PIHPS: The Professionals In Health Podcast Series

Alister Martin is a practicing emergency physician and former Chief Resident at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He served as a former Health Policy Aide to Governor Peter Shumlin of Vermont and Congressman Raul Ruiz of California and blends state and federal policy knowledge with hands-on patient experience. He now serves as faculty at Harvard Medical School in the Center for Social Justice and Health Equity working at the intersection of public policy and medicine. He leverages his background in politics, healthcare policy, and the field of behavioral economics to use the ER as a place to build programs that serve the needs of vulnerable patients. He is the founder and Executive Director of Vot-ER (https://vot-er.org/) and the founder and National Organizing Director of Get Waivered (https://getwaivered.com/).

Dr. Aaron R. Quarles is an Emergency Medicine Physician at Northwestern Medicine and an Instructor of Emergency Medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. His primary focus is addressing the social determinants of health. He is particularly interested in aligning community resources with the healthcare system to enhance the care of patients from marginalized populations. Dr. Quarles serves as the Director of Recruitment for the Emergency Medicine Residency Program and has been recognized for mentorship of underrepresented students and trainees. Dr. Quarles teaches in healthcare quality and health equity courses at the medical school.  He  completed his residency at Northwestern, where he also served as Chief Resident. Before relocating to Chicago, Dr. Quarles was awarded the Zuckerman Fellowship by the Center for Public Leadership to pursue a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He earned his Medical Doctorate from Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Bienvenu is a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins.  He specializes in anxiety disorders, and his research employs methods of epidemiology and clinical investigation.  He is currently working on ways to reduce post-traumatic stress phenomena in survivors of critical illness and intensive care.

Lourdes Celius is a first-year Doctor of Nursing candidate at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine specializing in family primary care. Lourdes has engaged in several community and research-oriented projects that focus on health disparities in minority women birth outcomes and medical delivery of Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for patients at higher risk of acquiring HIV. Please join us as we learn more about her journey into nursing school. 

Colin G. Walsh, MD, MA, is Assistant Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Medicine, and Psychiatry at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He is a practicing internist. He received a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Princeton University and his medical degree at the University of Chicago. He completed residency and chief residency in internal medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. He received a degree in Biomedical informatics in postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University. He joined the faculty at Vanderbilt University in 2015. His research includes: 1) applied predictive modeling to enable behavioral health and prevention; 2) scalable phenotyping for precision medicine; and 3) population health informatics to combat the overdose crisis.

Dr. Travis Rieder is a faculty member of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics where he serves as the Director of the Masters of Bioethics degree program. He holds secondary faculty appointments at the Department of Health Policy & Management and the Center for Public Health Advocacy within the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, as well as in the Department of Philosophy. Dr. Rider’s research distinctly falls into two categories: one being ethics and policy surrounding sustainability and planetary limits, and the second being on the question of responsible procreation in the era of climate change. He also works on food ethics related to climate change, as well as research ethics and policy issues surrounding America’s opioid epidemic. Outside of his research and scholarly writing, Dr. Rieder is quite popular as a public speaker with a passionate commitment to doing bioethics with the public and recently published his famous book, “In Pain: A Bioethicist’s Personal Struggle with Opioids." 

Dr. Travis Rieder is a faculty member of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics where he serves as the Director of the Masters of Bioethics degree program. He holds secondary faculty appointments at the Department of Health Policy & Management and the Center for Public Health Advocacy within the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, as well as in the Department of Philosophy. Dr. Rider’s research distinctly falls into two categories: one being ethics and policy surrounding sustainability and planetary limits, and the second being on the question of responsible procreation in the era of climate change. He also works on food ethics related to climate change, as well as research ethics and policy issues surrounding America’s opioid epidemic. Outside of his research and scholarly writing, Dr. Rieder is quite popular as a public speaker with a passionate commitment to doing bioethics with the public and recently published his famous book, “In Pain: A Bioethicist’s Personal Struggle with Opioids.”

Dr. Namandjé Bumpus is the E.K. Marshall and Thomas H. Maren Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is the first Black woman to ever chair a department at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She joined the faculty at Hopkins in 2010. Dr. Bumpus earned a BA in biology at Occidental College in 2003. She then went on to complete a PhD in pharmacology at the University of Michigan in 2007 and a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular and experimental medicine at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA in 2010. Dr. Bumpus’ laboratory focuses on defining mechanisms that underlie inter-individual differences in drug outcomes. She is internationally recognized for her contributions to the development of drugs to treat and prevent HIV infection. Her many honors include the Leon I. Goldberg Award from the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, the James Gillette Award from the International Society for the Study of Xenobiotics, the John J. Abel Award in Pharmacology from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers awarded by the Obama administration. 

Andrew Pekosz received his BS in Biochemistry from Rutgers University and his Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Pekosz joined the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in July, 2007. He is an expert on the basic biology of influenza, coronaviruses and other emerging and zoonotic virus infections. Dr. Pekosz is the co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Excellence in Influenza Research and Surveillance (JH-CEIRS) and Director of the Center for Emerging Viral Infectious Diseases (CEVID). He has authored more than 90 scientific papers, is on the editorial board for several journals and has served on a number of National Institute of Health scientific and policy review boards focused on biosafety and biocontainment. He has been interviewed on the topics of COVID-19, influenza, biosafety, emerging infectious diseases and pandemic preparedness by a number of news agencies including National Public Radio, the Associated Press (AP), the Baltimore Sun, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Cable News Network (CNN), CSPAN, British Broadcasting Company (BBC), Bloomberg Television, France24, Voice of America, the Discovery Channel and numerous local radio and television stations.

