The Gazette

o ur 4 1 ST ye ar

C O N S T I T U T I O N D AY

L EADER S + L EGENDS

Covering Homewood, East Baltimore, Peabody,

Legal scholar Randy E. Barnett

President Ronald J. Daniels is

SAIS, APL and other campuses throughout the

to discuss constitutionality of

first speaker in Carey Business

Baltimore-Washington area and abroad, since 1971.

Affordable Care Act, page 5

School lecture series, page 5

September 12, 2011 P U B L I C

H E A L T H

Tackling the global water challenge

By Greg Rienzi

The Gazette

E

arlier this month, 20 high-profile experts on water use, the world economy, and urban and rural development traveled to the small town of Bellagio, Italy, for a three-day brainstorming session.

The conference, co-sponsored by the Problems Johns Hopkins Uniin U.S. and versity Global Water Program and the Rockefeller Foundaabroad tion, sought to address how best to accelerate need ‘big safe water access for the poor through mulideas’ tiuse services.

The group knew there was no simple solution. The agricultural, industrial, potable water and sanitation sectors all face significant challenges in procuring and preserving adequate supplies of safe water, especially in poor countries.

There’s also no one-size-fits-all multiuse water system due to variations in climate, wealth, access to technology and available safe water sources.

The Rockefeller Foundation, not one to shy from a challenge, is considering developing a new philanthropic program focused on such water access issues and approached Johns Hopkins to help formulate its thinking.

When it comes to water, Johns Hopkins is quickly becoming the go-to resource.

The Global Water Program was founded in summer 2009 to leverage Johns Hopkins’ expertise in multiple disciplines to help solve the global water challenge through innovation, education and collaboration. The program wants to help discover solutions to domestic and international water challenges that are safe, scalable and sustainable.

Kellogg Schwab, director of the Global Water Program and a professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, said that the recent conference at the Rockefeller Bellagio Center is just one example of how the program connects people from multiple Continued on page 6

2

The newspaper of The Johns Hopkins University

Volume 41 No. 3

E V E N T

Exploring ‘America’s Boundless Possibilities’ Seven notable speakers to headline Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium B y A m y L u n d ay

Homewood

J

erry Springer will lead off Johns Hopkins’ annual Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium on Wednesday, Sept. 21, on the Homewood campus.

Springer’s lecture is the first of seven events making up this year’s symposium, America’s Boundless Possibilities: Innovate, Advance, Transform.

Also scheduled are Red Cross President and CEO Gail McGovern, a Johns Hopkins alumna and trustee, on Wednesday, Oct. 12; Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker, on Saturday, Oct. 15; actor Michael Kenneth Williams, best known for playing Omar Little on HBO’s The Wire, on Wednesday, Oct. 19; actor and comedian Aziz Ansari, of NBC’s Parks and Recreation, on Wednesday, Oct. 26; David Axelrod, adviser to President Barack Obama, on Tuesday, Nov. 8; and Karl Rove, adviser to President George W. Bush, on Tuesday, Nov. 15.

All lectures are at 8 p.m. in Shriver Hall Auditorium. Each lecture lasts approximately 45 minutes and is followed by a question-and-answer period Continued on page 3

Karl Rove, Nov. 15

Gail McGovern, Oct. 12

Jerry Springer, Sept. 21

David Axelrod, Nov. 8

C R I T I C A L

E V E N T S

‘Contagion’: Wake-up call for public health systems New movie is reminder that we must be prepared for lethal disease outbreak

By Mark Guidera

Johns Hopkins Medicine

I

nfectious disease and disaster preparedness experts at Johns Hopkins say that the premise of the just-released Hollywood movie Contagion, in which a lethal airborne virus spreads quickly around the globe,

In Brief

President’s Day of Service; hiring for Epic positions; JHU/community block party

12

is realistic and should serve as a reminder that the United States has much work to do to prepare for a serious national emergency posed by a deadly virus that spreads quickly.

In fact, the Department of Homeland Security in its Catastrophic Disaster Planning document lists pandemic and plague among its 15 likely national emergencies to which the United States should prepare to respond.

Gabor Kelen, director of the Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response, says that the movie, regardless of whatever dramatic license may have been taken with how a lethal virus might be spread or contained, spotlights the fact that hospi-

C A L E N D AR

GRO screens ‘The PhD Movie’; E. Balto. blood drive; ‘Young Spinoza’ conference

tals, health care workers and public health agencies will be on the front lines of a major deadly disease outbreak. Thus, they should be well-trained and prepared to respond.

Kelen, who has published a number of scholarly research papers and editorials on hospital surge capacity and disaster planning, says that although medical institutions are much better prepared than a decade ago, considerable work remains at many centers to effectively prepare for and respond to a rapidly spreading lethal virus that would tax all resources. Capacity restraints and Continued on page 5

10 Job Opportunities 10 Notices 11 Classifieds

2 2011 2 THE THE GAZETTE GAZETTE •• September August 15, 12, 2011 I N B R I E F

t hE 2011 C onstitUtional F oRUm

Randy E. BaRnEtt Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory Georgetown University Law Center

“CommandEERing thE PEoPlE: Why oBamaCaRE is UnConstitUtional” September 15, 2011 8 P.m.

110 Hodson Hall Homewood Campus For more information email: constitution@jhu.edu

sPonsoREd By The Department of Political Science and the Office of Communications and Public Affairs sUPPoRtEd By The George Huntington Williams Memorial Lectureship

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JHU/community block party set for Sunday afternoon

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onvergence, the annual JHU/community block party, sets up shop for its seventh go-round from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 18, in the 3200 block of St. Paul Street. Students are invited to join residents of neighborhoods surrounding the Homewood campus, and other members of the university community, for an afternoon of free food and fun.

The family-friendly event, sponsored by the university’s Office of Community Affairs, includes hot dogs, popcorn, snow cones, moon bounces, carnival games (with prizes) and other entertainment, plus an opportunity to meet representatives of community associations and nonprofit organizations.

Last year’s event attracted more than 1,000 attendees and 50-plus exhibitors.

SAIS to hold forum on ‘The World 10 Years After 9/11’

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ow have the 9/11 attacks and the turbulent years that followed changed the way we view the world today, and what are the implications for foreign policy, intelligence and defense?

A panel of SAIS faculty and scholars— all of them engaged as senior government officials during this period—will reflect on the recent past and offer recommendations for the future at a SAIS forum titled “The World 10 Years After 9/11.” The event will be held at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 13, in the Nitze Building’s Kenney Auditorium.

Panelists are Jose Maria Aznar, distinguished fellow at the SAIS Center for Transatlantic Relations, or CTR, and former president of the government of Spain; John McLaughlin, distinguished practitioner in residence at the SAIS Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies and former acting director of the CIA; Eliot Cohen, director of the SAIS Strategic Studies Program and former counselor of the U.S. Department of State; Eric Edelman, distinguished practitioner in residence at the Merrill Center and former undersecretary of defense for policy and former U.S. ambassador to Turkey and Finland; and Daniel Hamilton (moderator), CTR executive director.

Non-SAIS affiliates who would like to attend should RSVP to CTR at www.eventbrite .com/event/2146399940/mcivte.

President’s Day of Service scheduled for Sept. 24

O

n Saturday, Sept. 24, more than 1,000 Johns Hopkins students, faculty, staff and alumni will fan out over Baltimore and beyond to lend a hand to local nonprofit organizations and community centers.

The President’s Day of Service, organized

Editor Lois Perschetz Writer Greg Rienzi Production Lynna Bright Copy Editor Ann Stiller P h o t o g r ap h y Homewood Photography A d v e rt i s i n g The Gazelle Group Business Dianne MacLeod C i r c u lat i o n Lynette Floyd Webmaster Lauren Custer

by the Johns Hopkins Center for Social Concern, was set into motion by President Ron Daniels when he took office in fall 2009 as part of his commitment to serving the city. The initiative is an outgrowth of Involved, a former freshman day of service that introduced incoming Homewood students to the city. Today, participants come from all over the university and this year will be heading to projects that range from neighborhood beautification efforts to working one-on-one with kids, the elderly and other Baltimore residents.

Registration for individuals is now under way at www.jhu.edu/csc/events/signup.shtml and will remain open through Friday, Sept.

16. Student groups can sign up through that date at www.jhu.edu/csc/events/sponsor .shtml; the group with the most members volunteering will receive a $200 prize.

Phase 2 of Epic initiative now recruiting employees

T

he second phase of Epic, Johns Hopkins Medicine’s systemwide electronic medical records initiative, is now being implemented, and about 85 positions need to be filled within a short time frame.

The first round of interviews begins today, Sept. 12.

The initial rollout, Ambulatory First, focused on the ambulatory centers and community outpatient sites. The second phase will focus on Howard County General Hospital and Sibley Memorial Hospital, both members of JHM’s Community Division.

Employees with various levels of inpatient clinical services, registration and hospital billing, and technical, project management and business operations expertise are needed to implement the phase.

More information about the project, including answers to frequently asked questions, is available at www.hopkinsmedicine .org/employment/epic.

By implementing Epic, JHM will develop a fully integrated clinical and financial system providing access to a single patient’s record to any care provider anywhere in the Johns Hopkins system. In addition, Epic will allow patients to view significant components of their records, securely, from any computer. Implementation will take place over the next three to five years.

Correction Due to a technical problem, the wrong headline appeared on a Sept. 6 School of Public Health story about tuberculosis and the drug Pyrazinamide. A corrected version of the story is posted online at gazette.jhu .edu/2011/09/06/researchers-decode-workings -of-mysterious-critical-tb-drug.

The story about the individual health insurance mandate, indicated by the headline that mistakenly appeared, is on page 9 of this issue.

Contributing Writers Applied Physics Laboratory Michael Buckley, Paulette Campbell Bloomberg School of Public Health Tim Parsons, Natalie Wood-Wright Carey Business School Andrew Blumberg, Patrick Ercolano Homewood Lisa De Nike, Amy Lunday, Dennis O’Shea, Tracey A. Reeves, Phil Sneiderman Johns Hopkins Medicine Christen Brownlee, Stephanie Desmon, Neil A. Grauer, Audrey Huang, John Lazarou, David March, Vanessa McMains, Ekaterina Pesheva, Vanessa Wasta, Maryalice Yakutchik Peabody Institute Richard Selden SAIS Felisa Neuringer Klubes School of Education James Campbell, Theresa Norton School of Nursing Kelly Brooks-Staub University Libraries and Museums Brian Shields, Heather Egan Stalfort

The Gazette is published weekly September through May and biweekly June through August for the Johns Hopkins University community by the Office of Communications and Public Affairs, Suite 540, 901 S. Bond St., Baltimore, MD 21231, in cooperation with all university divisions. Subscriptions are $26 per year. Deadline for calendar items, notices and classifieds (free to JHU faculty, staff and students) is noon Monday, one week prior to publication date.

