The Gazette by The Johns Hopkins University

o ur 4 1 ST ye ar

B REA K I N G G ROU N D

DOL P H IN DIETS

Covering Homewood, East Baltimore, Peabody,

Construction to begin on

Researchers compare mercury-

SAIS, APL and other campuses throughout the

Malone Hall, new home for

related health risks in captive

Baltimore-Washington area and abroad, since 1971.

innovative research, page 10

and wild mammals, page 3

May 21, 2012

The newspaper of The Johns Hopkins University

C O M M E N C E M E N T

Volume 41 No. 35

R E C O G N I T I O N

Making learning come alive

Pomp and ceremonies close year By Greg Rienzi

The Gazette

Continued on page 4

will kirk / homewoodphoto.jhu.edu

he 2011–12 academic year culminates this week with a flurry of events to celebrate JHU’s new pack of alumni, headlined by the Commencement ceremony for graduates from all divisions and campuses. The universitywide event will take place this Degrees to year, rain or shine, be conferred from 8:40 a.m. to noon on Thursat university- day, May 24, on Homewood Field. The stadium holds wide event 9,000 people—no on Thursday tickets necessary. Samuel J. Palmisano, chairman of the board of IBM, returns to his alma mater as the main speaker at the universitywide Commencement ceremony, which will also feature remarks by President Ronald J. Daniels, the conferring of all degrees and the bestowing of honorary degrees. The majority of students will receive their diplomas following the event; others will receive them at separate diploma ceremonies at their respective schools. All undergraduate and doctoral students in attendance will have their names announced as they file on stage to have their degrees recognized. The ceremony will also include a presentation of the Homewood schools’ senior class gift, an address from the class president and some pomp and circumstance, including music accompanying the processional. Before entering the field, undergraduates from the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the Whiting School of Engineering will gather on the Keyser Quadrangle and take a ceremonial “final walk” across campus, passing through the Freshman Quad, where their academic journey started. All other graduates will enter from the Athletic Center. Following the ceremony, the newly minted alumni and their families will be invited to a reception on the Keyser Quadrangle.

SCHOOL OF NURSING: Assistant professors Martha Sylvia and Laura Taylor are among the 13 faculty members whose classroom skills earned them kudos from students and Excellence in Teaching Awards from the Alumni Association.

Alumni Association recognizes faculty who excel in teaching By Greg Rienzi

The Gazette

tudents inherently want to learn and succeed. Great teachers help them achieve these aims. They use passion, humor, dedication and even the occasional puppy or other prop to aid students on their path of discovery. Good teachers also know how to adapt and, in these attention span–challenged

G L O B A L

days, keep topics interesting and engaging. One Johns Hopkins professor finds inspiration in a quote from civil rights activist Howard Thurman. “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, go do Continued on page 8

H E A L T H

SPH receives Grand Challenges Explorations grant

he Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is a winner of a grant from Grand Challenges Explorations, a $100 million initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Alain Labrique, director of the Johns Hopkins University Global mHealth Initiative, will pursue an innovative global health and development research project titled “mTikka—Harnessing a MobileCloud System to Achieve Universal Vaccination.” Grand Challenges Explorations funds

In Brief

Staff Appreciation Picnic; memorial lecture honors SAIS grad; awards for bioethics films

individuals worldwide to explore ideas that can break the mold in how we solve persistent global health and development challenges. Labrique’s mHealth Initiative project is one of more than 100 Grand Challenges Explorations Round 8 grants announced this month by the foundation. “Grand Challenges Explorations encourages individuals worldwide to expand the pipeline of ideas where creative, unorthodox thinking is most urgently needed,” said Chris Wilson, director of Global Health Discovery and Translational Sciences at the

C A L E N D AR

Art as Applied to Medicine exhibition; CAAT Information Day; blood drive

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “We’re excited to provide additional funding for select grantees so that they can continue to advance their idea toward global impact.” To receive funding, Labrique and other Grand Challenges Explorations Round 8 winners demonstrated in a two-page online application a bold idea in one of five critical global health and development topic areas that included agriculture development, immunization and nutrition. Continued on page 3

14 Job Opportunities 14 Notices 15 Classifieds

2 21,15, 2012 2 THE THE GAZETTE GAZETTE •• May August 2011 I N B R I E F

Free tickets, longer hours for 2012 Staff Appreciation Picnic

n an effort to acknowledge the dedication and hard work of JHU staff, university administration is making some important changes to the annual Johns Hopkins picnic. What’s new? Tickets are free instead of $5, and the hours of the picnic have expanded to allow more faculty, staff and their families to enjoy the festivities. The Johns Hopkins University Staff Appreciation Picnic—with food and beverages, DJ and dance floor, games and karaoke—will be held, rain or shine, from 3 to 8 p.m. on Friday, June 8, at Johns Hopkins at Eastern; shuttle schedules will be extended. Tickets are required for entry and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. To find the ticket champion closest to your office and to request tickets, go to hopkinsworklife .org/picnic. With your JHED ID, you can request up to five. “This picnic is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and thank the university’s staff for their exceptional dedication and hard work,” said Daniel Ennis, senior vice president for finance and administration. “On behalf of the university leadership, we are thrilled to invite our staff and their families, as well as our faculty, to this special event.” For more details, go to hopkinsworklife .org/picnic or call the Office of Work, Life and Engagement at 443-997-7000.

Berman Bioethics Institute films win awards at Houston festival

ducational documentaries from the Vision of Hope series produced by the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics have been honored by multiple awards, most recently the Houston International Film & Video Festival, one of the oldest competitive film festivals in the world. Gail Geller, who co-directed the Vision of Hope project with Cynda Rushton, both core faculty members of the Berman Institute, said that the films “generate the content of curricula and spark discussions that are integral to pediatric palliative care training sessions for clinicians working with patients and families affected by chronic, life-limiting conditions.” Geller is a professor in the School of Medicine; Rushton, a professor in the School of Nursing. Living With Sickle Cell Disease: They Don’t Believe Me won the Houston festival’s Platinum Remi Award in the Medical/Health/ Fitness/Wellness category. Like all the short films in the series, it is aimed at improving quality of care and giving new hope to adolescents, young adults and families affected by chronic life-threatening diseases by training their clinicians in the principles and practices of pediatric palliative care. The film was produced in collaboration with

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

core faculty members Carlton Haywood Jr. and Mary Catherine Beach, both research experts on the ethical issues surrounding sickle cell disease treatment. The film also received a 2011 CINE Golden Eagle Award. “Living with the pain and other serious medical complications of sickle cell disease becomes even more frustrating and emotionally painful when health care providers don’t believe the patient’s reports of their pain experience,” Haywood says. “This film sheds light on the impact of these added burdens on patients, and I think the awards it’s won highlight just how powerful and moving it is to hear about these experiences from the patients themselves.” Living With Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: Many Faces of Hope, was also honored by a CINE Golden Eagle, as well as a Gold Remi Award in Houston. A third film in the series, Living With Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: An Uncertain Future, was honored by a Bronze Remi Award at the Houston festival and a Bronze Telly Award in 2011. The documentaries were directed by Nigel Noble of Magic Lantern Media.

Bologna Center and Oxford Analytica to honor SAIS grad

anika Albers was a cherished member of the Johns Hopkins SAIS Bologna Center community and Oxford Analytica Ltd., where she had worked since completing her SAIS degree in Washington in 2007. Following Albers’ untimely death in November, her Bologna 2006 classmates and her colleagues gathered to discuss initiatives to commemorate her. This month, the Bologna Center announced that The Janika Albers Memorial Internship with Oxford Analytica Advisory Practice, funded by Oxford Analytica Ltd., will begin this summer, and the Janika Albers Memorial Lecture, funded by the SAIS Bologna Center Class of 2006, will be held at the center in 2013. The Class of 2006 hopes to raise 5,000 Euro (approximately $6,500) to help support the organization of the first memorial lecture, which will focus on political risk, one of Albers’ strongest interests; the longterm goal is to create an endowed fund. Classmates and friends of Albers’ who are interested in joining the initiative should email development@jhubc.it.

Next ‘Gazette’ issue is last before summer schedule

he next issue of The Gazette will be the last before we move to our biweekly summer schedule. The calendar in the May 29 issue (Tuesday rather than the usual Monday because of the Memorial Day holiday) will include events taking place from May 29 through Monday, June 11; submissions should be sent to gazette.jhu.edu by noon on Tuesday, May 22.

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, 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 443275-2687 or gazellegrp@comcast.net.

May 21, 2012 • THE GAZETTE

D O G E E

Mercury in dolphins: Study compares captive, wild toxin levels By Phil Sneiderman

Homewood

GEORGE GRAUL / NATIONAL AQUARIUM

mid growing concerns about the spread of harmful mercury in plants and animals, a new study by researchers from The Johns Hopkins University and the National Aquarium has compared levels of the chemical in captive dolphins and in dolphins found in the wild. The captive animals were fed a controlled diet, while the wild mammals dined on marine life that may carry more of the toxic metal. The study found lower levels of mercury in the captive animals, particularly compared to wild dolphins tested off the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of Florida, a state that is in the path of mercury-laden fumes from power plants. The aquarium dolphins are fed smaller fish from North Atlantic waters, where mercury pollution is less prevalent. The findings were published in a recent issue of Science of the Total Environment. Although these results represent a significant case study, the research focused on a small number of animals, and Edward Bouwer, chair of the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering in Johns Hopkins’ Whiting School of Engineering and supervisor/co-author of the study, cautioned against drawing wide-ranging conclusions from the research. “This is just one snapshot, one puzzle piece,” Bouwer said. “What we’d like to do now is repeat this project with aquariums in other parts of the world. The goal is to get a clearer comparison of mercury-related health risks facing dolphins both in captivity and in the wild. This type of research can give us hints about how the type of diet and where it originated can affect mercuryrelated health problems in captive dolphins, compared to their cousins in the wild.” Public health officials are concerned about human consumption of mercury, particularly in a form called methylmercury, because it can damage the brain and other parts of the nervous system, especially in young children. Dolphins that ingest too much methylmercury can suffer similar harm. Mercury is emitted as a gas from coal- and oil-fired power plants. Some makes its way into the ocean, where bacteria turn it into methylmercury, which moves up the food chain. Eventually, it turns up in the large fish that serve as dinner for wild dolphins. Once ingested, the heavy metal makes its way into the animals’ bloodstream, where it can begin to damage the nervous system. With this in mind, the Johns Hopkins– National Aquarium researchers wanted to investigate mercury exposure differences between captive and wild dolphins whose diets came from different regions. The team collected blood samples from seven aquarium dolphins, ages 2 to 38, and tested them

Sue Hunter, the National Aquarium’s director of animal programs and marine mammals, examines a resident dolphin.

for mercury, methylmercury and a third chemical, selenium, which appears to help ward off the toxic effects. The researchers compared their results to those derived from wild dolphin blood samples collected in earlier capture-andrelease studies conducted in the waters off Charleston, S.C.; Indian River Lagoon, on Florida’s Atlantic coast; and Sarasota, on Florida’s Gulf Coast. “While mercury levels in the wild dolphins off South Carolina were slightly higher than those in the National Aquarium dolphins, readings from the dolphins off the Florida coasts were significantly higher,” said Yongseok Hong, a postdoctoral fellow

in Geography and Environmental Engineering at Johns Hopkins and lead author of the study. “The difference in mercury exposure was attributed to differences in the dolphins’ diets,” Hong said. “The aquarium dolphins were fed a consistent level of small fish— capelin and herring—that were caught in North Atlantic waters off Newfoundland and New England. Lower levels of mercury are expected in these waters, compared to the waters off Florida.” The team members who care for the dolphins at the National Aquarium in Baltimore were pleased by the study’s findings. “The National Aquarium team is enthu-

Challenges

Bangladesh Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and social enterprise partner mPower-Health, have studied the emergence and impact of mobile phones as part of a complex rural health ecosystem. mTikka is a virtual vaccine registry that will be pilot tested in rural, remote areas in Bangladesh, where vaccination coverage is 44 to 60 percent lower than the national average. It aims to remove the barriers to achieving high immunization coverage in rural Bangladesh by utilizing an electronic, cloud-based system for infant enumeration and registration, vaccination record keeping, incentivizing and interactive knowledge and belief assessment about vaccination. The project is designed to focus on the poorest and hardest-to-reach segments of the population, helping to identify in real time regions where vaccine coverage is limited, and to permit community-based, targeted interventions aimed at increasing

Continued from page 1 Labrique is an assistant professor in the departments of International Health and Epidemiology and is the founding director of the JHU Global mHealth Initiative, a universitywide consortium of faculty and students involved in mHealth research and innovation. An epidemiologist with a background in infectious diseases and molecular biology, Labrique has been engaged in the design and conduct of large population-based research studies in rural South Asia for more than a decade, testing strategies to improve maternal, neonatal and child nutrition and survival. He and his colleagues at the JiVitA Maternal and Child Health Research Project, working in close partnership with the Government of

siastic about contributing to this study in order to more fully evaluate the food we feed our marine mammals,” said Leigh Clayton, the aquarium’s director of animal health. “It is important that we gain a better understanding of the mercury levels in the North Atlantic food chain in order to ensure we’re providing the best diet possible to our dolphins. The research we have done with Johns Hopkins has provided helpful information for our marine mammals team and allows us, at this time, to have confidence that our current fish food sources do not have excessively elevated mercury levels.” Last December, after the study was conducted, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adopted strict new standards aimed at reducing the release of toxic air pollution from coal- and oil-fired power plants, a key source of mercury contamination in seawater. Co-authors of the study were Clayton; Sue Hunter, the National Aquarium’s director of animal programs and marine mammals; and Erik Rifkin, of the National Aquarium Conservation Center. Three high school students—Amelia Jones, Sara Hamilton and Debbie Brill—helped with sample analysis. Funding for the research was provided by the National Aquarium and the Center for Contaminant Transport Fate and Remediation at The Johns Hopkins University.