Dr. Laura Guidry-Grimes is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Humanities and Bioethics with a secondary appointment in Psychiatry at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Dr. Guidry-Grimes is a clinical ethicist, where she offers ethics education to different clinical groups and units, provides ethics consultation on an individual model, develops and revises policies, and leads projects on ethics research. She is also passionate about teaching bioethics to undergraduates, graduate students, and students across health professions. Dr. Guidry-Grimes research focuses on psychiatric ethics, disability advocacy, and how best to understand vulnerability in health care. 

To view a partial transcript of the podcast episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wAE5Ft3s2CUq-9RX1aXzNOKdnGrrdxu7T8XJoZNvbmw/edit?usp=sharing 

Dr. Letitia Dzirasa is the Health Commissioner of Baltimore City. As a Hopkins-trained pediatrician, she focuses on obesity management and prevention; trauma informed care in children and adolescents; and expansion of technology to improve health outcomes. Prior to joining the Health Department, Dr. Dzirasa worked as the Health Innovation Office at Fearless Solutions; and Medical Director of Health and School Based Healthcare at Baltimore Medical System from 2013-2016.  Dr. Dzirasa currently serves as Co-Chair of the Local Health Improvement Council and Co-Chair of B’More for Healthy Babies Steering Committee.

Dr. Abimbola Aina-Mumuney is an assistant professor in the Johns Hopkins Medicine Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Her areas of clinical expertise include high-risk pregnancy conditions and prevention of preterm labor. Dr. Aina-Mumuney’s research interests include thrombophilia in pregnancy, preterm labor and cervical incompetence. Dr. Aina is a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and a member of The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. She has served as a reviewer for several medical journals, including the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Clinical and Experimental Hypertension and Gynecologic and Obstetric Investigation. Dr. Aina has published numerous peer-reviewed research articles on preterm labor and perinatal disease. Dr. Aina-Mumuney also has an interest in education and often participates in the mentoring of residents and fellows.

Casey Jo Humbyrd, MD, is an Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery in the School of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. She is an Associate Faculty Member of the Berman Institute of Bioethics, and she completed a Masters of Bioethics at the Berman Institute. Dr. Humbyrd received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and her M.D. from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. During medical school, she participated in a month-long ethics fellowship at the University of Oxford.  After medical school, Dr. Humbyrd completed her residency in Orthopaedic Surgery at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine followed by a foot and ankle fellowship at Mercy Medical Center. Dr. Humbyrd’s research interest focus on ethical concerns related to surgery in general and orthopedic surgery in particular. Her current primary research interest revolves around the ethics of bundled payment programs for total joint replacement, ethical use of opioids in orthopedic surgery, and disparities in access to orthopedic care. She is a quarterly columnist on orthopedic ethical issues for the journal of Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. Nationally, she is involved in advocacy work as a delegate to the American Medical Association and Chair of the health policy committee of the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society. Dr. Humbyrd is also the faculty advisor for the Johns Hopkins medical student section of MedChi and the AMA.

Dr. Emily Boss, MD, MPH, FACS, is an Associate Professor of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery and the Department of Health Policy & Management at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. She has an active clinical practice in pediatric otolaryngology. She serves as the Director of Pediatric Surgical Quality and Safety in the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, and is a core faculty member in the Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research and the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality.  Dr. Boss trained at the University of California Los Angeles, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Seattle Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Boss is a nationally known leader of research and activities pertaining to quality, patient experience, health disparities, and outcomes in pediatric surgical care. She has authored more than 70 peer-reviewed publications and is a K08 grantee of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for research evaluating communication, decision-making, and outcomes in pediatric sleep and tonsillectomy.  She is the Chair or member of several major national quality committees for which she has developed quality improvement programs, research agendas, and process and outcome measures for use in clinical health systems. She is a national lecturer on quality of care in pediatrics and surgery.

Dr. Dani Smith is an associate research professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Smith has a background in biopsychology focusing on neurobehavior. With her specific training and expertise in behavioral assays, she examines various aspects of rodent cognition. Her graduate training and postdoc experience trained her to integrate methodological approaches and techniques from a wide range of neuroscience disciplines including behavior, molecular biology, biochemistry, and electrophysiology. She also serves as the faculty major adverse in the Johns Hopkins University Undergraduate Neuroscience program.

Brooke Stanicki is a rising senior pre-med student at Johns Hopkins University, studying Behavioral Biology. Brooke has been an EMT for 6 years in her home state of New Jersey. Although every EMT works with all sorts of calls, she has been working closely with local teenage patients who have struggled with mental health issues. Brooke is the incoming Head Volunteer of Johns Hopkins Hospital Adult Emergency Department volunteering program. She is also the founder of a new nonprofit, Masks for Many, which provides masks for those in nursing homes and soup kitchens in New Jersey and New York City. At Johns Hopkins, Brooke is a varsity athlete on the fencing team, winning the 2020 Conference Championship in Women’s foil. She serves as President of the Eta Epsilon of Kappa Kappa Gamma, an organization that has raised at least $2000 in support of COVID-19 front line workers.

Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones, MD, MPH, PhD, is a family physician and epidemiologist whose work focuses on the impacts of racism on health and well-being. Her research seeks to broaden the national health debate to include the social determinants of health and social determinants of equity along with universal access to high-quality healthcare. Dr. Jones serves as the 2019-2020 Evelyn Green Davis Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University and a Past President of the American Public Health Association. She has been honored with the 2018 Wellesley Alumnae Achievement Award and the John Snow Award for outstanding service to the health of the public through contributions to epidemiology.

Dr. Jacobs specializes in melanoma and breast cancer. Her initial practice was at the University of Missouri at the Ellis Fischel State Cancer Center, which is the designated cancer center for the state. Since joining Johns Hopkins in 2004, she has taken a leadership role regarding clinical research trials for the surgical division of the Johns Hopkins Breast Center. In 2012, Dr. Jacobs established a new breast center at Howard County General Hospital. As director of that program, she treats patients with all types of breast disease and melanoma.

Breast cancer care has been a focus of Dr. Jacobs’ clinical practice since finishing her surgical oncology fellowship. Her primary clinical interest is in improving overall quality of life for breast cancer patients. To achieve that goal, she has initiated research programs in lymphedema and oncoplastic surgery, which attempts to increase the number of women eligible for breast preservation by combining lumpectomy with plastic surgery techniques to reshape the breast. In addition, she has a research funding to investigate a new device that may reduce the number of surgeries required to achieve breast preservation

Dr. Yuri Agrawal, otologist, neruo-otologist, focuses on surgical and medical management of conditions of the ear, hearing loss, impairments in balance function, and inner ear tumors.

Dr. Agrawal's research is directed at studying age-related changes in vestibular function. She employs a combination of vestibular physiologic testing and epidemiologic methods. Dr.  Agrawal's long-term research goals are: 1) to understand the changes in vestibular function that occur with aging, 2) to evaluate the association between changes in vestibular function and clinically significant outcomes in older individuals such as falls, frailty and disability and 3) to apply these insights towards the development of strategies to screen for, prevent and treat vestibular dysfunction and reduce associated adverse outcomes in older individuals.

LaShyra Nolen is a first year medical student and the 2023 class president of Harvard Medical School. LaShyra was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to conduct research in Spain and served as an AmeriCorps Health Educator in Chicago before entering HMS. Compton born-and-raised, LaShyra is a passionate advocate for equity and social justice and intends on obtaining a Master’s of Public Policy in addition to her M.D.

Dr. Adam Milam is a 4^th year Resident in Anesthesiology at Los Angeles Cedar-Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Milam serves as Faculty Associate in the Department of Mental Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. His research focuses on the environmental factors linked to children’s mental and behavioral health. Dr. Milam is recognized for his passionate hard work, through awards such as the Marjorie Edwards Prize for Scholarship and Community Service; and Dean’s Distinguished Leadership Award by Wayne State University.

Dr. Jonathan Forsberg is a orthopaedic oncologist and clinician scientist within the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Johns Hopkins.  He specializes in the treatment of bone and soft tissue sarcomas, as well as metastatic bone disease.  His research interests are geared toward applying machine learning in healthcare and developing next-generation osseointegration techniques for patients living with major limb amputations.    

Dr. Luis Garza MD-PhD is an Associate Professor of Dermatology with secondary appointments in Cell Biology and Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He did his undergraduate work at Cornell University, followed by an MD-PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his dermatology residency at the University of Michigan, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of George Cotsarelis at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Garza’s current research focuses on wound healing and regenerative medicine. His lab is funded by the NIH/NIAMS, the DoD, and Maryland State Stem Cell Fund.

His lab explores regeneration using the skin as their model system. They are inspired by the limb regeneration of a salamander as a clue to therapeutic interventions for fibrosis, one of the larges sources of human morbidity. They focus on two areas. In the first, if mammals cannot regrow an entire appendage, can they regrow a hair follicle mini-appendage? On this they focus on the mechanisms of how dsRNA sensing is a damage-repair response and robustly stimulates regeneration. For the second, they ask-- if they cannot regrow an entire limb in mammals-- can they regrow the pressure-responsive type of skin found at the palms and soles at the stump site of an amputee? For this project they focus on how cell-cell interactions modify tissue identity, and the mechanisms of how cell therapy might modify skin identity in mouse models and FDA approved human trials.”

Dr. Henderson is an Assistant Professor in Ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. She attended medical school at Emory University, completed a Residency in Ophthalmology at the Medical College of Georgia, and completed a Fellowship in Neuro-Ophthalmology at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. In addition to her work as a clinician, she is involved in clinical and translational research, with particular interests in optic neuropathies, specifically non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, and in ophthalmic and neuro-imaging. She has presented nationally and internationally and published in these areas. She also has a particular interest in education, serving as the Neuro-Ophthalmology Fellowship Director and the Education Champion for the Division of Neuro-Ophthalmology at Wilmer and on education-related committees in the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) and the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society (NANOS), and is the recipient of the Helen Iliff Scholar Fund to support the development of resident education.

Max is a Staff Physical Therapist and Athletic Trainer at Mamba Sports Academy. He works in the Integrated Sports Medicine Department treating patients with a variety of orthopedic and sports related diagnoses.

Max graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Athletic training from Northeastern University in Boston. He went on to attend the University of Southern California’s Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy program where he received his Doctorate in Physical Therapy. During his pursuit of his Doctorate of Physical Therapy degree, Max had the opportunity to work in various settings including Neurological rehabilitation, working with patients who had a traumatic brain injury or stroke, outpatient orthopedics and sports medicine. It was his last clinical internship that really sparked a passion to pursue orthopedics and sports medicine physical therapy, when he worked with the Cleveland Indians Major League Baseball team on their rehabilitation staff during spring training of the 2016 season. It was there he developed a passion for treating athletes, an evidence based approach to treatment and the understanding of what it takes to be great at the highest level of sport.