Phone: 443-287-9900 Fax: 443-287-9920 General e-mail: gazette@jhu.edu Classifieds e-mail: gazads@jhu.edu On the Web: gazette.jhu.edu Paid advertising, which does not represent any endorsement by the university, is handled by the Gazelle Group at 410343-3362 or gazellegrp@comcast.net.

September 12, 2011 • THE GAZETTE

3

Simpler therapy good as old regimen to prevent full-blown TB B y D av i d M a r c h

Johns Hopkins Medicine

S

cientists at Johns Hopkins and in South Africa have further compelling evidence that new simpler and shorter treatments with antibiotic drugs could dramatically help prevent tens of millions of people worldwide who are already infected with the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis, and especially those co-infected with HIV, from developing full-blown TB. That population includes as many as 22 million in sub-Saharan Africa who are already HIV-positive and at high risk of also picking up TB, which is endemic to the region, plus another 50,000 in the United States who are similarly HIV-positive and at high risk of contracting the lung infection.

Results of a study published online July 7 in the New England Journal of Medicine by the international team of scientists found the most streamlined combination—a highdose pairing of 900 milligrams each of the newer antibiotic rifapentine and the traditional isoniazid once weekly for three months—worked just as well or even better than 300 milligrams of isoniazid taken daily for six months or longer, which is widely considered the gold standard of care.

“This new, simpler treatment regimen with rifapentine and isoniazid is highly effective and could transform therapy for latent tuberculosis in both those co-infected with HIV and those not,” said study senior author Richard Chaisson, a professor of infectious diseases at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and founding director of its Center for Tuberculosis Research.

“New treatment options are urgently needed to help control TB globally, and simpler regimens will substantially increase the number of people receiving therapy,” said Chaisson, who points out that fewer than 1 percent of those infected and most likely to develop full-blown TB are receiving drug treatment because of inconvenience, drug side effects and difficulty finding health clinics close to where they live.

Chaisson says that the latest study in

Symposium Continued from page 1 and a reception where guests mingle with members of the audience.

Established in 1967 to honor the university’s eighth president, the annual MSE Symposium is an undergraduate-run lecture series, free and open to the public, that brings to campus renowned speakers with a variety of perspectives on issues of national importance.

The symposium is managed entirely by undergraduates, led this year by co-chairs Elizabeth Goodstein, a junior from New York majoring in film and media studies; Jonathan Kornblau, a senior from New York majoring in international studies; and Jonathan Mest, a senior from Mount Laurel, N.J., majoring in applied mathematics.

The chairs receive some funding from Student Council and raise the balance from university departments, corporations and foundations. The undergraduates also are responsible for everything else, an array of tasks that include booking auditoriums; arranging for hotels, dinners and receptions for the guests; securing the sound system; and publicizing the series.

First in the series is Springer, best known as the host of several TV shows, including The Jerry Springer Show and, most recently, America’s Got Talent. In the United Kingdom, he is the host of a new game show called Nothing But the Truth, where contestants take a lie detector test while being asked increasingly personal questions. Before achieving fame as a cultural figure, Springer was a politician, serving five terms on the

1,148 South African men and women coinfected with HIV and another recent study, in which he also was involved, in more than 8,000 men and women in the United States, Canada, Spain and Brazil who mostly were HIV-free, show success for the first new treatment option since rifapentine, marketed as the drug Priftin, was approved for use in the United States in 1998. He adds that the results represent the most sig-

Related website Create (Consortium to Respond Effectively to the AIDS/TB Epidemic):

www.tbhiv-create.org

nificant advance in preventing the disease since isoniazid was first proved effective in treating the disease in the 1950s.

TB is the leading cause of death among people co-infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, leading to some half-million deaths annually.

Chaisson says that the streamlined weekly regimen is much easier for patients to follow, with 95 percent having completed treatment in this study, while traditional daily and longer isoniazid therapy shows a compliance rate of about 60 percent or less in other studies and in practice. This is important, he notes, because isoniazid does not work if treatment is interrupted and people stop taking it as prescribed.

Such obstacles in treatment, as well as fears about producing drug-resistant bacteria—in addition to drug toxicity and liver damage in people who also have HIV—probably explain why the vast majority of physicians in South Africa do not prescribe isoniazid treatment alone to prevent TB, Chaisson says, even though it is therapy recommended by the World Health Organization.

In the latest study, participants were monitored for three to six years to see whose TB infections stayed dormant, or latent, and whose did not. Each year, some 3.1 percent developed active TB or died while taking the shorter drug regimen, compared

Cincinnati City Council and becoming the city’s mayor at age 33. In 1998, Springer wrote his autobiography, Ringmaster, which was turned into a movie of the same name as a fictionalized chronicle of his TV talk show. He is a graduate of Tulane University and earned his law degree at Northwestern University.

The students are selling $60 season passes that will secure seating near the stage; reserved seats for single events can be purchased for $20. [See box for details.]

For more information, go to the MSE Symposium website, www.jhu.edu/mse or contact the symposium’s publicity chair, Elizabeth Goodstein, at msesymposium@ gmail.com. G

What you need to know • All talks in the MSE Symposium are free and open to the public, with seats available on a first-come, first-served basis.

• Season passes with reserved seats for all talks are available for $60.

• Reserved seats for single events can be purchased for $20.

To purchase a season pass or to reserve seats for a single event, email msesymposium@ gmail.com or send a check payable to JHU Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium, with the name and email address of the pass or seat holder, to Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium, 210 Mattin Center, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218.

to 3.6 percent of those using the traditional isoniazid approach. Researchers say that without treatment, death rates among those co-infected with both the TB bacterium and the virus that causes AIDS would be double, between 5 and 10 percent.

In addition to the rifapentine-isoniazid combination, the Johns Hopkins–South African team found that two more shortened drug regimens kept TB in check just as well as isoniazid alone.

A combination of 600 milligrams of rifampin—an antibiotic in the same rifamycin group as rifapentine and used to treat TB disease on its own since 1968—when taken with 900 milligrams of isoniazid twice weekly for three months was also as effective in keeping the disease at bay. This group had a 2.9 percent annual rate of developing TB or of death, a number statistically similar to the group taking only isoniazid.

Those taking traditional isoniazid therapy, 300 milligrams daily for up to six years, had a 2.7 percent annual rate of developing TB or of death.

Observed side effects were mild, Chaisson says, with some liver damage occurring in 20 percent of study participants taking isoniazid for the longer term, and in about 5 percent of those using alternative regimens.

However, the key problem with both rifamycin-based medications, Chaisson acknowledges, is that in the liver they break down other drugs, such as protease inhibitors, widely used to fight HIV. Because of this complication, study participants taking either rifamycin drug were not allowed to also take protease inhibitors and could enroll in the study only if they were not already on or did not require immediate antiretroviral drug therapy.

Only two study participants taking the simpler regimens developed TB bacterial strains resistant to their antibiotics, putting to rest researchers’ initial concerns that the

study would lead to widespread development and outbreaks of a more potent form of the disease.

“As a result of our research, physicians should feel more comfortable with recommending a simplified treatment approach, knowing now that their patients are more likely to complete treatment as directed and remain disease-free,” said study co-investigator and infectious disease specialist Neil Martinson.

“These treatment options are much simpler than anything else we have,” said Martinson, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins and deputy director of the perinatal HIV research unit in Soweto, South Africa, where the study took place.

Chaisson and his international colleagues next plan to gauge the effectiveness of even shorter regimens, such as high doses of rifapentine and isoniazid daily for only one month. He says that the aim of his research is to “open up” access to drug therapies for everyone with TB, as a means of better controlling the disease.

Experts estimate that 2 billion people worldwide are infected with TB, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, 10 million of whom fall ill each year.

This study was supported with funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Additional support was provided by the NIH’s Fogarty International Center and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

In addition to Chaisson and Martinson, Johns Hopkins researchers involved in this study were Grace Barnes, Lawrence Moulton and Malathai Ram. Additional research support was provided by Regina Msandiwa, James McIntyre and Glenda Gray, all of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa; and Harry Hausler, of the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa.

CTY-led collaborators present free guide for local high-achievers

By Lionel Foster

Center for Talented Youth

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ohns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels and local education leaders this week will unveil Compass: A Directory of Resources for Bright Students in Baltimore. Produced by the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth in partnership with Baltimore City Public Schools and the Baltimore Educational Scholarship Trust, Compass puts in one place information on more than 200 public, charter and independent schools, plus two dozen resources for academically advanced students.

Last month, the guide collaborators from CTY, City Schools and B.E.S.T. were jointly named a Maryland Daily Record 2011 Innovator of the Year.

“Great universities are galvanized by great minds, minds that have been given the freedom to think anew and the resources to execute innovative ideas,” Daniels said.

“Every day at Johns Hopkins, we see what talented students can achieve when they have the support they need. It’s only natural that we extend our support to the next generation of Baltimore’s best. When these students win, we all win.”

Andres Alonso, CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools, said, “The most successful students have entire communities backing them, and it’s hard to think of a bigger community partner in this state than Johns Hopkins. The support they’re providing our kids is invaluable.”

Amy John, executive director of B.E.S.T., said that she looks forward to using Compass to introduce local families to area independent schools. “This guide gives a tremendous boost to important work,” John said.

“It shows families who always feared their options were limited the wealth of opportunities they can look forward to in both public and independent schools.”

“The cooperation that made Compass possible is unprecedented, both locally and nationally,” said Thomas Wilcox, president and CEO of the Baltimore Community Foundation. “Public and private partners working together to give kids a range of quality educational choices—this should be a model for the rest of the country.”

Elaine Hansen, executive director of CTY, said, “Since our founding more than 30 years ago, the Center for Talented Youth has identified and cultivated academic ability in students around the world. But it is especially gratifying to shine a light on some of the best students right here in our hometown.

We can’t wait to see what they’ll do with the resources we’ve been able to assemble.”

Compass joins a growing list of resources that Johns Hopkins has introduced over the past several years to help students in Baltimore. Since 2005, the Baltimore Scholars Program has covered the tuition of graduates of city public schools accepted to the university. And in 2010, the university announced Johns Hopkins Takes Time for Schools, a program that gives employees up to two paid leave days per fiscal year to volunteer in city schools.

Compass will be unveiled during an event for educators, business leaders and others at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 15, at CTY’s headquarters on the Johns Hopkins Mount Washington campus. Afterward, it will be available online at www.cty.jhu.edu and through a limited print run.

To attend the event or request a print version of the publication, contact Lionel Foster at lfoster@jhu.edu or 410-735-6196.

4 2011 4 THE THE GAZETTE GAZETTE •• September August 15, 12, 2011

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eart experts at Johns Hopkins have begun testing a new device designed to replace blocked aortic valves in patients for whom traditional open-heart surgery is considered too risky, such as elderly patients and those with other serious medical conditions. The testing is part of a nationwide study to evaluate the device, which is deployed in a minimally invasive way. The first two Maryland patients to receive the device had it put in place by Johns Hopkins doctors on July 8.