Related websites Geography and Environmental Engineering at Johns Hopkins:

engineering.jhu.edu/~dogee National Aquarium:

aqua.org

immunization coverage. mTikka will also provide an alternative to traditional record keeping by allowing parents, providers and vaccination workers access to immunization records, whenever and wherever the information is needed, using simple, ubiquitous technology. Future directions for mTikka include incorporation into national and regional health record systems to support performance tracking and supply-chain management. Since the launch of Grand Challenges Explorations in 2008, more than 600 people in 45 countries have received grants. The program is open to anyone from any discipline and from any organization. The initiative uses an agile, accelerated grantmaking process with two-page online applications and no preliminary data required. Initial grants of $100,000 are awarded two times a year. Successful projects have the opportunity to receive a follow-on grant of up to $1 million. G

The Professor of Military Science of the Blue Jay Battalion invites the Johns Hopkins Community to attend the 2012 Commissioning Ceremony and to welcome the newest 2nd Lieutenants in The U.S. Army

Scott M. Conner Michael Herrera Robert Schapiro

Tianna Grey Robert Johnson III Matthew Simon Charles V. Wilson Jr. Shriver Hall, Homewood Wednesday, 23 May 2012, 1300 hours (1:00 PM)

1-800-JHU-ROTC 410-516-7474 rotc@jhu.edu

Robert A. Heber Jr. Tania M. McGuffey Megan Vandehey

4 21,15, 2012 4 THE THE GAZETTE GAZETTE •• May August 2011

Study: Nanodevices open door to treatment of cerebral palsy B y E k at e r i n a P e s h e va

Johns Hopkins Medicine

team of scientists from Johns Hopkins and elsewhere have developed nanodevices that successfully cross the blood-brain barrier and deliver a drug that tames brain-damaging inflammation in rabbits with cerebral palsy. A report on the experiments, conducted at Wayne State University in collaboration with the Perinatology Research Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, before the lead and senior investigators moved to Johns Hopkins, is published in the April 18 issue of Science Translational Medicine. For the study, researchers used tiny manmade molecules laced with N-acetyl-L-cysteine, or NAC, an anti-inflammatory drug used as an antidote in acetaminophen poisoning. The researchers precision-targeted brain cells gone awry to halt brain injury. In doing so, they improved the animals’ neurologic function and motor skills. The new approach holds therapeutic potential for a wide variety of neurologic disorders in humans that stem from neuroinflammation, including Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, autism and multiple sclerosis, the investigators say. The scientists caution that the findings are a long way from human application, but say that the simplicity and versatility of the drug-delivery system make it an ideal candidate for translation into clinical use. “In crossing the blood-brain barrier and targeting the cells responsible for inflammation and brain injury, we believe we may have opened the door to new therapies for a wide variety of neurologic disorders that stem from an inflammatory response gone haywire,” said lead investigator Sujatha Kannan, now a pediatric critical-care specialist at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. Cerebral palsy, estimated to occur in three out of 1,000 newborns, is a lifelong, often

devastating disorder caused by infection or reduced oxygen to the brain before, during or immediately after birth. Current therapies focus on assuaging symptoms and improving quality of life but can neither reduce nor reverse neurologic damage and loss of motor function. Neuro-inflammatory damage occurs when two types of brain cells called microglia and astrocytes, normally deployed to protect the brain during infection and inflammation, actually damage the brain by going into overdrive and destroying healthy brain cells along with damaged ones. Directly treating cells in the brain has long proven difficult because of the biological and physiological systems that have evolved to protect the brain from blood-borne infections. The quest to deliver the drug to the brain also involved developing a technique to get past the blood-brain barrier, spare healthy brain cells and deliver the anti-inflammatory drug exclusively inside the rogue cells. To do all this, the scientists used a globular, treelike synthetic molecule known as a dendrimer. Its size—2,000 times smaller than a red blood cell—renders it fit for travel across the blood-brain barrier. Moreover, the dendrimer’s treelike structure allowed scientists to attach to it molecules of an anti-inflammatory NAC. The researchers tagged the drug-laced dendrimers with fluorescent tracers to monitor their journey to the brain and injected them, six hours after birth, into rabbits with cerebral palsy. Another group of newborn rabbits received an injection of NAC only. Not only did the drug-loaded dendrimers make their way inside the brain but once there were rapidly swallowed by the overactive astrocytes and microglia. “These rampant inflammatory cells, in effect, gobbled up their own poison,” Kannan said. Senior investigator Rangaramanujam Kannan, of the Center for Nanomedicine at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute, said, “The dendrimers not only successfully crossed the blood-brain barrier but, perhaps more importantly, zeroed in on the very cells

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responsible for neuro-inflammation, releasing the therapeutic drug directly into them.” Animals treated with dendrimer-borne NAC showed marked improvement in motor control and coordination within five days after birth, nearly reaching the motor skill of healthy rabbits. By comparison, rabbits treated with dendrimer-free NAC showed minimal, if any, improvement, even at doses 10 times higher than the dendrimerborne version. Animals treated with the dendrimer-delivered drug also showed better muscle tone and less stiffness in the hind leg muscles, both hallmarks of cerebral palsy. Brain tissue analysis revealed that rabbits treated with dendrimer-borne NAC had notably fewer “bad” microglia—the inflammatory cells responsible for brain damage— as well as markedly lower levels of other inflammation markers. They also had better preserved myelin, the protein that sheathes nerves and is stripped or damaged in cerebral palsy and other neurologic disorders. And even though cerebral palsy is marked by neuron death in certain brain centers, animals that received dendrimer-borne NAC had higher numbers of neurons in the brain regions responsible for coordination and motor control, compared with untreated animals and those treated with NAC only. The findings suggest that the treatment not only reduces inflammation in the cells but may also prevent cell damage and cell

death, the researchers said. The Kannans, who are married, say that they plan to follow some treated animals into adulthood to ensure the improvements are not temporary. A separate study, led by Rangaramanujam Kannan, has already demonstrated the therapeutic benefits of this approach in reversing retinal damage in rats with macular degeneration, the vision-robbing eye disorder that affects millions of older adults. Other investigators involved in the research were Hui Dai, Raghavendra Navath, Bindu Balakrishnan, Amar Jyoti, James Janisse and Roberto Romero. Jyoti and Balakrishnan are now at Johns Hopkins and part of the ongoing research. The study was funded by the Perinatology Research Branch of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Ceremony

by Columbia Business School’s W. Edwards Deming Center for Quality, Productivity and Competitiveness, in 2010. He is also an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Palmisano will be awarded an honorary degree during the ceremony, along with fellow honorees Rita R. Colwell, an environmental microbiologist and worldwide leader in the fight to provide safe drinking water; Stephen H. Lewis, a Canadian diplomat, politician, broadcaster and academic dedicated to humanitarian service; John C. Malone, chair of Liberty Media and of Liberty Global, which provides broadband distribution and video programming in Europe, Latin America and Australia; Amartya Sen, a celebrated economist renowned for his trailblazing studies of social choice, welfare measurement and poverty; and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, revered around the world for her peaceful fight for democracy in Burma. Noteworthy speakers at other Johns Hopkins Commencement-related events—held at various times and locations from Monday, May 21, through Friday, May 25—include U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, who will address graduates of the School of Education; Timothy Geithner, U.S. secretary of the Treasury, who will send off the graduates of his alma mater, the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies; Sanjay Gupta, CNN chief medical correspondent, who will speak to graduates of the School of Medicine; and Jeffrey R. Immelt, chairman and CEO of General Electric and the chair of President Obama’s Council of Jobs and Competitiveness, who will address graduates of the Carey Business School. At Peabody, in lieu of a speech, legendary jazz drummer and bandleader Roy Haynes, this year’s recipient of the George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music in America, will be interviewed briefly by faculty artist Nasar Abadey, a drummer and composer. The total number of earned degrees, certificates and diplomas awarded is expected to be about 7,529, including 1,664 bachelor’s degrees, 1,249 of which are to be conferred upon graduates of the schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering, both on the Homewood campus; and 5,865 graduate degrees from across the university. For more information, updates and announcements concerning Commencement 2012, and a full list of speakers, go to jhu.edu/commencement. The site will be updated regularly. Gazette coverage of the universitywide Commencement ceremony, including photographs, will be posted online at gazette .jhu.edu on May 25. G

Continued from page 1 The university will once again put its “green” principles into practice at Commencement to create a zero-waste ceremony through several measures, including caps and gowns made from 100 percent recyclable materials, reusable stage decorations and encouraging guests to bring refillable water bottles while also helping keep the crowd hydrated by offering water in biodegradable bottles. In addition, the program will be printed on paper that has been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, the reception will feature food from local caterers specializing in green practices, and biodegradable dinnerware and food scraps will be composted. Palmisano, a 1973 graduate of Johns Hopkins and a former university trustee, began his career at IBM right after college and rose through the ranks at a business currently listed 18th on the Fortune 500. He is perhaps best known for leading the ambitious transformation of a 100-year-old company, and for his vision of how technology and global integration are reshaping business Distant family and friends of the graduates can watch a webcast of the universitywide Commencement at tinyurl.com/jhucommence12. Whether you’re online or in the stadium, follow—and contribute to—the conversation on Twitter at #jhu12.

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and society. Under his leadership, IBM made tough calls to get out of businesses that the company itself had invented and to enter new ones, leading to growth and innovation. Palmisano grew up in Baltimore and attended Calvert Hall College High School. At Johns Hopkins, he studied history and played on the offensive line for the Blue Jays football team that he co-captained. He began his career at IBM in 1973 in Baltimore and took on a series of leadership positions before rising to president and chief operating officer in 2000, CEO in 2002 and chairman of the board in 2003. He holds an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and was awarded an honorary fellowship from the London Business School. He received the Atlantic Council’s Distinguished Business Leadership Award in 2009 and the inaugural Deming Cup, presented

Related websites ‘Science Translational Medicine’:

stm.sciencemag.org/ content/4/130/130ra46 Sujatha Kannan:

hopkinschildrens.org/ Sujatha-Kannan-MD.aspx

May 21, 2012 • THE GAZETTE

Deep brain stimulation may hold promise for mild Alzheimer’s Small Phase I study suggests ‘brain pacemaker’ could slow AD progression By Stephanie Desmon

Johns Hopkins Medicine

study on a handful of people with suspected mild Alzheimer’s disease suggests that a device that sends continuous electrical impulses to specific “memory” regions of the brain appears to increase neuronal activity. Results of the study using deep brain stimulation, a therapy already used in some patients with Parkinson’s disease or depression, may offer hope for at least some with Alzheimer’s, an intractable disease with no cure. “While our study was designed mainly to establish safety, involved only six people and needs to be replicated on a larger scale, we don’t have another treatment for AD at present that shows such promising effects on brain function,” said the study’s first author, Gwenn Smith, a professor in the Department

of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The research, published online May 7 in the Archives of Neurology, was conducted while Smith was on the faculty at the University of Toronto and will be continuing at Toronto, Johns Hopkins and other U.S. sites. The study was led by Andres M. Lozano, chairman of Neurosurgery at Toronto. At one month and one year after implanting a device that allows for continuous electrical impulses to the brain, Smith and her colleagues performed PET scans that detect changes in brain cells’ metabolism of glucose and found that patients with mild forms of AD showed sustained increases in glucose metabolism, an indicator of neuronal activity. The increases, the researchers say, were larger than those found in patients who have taken the drugs currently marketed to fight AD progression. Other imaging studies have shown that a decrease in glucose metabolism over the course of a year is typical in Alzheimer’s disease. AD cannot be precisely diagnosed by brain biopsies until after death. The team observed roughly 15 to 20 percent increases in glucose metabolism after one year of continuous stimulation. The

increases were observed, to a greater extent, in patients with better outcomes in cognition, memory and quality of life. In addition, the stimulation increased connectivity in brain circuits associated with memory. Deep brain stimulation requires surgical implantation of a brain pacemaker, which sends electrical impulses to specific parts of the brain. For the study, surgeons implanted a tiny electrode able to deliver a lowgrade electrical pulse close to the fornix, a key nerve tract in brain memory circuits. The researchers, most of them with the University of Toronto, reported few side effects in the six subjects they tested. Just as important, Smith says, was seeing that DBS appeared to reverse the downturn in brain metabolism that typically comes with AD. AD is a progressive and lethal dementia that strikes mostly the elderly. It affects memory, thinking and behavior. Estimates vary, but experts suggest that as many as 5.1 million Americans may have AD and that, as baby boomers age, prevalence will skyrocket. Smith says that decades of research have yet to lead to clear understanding of the disease’s causes or to successful treatments that stop progression.

The trial of DBS came about, Smith reports, when Lozano used deep brain stimulation of the fornix to treat an obese man. The procedure, designed to target the regions of the brain involved in appetite suppression, unexpectedly showed significant increases in his memory. Inspired, the scientists persisted through rigorous ethical and scientific approvals before their AD phase I safety study could begin. Smith, who is director of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neuropsychiatry at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, is an authority on mapping the brain’s glucose metabolism in aging and psychiatric disease. It was Smith’s earlier analysis of AD patients’ PET scans that revealed their distinct pattern of lowered brain metabolism. She determined that specific parts of the temporal and parietal cerebral cortex—memory network areas of the brain where AD’s earliest pathology surfaces— became increasingly sluggish with time. The new study was supported by grants from the Neurosurgical Research and Education Foundation, the Dana Foundation and the Krembil Neuroscience Discovery Fund. Clifford I. Workman, of Johns Hopkins, also contributed to this research.