After graduation and prior to working at Mamba Sports Academy Max worked at Primary Care Sports Medicine in Tarzana for 3 years where he treated high school, college and USA track and field Athletes. Max’s background as a Certified Athletic Trainer includes working with high school and college athletes and was on the medical staff for Team USA which competed in the Maccabiah Games in Israel in 2013 and in the Pan American Maccabiah Games in Santiago, Chile in 2015-16. Max is continually attending physical therapy conferences and continuing education courses related to manual therapy techniques, blood flow restriction and the treatment of orthopedic and sports medicine diagnoses.

Max is from Saint Paul, MN where he played basketball, baseball and soccer through high school and went on to play club baseball at Northeastern University where he won a national championship. Max currently lives in West Los Angeles and enjoys spending time with family and friends, playing and watching sports, traveling and enjoying all that LA has to offer.

Dr. Curtiland Deville is an Associate Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He serves as Clinical Director and Chair of Sibley Radiation Oncology and the Associate Director of the Johns Hopkins National Proton Therapy Center.

He is a graduate of Brown University’s combined undergraduate and graduate Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME) and a past Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellow at the Yale Cancer Center. He completed his transitional year internship in internal medicine at Harbor Hospital Center in Baltimore, Maryland, and residency in radiation oncology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he joined the junior faculty as an Assistant Professor and served as clinical Chief of the Genitourinary (GU) and Sarcoma Services in the Department of Radiation Oncology and Roberts Proton Therapy Center.

Dr. Deville’s clinical expertise is in treating patients with soft tissue sarcoma and GU malignancies. His research interests include improving tumor targeting and assessing the toxicity profiles using modern radiation techniques such as proton and photon therapy. He has evaluated the implementation of proton therapy for novel indications such as post-prostatectomy therapy, pencil beam scanning, and plan robustness evaluations. He has co-authored over 80 peer-reviewed publications, including the first paper ever on the clinical use of post-prostatectomy proton therapy and textbook chapters on the use of proton therapy for soft tissue sarcoma and prostate cancer. He is on the research investigative team for the largest national trial comparing proton and photon therapy (COMPPARE), and serves as a Senior GU editor for the journal, Advances in Radiation Oncology.

Dr. Deville also has a research interest in physician workforce diversity in specialties that are disproportionately underrepresented by women and minorities. He serves as the Immediate Past Chair of the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s (ASTRO) Committee on Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, and as the Chair of the American Society for Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) Diversity in Oncology Subcommittee.

Dr. Haris Sair is an Associate Professor in the Johns Hopkins Medicine Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, and the Director of the Division of Neuroradiology. His areas of clinical expertise include functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) of the brain. He also has a faculty appointment in the Malone Center for Engineering in Healthcare at The Whiting School of Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, investigating the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence in imaging.

Dr. Sair earned his M.D. from Duke University School of Medicine. He completed his residency at Temple University Medical Center and performed a fellowship in neuroradiology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA.

Dr. Jacqueline Kikuchi is from Santa Clarita, CA and went to Lafayette College, where she majored in Neuroscience. She then went to Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth on an Army scholarship through the Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) and then completed residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. In July 2019, she came to Johns Hopkins for fellowship in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery. In her free time, she loves hiking, long distance running, cooking, reading, watching movies, and hanging out with her awesome husband (who she met in med school). 

Dr. Ramanathan received his M.D. from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and completed his internship in general surgery and residency in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Johns Hopkins. Upon completion of his residency, he received additional fellowship training in advanced endoscopic sinus and minimally invasive skull base surgery at Johns Hopkins.

He maintains a very busy clinical practice primarily focused on complex revision endoscopic sinus surgery, endoscopic approaches to the orbit (DCR), and the endoscopic management of sinonasal and skull base tumors including inverted papilloma, esthesioneuroblastoma, and pituitary tumors. 

As a surgeon-scientist, Dr. Ramanathan also directs an National Institutes of Health R01 funded laboratory to study the role of air pollution in causing chronic rhinosinusitis. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious research awards and grants. He has published over 70 peer reviewed articles, reviews, and book chapters and is frequently invited to speak about his research at national and international meetings.

Dr. Clarence Lam is a state senator representing District 12 (Baltimore and Howard Counties) in the Maryland General Assembly, where he serves on the Senate Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee. He is currently one of only three doctors in the Maryland legislature. He previously served in the Maryland General Assembly as a state delegate from 2015-2019 and was assigned to the House Appropriations Committee and the Environment & Transportation Committee.

He serves on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health as an assistant scientist in the Department of Health Policy and Management. He leads the school’s preventive medicine residency program as its program director and practices clinically as the medical director of occupational medicine at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

Dr. Lam is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University where he completed his Bachelor of Arts in political science and biology. He earned his medical degree from the University of Maryland and his Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. He completed his residency training at Johns Hopkins, where he also served as chief resident, and is board-certified in preventive medicine.

Lauren Small is a writer and novelist with a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature. She holds an appointment as assistant professor in pediatrics in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she directs AfterWards, a program in narrative medicine.