The new device, known as CoreValve, is a self-expanding valve made of a compressed metal scaffold with three flexible tissue leaflets attached. It is put in place inside the patient’s damaged valve through a catheter that is threaded through a leg artery to the aorta, the heart’s main blood vessel.

Once the device is in place, a process that can take up to two hours, a sheath covering the valve is removed via the same catheter, allowing the leaflets to open and close, directing blood flow to the rest of the body and the brain.

The device is already approved for use in Europe. During the European tests, patients experienced a more than doubling of blood flow, in some cases showing ejection fractions—a measure of blood pumped—rising from 20 percent to between 50 and 60 percent.

“The people most likely to benefit from this approach are incredibly weak, often bedridden because of their severely narrowed aortic valve,” said interventional cardiologist Jon Resar, who with cardiac surgeon John Conte is leading the Johns Hopkins portion of the study. Johns Hopkins

is among 40 medical centers that are participating in the Medtronic CoreValve U.S. Pivotal Trial. Medtronic, of Minneapolis, is the device manufacturer and is funding the tests.

“For many of our patients, this procedure is their only hope,” said Resar, an associate professor and director of the adult cardiac catheterization laboratory at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Heart and Vascular Institute.

Because it doesn’t involve open heart surgery, the approach is known as transcatheter aortic valve implantation, or TAVI for short. Even though the procedure is minimally invasive, Resar cautions that the device is not a cure-all, noting that about 30 percent of patients who have the procedure may die within a year from disease-related complications in the kidneys, liver or lungs.

(For patients whose only treatment option is medication to manage their aortic disease, up to half may die within a year.)

Resar adds that many TAVI patients in Europe are living longer than five years after placement of the device, and says the potential risks are far less than with conventional surgery.

About 1,200 participants are expected to be enrolled nationwide in the two-year study. All will have severe aortic valve narrowing and be at high or extremely high risk of death from traditional open-heart surgery. Some of the high-risk patients will get the CoreValve TAVI, and others will have traditional open-heart valve surgery.

Those at extreme risk will have either TAVI or drug therapy alone to manage their disease.

According to Conte, a professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins, more treatment options are needed to manage the increasingly severe cardiovascular and other health issues faced by the growing population of

Americans over the age of 80. He estimates that more than 300,000 elderly Americans have severe aortic stenosis, or narrowing, and are at high risk of death if open-heart surgery is used to repair the valve.

Conte says that possible complications from the TAVI procedure are few. They include bleeding from insertion of the catheter, which can be managed with blood transfusions if needed, and stroke from arterial debris breaking off and lodging in the brain. Surgical filters are being designed to deflect debris away from arteries leading to the brain. Some 15 percent of TAVI patients also may need a pacemaker, as the device sits close to the electrical pathway responsible for regulating the heartbeat. For most patients, a temporary pacemaker is sufficient.

Conte says that if the CoreValve U.S. Pivotal Trial is successful and the device is approved, CoreValve could add to the number of treatment options for his patients.

Another TAVI device that is also being studied in the United States is the so-called Sapien valve, manufactured by Edwards Lifesciences.

Physicians and potential study participants interested in knowing more about the Medtronic CoreValve U.S. Pivotal Trial can go to the website www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT 01240902?term=aortic+valve+replacement& rank=7.

Related websites Jon Resar:

bit.ly/p4KjnE John Conte:

www.hopkinsmedicine.org/ transplant/About/conte.html

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September 12, 2011 • THE GAZETTE

5

JAY VANRENSSELAER / homewoodphoto.jhu.edu

Legal scholar to discuss debate over health care reform law

Ronald J. Daniels

President Daniels to kick off this year’s Leaders + Legends series

By Andrew Blumberg

Carey Business School

J

ohns Hopkins President Ronald J. Daniels will be the inaugural speaker for the fourth year of the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School’s Leaders + Legends lecture series, which begins at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 20, in the Legg Mason Tower in Harbor East. In his remarks, titled “Enduring Institutions, Evolving Cities: Johns Hopkins and Baltimore,” Daniels will look at the shared goals and challenges of the past 135 years, along with new collaborative opportunities for the 21st century.

Outbreak Continued from page 1 the ability to isolate infectious patients are major concerns. In addition, doctors and other health care workers need a clear set of policies to help make urgent ethical decisions to allocate equipment, medicine and manpower during a major disaster with potentially large numbers of affected patients, says Kelen, who is also a professor and the director of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

The country also needs a dedicated discipline of knowledgeable and well-trained scientists to test different policies and practices and determine how best to ready for future catastrophic events, says Kelen, who is heading up an effort to launch a professional society dedicated to disaster medicine.

Trish Perl, a leading epidemiologist and infectious disease expert and a professor in the departments of Medicine, Pathology and Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins, says that the movie, which opened on Friday, starkly reminds us that global pandemics do occur and can result in enormous casualties. The Spanish flu of 1918 killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide.

Perl, the author of a number of research papers on flu transmission and prevention, says that more work needs to be done to determine the best practices for preventing the spread of emerging new infections, especially among health care workers who are often on the front lines of a deadly disease outbreak, such as SARS or swine flu. Developing such effective practices, Perl says, will ensure that the health care workforce isn’t decimated by a deadly new virus and will be able to respond adequately to those in need.

Joshua Epstein, a professor of emergency medicine and a social and behavior modeling expert at Johns Hopkins, says that the film’s theme of exploring the nature of fear, and what happens when fear and panic take hold in a disaster situation, is a subject worth serious scientific investigation.

Fear can be highly contagious in disaster

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situations and can cause people to act in highly unpredictable ways, says Epstein, an internationally recognized pioneer in agentbased computational modeling and director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Advanced Modeling in the Social, Behavioral and Health Sciences.

This contagion of fear is not fully understood, yet such human emotions as fear and distrust can have a profound effect on whether people follow government or other official guidance, such as a request for vaccinations, and it can cause them to behave in a way that makes the crisis worse, says Epstein, who has developed advanced computer models simulating how a novel pathogen would spread around the globe and across the United States.

A deeper understanding of fear and other human emotions and behaviors in emergencies could help develop smarter policies and plans for responding to major public health crises, says Epstein, who has published numerous scholarly papers and articles on how computer modeling can help stem disease transmission.

A pandemic such as the one depicted in Contagion will bring a host of ethical challenges, such as the equitable distribution of scarce resources, notes Holly Taylor, of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and an assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

While many efforts have been made post9/11 to prepare the nation for a major disaster, additional consideration ought to be given to how best to make the public aware of the plans made. A public informed that plans have been made, and what its role is if such plans have to be implemented, may serve to immunize some from the fear to which Epstein refers, Taylor says.

“It’s always better to plan in advance how scarce resources may be allocated or in what way the freedom of movement may be restricted rather than address them in the midst of a disaster, Taylor notes. The more the public is aware that there are plans in place to help make difficult ethical decisions, Taylor says, the more likely the public will view official response to the crisis as credible. G

B y A m y L u n d ay

Barnett’s publications include more than 100 articles and reviews, as well as nine Homewood books, including Restoring the Lost Constitution: The Presumption of Liberty, Constieorgetown University Law tutional Law: Cases in Context, Contracts: Center Professor Randy Cases and Doctrine and The Structure of E. Barnett will discuss the Liberty: Justice and the Rule of Law. Affordable Care Act at The He regularly publishes opinion pieces in Johns Hopkins publications such as The Wall University’s 2011 ConstituStreet Journal and has appeared tional Forum, which is held in on programs such as CBS Eveconjunction with the annual ning News, NBC Nightly News, observance of Constitution Parker-Spitzer Glenn Beck and Day and focuses on important Ricki Lake. In 2007, Barnett legal issues. was featured in the documen During his talk, “Comtaries The Trials of Law School mandeering the People: Why and In Search of the Second ObamaCare is UnconstituAmendment; he also portrayed tional,” Barnett will discuss the an assistant prosecutor in the debate over the constitutionalindependent film InAlienable. ity of the health care reform The 2011 Constitutional law in the context of a broader Randy Barnett Forum at Johns Hopkins, discussion of theories of “origisponsored by Department of nalism” and how to interpret the commerce Political Science and the Office of Comclause, and the Constitution more generally. munications and Public Affairs, celebrates The forum will take place at 8 p.m. on Constitution Day, Sept. 17, the day in 1787 Thursday, Sept. 15, in 110 Hodson Hall on when delegates convened for the final time the Homewood campus. to sign the U.S. Constitution.

Barnett is the Carmack Waterhouse Pro The event is supported by the George fessor of Legal Theory at the Georgetown Huntington Williams Memorial LectureUniversity Law Center, where he teaches ship, established to honor the memory of constitutional law and contracts. After George Huntington Williams, a pioneer in graduating from Northwestern University the microscopic study of rocks and minerals. and Harvard Law School, he tried many Williams was Johns Hopkins’ first professor felony cases as a prosecutor in the Cook of petrology and founded in the late 1880s County State’s Attorney’s Office in Chithe Department of Geology (now Earth cago. In 2004, he argued the medical mariand Planetary Sciences). In 1917, his family juana case of Gonzalez v. Raich before the created an endowment in his memory for U.S. Supreme Court. He has been a visiting lectures by distinguished public figures on professor at the University of Pennsylvania, topics of widespread contemporary interest.

Northwestern University and Harvard Law Past speakers have included Archbishop School. In 2008, he was awarded a GuggenDesmond Tutu and Russian President Boris heim Fellowship in Constitutional Studies.

Yeltsin.

G

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6 2011 6 THE THE GAZETTE GAZETTE •• September August 15, 12, 2011

Water disciplines who otherwise would never sit together.

“For a conference like this, we get decision-makers to come together focused on a theme so that they can think outside their own area,” said Schwab, who attended the conference along with Johns Hopkins colleagues Nicholas Jones, the Benjamin T. Rome Dean of the Whiting School of Engineering; Michael Klag, dean of the Bloomberg School of Public Health; Robert Lawrence, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future; and Luke MacDonald, program manager of the Global Water Program. The conference also included representatives of water organizations, the Rockefeller Foundation and the World Bank, and leading university-based researchers.

“This was a game-changing conference, to work in a more integrated fashion,” Schwab said. “It’s a chance to come up with big ideas and think outside of the box.”

Big ideas, Schwab said, are needed to address the planet’s water issues.

According to World Health Organization Joint Monitoring Program figures, waterrelated problems affect half of humanity.

Hundreds of millions of people in developing countries are without “improved” water sources, meaning no piped water, public taps, protected springs, septic tanks and other basic services that some in the Western world might take for granted. Nearly 2.6 billion people lack basic sanitation.

Each year, more than 5 million people die from water-related disease, and less than 1 percent of the world’s water is accessible for direct human use.