Most states fail to address youth exposure to alcohol marketing By Alicia Samuels

Bloomberg School of Public Health

educing youth exposure to alcohol advertising and marketing is a missed opportunity for states to improve public health, according to a new review of state alcohol advertising laws from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The report examines the extent to which states’ alcohol advertising laws incorporate eight best practices to reduce youth exposure to alcohol advertising and marketing, and finds that only 11 states use more than one of the eight and no state uses more than five. The report is available on CAMY’s website, camy.org. “We know quite a bit about how to reduce youth exposure to alcohol marketing and advertising. Unfortunately, this report shows states have a long way to go toward using that knowledge to reduce youth exposure,” said David Jernigan, CAMY director. Alcohol is responsible for 4,700 deaths a year among young people under the age of 21. At least 14 studies have found that the more young people are exposed to alcohol advertising and marketing, the more likely

they are to drink, or, if they are already drinking, to drink more. James Mosher, the report’s lead author and consultant to the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, said, “Although the federal government has exercised primary responsibility with respect to regulating alcohol marketing, states have concurrent jurisdiction as outlined in the 21st Amendment of the Constitution. It’s therefore disappointing to see how inactive states are in this legislative and regulatory arena.” The report identifies eight best practices that states could use to address youth exposure to alcohol marketing and advertising: prohibit false or misleading advertising, prohibit alcohol advertising that targets minors, establish jurisdiction over in-state electronic media (TV and radio), restrict outdoor alcohol advertising in locations where children are likely to be present, restrict alcohol advertising on alcohol retail outlet windows and in outside areas, prohibit alcohol advertising on college campuses, restrict alcohol sponsorship of civic events and limit the alcohol industry’s ability to provide free goods (giveaways). The authors then assessed each state’s use of these strategies. Each state’s law was rated as “BP” (all elements of the best practice are present), “I” (at least one but not all elements of the best practice is present) or

MSEL Special Collections closing for move to Learning Commons By Brian Shields

Sheridan Libraries

he Sheridan Libraries Special Collections main reading room and department in the Homewood campus’s Milton S. Eisenhower Library will be closed starting June 18 to allow staff to move into the Brody Learning Commons. The department will reopen in its new space at 9 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 13. During the closure, the Garrett and George Peabody libraries will continue to be available for patrons. The George Peabody Library is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday. The John Work Garrett Library at Evergreen is open by appointment. Faculty and students who use Special Collections materials, such as rare books, manuscripts or archives, should work with the Special Collections staff or their liaison

librarian to identify material they might need over the summer. Lists of rare books should be submitted to Special Collections before June 4 so that the materials can be retrieved and moved to the George Peabody Library for summer use. The Special Collections suite in the Brody Learning Commons will have more space for researchers, two small group workrooms and state-of-the-art teaching space. The suite has been designed with input from the Special Collections staff and will enable librarians, curators and archivists to assist scholars who want to engage with these materials. Faculty and students with questions about the move or requesting materials can contact their departmental librarian or any of the Special Collections staff. For book inquiries, email rarebooks@lists .johnshopkins.edu; for nonbook inquiries, email archives@lists.johnshopkins.edu. The main number for the department is 410516-8348.

“—”(the state does not address the regulatory category, the law has none of the elements of the best practice or the law may be unenforceable). “Twenty-two states have no best practices across the eight policies, meaning almost half of all states in the U.S. are doing far less than they could to keep alcohol marketing from reaching youth,” Jernigan concluded. “This report should open people’s eyes to the unrealized potential of state action in this arena.” The Center on Alcohol Marketing and

O c e a n C i t y, M a r y l a n d

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Youth monitors the marketing practices of the alcohol industry to focus attention and action on industry practices that jeopardize the health and safety of America’s youth. The center was founded in 2002 at Georgetown University with funding from The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The center moved to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2008 and is currently funded by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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6 21,15, 2012 6 THE THE GAZETTE GAZETTE •• May August 2011

Maternal gluten antibodies linked to schizophrenia risk in children

abies born to women with sensitivity to gluten appear to be at increased risk for certain psychiatric disorders later in life, according to research by scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore. The team’s findings, published online April 25 ahead of print in the American Journal of Psychiatry, add to a growing body of evidence that many “adult” diseases may take root before and shortly after birth. “Lifestyle and genes are not the only factors that shape disease risk, and factors and exposures before, during and after birth can help pre-program much of our adult health,” said investigator Robert Yolken, the Theodore and Vada Stanley Distinguished Professor of Neurovirology in Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. “Our study is an illustrative example suggesting that a dietary sensitivity before birth could be a catalyst in the development of schizophrenia or a similar condition 25 years later.” Maternal infections and other inflammatory disorders during pregnancy have long been linked to greater risk for schizophrenia in the offspring, but, the Swedish and U.S. investigators say, this is the first study that points to maternal food sensitivity as a possible culprit in the development of such disorders. The findings establish a strong link

but do not mean that gluten sensitivity will invariably cause schizophrenia, the investigators caution; the research, however, does suggest an intriguing new mechanism that may drive up risk and illuminate possible prevention strategies. “Our research not only underscores the importance of maternal nutrition during pregnancy and its lifelong effects on the offspring but also suggests one potential cheap and easy way to reduce risk if we were to find further proof that gluten sensitivity exacerbates or drives up schizophrenia risk,” said study lead investigator Hakan Karlsson, a neuroscientist at Karolinska Institutet and a former neurovirology fellow at Johns Hopkins. The team’s findings are based on an examination of 764 birth records and neonatal blood samples of Swedes born between 1975 and 1985. Some 211 of the subjects subsequently developed nonaffective psychoses, such as schizophrenia and delusional disorders. Using stored neonatal blood samples, the investigators measured levels of IgG antibodies to milk and wheat. IgG antibodies are markers of immune system reaction triggered by the presence of certain proteins. Because a mother’s antibodies cross the placenta during pregnancy to confer immunity to the baby, a newborn’s elevated IgG levels are proof of protein sensitivity in the mother. Children

born to mothers with abnormally high levels of antibodies to the wheat protein gluten had nearly twice the risk of developing schizophrenia later in life, compared with children who had normal levels of gluten antibodies. The link persisted even after researchers accounted for other factors known to increase schizophrenia risk, including maternal age, gestational age, mode of delivery and the mother’s immigration status. The risk for psychiatric disorders was not increased among those with elevated levels of antibodies to milk protein. The researchers say that the suspicion that food sensitivity in the mother can affect her child’s risk for psychiatric disorders stems from an observation made in the wake of World War II by U.S. Army researcher F. Curtis Dohan. Dohan noted that food scarcity in post-war Europe, and wheat-poor diets, led to notably fewer hospital admissions for schizophrenia. The link was merely observational, but it has piqued the curiosity of scientists ever since. Researchers in the past also have observed that people diagnosed with schizophrenia have disproportionately high rates of celiac disease, a rare autoimmune disorder characterized by gluten sensitivity. Although it is a hallmark of the condition, gluten sensitivity alone is not enough to diagnose celiac disease. Other studies have found that some

people with schizophrenia have gluten sensitivity without other signs of celiac disease, the researchers note. Yolken and Karlsson say that the team already is conducting follow-up studies to clarify how gluten, or sensitivity to it, increases schizophrenia risk, and whether it does so only in those genetically predisposed. Christina Dalman, of Karolinska Institutet, was the principal investigator on the research. Co-investigators were Asa Blomstrom and Susanne Wicks, both of Karolinska Institutet; and Shuojia Yang, of Johns Hopkins. The research was funded by the Stanley Medical Research Institute, the Swedish Research Council and the City of Stockholm. —Ekaterina Pesheva

Related websites Robert Yolken:

hopkinschildrens.org/staffDetail .aspx?id=3156&terms= Robert+Yolken The study in ‘American Journal of Psychiatry’:

ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article .aspx?articleID=1105557

Blood transfusions still overused, may do more harm than good

iting the lack of clear guidelines for ordering blood transfusions during surgery, Johns Hopkins researchers say that a new study confirms that there is still wide variation in the use of transfusions and frequent use of transfused blood in patients who don’t need it. The overuse of blood is problematic, the researchers say, because blood is a scarce and expensive resource and because recent studies have shown that surgical patients do no better, and may do worse, if given transfusions prematurely or unnecessarily. “Transfusion is not as safe as people think,” said Steven M. Frank, leader of the study described in the journal Anesthesiology. “Over the past five years, studies have supported giving less blood than we used to, and our research shows that practitioners have not caught up,” said Frank, an associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Blood conservation is one of the few areas in medicine where outcomes can be improved, risk reduced and costs saved all at the same time. Nothing says it’s better to give a patient more blood than is needed.” The exceptions, Frank says, are cases of trauma, hemorrhage or both, where infusing blood quickly can be lifesaving. General guidelines from three medical societies govern when a surgical patient should get blood, but they tend to be vague, Frank says. In a healthy adult, a normal hemoglobin level—the quantity of red blood cells carrying oxygen through the

body—is roughly 14 grams per deciliter. The guidelines state that when a patient’s hemoglobin level falls below 6 or 7 grams per deciliter, he will benefit from a transfusion, and that if the levels are above 10, he does not need a transfusion. But when blood levels are in between, there has been little consensus about what to do. The recent studies, Frank says, suggest that physicians can safely wait until hemoglobin levels fall to 7 or 8 before transfusing, even in some of the sickest patients. A Health and Human Services committee complained last year of “both excessive and inappropriate use of blood transfusions in the U.S.,” noted that “blood transfusion carries significant risk that may outweigh its benefits in some settings” and stated that misuse adds unnecessary costs. For the new study, Frank and his colleagues examined the electronic anesthesia records of more than 48,000 surgical patients at The Johns Hopkins Hospital over the 18 months from February 2010 to August 2011. Overall, 2,981 patients (6.2 percent) were given blood transfusions during surgery. The researchers found wide variation among surgeons and among anesthesiologists, compared to their peers, and how quickly they order blood. For example, patients undergoing cardiac surgeries received blood at much lower trigger points compared to patients having other surgeries. Patients undergoing surgery for pancreatic cancer, orthopedic problems and aortic aneurysms, on the other hand, received blood at higher trigger points, often at or

above 10 grams per deciliter. The amount of blood transfused, Frank says, did not clearly correlate with how sick the patients were or with how much blood is typically lost during specific types of surgery. Blood is lost during many operations, though hemoglobin levels don’t often fall to the point where blood transfusion is necessary, he says. Blood transfusion, which introduces a foreign substance “transplant” into the body, initiates a series of complex immune reactions. Patients often develop antibodies to transfused red blood cells, making it more difficult to find a match if future transfusions are needed. Transfused blood also has a suppressive effect on the immune system, which increases the risk of infections, including pneumonia and sepsis, he says. Frank also cites a study showing a 42 percent increased risk of cancer recurrence in patients having cancer surgery who received transfusions. Blood is in short supply and pricey, Frank says. It costs $278 to buy a unit of blood from the American Red Cross, for example, and as much as $1,100 for the nonprofit to acquire, test, store and transport it. Medicare pays just $180 for that unit of blood. The decision about when to give a blood transfusion during surgery is made jointly by the surgeon and the anesthesiologist, who is responsible for administering it, Frank says. The surgeon and anesthesiologist may have different opinions about when a transfusion is necessary, so discussions about trigger points would ideally be made before surgery,

rather than when the surgery is under way, he says. Frank’s research at Johns Hopkins produced a list of blood use and trigger points for each surgeon and anesthesiologist at the hospital. Frank recently told the surgeon who uses blood most often that he held that distinction and explained the reasons he might want to wait until hemoglobin levels are lower before ordering a transfusion. In the two months before their conversation, 30 percent of that surgeon’s patients got blood transfusions; in the two months after, only 18 percent did. After Frank presented his research to Johns Hopkins’ Department of Surgery, the director told the surgeons assembled that although most of them were trained to transfuse when hemoglobin levels fall below 10, transitioning to a trigger of 7 or 8 made sense. “A lot of our practices are just handed down through the generations,” Frank said. Although Frank’s study focuses on only one hospital, he says that the lack of consistent guidelines for ordering blood puts patients at risk all over the country. Coming up with an exact algorithm for the timing of blood transfusion is impossible, as each situation, and each individual surgery, is different, but Frank says he believes that what is best for patients is to strive to transfuse less whenever possible. Other Johns Hopkins researchers involved in the study are Will J. Savage, Jim A. Rothschild, Richard J. Rivers, Paul M. Ness, Sharon L. Paul and John A. Ulatowski. —Stephanie Desmon

Reported increase in older adult fall deaths due to improved coding

he recent dramatic increase in the rate of deaths from falls in older Americans is likely the effect of improved reporting quality, according to a new report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy. The report finds that the largest increase in the mortality rate occurred immediately following the 1999 introduction of an update to the International Classification of Diseases, called ICD-10, suggesting a major change in the way deaths were classified. Several research studies, including one by the report’s authors, found that rates of fatal falls among seniors had risen by as much as 42 percent between 2000 and 2006. The results are published in the May-June issue of Public Health Reports.

“We had been perplexed by the sudden increase because neither the nonfatal fall rate nor the fall-hospitalization rate increased significantly,” said Susan P. Baker, a professor with the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, part of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “By ruling out these variables, we found that a change in how the underlying cause of death gets reported explains much of the widely reported increase.” As it turns out, the largest increase was seen in the coding subgroup “other falls on the same level,” which refers to when an individual falls on the same surface he is standing or walking on; such falls generally do not result in injury that is immediately life-threatening. “Death following a minor injury from a

fall typically involves the elderly and usually occurs weeks or months after the fall as the result of pneumonia or other complications. Previously, many of these deaths were coded as the illness rather than the fall,” said study author Guoqing Hu, who is on the faculty of the Central South University School of Public Health in China. “However after ICD-10 went into effect in 1999, the rate of deaths from this type of fall jumped, suggesting a major change in death certification practices.” Each year, one in three older adults in the U.S. falls, making falls the leading cause of injury deaths for older Americans. The annual direct and indirect cost of fall injuries is expected to reach $55 billion by 2020. Accurate interpretation of recent trends is critical for understanding the effect of ongo-

ing measures designed to prevent fall injuries in the elderly. “Falls in older adults are indeed a major public health problem, and this report should not suggest otherwise,” Baker concluded. “In fact, it’s likely that for some time we’ve been underreporting just how many older Americans die as a result of a fall, a hypothesis supported by international comparisons. Additional research and resources are needed to address this problem.” Support for this research was provided by the Faculty Development Award from the China Medical Board of New York, the 2009 New Century Scholar Support Program of the Ministry of Education of China and the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. —Alicia Samuels

May 21, 2012 • THE GAZETTE

BLOOMBERG SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Homayoon Farzadegan and John McGready

CAREY BUSINESS SCHOOL: Joseph Colantuoni and Ravi Aron

Teaching

Two very strong influences from education include my high school calculus teacher and a high school English teacher. Both showed incredible passion for their respective disciplines, were both knowledgeable and intellectually curious, and made the learning experience interactive and fun.

