgraded access to the museum’s collections, exhibitions and research, including free walk-up tickets with an Emory identification card and discounted rates on annual memberships. In addition, student applicants to the museum’s competitive summer internship program will receive guaranteed consideration, the High will host an annual Emory student art exhibition and reception, and art educators from the museum will hold conversations and lectures on the Emory campus, among other benefits.

A NOSE FOR COVID

New research from Emory is providing a more precise prediction of COVID-19 severity that can be found by looking at autoantibodies in the nasal cavity, leading to more personalized treatment plans. For high-risk individuals, this could provide critical information to inform immediate treatment options, including quickly taking medications like Paxlovid within one week of symptoms to mitigate a severe response. The findings of a recent study, published in Science Translational Medicine, found that more than 70% of subjects with mild or moderate COVID-19 developed certain autoantibodies — generally an indication of disease — in the nose that were surprisingly linked to fewer symptoms, better antiviral immunity and faster recovery.

CANCER TREATMENT PIONEER

Winship Cancer Institute researcher and physician Reshma Jagsi has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, one of the highest honors in health and medicine, for her significant contributions to advancing women’s health. Jagsi, a member of Winship’s Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program and the Lawrence Davis Professor and Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Emory School of Medicine, was selected for pioneering research that has identified targetable drivers of disparities in cancer outcomes and within the medical profession, particularly for women. Her work to develop and evaluate innovative interventions to promote equity has established new areas of investigation in oncology and prompted global policy changes.

SHARING THE PATH TO KNOWLEDGE

BY DANIEL CHRISTIAN ILLUSTRATED BY DAVIDE BONAZZI

From embracing the art of storytelling to practicing acts of “radical hospitality,” Emory’s Center for Public Scholarship and Engagement seeks to make research and academic ideas accessible to everyone.

In a nondescript classroom at the Burruss Correctional Training Center — a state prison about an hour south of Emory’s campus — the ancient Greek practice of xenia is alive and well, as is the practice of public scholarship.

The two go hand-in-hand, says Sarah Higinbotham, assistant professor of English at Emory’s Oxford College. Xenia, or “guest friendship,” was a custom for welcoming strangers, an ethical obligation to hospitality premised on the idea of exchange. The host would provide food, shelter and provisions for the journey ahead; the stranger, perhaps now warmed by the fire of an ancient mudbrick home, would share under lambent glow the travel-worn stories of their origin, struggle and destination — and receive the story of the host in return.

In a similar spirit, Higinbotham creates a space to listen to the stories of her students, both in her Emory classroom and at Burruss, one of the nine Georgia prisons offering higher education courses through Common Good Atlanta, a nonprofit she co-founded.

She then shares her own stories — those of Shakespeare and John Milton. Here, knowledge sets forth on paths both well-worn and unexplored, branching into directions unexpected and profound. As much as Higinbotham teaches, she learns. To her, that is public scholarship.

EMORY’S COMMITMENT TO PUBLIC SCHOLARSHIP

In spring 2024, Emory launched the Center for Public Scholarship and Engagement, joining a growing list of universities that have committed to sharing research beyond the walls of the institution. The center, based at the Oxford campus, creates opportunities for Emory faculty, staff and students to share their research and ideas with people all over the world.

Kenneth Carter, the center’s founding director and Charles Howard Candler Professor of Psychology, believes that Emory can be a leader in this space — and that in many ways it already is.

But what exactly does that nebulous term “public scholarship” mean?

Carter defines it as “anything we’re doing that communicates our scholarly work to the general public” — whether that’s through community programs or media engagements such as podcasts and op-eds. It’s also when academics leverage the power of storytelling to support their research.

Beyond that, Carter says public scholarship is about maintaining — and even improving — the relationship between universities and the public. “The information that gets translated in public scholarship is important, but I also think it’s critical for the public to see institutions like universities as trusted sources of knowledge.”

It’s always been a passion of mine to release the knowledge from academic books and journals, because that knowledge really belongs to all of us.

KENNETH CARTER Director, Center for Public Scholarship and Engagement

Toward that goal, Carter says a priority for the Center for Public Scholarship and Engagement is making research and academic concepts more accessible to everyone.

“It’s always been a passion of mine to release the knowledge from academic books and journals, because that knowledge really belongs to all of us,” he says. “A lot of people think that universities are these walled-off ivory towers, inaccessible physically and intellectually. Sharing that knowledge is a part of what we're supposed to be doing. It’s that idea of ‘in service to humanity.’”

The first-ever Ideas Festival Emory — the center’s flagship event — took place in September on the Oxford campus and brought this very concept to life. The festival’s programming was robust, featuring a high-powered lineup of more than 40 scientists, authors, musicians, filmmakers and scholars from Emory and beyond in conversation with one another. (A recap of some of the festival’s biggest ideas can be found on page 30.)

Free to students and the public, the event welcomed all to join.

“I wanted to create something that was open to the community,” Carter says. “I want people to be able to revel in the ideas and walk on campus and see a great talk by an award-winning person — and to not only be inspired but be proud of the great stuff that’s happening at Emory.”

The keynote event was a live recording of the Sing for Science podcast — which pairs musicians

with researchers to discuss the intersections of their work — that featured Grammy-winning producer, hip-hop artist and Atlanta native Jermaine Dupri with Joycelyn Wilson, a Georgia Tech professor of hip-hop studies and digital humanities.

Dupri, perhaps best known for his 2002 hit single with Ludacris “Welcome to Atlanta,” also announced an internship opportunity for two Emory students at his record label, So So Def Recordings. Applications were open to all four undergraduate schools and selected interns will begin work with Dupri in early 2025.

The Center for Public Scholarship and Engagement has also partnered with two major university programs — Oxford’s Center for Pathways and Purpose and the Emory Pathways Center on the Atlanta campus — to create internships associated with future speakers at the festival.

“We’ve been hearing from other universities, and they’re excited about what we’re doing,” Carter says. “We did not invent public scholarship and we’re not the only ones doing public scholarship. But we're hoping to be able to elevate [our commitment to it] through programs like the Ideas Festival.”

CULTIVATING A TWO-WAY RELATIONSHIP

Much like Higinbotham, Carter emphasizes the importance of a “two-way” relationship when it comes to public scholarship. That relationship can extend to schools, communities in need, or larger industries, but it is always based on listening. “It’s really important to not only learn from the public, but also to understand what’s important to them,” he says. “What is the knowledge they have that they’d like to share in the public sphere as well?”

Asking those questions can help tear down the walls of that proverbial ivory tower, Higinbotham says. “That had to crumble,” she says. “This idea that somehow you go to college and everything you learn is inapplicable to the real world — that couldn’t be further from the truth. The things that we’re doing at Oxford and Emory have enormous impact on the world outside the walls of our actual university.”

Motivated by the incarceration of her uncle, Higinbotham started Common Good Atlanta in 2008. The organization now teaches courses in literature, writing, the humanities and math and

TEACHING SHAKESPEARE IN PRISONS Sarah Higinbotham, assistant professor of English at Emory’s Oxford College, founded Common Good Atlanta in 2008 so volunteer faculty members from Georgia universities could offer higher education courses to incarcerated people.

This idea that somehow you go to college and everything you learn is inapplicable to the real world — that couldn't be further from the truth.

The things that we’re doing at Oxford and Emory have enormous impact on the world outside the walls of our actual university.

SARAH HIGINBOTHAM Assistant Professor of English

science in nine prisons, five days a week. At the Ideas Festival, she gave a presentation on how offering higher education courses at prisons can make a huge impact and drastically reduce the incarceration recidivism rate.

Higinbotham’s expertise is in Renaissance literature, particularly the violence of the law in Shakespeare. She is well aware of the distancing effect — the air of stodgy academic tradition — that the Renaissance or the classics can evoke.

The great paradox, she says, is that the idea of the ivory tower can be dismantled with lessons from the subjects most associated with its construction, like xenia. She has used Renaissance literature to build bridges with communities, such as the incarcerated, that don’t have the resources to participate in American higher education.

For Higinbotham, public scholarship starts there — not behind a podcast mic or at the sight of a blinking cursor that precedes an op-ed, though she does those too. Traditional media offer important avenues for original storytelling and sharing information, she says, but the potential of public scholarship is most realized when it involves human-to-human connection.

She goes back to xenia — and the idea that public scholarship is an act of “radical hospitality.”

“As a professor, that is what I should be modeling,” Higinbotham says. “In terms of public scholarship, it means that I’m not limiting what I’m doing to a certain subset of students who have met certain criteria. We have an obligation, just as they had in the ancient world, to say, ‘Let me open my doors. What is it that I have that you need? What can I do to equip you for the next stage of your journey, wherever that’s going to be?’”

She invites them to bring their experiences to the table, quoting the swineherd in “The Odyssey” who invites a bedraggled Odysseus into his island hovel.

“Tell me where you come from, and the troubles you have seen,” the swineherd says.

When such a table is set, Higinbotham

says her incarcerated students respond in ways that leave her “dumbstruck.” She has even developed new perspectives on her own work.

“The text will suddenly explode with a completely original interpretation,” she says. “Sometimes [an incarcerated student] will say something that, in 400 years of Shakespeare criticism, I’ve never seen that lens on this moment before.”

Higinbotham recalls a reading one student had of a baffling few lines in “Hamlet.”

Late in act 5, Hamlet apologizes to Laertes for killing his father. But in the middle of his speech, Hamlet switches to third person: Was ’t Hamlet wronged Laertes? Never Hamlet. If Hamlet from himself be ta’en away, And when he’s not himself does wrong Laertes, Then Hamlet does it not; Hamlet denies it. Who does it, then? His madness. If ’t be so, Hamlet is of the faction that is wronged; His madness is poor Hamlet’s enemy

“That part is cut from every [live] play of ‘Hamlet’ I've ever seen,” Higinbotham says. “Because it’s just so weird that he stops apologizing and starts talking about himself in the third person.”

But her incarcerated student seemed to understand, from personal experience, that reckoning with one’s own wrongdoing is easier said than done — and that the text conveys more than Hamlet’s derangement.

“He said, ‘Sometimes that’s all you can do. You have to disassociate in order to be able to get up in the morning in prison. You have to disassociate from what you did, the harm that you caused.’”

The moment was so powerful that it informed Higinbotham’s own scholarship and the way she teaches Shakespeare at Emory.

“Suddenly, a ‘problem’ passage that every director pulls out, and that I had always just skimmed over, made sense,” she says. “Shakespeare must have known that there are points at which, even in the middle of an apology to someone that you have harmed, you have to think, ‘That couldn’t have been me.’ And I get emotional talking about it.”

DEPLOYING DIVERSE APPROACHES TO PUBLIC SCHOLARSHIP

Scholars across Emory are engaging in public scholarship over all sorts of platforms and in ways big and small. Laurel Bristow, associate director of audience development at the Rollins School of Public Health, helped conduct clinical trials and interacted directly with patients on hospital frontlines after COVID-19 struck in 2020. A year later, she started creating Instagram videos to share evidence-based information and resources during the height of the pandemic. In no time, her account became a social media sensation, a reliable resource in a media space swirling with conflicting reports. She has amassed more than 380,000 followers to date.

“I was uniquely suited to be able to understand complex research that was coming out at the time at rapid speed,” Bristow says. “I found comfort in my understanding and wanted others to be able to feel the same way and make informed decisions that are best for them and their families, instead of feeling overwhelmed and panicked.”

Bristow continues to be a trusted source of information as the host of a new weekly podcast called “Health Wanted” — a partnership between Atlanta public radio station WABE and Rollins — where she answers public health questions that affect listeners’ everyday lives.

“If science education during the pandemic taught me anything, it’s that people really want to understand the world around them and have the tools to be able to spot when they are being given bad information,” she says.

In Emory’s political science department, Andra Gillespie has helped contextualize the ever-changing political landscape of the United States in the public sphere for years. Her research explores the mobilization of voters, race and political leadership in the post–civil rights generation.

With an expertise in such an impactful field, Gillespie — who serves as an associate professor and director of the James Weldon Johnson Institute — wants to share her knowledge. Each election season she makes the media rounds in print, radio and TV to talk about information and perspectives that could prove helpful to

voters. She’s written op-eds for Politico and the Washington Post, has been quoted in major newspapers such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and has appeared on news programs with CNN, Bloomberg Television, PBS and numerous international outlets.

“I see public scholarship as an extension of teaching,” she says. “While it is important to conduct and share research with colleagues who can provide critical feedback, it is also important to distill that knowledge for wider audiences. Our wider audience is first and foremost our students, but it is also important to consider the broader community in our understanding of who is a part of our classroom.”

Gillespie found herself in great demand with local and national media in the weeks leading up to the 2024 presidential election, providing her

If science education during the pandemic taught me anything, it’s that people really want to understand the world around them and have the tools to be able to spot when they are being given bad information.

LAUREL BRISTOW

Associate

Director of Audience Development, Rollins School of Public Health

insights on the process to millions. She also was a key participant at the Ideas Festival Emory, where she spoke about “fake news” and how individuals are more likely to believe stories that align with their own preexisting beliefs.

For her, these forays into public scholarship are significant because they enrich political dialogue and educate voters. “By effectively communicating the latest findings in my field and showing how they help us interpret political phenomena in real time, I hope I’m helping to elevate the conversation and give people the tools they need to be informed citizens who can help preserve American institutions and feel confident in holding elected and appointed leaders accountable in appropriate ways,” she says.

Meanwhile, Justin Burton, associate professor of physics, is engaged in public scholarship for audiences of all ages, including a speech at the Ideas Festival on how his lab is using artificial intelligence (AI) to help solve science mysteries.