To help Johns Hopkins become a world leader in addressing this increasingly crucial issue, the Office of the Provost seeded the Global Water Program with a three-year “discovery” grant in 2009. In the future, the program will be supported by a combination

COURTESY OF gLOBAL WATER PROGRAM

Continued from page 1

Kellogg Schwab collects a sample for biological and chemical analysis from a drinking water source used by a small community in rural Nicaragua. Part of an effort to examine the effectiveness of drinking water treatment interventions at the household level in Central America, the project included faculty from the schools of Nursing and Public Health, two PhD students and three MPH students.

of external grants and internal funding from the Johns Hopkins divisions. The schools of Engineering, Medicine and Public Health have already signed an agreement to provide funding.

The Global Water Program addresses these challenges in six broad themes: policy, infrastructure, the environment, health, food and energy.

To date, the program has hosted a number of conferences, launched a website that has become a clearinghouse for Johns Hopkins’ water-related efforts, developed an online magazine that presents news and opinions on water issues, connected JHU researchers to facilitate projects and launched a seed grant program that has led to successful grant submissions to federal agencies.

Schwab said that an issue as massive as this demands a cross-disciplinary approach.

The group brings together public health researchers, biologists, engineers, behaviorists, economists, policy experts, anthropologists, physicians and others who can make fundamental changes related to water access and use on a worldwide scale.

“The Global Water Program brings Johns Hopkins researchers together to address the critical issues regarding water, and this goes beyond just drinking water,” he said. “We develop partnerships. We are tying people

Vaccinations in 72 poorest countries could avert 6.4 million deaths

By Tim Parsons

Bloomberg School of Public Health

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together to address the questions that need to be faced in the 21st century.”

In the coming months, the program will launch another seed grant initiative and ramp up its efforts to foster interdisciplinary research projects by connecting Johns Hopkins researchers to each other and to outside funding sources, said Luke MacDonald.

“They can come to us with ideas, and we provide the glue,” he said. “We can point people to who they should be partnering with, and we’ll help write the proposals. We have the mechanisms to get these proposals off the ground so that they can drive change.”

MacDonald said that the program has become a library of information that can help connect the dots.

“We have helped start projects that likely would not have happened if not for the infrastructure here at the Global Water Program,” he said.

He gave an example of a Public Health researcher who needed satellite-sensing data to see how the environment can be linked to the spread of cholera. The program paired the researcher with someone at Arts and Sciences who had access to the needed data, and now the two are applying for federal funding.

The program also has funds available for students to attend and present at meetings and conferences with a water theme.

The Global Water Program broadens and expands the work of the Center for Water and Health, which over the past decade has integrated JHU researchers from multiple disciplines to address water-related public health issues. G To find out more about JHU’s Global Water Program, go to globalwater.jhu.edu.

B

y scaling up childhood vaccinations in 72 of the world’s poorest countries, an estimated 6.4 million deaths could be averted between 2011 and 2020, with a corresponding economic value of between $151 billion and $231 billion, according to two new studies by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health investigators published in the June issue of Health Affairs.

The new studies link the health benefits from projected increases in childhood immunization rates to both short- and long-term productivity gains, and consider the value of the lives of those at risk. International donors met recently in London to pledge funding for the GAVI Alliance, an international partnership that finances vaccines for children in these countries, and which faces a shortfall of approximately $3.7 billion.

“Together, these two studies demonstrate the wider economic benefits that can be achieved by expanding vaccine access during the Decade of Vaccines. They show why foundations and governments everywhere should make investments in vaccination a top priority,” said Orin Levine, associate professor in the Bloomberg School’s Department of International Health and director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins.

Vaccines are among the most cost-effective public health interventions. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $10 billion over the next decade, known as the Decade of Vaccines (2011–2020), to increase access to childhood vaccines in the world’s poorest countries. During this period—scaling up the delivery of vaccination against pneumococcal disease, Haemophilus influenza type b, rotavirus, pertussis, measles and eventually malaria—the health benefits could be substantial, with an estimated 426 million cases of illness and 6.4 million deaths averted.

Researchers at the Bloomberg School used two approaches to forecast the potential economic value of the Decade of Vaccines.

In the first study, Meghan Stack, a research associate in International Health, and colleagues estimated the economic benefits to health systems and households.

Beyond the vaccine-preventable illness and deaths that would be averted, expanding childhood immunization rates could result in $151 billion in treatment and productivity savings between 2011 and 2020. Stack’s analyses show that approximately $6.2 billion could be saved by not needing to pay for treatments when children are acutely ill; that approximately $1.2 billion in savings would be attributed to avoiding the lost productivity of parents while caring for their ill children; and that the largest savings, $145 billion, are from avoiding the productivity lost when children die young or are permanently disabled by vaccinepreventable diseases.

Vaccines against pneumonia (the pneumococcal and Hib vaccines) represent $68 billion (45 percent) of the total estimated savings in treatment costs and productivity losses, while accounting for 42 percent of the 6.4 million lives saved.

The second study in Health Affairs goes beyond direct medical costs and productivity loss to present the impact of the vaccine expansion in terms of the “value” of the lives saved.

This analysis by Sachi Ozawa, an assistant scientist in International Health, and colleagues represents the first use of the “value of statistical life” approach to estimate the value of averting deaths from vaccination in developing countries. This method, which is widely used by the U.S. government for analyses of health and environmental policies, estimates the value of saving a life by using data on how much income individuals are willing to trade in return for an increased or decreased risk of mortality. The study authors estimate the value to individuals living in high-risk countries of reducing death rates with this scaled-up vaccination program. The results put the value of the 6.4 million child deaths averted at $231 billion over 10 years.

Funding for the research was provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

September 12, 2011 • THE GAZETTE C O G N I T I V E

7

S C I E N C E

Exhibition explores scientific, artistic aspects of illustrator’s illness

By Lisa De Nike

Homewood

L

onni Sue Johnson’s quirky, clever, colorful illustrations appeared in such prominent publications as The New Yorker and The New York Times before an attack of viral encephalitis in 2007 that left the artist (who also was a pilot and an organic dairy farmer) with severe memory-impairing brain damage.

The virus attacked both sides of Johnson’s brain, ravaging the hippocampus, a structure crucial for forming and storing new memories. The illness also damaged other portions of her temporal lobe that scientists think may also be important for memory and other abilities, such as language and perception. As a result, Johnson not only could not remember much detail about her pre-illness life but also seemed unable to remember what happened five minutes ago.

Enter the power of art. Under the guidance of her mother, also a professional artist, Johnson began putting pencil to paper and created a voluminous collection of “recovery art” that her family collected.

Johns Hopkins researchers are now studying these works—and the artist herself—in an effort to unlock the secrets of the brain and creativity. Some of Johnson’s images, produced both before and after the attack of encephalitis, will be on display at the Walters Art Museum Sept. 17 through Dec. 11 in a unique exhibition called “Puzzles of the Brain: An Artist’s Journey through Amnesia.”

A partnership between the Johns Hopkins University’s Department of Cognitive Science and the Walters, and supported

by Johns Hopkins’ Brain Science Institute and Krieger School of Arts and Sciences,

Lonni Sue Johnson’s ‘Christmas Tree Line,’ Johnson’s post-encephalitis, word-oriented watercolor on paper, which appeared on the ‘Clothes That Hang Up in the Closet (Puzzle cover of ‘The New Yorker’ on Dec. 16, 1985. 100),’ pencil on paper, ca. December 2008.

the exhibition will feature about three dozen drawings exploring the impact of severe brain damage on the life and creativity of this artist, who is now in her early 60s. Viewed chronologically, the collection tells an inspiring story of how one artist is moving forward in the aftermath of a devastating illness. The compilation also poses fascinating scientific questions about the nature of perception, cognition, imagination, creativity and the brain, says cognitive scientist Barbara Landau, the Dick and Lydia Todd Professor at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins and principal investigator on the study.

“Lonni Sue’s case suggests an intriguing new set of research questions that can shed light on the nature of artistic creativity and how it can become derailed with brain damage and then restored thereafter,” Landau

said. “It also offers us the opportunity to use the science we are doing to work with a broader community—in this case, through the Walters—to promote an appreciation of the synergies between art and science.”

Over the last year, Landau and her research partner, Michael McCloskey, also a professor in the Department of Cognitive Science at Johns Hopkins, have tested Johnson in a number of ways, using both standardized tests and “tailor-made” instruments that they have developed to explore more specialized areas on inquiry, such as Johnson’s remaining knowledge of art and artists.

“Preliminary probing of Lonni Sue’s memories before the illness has shown us that she has been severely affected by the encephalitis not only as far as events in her own life but also for famous faces, names and places, including places she knew extremely well,”

McCloskey said. “We’ve also found that she has serious impairments when it comes to learning and remembering new words, new faces and so on.”

Even so, the research team is struck by Johnson’s surviving vocabulary and facility with words. Indeed, her “new” artwork is strongly word-oriented. In fact, it was a word-search puzzle book given to Johnson by a friend that sparked a breakthrough in her recovery as an artist post-encephalitis. Johnson quickly began to make word lists of her own, which she then inserted into grids by theme or in alphabetical order. Some of the drawings are remarkably simple, and others are fantastically complex.

“All in all, Lonni Sue’s story is both an inspiring and intriguing one that brings up a host of questions that we hope eventually to be able to answer,” McCloskey said.

For more information about the Walters’ exhibit, go to thewalters.org/news/releases/ pressdetail.aspx?e_id=283.

Related websites The Department of Cognitive Science at Johns Hopkins:

web.jhu.edu/cogsci Barbara Landau:

web.jhu.edu/cogsci/people/faculty/ Landau Michael McCloskey:

web.jhu.edu/cogsci/people/faculty/ McCloskey The Johns Hopkins University Brain Science Institute:

www.hopkinsmedicine.org/ brainscience

8 2011 8 THE THE GAZETTE GAZETTE •• September August 15, 12, 2011

Antidepressant RXs on rise in those with no psychiatric diagnosis B y N a t al i e W o o d - W r i g h t

Bloomberg School of Public Health

A

mericans are no strangers to antidepressants. During the last 20 years the use of antidepressants has grown significantly, making them one of the most costly, and the third most commonly prescribed class of, medications in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from 2005 to 2008 nearly 8.9 percent of the U.S. population had at least one prescription in this drug class during any given month.

A new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health examines national trends in antidepressant prescribing and finds that much of this growth was driven by a substantial increase in antidepressant prescriptions by nonpsychiatrist providers without any accompanying psychiatric diagnosis. The results are featured in the August issue of Health Affairs.

“We’ve seen a marked increase in antidepressant use among individuals with no psychiatric diagnosis. Nearly four out of every five antidepressant prescriptions are written by nonpsychiatrist providers,” said Ramin Mojtabai, lead author of the study and an associate professor in the Bloomberg School’s Department of Mental Health. “Between 1996 and 2007, the number of visits where individuals were prescribed antidepressants with no psychiatric diagnoses increased from 59.5 percent to 72.7 percent, and the share of providers who prescribed antidepressants without a concurrent psychiatric diagnosis increased from 30 percent of all nonpsychiatrist physicians in 1996 to 55.4 percent in 2007.”

