Alumni Awards

Somaya Albhaisi, MD, MPH ‘22

Assistant Professor of Medicine, VCU

Outstanding Recent Graduate Award

Somaya Albhaisi is an early career physician-scientist, an Assistant Professor of Medicine, an academic hospitalist, and an aspiring hepatologist-social entrepreneur in the Department of Internal Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Her research focuses on the epidemiology, prevention, and treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis cirrhosis. 

During her first 3 years as faculty, she produced over 24 publications that received more than 400 citations. She received several academic awards, including the Emerging Liver Scholar Award from the American Association for Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) in 2019, and getting inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi Honorary Society in 2022, and the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health in 2023. She is an active member of major national GI and Liver societies, the Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis Clinical Research Network (NASH CRN) and the Alcoholic Hepatitis Network (AlcHepNet) of the NIH. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led an initiative to establish a COVID-19 registry with biorepository to become the Founding Director of VCU’s first institutional COVID-19 biorepository, named VCU Registry of SARS-CoV-2 (VCU-RS). She received multiple internal grants from the Wright Center and the Health Innovation Consortium to fund the registry. Serving as the principal investigator of the COVID-19 registry has allowed her to collaborate widely with many researchers in VCU and outside of VCU in order to yield high impact studies that could potentially make positive changes to treatment of patients with COVID-19 infection. In addition, she participated as a key co-investigator in several COVID-19 clinical trials at national and institutional levels.

Shelly Choo, MD ’11 (SOM), MPH ’14

Director, Bureau of Maternal and Child Health, Maryland Department of Health

Community Champion Award

Shelly Choo, MD ‘11, MPH ’14, is a champion for families of Baltimore City and the state of Maryland. During her time as Senior Medical Advisor for the B’More Healthy Babies Initiative, Dr. Choo led infant sleep training for families and she managed provider outreach efforts to ensure clinicians caring for families and babies in the area had access to B’More Healthy Babies resources, contributing to a 32% decline in infant death in Baltimore City.  

As Chief Medical Officer for the Baltimore City Health Department, she led multiple population health initiatives such as the Accountable Health Communities Initiatives (AHC) and the Levels of Care for Baltimore City Hospitals to Respond to the Opioid Epidemic. After Dr. Choo’s incredible work with the Baltimore City community, she began work as the Director of the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health (MCH) at the Maryland Department of Health. In this role her expertise and vision can extend to families across Maryland, where she manages multiple essential services such as the Maryland Title V program, Family Planning, Women Infant and Children initiatives (WIC), and home visiting.  

Shelly Choo has been saving lives in Baltimore City and across the state of Maryland for nearly a decade, leading to recognition as a 2023 40 under 40 in Public Health by the de Beaumont Foundation. Her work impacts families and communities in all stages of life, and the thoughtful and evidence-based approaches she brings have resulted in an increase in community access to resources and knowledge.

Mary Cwik, PhD, MA, BA ’95 (KSAS)

Senior Scientist, Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health

Distinguished Alumna Award

Dr. Cwik is an Associate Director of Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health and Senior Scientist in the Department of International Health at BSPH. 

Since completing her post-doctoral training in youth suicide prevention at JHSOM Department of Psychiatry, she has applied her skills and humanitarian compassion to developing, promoting and scaling public health innovations to prevent youth suicide in communities suffering the highest inequities in the U.S., American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) populations. Suicide is now the second leading cause of death for Americans ages 10-34, with startling increases over the past decade in youth deaths. Indigenous youth suffer the largest health disparities and are experiencing increasing inequity gaps since the COVID-19 pandemic compared to other U.S. youth. Dr. Cwik’s work brings hope.  

Dr. Cwik’s contributions to overcoming youth suicide inequities include: 1) Working with the White Mountain Apache Tribe since 2008 to develop, implement and evaluate the first of its kind tribally mandated suicide surveillance and case management system. Dr. Cwik provided 24-hour clinical support to local Apache case managers during the project’s implementation period. 2) Proving and publishing (lead author) in the American Journal of Public Health that the Apache suicide prevention system resulted in a 38% reduction in suicide deaths and 53% reduction in suicide attempts during a time when suicide was increasing among other AIAN and U.S. youth populations. 3) Leading her team in winning national recognition for the suicide prevention system from Indian Health Service, American Academy of Child Psychiatry and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA); 4) Mentoring and promoting career development among two White Mountain Apache behavioral health specialists who work for JHU, who have received Masters and Doctoral degrees over the past 10 years, and now clinically oversee the suicide prevention program locally; 5) Winning new grants in the past five years to scale the suicide prevention program to more than 10 new tribal communities across the U.S. One of these grants included a $500,000 “high impact” investment from the JHSPH’s Bloomberg American Health Initiative. 6) Providing senior consultation to the state of Maryland and national agencies, on regional and national suicide prevention.

John Francis, MPH/MBA ‘06

Project Manager, Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme, WHO

Global Achievement Award

John Francis, MPH/MBA ’06 has spent the past 15 years supporting and leading multiple public health initiatives both domestically in the United States and internationally. During his almost 12 years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mr. Francis led multiple branch projects on the development and use of public health programs and data analytics, prevention research, and advancing evidence-based practices. 