I see public scholarship as an extension of teaching. While it is important to conduct and share research with colleagues who can provide critical feedback, it is also important to distill that knowledge for wider audiences.

He’s also inspiring K-12 students to ask questions about how the world works. In 2019, on a whim of scientific curiosity, Burton and his team began researching the elemental makeup of bubbles. How do bubbles maintain their form, often “thinner than a human hair,” while expanding in size — sometimes bigger than a car, if you find the right street performer.

The answer was polymers, “a long chain of goopy molecules that you can put in a solution to give it some stretch and prevent the film from breaking.” Burton shared the research on several kids’ TV programs and podcasts and was interviewed by the BBC. The project was a light-hearted demonstration of how science can be used to answer questions — a skill the next generation will need to cultivate in the years ahead, he says.

“Kids are going to have to deal with so many problems that have to do with science, from climate change to AI, and the sooner that we can get them interested and get them to ask questions, the better,” Burton says. “I just want kids to follow their own curiosity.”

Recently, he’s been working with fourth- and fifth-graders in a DeKalb County elementary school science club. There he’s been using his Emory research on glaciers and climate change as a jumping-off point for activities. At their next meeting, they’ll be crafting “flubber glaciers.”

“We’re building glaciers out of slime,” he says. “We’re going to watch them roll downhill, just like they do in Antarctica over hundreds of years, and they’re going to track the motion using a stopwatch.”

DEVELOPING SKILLS AND COLLABORATING LOCALLY

The Center for Public Scholarship and Engagement has more on the horizon as Emory continues to position itself as a leader in the field, Carter says. This May, it will host its first Public Scholarship Academy, a four-day workshop for academics focused on developing skills in public scholarship.

ANDRA GILLESPIE Associate Professor of Political

Science

For its inaugural gathering, the academy is partnering with the Alan Alda Center for Science Communication at Stonybrook University to develop a custom program on scholarly storytelling. Several journalists will also discuss how scholars can build relationships with the media. And there will be a full day focused on podcasting, as well as

training on how to write op-eds and participate in TV interviews.

“We’re creating this pipeline of academics who can learn how to be great public scholars at the academy and who we then may be able to showcase at the Ideas Festival,” Carter says.

The academy will also feature a session with Atlanta-based improv group Dad’s Garage. “So much of improv is releasing storytelling,” Carter adds. The idea was initially inspired by the Emory Center for Faculty Development and Excellence, which has its own Public Scholarship Institute and has used the group in past programs.

Prior to heading up the center, Carter earned a reputation as an effective storyteller himself. He shared his research on the psychology of thrill-seeking across many platforms, from museum exhibits and TED Talks to news programs and podcasts. Through these experiences, he learned the importance of forming a connection with his audience and being honest about his own connection to the material.

“There’s an expression in academia that research is me-search,” Carter says. “There are things that academics are trying to find out about themselves, or the world, through their research. They are often inspired to do that because of a personal connection.”

Carter recalls a moment writing his book, “Buzz: Inside the Minds of Thrill-Seekers, Daredevils, and Adrenaline Junkies,” when this perspective began to crystallize. “I had the draft done, and my editor read it and said, ‘This is really interesting, but there’s not a lot of you.’ And I thought, ‘Why should there be?’ But he said people want to know: ‘What is my connection? Why is this important to me?’ That can draw people in.”

To help share these stories of scholarship, the center is launching the Ideas Festival Emory Podcast this January. The program will expand on many of the conversations from the 2024 festival and build excitement for the 2025 event.

The inclusion of the Dad’s Garage improv troupe in the academy is indicative of the kind of partnerships the center wants to foster — especially with the local entertainment industry.

“Georgia is a perfect place for this,” Carter says. “The entertainment industry is a storytelling industry. We can learn from them about the

Kids are going to have to deal with so many problems that have to do with science, from climate change to AI, and the sooner that we can get them interested and get them to ask questions, the better.

JUSTIN BURTON

Associate Professor of Physics

importance of storytelling and how to tell the stories of our scholarship. My goal is to engage in those partnerships in strategic ways, so that in five years we have a sustainable, exciting, viable and well-known festival and academy.”

The partnerships, though, need to continue to center the public and reflect Higinbotham’s ideas of “radical hospitality,” Carter says. That’s why, in the lead-up to the Ideas Festival, he met with local librarians who interact with and program for the public every day.

Higinbotham agrees that engaging local communities — especially those “who have been excluded from having a life of the mind” — is where public scholarship can have the most impact, recalling an idea from Bryan Stevenson, author of the 2015 New York Times bestseller “Just Mercy” and 2020 Emory Commencement speaker.

“Stevenson says there is power in proximity, and the only way to solve our social problems is through proximity,” Higinbotham says. “I think fostering proximity is an ideal application of public scholarship.”

EXPLORING 5 BIG IDEAS

The inaugural Ideas Festival Emory — hosted by the Center for Public Scholarship and Engagement — was chock-full of insights from more than 40 scientists, scholars, musicians, filmmakers and other creative minds who came together to share their work with the public this fall. Set on the Oxford College campus and free of charge to all, the festival featured discussions, storytelling and performances dealing with important topics of our time.

Center Director Kenneth Carter described the event as a “buffet” of public scholarship. Here are five of the biggest and boldest insights served up at the festival.

READ ABOUT MORE BIG IDEAS PRESENTED AT THE FESTIVAL AT MAGAZINE.EMORY.EDU.

IDEA #1: PLANTS MAY HOLD THE KEY TO FUTURE MEDICINES.

“Ethnobotany is a science of survival, and for our survival, I believe we need to look more to plants as we develop new medicines, especially as we deal with more and more drug-resistant diseases.”

— Cassandra Quave, ethnobotanist and associate professor of dermatology and human health, Emory School of Medicine

Cassandra Quave studies the healing power of plants and champions preserving the Earth’s biodiversity. “Saving plants isn’t just about protecting the inherent beauty of nature, it’s about fueling our discoveries for the next medicines, the next food sources, the next construction materials, that we as humans need to survive,” Quave said. “About 45% of all flowering plants are at risk for extinction. We’re losing vast opportunities to alleviate suffering and to treat disease.” Even though no new antibiotic has been successfully developed since 1984, she and her team of researchers at Emory are making some progress. “We’ve identified new molecules in plants that could revolutionize the way we treat drug-resistant infections like MRSA,” Quave said. Her recent work has also involved fighting COVID-19, developing therapies to treat eczema and innovations in wound-healing treatments.

“We talk to plants, but plants also talk to us,” she added. “They’re speaking a chemical language and, if we listen carefully, we can save humanity.”

IDEA #2: ‘FAKE NEWS’ WORKS — BUT WE CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

“Fake news is effective because it’s actually playing to voters’ preexisting notions of the candidates. It's playing to these preexisting media frames that we have all consumed.”

— Andra Gillespie, associate professor of political science and director of the James Weldon Johnson Institute

You’ve probably seen political scientist Andra Gillespie quoted in local and national media outlets for the past several election cycles. At the Ideas Festival, she took on “fake news” and her research into how our biases impact our ability to spot stories that might be exaggerated or even completely untrue. In a nutshell, we are more apt to believe fake stories that align with our existing opinions. So how can we counter this? “As individuals, we can take personal responsibility to corroborate stories” by consuming media widely (be especially cautious if only one news outlet or type of news outlet is reporting something), she says. Also, it’s important for us to be conscious of our own biases, use sources such as traditional news media that have “accountability structures” like editors who help verify information, and avoid getting news mainly from social media platforms, which lack such accountability.

IDEA #3: ADVOCATING EFFECTIVELY WITH CIVIC LEADERS IS A SKILL WORTH LEARNING.

“We want a definitive answer when we’re working on social issues, but the best discourse is the one that actually continues. If we cut off the communication, then the status quo wins.”

— Doug Shipman 95C, president of Atlanta City Council

Atlanta City Council President and Emory alumnus Doug Shipman addressed the timely topic of civility in civic discourse with practical advice for advocating for issues you care about. Social media is a great place to get ideas, but usually not for debating them, he noted. Instead, he recommended first learning who can impact the issue. “Know who you should be yelling at,” he joked, so you don’t waste your time lobbying a leader on something outside of their purview. Then embrace the power of storytelling — the more personal the better, to build empathy and connections — and be prepared to share concrete ideas for solutions. “If you can tell experiential stories that are memorable, that's the gold standard as an individual of moving [an issue] forward,” Shipman said. “And it's also the gold standard of bringing more people towards you in order to be allies with you.”

IDEA #4: THE MODERN AMERICAN SOUTH IS NOT A MONOLITHIC CULTURE, BUT RATHER A ‘GUMBO’ OF PEOPLE, CUSTOMS AND IDEAS.

“The gumbo that is the United States is extra spicy in the South.”

— Virginia Willis, chef and author of “Bon Appetit, Y’all”

“What is ‘authentic South’ these days?” Virginia Willis asked. “It’s Mexican Americans, it’s African Americans, it’s white Americans, it’s Asian Americans.” That is the gumbo, she said — a diverse and vibrant array of people who live in the South and interact with its landscape and history. Joined by Janisse Ray, author of the New York Times bestseller “Ecology of a Cracker Childhood,” the pair discussed what it means to be authentically Southern in the modern world. “We were whispering before this session, this term ‘authentic South’ is so loaded, because it’s really everything,” Ray said. “It’s all of us.” They encouraged the audience to look beyond stereotypes of what it means to be Southern, citing times they had been pigeonholed in their respective fields. “People have these automatic assumptions about who we are, what we think, what we eat,” said Willis, who has fused her Southern background with French culinary flair, as seen in her cookbook “Bon Appetit, Y’all.”

IDEA #5: AI CAN BE USED AS A TOOL TO PUSH THE BOUNDARIES OF SCIENCE.

“By using artificial intelligence in our research, we hope it can help us unlock the mysteries of science.”

— Justin Burton, associate professor of physics, Emory College

Justin Burton and his team of researchers are trying to understand how and why things in the physical world happen, and artificial intelligence is a promising new tool at their disposal. “We don’t just want to put a lot of data into an AI neural network and have it make predictions for us, like ChatGPT does with text,” Burton said. “We want it to see new patterns and identify the forces at play so we can gain new understanding.” His lab at Emory is currently studying dusty plasmas — first discovered in the rings of Saturn — by placing them in steel vacuum chambers that are powered by electromagnetic fields. High-powered cameras record the plasmas’ behavior, tracking their movement and speed in three dimensions, and that data is collected and fed into AI neural networks. “Our primary goal is to develop and use AI algorithms to learn what makes them act the way they do,” he said. But the algorithms Burton and his team are using aren’t necessarily limited to studying dusty plasmas. “They could also be used to analyze the movement of bacteria in the human body or the murmuration of starlings in flight.”

The Business of Art and the Art of Business

BY ANDISHEH NOURAEE

Emory alumna Sarah Arison, recently named board president at the Museum of Modern Art, stands as a powerful champion for emerging artists.

n a sunny afternoon in her native Miami, Sarah Arison 07B is directing movers carrying large paintings around her apartment.

“I would say 90 to 95% of the work I own, I know the artists personally. I’ve worked with them — whether through YoungArts or MoMA. My collection almost ends up being biographical, which is really fun.”

Arison smiles as she remembers attending the Frieze Los Angeles art fair when she was seven months pregnant with her daughter. “I was putting together a nursery and had gotten to know an artist who made whimsical balloons that attach to the ceiling with a magnet,” she says. “I bought one to start my unborn child with a collection.”

Arison’s art collection embraces the abstract, but her motivation for supporting artists is direct and literal. She cites a public opinion survey showing overwhelming support for the idea of “the arts” but, at the same time, much less enthusiasm for direct patronage of artists.

“It’s incredibly problematic to think of the arts as an industry without recognizing and supporting the artists behind the industry,” she says.

“It’s incredibly problematic to think of the arts as an industry without recognizing and supporting the artists behind the industry.

SHOW OF SUPPORT

Sarah Arison (left) poses with artists Derrick Adams and Mickalene Thomas, along with art collector Craig Robins, at the 2024 YoungArts Miami Gala.

At just 40 years old, Arison already ranks among the world’s most influential art patrons. This summer she was appointed president of the Board of Trustees at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City.

A recent feature in Town & Country magazine compared Arison to legendary arts philanthropist Agnes Gund, with whom she’s worked closely over the past several years. In fact, Arison has been part of MoMA since 2017, when she began serving as co-vice chair — with Gund — at MoMA PS1 based in Queens. She has served on the boards at the Brooklyn Museum, The Kitchen, American Ballet Theatre and many other arts organizations.

A PASSION ROOTED IN FAMILY TRADITION

Supporting artists is more than Arison’s life’s work. It’s a family tradition. She is the longtime chair of YoungArts, the National Foundation for the Advancement of Artists, created in 1981 by her grandparents, Ted and Lin Arison, three years before she was born. YoungArts supports artists across all disciplines with grants, professional development and a prestigious competition whose roster of winners over the past 40-plus years includes several noteworthy names — Viola Davis, Timothée Chalamet, Amanda Gorman, Kerry Washington and Billy Porter, among them.

“My grandparents were always exposing me to the arts. Growing up, we were going to the symphony, the ballet, museums. If we were traveling together, we’d explore the cultural institutions where we were traveling.”

Looking back, Arison says she didn’t know when she was younger how meaningful art would become to her as an adult. In school, Arison thought of herself as a math and science kid. She laughs at the thought now and suggests turning to math and science was probably a form of youthful rebellion in a family so focused on art.