Joseph Colantuoni, senior professional instructor

doctoral adviser, mentor and teacher, Dr. Ivan L. Roth at the University of Georgia.

Best teaching/classroom moment of the past year? There are too many to mention.

How would you describe your teaching philosophy? I hope to take the complex world

Best teaching/classroom moment of the past year? The best moments are often the last

What have you learned from your students?

Carey Business School

PowerPoint presentation for class discussion on the topic of the day. What’s the best piece of teaching advice you ever received? Be prepared and updated.

Continued from page 1 it. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.” This professor wants his students, and the act of learning, to do exactly that—come alive. Some teachers follow in the footsteps of parents and grandparents, while others travel an indirect route to the profession. What the winners of this year’s Johns Hopkins Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching Awards have in common is that they all love to share knowledge, and all excel at what they do. The award, which has been given annually since 1992, allows each academic division of the university to publicly recognize the critical importance of teaching. The nomination and selection processes differ by school, but students must be involved in the selection. Some schools give multiple awards in different classifications, such as the School of Public Health, which calls its awards Golden Apples. This year, The Gazette asked the winners a series of questions so that they could share some insight on what inspires them and makes the process of learning a success.

Bloomberg School of Public Health Homayoon Farzadegan, professor, Department of Epidemiology, medium-sized class How would you describe your teaching philosophy? I believe in accommodating the

learning process rather than only teaching. The best learning process is achieved by group discussions as well as structured lectures. I get my students actively involved in the classroom. They have to prepare a

WILL KIRK / HOMEWOODPHOTO.JHU.EDU

8 21,15, 2012 8 THE THE GAZETTE GAZETTE •• May August 2011

Each session is as important as other sessions. Did you have any teaching inspirations? My

Everything. But an incomplete list includes an appreciation for differing learning styles, and a lot about statistics as their questions lead me to new discoveries and insights.

sessions of all three courses that I teach, in which the course is overviewed. I start with learning objectives of the course and then I ask, Is the mission accomplished?

A lot. Students are very valuable resources for teaching. They share their experiences and expertise in the classroom to complement the lectures and syllabus. A combination of updated lectures, student group presentations and class discussions provide a great learning environment for students and faculty.

Ravi Aron, assistant professor, research track How would you describe your teaching philosophy? I believe that a true measure of

learning is the extent to which it enables the student to ask penetrating, searching questions. This is often more important than being able to produce accurate and competent answers to questions. Increasingly, what students are called upon to do as managers is not analysis—formulating complex analytical models—but synthesizing multiple ideas and letting resultant insights emerge.

John McGready, assistant scientist, Department of Biostatistics, largesized class How would you describe your teaching philosophy? Teaching encapsulates a learning

experience for both the students and the instructor. Enthusiasm and ongoing curiosity about one’s subject are essential. Student/ instructor interaction is critical, regardless of class size and modality.

What’s the best piece of teaching advice you ever received? Prepare thoroughly before

your class. Organize your ideas and material and present them as simply and directly as you can. Really good teaching is not theater with you at center stage but is a conversation between you and the students. If you find the ideas and concepts that you teach interesting and important, most of your students will, too.

What’s the best piece of teaching advice you ever received? More generally, the best

career advice was along the lines of “do what you love and love what you do.” Did you have any teaching inspirations?

Did you have any teaching inspirations? At NYU’s Stern School of Business, where I did my PhD, I had Dr. Stephen Slade as a tutor. [He] had an amazing gift of being able to coax even the most diffident of students to participate in class and come up with unusual questions. The time that I spent watching him teach in class was perhaps the best learning experience that I had.

I’ve been inspired by teachers from all walks of life—friends, family, colleagues, etc.

WILL KIRK / HOMEWOODPHOTO.JHU.EDU

Best teaching/classroom moment of the past year? I was teaching a class on how informa-

SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Elizabeth Hunt

tion technology can be used to reduce the incidence of medical errors of several kinds, and why even some extremely sophisticated IT systems fail to deliver benefits. One of the students stopped me in my tracks and said, “Professor, I think you will not be able to reveal further insights in this space.” When I asked him why, he said, “Your data will reveal what factors were considered and how the decisions were made. What we need instead is an anthropologist, a fly on the wall, to observe those physicians and managers in their meetings and ask what questions did they not ask, and why.”

What have you learned from your students?

On many days there will be a student or two

in my class who may know more than I do about some topic that I teach. This is not a threat; it is an opportunity, for both the rest of the class and me.

of banking and finance, simplify it and make it useful and accessible to every student. As an economist for the FDIC, I have analyzed the widespread effects of the recent financial crisis and know the importance of making sound financial decisions in the face of uncertainty. However, the field has become so overwhelmingly quantitative that it takes an extra level of experience and determination to teach it successfully. My practical work experience informs the classes I teach and helps me turn complex ideas into simple lessons. What’s the best piece of teaching advice you ever received? Nothing really special, just be

prepared and always stay relevant. Class may only be a few hours long each week, but the time and effort required to prepare a quality lecture is much longer.

Did you have any teaching inspirations?

Many of the mathematics and economics professors I had at Bowdoin College displayed a passion for teaching that I will never forget. This small liberal arts college in Maine unites a select group of students with professors focused on undergraduate education. The professors instilled a love of learning, intellectual curiosity and level of enthusiasm that I strive to pass on to my students. This dedication to teaching has provided me with inspiration and guidance for my entire career.

Best teaching/classroom moment of the past year? When a certain well-known

social media company released its financials for the first time just before my class on initial public offerings, I wondered if there was some sort of divine intervention in my syllabus. I’ve never seen students so interested in the financials of a company before. The timing of this real-world case study and the class discussion surrounding it was perfect.

What have you learned from your students?

After class has ended, I have found myself in discussions ranging from Taiwanese teenagers trading futures on their cell phones to unique aspects of Islamic banking law or microfinance in Peru. These discussions remind me how financial issues affect the daily lives of people around the world and the importance of financial education. I may be teaching finance in a classroom at a distinguished American university, but the globally diverse students at Carey are always teaching me something new about financial markets in their own parts of the world. Continued on page 9

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION: Tamara Marder

Teaching Continued from page 8

Krieger School of Arts and Sciences Petar Maksimovic, professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy How would you describe your teaching philosophy? I am a believer in “active learning”

in a sense that the students need to actively participate. There are many ways to accomplish this, but I personally try to fit as much problem solving in lectures as I can. Thankfully, physics lends itself to problems that are both fun and educational. What’s the best piece of teaching advice you ever received? That the best person to

explain a concept is one who just understood it. I heard this in a talk by Eric Mazur [at Harvard] in 1997. But it took me 15 years to truly buy this idea. Did you have any teaching inspirations?

Did you have any teaching inspirations?

The most powerful events in my education occurred when a teacher communicated to me that they saw something in me, some potential. Those moments carried me through. What have you learned from your students?

My students are often my inspiration. They work very hard and are eager to learn more, and they blossom through the exchange of ideas and engagement in the material. That feeds me and inspires me to continue putting in the effort to improve everything I’m doing.

Peabody Gary Thomas, chair of Jazz Studies Gary Thomas was unavailable for this story.

SAIS SAIS gives its Excellence in Teaching Award to a faculty member at the Bologna Center and announces it at the center’s commencement, which will be held this year on May 26.

School of Education

In high school and college, I had several talented teachers. However, these days my biggest inspiration is my students.

Tamara Marder, program coordinator, Severe Disabilities and Autism Programs

Best teaching/classroom moment of the past year? In the Electricity and Magnetism

How would you describe your teaching philosophy? My teaching philosophy is to focus

course for physics majors, we spent the whole class solving progressively harder problems. I use clickers even in a class of 20 students, and in the last question, I managed to split the class in half and then let them explain the answer to each other. By the end it was clear to me that they understood the whole unit completely. This was also the most fun class for both the students and myself.

What have you learned from your students?

To not be afraid of trying new things in class. To own up to my mistakes—caused by trying new things. To be flexible. To be understanding. And, above all, to be generous with my time with them. On campus, the students are my highest priority.

Justin Halberda, associate professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences How would you describe your teaching philosophy? Share your passion. Each day on

my way to lecture I try to ask myself, What is at least one amazing thing that I will tell them about today? What’s the best piece of teaching advice you ever received? My father-in-law, who has

won teaching awards at Cornell University for his course in biochemistry, once said that the activity of teaching—of sharing information from one mind to another—is a spiritual event. It is holy work. It is the one thing that we humans share that no other animals seem to excel at. And so, when we teach, we are putting our hearts into something that is incredibly rare on this earth, and in that way spiritual.

on both theory and practice. When teaching, my class lectures include both the theory and principles of applied behavior analysis and the practical strategies that students can use every day. My goal for each student is that they will be able to take away a specific strategy from each class that they can apply the next day in their own classrooms. What’s the best piece of teaching advice you ever received? Know your audience. I like

to start the semester gathering information from the students, determining their current position in special education, previous experiences and future goals in the field. This allows me to tailor examples that I use in class to help them learn concepts. If they can hear examples that they can relate to, it will then help them to also apply the concepts every day.

Did you have any teaching inspirations? All

of my previous experiences, from professors in graduate school to employment experiences—working in hospitals, schools and in homes with families—and my experiences teaching, have all inspired me. I am able to reflect upon these experiences and what I have learned throughout my career and from students’ experiences and apply that in lectures and discussions in class. Best teaching/classroom moment of the past year? There was a student in my class who

was having difficulty modifying previous perceptions regarding how to approach a specific student who was displaying challenging behaviors at school. This student [of mine] was diligent and always asked questions to learn how to apply the principles of behavior

WILL KIRK / HOMEWOODPHOTO.JHU.EDU

May 21, 2012 • THE GAZETTE

KRIEGER SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES: Petar Maksimovic and Justin Halberda

change and concepts we were learning during the semester. By the time [my] student handed in the final paper, an assessment and development of a behavior plan for the identified child, the student commented that the exercise in completing the final project helped to synthesize all that was learned during the semester. It was evident that this student worked hard to learn and apply the concepts. I felt confident, based on the student’s performance on the project and in the class, that this graduate student learned skills that would be used in the future to benefit other students. What have you learned from your students?

That although I may have many years of experience in a variety of settings as well as advanced degrees in the field, I can still learn something new every day.

SCHOOL OF MEDICINE Elizabeth Hunt, associate professor, Pediatric Anesthesiology How would you describe your teaching philosophy? The key thing I am interested in is

moving beyond whether the students I am teaching “know” what I have just taught— i.e., can get a high score on a multiple choice question test—to having them “show” me that they truly know how to apply this knowledge as it relates to patient care. This means they know how to operationalize the knowledge. For example, they don’t just know when to defibrillate a patient in cardiac arrest, they show me in a simulated environment—on plastic manikins, before they will do this on a human patient—that they truly can defibrillate a patient. What’s the best piece of teaching advice you ever received? Keep the educational

environment “safe.” While I have very high standards and expect my students to master what I am teaching them, I want them to feel very comfortable asking questions, to have fun while they are learning, to have curiosity about what we are doing and why we are doing it and to understand that it is OK to “mess up” and make mistakes in the learning environment, but to do it again and again until they have mastered it by the time they are ready to apply that knowledge to a patient, or to know when and how to call for help in order to keep the patient safe.

Did you have any teaching inspirations? I

feel very lucky to have had a number of teaching inspirations throughout the years, all of whom have had a similar theme of having very high standards but also having the teaching and mentoring skills to make sure the student could achieve them: Mrs. Crabtree in AP Biology at Paint Branch High School [in Burtonsville, Md.]; Dr. Mary Desmond during Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy at Villanova; Dr. Scharfman, who taught me physical exam skills at Albany Medical School; Dr. Ralph Corey, who was my program director at Duke University; and [Vice] Dean David Nichols, who was a mentor when I was a fellow in the Johns Hopkins PICU [pediatric intensive care unit].

Best teaching/classroom moment of the past year? It was actually with a group of pediatric

residents, combined with interns and senior residents. They were in a monthly two-hour course I developed over the past 10 years that prepares them to respond to a cardiac arrest anytime their code beeper goes off, i.e., “just in time learning.” We have the residents in the simulation lab and give them case after case of a child who suddenly becomes critically ill and needs their help. The cases become progressively harder, and they do it again and again until they are truly ready to manage the “first five minutes” of an event until the whole code team gets there. In this case, many of the residents had been through the curriculum several times, and by the end of the two hours, the teams were working together like a NASCAR pit crew, and I actually started to cry—I just knew that they could save a baby’s life if they were called to do so. I have collected evidence over the past seven years about what the residents were not really able to do in the past, and we’ve now proved that this curriculum truly improves their skills, and it is exciting to know they are ready to save lives.

What have you learned from your students?

Keep it fun. I hate to see them start to get bored, or to start checking their iPhones. It is my goal to keep that spark, to keep them engaged, with good eye contact, asking questions, and I just love it when you can see the light bulb go off and they suddenly get it and they start high-fiving each other.

School of NURSING Laura Taylor, assistant professor, Nursing Systems and Outcomes, undergraduate teaching How would you describe your teaching philosophy? Be engaging. Be creative. Be up-to-

date. Be tough—but fair.