In his role as Deputy Branch Chief, Country Strategy and Implementation Branch for the Division of Global Health Protection, he led conversations with local and global partners to improve health security globally. His work influenced support of the COVID-19 International Taskforce in 2020, the E-cigarette Lung Injury response in 2019, and the Ebola Vaccine Trial in 2015.  His broad work and influence with the CDC prepared him to take on the role of Project Manager, Malaria Vaccines Team for the World Health Organization (WHO) in the fall of 2020. Mr. Francis’s work on the Malaria Vaccine Team is a vital part of ensuring the vaccine is shared with priority communities in a timely manner to prevent hospitalizations and deaths. 

Mr. Francis regularly serves as a mentor to current MPH students, where he helps students understand how to make the most of their year-long program according to their goals, ensure experiences are enhancing their education, and provided feedback and guidance on navigating the job hunt and career path.

Shannon Frattaroli, PhD ’99, MPH ‘94

Director, Center for Injury Research and Policy

Distinguished Alumna Award

Shannon Frattaroli, PhD ’99, MPH ’94, is a nationally recognized injury prevention researcher with a special focus on gun violence prevention. Her work has directly influenced federal and state policy around research and violence prevention, including crucial research on reducing the threat of gun violence. 

In response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, CT in 2012, Shannon Frattaroli and her colleague Josh Horwitz assembled the Consortium for Risk-Based Firearm Policy, a multidisciplinary group of experts, to develop evidence-based policy recommendations for gun violence prevention. The work Dr. Frattaroli led at the Consortium is the foundation for her work in the development of Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) laws. Dr. Frattaroli has been able to continue her groundbreaking research with ERPO laws through a high impact project with the Bloomberg American Health Initiative where she has advocated for enabling clinicians to be able to petition for ERPOs, using ERPOs to prevent teen suicide, research ERPO policies and the implementation process, and the impact of COVID-19 on gun violence. 

She also serves as Director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy and she helped develop the policy track and co-directs the Health Policy and Management DrPH degree program. Dr. Frattaroli’s contribution and leadership in the violence prevention field is changing the way the nation is thinking about its injury and violence prevention policies. Her work is saving lives in families, communities, and across the country.    

Brante Goode, MPH ‘02

Epidemiologist, CDC

Public Service Award

Since graduating from Hopkins BSPH in 2002, CAPT Goode has been an unwavering force in the field of public health through his dedication to mentorship and leadership at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He began his CDC when he entered a two-year Fellowship with the elite Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) program in 2004 – At the time, an honor rarely afforded to nurses. 

After completing his EIS Fellowship, CAPT Goode joined the Career Epidemiology Field Officer (CEFO) program. This CDC program places federal public health professionals with epidemiology and emergency preparedness skills at state and local health jurisdictions around the US. CAPT Goode’s dedication to public health has taken him across the US. From 2006-2015, he served as the CDC CEFO in North Carolina, Hawaii, and Vermont. While his assignments had him crisscrossing the US, the impact of CAPT Goode’s service has extended far beyond US borders. He responded to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, the 2014-15 West African Ebola outbreak, and since 2020 he’s supported the CDC’s all-encompassing response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, including a 2021 deployment providing vital healthcare to unaccompanied minors arriving at the US-Mexico border. 

Since 2015, CAPT Goode has served as Deputy Branch Chief of the CDC Field Assignee Services Branch, overseeing the daily activities of 50+ CEFOs assigned to 48 jurisdictions and 2 international posts.

Atul Grover, MD, PhD ‘04

Executive Director, Research and Action Institute, Association of American Medical Colleges

Distinguished Alumnus Award

Atul Grover, MD, PhD ’04 is an internal medicine physician, health services researcher, and nationally recognized expert in health policy whose advocacy work transcends political lines - improving individual health and our healthcare system through his work to redefine health policy issues and highlight meaningful solution.

As the inaugural executive director of the Research and Action Institute at Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), he works to develop policy and programmatic solutions, then harnesses the power of the AAMC’s member schools, teaching hospitals and academic health systems, and academic societies to test, validate, and scale effective change.

Through his work across the health policy field, he identified a significant gap—the translation of scientific research toward actionable, accessible language that can be easily understood by a large audience. As a featured contributor to USA Today and Health Affairs, Dr. Grover has worked to reduce the public’s knowledge gap through more accessible language, applying this approach to several public health issues including challenges associated with the response to COVID-19 and an examination on why the U.S. spends so much on healthcare.

During the AAMC Research and Action Institute’s Learn Serve Lead 2023 Conference, Dr. Grover and colleagues discussed health policy priorities including rural health and mental health access, identifying clear problems, and exploring viable federal policy solutions in the present political and economic climate. Through this large-scale capacity building effort, Dr. Grover has made a nation-wide impact - analyzing problems in healthcare, identifying what is actionable, and building capacity to implement solutions. 