Arison chose to go to college at Emory, where biology served as her initial major. She envisioned a career in genetics. However, art began to reassert its primacy in her life during her sophomore year, when she attended a YoungArts gala with her grandmother. “It wasn’t that I was particularly knowledgeable about or even interested in YoungArts at that point,” she explains. “It was just a

way for me to spend time with my grandmother.”

At the gala, she remembers, the mother of a past YoungArts competition winner thanked her for the organization’s work.

“She told me she used to yell at her son when he’d come from school and sit on the floor and draw instead of doing his ‘real’ work. YoungArts had offered him creative support and mentorship, and he was being offered college scholarships for art. With tears in her eyes, she said she realized that art was his ‘real’ work. The next day, I said, ‘Grandma, I want to help with YoungArts.’”

Arison returned to campus and switched her major from biology to a business and French double major with a minor in art history. She also joined the YoungArts board.

“Emory has a phenomenal business program, and I figured the skills I’d learn would be applicable whichever direction I ended up going in.”

LIFE-CHANGING FELLOWSHIPS

In addition to her role at YoungArts, Arison has also served since 2013 as president of the Arison Arts Foundation, through which she has provided financial support to emerging artists across the globe, including at Emory.

For the past four years, Arison has provided funding to the Emory Arts Fellows program, which seeks to cultivate artistic talent in a setting that allows fellows, faculty members and students to reimagine the influence art can have on the world around them. This year, the Arison Arts Foundation’s initial support for two fellowships annually was expanded to three.

Arison says working with Emory on the program is fulfilling because it’s not typical for universities to understand the importance of arts fellowships and residencies. “I was thinking a lot about how to support artists at critical junctures in their lives,” Arison says. “The concept of a residency is hugely important for artists and can be life-changing. To be able to do that with Emory is very exciting.”

A fellowship offers artists time, space and resources to develop their artistry and build their portfolios. According to Kevin Karnes, divisional dean of arts in Emory College of Arts and Sciences, the benefits go both ways. He says undergraduate creatives welcome getting face time with and

A FAMILY TRADITION

mentorship from early-career artists whose experiences in contemporary art marketplaces aren’t far from their own.

Along with helping artists develop, the program is also a gateway for them to enter the academy. Karnes notes that four of the six Emory Arts Fellows have gone on to careers in college and university teaching.

That the fellowship program catalyzes career development alongside artistic development is no accident. The program was designed to help them support their art careers as well as develop their body of creative work. The fellows have access to mentorship from the Goizueta Business School, where they can develop skills to advance their business acumen.

ART TOUCHES EVERYTHING

“I love that Emory is thinking about trying to break through the silos of ‘business over here, art over there,’” Arison says.

She rejects the widespread belief that art and artists operate in a world distinct from business or commerce. Art shouldn’t be confined to rarefied spaces, or what she dubs “ivory towers” of museums, galleries and Broadway.

Everyday business, Arison says, is driven by artists and their art. “Look at the world around you. Everything has been touched by an artist,” she says. “The car you drive had designers. The clothes you wear, that’s a fashion designer. The shows you’re watching, those are actors, screenwriters, cinematographers, costume designers, set designers. Art affects everything in our world. I think that once you understand that, you understand the importance of supporting artists.”

She hopes that people and institutions interested in supporting the arts will think about individual artists and not just galleries and museums. She draws from her art history education to point out that the Italian Renaissance relied on the Medici family’s support for a culture of mentorship and apprenticeship among individual artists.

“That’s something that’s been lost,” Arison says.

Her advice to people who want to support artists and art but don’t know where to begin: See as much as you can. “Take advantage of all the opportunities you have to see art,” Arison says. “The better your eye gets, the better your understanding will be. And when you go out, you’ll meet interesting, exciting people.”

Her other advice: Ignore art trends. “Go buy a poster you like,” she says. “Buy something that makes you feel something and you want to see on your wall. Something that you want to live with.”

PROUD PATRON Arison poses with $wagfuture 2812, a work created by David Correa and Alberto Checa, two artists she helped support through YoungArts..

When Arison was still a student at Emory, she attended her first MoMA Party in the Garden with her grandmother Lin.

Meet the EMORY ARTS FELLOWS

With support from the Arison Arts Foundation, the Emory Arts Fellows program was recently renewed. The Emory Arts Fellows have been catalysts for creativity, curiosity and growth. The program has hosted six fellows in its first three years, and each has made a powerful, unique contribution to the Emory community.

2021–2022

INAUGURAL FELLOWS

Masud Olufani

Multidisciplinary artist Masud Olufani produced a body of work inspired by the Gullah Geechee communities, descendants of the enslaved Africans who lived on the Sea Islands along the Georgia coast. Incorporating Spanish moss, wood and sand from the islands, he created a dialogue across time. His teaching cultivated both expertise and character, brought history to life and drove home the fundamental truth that we are all students.

Tom Zhang

Writer and actor Tom Zhang developed a new performance exploring how bad-faith actors can derail conversations about race.

They also collaborated with Emory students and faculty members on work examining how political divisiveness shaped narratives about the United States. As a teacher they shared the power of the arts to broaden perspectives and strengthen critical thinking.

2022–2023

Tamika Galanis

Tamika Galanis, a documentarian and multimedia artist, created work considering the realities of living in a tourist destination — her native Bahamas — during the climate crisis. In the classroom, she introduced students to experimental filmmakers, particularly artists of color.

Davor Vincze

Composer Davor Vincze combined pieces for voice, percussion, cello and electronics in a “portrait concert,” a get-toknow-the-artist performance in which he talked about his approach to sound. He also taught a composition course exploring the music of science fiction and experimental sounds for film and television.

2023–2024

Annalee Traylor

Choreographer and director Annalee Traylor, who tells stories at the intersection of dance and theater, created a performance that transformed ordinary movements like bathing and hugging into dance. As a teacher, she encouraged students to make bold, thoughtful choices in their academic lives and communities.

Theodosia Roussos

Theodosia Roussos, a composer, singer and musician, created an interdisciplinary collaboration exploring questions of gender and women’s rights. In the classroom, her background in comparative literature, neuroscience and experimental music gave her a unique approach to the science and art of learning.

IN ON WEIG H ING

Emory experts debunk popular fads and share proven, sciencebased tactics

— including the many benefits of taking Ozempic or Wegovy — for improving your diet, fitness and overall health long-term.

BY MARTHA NOLAN

If you think losing weight — and keeping it off — is hard, you are absolutely right. You are also not alone.

The vast majority of people who manage to lose weight through a period of focused dieting and exercise put some or all of it back on within a year. That’s because so many weight-loss strategies, such as restrictive diets and intense exercise regimens, are just not sustainable over time.

The whole process of weight loss has become more confusing than ever, thanks to the sheer volume of information available — some factual and some not-so-much. From social media influencers touting miracle weight-loss hacks to the latest research studies that seem to contradict yesterday’s health advice, it’s hard to know what or who to believe.

“Obesity is a chronic medical condition and being overweight can be a health concern for some people,” says Sheethal Reddy, a licensed psychologist at the Emory Bariatric Center at Midtown.

“But weight problems are not treated like other chronic health problems. If you have been diagnosed with heart disease, it’s unlikely you’d be taking advice from a co-worker. You would likely go to your cardiologist.

Sharon Bergquist, Pam R. Rollins Professor of Medicine at Emory School of Medicine, thinks we should look at metabolic health more closely than the numbers on our scales.

You can be healthy and obese, and you can be unhealthy and thin. We need to move toward a more holistic view of health, not just weight.

But with weight loss, everyone is an expert. There is so much information out there — much of it questionable — that I think it can be hard to separate the fluff from evidence-backed strategies that work.”

Never fear, experts from Emory School of Medicine, Rollins School of Public Health, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and Emory Healthcare are here to take a look at those evidence-backed strategies and help you identify what may work best for you.

THE NUMBER ON THE SCALE

From a purely biological perspective, losing weight should be straightforward. A pound of fat is 3,500 calories, so creating a 3,500-calorie deficit will lead to a pound of weight loss. However, taking that pound off is a different experience for everyone. Many factors beyond our diet and exercise can affect appetite hormones, and hence our hunger and satiety levels. Genetic traits also influence factors like how much pleasure, flavor and satiety we get from food.

“Telling people to reduce their calories by 500 a day is not so simple for everyone,” says Sharon Bergquist, Pam R. Rollins Professor of Medicine and an internal medicine physician. “We are dealing with something far more powerful than willpower.”

And, at the end of the day, the number on the scale is not the be-all-end-all if you want to

maximize your health. “You can be healthy and obese, and you can be unhealthy and thin,” says Bergquist. “We need to move toward a more holistic view of health, not just weight.”

Bergquist is referring to metabolic health, which is measured with five factors: blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar and waist circumference. If someone has three or more factors outside of the recommended range, they have metabolic syndrome, which increases the risk for a host of diseases, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes and dementia.

Elevated weight and BMI (body mass index) certainly can be indicators of problems in one or more of these areas, but a more meaningful proxy is waist-to-height ratio. Basically, if your waist circumference is more than half of your height, you are at elevated risk for metabolic syndrome, according to the National Institutes of Health.

That’s because unlike fat that sits underneath your skin, which is more or less inert, belly fat — or visceral fat — wraps around your organs. It goes beyond just being excess weight; research shows that it actively disrupts the body’s metabolic processes, promotes chronic inflammation and increases the risk of numerous serious health conditions, particularly heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers.

So while you’ll undoubtedly want to keep an eye on your weight and BMI during your weight loss and improved health journey, you would also be well served to monitor your waist-height ratio.

FAD DIETS VS. WHOLE FOODS

Every so often, a new hot diet will come along and take everyone by storm. Laurence Sperling has seen them all. The Katz Professor in Preventive Cardiology and founder of the Emory Center for Heart Disease Prevention, Sperling has served for the past 15 years as an expert on U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of the best diets.

What he has seen again and again is that the hot fad diets — think Keto, Paleo, Atkins — can result in rapid weight loss. But due to their highly restrictive nature, the diets tend to be unsustainable, and the weight comes piling back on, Sperling says.

The diets that consistently rank toward the top of the list — Mediterranean Diet, DASH Diet, MIND

Diet — have a key element in common. They all focus on consuming whole, unprocessed, predominantly plant-based foods.

It seems simple, but it’s a heavy lift for many Americans. Today, more than half of the calories we consume come from ultraprocessed foods, according to an 18-year study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. And these calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods trigger dopamine release, which leaves you craving even more of them. On the other hand, unprocessed, whole foods tend to be nutrient-rich and higher in fiber, which results in natural calorie control. “How many people binge on broccoli?” asks Sperling. If you find following a prescribed diet, such as DASH or MIND, easiest for you, go for it. Otherwise, experts advise concentrating on eating whole foods, with an emphasis on fruits and vegetables. Sperling and other diet experts think this focus on eating whole foods is a more sustainable choice over your lifetime than trying to adhere to a particular diet.

Finding the right balance and quantity of those whole foods is difficult. Holley Nash, a registered dietitian nutritionist and nutrition education coordinator at the Emory Healthcare Bariatric Center, favors a method called the real food plate. Half of the plate is filled with fruits and nonstarchy vegetables, and Nash recommends aiming for color and variety. A quarter of the plate is reserved for whole grains and starchy vegetables, and the remaining quarter is for a lean protein serving of three to four ounces. “That is an easy, visual way to make sure you are getting the correct balance of nutrients,” Nash says.

FASTING FOR CELLULAR HEALTH

Some consider intermittent fasting a type of fad diet. Indeed, the practice of condensing meal consumption to certain periods of the day and fasting for the rest has been getting a lot of press lately.

It’s not for everyone. People who are under 18, pregnant, nursing or with a history of an eating disorder are discouraged from intermittent fasting. However, many lifestyle physicians praise the practice, particularly if you are eating healthy, whole foods during your consumption window. In fact, intermittent fasting can not only help with

weight loss, it can improve health right down to the cellular level.

From a weight-loss perspective, intermittent fasting takes advantage of our body’s natural healing systems. Our bodies store glucose in the form of glycogen with enough reserves to last 12 to 24 hours depending on factors such as activity level and metabolic rate, according to the study “Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging and Disease,” published in the New England Journal of Medicine. As glycogen is depleted, this research shows, our bodies shift to using fat in the form of ketones. So if you limit your eating to an eight-hour window, for example, you may primarily be burning fat for energy for up to four hours every day.

That’s good news for your waistline, but it’s also good news for your cells. That’s because ketones are signaling molecules, and when they are released, they signal cells to switch from a growth state to a repair state. “When you’re in a fasting state, your cells do their housecleaning,” says Bergquist. “They repair damaged DNA. They repair damaged proteins. They also activate the growth of new mitochondria, which is the part of a cell that controls our metabolism.”

When you're in a fasting state, your cells do the housecleaning. They repair damaged DNA. They repair damaged proteins. They also activate the growth of new mitochondria, which is the part of a cell that controls our metabolism.

Bergquist continues: “So above and beyond calorie balance, fasting makes cells more efficient, more insulin sensitive and just healthier. And if you look at the most upstream factor leading to chronic disease, it’s cellular health. Damage to our cells is what ultimately manifests into disease. I personally think time-restricted eating — fasting for 12, or ideally closer to 14 hours a day and consuming most of your calories earlier in the day to align with your circadian rhythm — is an effective and sustainable way to improve your health.” That eating pattern, she says, is actually normal for our bodies rather than eating throughout our waking hours.