What’s the best piece of teaching advice you ever received? Enunciate when you speak.

Don’t be afraid to admit that you don’t know the answer. And, finally, “You remind me of the Magic School Bus and Miss Frizzle!” Yowza, that is perfection.

Did you have any teaching inspirations? My

father, James C. Adrian, is a full professor of dental histopathology. He still lectures. He always took his students on a journey—a theme for his presentations and semester— either through Europe, his children/family or Washington, D.C. I so enjoy taking current events and incorporating them into the content. “Look at Michael Phelps,” I’ll say. “Look at the hypertrophy of those chest muscles in order to swim the butterfly.” When students see that nursing is everything they do and see it brings education to life in their heads and their learning becomes who they are every day. It demands integration of content.

Best teaching/classroom moment of the past

Continued on page 10

10 21,15, 2012 10 THE THE GAZETTE GAZETTE •• May August 2011

Continued from page 9 year? I really enjoy bringing my clone,

“Gigi,” to class. She can rock it out on Rock Band. [Gigi] plays Truckin’ by Grateful Dead to emphasize the co-morbidity presentation of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. We had 25 students wearing tie-dye in Adult Health 1. And then there’s puppy therapy with students. When we do exam reviews, I bring my puppy. It is so relaxing, strengthens communication and is, let’s just say it, highly entertaining.

What have you learned from your students?

That I have the best job in the world. They make me realize that I am in the best place in the world. They make me thankful.

Martha Sylvia, assistant professor, Nursing Systems and Outcomes, graduate teaching How would you describe your teaching philosophy? For me, teaching is a lifelong

process of learning. In my interactions with students, I hope to instill this same sense of curiosity and relentless pursuit of continued learning. What’s the best piece of teaching advice you ever received? Take on challenges that seem

beyond your reach. Diversify your teaching experiences.

Did you have any teaching inspirations? I

have had many favorite and inspiring teachers along the way and continue to engage in new mentoring relationships. I also learn

Best teaching/classroom moment of the past year? My best experiences over the past year

have been in developing and teaching the Clinical Data Management course for the DNP program. As part of that class, I run help sessions every week. My best experiences have been when a student starts the semester with a complete lack of confidence in applying data management and statistical knowledge to their own data sets and by the end of the semester they have independently completed an entire analysis and presented it with confidence.

NIKLAS LARSSON / AP IMAGES

Teaching

a great deal from those who are not in traditional teaching roles. I carry important “gems” from all of them into my teaching experiences.

What have you learned from your students?

I’ve learned so much, but most importantly I’ve learned to be patient with each student’s individual learning trajectory. Every student is unique, with different needs for learning, but everyone is capable of learning.

WHITING School of Engineering Danielle C. Tarraf, assistant professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering How would you describe your teaching philosophy? Obviously, it is very important to

teach the students the course material. But it is even more important to train them to think analytically, and to train them to ask the right questions. What’s the best piece of teaching advice you

WHITING SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING: Danielle Tarraf

ever received? I don’t think I ever received

teaching advice directly. I have learned by example, from observing all the great teachers I have been fortunate to have.

Did you have any teaching inspirations? I

have been extremely lucky. I have had many wonderful teachers at various stages of my education, starting from middle and high school all the way through the doctoral program. I am greatly indebted to them for setting a high standard, and for positively influencing my education and career. I have observed several common traits among them: They all love the material they teach,

and they all care deeply about their students. Best teaching/classroom moment of the past year? It happens every semester: A student

who starts out relatively weak gradually improves through the semester and goes on to earn one of the highest grades in the class. These instances give me a great sense of achievement.

What have you learned from your students?

Their questions keep me on my toes. It’s great to revisit well-established concepts or results and view them through new eyes every semester.

Risk of blood loss in childhood back surgery varies with cause B y E k at e r i n a P e s h e va

Johns Hopkins Medicine

he relative risk of blood loss during corrective spine surgery in children appears linked to the underlying condition causing the spinal deformity, according to a study from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. Results of the study, published online March 15 in the journal Spine, can help surgeons prepare, plan and safeguard against this common and serious complication, the investigators say. Blood loss during surgery can increase the length of a hospital stay, lead to complications and portend worse overall outcomes.

The Johns Hopkins investigation, believed to be the first to explore the link between intraoperative blood loss and pediatric patients’ underlying condition, is based on an analysis of 617 cases of children, ages 10 through 18, who had surgery to fuse bones to stabilize and correct a spine deformity. All surgeries were conducted at Johns Hopkins between 2001 and 2011. Review of the cases showed that children with cerebral palsy experienced the highest blood loss, 3.2 milliliters of blood per kilogram of body weight on average, compared with children with other conditions. Children with idiopathic scoliosis, a curvature of the spine not associated with any known underlying disease, had the least blood loss. Those with neuromuscular conditions, such

as muscular dystrophies and muscular atrophies or traumatic spinal cord injuries, as well as those with genetic syndromes such as Marfan or Down, ranked in the middle. Overall, children with neuromuscular and genetic conditions were more likely to suffer significant blood loss than those with idiopathic scoliosis, but less likely than those with cerebral palsy, the researchers concluded. Like children with idiopathic scoliosis, children with a condition known as Scheuermann’s disease, a spinal deformity that causes a hunchback, had relatively little blood loss. “Our findings have clarified the suspected but not well understood link between blood loss and underlying condition that, we hope, will help surgeons ward off, or at least minimize, complications like prolonged recovery,

poor healing and susceptibility to infection,” said senior investigator Paul Sponseller, director of Orthopaedic Surgery at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. The researchers say that the elevated risk of blood loss among children with neuromuscular and genetic conditions is likely due to poor venous tone, altered blood-clotting ability and low platelet count. But the disproportionately high blood loss in those with cerebral palsy remains a bit of a puzzle, Sponseller said. “There is no immediately obvious reason why these children would be more prone to blood loss than others, yet they are,” Sponseller said. Co-investigators on the study were Amit Jain and Dolores Njoku, both of Johns Hopkins.

Groundbreaking set for School of Engineering’s Malone Hall By Mary Beth Regan

Whiting School of Engineering

ohns Hopkins University leaders, trustees, faculty, students and guests will gather on Wednesday, May 23, on the Homewood campus for the groundbreaking of Malone Hall, a 69,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art building on the Alonzo G. and Virginia G. Decker Quadrangle that will house at least three collaborative research institutes. The building is made possible through a $30 million gift to the Whiting School of Engineering given in 2010 by alumnus John C. Malone, who received his doctorate from Johns Hopkins in 1969. Chairman of Liberty Media Corp. and Liberty Global Inc., Malone is widely recognized as a pioneer in the communications and media industries. He will be on campus for the event, which will begin at 3 p.m. Malone Hall will house the recently announced Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute, which was created to spearhead a national effort to equip the U.S. Department of Defense with lighter, more protective armor. The institute, to be headed by

Malone Hall, center, will sit between Hackerman Hall and Mason Hall.

K.T. Ramesh, the Alonzo G. Decker Jr. Chair of Science and Engineering and a professor of mechanical engineering, will bring together military, academic and industrial partners to create the high-tech protective materials of the 21st century. Malone Hall will also be the Homewood campus hub for the university’s individual-

ized health initiative, an effort that brings together researchers from the schools of Engineering, Medicine, Nursing and Public Health to develop the most effective medical treatments for individual patients. “The vision of John Malone, and the construction of Malone Hall, lets us move forward to tackle some of the most critical

issues facing our nation,” said Nicholas P. Jones, the Benjamin T. Rome Dean of the Whiting School. “We must act swiftly and decisively to bring together scientists and clinicians from many disciplines to solve these pressing problems, whether they be national security, health care for individuals or global sustainability.” Also on Wednesday, Russell H. Taylor, a professor in Computer Science with joint appointments in Mechanical Engineering, Radiology and Surgery and director of the NSF Engineering Research Center for Computer-Integrated Surgical Systems and Technology, will be installed as the Whiting School’s John C. Malone Professor. Taylor, who received his bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins in 1970, is widely regarded as a visionary who has laid much of the groundwork for medical robotics. Malone and Taylor overlapped briefly during their academic years on the Homewood campus. When Malone was finishing his PhD in operations research, Taylor was an undergraduate studying engineering science. Taylor is cited in Malone’s dissertation for his “able programming” and for coding an algorithm.

May 21, 2012 • THE GAZETTE

12 21,15, 2012 12 THE THE GAZETTE GAZETTE •• May August 2011 F O R

T H E

A P P O I N T M E N T

Hermansky installed as Smith Professor in Electrical Engineering By Mary Beth Regan

Whiting School of Engineering

Cheers Cheers is a monthly listing of honors and awards received by faculty, staff and students plus recent appointments and promotions. Contributions must be submitted in writing and be accompanied by a phone number. BAYVIEW MEDICAL CENTER Alicia Arbaje , an assistant professor of

ynek Hermansky, director of The Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Language and Speech Processing, was installed on April 19 as the Whiting School of Engineering’s Julian S. Smith Endowed Professor in Electrical Engineering. Hermansky, an expert in bio-inspired speech processing, is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the International Speech Communications Association. His speech processing techniques, such as Perceptual Linear Prediction, RASTA spectral filtering, multistream speech information or data-driven discriminative Tandem technique, are used widely in research and industry applications worldwide. “Hermansky is a world-renowned authority in speech processing and has been working in his field for more than 30 years,” said Nicholas P. Jones, the Benjamin T. Rome Dean of the Whiting School. “It was quite an accomplishment when we lured him to Johns Hopkins, and I am proud now to be able to recognize the tremendous leadership he has shown since becoming one of us.” Hermansky joined Johns Hopkins in 2008 from the IDIAP Research Institute, in Switzerland, where he was director of research. He also was a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. He

R E C O R D

Hynek Hermansky

was born in Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic), where he started his professional career as an apprentice for repairs of radios and other electrical appliances. He received a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the Brno University of Technology in 1972 and earned his doctorate in 1983 from the University of Tokyo. Hermansky succeeds Frederick Jelinek, who died in 2010. Jelinek’s work laid the foundation for modern speech recognition and text translation technology worldwide. Among other scientific accomplishments, Jelinek pioneered the statistical methods that enable modern computers to “understand,” transcribe and translate written and spoken language.

medicine and associate director of Transitional Care Research, has received a twoyear grant from the National Patient Safety Foundation to pursue her proposed research on the “Identification and Validation of Risks to Patient Safety During Care Transitions of Older Adults Receiving Skilled Home Health Care Services After Hospital Discharge.” Typically, grants from this foundation are $100,000 for each year. Richard G. Bennett , a professor of geriatric medicine and president of Johns Hopkins Bayview, and Andreas Barth , an internal medicine resident, have been elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. AOA members are chosen based on leadership among their peers, professionalism, a firm sense of ethics, promise of future success in medicine and a commitment to service in the community. Bennett is renowned for his scholarship in geriatrics and his creative program building in academic medicine. Barth has a remarkable record of scientific publications in molecular cardiology. Johns Hopkins Bayview Health and Wellness News has received a second-place Award of Merit in the annual Alfred Knight Awards competition sponsored by the Maryland Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development. BLOOMBERG SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH Yea-Jen Hsu , a postdoctoral researcher

in Health Policy and Management, has been named one of the first recipients of AcademyHealth’s Presidential Scholarships for New Health Services Researchers. The scholarship provides early career researchers with financial support to attend AcademyHealth’s Annual Research Meeting and offers exclusive networking and mentoring opportunities with its leadership and staff. JOHNS HOPKINS HEALTH SYSTEM Hope Marsh has been named director of

Benefits and Wellness for the Johns Hopkins Health System. Previously director of Employee Benefits at Bayview Medical Center, Marsh brings a wealth of knowledge to her new role, with more than 25 years of experience in human resources, 16 of them at the medical center. Under the new integrated human resources model, Marsh will oversee benefits for the entire health system, while continuing her oversight of Bayview’s health and wellness programs. She is co-chair of the Maryland Healthcare Human Resources Association Benefits Committee. Howard Reel , senior director of facilities, design and construction, has been named the Architects, Contractors and Engineer society’s first Man of the Year. ACE provides mentorships to high school students who show interest in industries related to architecture, contracting and engineering. Reel, who was construction manager for the Sheikh Zayed Tower and The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center, has been a much-admired ACE mentor. Marketing and Communications offices at Johns Hopkins Bayview, Johns Hopkins Healthcare, Johns Hopkins Suburban Hospital and Johns Hopkins Medicine all have received 2012 Aster Awards for excellence in health care communications and marketing. Marketing Healthcare Today magazine’s Aster Awards program is one of the largest national competitions of its kind, with nearly 3,000 entries received for the judges’ consideration this year. The Johns Hopkins winners include a gold award in the academic medical center external newsletter category for Johns Hopkins Bayview Health & Wellness News; gold awards for the TeleWatch Monitoring System introductory packet pocket folder and the Step Up and

Get Your Check-Up logo produced by Johns Hopkins Healthcare; a silver award for New Directions, the external newsletter published by Johns Hopkins Suburban Hospital; and a silver award for Johns Hopkins Medicine: The Promise of Medicine, the academic medical center advertising campaign for Johns Hopkins Medicine. In addition, videos produced by the office received one silver, the highest honor, and five bronze Telly Awards, the top accolade for local, regional and cable TV commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions and Web commercials. The Telly Awards receives more than 11,000 entries annually from all 50 states and overseas. The winning videos are: silver, The New Birthing Center; and bronze, Spirit of Innovation: Heart & Vascular Institute, Neurosurgery: Sharon’s Story, Craniosynostosis: Jack’s Story, Liver Cancer Patient Goes the Distance: Marvin Leventer and Salt Shakedown. JOHNS HOPKINS INSTITUTIONS