In addition to narrative medicine, Small has strong interests in social justice and the history of psychiatry. She has published two novels and is co-author of a handbook on writing. She has also written numerous articles, essays, short stories, and profiles. She has contributed to the “On Being” blog of American Public Radio, is co-author of two research articles on narrative medicine, and is a Pushcart Prize nominee.

Small has presented her work at numerous regional and national conferences. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Dr. Christmas is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Divisions of Geriatric Medicine and General Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins. She is a practicing geriatrician, focusing her clinical work in primary care of the elderly. She is a clinician educator and the director of the Primary Care Leadership Track at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, an avid runner, and the proud mother of two amazing teens.

Dr. Rachel Aaron is an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. She is a clinical psychologist by training and specializes in Rehabilitation Psychology. Dr. Aaron works with patients who have chronic pain and other medical conditions (chronic disease, illness, injury) that impact physical functioning to live a value-driven life despite impairment. Her research, which has been funded by prestigious awards and national fellowships, examines the role of emotional factors, such as emotion regulation, that contribute to the development and maintenance of chronic pain. Her research also involves developing and testing chronic pain interventions using novel approaches and design.

Rachel Hisim, CRNP, is a nurse practitioner working in the Johns Hopkins Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.  

Robert Wardlow is a graduating MD/PhD Candidate at JHUSOM. He will be matching into Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery. He is originally from southern New Jersey and earned his B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).

Marisa M. Clifton M.D, F.A.C.S. is an Assistant Professor of Urology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and serves as the Urology Residency Program Director and the Director of Robotic Education. She is also the Vice Chair for Safety and Quality for the Department of Urology. She is Director of Women’s Health at the Brady Urological Institute and is fellowship trained and board certified in Urology with subspecialty certification in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery.

Dr. Clifton received her medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed her residency in urology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She completed her fellowship in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery at The Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. Her research interests include medical education and clinical outcomes after surgery.

Dr. Brian Holly is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology and Division of Interventional Radiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed his medical school and residency at the University of Maryland Medical Center and later completed a fellowship in Interventional Radiology at Johns Hopkins. He is the Director of the Johns Hopkins IVC Filter Clinic and the Program Director for the Residency in Vascular and Interventional Radiology. His current interests include vascular malformations, venous thromboembolic disease, complex IVC filter retrievals, adrenal vein sampling, prostate artery embolization and clinical education in Interventional Radiology.

Dr. Chisolm attended the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) for her undergraduate degree, where she studied Visual Arts, with a concentration in Film. She studied medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and completed residency training in general psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM).

Board-certified in both general psychiatry and addiction medicine, Dr. Chisolm has over 3 decades of clinical experience in these fields. In addition, she has served as PI or co-investigator on multiple nationally funded research projects, and has published over 80 scientific, clinical, and medical education papers on psychiatric disorders and humanistic medical practice, as well as articles (and one book) on the use of social media in medicine, several book chapters, and a psychiatric textbook.

Dr. Chisolm is currently the Vice Chair for Education for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at JHUSOM. Last year, she completed a fellowship in art museum-based health professions education at the Harvard Macy Institute, and is currently piloting an elective at the Baltimore Museum of Art for fourth year medical students at Johns Hopkins focused on the ‘big questions’: what it means to be human, to be a physician, and to lead a good life (for doctors and patients). Dr. Chisolm has also developed an app (Bedside Education in the Art of Medicine [BEAM]), which allows busy clinical teachers to use paintings and poems to reflect on the human experience of illness with their patients and learners in the hospital.

Dr. Katarzyna Macura is a professor of Radiology and Radiological Science at Johns Hopkins Medicine. She is also a professor in the Department of Urology and Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and an active member of the Johns Hopkins Precision Medicine Center of Excellence for Prostate Cancer. With board certification in diagnostic radiology, her clinical experience focuses on magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, and ultrasound. She served as president of the American Association for Women in Radiology in 2005 and Maryland Radiological Society which is the Maryland Chapter of American College of Radiology between 2013 and 2015. She is Immediate Past Chair of the ACR Commission for Women and Diversity, and currently serves as Vice-President of the American College of Radiology. 

Victoria Sinibaldi CRNP is a Nurse practitioner Research Associate in the division of Medical Oncology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, specializing in genitourinary malignancies including testis, bladder, kidney and prostate cancers.  She is involved with the medical management of these patients offering standard of care therapies as well as clinical trial therapies.

Justin M. Sacks, MD MBA is an Associate Professor in the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Currently, he is the Vice-Chair of Clinical Operations and the Director of Oncological Reconstruction within the Department. A microvascular surgeon and basic science researcher, he conducts investigation on tolerance strategies for vascularized composite allografts, such as hand, face and abdominal wall transplants to ameliorate the need for long-term systemic immunosuppression. In addition, he conducts transformative research studying vascular perfusion and tissue engineering. He is the Co-Founder of LifeSprout a Johns Hopkins Biotech Start-Up that is creating state-of-the-art soft tissue scaffolds for reconstruction of the human form. In February of 2020 he will take on the position of Shoenberg Professor of Surgery, Chief of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri part of BJC Health Care.

Dr. Pablo Celnik is director of the Johns Hopkins Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) and physiatrist-in-chief at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is a professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, neurology, and neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He serves as vice chair for research in the PM&R department, medical director of the outpatient neurorehabilitation program, and director of the Human Brain Physiology and Stimulation Laboratory. He is internationally-recognized for his expertise and research in neurologic rehabilitation, particularly with stroke and traumatic brain injury. Dr. Celnik has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers.