MOVE IT, MOVE IT

If all the benefits of exercise could be packaged into a pill, it would be the most widely used drug in the world, or so the saying goes. In addition to

LESS SITTING, MORE EXERCISE

Laurence Sperling, Katz Professor in Preventive Cardiology and founder of the Emory Center for Heart Disease Prevention, believes our health would improve vastly if we simply moved more every day rather than staying sedentary.

Most of our energy expenditure comes from nonexercise activities, and you can’t overcome the harm of being sedentary by exercising an hour a day. It comes down to the fact that our bodies were designed to move, and when they don’t, bad things happen.

burning calories and helping maintain a healthy weight, regular exercise can boost your mood though the release of endorphins, improve your sleep, speed your recovery and lower the risk of myriad chronic diseases.

Recommendations are straightforward. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends getting a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity, or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity, each week. If you want to lose weight, or keep off lost weight, it’s recommended that you increase that number to 300 minutes per week of moderate exercise or 150 minutes of vigorous exercise. You can break up the segments of physical activity any way you like.

“We used to think being a ‘weekend warrior’ had lower health benefits, but in fact the data shows that as long as you meet the 150 minutes per week, you get the bulk of the health benefits,” says Felipe Lobelo, associate professor of global health at the Rollins School of Public Health. “On the flip side, it doesn’t matter if you break it up

into five- or 10-minute increments. You just have to get those 150 minutes in.”

You should also do strength-training exercises for all major muscle groups at least two times a week. Lobelo recommends using a weight or resistance level heavy enough to tire your muscles after about 12–15 repetitions.

Only about one quarter of Americans meet these requirements, according to a 2020 National Health Interview Survey. The National Health Interview Survey is one of the major data collection programs of the National Center for Health Statistics, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And even those who do may not be moving enough the rest of the time. Indeed, if you hit the 300 minutes of exercise-per-week goal, but you sit on the couch for the other 9,780 minutes, your health will suffer.

“We need to move away from the mindset of ‘I worked out today, so I’m healthy,’” says Sperling. “Most of our energy expenditure comes from nonexercise activities, and you can’t overcome the harm of being sedentary by exercising an hour a day. It comes down to the fact that our bodies were designed to move, and when they don’t, bad things happen.”

As soon as you sit down, your calorie burning is reduced. Scientific studies show that with prolonged sitting, your major muscle groups, particularly in your legs and glutes, become inactive, which interferes with fat metabolism. Your body’s ability to regulate blood sugar declines, fueling glucose insensitivity. Overall, prolonged sitting has been linked to diabetes, heart disease, depression, dementia and multiple cancers.

Sperling and other experts recommend breaking up your sitting spells. If possible, get out of the chair every hour and move around for five minutes. You don’t need to do a sprint, just walk or move in any way. In everyday life, choose the path that requires more movement. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Park at the back of the lot. Don’t take the moving sidewalk at the airport.

“The 10,000 steps a day recommendation is a good goal,” says Sperling. “But the most important thing is consistent movement throughout the day.”

There is another important component of fitness that you may have never heard of — cardiorespiratory fitness. It is basically the capacity of

NUMBERS YOU

Metabolic health is measured with five key factors. If you have three or more outside of the recommended range listed below, you have metabolic syndrome, which puts you at higher risk for a host of diseases.

BLOOD PRESSURE at or below 120/80

HDL greater or equal to 40 mg/dL (milligram per decileter) for men and 50 mg/dL for women

the body’s circulatory and respiratory systems to supply oxygen to the muscles during physical activity, and it’s a highly effective measure of overall health.

Cardiorespiratory fitness is commonly measured by VO2 max, which is the maximum rate at which someone can consume oxygen during intense exercise. “It’s a term that is rarely, if ever, heard during a clinical visit,” says Bergquist. “But there are literally thousands of clinical studies that show it is a better predictor of mortality than established risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.”

To give you a sense of the magnitude, the risk of dying prematurely is 40% higher for someone who smokes than for a nonsmoker. And Bergquist notes, the risk of premature death is as much as five-fold higher for someone with poor cardiorespiratory fitness than for someone with an elite-level VO2 max, according to recent studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

You can have your VO2 max measured by running on a treadmill while wearing a special face mask in your doctor’s office. Or you can measure it yourself with the Rockport One Mile Test, which you can find online. Basically, you walk as fast as you can for one (level) mile and measure your pulse at the end. There are formulas online where you can put in your age, your gender, the time it took you to do the mile and your heart rate at the end of the test and it will calculate your VO2 max.

“As physicians, we can make perhaps the biggest difference in our patients’ lives by encouraging cardiorespiratory fitness,” says Bergquist.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SLEEP

Many people don’t consider sleep when they are thinking about losing weight, but it is hugely important. “Sleep is a fundamental pillar of overall health and weight management, but it doesn’t get talked about enough,” says Rachel Annam, an internist and lifestyle medicine specialist at Emory Healthcare. “People who get less than seven hours of sleep a night have a higher risk for chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension. They also have a harder time maintaining a healthy weight.”

That’s because poor sleep disrupts the hormones that regulate hunger. Leptin is a hormone that helps you feel full and rises during sleep. When you don't get enough sleep, your leptin levels decrease, which can make you feel hungrier and eat more. Ghrelin is a hormone that

There really weren’t good medications for weight control until GLP-1RAs (like Ozempic and Wegovy) were approved. They have shaken up the landscape of how we treat obesity.

— MEGHANA ANUGU internist and obesity medicine specialist, Emory Healthcare

makes you feel hungry. Sleep deprivation can cause an increase in ghrelin levels, making you feel hungrier.

Inadequate sleep can also influence the reward centers in our brain, which can impact our decision-making around food choices, according to Annam. When we’re sleep-deprived, we’re more likely to consume less nutritious foods that are high in carbohydrates and fats. Several studies show that we’re also more prone to snacking between meals and experiencing nighttime cravings, consuming more calories than people who are not sleep-deprived.

Annam recommends developing healthy sleep habits that include going to bed and getting up at the same time every day — even on the weekend — to regulate your circadian rhythm, turning off all screens an hour or two before bedtime and striving to get seven to nine hours of sleep every night.

GAME-CHANGING DRUGS

Of course, the biggest news in weight loss these days are the new “miracle drugs,” like Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus. Originally used to treat type 2 diabetes, these drugs — which use a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) called a semaglutide as their main ingredient — are indeed game-changers in the weight-loss market.

“They are by far and away the biggest breakthrough in weight management that I’ve seen in my career,” says Angela Haynes Ferere, a family nurse practitioner and program director for the Distance Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. “And they have many more benefits besides weight loss.”

Ferere should know; she takes Wegovy herself. “I went through menopause and I developed longhaul COVID — my health was not good,” she said. “I was prehypertensive, prediabetic and had fatty liver disease. Then I started on Wegovy, and within months my lab values have all normalized.”

These GLP-1RA medications, which are available only by prescription, work on both physiological and psychological levels, according to

Meghana Anugu, an internist and obesity medicine specialist at Emory Healthcare. They literally slow down your GI tract, so even when you eat a small amount, you feel full, she says.

Anugu explains they help stabilize blood-sugar levels by stimulating insulin release when blood sugar is high and inhibiting glucagon release, which prevents the liver from producing too much sugar. They also work on the reward-pleasure system to quiet the cravings or “food noise” that can lead to emotional eating, she says. And studies show that these drugs can reduce the risk of heart disease, kidney disease, cancer and dementia.

Like any medication, GLP-1RAs can have side effects. The most common are nausea, diarrhea, constipation and abdominal pain. They have also been associated with the risk of pancreatitis, gallstones and hypoglycemia. And, once you stop taking the drugs, you will typically regain much of the weight you have lost, says Anugu, who also is an assistant professor at Emory School of Medicine.

“There really weren’t good medications for weight control until these GLP-1RAs were approved,” says Anugu. “These drugs have shaken up the landscape of how we treat obesity.”

That said, Anugu, Ferere and other weight-loss experts agree that drugs like Ozempic should be seen as just one tool — albeit a very effective one — for improving health and losing weight. “There are no magic bullets,” says Ferere. “These drugs need to be part of a comprehensive strategy to manage overall health, in addition to diet, exercise, sleep and stress management. To lose weight and maintain good health, you have to put the effort in.”

That means keeping your focus on commonsense health advice: incorporate more whole foods, such as fruits and vegetables, into your meals, and keep yourself moving throughout the day. Small changes, made consistently, can yield long-term benefits.

As we learn more about the relationship between food, movement and health, it’s important to stay informed while being wary of quick fixes or fad diets that promise unrealistic results. Above all, remember that health is personal and what works for one person may not work for another. Focus on sustainability, balance and what makes you feel good, both physically and mentally.

Meet the 2024 class of young alumni whose groundbreaking work and leadership across a diverse range of industries is helping to shape a bright future.

Emory graduates are changing the world, making their impact felt in communities across the United States and around the globe. They are lawyers and doctors, physical therapists and researchers, entrepreneurs, executives, teachers, diplomats and more. Every year, the Emory Alumni Association’s 40 Under Forty program highlights a select group of these exceptional alumni who are trailblazers and changemakers in their fields. The university receives hundreds of nominations annually to honor outstanding young graduates who exemplify excellence in professional achievement and humanitarian service. Read on to discover who made this year’s prestigious list and learn more about how these 40 individuals are deploying their talents, drive, experience and passion to advance their fields and create a brighter future.

JYOTHI ALAGAPPAN is a compassionate and driven veterinarian who thrives on ensuring the well-being of both her team and the animals they serve together. Her journey began at Emory, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and behavioral biology and discovered her

BRITTANY ALBRIGHT is a board-certified adult and addiction psychiatrist and the founder of Sweetgrass Psychiatry in Charleston, South Carolina, the state’s largest physician-owned psychiatry practice. After graduating from Emory, she pursued medical and public health degrees at the University of New Mexico and then completed the Harvard Medical School Adult Psychiatry Residency Training Program, followed by an addiction psychiatry fellowship.

RANDI (FISHMAN) BRAUN is the Wall Street Journal best-selling author of “Something Major: The New Playbook for Women at Work,” CEO of the firm Something Major and a sought-after executive coach and speaker. Graduating cum laude from Emory with dual degrees in women’s and gender studies and art

passion for medicine and animal care. After graduating, Alagappan pursued her dream of becoming a veterinarian and now serves as the vice president of medicine at Thrive Pet Healthcare.

CHRISTINE ANDREWS oversees financial reporting as the controller at Mercury Technologies Inc., a fintech company providing banking services to more than 200,000 companies. After earning her accounting degree from Goizueta Business School, Andrews became a CPA. Driven by a passion for applying best practices to startups, she joined Mercury in 2022 and was named 2023 Controller of the Year for Startups by the Controller’s Council and a 2024 Rising Star by the Northern Virginia Technology Council.

LINDSEY BAKER is an advocate for social equity, committed to decreasing food insecurity and increasing access to health care, among other causes. With more than 15 years in the nonprofit sector, she has served as chief operating officer of both the Jewish Community Foundation and Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, as well as director of programs at Feeding America. In 2022, she founded LR Baker Consulting to support nonprofits locally and nationwide.

history, Braun focuses on intersectional feminist theory, which has shaped her innovative coaching approaches. She has guided hundreds of female entrepreneurs and executives worldwide through her coaching, workshops and retreats.

LINDSAY RAMBO CARUTHERS is vice president of operations at Upstream Rehabilitation, which offers physical therapy services. With a doctorate in physical therapy from Emory, she has a passion for keeping people moving, engaging patients and leading and teaching others to do the

DUNCAN COCK FOSTER is a lifelong learner, explorer and serial entrepreneur. While at Emory, he co-founded Edward Foster Clothing with fellow student Ryan Walsh 17C. The popularity of their shirts became a phenomenon on campus. After graduating, he moved to California and

AMELIA CONRAD is a lifelong advocate for positive change. She launched her first civic petition in fifth grade and, by high school, was volunteering for political campaigns. After earning a master’s degree in development practice at Emory, focusing on gender equity and monitoring, evaluation and learning, Conrad worked at CARE, the international poverty-fighting organization, and The Carter Center. Now, as the director of impact at Frontier Design, she helps government, philanthropic and nonprofit clients harness data and storytelling to enact change.

same. Caruthers was instrumental in growing Upstream’s outpatient therapy practice into the largest private outpatient practice in the country, leading development into the Carolinas with great clinical care and community service.

launched Nifty Gateway, a digital art marketplace, with his twin brother, Griffin. Under their leadership, Nifty Gateway paid out over $500 million to artists worldwide. Foster is now working on a new, yet-to-berevealed company.

TRACY DAVIS is a serial entrepreneur who thrives on solving problems and supporting small businesses. After graduating from Emory with a degree in anthropology, she worked in her family’s business before catching the entrepreneurship bug. In 2019, Davis founded TRAX Analytics, a data-driven software platform featured in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. She followed that up by co-founding Mind & Social, a coaching service for new entrepreneurs, and co-hosting The Layover, a podcast focused on entrepreneurship and professional development.

LEILA ELAMINE is an entrepreneur and creative leader. Currently, Elamine consults with early-stage artificial intelligence companies, guiding content and creative strategies to help them connect with their audiences through brand development. Previously, she founded the Culinary Heritage nonprofit, documenting traditional food practices and served as the head of creative and content at Shef, a homemade food marketplace. Elamine is an Edmund Hillary Fellow and has received awards for her contributions to food heritage and research.