Twenty individuals and two groups were honored on May 3 with Diversity Recognition Awards, which acknowledge outstanding accomplishments of faculty, staff and students whose demonstrable efforts foster greater appreciation, advancement and celebration of diversity and inclusiveness in the Johns Hopkins culture and environment. Recognized at the event were Mohammad Arefnia , Monica Batkis-O’Donnell , Renee Blanding , Colleen Christmas , Darcy Thompson and Laura Torres , all of Bayview Medical Center; Sarah Clever , Anthony Kalloo , Xiaoxu Kang , Sandra Lin , Kelli McDowell and Maria Trent , all of the School of Medicine; Paul Gleichauf , of Howard County General Hospital; Marian Hahn , of the Peabody Conservatory; L i n d a K r e s s , Vi c t o r M c C r a r y and Karla Maria Roncal , all of APL; Phyllis Sharps , of the School of Nursing; Aristea Williams , of the School of Education; Jennifer Reesman , of the Kennedy Krieger Institute; Open Minds Open Doors co-creators Misty Hechinger and Michael Moreno , both of APL; and the General Services Leadership Team of The Johns Hopkins Hospital. JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICINE George Economas has been appointed

interim senior director for corporate security, parking and transportation. Economas, who is director of internal security for The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins Medicine, is a 31-year veteran in the security field. He will hold the senior directorship until a successor to John Bergbower, who died suddenly and tragically in April, can be found. KRIEGER SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES John Ferr y , a professor in the Department

of Earth and Planetary Sciences, was named a 2012 fellow of the American Geophysical Union for his contributions to metamorphic geology and fluid-mediated processes in the Earth’s crust. MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Eight students from Johns Hopkins are among 575 undergraduate and graduate students who have been awarded U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarships to study critical languages this summer. The students and their schools, languages and host countries are Rachel Forse , Bloomberg School, Urdu, India; Tsega Gebreyesus , Bloomberg School, Arabic, Jordan; Lorraine Hammer , SAIS, Chinese, China; Jennifer Lam , Bloomberg School, Hindi, India; G e o f f r e y L e v i n , SAIS, Arabic, Morocco; J a c q u e l i n e M o r e a , Krieger School, Arabic, Oman; Madeleine Schlefer , Bloomberg School, Indonesian, Indonesia; and Cher yl Zogg , Bloomberg School, Bangla/Bengali, Bangladesh. PEABODY INSTITUTE Junior Gabriel Meza , a student of Keng-

Yuen Tseng, won first prize in the school’s William Marbury Prize Competition for undergraduate violin majors. He performed Continued on page 13

May 21, 2012 • THE GAZETTE

Cheers Continued from page 12 the Marbury Prize Recital on April 22 with pianist Michael Delfin, also a junior. Second prize was shared by junior Jason Chen , a student of Herbert Greenberg, and sophomore Orin Laursen , a student of Victor Danchenko.  Boris Slutsky , chair of the Conservatory’s Piano Department, will serve on the jury of the Southeastern Piano Festival at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. He also will perform at the festival, on June 13. As part of a residency at Old St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, the Eastern Edge Brass— trumpeters A u s t i n B o y e r and E m i l y K o r t h , hornist L i z F r y e r , trombonist F r a n c e s Yu and bass trombonist J o e Buono —perform every Sunday at the 9 and 11 a.m. services. SAIS Mark Gilbert will join SAIS Bologna as a professor of history and international studies in September. He previously was an associate professor of contemporary international history at the University of Trento, a lecturer in European studies at the University of Bath and an assistant professor of political science at Dickinson College. Gilbert obtained his

Milestones The following staff members are retiring or celebrating an anniversary with the university in May 2012. The information is compiled by the Office of Work, Life and Engagement, 443-997-7000.

doctorate in contemporary history from the University of Wales. His most recent book is European Integration: A Concise History (2012). He is currently working on the history of the Cold War in Europe. Gilbert is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Margel Lindzey Highet has joined SAIS Bologna as director for student affairs. Highet, a SAIS alumna (Bologna 1985, Washington 1986), was previously associate director of the Energy, Resources and Environment Program at SAIS in Washington and earlier worked in the environmental nonprofit sector. Kathr yn Knowles has been appointed associate director of the European Studies Program. A SAIS alumna (Bologna 2001, Washington 2002), Knowles returned to the school in 2011 to help launch the Bologna Institute for Policy Research, a new think tank. Her professional expertise is focused in international business development in both the private and nonprofit sectors. She earned her undergraduate degree in public policy from Stanford University. Filippo Taddei will join the SAIS Bologna resident faculty as assistant professor of international economics in October. He earned his doctorate in economics from Columbia University and has lectured at Collegio Carlo Alberto and at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. His numerous economic consultancies have included the FIAT Group, The World Bank and Citigroup Inc., USA.

Torre y , Christine, Environmental Health

20 years of service Fo gart y , Linda, Jhpiego 15 years of service Ben amor , Linda, Jhpiego 10 years of service Win ge nrot h , Brian, Johns Hopkins University Press 5 years of service Edmonds , Linda, Johns Hopkins

University Press

Orr , Kathryn, Johns Hopkins University

Press Reis , Veronica, Jhpiego Rivera Hoy t , Raquel, Center for Talented Youth

BLOOMBERG SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

25 years of service Aa ron , Nicole, Health Policy and Management 15 years of service Beisse r , Mark, Center for Communication Programs McC ray , Rhonda, Health Policy and Management 10 years of service C irk o , Andrew, Information Systems C o lison , Carri, Financial Operations Wa rne r , Sharon, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 5 years of service Ben j ir a , Tarik, Center for

Communication Programs Fra n k , Kathleen, Center for Communication Programs Fresi a , Anne, Office of Research Subjects Ho lupka , Charles Scott, Finance P a re , Nicole, International Health Sch uh , Roderick, Information Systems Th o r ne , Julie, Epidemiology

director of the Stocks in the Future program, which is dedicated to improving the school performance of middle school students through the teaching of financial life skills. Bell was previously director of strategy and development for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Chesapeake, spent eight years with Wachovia Bank in Virginia and was a high school biology/oceanography teacher in Northern Virginia and at an inner city charter school in New Haven, Conn. He holds an MBA from the University of Connecticut, a master’s in teaching from the University of Virginia and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Hampden-Sydney College. SCHOOL OF MEDICINE Ali Elbireer , administrative director of

the Department of Pathology’s laboratory at the Infectious Diseases Institute in Kampala, Uganda, since 2004, has been appointed that East African nation’s first American Society for Clinical Pathology Board of Certification adviser. The ASCP is the largest and oldest pathology and laboratory medicine society in the world, and its BOC is the main agency for certifying laboratory professionals. By ensuring that lab workers in Uganda have ASCP certification, Elbireer will help promote proper training and career advancement for lab staff, as well as increase the country’s retention of medical laboratory professionals.

G a m b i ch l er , Bonnie, Pathology

Sciences Wi l son , Buffy, International Health

G r eco , Regina, Rheumatology, Bayview

KRIEGER SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

Jo h n s o n , Dynishie, III, Research Animal

Hu m p h r ey - C a r o t h er s , Frances, Health,

Safety and Environment

30 years of service K e rne r , Nancy, Office of the Dean SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

ACADEMIC AND CULTURAL CENTERS

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION Frazier Bell has been named executive

Retirees B a se ne r , Anne, 20 years of service,

Psychiatry

Ca strono v a , Jeannette, 49 years of service,

Ophthalmology

30 years of service Ma c ke nz i e , Nancy, Pediatrics R e e se , Rhonda, Institute of Genetic

Medicine

25 years of service B oha n , Eileen, Neurosurgery Cosgri f f , Rosalie, Cardiology Ma son , Freda, Radiation Oncology

20 years of service A m a n , Terry, Pathology F u l l e r , Gregory, Emergency Medicine Mi l l e r , Marsha, Physiology S u m m e r f i el d , Gloria, Neurosurgery 15 years of service B e l sc hne r , Shirley, Gynecology and Obstetrics B r ya nt , Renee, Molecular Biology and Genetics H a n , Wan, Neuroscience K e ye s , Barbara, Orthopaedics Lync h B a k er , Kim, Clinical Practice Association P e c k , Laurel, Molecular Biology and Genetics S ta l l i ng s , Sandra, Dermatology Tobi a s , Susan, Infectious Diseases Wood son , Sue, Welch Medical Library 10 years of service A ni ka s , Robin, General Administration,

Billing

A nthony , Regina, University Health

Service

B ogda n , Virginia, Cardiology B re ton , Elayne, Cardiology B u r we l l , Lisa, Neurology, Bayview D u re n , Tiffany, Psychiatry, Bayview E l de r , Edith, Marketing and

Communication

E y , Emma, Registrar’s Office

Resources Jo h n s o n , Johnny, Facilities Jo h n s o n , Nicole, Cardiology Jo y n er , Priscilla, Facilities L a r g en t , Tina, Oncology M i k u l a , Judy, Human Subjects Research M r o z o w s k i , Susan, Academic Computing O n g a co , Chrissie, Institute of Genetic Medicine So l t , Sara, Oncology Sp en cer , Penny, Pathology St ew a r t , Sheemia, Oncology Tu ck er , Charlotte, Surgery Wi l s b a ch , Kathleen, Pathology Yo r i t o m o , Nadine, Psychiatry 5 years of service A i d a m , Jude, Pulmonary A l b r i g h t , Kristie, Neurology C a r t er , Patricia, Cardiology C o o p er , Tonya, Neurosurgery Da m i co , Diane, Ophthalmology F o l t z , Jessica, Radiology F r a z i er , Shantia, Orthopaedics G o t t s ch a l k , Barbara, Otolaryngology Hi l l , Elaine, Pediatrics Hi l l , Wanda, Radiology Hu n t l ey , Bruce, Emergency Medicine Jo n es , Timothy, Facilities Kh a n , Humera, Pathology L ee , Eric, Graduate Student Affairs L o h o s k i , Stacey, General Internal Medicine Per p er , Barry, Anesthesiology and Critical

Peter Pronovost , a professor, senior vice president for patient safety and quality, and director of the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, has been named by Modern Healthcare magazine as one of 2012’s 50 most influential physician executives in health care. This is his second appearance on the Chicagobased publication’s list, moving up to No. 19, nine spots higher than his 2011 ranking. UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION Stephanie Reel , vice provost for infor-

mation technology and chief information officer, has been inducted into the CIO Hall of Fame. She was one of nine inductees selected by the judges to recognize that they excel at business transformation. WHITING SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING J a a f a r E l - Aw a d y , an assistant pro-

fessor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, has been awarded a DARPA Young Faculty Award for his work on micromechanics modeling of surface roughness evolution and subsequent crack-initiation under thermo-mechanical fatigue. The DARPA Young Faculty Award initiative identifies “rising research stars” in order to expose them to Department of Defense needs and the DARPA program’s development process. El-Awady was one of only 51 awardees selected from 560 applicants.

SHERIDAN LIBRARIES/ JHU MUSEUMS

20 years of service Os m ey er , Shawn, Sheridan Libraries 15 years of service M at t hews , Janet, Sheridan Libraries 10 years of service H our t i c ol on , Gabriele, Sheridan

Libraries

UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION

Retirees Ci ufo , Marilyn, 18 years of service, Controller Tr om bet t a , Rose, 13 years of service, Controller 45 years of service M c Ki nney , Roy, Facilities

35 years of service Gal l ant Br i t t on , Lydia, Development

and Alumni Services

L ay t on , Mary, Office of the Chief

Enterprise Technology Services

Wi ns t on , Kevin, Supply Chain Shared

Service

30 years of service St affor d , John, Facilities

25 years of service H oy , William, Jr., Communications and

Public Affairs

15 years of service Wi ng at e- Gai s er , Diana, Controller Wi s ni ews ki , Melissa, Office of the Chief, Enterprise Technology Services 10 years of service Cox , Joseph, Enterprise Applications

Care, Bayview R a t t r a y , Nadine, Pulmonary R o b er t s , Lisa, General Internal Medicine, Bayview Sm et z er , Bradley, Facilities Su g g s , Angela, General Administration, Clinical Operations To m a s el l i , Charlene, Radiology Web b , Amanda, Research Animal Resources

5 years of service Abr aham , Richard, Facilities Fu , Miriam, HR Shared Services God ows ky , Christopher, Office of the Chief Networking Officer St er n , Ella, Enterprise Applications

SCHOOL OF NURSING

WHITING SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

15 years of service Sm a w , Brenda, Community/Public Health Nursing 5 years of service Jo n es , Emily, Network Services

M ac key , Sharon, Facilities M ar ek , Elizabeth, Controller

5 years of service Bl ake , Robert, Institute for Computational Medicine M ar t i n , Justin, Center for Language and Speech Processing Thom as , Javonnia, Computer Science

14 21,15, 2012 14 THE THE GAZETTE GAZETTE •• May August 2011 H U M A N

No notices were submitted for publication this week.

Listed below are some of the university’s newest openings for in-demand jobs that we most urgently need to fill. In addition to considering these opportunities, candidates are invited to search a complete listing of openings and apply for positions online at jobs.jhu.edu.

Office of Human Resources Wyman Park Building, Suite W600 410-516-7196 The Development and Alumni Relations communications organization is seeking a Director of Communications and Marketing to lead the developing marketing and communications strategies and content in all media that will advance the strategic goals of Development and Alumni Relations programs, especially the capital campaign. For a detailed job description and to apply, go to jobs.jhu.edu. Director of Communications and Marketing

School of Medicine Office of Human Resources 98 N. Broadway, Suite 300 410-955-2990 The School of Medicine has a part-time opportunity for someone seeking exposure to administrative service experience in a scientific research environment. The successful applicant will report to the director of the Lowe Family Genomics Core, a multifunctional genomics facility located on the Bayview campus. For a detailed job description and to apply, go to jobs.jhu.edu. Laboratory Coordinator

Schools of Public Health and Nursing Office of Human Resources 2021 E. Monument St. 410-955-3006 The Bloomberg School of Public Health is seeking skilled applicants for several part- and full-time positions. For detailed job descriptions and to apply, go to jobs.jhu.edu. 49102 Programmer Analyst 50518 Senior Programmer Analyst 50994 Senior Research Program Coordinator 51307 Biostatistician 51437 Research Data Analyst 51690 Research Technologist 52128 Research Program Manager 52201 Clinical Placement Coordinator 52258 Senior Programmer Analyst 52305 Clinical Research Program Coordinator 52377 Program Administrator

Johns Hopkins University is an equal opportunity employer and 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, other legally protected characteristics or any other occupationally irrelevant criteria.