Errol L. Bush, M.D., FACS, is a thoracic surgeon and surgical director of the Advanced Lung Disease and Lung Transplant Program for the Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Transplant Center. He also serves as director of the Ex vivo Lung Perfusion Program (EVLP). Dr. Bush specializes in the surgical treatment of chronic and end stage lung diseases, as well as benign (non-cancerous) and malignant (cancerous) diseases and lesions of the chest. His research interests include investigations of outcomes and health disparities related to lung cancer, lung transplant and ECMO patients. Dr. Bush is currently leading several open clinical trials.

Dr. Grace Chen MD MHS is an associate professor at Johns Hopkins specializing in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery. She leads the Johns Hopkins University Global Health Leadership Program and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Global Health Leadership Track. The former is an interprofessional global health experience for medical, nursing, and public health students while the latter is a longitudinal track for medical students pursuing leadership roles in global health. In addition to clinical and surgical responsibilities, Dr. Chen incorporates educating students, residents, and fellows into her practice. She believes this not only sustains the future of gynecology but also furthers the understanding of pelvic floor disorders. Dr. Chen is also active in research with over 80 publications in obstetric fistula and other pelvic floor disorders, global health education, and surgical skills assessment and education. She has lead research and education programs and worked with local health ministries and agencies such as UNFPA on initiatives aimed at caring for patients with pelvic floor disorders in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. 

Geoff Dreher, DO is an associate professor of orthopaedics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.  He is a primary care sports medicine physician, board certified in family medicine with a certificate of added qualification in sports medicine.  He is also an associate team physician for Johns Hopkins athletics.  

Dr. Romo is currently a clinical and research neuro-oncology fellow at the joint Johns Hopkins/NIH fellowship program. He received his medical degree at the Tec de Monterrey School of Medicine and then went on to complete a one-year training program on clinical research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in the Department of Leukemia. He then completed his internship and residency training in neurology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. After his Chief Resident year, Dr. Romo joined the Johns Hopkins/NIH fellowship in neuro-oncology and is currently on his third and last year of training. His areas of research interest include early phase clinical trials for the treatment of primary tumors affecting the central nervous system and evaluating methods to improve the delivery of chemotherapy through the blood-brain barrier. He is actively involved in the education of medical students and is the assistant director of the Pre-Doc Neurology program for undergraduate students interested in a career in healthcare.

Dr. Pahwa is an assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He received his MD from University of Alabama School of Medicine in 2006. He then completed a residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine in 2010. Since then he has been a faculty member at JHUSOM. At JHUSOM he holds a few educational leadership roles including director of a high value care course for first year medical students, director of the health system science core them, associate director of the pediatrics clerkship, and director of the advanced clerkship in medicine.

Much of his education efforts have been incorporating high value care education in medical school which has been recognized by awards from Clerkship Directors of Internal Medicine and High Value Practice Academic Alliance.  Clinically he works as a hospitalist on both the internal medicine and pediatric wards. He is the Physician Lead for the High Value Care Committee for the Johns Hopkins Health System and has led many efforts to reduce unnecessary testing on patients on the internal medicine wards.

Dr. Scholz is a neurologist and neurogeneticist specialized in movement disorders. She received her medical degree from the Medical University Innsbruck, Austria. Following graduation, she was a post-doctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health under Drs. Andrew Singleton and John Hardy. She obtained a Ph.D. in neurogenomics from the University College London, UK in 2010. She then moved to complete her neurology residency at Johns Hopkins. In 2015, Dr. Scholz received the McFarland Transition to Independence award for Neurologist-Scientists. She is an assistant clinical investigator at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NIND). Her lab focuses on identifying genetic causes of neurodegenerative diseases, such as dementia with Lewy bodies, multiple system atrophies, and frontotemporal dementia.

Dr. Salas attended St. Mary’s University in San Antonio where she received a B.S. in biology. She then went on to earn her medical degree at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston where she also completed her medical internship and Neurology residency. After her Chief Resident year, Dr. Salas completed a two-year Sleep Medicine fellowship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. 

​Dr. Rachel Salas' primary area of research interest involves exploring the underlying mechanisms of sleep and chronic sleep disorders such as insomnia and Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS). More specifically, her long-term goal is to better understand changes in cortical activity associated with insomnia and RLS, in order to improve treatment for these conditions.

​In addition to her clinical research, Dr. Salas is involved in medical student, resident, and fellow education and currently serves as the Co-Director of the Neurology Core Clerkship for Medical Students and is the Co-Director for the Neurology Resident and Neurophysiology Fellow JHH Sleep Rotation. She is particularly interested in enhancing sleep education at all levels.

Dr. Roy Strowd is a board-certified neurologist, specialty trained neuro-oncologist, clinician educator, and translational researcher. He is an Assistant Professor of Neurology and Internal Medicine (Section on Hematology and Oncology) at the Wake Forest School of Medicine and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. As a clinician-scientist with a background in neuroscience, neurology, and neuro-oncology, he is interested in exploring the unique aspects of the nervous system’s structure and function to optimally improve outcomes for patients with nervous system neoplasms and/or nervous system complications of systemic cancer therapy. As a medical educator, his interests are in career and pipeline development in the training of healthcare professionals. He is co-Director of the Wake Forest (WF) Summer Immersion Medicine Institute for high school students, serves as faculty advisor of the WF medical student Navigating Medical School and JH undergraduate Pre-Doc programs. He also Directs the WF Health Professions Education Institute for career development of clinician educator and is passionate about developing the next generation of triple threat clinicians.