Jacqueline Hackett, MPH ‘19

Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of National Drug Control Policy, The White House

Public Service Award

Jacqueline Hackett, MPH ’19, is a lifelong advocate for policy solutions to combat drug addiction on the national stage. 

Since 2011 has worked tirelessly for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), a component of the Executive Office of the President, where she coordinates the strategy addressing the addiction and overdose epidemic present in communities around the country. In this role, Ms. Hackett oversees a budget of approximately $43 billion and she is responsible for the development and implementation the National Drug Control Strategy. As part of this strategy she also ensures hundreds of millions of dollars are provided to community programs such as the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program and the Drug-Free Communities Program. Ms. Hackett has been able to work with both Republican and Democratic administrations, Federal partners, state and local governments, law enforcement, and substance use disorder advocacy organizations to create evidence-based legislation and policy that can address the epidemic both nationally and in individual states. 

Her research on the importance of community support as a crucial pillar of addiction recovery directly influenced the ONDCP, where they are currently expanding the Peer Recovery Support Services. Ms. Hackett is a global leader in the drug control policy space and has represented the United States to the World Health Organization and Organization of American States on multiple issues of substance use policy and health.

Chandresh Harjivan, PharmD, MPH ‘99, MBA

Special Assistant to the Presdent, Domestic Preparedness and Response to Biological Threats, The White House

Distinguished Alumnus Award

Chandresh Harjivan, PharmD, MPH ’99, MBA is a well-respected public health leader and innovator with experience working across multiple types of organizations including pharmaceutical and health care industries, the public sector, and now the United States government. 

Dr. Harjivan’s wealth of experience allows him to work within key stakeholders’ needs to align requirements, set priorities, and define core capabilities, ultimately transforming and growing organizations in the public health space. He has advised companies, multilateral NGOs, and governments on crucial issues in global health and security, including understanding the epidemiology of existing and emerging diseases, the development and delivery of technologies against those diseases—whether new diagnostics, drugs, vaccines, or digital tools—as well as on advising where to make healthcare investments.  

Dr. Harjivan is a co-founder of SaponiQx, a bio-pharmaceutical company where the focus is on technology that has the potential to dramatically change how vaccines are created and extend the average vaccine lifespan thereby improving access, reducing cost, and saving more lives. 

In October of 2023, Dr. Harjivan was appointed to the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, Dr. Harjivan contributes to the Administration’s response to public health threats with pandemic potential and strengthens domestic pandemic preparedness. His work primarily focuses on the oversight of interagency research & development, diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics policy, supply chain, and plans & exercises.

Martha Hill, PhD ‘86, MSN, BSN, RN

Dean Emerita, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing

Heritage Award

Martha Hill served as dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing from 2001 until early 2014 and has been a member of the faculty since the school was established in 1983. As an educator, she is known for her mentorship of students and faculty members; as a researcher, for her investigations in preventing and treating hypertension and its complications, particularly among young, urban African-American men and the effectiveness of nurse-run clinics. 

Her expertise in community-based participatory research focuses on the integration of multi-professional health care to improve treatment and outcomes for vulnerable and underserved populations. She has been an active investigator, mentor, and consultant on numerous National Institutes of Health-funded clinical trials and is recognized around the globe for her research projects including “Comprehensive HBP Care for Young Urban Black Men,” “Barriers to HBP Care and Control in Black South Africans,” and “Research Training in Health Disparities in Underserved Populations.” Dr. Hill is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) and serves on its health sciences policy board. 

Dr. Hill previously served on the IOM Council and the Board of Directors of Research! America. From 1997-1998, Dr. Hill served as president of the American Heart Association, the first non-physician to be named to that position. She is a professor of nursing, medicine, and public health.

Lillian Kidane, MPH ‘07

Partner and Regional Director, Africa at Dalberg Advisors

Heritage Award

Lillian Kidane, MPH ’07 is a powerful public health force working across continents and with stakeholders in multiple industries to provide resources for individuals and communities to reach their full potential through educational opportunities, dignified work, and community healthcare initiatives. 

Ms. Kidane understands economic growth is an imperative part of healthy communities, and her recent work supporting both Ethiopia’s Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Innovation and Technology have placed Ethiopia on the path towards ensuring steady, inclusive, and equitable growth specifically through the development of the country’s first-ever digital transformation roadmap in support of the country’s target to reach low middle-income status by 2025. Ms. Kidane currently serves as Partner and Regional Director, Africa at Dalberg Advisors. Ms. Kidane knows the African continent is in many ways leading the global movement towards sustainable development and now is the time to pursue people-centric systemic change in climate resilience, healthcare accessibility and quality, and digital enablement. Lillian Kidane is a champion for global meaningful impact. 

She has previously served as senior advisor to the COVID Vaccine Delivery Partnership in Geneva, where she oversaw vaccine allocation and distribution across the globe during the pandemic. She opened and operated the first direct commercial office for General Electric (GE) in Ethiopia, overseeing GE investment across Africa including innovations for the local workforce. She has been featured in African Shapers and is regularly consulted for her expertise across multiple geographic regions and industries.