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MORGAN Z. FAISON has been a clinical associate professor at the University of Georgia since 2016 and is a nationally recognized scholar and leading voice on early childhood education. Faison’s scholarship advances culturally responsive teaching, building on work she began as a student at Emory. Her research examines the interior lives, career pathways and pedagogical possibilities of Black educators. In 2023, she was selected as a Young Scholar by the Foundation for Child Development and received a highly competitive $225,000 grant.

SAM FRIEDLANDER is the senior manager of advocacy and policy for humanitarian programs at Sesame Workshop in Philadelphia. In her role, she translates technical research on humanitarian programs in Bangladesh and the Middle East into actionable resources for governments, the United Nations and donors. Friedlander works to ensure that decision­makers have the research they need to improve lives. She enjoys taking on new challenges, from writing a novel and learning to weightlift to becoming a mom.

ANGELICA GETER is one of the leading public health experts in the country, making significant contributions to Atlanta as the city’s first chief health officer and co­lead for the city’s COVID­19 Pandemic Response Team. Her expert advice and research have had a major impact on national policies, interventions and pro­

VANESSA M. GONZALEZ is a dedicated advocate for education and equity. Her deep belief that a great education can disrupt racial and other inequities has led her to focus her career in K­12 education. Gonzalez has used her “generalist” toolkit to advance public education through

HILLARY GARDNER is senior corporate counsel at Credigy Solutions Inc., a specialty finance firm in Atlanta. Gardner’s career journey began in litigation in New York City, followed by a role as assistant attorney general to the Republic of Palau, an archipelago of more than 500 islands in the western Pacific Ocean. Returning to Atlanta, she took on an in­house counsel role at a toy company before joining Credigy Solutions. Inspired by her aunt’s battle with ALS, Gardner serves on the board of ALS United of Georgia.

grams. Today, through a consultancy she founded called Impactful Collaboration, she serves as a senior health advisor and equity researcher to corporations, nonprofit organizations and government agencies, with an emphasis on measurement, strategic planning and organizational change.

nonprofit leadership roles. As chief development officer at DC Prep in Washington, D.C., she leads fundraising, external communications and alumni support for one of the city’s highest­performing charter school networks.

RYAN MITCHELL GREENE is an advocate for digital health equity and founder of Quincy Technologies and Go Go Quincy, an on-demand tech-support service tailored to non-techies. Greene is on a mission to help older adults unlock the best from technology, including telehealth, eCommerce and

THOMAS HANCOCK is a driven entrepreneur who has built his career on obsessive curiosity. While at Emory, Hancock’s passion for cars led him to work with and eventually start several businesses related to manufacturing and software development for BMWs. After early-career stints in specialty finance consulting and investment banking, Hancock helped found Global Lending Services LLC in 2012, where he serves as chief credit officer, helping GLS become one of the largest nonbank auto-finance companies in the U.S.

on-demand transportation. His company has been spotlighted in leading news outlets, and Greene has been a frequent guest on national TV networks to discuss aging in America and digital security.

ALEC HARTMAN is a technologist and entrepreneur who in 2011 co-founded DigitalOcean, a software company that went public in 2021 and reached a $10B market cap at its peak. He also founded the global TechDay event series and has served on advisory teams for the Estonian government and the Bermuda Tourism Board. Currently, Hartman is CEO of Welcome Homes, an online platform that allows users to design their own homes. He is also an investor in more than a dozen highgrowth startups.

ISMITA HUSSAIN is a literary agent at Atlanta-based Great Dog Literary and an advocate for those living with disabilities. A Georgia native, Hussain studied human health and Italian at Emory. She pivoted to the publishing industry from a career in health care and became a founding member of Disability in Publishing, where she currently serves on the board of directors. As a literary agent, Hussain represents an eclectic list of clients who write literary fiction, nonfiction and young adult books.

CHELSEA A. JACKSON is a political scientist, author and social justice consultant dedicated to dismantling systemic oppression and fostering racial equity. As the founder of Equity Architects and co-host of the Post-Woke Podcast, Jackson uses her platform to address issues of social justice and abo-

litionist reform. A Rhodes and Truman Scholar, Jackson holds three master’s degrees from Emory and the University of Oxford and co-authored the book “Brick by Brick: How We Build a World Without Prisons.”

CHRISTOPHER D. JACKSON is a dedicated mentor, teacher and leader who serves as an associate dean of student affairs and associate professor of medicine and medical education at the University of South Florida’s Morsani College of Medicine in Tampa. He received the Society

ESTHER JOE is a dedicated foreign service officer with the U.S. Department of State, having previously served as a diplomat in Jakarta, Istanbul and Washington, D.C. She is currently serving in Thailand and is learning the Thai language at the Foreign Service Institute in preparation to be the deputy spokesperson at the U.S.

GARJAE LAVIEN is a board-certified reconstructive urologic surgeon and department chair at HealthPartners in St. Paul, Minnesota. Lavien’s interest in medicine was sparked by a lifelong curiosity about the interplay between science and the human experience, which he further explored by majoring in neuroscience and behavioral biology at Emory. After graduating, he attended medical school at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and then completed residencies and fellowships specializing in advanced reconstructive urology and genitourinary cancer survivorship.

of General Internal Medicine’s (SGIM) Frederick L. Brancati Award for his efforts to inspire the next generation of physicians in academic general internal medicine. He remains active with leadership roles in multiple organizations, including the American College of Physicians and SGIM.

Embassy in Bangkok. She previously served in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, where she relaunched a civilian security and justice sector capacity-building program with the Palestinian Authority.

WILLIAM J. LEE leads Sacramento, California-based Kershaw Talley Barlow’s scientific practice law group and supports its nationally recognized complex litigation practice. He works at the intersection of epidemiology, law and policy, collaborating with leading experts to develop scientific evidence and performing epidemiological analyses as an expert himself. His work supports federal and state trial, appellate and Supreme Court litigations. Lee was elected to the prestigious American College of Epidemiology, where he serves on its ethics and policy committee and its foundation board of directors.

HILLARY LI is a civil rights attorney whose dedication to social justice blossomed at Emory. Inspired by her parents, who immigrated from China and instilled in her the importance of giving back to the community, Li grew as a civil rights advocate through Campus Life activities like Crossroads. She is now counsel with Los Angeles-based Justice Action Center, an organization that uses litigation and storytelling to fight for immigrant justice. Li litigates high-profile cases in federal court to defend noncitizens harmed by state violence.

JENNIFER M. LYNCH is an assistant professor of anesthesiology and bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Lynch divides her time between clinical work as a pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist and research in the field of biomedical optics. She focuses on developing and implementing novel optical neuromonitoring devices to predict the risk of neurologic injury in children with cardiac diseases. She translates these technologies into clinical studies, which has created a better understanding of when infants with heart disease are at risk for brain injury.

JA'ANN M. MAJOR is an attorney based in Nassau, Bahamas, specializing in real estate transactions, including foreign direct investment, acquisitions and financing for private clients and large commercial developments. As a partner at Higgs & Johnson, she serves as deputy chair of the firm’s real estate and development and maritime and aviation practice groups. Major also serves on the board of the Bahamas Maritime Authority and the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation.

CRYSTAL STEVENS MCELRATH is senior supervising attorney on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Economic Justice Litigation team, where she helps those marginalized by the legal system. Her journey includes a run for state court judge and rising to partner at Atlanta-

RUMBIDZAI MUFUKA is the founder of KAVA Consultancy, where she analyzes political systems and drives transformational change. She earned her bachelor’s in political science and international studies at Emory and a master of arts and doctoral degree focused on global leadership and

BRYANNA MARSHALL is a visionary go-getter known for her natural leadership and ability to recognize potential in both people and innovative ideas. As a managing partner of Frontline HLTH Innovation, a venture studio focused on clinician-led startups in health care, Marshall thrives at the intersection of health care and technology. Her background as an emergency nurse at Grady Memorial Hospital equips her with valuable frontline experience. Today, she continues to mentor and inspire nurses, encouraging them to leverage their skills and broaden their horizons.

based law firm Swift, Currie, McGhee & Hiers. Emory’s Center for the Study of Law and Religion empowered her to embrace her desire to go deep, wrestle with faith, consider the law and social justice, and pursue a vocation that combines all these areas.

strategy. She dedicates a lot of time to I Am Willing, a legacy-building initiative she co-founded to help individuals, particularly from the Black community, take the first crucial step toward securing their futures and preserving generational wealth.

DRISHTI PILLAI is a dedicated advocate for health equity and the director of immigrant health policy and associate director of racial equity and health policy at KFF, formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation. As a first-generation immigrant, she was motivated to use her knowledge and training to highlight the

BRIAN PLATT is the city manager for Kansas City, Missouri, where he oversees an organization with a $2.3 billion annual operating budget, 4,500 employees and more than 500,000 residents. Under his leadership, Kansas City has become a national success story, boasting a new acclaimed airport, one of the largest solar arrays in the U.S. and has planted 10,000 new trees over three years. He’s a former member of the Dooley’s Guards, the Emory track team and the U.S. Olympic weightlifting team.

disparities immigrants face and their many contributions to society. She previously led the research department at the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum and served as a faculty member at George Washington University.

KIM (RAHN) PRICE is a dynamic leader and visionary in the corporate world. She serves as vice president of sales for Georgia-Pacific’s CPG Organization, managing the largest B2B field sales team in the industry. She graduated from Emory with a bachelor’s degree in business and joined Georgia-Pacific in 2005. Throughout her career, Price has held various roles in pricing, field and channel sales, and sales strategy. In 2014, she was named vice president of channel sales, becoming one of the youngest women executives in the history of the company.

JORDAN STEIN is vice president at LSG, an impact agency that partners with organizations to grow, evolve and protect their brands and reputations. He began his career serving New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, overseeing the mayor’s daily appearances and advising on operations and crisis management. He supported

LAURIE RAY is a dedicated women’s health nurse practitioner with more than a decade of experience providing gender-inclusive gynecologic and family planning care. As an undergraduate at Emory, Ray double-majored in women’s studies and chemistry, a combination that led her to a career in women’s health. Ray returned to Emory for her doctor of nursing practice and is now an assistant clinical professor at the School of Nursing, where she teaches future nurses to provide patient-centered and evidence-based care.

Bloomberg’s leadership at Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies and served as chief of staff for Bloomberg’s coverage of the 2016 election. He serves as president of the Emory College Alumni Board, working with senior university administrators to enhance student experiences.

BRANDON J. STEWART is a chaplain for the U.S. Air Force at Travis Air Force Base in California. Emory exposed him to multiculturalism and global perspectives, and after graduation, he served as an English youth pastor in South Korea. Upon returning to the U.S., he served in the Air

CARRIE STINSON is the service line chief in pediatrics for the Wellstar Health System in Marietta, Georgia. Her journey in medicine began at Emory, where she attended the School of Medicine and found a passion for helping children. She played an instrumental part in opening and

KRISTEL YU TIAMCO BAYANI

TOPPING is principal UX researcher at The Home Depot, where she leads research-driven strategies and has received two executive awards since joining the company in 2021. As an undergraduate at Oxford College, she quickly embraced student leadership roles and an interest in biology and neuroscience. She credits Emory for fostering her leadership potential, enhancing her ability to influence teams through research-backed thinking and developing a passion for data and learning.

Force Chaplain Reserves, earned his law degree and then worked as chief of staff at Payne Theological Seminary. He later obtained his law license in the state of Tennessee, transitioned to active duty and held posts in Germany, Florida, South Korea and Turkey.

developing the pediatric inpatient unit at Wellstar Kennestone. In her current role, she continues to advocate for children through clinical practice, community outreach, educational programs and medical education, aiming to bring high-quality pediatric care closer to home.

NANCY TWUM-BAAH is director and global program leader in the Early Development Oncology R&D organization at Johnson & Johnson, where she helps conduct global clinical trials aimed at investigating potential lifesaving medicines. With an extensive background in clinical research and people management, she excels in advancing the pharmaceutical sector while mentoring future leaders. Twum-Baah earned a bachelor of science in neuroscience and behavioral biology from Emory. She has worked at other renowned institutions such as Genentech, Sanofi, the University of San Francisco and Emory Hospital.

BRITTNI WRIGHT NÉE

WILLIAMS is founder and director of The Fitting Academy (TFA) in Tucker, Georgia, a specialty private school. TFA provides an inclusive educational setting for students of varying cognitive abilities and neurological statuses. She also leads Fitting Pieces Behavioral Services LLC, which she launched in 2018 to offer empirical-based interventions for children with developmental and cognitive delays. She began her career in inclusive education at Walden Early Childhood Center (now Early Emory) at the Emory Autism Center.

Whether you’re looking to grow within your current role, striving for a promotion, or transitioning to a new career, Emory Executive Education delivers the practical, marketrelevant knowledge and skills you need to stay competitive and excel professionally.

EXPLORE UPCOMING PROGRAMS INCLUDING:

• Unlocking Growth with Design Thinking & AI

• Executive Decision Making

• Leading with Emotional Intelligence

• Managerial Leadership Program

• Business of Healthcare Certificate

• Select MBA electives open to non-degree participants

WORKSHOPS SHORT COURSES CERTIFICATES

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOMECOMING

During a bright and sunny spell in late fall, thousands of Emory students, alumni, faculty and staff celebrated the 2024 Homecoming and Family Weekend, which featured a full lineup of events including concerts, lectures, food and other activities. Student-centric events followed the theme of “Swooplanta,” which celebrated the rich cultural significance and prominent landmarks of Atlanta and connected Emory students to the past, present and future of the city. Alumni got in on the fun with an epic party on Friday night and joined members of the Emory community for the high-energy Food and Music Festival on Saturday, which included live performances, a 5K run, the annual student parade, a wide range of delicious cuisines, campus tours and tons of family-friendly fun.