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By Vanessa McMains

Johns Hopkins Medicine

team of researchers from The Johns Hopkins University and the National Human Genome Research Institute has evaluated the whole genomic sequence of stem cells derived from human bone marrow cells—so-called induced pluripotent stem cells—and found that relatively few genetic changes occur during stem cell conversion by an improved method. The findings, reported in the March issue of Cell Stem Cell, the official journal of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, will be presented at the organization’s annual meeting in June. “Our results show that human iPS cells accrue genetic changes at about the same rate as any replicating cells, which we don’t feel is a cause for concern,” said Linzhao Cheng, a professor of medicine and oncology in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and a member of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering. Each time a cell divides, it has the chance to make errors and incorporate new genetic changes in its DNA. Some genetic changes can be harmless, Cheng says, but others can lead to changes in cell behavior that may lead to disease and, in the worst case, to cancer. In the new study, the researchers showed that iPS cells derived from adult bone marrow cells contain random genetic changes that do not specifically predispose the cells to form cancer. “Little research was done previously to determine the number of DNA changes in stem cells, but because whole-genome sequencing is getting faster and cheaper, we can now more easily assess the genetic stability of these cells derived by various methods and from different tissues,” Cheng said. Last year, Cheng said, a study published in Nature suggested higher than expected cancer gene mutation rates in iPS cells created from skin samples, raising for many in the field great concerns about the usefulness and safety of the cells. This study analyzed both viral and the improved, nonviral methods to turn on stem cell genes making the iPS cells. To more thoroughly evaluate the number of genetic changes in iPS cells created by the improved, nonviral method, Cheng’s team first converted human blood-forming cells or their support cells, so-called marrow stromal cells, in adult bone marrow into iPS cells by turning on specific genes and giving those special nutrients. The researchers isolated DNA from—and sequenced—the genome of each type of iPS cells, in comparison with the original cells from which the iPS cells were derived. Cheng says that they then counted the number of small DNA differences in each cell line compared to the original bone marrow cells. A range of 1,000 to 1,800 changes in the nucleic acid “letters” A, C, T and G occurred across each genome, but only a few changes were found in actual genes— DNA sequences that act as blueprints for our body’s proteins. Such genes make up 2 percent of the genome. The blood-derived iPS cells contained six and the MSC-derived iPS cells contained 12

DNA letter changes in genes, a finding that led the researchers to conclude that DNA changes in iPS cells are far more likely to occur in the spaces between genes, not in the genes themselves. Next, the investigators examined the severity of the DNA changes—that is, how likely it would be for a change to disrupt the function of each gene. They found that about half the DNA changes were “silent,” meaning that these altered blueprints wouldn’t change the nucleic acid building code for its corresponding protein or change its function. For the remaining DNA changes, the researchers guessed that these would, in fact, disrupt the function of the gene by either making the gene inactive or by changing the way the gene works. Since each cell contains two copies of each gene, in many cases the other, normal copy of the gene could compensate for a disrupted gene, Cheng and the team reasoned. Cheng cautions that disrupting a single gene copy could pose a problem though, for example by shutting down a tumor suppressor gene that prevents cells from malignant growth. However, none of the disrupted genes his team found have been implicated in cancer. He also noted the absence of overlap in the DNA changes found among the different stem cell lines examined, implying that the changes were random and unlikely to cluster. Based on these findings, Cheng says, iPS cells don’t seem to pose a heightened cancer risk; but the risk is not zero, the researchers say. Paul Liu, co–senior author and the deputy scientific director at the National Human Genome Research Institute, said, “We need to sequence more iPS cell lines, including those derived from different cell types and ones using different methods of stem cell conversion, before we have a better picture of mutation rates and spectrums in the iPS cell lines.” Just because these DNA changes in the stem cells don’t specifically select for cancer formation, he says, doesn’t mean that cancer mutations can’t arise in other iPS cells. Liu adds that to be on the safe side, “it should become a routine procedure to sequence iPS cells before they are used in the clinic.” Other researchers from Johns Hopkins who contributed to the study are Chunlin Zou, Bin-Kuan Chou, Sarah Dowey and Zhaohui Ye. Funding for the study was provided by The Johns Hopkins University and the National Institutes of Health.

Related websites Linzhao Cheng:

hopkinsmedicine.org/institute_ cell_engineering/experts/linzhao_ cheng.html Institute for Cell Engineering:

hopkinsmedicine.org/institute_ cell_engineering/index.html Paul Liu:

genome.gov/10000358 NIH Center for Regenerative Medicine:

commonfund.nih.gov/stemcells

May 21, 2012 • THE GAZETTE

Classifieds APARTMENTS/HOUSES FOR RENT Bayview, 1BR and BA, furn’d, free street prkng, avail July 1, 1-yr lease, sec dep req’d. $750/mo incl utils. parkermineral@comcast.net. Bayview (Elrino St), spacious, bright end unit, 2nd flr, 1BR, living rm, kitchen, wireless Internet. $650/best offer. 443-386-8471 or fanauh2o@yahoo.com. Charles Village, 3BR, 2BA Victorian RH, W/D, sec sys, fenced yd, garage, 5-min walk to shuttle, no pets/no smokers. $1,650/mo + utils. 301-699-7583 or housecv@gmail.com.

M A R K E T P L A C E

flrs, 10-min walk to JHMI shuttle. $850/mo. hampden.for.rent@gmail.com. Homeland, lovely, furn’d 1.5BR, 1BA TH in safe community, swimming pool, owner has adorable retriever, pref faculty/postdoc. $1,000/ mo + utils. camel_pondyland@yahoo.com. Lutherville/Timonium, 3BR, 2.5BA TH, new paint/crpt/laminate flrs/dw/refrigerator, deck, yd, conv access to 695/I-83, no pets. 410-8284583 or moqiu@comcast.net. Mayfield, charming 3BR, 2BA house, hdwd flrs, fp, garage, yd/patio, nr Homewood/JHH/ Bayview. $1,750/mo. 410-852-1865 or miriam .mintzer@gmail.com.

ented neighborhood, homes rarely available, beautiful court, backyd. $499,000/best offer. 443-622-2495.

Coffee tables: butler’s table-style, cherry, $20; new bamboo oval table w/glass top, $30. Best offers, cash only. 410-207-2217.

Manhattan-style efficiency condo in owneroccupied, elegant and secure bldg, steps to Homewood campus (on Greenway). $86,000. 443-414-6282.

Startup kitchen supplies, dishware, sm dining rm set, exterior French doors, full-length Dior silver fox coat, fitness chair, office supplies, masonry/wood sprayer, garden mesh, decorative items, man’s travel bag, champagne buckets, Fossil watch boxes, Playboy mags. 443-8242198 or saleschick2011@hotmail.com.

Towson/Stoneleigh (18 Stoneridge), 3BR, 2.5BA TH, updated kitchen and BAs, deck, community pool. $264,800. 330-310-5340 or nancyhofmann.com. 3402 Mt Pleasant Ave, quality craftsmanship, nr all JH, ideal location, won’t last. $159,900. 302-981-6947 or jvgiiird@hotmail.com.

Portable canvas patio chair, Epson Stylus 760 color printer, sand beach chairs (2), digital piano, 100W amplifier, keyboard case, oilfilled heaters (3), ergonomic kneeling posture chair. 410-455-5858 or iricse.its@verizon.net. Metal 2-drawer file cabinets (2), $10. 443-8041927 or adesantiswhitaker@gmail.com.

ROOMMATES WANTED Rm avail in 2BR, 1.5BA Butchers Hill RH, pref quiet, serious JHU affiliate, CAC, W/D, balcony, 10-min walk to SoM/SPH/SoN, nonsmokers only. $475/mo + utils. chiphawk@gmail.com.

Exchange student selling sofa bed, $20; dinner table set, 5 pcs, $45; ottoman w/storage, $15 (or $90/all). 443-455-2302 or yamilquevedo@ gmail.com.

Charles Village, 2- or 3BR house, 2BAs, newly renov’d w/new kitchen and BAs, prkng, laundry, 3 blks to campus/shuttle; 1BR also avail. 410-383-2876 or atoll4u@gmail.com.

Middle River, lg, private apt, 1.5BRs and full BA, CAC, W/D, cable/Internet, 20 mins to JHMI, utils incl’d. 410-292-0669.

Deep Creek Lake/Wisp, cozy 2BR cabin w/full kitchen; call for wkly/wknd rentals. 410-6389417 or jzpics@yahoo.com (for pics).

Mt Washington, spacious 4BR house, 2.5BAs, furn’d, CAC, ideal for family on academic sabbatical, avail Aug 20, 2012, to Aug 30, 2013. 410-466-0255 or b.meneveau@comcast.net.

Ellicott City, 4BR, 2.5BA single-family house, 3,400 sq ft, 3.5 acres, great neighborhood w/ excel school district, beautiful stream in rear of property, all maintenance covered, 1-yr lease, no pets. $2,800/mo. Jason, 410-531-1500.

Mt Washington, quiet, spacious 4BR, 2.5BA house, avail June 11-Aug 5, W/D, hdwd flrs, WiFi, grand piano, no smoking/no pets. $1,975/ mo incl utils. 410-913-9687 or violaine62@ comcast.net.

Evergreen/Roland Park, 3BR, 2BA house, 15-min walk to Roland Park Elementary. $2,900/mo (negotiable depending on whether house is rented furn’d/unfurn’d). 410-5206264.

Ocean City, MD (137th St), ocean block, 3BR, 2BA condo, lg in-ground pool, steps from beach, off-street prkng (2 spaces), short walk to restaurants/entertainment, half tank of gas away. 410-544-2814.

Student/grad wanted to share 4BR, 1BA house in Charles Village, hdwd flrs, W/D, patio, avail June 1. $550/mo incl utils (sec dep req’d). donischk@gmail.com.

Two tickets for Everyman Theatre production of You Can’t Take It With You, Wed, June 6. $35/ea. 443-904-4399 or jwilli33@gmail.com.

Fells Point (822B S Bond St), lovely 2BR condo, approx 1,100 sq ft, modern kitchen, dw, CAC, full-size W/D, gas heat, ceiling fans in both BRs, 14' ceilings, lots of closet space, reserved prkng space. $1,800/mo incl condo fees, water, reserved prkng, avail July 1. 410381-4370 (for appt to view).

Parkville, cozy 1BR, 1BA lower level apt, AC/ heat/cable, kitchen, W/D, priv entry, great yd, just renov’d, avail June 1. 443-756-7071.

Two F wanted for new 3BR, 3.5BA TH, 2 blks to JHMI. $540/mo or $560/mo + utils. 410979-0721 or grant.tz@comcast.net.

SERVICES/ITEMS OFFERED OR WANTED

Towson, charming, fully renov’d 3BR, 2BA rancher, wooded lot backs up to Loch Raven Reservoir, easy access to beltway/95/downtown, 1-yr lease, avail July 1. $2,100/mo + utils, lawn service incl’d. 970-471-2492.

Share all new refurbished TH (924 N Broadway) w/other medical students, 4BRs, 2 full BAs, CAC, W/D, dw, w/w crpt, 1-min walk to JHMI. gretrieval@aol.com.

Fells Point, 1BR, 1BA apt, AC, ceramic tile in BA, hdwd flrs, appls, outdoor roof deck, pref nonsmoker. $1,000/mo + utils. 410-375-4862. Guilford, spacious 4BR, 2BA TH, bsmt, living rm, dining rm, back alley prkng space, front and back porch, W/D. $1,400/mo. 443-6915110. HICKORY HEIGHTS A lovely hilltop setting on Hickory Avenue efficiency 2 $760 lg closin Hampden!apt 2on BD41st unitsSt, from

Hampden, ets, crpt, tile, shared laundry area. -$700/mo. with Balcony $790 Steve, or steverutz.com/apt.htm Shown443-474-1492 by appointment 410.764.7776 (pics avail). www.brooksmanagementcompany.com

Hampden/Medfield Heights, beautiful house on quiet street, nr JHU/I-83, avail Sept 1. 410733-6231. Hampden/Remington, 2BR, 1BA TH apt, CAC, W/D in unit, free Internet, hdwd

Luxury Elevator Building in Charles Village! Spacious 2BD, 2BA, full size W/D. Free off street pkg. All new appliances! $1300 - $1425.00!