Dr. Zachary Berger is an associate professor in the Johns Hopkins Division of General Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. Dr. Berger also serves joint appointment in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Berger's clinical, educational, and research work focuses on the intersection of shared decision making, evidence-based medicine, and patient-center care. Dr. Begers works to understand the patient-physician relationship through the lenses of social and political inequities of our health system. Dr. Berger is Core Faculty in the Berman Institute of Bioethics, Evidence-Based Practice Center, and the Center for Health Services and Outcomes research. We are excited to feature his perspective on career paths in medicine and bioethics! 

Roger D. Peng is a Professor of Biostatistics at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where his research focuses on the development of statistical methods for addressing environmental health problems. He is also a co-founder of the Johns Hopkins Data Science Specialization, the Simply Statistics blog where he writes about statistics for the general public, the Not So Standard Deviations podcast with Hilary Parker, and The Effort Report podcast with Elizabeth Matsui. He is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and is the recipient of the 2016 Mortimer Spiegelman Award from the American Public Health Association, which honors a statistician who has made outstanding contributions to public health. Roger can be found on Twitter and GitHub at @rdpeng.

Emily Kluck is a surgical physician assistant (PA-C) who completed a Master of Science in physician assistant studies at King’s College and then graduated from the Postgraduate Surgical Residency for Physician Assistants at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2007. Since then, she has worked in the Division of Thoracic Surgery and the Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy, where she currently aids in patient care. Check out her perspective on the physician assistant career path!

Dr. Carolyn B Sufrin is an obstetrician/gynecologist who focuses on family planning and general obstetrics and gynecologic care. After receiving her medical degree at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, she completed her residency at the Magee-Women's Hospital of University of Pittsburg Medical Center, followed with a fellowship in family planning at University of California, San Francisco. She obtained a Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology from the University of California, San Francisco. In 2017 Dr. Sufrin published Jailcare: Finding the Safety Net for Women Behind Bars. She is an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. As well as being a board member of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, she is a fellow on the American on the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and of the Society of Family Planning. 

Dr. Adam Kaplin is a neuropsychiatrist and serves as the principle psychiatric consultant to the Johns Hopkins Multiple Sclerosis and Transverse Myelitis Centers at Johns Hopkins. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees after completing the Medical Scientist Training Program at Hopkins, where he subsequently completed a residency in psychiatry. Dr. Kaplin's research focuses on the biological basis of affective disorders in autoimmune diseases of the central nervous system, such as depression as a symptom of multiple sclerosis. We are very excited to feature his perspectives on career paths in medicine and the mind-brain sciences! 

Vivian Nguyen is finishing up her third year at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and plans on applying for residency in Ob/Gyn. She graduated from Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University as a first-generation student, with degrees in Biological Sciences and Psychology. Vivian has served as a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow with the Mayo Clinic researching the role of interleukin-9 in a tumor setting. Outside of the lab, she made a commitment to action with the Clinton Global Initiative with her non-profit organization, The Honorable Force, to provide customized mentorship and career development for individuals with disabilities. At Johns Hopkins, Vivian was President of Medical Students for Choice and The Women’s Health Interest Group, where she developed an inaugural Shadowing Program to help provide a relaxed environment where students could explore the breadth and depth of Ob/Gyn. Lastly she enjoys volunteering in the Baltimore community through her work as Clinical Director of the Charm City Care Connection and Leader of the Community Care Initiative.

Jeremy Applebaum is a third-year medical student at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with undergraduate degrees in chemistry and biomedical engineering. Though applying for residency in obstetrics and gynecology, his research thus far has focused on communication disorders of older adults and how the aging ear and larynx contribute to quality-of-life handicap. He is also interested in medical education and participates in the Medical Student Senate and various peer advising organizations.

Aravind Krishnan is a third-year medical student at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He proudly graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a BA in Biophysics in 2015 and spent a gap year working in the Medical Affairs Department of Johns Hopkins Hospital with Dr. Redonda Miller before starting medical school. He will be pursuing residency in Cardiothoracic Surgery upon graduation from medical school, with the hopes of focusing his career on heart and lung transplantation, and mechanical circulatory support. Aravind is passionate about research and education and finds that investigation is one of the most gratifying components of a medical career; thus, he will pursue an academic career path. His current research focuses on clinical outcomes after cardiac and thoracic surgery, as well as the development of novel immunosuppressive regimens for preventing transplant rejection. He is passionate about mentorship, and is always looking for ways to encourage interest and success in medicine.

Ruoxi Yu is a medical student at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where she is a member of the Primary Care Leadership Track. She attended Yale University where she received a B.A. in Anthropology. Her previous areas of research focused on the lived experiences of women undergoing fertility treatment, in particular in vitro fertilization and egg freezing. 

Lisa is a medical student at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She previously received her undergraduate degrees in Business Administration and Molecular and Cell Biology (Infectious Diseases) from University of California, Berkeley. She is interested in pursuing a career in otolaryngology and is currently actively involved in research in the field. When she’s not training to be a future doctor, she can be found camping in cafes around Baltimore or planning out another food adventure.