INSPIRING FUTURE PUBLIC SERVANTS

Elizabeth Prelogar spoke with multiple student groups during a special visit to the Atlanta campus this past fall.

COURTING JUSTICE

Alumna and U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar returned to Emory to share the story of her career journey and offer advice to students.

Elizabeth Prelogar 02C has a client that often gets sued: the United States. She’s been serving as the country’s solicitor general since fall 2021, and it’s her responsibility to represent the interests of the federal government in legal cases that come before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Prelogar, a Woodruff Scholar who double-majored in English and Russian, returned to her undergraduate alma mater this fall to discuss her career journey and responsibilities as the fourth-highest-ranking official in the Department of Justice. She also offered words of wisdom in talks with students from the School of Law and Emory College.

After graduating summa cum laude, she completed a master’s degree in creative writing as a Bobby Jones Scholar at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and was a Fulbright scholar in St Petersburg, Russia. She graduated from Harvard Law School magna cum laude in 2008.

Before becoming solicitor general, she clerked for then-judge Merrick B. Garland — and current attorney general — on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and later clerked in the Supreme Court for Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan.

Prelogar recognizes the incredible magnitude of the cases she argues and how their outcomes could impact people across the country.

“The work that the court is doing and the cases they decide very much affect the society we live in, the legal rules that order our lives and the way that our government operates,” Prelogar told students. “I do think that there’s room to bring some emotion and a recognition of the practical stakes of the cases to the litigation efforts.”

She also shared a truth that she reflects on throughout her career that has enhanced her skills and pushed her into

LEADERSHIP IN LAW Prelogar shared insights from her remarkable legal career with students from Emory School of Law and Emory College, discussing her pivotal role in representing the U.S. government in cases brought before the Supreme Court and offering valuable career advice.

new territory — with impacts she still feels today.

“The one thing that I think has been important in opening doors for me and exposing me to new experiences was to make myself uncomfortable,” Prelogar said. “Every time I’ve had to put myself out there and try something new that made me uncomfortable, it has been a chance for tremendous growth. It’s improved my ability to practice law and shape new skills.”

First-year law student Lauren Marie Kramer noted how thankful she was to hear such a high-profile government official speak on campus.

“Because of events like this, I feel like I’m at a school where they really want us to be exposed to all aspects of the legal field,” Kramer said. “I don’t feel like there’s any stone left unturned. Solicitor General Prelogar is an Emory alum, and seeing her reach this point makes it feel like there’s no limit to what a person can do.”

Sharing a different piece of advice with students, Prelogar emphasized the importance of embracing failure when trying new things.

“I remember moments at Emory and beyond where I felt like I failed at something or hadn’t been as good as I hoped to be,” she said. “In the moment, those disappointments can be very profound and really affect you. But with the perspective I now have, those were moments where I grew as a person and where I further learned and defined how my life was going to unfold. Those failures can provide a springboard for the next door that might open.”

Reflecting on her role as solicitor general, Prelogar noted that though she has argued in front of the Supreme Court more than 30 times, it never gets old. “I feel like I am the luckiest person in the world, and I have the very best job as a Supreme Court litigator. It is an incredible privilege and honor to represent the United States in the Supreme Court and to be charged with the responsibility of determining our positions on cases,” said Prelogar.

“I stand at the podium of the Supreme Court and think, ‘I am here representing my country, making legal arguments that I think best serve the American people.’ I wake up every morning and pinch myself to confirm that it’s really true.”

— Anna Chapman

ALUMNI INK Recent Books from Emory Alumni

COUNTERMELODIES: A MEMOIR IN SONATA FORM

By Ernestine Whitman 68C

As a young girl, Whitman tried to earn her stern father’s approval, but found she was never good enough. She discovered a talent for the flute and studied for years with a charismatic teacher who gave her the praise she longed for. But that intense bond turned on her when she became his colleague in a professional orchestra. Offering a music-industry perspective on the #MeToo experience, this award-winning memoir tells the story of a fiercely determined young woman whose love for the flute sustains her despite multiple betrayals by the men in her life.

THE REBIRTH OF SUSPENSE: SLOWNESS AND ATMOSPHERE IN CINEMA

By Rick Warner 04G

This ambitious and wide-ranging book offers a redefinition of cinematic suspense — typically driven by propulsive, edge-of-yourseat plotting — by considering its unlikely incarnations in contemporary films that have been called “slow cinema.” Film scholar Rick Warner shows through examples ranging from Jonathan Glazer’s “Under the Skin” to Kelly Reichardt’s “Night Moves” how slowness builds suspense via atmospheric immersion, narrative sparseness and the withholding of information, causing viewers to oscillate among boredom, curiosity and dread. In doing so, this book explores a fresh theory, history, typology and analysis of suspense that casts new light on the workings of films across global cinema.

CUSTODIANS OF WONDER: ANCIENT CUSTOMS, PROFOUND TRADITIONS, AND THE LAST PEOPLE KEEPING THEM ALIVE

By Eliot Stein 06C

An editor with the BBC, Eliot Stein has traveled the globe in search of remarkable people who are preserving some of our most extraordinary cultural rites. In his new book, Stein introduces readers to a man saving the secret ingredient in Japan’s 700-year-old original soy sauce recipe. In Italy, he learns how to make the world’s rarest pasta from one of the only women alive who knows how to make it. And in India, he discovers a family rumored to craft a mysterious metal mirror believed to reveal your truest self. Through 10 diverse stories, Stein uncovers an almost lost world.

EVERY STORM RUNS OUT OF RAIN

By Amy Moudy Comeau 11MBA

Drawing on decades of experience in health care marketing, Comeau’s award-winning leadership memoir is a week-by-week anthology of the emails she sent to her Emory Healthcare marketing team every Friday during the COVID-19 pandemic. These messages became a source of support, reflection and even levity for her colleagues as they worked to inform and educate Emory patients and the community at large on how to stay safe. For us, her emails and postpandemic reflections offer a unique insider’s view of the global crisis from a nonclinical perspective.

SABOR JUDÍO: THE JEWISH MEXICAN COOKBOOK

By Ilan Stavans and Margaret Boyle 09G

09PhD 10G

This cookbook celebrates the delicious fusion of two culinary traditions — Jewish and Mexican — and demonstrates how cooking and eating connect cultures across places and generations. Featuring 100 deeply personal recipes enjoyed by Mexican Jews around the world, the book is organized by meal and includes dishes made for Shabbat, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Passover, Hanukkah, Shavuot and other holidays. The book is also a vibrant history of Jewish immigration to Mexico from 1492 to the present, explaining how flavors and dishes evolved in Mexican and Jewish kitchens.

By Susan Robert 67Ox 69C

This biography tells the story of Lawrence Wood “Chip” Robert Jr., an unsung American hero who left behind numerous legacies. An engineer by training, Robert became an industrial tycoon by the mid 1920s. He was a friend and confidant of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, served as assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury and was a driving force behind the National Recovery Act. He also was the right-hand man and envoy for President Harry S. Truman, acting as one of the lead delegates for the reconstruction of Europe after World War II.

ENVOY

class notes

60s

William C. Strupp Jr. 65Ox 69D was the keynote speaker for the 40th-annual meeting of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD). In 1984, he was the academy’s inaugural speaker the year it was founded. Strupp is an accredited fellow with the AACD, the highest level of achievement recognized by the academy.

80s

Peter L. Kaufman 86C, a partner at entertainment law firm Kaufman Abdel-Aal LLP, was named an Entertainment Business Visionary by the Los Angeles Times. He specializes in entertainment and media law, focusing on finance, production and distribution. He serves on arbitration panels for the Independent Film and Television Alliance and American Arbitration Association and is active in industry organizations, including the Producers Guild of America and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. His leadership extends to community engagements and media commentary, notably on topics like crowdfunding and talent negotiations.

Martha Hardwick Hofmeister 80C 80G received the Federal Bar Association’s (FBA) Earl W. Kintner Award for Distinguished Service in September 2024. A founding partner of Shackelford, McKinley & Norton, Hofmeister has been a member of the FBA for more than three decades and became a Sustaining Charter Life Fellow of the Foundation of the Federal Bar Association in 2001. She also served as president of the foundation. The Earl W. Kintner Award for Distinguished Service is presented as a lifetime

contribution award to an FBA member who has displayed long-term outstanding achievement, distinguished leadership and participation in the activities of the association’s chapters, sections and divisions throughout the nation over a career of service.

named to the Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers for 2024. He has more than 20 years of experience representing litigation trustees, ad hoc and official committees, distressed investors, lenders, indenture trustees, trade creditors, and other parties, in some of the most complex landmark restructurings and in litigation matters.

and speak to new audiences — including brands, nonprofits, universities and original content platforms — through a progressive model that tells stories built on partnerships and diverse perspectives. He has built strong relationships with leading companies such as Apple, Disney, the PGA, the Smithsonian Institution, Equifax, Emory University and Georgia Tech.

Nefelas Hojeij Helou 10Ox 12C and husband Georges Helou welcomed Henry Wassim Helou on March 21, 2024.

Emily Lance 16C and husband Timothy Yiu Tin Lam 15C 23B welcomed Avery Blake Lam on December 3, 2023.

WEDDINGS

Jennifer Barlament 95C, executive director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO), was recognized as one of Atlanta Business Chronicle's Most Admired CEOs of 2024. She has presided over a period of extraordinary financial, artistic and institutional success, including the landmark naming of Nathalie Stutzmann as music director in 2022; consistent annual budget surpluses; multiple successful contract negotiations with ASO musicians; growth of audiences and expansion of community programming; completion of an endowment campaign; and strategic development of the ASO board and donor base.

Crystal Edmonson 95C was named to the Leadership Atlanta Class of 2025. She is the senior editor of community engagement and live journalism at the Atlanta Business Chronicle, and the producer and host of the “On Leadership” podcast.

James Kitces 98C was appointed managing partner of the Boston office for law firm Robins Kaplan. He is an experienced insurance litigation and counsel attorney, specializing in complex, high-stakes, first-party property, third-party liability and reinsurance coverage. In his new role, he will help drive the firm’s overall strategic goals.

Gordon Z. Novod 98C, a principal at law firm Grant & Eisenhofer in New York City and head of its bankruptcy and distressed litigation practice, was

Berwyn James “BJ” Green 99B was named to the list of 500 Most Influential Atlantans by Atlanta Magazine for 2024. As the executive vice president of Cadence Bank, he oversees the bank’s strategic development, growth, quality and profitability of commercial activities in Georgia.

00s

Seemal R. Desai 00C began serving his term as president of the American Academy of Dermatology for one year beginning in March 2024. In this role, he leads the world’s largest dermatologic society, representing more than 20,500 physicians who specialize in the diagnosis and medical, surgical and cosmetic treatment of skin, hair and nail conditions. Desai is the academy’s youngest-ever elected president. He is the founder of Innovative Dermatology, a large private practice, and serves as clinical assistant professor of dermatology at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, Texas.

David Michael Roemer 02B, co-founder and CEO of creative studio Ideas United, was recognized as one of Atlanta Business Chronicle's Most Admired CEOs of 2024. He oversees the long-term growth of Ideas United, whose in-house team works alongside a global talent network to shape experiences, rethink conventions

BIRTHS

Shaheen Bandeali 07Ox 09B welcomed Suri Nya Bandeali on April 9, 2024.

Natalie (Owens) Wetzel 07Ox 09C and husband Luke Wetzel 09C welcomed Gregory David Wetzel on July 5, 2024.

Jeremy David White 07Ox 09C and wife Shira Hoffman welcomed son Cooper Adam White on April 14, 2024. Suleman Malik 09Ox 11C and wife Aimal Malik welcomed Muhammed Malik in summer 2024.

Marilyn Morgan 69C 76L and E. Lee Morris 76L wed in July 2024.

Gabrielle Susan Gale 18Ox 20N and Nick Scherschel wed on September 16, 2023. Jacqueline Hayes Maguire 18C and Carter Patrick Maguire III wed on January 7, 2023. Taylor Cohen 21N 22N and David Michaeli wed on October 21, 2023.

YOUR KEY TO CLASS NOTES

AH: Allied Health

BBA: Goizueta Business School (undergraduate)

C: Emory College of Arts and Sciences

D: School of Dentistry

DNP: Doctor of Nursing Practice

FM: Fellowship in Medicine

G: James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies

H: Honorary degree

JM: Juris Master

L: School of Law

M: School of Medicine

MBA: Goizueta Business School (graduate)

MSN: School of Nursing (graduate)

MR: Medical resident

N: Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing

OX: Oxford College

MPH: Rollins School of Public Health (graduate)

PhD: All doctor of philosophy degrees

T: Candler School of Theology

SUBMIT CLASS NOTES TO: eurec@emory.edu

BLANK

IN MEMORIAM 40s

Dorothy Irvine Blasingame 42Ox, of Cocoa Beach, Fla., on January 4, 2018.

Manfred T. Blanchard 43D, of Eden, N.C., on April 26, 2020.

Andrew M. Aspinwall 44Ox, of Waycross, Ga., on April 5, 2012.

Haviland M. Dunaphant 46N, of Atlanta, on July 30, 2024.

Clyde R. Hobby 45Ox, of Naples, Fla., on February 19, 2010.