Using data from the 1996–2007 National Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys, researchers reviewed a national sample of office-based physician visits by patients ages 18 years and older during a one-week period. They conducted two sets of logistic regression analyses, comparing antidepres-

sant visits lacking psychiatric diagnoses with antidepressant visits including psychiatric diagnoses and with visits lacking both prescriptions for antidepressants and psychiatric diagnoses. In addition, Mojtabai and colleagues assessed physician practicelevel trends in antidepressant visits without psychiatric diagnosis and found that in the general medicine practice, antidepressant use was concentrated among people with less severe and poorly defined mental health conditions.

An earlier study led by Mojtabai and published in the Journal of Affective Disorders examined the impact of expansion of antidepressant use on the prevalence and characteristics of depression and suicidal ideations. That study found that antidepressant use significantly reduced the prevalence of more severe depression and suicidal ideations among individuals with severe depressive episodes. The findings led researchers to recommend that antidepressants be prescribed primarily to individuals

with severe depression or a confirmed psychiatric diagnosis.

“With nonspecialists playing a growing role in the pharmacological treatment of common mental disorders, practice patterns of these providers are becoming increasingly relevant for mental health policy,” Mojtabai said. “To the extent that antidepressants are being prescribed for uses not supported by clinical evidence, there may be a need to improve providers’ prescribing practices, revamp drug formularies or undertake broad reforms of the health care system that will increase communication between primary care providers and mental health specialists.”

“The Proportion of Antidepressants Prescribed Without a Psychiatric Diagnosis Is Growing” was written by Mojtabai and Mark Olfson and was supported in part by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

“The Public Health Impact of Antidepressants: An Instrumental Variable Analysis” was written by Mojtabai.

Study: Advanced practice nurse care comparable to physician care

By Teddi Fine

School of Nursing

T

oday’s primary care physicians in the U.S. are too few in number to meet the health care needs of a burgeoning population, and health care reform will only amplify the problem. That’s where nurse practitioners, nurse midwives and other advanced practice nurses enter the picture. Do these master’s-trained, boardcertified nurses have the skills needed for autonomous practice that can help bridge the expanding gap between need and health care services? The answer is an unequivo-

cal yes, according to “Advanced Practice Nurse Outcomes 1990–2008: A Systematic Review,” an assessment of the quality of care provided by advanced practice nurses in the United States.

Writing in Nursing Economics, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing associate professors Julie Stanik-Hutt and Kathleen M. White and colleagues present what Stanik-Hutt calls “the stuff of which new health policy is made.” The analysis of 18 years of U.S. studies found care by advanced practice nurses to be of comparable quality, safety and effectiveness to that by physicians. StanikHutt likens the study to research comparing the relative capacity of two different

medications to treat the same illness; here, the study compares advanced practice nurse and physician effectiveness when treating people with the same illnesses. The study, conducted by a multidisciplinary team and funded, in part, by the Tri-Council for Nursing, specifically found that care by nurse practitioners and nurse midwives is as good as, and in some ways better than, that of physicians. Clinical nurse specialists not only enhanced the quality of care for hospitalized patients but also reduced unnecessary hospital days, stays and readmissions.

According to Stanik-Hutt, the findings reflect the distinct but complementary prisms through which nurses and physicians

view patients. Physicians treat and cure disease; advanced practice nurses see patients not pathology. Both provide effective interventions, but for different reasons.

“The study isn’t about who is a better health provider,” she said. “Rather, the study suggests the value of enabling both doctors and advanced practice nurses each to do what they do best in a collaborative, but autonomous, environment. When each profession works to its strengths, without the fetters of current regulatory restrictions, the unique contributions of both shine through. And that’s what I call a win-win for patient care and for providers alike.”

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September 12, 2011 • THE GAZETTE

9

Looking for the roots of racial bias in delivery of health care Medical students may ‘learn’ to treat nonwhite, white patients differently

By Stephanie Desmon

Johns Hopkins Medicine

N

ew Johns Hopkins research shows that medical students—just like the general American population—may have unconscious if not overt preferences for white people, but this innate bias does not appear to translate into different or lesser health care of other races.

The research findings, published in the Sept. 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, question whether something could be happening during medical training that turns benign unconscious preferences of students into ideas and behaviors that may lead to different types of care for patients of different races.

Being a member of a minority race and being poor are consistent predictors of worse health outcomes in the United States, the investigators say, and substantial amounts of research suggest that racial bias—conscious or not—is an important factor in clinical decisions that create racial disparities in health care.

“Our results raise the question, Are we doing something in medical education and training that makes doctors act on their unconscious preferences, even though as medical students they may not have done so?” said study leader Adil H. Haider, an assistant professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

“This may sound like a cliche, but I really do believe that most people who become doctors choose to do so out of a noble calling, and they really want to help people. But it may be that training and experience are unwittingly reinforcing negative stereotypes pushing us to unconsciously treat some patients differently,” he said. “If this is the case, it makes a good argument for interventions to ensure that doctors are aware of how even subtle biases may affect their decision making and their assessments of patients.”

Previous studies using a validated “association test,” for example, have shown that roughly 70 percent of the general population, as well as doctors specifically, has an implicit preference for white people. One study showed that a group of doctors who were unconsciously partial to white people were less likely to treat black heart patients with needed clot-busting drugs and more likely to give them to similar white patients.

Other past studies have shown that among trauma patients, race and insurance status are independently associated with higher mortality. Minorities are less likely to undergo bypass surgery and less likely to receive kidney dialysis or transplants, and more likely to undergo less-desirable procedures, such as lower limb amputations for diabetes. Several studies have shown that physicians prescribe fewer analgesics for African-Americans in emergency rooms despite similar estimates of pain.

In the new study, Haider and his team invited first-year Johns Hopkins medical students to participate in a confidential Webbased survey. They were not informed of the survey content ahead of time and were asked not to share it with their peers afterward.

First, the students were given four clini-

cal scenarios in which they were randomly presented with either a black or white patient and asked questions about how they would treat each. Next the students were presented with four more patients, this time randomly altering the patients’ social class by incorporating occupations into the clinical vignettes.

To determine whether students’ assessments were associated with their unconscious attitudes, they were then given the Implicit Association Test, or IAT, which is a widely used and validated tool that tests reaction times to uncover unconscious biases and preferences. For example, in the Black/ White Race IAT, a photo of a white or black individual is presented along with words that have good and bad connotations. The test measures how quickly the participant associates good or bad words with people from each race. If a participant is quicker at associating the good words with a particular race, then that person is thought to have an unconscious preference toward that race.

Haider and his team also used a new tool they developed, based on the IAT, to measure preferences for different social classes.

The researchers found that of the 202 first-year medical students who participated, the IAT determined that 69 percent had an unconscious bias toward whites and 14 percent innately favored blacks. They also determined that 86 percent of the students had subconsciously favored upper-class people, while just 3 percent showed a preference for those of a lower class.

To their surprise, and considering results of previous studies of practicing physicians, the researchers say they found that the unconscious preferences of students did not affect how they assessed or treated patients

of various races and incomes depicted in the scenarios.

“For the most part, the students’ answers had nothing to do with the patients’ race or social class, regardless of their unconscious biases,” Haider said.

Haider says it is possible that the biases of younger people don’t affect their work because they may have been exposed to educational curricula focused on cultural competency, something that may translate into improved awareness and management of unconscious preferences.

Understanding—and confronting—the role that racial and social bias may play in the relationship between doctors and their patients is an important step toward fixing the racial disparities that plague the health care system, Haider says.

“We know there are disparities—they are well-documented—but we need to confront them and understand why,” said Haider, who is also co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Surgery Trials and Outcomes Research. “Even though it’s a sensitive topic, we can’t move forward until we acknowledge the problem. We need to have an honest discussion about these things instead of just trying to ignore them or pretend they’re not there,” he said.

This study was supported by grants from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the American College of Surgeons and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Other Johns Hopkins researchers involved in the research are Janel Sexton, Lisa A. Cooper, David T. Efron, Sandra Swoboda, Cassandra V. Villegas, Elliott R. Haut, Morgan Bonds, Peter J. Pronovost, Pamela A. Lipsett and Julie A. Freischlag.

Individual health insurance mandate important for patients, doctors Editor’s note: Due to a technical error, an unrelated story ran with the above headline in the Sept. 6 issue of The Gazette. The correct story appears below. We regret the error.

By Gary Stephenson

Johns Hopkins Medicine

W

hile the battle over the legality of the Affordable Care Act’s mandate requiring most individuals to purchase health insurance continues to be fought, its impact on the quality and cost of care, and what it would mean for patients and their physicians, has been largely overlooked.

According to a commentary published Aug. 10 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the individual mandate would have tangible benefits for patients and their physicians. Authors Edward D. Miller, dean of the Johns Hopkins School

of Medicine and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, and Scott A. Berkowitz, assistant professor of medicine and medical director for Accountable Care for Johns Hopkins, say that the mandate would strengthen the patient-physician relationship, increase access to health insurance coverage, stabilize insurance premiums and largely eliminate the problem of “free riding,” a situation in which individuals who can afford health insurance choose not to purchase it but still obtain health care services without the intention of covering the costs.

“It should be clear to objective observers that the manner in which our nation has historically dealt with health care insurance coverage is unfair, inequitable and unsustainable,” Miller says. “Ensuring that the maximum number of people possible have health insurance is crucial in improving access to, and the quality of, care.”

“The potential positive impact of the individual mandate on the patient-physician

relationship is underappreciated,” Berkowitz says. “We know from research that patients with insurance are more likely to have physicians routinely involved in coordinating their care, are more apt to receive regular screening and preventative services, and have an increased life expectancy.”

The authors also note that by increasing the number of insured individuals, the mandate should reduce the cost of routine health care services and help provide financial security from potentially devastating health care costs.

“Health care costs are reaching crisis levels, and inadequate health insurance is a significant contributor,” Miller says.

“According to the federal Department of Health and Human Services, in 2008 alone, an estimated $73 billion in uncompensated health care was provided in the United States, resulting in as much as a $1,000 increase in annual family health insurance premiums. The individual mandate should

greatly reduce the level of uncompensated care and the resulting need to pass these costs on to those with insurance.”

The authors also note that the individual mandate addresses the issue of fairness, pointing out that the health care market is unique in that while virtually everyone will require medical care during their lives, many do not pay for that care. “For those individuals for whom health coverage is unaffordable, there is a societal obligation to create remedies. On the other hand, for those who could afford to purchase coverage yet choose not to, it should be made clear that ‘free riding’ cannot be sanctioned,” Berkowitz says.

Adds Miller, “As policymakers and the judiciary consider these challenging issues, the focus should and must remain on patients. In the end, the health of patients relies on the health of the system providing their care, so it is imperative to get it right, and the individual mandate is an important step in that direction.”