Sophia Diaz is a third year medical student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and CBID (Center for Bioengineering Innovation & Design) Masters of Engineering candidate for the 2019-2020 school year. Sophia was born and raised in Miami, FL, and graduated from Brown University in 2014 with a Bachelors of Science in Biology with the advanced track in Biotechnology & Physiology. Her research experiences have ranged from studying biochemical pathways in satiety and hunger in animal models and in vitro settings, using stem cell organoid culture to study colitis-associated cancer cells, and using flow cytometry and tissue/blood processing techniques to find predictive biomarkers of drug response in IBD patients, to history of medicine research on over-the-counter DNA-related health and beauty products. Her other passions include participating in leadership and activities within the JHU-SOM chapters of SNMA and LMSA; art, design, music, dance, education and mentorship, women in STEM, and volunteering/advocating for minority youth in STEM.

Tejus Pradeep is a third year medical student at Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine. He was born in Trivandrum, India and moved to the United States at the age of 7. He is originally from Basking Ridge, NJ and graduated from Rutgers University in 2016 with a double major in Cell Biology and Neuroscience, and Psychiatry. He is currently interested in pursuing a career in the field of ophthalmology, and is interested in research questions about visuospatial memory and tracking eye patterns in various health states. 

Joshua Y.C. Yang, M.Eng. is a MD-PhD student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as part of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) in the Department of Bioengineering and an MBA student at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He is also a co-founder of KIT Bio, Inc., a biotech startup that has raised $3.8 million to develop noninvasive diagnostics for kidney injury detection. Prior to medical school, he attended UC San Diego on a full-ride through the Jacobs School Scholarship and completed a Masters degree in Translational Medicine jointly offered at UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley. With business, medical, and bioengineering backgrounds, he interfaces between these different realms to push the boundaries of how noninvasive, point-of-care technology can change clinical management paradigms and provide access to care to those traditionally underserved.

Lochan Shah is a medical student at Johns Hopkins passionate about the intersection of medicine, technology, and public health, and the potential for technology to improve healthcare delivery as well as patient safety and outcomes. She graduated from UC Berkeley, where she double-majored in Public Health and Molecular & Cellular Biology. At Hopkins, Lochan has led a student health consultant team in using EDCAHPS data to inform operational changes in the Johns Hopkins Hospital Emergency Department. Additionally, she has been engaged with the Martin Research Group in the development of Corrie, a digital health intervention that incorporates an iOS app, Bluetooth-enabled blood pressure cuff, and Apple Watch to guide patients through recovery after acute myocardial infarction with the goal of reducing 30-day readmission rates. Her research interests include understanding how digital health interventions can be used to empower patients, reduce healthcare costs, and improve clinical outcomes, the usability and feasibility of such interventions, and the barriers to bringing them into everyday practice. Ultimately, she hopes to leverage these experiences as well as a career as a future cardiologist to help bridge the gap between clinicians, patients, technology, and the greater healthcare system to improve healthcare.

Joshua Prudent  is a 4th-year medical student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who matched into pediatrics at Nationwide Children's Hospital in 2019. He grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he double-majored in Integrative Biology and Molecular & Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Before medical school, Josh spent two years working in the production lab of a genetic screening company and TA-ing an Organic Chemistry lab course at UC Berkeley. During his medical school education, he has been involved actively involved in community youth education and mentorship, URM recruitment, peer medical education, interest group leadership, and medical student government, and took a year away from his medical education to do pediatric oncology research. Joshua is pursuing a career as a pediatric oncologist, and hopes to become an exceptional clinician researcher and medical educator at an academic center.

Nicholas Rowan is an otolaryngologist with fellowship training in rhinology and endoscopic skull base surgeries. He is a graduate of Pepperdine University and obtained his medical doctorate from Rutgers: New Jersey Medical School. Dr. Rowan completed residency training in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and then concluded his surgical training at the Medical University of South Carolina in advanced rhinology and endoscopic skull base surgery. Dr. Rowan is an active academic surgeon and an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. In addition to resident and fellow surgical training, Dr. Rowan is actively involved in rhinologic and skull base outcomes research, as well as clinical trial programs for patients with chronic rhinosinusitis. He has a special clinical and academic interest in smell and taste function and its role in patient quality of life.

Lauren Claus is a medical student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Originally from Massachusetts, she received a BA in English from Harvard University, where she co-founded the Medical Humanities Forum. She was a columnist for The Crimson and her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in publications such as Briar Cliff Review, Two Hawks Review, and Zone 3. Her research interests include surgeon-family communication, surgical ethics, and dermatological disorders.

Andrea Cox is currently a Professor of Medicine, Oncology, and Immunology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.  She earned her Ph.D. studying T cell immunology at The University of Virginia. She subsequently completed an M.D. and then Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease training at Johns Hopkins. As a member of the Viral Hepatitis Center in the Division of Infectious Diseases, she specializes in the treatment of patients with hepatitis virus infections and HIV. Her laboratory investigates human immune responses to HCV, HBV, and HIV, including mechanisms through which these chronic viral infections stimulate and evade immune responses, and in HCV vaccine development. She has been an active participant in clinical trials of direct-acting antivirals for the treatment of HCV, is a principal investigator on the first prophylactic HCV vaccine trial ever implemented in an at-risk population, and is the lead immunologist on an ACTG trial of HBV vaccines in HIV infected patients.  She is dedicated to mentoring the next generation of physician scientists; directing the Johns Hopkins Medical Scientist Training Program since 2013, teaching immunology, and actively mentoring medical and graduate students, residents, and fellows.  She is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society.