Sarah A. Taylor Morrow 46MR, of Wilmington, N.C., on March 1, 2024.

Claire Jones Plymel 47Ox, of Athens, Ga., on June 4, 2024.

Bonnie Steinberg 48N, of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., on July 23, 2020.

Charles R. Underwood 48C 52M, of Marietta, Ga., on May 28, 2024.

Elick S. Bullington 49C, of Douglas, Ga., on May 21, 2024.

Fred Goldner Jr 49MR, of Nashville, Tenn., on April 3, 2021.

William Spencer Rhodes 49C 50L, of Atlanta, on July 14, 2024.

Mary Boney Sheats 49G, of Wilmington, N.C., on October 29, 2002.

50s

Harl C. Duffey Jr. 50L, of Summerville, S.C., on May 6, 2006.

George Wilkins Quillian 50Ox 53B, of Atlanta, on May 15, 2024.

James S. Reynolds 50M, of Atlanta, on September 9, 2008. Charlie Luckie Jr. 51L, of Dade City, Fla. on March 19, 2013. Rowland J. McClellan 51B, of Janesville, Wis., on July 14, 2024.

Harvey E. Merlin 51C, of Atlanta, on June 18, 2024.

Ann Allison Rutland 51G, of Lakeland, Fla., on January 12, 2010.

Charles B. Skelton 51M, of Winder, Ga., on June 4, 2021.

Willie P. Berkner 52C 55T, of Marietta, Ga., on June 19, 2024.

William D. Bruner 52T, of Virginia Beach, Va., on May 29, 2024.

Larry G. Hailey 52C 54L, of Atlanta, on June 20, 2024.

Cliff F. Jacks Jr. 52C, of Decatur, Ga., on April 28, 2024.

Garland Knott 52T, of Durham, N.C., on April 13, 2016.

Donald S. Moore 52T, of Maryville, Tenn., on March 16, 2014.

DuBose Murray 52C 56M, of Hot Springs, Ark., on October 27, 2023.

Arthur J. Pearl 52C 56M 61MR, of Sarasota, Fla., on May 12, 2020.

J. Wesley Youngblood 52T, of Ridgeland, Miss., on January 4, 2013.

Eugene Franklin Black 53T, of Mattoon, Ill., on March 12, 2014.

Clarence Finleyson 53Ox 55B 58B, of Carrollton, Ga., on May 7, 2024.

Charles P. Hamby Jr. 53T, of Cleveland, Tenn., on January 1, 2014.

James Lambert Holliday 53D, of Los Ojos, N.M., on May 9, 2008.

Ellis H. Rece 53C 71G, of Augusta, Ga., on February 22, 2024.

Elizabeth E. Turner 53G, of Gainesville, Ga., on July 4, 2024.

Jean Lowery Campbell 54N 65N, of Gastonia, N.C., on June 12, 2024.

William Hunter Cole 54T, of Charlotte, N.C., on December 23, 2023.

Rem Blanchard Edwards Jr. 54Ox 56C 62PhD, of Greenville, S.C., on September 26, 2024.

William A. Fisackerly III 54T, of Lakeland, Fla., on July 8, 2024.

Joseph C. Greenfield Jr. 54C 56M, of Durham, N.C., on October 14, 2020.

Thomas Cal Hendrix 54G, of Kingsport, Tenn., on May 25, 2024.

Melvin Eugene Kersey Jr. 54Ox, of Loudon, Tenn., on June 18, 2024.

Elmer Wayne Langham 54Ox 56C, of Eatonton, Ga., on June 1, 2024.

Francis John Sincox 54C 58M, of Kings Mountain, N.C., on June 11, 2024.

Jo Anne Stubbs 54N, of Atlanta, on September 13, 2024.

Robert Allen Townsend 54T, of Pride, La., on June 12, 2001.

Nancy S. Veley 54N, of Lake Placid, Fla., on January 21, 2014.

Jacqueline Smith Cade 55Ox, of Tallapoosa, Ga., on April 27, 2024.

Robert H. Doan 55B, of Tampa, Fla., on June 9, 2023.

BLANK

John Lewis Fishel 55MR, of Panama City, Fla., on October 29, 2020.

David Leon Globus 55MR, of New York City, N.Y., on September 1, 2023.

John H. Goff Jr. 55B 59MBA, of Birmingham, Ala., on August 8, 2024.

Sarah Stephens Hughes 55T, of Lawrenceville, Ga., on September 8, 2024.

F. Abit Massey 55L, of Gainesville, Ga., on June 15, 2024.

Dorothy Stewart McGahey 55N, of Apopka, Fla., on August 15, 2021.

George R. Parkerson Jr. 55MR, of Winston-Salem, N.C., on May 7, 2022.

Robin E. Van Cleef 55T, of Whiting, N.J., on October 5, 2023.

Roy Beaty Jr. 56T, of Snellville, Ga., on August 14, 2024.

Walter M. Cheatham 56L, of Flowery Branch, Ga., on November 13, 2013.

Franklin F. Dickinson 56Ox 60C, of Jacksonville Beach, Fla., on September 17, 2024.

J. William Flynt Jr. 56C 60M, of Chevy Chase, Md., on November 9, 2018.

Philip M. Jardina 56C, of Atlanta, on June 29, 2024.

Nicholas C. Jones 56C 59D, of Marietta, Ga., on July 18, 2024.

Marion Barton Pepper Jr. 56D, of Pensacola, Fla., on September 26, 2024.

Oliver Perry Tanksley 56T, of Clinton, Miss., on June 21, 2013.

Robert Spencer Turk 56M 63MR 64MR, of Asheville, N.C. on March 6, 2017.

Culbreath C. Whitehead Jr. 56T, of Sarasota, Fla., on July 31, 2013.

Richard Kermit Wiggins 56T, of Tampa, Fla., on March 28, 2024.

Kenneth M. Wing 56M, of Sanford, Ga., on July 15, 2020.

Clifford B. Baum 57C, of Chapel Hill, N.C., on May 29, 2024.

James R. Fowler 57Ox 64M 73MR, of Salt Lake City, Utah, on June 26, 2024.

Jodi Smith Fuller 57N, of Orlando, Fla., on February 23, 2024.

Dowain V. McKiou 57T, of The Villages, Fla., on April 3, 2022.

Rual W. Morris 57T, of Georgiana, Ala., on September 28, 2020.

Theodore V. Morrison Jr. 57C 59L, of Richmond, Va., on July 6, 2024.

Richard H. Sams 57C, of Atlanta, on June 10, 2024.

Betty J. Tillery 57N 63N, of Auburn, Ala., on May 13, 2024.

Reginald Hayes Wilborn 57T, of Atlanta, on May 20, 2024.

Rudolph Mardre Bell 58M, of Staunton, Va., on April 16, 2024.

David Bailey Crosland 58MR, of Concord, N.C., on August 10, 2023.

Norman Williams Duncan 58T, of Mount Dora, Fla., on July 15, 2016.

S. Clark Evans 58Ox, of Bartow, Ga., on May 12, 2024.

William Ronald Gardner 58Ox 60C, of Hickory, N.C., on March 16, 2024.

W. Murray Gibbons 58T, of Turbeville, S.C., on April 1, 2018.

Harry Hawkins 58T, of Vicksburg, Miss., on September 9, 2011.

William Vance Kemp 58T, of Holly Springs, Miss., on November 2, 2018.

Harry V. Lamon 58L, of Sandy Springs, Ga., on May 28, 2024.

Lester L. Luttrell 58D 66D, of Newnan, Ga., on July 29, 2022.

Sylvia Nomicos 58N, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., on March 28, 2023.

Whitney W. Parrish 58T, of Staunton, Va., on November 10, 2015.

Gerald Francis White 58C, of Atlanta, on June 24, 2024.

Joe Knox Becknell 59C, of Atlanta, on August 12, 2024.

Thomas F. Choyce 59L, of Jasper, Ga., on March 6, 2024.

Cora Player Culpepper 59C, of Columbus, Ga., on October 29, 2022.

Kathleen Everitt Kircher 59MR 60MR, of Burr Ridge, Ill., on December 19, 2020.

Barbara Elkins Kitzman 59L, of Houston, Texas, on November, 13, 2012.

Curtis R. Page 59G, of Fort Mill, S.C., on January 29, 2024.

Carl Anderson Smith 59C 63M 65MR, of Alexandria, Va., on May 10, 2024.

Donald J. Sparks 59T 82T, of Greenwood, S.C., on September 7, 2024.

Patricia Young Thee 59C, of Suwanee, Ga., on July 5, 2024. 60s

Harry C. Baas 60T, of Jacksonville, Fla., on June 2, 2024.

Patricia C. Davis 60B, of Atlanta, on April 27, 2024.

Lloyd Donald Ellis 60T, of Greensboro, N.C., on May 1, 2024.

Arlie E. Fiveash 60C, of Augusta, Ga., on July 22, 2024.

Claude J. Hartsel 60T, of Salisbury, N.C., on October 3, 2024.

Robert M. Kollar 60Ox 62C, of Greensboro, N.C., on September 21, 2024.

Edward S. Patrick 60B, of Brandon, Fla., on February 12, 2014.

June Blankenship Pugh 60N, of Lynchburg, Tenn., on May 5, 2024.

Sidney B. Shepherd Sr. 60L, of Swainboro, Ga., on February 23, 2024.

R. Frank Unger 60C, of Norfolk, Va., on September 12, 2024.

William H. Duckworth Jr. 61L, of Blairsville, Ga., on April 15, 2024.

Sara Freeman Eads 61Ox 63C, of Sandy Springs, Ga., on July 31, 2024.

Harry T. Harper 61C 70FM, of Evans, Ga., on June 1, 2024.

Stanley E. Harris 61L, of Savannah, Ga., on May 4, 2024.

J. William Holden Jr. 61D, of Augusta, Ga., on July 19, 2024.

Albert J. Rowell 61T, of Panama City, Fla., on May 15, 2024.

H. Paul Senft 61B, of Haines City, Fla., on May 22, 2024.

Barnie L. Vanzant Jr. 61C 65M, of Lake City, Fla., on October 6, 2024.

Benjamin H. Wright 61Ox, of Savannah, Ga., on July 2, 2024.

William Comer Cherry Jr. 62C 65M 69FM, of Tallahassee, Fla., on August 3, 2024.

Sadako Okano Clarke 62T, of Evanston, Ill., on April 22, 2024.

Jed J. Jacobson 62M, of Hollywood, Fla., on May 23, 2024.

Richard A. Katz 62C, of Roswell, Ga., on May 30, 2024. Milton L. McGuirt 62T, of Greenwood, S.C., on June 20, 2024.

Robert Douglas Pannell 62Ox 64B, of Atlanta, on April 17, 2024.

H. Booth Poole 62T, of Brandon, Miss., on July 3, 2024.

William D. Buckalew Jr. 63B, of Shelby, N.C., on June 24, 2024.

Rufus A. Chambers 63L, of Atlanta, on May 8, 2024.

William S. Colvin 63C 70 MR, of Griffin, Ga., on July 31, 2024.

Donald E. Crafts 63C, of Savannah, Ga., on March 10, 2024.

Robert A. Efird 63C, of Greenville, S.C., on May 20, 2024.

Martha A. Horton 63C, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., on April 6, 2024.

Vivian Smith Key 63Ox 66N, of Gainesville, Ga., on June 30, 2024.

Ann Chance Merwarth 63C, of Cumming, Ga., on April 17, 2024.

Claudia Ehringer

Mikulanenic 63Ox 66N, of Winston Salem, N.C., on June 15, 2024.

Charles L. Robinson 63C, of Birmingham, Ala., on August 10, 2024.

Robert P. Saunders Jr. 63C, of Sandy Springs, Ga., on October 20, 2024.

Robert E. Snyder 63C, of Statesboro, Ga., on May 3, 2024.

Patricia Frith Vaughan 63C, of Nashville, Tenn., on May 22, 2024.

Shepard Bryan Ansley 64L, of Atlanta, on May 18, 2024.

Gary L. Broadrick 64C 68M, of Madison, Ala., on August 26, 2019.

Ann Brake Marney 64T, of Decatur, Ga., on April 30, 2024.

Mary Sue Nunn McDaniel 64C, of Summerville, S.C., on June 9, 2024.

Nancy N. Schmidt 64G, of Cincinnati, Ohio, on September 1, 2024.

William M. W. Scott 64C 74MR, of Savannah, Ga., on September 9, 2024.

Josephine Cooper Smith 64C, of Wilmington, N.C., on July 17, 2024.

Carl E. Anderson 65D, of Savannah, Ga., on July 14, 2024.

Leo J. Borrell 65C 67M, of San Marcos, Calif., on July 7, 2024.

James Edward Dukes Jr. 65T, of Bradenton, Fla., on June 28, 2024.

Alfred Robert Massam 65C, of Winter Haven, Fla., on July 10, 2024.

Susie McTier Rowe 65N, of Apex, N.C., on October 15, 2024.

Henry Alvin Stone Jr. 65Ox, of Thomasville, Ga., on September 11, 2024.

Wendell H. Adair 66C, of St. Joseph, Mich., on April 21, 2024.

Peter C. Booher 66M 67MR, of Huntsville, Ala., on June 2, 2024.

Susan B. Daniel 66Ox 68C, of Cedartown, Ga., on September 2, 2024.

Arthur Wayne Garrison Sr. 66 PhD, of Madison, Ga., on October 10, 2024.

John M. Hall 66D, of Clarkton, N.C., on February 25, 2024.