Shown by appointment

410.764.7776

Upper Fells Point, beautiful 3BR, 2.5BA TH, kitchen, lots of storage, priv courtyd, walk to JHH/shops/restaurants and green circulator line, avail July 1. $2,000/mo. 410-718-6134. Wyman Park, 5BR, 2.5BA RH in safe area, 3 stories, new W/D, new stainless steel appls, window AC units supplied/installed, pet allowed w/ fee, no smoking, 1-yr lease, move in July 1 (flexible), nr Rotunda/shuttle stop, across from JHU Keswick Bldg. $2,400/mo. 410-234-9282. Beautiful and spacious 2BR, 1BA apt in renov’d historic bldg, open-concept floor plan, walk to Homewood campus, move in 1st wk of June, pets welcome. $1,750/mo. 973-271-6139 or saucysloth@gmail.com. Very spacious 3- and 4BR apts nr Homewood campus, avail for summer/fall occupancy. $1,350/mo or $1,485/mo. 443-253-2113 or pulimood@aol.com. Modern yet rustic 2BR cottage in the woods, adjacent to Robert E Lee Park, AC, W/D, covered porch, conv location. $2,500/mo. 410296-1640 or t.co/gq2IRSwr.

www.brooksmanagementcompany.com

HICKORY HEIGHTS A lovely hilltop setting on Hickory Avenue in Hampden! 2 BD units from $760

with Balcony - $790 Shown by appointment

410.764.7776

www.brooksmanagementcompany.com

HOUSES FOR SALE Bayview, 2BR, 2BA EOG, 1,400 sq ft, lg bright rms, newly renov’d, granite, upstairs laundry, office/den or 3rd BR, fin’d lower level. $165,000. 410-935-8060. Fells Point, 3-story RH in historic district, lg priv yd, many recent renovations. Dorothy, 443-750-7750. Homeland, fabulous, totally renov’d Tudor house. 410-812-2423 (for an appt) or 5200springlakeway.com. Hunt Valley, 4BR house in safe, family-ori-

Luxury Elevator Building in Charles Village! Spacious 2BD, 2BA, full size W/D. Free off street pkg. All new appliances! $1300 - $1425.00!

Shown by appointment

410.764.7776

www.brooksmanagementcompany.com

PARKVILLE, Just renovated, cozy lower level w/priv. entrance, 1BR, 1BA, AC/Heat/Cable, Kitchen, W/D, great deck/yard. $900/mo, +$900 Sec.Dep. Avail.6/1/12. For an appointment call - 443-756-7071, or parkvilleapt@gmail.com

3-rm in house w/roommate, shared BA and kitchen. $550/mo incl utils, cable w/HBO, Internet. kitty_n74@yahoo.com. Rm in furn’d Halethorpe house, W/D, backyd, nr state park, nr MARC train/695/95. $575/ mo + utils, high-speed Internet, cable TV. 410409-0692 or lizo99@hotmail.com. Share 2BR, 2.5BA Butchers Hill house w/SPH grad student, priv BA, roof deck, W/D, CAC/ heat, short walk to JHMI, Patterson Park, Fells Point. $825/mo + 1/2 utils. 203-550-3755.

M prof’ls wanted to share furn’d 3BR, 2BA TH, walking distance to Bayview and JHU shuttle line, new kitchen, hdwd flrs. $550/mo + 1/3 utils. jtian0627@hotmail.com.

CARS FOR SALE ’96 Toyota Camry LE, V6, green, well-maintained, runs great, AC, CD, 105K mi. $3,500. 443-852-0706 or emad_assal@yahoo.com.

JP Pramberger upright piano, JP-131 Platinum series 52", padded bench, damp chaser, bought new in Feb 2011. Best offer. 410-399-2209. Lg antique oak desk, beautifully restored. $100. 410-258-7073. Hon 4-drawer locking lateral file cabinet, $200; entertainment center, 50"W x 68"H x 19"D, $75. 410-379-8577 or sheridan@quixnet.net. Sultan Hanestad bed, full size w/frame and base, like new, includes free pillows, quilt, cushions, bedcover. $300. Yi-Lung, 319-4005060 or yilungkuo@gmail.com.

Fun, lively Chinese tutor wanted for highschooler in 1st yr of study, in our home. $20/ hr. cavallon@gmail.com. Dog-walking and house-sitting service, reliable, clean, nonsmoker. Lynn, 410-877-6165. Would you like to play indoor tennis this summer on a Johns Hopkins team? Tuesday evenings, June through Aug, men’s, women’s and mixed doubles, approx 3.0-4.0 level. Peter Barker, pbbark@gmail.com. F nurse seeks F Hopkins student to help around the house w/cleaning, hrs flexible. $10/hr (cash). karolinegalea@gmail.com.

’89 Toyota Tercel, 4-spd, manual, 70K mi. $1,250. John, 410-419-3902.

Interested in Web development, data analytics or electronics? Accepting summer volunteer applications at JHU Eastern’s Emerging Technology Center. info@graphtrack.com.

’01 Subaru Forester L, AWD, new front brakes, tires at 85% tread remaining, clean Carfax, owned by nonsmoker, insp’d, 125K mi. 410948-0789.

Certified personal or career coach committed to supporting young prof’ls in achieving their potential personally and professionally. 410375-4042 or successful-thinking.net. Grass cutting, weed whacking, edging, leaf removal and exterior painting and junk hauling. George, 443-762-3183.

ITEMS FOR SALE Apple Power Mac G5 2.3 DP, model# M9748LL/A, release early 2005 (ID 7,3), OS X 10.4, keyboard and monitor, disks incl’d, 1BG memory, 250GB hard drive. $275. aweil@ baitman.org. Moving sale: dining set, table w/4 chairs, $250; sofa, $350; chair, $75; coffee table and side tables, $50/all; queen size bed, boxspring, mattress, $350; dresser w/mirror, $200; nightstand, $25; TV stand, $25; lamps (4), $10/ea. rovvves@gmail.com.

JHU grad student tutor for physics/math/chemistry, elementary to high school, will tutor on JHU campus. 410-402-3303 (9am-9pm) or helena.tutoring@gmail.com. Local prof’l couple hoping to start a family via surrogacy. adameden13@gmail.com. Host families needed, June 27-July 24, 15 students from Spain need host families for cultural exchange program; host families come in all shapes/sizes. Jeff Brotman, 410-299-8308 or jabrotman@msn.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: • 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 443-275-2687.

16 THE GAZETTE • May 21, 2012 M A Y

2 1

–

2 9

Calendar

SoM. Sponsored by Pathology. 490 Rangos. EB Wed., May 23, 4 p.m. “Role of Ubiquitin Modification in Cancer,” a Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences seminar with Vishva Dixit, Genentech Inc. West Lecture Hall (ground floor), WBSB.

•

“The Galaxy-Halo Connection Across Mass and Time,” an STScI colloquium with Risa Wechsler, Stanford University. Bahcall Auditorium, Muller Bldg. HW Wed., May 23, 3:30 p.m.

•

E X H I B I T I O N S Tues., May 22, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Trees, inaugural exhibition

Opening reception for the Medical and Biological Illustration 2012 graduate exhibition. Sponsored by Art as Applied to Medicine. The exhibition continues through June 7. Turner Concourse. EB L E C T URE S

The Alpha Omega Alpha Lecture— “Osler’s Legacy: The Musings of a 1967 Graduate” by Charles Bryan, Providence Hospitals, South Carolina. Hurd Hall. EB

Tues., May 22, 4 p.m.

“Skin Stem Cells in Silence and in Action,” an Institute of Genetic Medicine lecture by Elaine Fuchs, Rockefeller University. Mountcastle Auditorium, PCTB. EB

Wed., May 23, 2 p.m.

•

In conjunction with ‘Sculpture at Evergreen 7: Landscape as Laboratory’ and in partnership with The Art Gallery at the University of Maryland, Evergreen Museum & Library presents a special exhibition of the ‘Trees’ portfolio of iconic American nature photographer Eliot Porter (1901–90). The 10 tie-dye transfer images were created between 1958 and 1975. See Exhibitions.

JHU students. Tickets are available online at peabodyjazz.org/ hopkinsclub or go to showclix .com/event/haynes_set1 or to showclix.com/event/haynes_set2. Johns Hopkins Club. HW S E M I N AR S

“X-ROS in the Heart: A Novel Nanoscopic Signaling Pathway,” a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology seminar with W. Jonathan Lederer, University of Maryland, Baltimore. W1020 SPH. EB Mon., May 21, noon.

Mon.,

MUSIC Sat., May 26, 8:30 and 10 p.m. Jazz at the Johns Hopkins

Club presents the Roy Haynes Fountain of Youth Band. $45 general admission, $22.50 for

•

SPECIAL EVENTS

COLLOQUIA

Wed., May 23, 4 to 6 p.m.

•

University convocation and graduation ceremonies. (See story, p. 1.)

blood drive. For more information, call 410-614-0913 or email johnshopkinsblooddrive@jhmi .edu. Mount Washington campus.

of American photographer Eliot Porter’s limited edition portfolio. Sponsored by JHU Museums in partnership with the Art Gallery at the University of Maryland. Admission included with paid museum admission and on view as part of the guided tour. Evergreen Museum & Library.

Peabody

B L OO D D R I V E S

Thurs., May 24, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. JHU/American Red Cross

Peabody Conservatory of Music graduation ceremony, with Roy Haynes, jazz percussionist. Friedberg Hall.

May

21,

12:15

p.m.

“piRNAs and piRNPs: The Good Shepherds of the Genome,” a Carnegie Institution Embryology seminar with Zissimos Mourelatos, University of Pennsylvania. Rose Auditorium, 3520 San Martin Drive. HW

Mon., May 21, 2 p.m. “Chronic Kidney Disease, Plasma Lipids and Cardiovascular Disease,” an Epidemiology thesis defense seminar with Julio Lamprea-Montealegre. W3008 SPH. EB Mon., May 21, 4 p.m. The David Bodian Seminar—“The Ins and Outs of Purkinje Cells: Error Signals and Motor Commands” with Javier Medina, University of Pennsylvania. Sponsored by the Krieger Mind/Brain Institute. 338 Krieger. HW May 22, noon. “The ABCs of Bacterial Cell Division,” a Biological Chemistry seminar with Thomas Bernhardt, Harvard Medical School. 612 Physiology.

Tues.,

•

EB Wed., May 23, noon. “Personalized Genomic Analyses of Human Cancer,” a Molecular Pathology seminar with Victor Velculescu,

•

Mon., May 21, 3 p.m. Carey Business School graduation ceremony, with Jeffrey Immelt, chairman and CEO of General Electric and chair of President Obama’s Council of Jobs and Competitiveness. Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

Thurs., May 24, 7:30 p.m.

School of Education diploma ceremony, with U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin; Homewood Field. HW Fri.,

May

25,

a.m.

Krieger School of Arts and Sciences master’s degree ceremony, wth Richard Koshalek, director, the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Homewood Field. HW

Tues., May 22, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CAAT Information Day—

Whiting School of Engineering graduate degree ceremony, with speaker Norman Augustine, retired chairman and CEO, Lockheed Martin Corp.; Homewood Field. HW

New Approaches to Assessing Countermeasures to Bioterrorism Agents with George Korch, assistant secretary for preparedness response, Department of Health and Human Services; William Florence, Defense Threat Reduction Agency; Donald Drake, Sanofi; Marti Jett, U.S. Army Center for Environmental Health Research; Anthony Bahinsky, Harvard University; Sonia Grego, RTI International; Lisa Hensley, FDA; and others. $100 registration fee (free for federal employees, JHU faculty, staff and students. For information go to caat.jhsph.edu. Sponsored by the EHS Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing. W1214 SPH.

Thurs., May 24, 8:40 a.m.

Wed., May 23, 1:30 p.m.

Bloomberg School of Public Health graduation ceremony, with guest speaker Stephen Lewis, visiting professor, Ryerson University, and board chair, the Stephen Lewis Foundation; Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Wed.,

May

23,

p.m.

Universitywide Commencement, with speaker Samuel Palmisano, chairman of the board, IBM; Homewood Field. HW Thurs., May 24, 2:30 p.m.

School of Medicine Convocation with speaker Sanjay Gupta, Grady Memorial Hospital and Emory University and chief medical correspondent, CNN; Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Thurs.,

May

24,

p.m.

SAIS graduation ceremony with Timothy Geithner, U.S. secretary of the Treasury; Constitution Hall, Washington, D.C. Thurs.,

May

24,

p.m.

School of Nursing diploma and award ceremony, with guest speaker Linda Burnes Bolton, vice president and chief nursing officer, CedarsSinai Health System and Research Institute; France Merrick Performing Arts Center, Hippodrome Theatre.

Groundbreaking for Malone Hall and installation of the inaugural John C. Malone Professor. (See story, p. 10.) RSVP to eng.jhu.edu/ wse/page/100-years-events before May 23. Location is the tent on the Decker Quadrangle, where Malone Hall will be built. HW

Wed., May 23, 3 p.m.

(Events are free and Calendar open to the public Key except where indicated.) APL BRB CRB EB HW JHOC

Applied Physics Laboratory Broadway Research Building Cancer Research Building East Baltimore Homewood 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

Thurs., May 24, 7:30 p.m.

Inaugural Levi Professor of Bioethics and Public Policy installed B y L e a h R a m s ay

Berman Institute of Bioethics

effrey Kahn, deputy director for policy and administration at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and an authority on research and public health ethics, was installed May 1 as the inaugural Robert Henry Levi and Ryda Hecht Levi Professor of Bioethics and Public Policy. Ronald J. Daniels, president of The Johns Hopkins University, was joined by Ruth Faden, director of the

Berman Institute, and Michael Klag, dean of the university’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, in a ceremony dedicating the newly endowed professorship. Kahn, a faculty member at Johns Hopkins since 2011, was previously a professor and director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota, positions he held from 1996 to 2011. He serves on numerous state and federal advisory panels, and recently chaired an Institute of Medicine committee that issued a groundbreaking report calling for an end to most biomedical research on chimpanzees. The National

Institutes of Health promptly adopted the committee’s recommendations. Kahn is also an elected fellow of the Hastings Center and was founding president of the Association of Bioethics Program Directors, a position he held from 2006 to 2010. The new professorship is named for Robert Henry Levi and Ryda Hecht Levi, philanthropists who have been great supporters of the field of bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore City and the arts. The Robert. H. Levi Leadership Program in Bioethics and Health Policy was established in 1997.

“It is impossible to overstate the gratitude we feel toward the Levis. We are celebrating a legacy that crosses generations, and a good that will live on, in perpetuity,” Faden said in her remarks at the ceremony. “What Jeff does exceptionally well is link bioethics and public policy, positioning bioethics at the center of many challenges, and improving policy as a result. Making both professional practice and public policy better, more ethical, is what we aim to do at the Berman Institute, and we are much better equipped to do it with Jeff on our faculty,” Faden said.