REMINDER: JHU Affiliates and Neighbors, join us at our 7th Annual CONVERGENCE! John Hopkins University-Community Block Party FREE fun, Date: Sunday, September 18, 2011 food, and Time: 2:00pm – 5:00pm $1000 worth of prizes!

Location: 3200 Block of St. Paul Street Convergence is for JHU affiliates and residents of the neighborhoods surrounding the Homewood campus.

For more information: Email: commrelations@jhu.edu Phone: 443-287-9900 Follow us on Twitter: @JHUConvergence Check-in at Four Square: Convergence 2011

10 2011 10 THE THE GAZETTE GAZETTE •• September August 15, 12, 2011 P O S T I N G S

Job Opportunities

B U L L E T I N

Notices

The Johns Hopkins University does not discriminate on the basis of gender, marital status, pregnancy, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or other legally protected characteristic in any student program or activity administered by the university or with regard to admission or employment.

Homewood

Office of Human Resources: Suite W600, Wyman Bldg., 410-516-8048 JOB# POSITION

48788 49246 49237 49238 49287 49426 49431 49439 49440 49447 49450 49467 49487

Program Manager, CTY Student Payroll Specialist Multimedia Systems Specialist Research Technologist Systems Network Administrator LAN Administrator IRC Technical Assistant Associate Director, Research Administration Research Technologist School Based Transformation Facilitator Youth Development Facilitator Foundation Relations Officer Instructional Technologist

Schools of Public Health and Nursing Office of Human Resources: 2021 East Monument St., 410-955-3006 JOB# POSITION

44976 44290 44672 41388 44067 44737 44939 44555 44848

Food Service Worker LAN Administrator III Administrative Secretary Program Officer Research Program Assistant II Sr. Administrative Coordinator Student Affairs Officer Instructional Technologist Sr. Financial Analyst

49496 49267 49276 49279 49316 49317 49436 48853 48873 48989 49104 49151 49217 49218 49223 49348 49471 49474

Research Service Analyst Executive Specialist Employee Assistance Clinician Employee Assistance Clinician Sr. Financial Analyst Sr. Programmer Analyst Software Engineer Software Engineer Network Security Engineer Software Engineer Sr. Internal Auditor HR Specialist ERP Business Analyst, HR/Payroll Sr. ERP Business Analyst, HR/Payroll Sr. ERP Business Analyst, Supply Chain/SRM Sr. Financial Analyst Gift Processing Supervisor Programmer Analyst

44648 Assay Technician 44488 Research Technologist 43425 Research Nurse 43361 Research Scientist 44554 Administrative Specialist 44684 Biostatistician 42973 Clinical Outcomes Coordinator 43847 Sr. Programmer Analyst 45106 Employment Assistant/Receptionist 45024 Payroll and HR Services Coordinator 42939 Research Data Coordinator 42669 Data Assistant 44802 Budget Specialist 44242 Academic Program Administrator 44661 Sr. Research Program Coordinator 45002 Research Observer

School of Medicine

Office of Human Resources: 98 N. Broadway, 3rd floor, 410-955-2990 JOB# POSITION

47679 47740 48165 48194 48238 48250 48312 48639 48699

Laboratory Assistant Nurse Practitioner Research Assistant Research Data Analyst MRI Technologist Research Data Analyst Sr. Medical Office Coordinator Research Program Assistant II Patient Access Manager

48702 48705 48824 49059 49090 49094 49119 49125 49150 49167 49186 49242 49249 49325

Immunogenetics Technologist Trainee Clinic Manager Occupational Therapist Research Navigator Nurse Physician Assistant IT Specialist Technical Facility Manager Research Program Assistant II Research Program Assistant Sr. Financial Manager Research Technologist Data Assistant Disclosure Specialist Revenue Cycle Coordinator

This is a partial listing of jobs currently available. A complete list with descriptions can be found on the Web at jobs.jhu.edu.

G A R D E N A PA RT M E N T L I V I N G I N

–

1 9

Calendar Continued from page 12 F r i . , S e p t . 1 6 , 2 : 3 0 p . m . “The Other Side of Empire: Mediterranean in Spanish Political Thought, 1479– 1516,” a History thesis defense seminar with Andrew Devereux. 308 Gilman.

HW

“A Role for the Mediator of RNA Polymerase II Transcription in Elongation Control,” a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology seminar with Joan Conaway, Stowers Institute for Medical Research. W1020 SPH. EB Mon., Sept. 19, noon.

Mon., Sept. 19, noon. “Limits to Disaster Resiliency: The ‘New Normal’ Concept,” an International Health seminar with Frederick Burkle, AsiaPacific Center for Biosecurity, Disaster and Conflict Research, Hawaii. W2030 SPH. EB Mon., Sept. 19, 12:15 p.m. “Targeting Human Pathogens in Their Mosquito Vectors,” a Carnegie Institution Embryology seminar with George Dimopoulos, SPH. Rose Auditorium, 3520 San Martin Drive. HW

SPECIAL EVENTS

Sun., Sept. 18, 2 to 5 p.m. Convergence, a community block party for JHU affiliates and residents of the neighborhoods surrounding the Homewood campus, with free fun, food and prizes.

(See In Brief, p. 2.) 3200 block of St. Paul St. HW

sium with speakers from cross-disciplinary areas of expertise including infectious diseases, radiology and oncology. Lunch will be provided. Owens Auditorium, CRB. EB

Nutrients That Protect Health Save Lives: Vitamins and Zinc, an International Health mini-symposium in recognition of the department’s 50th anniversary, with Michael Klag, Alfred Sommer, Keith West Jr. and Robert Black, all of SPH; A. Catharine Ross, Penn State; Ananda Prasad, Wayne State University School of Medicine (emeritus); and Kenneth Brown, University of California, Davis.

E2030 SPH. (Reception follows in E9519 SPH.) EB

Wed., Sept. 14, 1:30 to 5 p.m.

W OR K S H O P S The Center for Educational Resources

sponsors a series of workshops on the Blackboard 9.1 interface. The training is open to all faculty, staff and students in full-time KSAS or WSE programs who have administrative responsibilities in a Blackboard course. To register, go to www.bb.cer.jhu.edu. Garrett Room, MSE Library. HW •

Tues., Sept. 13, 1 to 3 p.m.

“Getting Started With Blackboard.”

•

Thurs., Sept. 15, 10 a.m. to noon. “Blackboard Communica-

•

Fri., Sept. 16, 1 to 3 p.m. “Assess-

tion and Collaboration.”

ing Student Knowledge and Managing Grades in Blackboard.”

“Introduction to Blackboard,” a Bits & Bytes workshop.

The training is open to Homewood faculty, lecturers and TAs; staff are also welcome to attend. Sponsored by the Center for Educational Resources. Garrett Room, MSE Library. HW

Thurs., Sept. 15, 1 p.m.

SYMPOSIA Tues., Sept. 13, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Nuts and Bolts of Imaging Infection and Inflammation, a Center for Infection and Inflammation Imaging Research sympo-

Need extra copies of ‘The Gazette’?

R O L A N D PA R K

• Large airy rooms • Hardwood Floors • Private balcony or terrace • Beautiful garden setting • Private parking available • University Parkway at West 39th St. 2 & 3 bedroom apartments located in a private park setting. Adjacent to Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus and minutes from downtown Baltimore.

410-243-1216

1 2

A limited number of extra copies of The Gazette are available each week in the Office of Government, Community and Public Affairs, Suite 540, 901 South Bond St., in Fells Point.

Those who know they will need a large number of newspapers are asked to order them at least a week in advance of publication by calling 443-287-9900.

Woodcliffe Manor Apartments

S PA C I O U S

No notices were submitted for publication this week.

S E P T .

B O A R D

105 West 39th St. • Baltimore, MD 21210 Managed by The Broadview at Roland Park BroadviewApartments.com

Come see the preliminary design of the new East Baltimore Community School —We want to hear from you— Architects and school representatives will be on hand to answer questions and receive community input regarding the preliminary design of the new $40 million K-8 school and early childhood center on a 7-acre campus within the East Baltimore Development Initiative redevelopment area.

Children of individuals who work or live in the East Baltimore Community School enrollment zone are eligible for enrollment.

Preview the Preliminary Architectural Design Wednesday, September 21 Noon–1:30 pm The Armstrong Building - 2nd Floor Lobby East Baltimore Campus Light refreshments served

September 12, 2011 • THE GAZETTE

Classifieds APARTMENTS/HOUSES FOR RENT

Bayview, rehabbed 3BR, 2BA house w/ hdwd and ceramic flrs, contemporary kitchen/BAs, dedicated prkng, walk to campus. $1,450/mo. George, 410-5299644.

Bayview, 1BR, 1BA apt, 2 mins to campus, dining rm, kitchen, AC, hdwd flrs, lg deck,. $420-$450/mo + utils. 443-3868471 or fanauh2o@yahoo.com.

Bayview, 4BR, 2BA house nr campus, spacious living rm, dining rm, W/D, AC, hdwd flrs, fin’d bsmt, lg deck. $1,400/mo + utils. 443-386-9146 or yifanfrances@ yahoo.com.

Bolton Hill, 4BR, 2BA house, hdwd flrs, spacious kitchen and BRs, walk to Hopkins shuttle. $2,100/mo + utils. 443540-0713 or 1417johnstreet@gmail.com.

Cross Keys Village, 3BR, 2.5BA TH, access to swimming pools and tennis courts, avail Nov 1. maison.my@gmail .com.

Deep Creek Lake/Wisp, cozy 2BR cabin w/full kitchen, call for wkly/wknd rentals, pics avail at jzpics@yahoo.com. 410638-9417.

Locust Point (1325 Cooksie St), 2BR, 2BA house. $1,300/mo + utils. 410-4095136, 410-409-5137 or tmsroka@verizon .net.

M A R K E T P L A C E

rm w/priv patio, completely rehabbed. $650/mo incl all utils, cable, Internet. ryanwhiggins@gmail.com.

Upper Waverly, charming 2BR, 1BA apt nr the 33rd Street Y. $750/mo. Andrea, 410-905-4036.

HOUSES FOR SALE

Cockeysville, 5BR, 3.5BA house on 1.24 acres. 443-846-2950.

Gardenville, 3BR, 1.25BA RH in quiet neighborhood, new kitchen and BA, CAC, hdwd flrs, club bsmt w/cedar closet, fenced maintenance-free yd and carport, 15 mins to JHH. $139,500. 443610-0236 or tziporachai@juno.com.

Guilford, 3BR, 3BA condo, 2,200 sq ft w/700 sq ft wraparound terrace, study, living rm, dining rm, gourmet kitchen, family rm, laundry rm, 2 prkng spaces, 5-min walk to Homewood/JHU shuttle stop. coquille@mris.com.