B. Hugh Lake Jr. 66T, of Naples, Fla., on June 22, 2024.

Suzanne F. McGough 66C, of Atlanta, on May 10, 2024.

Martha Wilson Mitchell 66G, of Bainbridge, Ga., on August 24, 2021.

Marsha Lynn Thranhardt 66Ox, of Ponte Vedra, Fla., on June 14, 2024.

Richard S. Walsh III 66C, of St. Marys, Ga., on June 22, 2024.

Karen T. Wilson 66C, of Fairfax, Va., on April 14, 2024.

Jane Kesler Woodward 66Ox, of Covington, Ga., on June 27, 2024.

John F. Bain Jr. 67C, of Richmond, Va., on September 12, 2024.

Miriam C. Boland 67G, of Atlanta, on June 5, 2024.

Don A. Davis 67G, of Atlanta, on February 24, 2024.

Janice Mooney Gamble 67Ox, of Covington, Tenn., on May 6, 2024.

Alice Turner Barkwell 68C, of Columbus, Ga., on September 11, 2024.

James Robert Carter Jr. 68T 68G 77PhD, of Savannah, Ga. on August 2, 2024.

John Bruce Carver 68 PhD, of Atlanta, on August 16, 2024.

Stewart M. Hinson 68C, of Quincy, Fla., on April 29, 2024.

Gale Lawrence 68G, of Huntington, Vt., on August 22, 2024.

Alfred J. Larson 68T, of Jasper, Ga., on July 28, 2024.

Del Eugene Moore 68G, of Blacksburg, Va., on July 22, 2024.

Vaughn M. Nave 68T, of Knoxville, Tenn., on March 4, 2024.

Robert F. Brabham Jr. 69G, of Charlotte, N.C., on August 11, 2024.

Robert Harold Hishon 69L, of Atlanta, on September 15, 2024.

Suzanne M. Hoss 69G, of Sandy Springs, Ga., on May 5, 2024.

Joseph F. Phillips 69M 70MR, of Boynton Beach, Fla., on March 9, 2024.

Thomas Theron Rhoden 69Ox, of Conyers, Ga., on July 24, 2024.

70s

Robert Morgan Dixson 70C, of Raleigh, N.C., on June 1, 2024.

Dorothy Karandanis 70M 74FM 74MR, of Stone Mountain, Ga., on May 31, 2024.

Joseph M. Kovaz 70C 74M 77MR, of Flat Rock, N.C., on July 27, 2024.

Barbara S. LeBey 70L, of Atlanta, on July 13, 2024.

Sandra B. McIntosh 70C 71A, of Athens, Ga., on June 19, 2017.

Samuel S. Spicer 70Ox 72C, of Wilmington, N.C., on August 17, 2024.

Stephen A. Tracy 70C, of Atlanta, on April 27, 2024.

Penelope Beecher Collins 71N, of Statesboro, Ga., on June 19, 2024.

Earle Duncan Getchell Jr. 71C, of Richmond, Va., on May 1, 2024.

Thomas Ward Hagood 71T, of Douglasville, Ga., on May 21, 2024.

William D. Kimber 71FM, of Excelsior, Minn., on March 15, 2024.

Leon S. McAulay 71N, of Erin, Tenn., on April 18, 2024.

George W. Regitko 71Ox 73C, of Cookeville, Tenn., on June 14, 2024.

Burton Lamar Tillman 71C, of Atlanta, on February 24, 2024.

Samuel J. Broh 72MBA, of Saint Louis, Mo., on April 18, 2023.

Charles Anthony Bush 72 MR, of Beaufort, S.C., on September 5, 2024.

Robert Lee Cherry 72D, of Stony Creek, Va., on June 30, 2021.

Carolyn M. Coryell 72C 76M 77MR, of Mooresville, N.C., on June 18, 2024.

William N. Glover 72C 76D, of Atlanta, on June 17, 2024.

Carol Louise Hendrickson 72N, of Evans, Ga., on June 17, 2024.

George Edwin Odle 72T, of Johnson City, Tenn., on April 29, 2024.

David C. Wilson 72G, of Salisbury, N.C., on June 15, 2024.

Wesley J. Burke 73D, of Ellijay, Ga., on May 23, 2024. Michael Catalano 73C, of Savannah, Ga., on June 13, 2024.

Duane Evans Davis 73PhD, of Jasper, Ga., on August 11, 2024.

Annette Hall 73M, of Stedman, N.C., on August 9, 2024.

Walter Lynn Hicks Jr. 73M, of St. Simons Island, Ga., on August 6, 2024.

Philip L. Martin 73L, of Atlanta, on June 12, 2024.

Patricia Carol Barnes Mosley 73G, of Stockbridge, Ga., on April 25, 2024.

John B. Neeld 73MR, of Atlanta, on June 6, 2024.

Frank M. Pickens Sr. 73M 78MR, of Atlanta, on April 1, 2024.

Susan Sandidge 73C 75G 77G, of Dallas, Texas, on April 15, 2024.

Timothy W. Whitaker 73T, of Keller, Va., on March 28, 2024.

BLANK

Stephen A. Albigese 74B, of Gainesville, Ga., on July 1, 2024.

Antonio R. Cafoncelli 74MR, of Washington, D.C., on January 26, 2023.

Dorrie L. Kanofsky 74A, of Ormond Beach, Fla., on February 28, 2024.

Richard K. Miller 74T, of Scottdale, Ga., on April 7, 2024.

Charles L. Peck 74T, of Port Charlotte, Fla., on July 10, 2024.

H. Ross Tipps 74T, of Resaca, Ga., on April 7, 2024.

Mary McCamy Beachum 75G, of Augusta, Ga., on May 3, 2024.

Robert G. Brown 75MR, of Opelika, Ala., on May 16, 2024.

Lewis R. Gayden Jr. 75MR, of Montgomery, Ala., on July 19, 2024.

Nora D. Wilson 75G, of Atlanta, on October 7, 2024.

David J. Berg 76FM, of Green Valley, Ariz., on October 2, 2024.

Martha J. Dorsey 76N 94N, of Atlanta, on April 25, 2024.

John F. Norman 76D, of Anna Maria Island, Fla., on March 23, 2024.

Lawrence W. McRae 76B, of Augusta, Ga., on March 5, 2024.

Michael J. O'Shea 77C, of Woodstock, Ga., on October 6, 2024.

Glenn K. Rousseau 76C 80M, of St. Petersburg, Fla., on June 13, 2024.

John Charles Tollefson 76C, of Richardson, Texas, on March 13, 2024.

Kathleen O. Kolaski 77N, of Johns Island, S.C., on May 6, 2020.

Nancy Scott Rogers 77L, of Tucker, Ga., on July 14, 2024.

John A. Shallal 77MR, of Savannah, Ga., on September 23, 2021.

Alice Zimmerman 77C, of Nashville, Tenn., on August 8, 2024.

Lawrence B. Camp 78T, of Morganton, N.C., on May 11, 2024.

Carol R. Caughman 78N, of Atlanta, on May 3, 2024.

Katherine S. Cook 78MR, of Rolla, Mo., on September 10, 2024.

Teresa Fugate Hall 78AH, of St. Joe Beach, Fla., on June 20, 2024.

Glenda Jo Hughes 78G, of Atlanta, on July 12, 2024.

Thomas M. McNish 78M, of Franklin, N.C., on July 19, 2024.

Jane Haught Stevens 78N, of Evanston, Ill., on March 31, 2024.

Leland Sanford Cox 79L, of Covington, Ga., on June 11, 2024.

Marc A. Maslanka 79AH 86PH, of Atlanta, on June 26, 2024.

Thompson T. Rawls 79L, of Sandy Springs, Ga., on June 9, 2024.

John Wescoat Sandlin 79T, of Charleston, S.C., on September 8, 2024.

Philip L. Strom 79T, of Dundas, Minn., on August 26, 2024.

Sharon Ann Ellis 82A, of Kansas City, Mo., on May 29, 2024.

Steven Popok 82M 86 MR, of Daytona Beach, Fla., on June 19, 2024.

Audrey E. Anderson 83L, of Montgomery, Ala., on August 17, 2024.

Gyland G. Cadoura 83Ox, of Palm Coast, Fla., on August 22, 2024.

William Howard Brewster 84C 84G, of Atlanta, on September 22, 2024.

Betty Lou Prior Newville 84C, of Albuquerque, N.M., on August 24, 2016.

James D. Howard 85T, of Greenwood, S.C., on September 18, 2024.

Gordon Bernard Dukes 86T, of Garden City, Ga., on May 29, 2024.

John L. Hay 86T, of Crawfordville, Fla., on April 30, 2024.

BLANK

Jay Robert Wolitz 86B 93PH, of Windermere, Fla., on March 2, 2023.

Marsha Jones Certain 87FM 87MR, of Brunswick, Ga., on April 18, 2024.

Bennie H. Black 80L, of Atlanta, on April 26, 2024.

Martha H. Forrest 80T, of Decatur, Ga., on February 23, 2024.

John Clifford Groves 80AH, of Lutz, Fla., on September 14, 2024.

William S. Knapp 80MR, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., on June 11, 2024.

Lisa Renee Rankin 80Ox 01N, of Griffin, Ga., on July 17, 2024.

Michael M. Sherry 80L, of Bozeman, Mont., on April 20, 2024.

Andrew L. Braff 81C, of Santa Ana, Calif., on August 17, 2019.

John Stephen Hildebrandt 81Ox, of Acworth, Ga., on June 14, 2022.

Sylvia Fortney Hunt 81L, of Chantilly, Va., on September 26, 2024.

Martha Jane Chovan 82N, of Cullowhee, N.C., on May 5, 2024.

Marc J. Fritz 96B, of Rockford, Mich., on April 13, 2024.

James B. Aiken III 97T, of Blairsville, Ga., on September 12, 2023.

Shirley R. Crawford 97G, of Suwanee, Ga., on July 29, 2024.

Xun Fei 97G 08MBA, of Alpharetta, Ga., on October 13, 2024.

Monodeep Morgan Mitra 97B, of Sandy Springs, Ga., on March 31, 2024.

Lawrence Christopher Grey 98B, of New Haven, Conn., on June 23, 2024.

Nancy Marie Wiseman 99N, of Marietta, Ga., on August 2, 2024.

00s

William Gerry Gilmer 00T, of Thomasville, Ga., on August 9, 2024.

Dionne Lynnette Price 00G, of Silver Spring, Md., on February 22, 2024.

Helen Corrigan Cuneo 87N, of Atlanta, on September 7, 2024.

Waights G. Henry 87Ox 90C, of Lakeway, Texas, on February 26, 2024.

Larry W. Conrad 88T, of Des Moines, Iowa, on June 14, 2024.

Annette C. Edwards 88T, of Orange City, Fla., on March 8, 2024.

Mary L. Kingston 89N, of Louisville, Ky., on September 30, 2024.

90s

Thomas Redman Brockway 91B 91L, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., on June 3, 2024.

James Clifton Landers 91B, of Atlanta, on April 4, 2024.

Theodore W. Miller 92T, of Jacksonville, N.C., on April 12, 2024.

Patricia C. Parker 94T, of Sewanee, Tenn., on July 4, 2024.

Eldhose Abrahams 18FM, of Edmond, Okla., on August 8, 2024.

Marc Adam Braghirol 18T, of Fredonia, N.Y., on May 10, 2022.

Lisa Ellen Emerson 19PH, of Newton, N.C., on September 7, 2024.

20s

Madeline Parks Giegold 20M, of Fresno, Calif., on July 28, 2024.

Marissa Ashley Carney 04B, of Marietta, Ga., on June 10, 2024.

Michelle Anita Droege 06A, of Marietta, Ga., on May 25, 2024.

Kathleen Susan Logan 07G, of Marietta, Ga., on June 14, 2024.

Dorothy Toth Beasley 08L, of Douglasville, Ga., on May 19, 2024.

Bernard Marcus 08Hon, of Boca Raton, Fla., on November 4, 2024.

Cory Adam Rand 09C, of Yardley, Pa., on March 1, 2024.

10s

Lee Edward Pettis 11T, of Dublin, Ga., on July 17, 2024.

Catherine Fitzgerald Capello 15G, of Beverly, Mass., on July 18, 2024.

Tan Minh Tran 16L, of Decatur, Ga., on March 3, 2024.

In Case

You Missed

It

Twice a year — every summer and winter — Emory Magazine arrives in print at your mailbox, delivering news and in-depth features about the university, students, faculty and your fellow alumni. However, there’s much more to the magazine. Digital editions published in spring and fall bring additional immersive storytelling to life online. Here are some of our latest, standout articles you may have missed.

CHARTING BRIGHT FUTURES

Meet 10 first-year students from the Class of 2028 as they share their personal journeys to Emory and what they are most excited about as they start their college adventures.

(SLOW) FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Emory alumnus Bilal Sarwari 07Ox 09C, interim executive director for Slow Food USA, shares why it’s well worth our time to swap out fast food for options that are healthier for us, fairer for farmworkers and overall better for the world.

ORIGINS OF THE COKE TOAST

Originally a student-led attempt at a Guinness World Record, the Coke Toast has transformed over the years into a celebration of Emory’s deep relationships with the Woodruff family and the Coca-Cola Company.

READ THESE ONLINE-ONLY STORIES AND MORE AT MAGAZINE.EMORY.EDU

JIMMY CARTER AT 100: LIFE AT EMORY

See milestones in President Jimmy Carter’s life and connections with Emory, which started in earnest when he became University Distinguished Professor and collaborated with the university to found The Carter Center in 1982.