ROOMMATES WANTED

BR nr Bayview, CAC/heat, dining rm, living rm, fin’d bsmt, lg deck, share kitchen and W/D. $400-$450/mo + utils.

443-386-8471 or fanauh2o@yahoo.com.

Rm avail in 2BR Mt Vernon apt. 443287-7115.

Manhattan, 1BR apt, walking distance to Central Park, excel when in town for conference. $2,000/wk. NYC1BR@ yahoo.com.

Share gorgeous Hampden house, on quiet street 8 blks to the Avenue, BR/BA, office, garage, gardens. $1,000/mo. 304282-3836.

Owings Mills, 2BR, 2BA condo, W/D, walk-in closets, storage, prkng, swimming pool/tennis court privileges, backs to woods, conv to metro, walk to grocery, sm pets negotiable ($250 nonrefundable deposit), 1-yr lease. $1,250/mo. 410-3367952 or ljohnsto@mail.roanoke.edu.

F nonsmoker wanted for spacious 2BR, 2BA apt in Pikesville area (The Estates), .2 mi to metro. $605/mo + utils. 443-8015363 or odavis9@yahoo.com.

Owings Mills, gorgeous 3BR, 2.5BA TH, short-term rental (1 night up to 3 mos), 5-min drive to metro, save gas and prkng, live in stress-free environment, pics can be emailed by request. Georgia, 240-246-5665.

Remington, 3BR, 1BA house, laundry, lg kitchen, garden, 15-min walk to Homewood campus. $1,200/mo. 410935-3642.

Rodgers Forge/Towson, 3BR EOG TH w/ new kitchen, no pets/no smoking, avail Oct 1. $1,800/mo. totalnsolutions@yahoo .com.

Upper Fells Point (Pratt and Wolfe),

aka studio

full service salon

10% for Hopkins affiliates hair nails massage 410-276-6898 www.akastudioinc.com 2823 O’Donnell Street in Canton Square

Supervisor, Fiscal & Policy Analysis

Baltimore County Auditor’s Office seeks to fill an interesting and challenging supervisor-level analyst position. Starting salary 80-108K DOQ. To see a full description of the position and to apply, please see our web page: www.baltimorecountymd.gov/agencies/auditor/employment.html

CARS FOR SALE

’03 Toyota Echo, automatic, red, 4-dr, CD player, surround sound, 33mpg (city) or 39mpg (highway), 71K mi, in good cond. $5,900. echo.toyota.2003@gmail .com. ’03 Cadillac Deville, V-8, black exterior and interior, gold emblems, 130K mi. $5,700/best offer. 443-942-0857.

ITEMS FOR SALE

Samick 6'1" grand piano, professionally maintained. 410-444-1273 or http:// baltimore.craigslist.org/msg/2544736267. html (for photos and complete appraisal).

Historic Seton Hill Own a charming home just 4 blocks from Peabody bus shuttle, 1 mile from JHU, Homewood and JHMI. Superbly maintained, central A/C, 3 bedrooms, splendid rear garden. $129,000. Call 410-462-3142, edterry10@comcast.net

Gorgeous, warm, full-length black mink coat, mint cond, matching hat incl’d. $1,000/best offer. Carol, 443-386-8477 or cLparker2011@live.com.

Moving sale: 12-ft Smokercraft aluminum rowboat w/oars and oar locks, slight dent in keel nr the bow. $400. ddesignman@ aol.com.

Hardcover textbook, Deutsch Na Klar (5th ed), and accompanying workbook, used w/minimal writing, workbook not written in. $200 (negotiable). 626-2159297.

Otto Benjamin violin, 4/4, like new. $900/best offer. 410-991-5046 or jessicaswitzman@verizon.net.

Conn alto saxophone, in excel cond; tabletop record player, in excel cond, $30. 410-488-1886.

Living rm set, French style, sofa, wing chairs (2), side tables (2), coffee table, lamps (2), in excel cond. $300. 410-2568563.

Weber gas grill, two burners, in good cond. $20. 410-561-5334 (eve).

Music cassette tapes (lot of 276), fitness chair, 21" TV, 35mm cameras, office file units, decorative items, dining rm set, full-length silver fox coat, new exterior French doors, more; pics avail. 443-8242198 or saleschick2011@hotmail.com.

Towson spa eyebrow waxing certificate.

Best offer. 410-337-9877 (after 8pm) or i1__@hotmail.com.

Woman’s leather motorcycle jacket w/ insulated lining, brown, size XS, $125; woman’s Milwaukee motorcycle boots, black, size 7, $95; both nearly new, photos avail. lisamwolf@comcast.net.

Double bed boxspring/mattress/frame, like new. $10/best offer. Al, 443-8041927 or adesantiswhitaker@gmail.com.

Studios - $595 - $630 1 BD Apts. - $710-740 2 BD from $795

on Hickory Avenue in Hampden!

2 BD units from $760 w/Balcony - $790!

Shown by appointment 410.764.7776 www.BrooksManagementCompany.com

your references for start-up company. emceea@gmail.com.

Piano/music appreciation lessons by graduate student in Mt Vernon, willing to travel to Homewood. 425-890-1327.

Patient Chinese language teacher available. LiLacw22@gmail.com.

Mobile auto detailing and power wash service. Jason, 443-421-3659.

Affordable and professional landscaper and certified horticulturist available to maintain existing gardens, also designing, planting or masonry; free consultations. David, 410-683-7373 or grogan .family@hotmail.com.

Licensed landscaper avail for spring/ summer lawn maintenance, yd cleanup; other services incl trash hauling, fall/ winter snow removal. Taylor Landscaping LLC. 410-812-6090 or romilacapers@ comcast.net.

Piano lessons by Peabody graduate, 50% off this month for private lessons. 425890-1327 or qinyingtan@gmail.com.

Italian tutor wanted, intermediate level, pref native spkr, start Oct 1. tarminl@ aol.com.

Occasional babysitter wanted for 11-yrold boy, usually later afternoons/eves, Roland Park, 5 mins to Homewood campus, car/excel refs req’d. 410-458-3265.

Friday Night Swing Dance Club, open to the public, great bands, no partners necessary. 410-663-0010 or www .fridaynightswing.com.

Masterpiece Landscaping: knowledgeable, experienced individual, on-site consultation, transplanting, bed preparation, installation, sm tree and shrub shaping; licensed. Terry, 410-652-3446.

SERVICES/ITEMS OFFERED OR WANTED

Blanka will clean houses, apts, do laundry and more; free estimates, reasonable prices, great refs, text or leave message (English OK, Spanish better). 443-6211890 or crabdean@gmail.com.

Yard sale: Home furnishings, electronics, kitchen supplies, clothing, 7am-noon, Sept 17, 3000 blk of Huntingdon Ave in Baltimore.

Horse boarding and horses for lease, beautiful trails from farm. $500/mo (stall board) and $250/mo (field board). 410812-6716 or argye.hillis@gmail.com.

Dog- and housesitter wanted for dachshund in local home, Friday eve, Oct 21, to Sunday, Oct 23. Jack, 410-215-2808 or black.47@comcast.net.

Piano tuning and repair, PTG craftsman serving Peabody, Notre Dame, homes, churches, etc., in central Maryland. 410382-8363 or steve@conradpiano.com.

Looking for rideshare daily from Delaware to Baltimore, will take turn to drive or share cost, time is flexible. 302-4448433 or surreana@yahoo.com.

Graduate student looking for a rm for spring semester, next to or walking distance to Columbia campus. 904-4101949 or arathoon13@hotmail.com.

Multi-family block sale: Saturday, Sept 24, 8-10:30am, 200 blk Oakdale Rd at corner of Keswick, rain date Sunday, Sept 25. aweil@baitman.org.

Cheap, reliable DJ, $30 for 1st hour, $20 for each subsequent hour. Weston Butler, 908-418-8689 or wbutler159@yahoo .com.

Letters written by experienced writer, all types, first-come free in exchange for

Wanted: Nikon Multiphot macro camera system or parts. jtvriv@hotmail.com.

PLACING ADS Classified listings are a free service for current, full-time Hopkins faculty, staff and students only. Ads should adhere to these general guidelines:

HICKORY HEIGHTS WYMAN COURT Just Renovated! A lovely hilltop setting Beech Ave. adj. to JHU!

11

• One ad per person per week. A new request must be submitted for each issue.

• Ads are limited to 20 words, including phone, fax and e-mail.

• We cannot use Johns Hopkins business phone numbers or

e-mail addresses.

• Submissions will be condensed at the editor’s discretion.

• Deadline is at noon Monday, one week prior to the edition in which the ad is to be run.

• Real estate listings may be offered only by a Hopkins-affiliated seller not by Realtors or Agents.

(Boxed ads in this section are paid advertisements.)

Classified ads may be faxed to 443-287-9920; e-mailed in the body of a message (no attachments) to gazads@jhu.edu; or mailed to Gazette Classifieds, Suite 540, 901 S. Bond St., Baltimore, MD 21231. To purchase a boxed display ad, contact the Gazelle Group at 410-343-3362.

12 THE GAZETTE • September 12, 2011 S E P T .

1 2

–

1 9

Calendar

B L OO D D R I V E S

Wed., Sept. 14, and Thurs., Sept. 15, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. JHU/

American Red Cross Blood Drive.

For more information, email johnshopkinsblooddrive@jhmi .edu or call 410-614-0913. Turner Concourse. EB

Wed., Sept. 14, 12:30 p.m. “The Role of China, India, Brazil and Other Emerging Nations in Africa,” a SAIS African Studies Program discussion with David Shinn, George Washington University. For more information, call 202-6635676 or email itolber1@jhu.edu.

736 Bernstein-Offit Bldg. SAIS Wed.,

COLLOQUIA

“WellBeing in a World of Want: Some Reflections on Recent Fieldwork in Sierra Leone,” an Anthropology colloquium with Michael Jackson, Harvard Divinity School. 404 Macaulay. HW

Tues., Sept. 13, 4 p.m.

“Science and Satire in Early Modern England,” a History of Science, Medicine and Technology colloquium with Mordechai Feingold, California Institute of Technology. 300 Gilman. HW Thurs., Sept. 15, 3 p.m.

C O N FERE N C E S Sun., Sept. 18, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Mon., Sept. 19, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Young Spinoza,

a Philosophy conference with John Brandau, KSAS; Ed Curley and Tad Schmaltz, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Karolina Hubner, University of Toronto; Michael LeBuffe, Texas A&M University; Frederic Manzini, Paris IV-Sorbonne; Colin Marshall, University of Melbourne; Filippo Mignini, University of Macerata, Italy; John Morrison, Columbia University/Barnard College; Alan Nelson, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Ursula Renz, Universitat Klagenfurt; and Leo Russ, Princeton University. For more information, go to http:// web1.johnshopkins.edu/~emp/ YoungSpinoza/main.html. Sherwood Room, Levering. HW

DISCUSSIONS/ TALKS Tues., Sept. 13, 9 : 3 0

a.m.

“Governance in the New Republic of Sudan: A Whole of Country Approach to Regional Conflicts,” a SAIS Conflict Management Program panel discussion with Rebecca Hamilton, Washington Post and the New America Foundation; Jonathan Temin, United States Institute of Peace; and Steve Utterwulghe (moderator), Search for Common Ground. Cosponsored by Search for Common Ground. To RSVP, go to http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/ o/6060/p/salsa/event/common/ public/?event_key=32860. Rome Auditorium. SAIS

Tues., Sept. 13, 11 a.m. “How We Store the Sounds of Words: Examining the Predictions of Abstract and Exemplar Theories of Spoken Word Recognition,” a discussion with Michael Wolmetz, KSAS, of his thesis topic. Sponsored by Cognitive Science. 111 Krieger. HW

Sept.

14,

12:30

p.m.

“Reflections on September 11,” a SAIS Middle East Studies Program discussion with Leon Wieseltier, The New Republic. (The event is open to the SAIS community only.) For information, call 202663-5649 or email kLesand1@jhu .edu. 507 Nitze Bldg. SAIS Thurs.,

Sept.

15,

4:30

p.m.

“Japan’s Recovery 2011,” a Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies panel discussion with Kent Calder, Rust Deming, William Brooks and Arthur Alexander, all of SAIS. To RSVP, call 202-6635812 or email reischauer@jhu.edu.

806 Rome Bldg. SAIS Fri., Sept. 16, 6:30 p.m. “Egypt’s Earliest Pharaohs,” a SAIS African Studies Program discussion with David O’Connor, New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. For more information, call 202-6635676 or email itolber1@jhu.edu.

Rome Auditorium. SAIS Mon., Sept. 19, 12:30

p.m.

“Space: China’s Tactical Frontier,” a SAIS China Studies Program discussion with Eric Hagt, Center for Defense Information and SAIS. For more information, call 202-663-5816 or email zji@jhu .edu. 806 Rome Bldg. SAIS F I L M / V I D EO

Screening of PhD Comics’ The PhD Movie, sponsored by the Graduate Representative Organization, the Graduate Student Association and the JHSPH Student Assembly. $3.

Turner Auditorium. EB

Thurs., Sept. 15, 7 p.m.

FORU M S Tues., Sept. 13, 4 p.m. “The World 10 Years After 9/11,” a SAIS Office of the Dean/Center for Transatlantic Relations forum with Jose Maria Aznar, John McLaughlin, Eliot Cohen, Eric Edelman and Daniel Hamilton (moderator), all of SAIS. Co-sponsored by the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies.

(See In Brief, p. 2.) To RSVP, go to www.eventbrite.com/event/ 2146399940/mcivte.

Kenney Auditorium, Nitze Bldg. SAIS

The 2011 Constitutional Forum presents “Commandeering the People: Why ObamaCare Is Unconstitutional” with Randy Barnett, Georgetown University Law Center. Sponsored by Political Science and the Office of Communications and Public Affairs, and held in conjunction with the annual observance of Constitution Day. (See story, p. 5.) 110 Hodson. HW

Thurs., Sept. 15, 8 p.m.

Sept.

12,

8:30

“Targeting Human Pathogens in Mosquito Vectors,” a Biological Chemistry seminar with George Dimopoulos, SPH. 612 Physiology. EB

Tues., Sept. 13, noon.

“Delirum in Older Persons: A Research Update,” a Psychiatry seminar with Sharon Inouye, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. 1-191 Meyer. EB

Tues., Sept. 13, noon.

G RA N D ROU N D S

Mon.,

thesis defense seminar with Abena Agyeman. W2030 SPH. EB

a.m.

“Platelet Transfusions: Evidence Base for Current Practices,” Pathology grand rounds with Paul Ness, SoM. Hurd Hall. EB

Tues., Sept. 13, 12:10 p.m.

L E C T URE S

The Beatrice and Jacob H. Conn Lecture in Regenerative Medicine— “Induction of Pluripotency: 20 Years of Research” by Hans Robert Scholer, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine.

Sponsored by the Institute for Cell Engineering. Owens Auditorium, CRB. EB

Mon., Sept. 19, 2 p.m.

The M. Daniel and Patricia Sonquist Lane Lecture—“Born to Run: The Story of the PEPCK-Cmus Mouse” by Richard Hanson, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Sponsored

by Biological Chemistry. WBSB Auditorium. EB

Mon., Sept. 19, 4 p.m.

REA D I N G S / B OO K T A L K S

Baltimore-based author Matthew Norman will read from and sign copies of his debut novel, Domestic Violets. Barnes & Noble Johns Hopkins. HW

Tues., Sept. 13, 7 p.m.

S E M I N AR S Mon., Sept. 12, 1 p.m. “Small Ants Make Large Hills: A Microlevel Analysis of Conflict in Africa—The Ghanaian Case,” a SAIS African Studies Program thesis defense seminar with Elizabeth Mensah. (This event is open to the SAIS community only.) 500 Bernstein-Offit Bldg.

SAIS Mon., Sept. 12, 1:30 p.m.

“A Six-Step Plan for Eliminating Disparities in Trauma Outcomes,” a Graduate Seminar in Injury Research and Policy with Adil Haider, SPH. Sponsored by Health Policy and Management and the Center for Injury Research and Policy. 250 Hampton House. EB The M. Gordon Wolman Seminar—“How to ‘Kill’ a Virus: Mechanisms of Virus Inactivation With Heat, UV and Chemical Oxidants” with Krista Wigginton, University of Maryland, College Park. Sponsored by Geography and Environmental Engineering. 234 Ames.

Tues., Sept. 13, 3 p.m.

HW

“Explorations of Protein Folding Energy Landscapes,” a Biophysics seminar with Jane Clarke, University of Cambridge. 100 Mudd. HW Wed., Sept. 14, noon.

“Establishing Candidate Biomarkers to Determine the Pharmacodynamic Action of Sulforaphane in the Breast,” a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

East Asian Studies Program, with panelists Aihwa Ong, University of California, Berkeley; Mary Gallagher, University of Michigan; and Jordan Sand, Georgetown University. Mason Hall Auditorium (Thursday) and Barber Conference Room, Charles Commons (Friday). HW

Thurs., Sept. 15, 4 p.m. “Control of Chromosome Segregation: The Role of Sumoylation and Desumoylation at the Kinetochore,” a Biology seminar with Michael Matunis, SPH. 100 Mudd. HW Fri., Sept. 16, 11 a.m. “Interplay Between Turbulence and Particles in Environmental Flows,” a CEAFM seminar with S. Balachandar, University of Florida. 50 Gilman. HW

Big Data: Machine Learning at Bit.ly,” a Center for Language and Speech Processing seminar with Hilary Mason, Bit.ly. B17 Hackerman. HW

Mental Health Noon Seminar— “Medical Comorbidity in Serious Mental Illness” with Gail Daumit, SPH. B14B Hampton House. EB Wed., Sept. 14, 4 p.m. “Multiscale Adaptive Smoothing Method for Neuroimaging Data,” a Biostatistics seminar with Hongtu Zhu, University of North Carolina. W2030 SPH. EB Thurs., Sept. 15, 10:45 a.m.

Thurs., Sept. 15, noon. “Synthetic Biology: Refactoring Nitrogen Fixation,” a Cell Biology seminar with Christopher Voigt, MIT. Suite 2-200, 1830 Bldg. EB

Tues., Sept. 13, 10:15 a.m.

Thurs., Sept. 15, 4 to 6 p.m., and Fri., Sept. 16, 9:30 a.m. to noon. The Futures Seminar—

Wed., Sept. 14, 12:15 p.m.

The David Bodian Seminar—“On the Close Relationship Between Natural Computations and Dendritic Computations” with Bartlett Mel, University of Southern California. Sponsored by the Krieger Mind/Brain Institute. 338 Krieger. HW

Mon., Sept. 12, 4:30 p.m.

HW

Fri.,

“The Roles of Adhesive Forces in Cell Migration,” a Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering seminar with Soichiro Yamada, University of California, Davis. 110 Maryland. HW

“Equivariant K-Theory of Actions of Compact Lie Groups With Maximal Rank Isotropy,” a Topology seminar with Jose Manuel Gomez, KSAS. Sponsored by Mathematics. 302 Krieger. HW

Thurs., Sept. 15, 1:30 p.m. “A Survey of Alternating Permutations,” an Applied Mathematics and Statistics seminar with Richard Stanley, MIT. 304 Whitehead.

“Innate Immune Recognition of Oxidation-Specific Epitopes: Implications for Health and Disease,” an Environmental Health Sciences seminar with Joseph Witztum, University of California, San Diego. W2008 SPH. EB

Wed., Sept. 14, noon.

“Contextual Modulation in the Dendrites of Neocortical Pyramidal Neurons,” a Biomedical Engineering seminar with Bartlett Mel, University of Southern California. 709 Traylor. EB Mon., Sept. 12, 4 p.m.

Thurs., Sept. 15, 1 p.m. “Map Formation and Alignment in the Developing Visual System,” a Neuroscience research seminar with David Feldheim, University of California, Santa Cruz.

West Lecture Hall (ground floor), WBSB. EB

Thu rs.,

Sept.

15,

noon.

“Rethinking Antibody-Mediated Immunity,” a Molecular Microbiology and Immunology/Infectious Diseases seminar with Arturo Casadevall, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. W1020 SPH. EB Thurs., Sept. 15, noon. Advocacy and Action: Local, State, Regional and National Perspectives, the Health Policy and Management Fall Policy Seminar Series—This week’s guest is Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown. The seminar includes a Q&A session and discussion. B14B Hampton House. EB

Sept. 16, noon. “The Influence of CUSP Actvity on ICU Safety Climate and CLABSI Elimination,” a Health Policy and Management thesis defense seminar with Yea-Jen Hsu. 461 Hampton House. EB

Fri., Sept. 16, noon. “Short URLs,

Fri.,

Sept.

16,

12:15

p.m.

“Roles of Nuage and Small RNAs in the Drosophila Germline,” a Carnegie Institution Embryology seminar with Jun Wei Pek, Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory. Rose Auditorium, 3520 San Martin Drive. HW “A Role for Insulator Proteins in Gene Bookmarking,” a Biology thesis defense seminar with Elizabeth Sung. 100 Mudd. HW

Fri., Sept. 16, 1:15 p.m.

Continued on page 10

(Events are free and Calendar

open to the public Key

except where indicated.)

APL Applied Physics Laboratory BRB Broadway Research Building CSEB Computational Science and

Engineering Building

EB East Baltimore HW Homewood JHOC Johns Hopkins Outpatient

Center KSAS Krieger School of Arts

and Sciences NEB New Engineering Building PCTB Preclinical Teaching Building SAIS School of Advanced

International Studies SoM School of Medicine SoN School of Nursing SPH School of Public Health WBSB Wood Basic Science Building WSE Whiting School of Engineering