Student Profiles: Fifth Class 2005 - 2006
Julie Allen graduated valedictorian of the 2004 class at University of California , Santa Barbara with a B.M. in Flute Performance. While at UCSB Julie served as the Outreach Intern and a Health Educator at Student Health, an Honors Program Mentor, and an officer of the Regent's and Chancellor's Scholars Society. She is most proud of her work with the non-profit organization Adventures in Caring, which trains volunteers in Therapeutic Listening Care to visit patients while dressed as Raggedy Ann and Andy. Julie was recipient of the Thomas Storke Award, the highest honor for academic excellence and service to the community; she was also voted Outstanding Graduating Senior by the Music Department faculty. In 2001 she underwent brain surgery to remove an acoustic neuroma, which left Julie deaf in one ear. Inspired by superb medical care, she decided to pursue a career as a physician after completing her formal flute studies. After graduation, Julie spent time in Guatemala studying medical Spanish and culture. She plans to continue collaboration with Adventures in Caring to promote a teaching model for compassion in healthcare settings. She continues to play the flute and sings in Unified Voices, the gospel choir at Johns Hopkins Hospital . Julie recently began her medical studies through the linkage arrangement the Post-Bac Program has with the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Ryan Antiel graduated magna cum laude from Taylor University in 2005 with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Biology. He was the recipient of the Vickie George Psychology award given to one psychology student per class. Ryan spent a semester studying abroad in the Republic of Ireland during his sophomore year. While in college Ryan spent time exploring the medical field by shadowing several physicians at Minneapolis Children's Hospital, Riley's Children Hospital , and the Mayo Clinic Rochester. He was involved in research while at Taylor in both psychology and molecular biology. He presented his research findings at the APA Midwest conference his junior year. He has spent the past two summers researching with the Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at the Mayo Clinic Rochester and working as a landscape designer on the side. Ryan also continues to coach youth soccer during the summers. He volunteers with the American Cancer Society, and started/organized "Relay for Life" at Taylor this past school year.
Aaron Bobb graduated from Cornell University in 2003 with a degree in Psychology. Over the next two years he volunteered in the oncology department of a local hospital and worked as a research assistant at the National Institutes of Health in a group studying schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. While there he published two papers on the genetics of ADHD in the American Journal of Psychiatric Genetics. Aaron is looking forward to med school and (probably) becoming a psychiatrist.
Bela Denes graduated from St. John's College in 2005. He received a B.A. in Liberal Arts. While at St. John's he was a laboratory assistant in the physics department. During his time in the post-bac program, he volunteered with an in-home hospice program through Johns Hopkins Medicine. Bela recently began his medical studies at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry through the linkage arrangement it has with the Post-Bac Program.
Peter Dobrowolski graduated from Yale University in 2004 with a BS in Mechanical Engineering . He was selected for the Lichty and Waters Mechanical Engineering Award for High Scholarship and Original Research. His senior research project was on the biomechanics of spinal cord injury. For four years Peter was the goaltender on the varsity hockey team. He received the Hockey Coaches' Award and the Community Outreach Award. As a freshman counselor he advised students, helped resolve academic and personal issues, and developed a community health curriculum. After graduating, Peter participated in a cross country bike ride to raise funds and work on projects for Habitat for Humanity. Before starting his post-bac studies, Peter worked as a consultant with an international wind energy company.
Patrick Francis is a 2001 graduate of Dartmouth College , where he majored in Asian Studies and Mandarin Chinese. While in college, he was very active in the Big Brother/Big Sister program and served as concertmaster and social chair of the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra. He is a lifetime member of the school's Outing Club and was elected into Phi Beta Kappa. After college, Patrick spent two years in Mongolia with the Peace Corps, where he taught English to middle and high school students, orchestrated book and equipment drives for the school and developed curricula for the English, music and physical education programs. He spent the next year in Kazakhstan as a Fulbright Fellow, monitoring the progress of ethnic Kazakhs who had immigrated to the country from periphery nations following the breakup of the Soviet Union and assisting grassroots migrant-sector NGOs in grant-writing and administration. Patrick "linked" at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and recently began his first year of medical studies.
Meg Gallagher graduated summa cum laude from Ursinus College with Distinguished Departmental Honors in English. Meg studied abroad in Ireland to further her original scholarship on the repression of the first Irish Catholic novelists and the reintroduction of their works into the literary canon. While at Ursinus, she wrote press releases for Ursinus College 's Communications Office, contributed to the student newspaper, and presented her research at English conferences. Meg was an Orientation Assistant for incoming freshmen, Treasurer and Rush Chair of Tau Sigma Gamma sorority, a Leadership Scholar, and a member of student government. She participated in Habitat for Humanity in several locations throughout the country during her undergraduate years. Before coming to the program, Meg worked in medical publishing in Philadelphia , and she tutored children in conjunction with the Philadelphia Reads program. She also worked in a hospital taking patient's medical histories. Meg is currently a member of the National Association of Science Writers
".the medical profession as it might be was the finest in the world; presenting the most perfect interchange between science and art; offering the most direct alliance between intellectual conquest and the social good. Lydgate's nature demanded this combination: he was an emotional creature, with a flesh-and-blood sense of fellowship which withstood all the abstractions of special study. He cared not only for 'cases,' but for John and Elizabeth." These words from George Elliot's Middlemarch were the first to kindle a medical passion in Martin Gaudinski . Read on the way to his bachelor's degree in the Liberal Arts while attending St. John's College in Annapolis , Maryland , they inspired the culmination of his studies at the College: his senior essay on the elements and mechanism of Freudian psychoanalysis. Since graduating he has worked as a pharmaceutical technician at an independent pharmacy and volunteered at his hometown emergency room. He greets his medical vocation in a spirit that renders the philosophical ideal an activity, and ensures that no basil plant shall thrive on him.
Mirinda Gillespie majored in Anthropology and Women's Studies and received her B.A from Yale University in 2004 with highest honors. She was selected for membership in Phi Beta Kappa, and received the Rossborough Fellowship for Community Service. Mirinda was awarded Richter and Lindsay Fellowships, which supported her research research in South Africa on the sexual abuse of women. Mirinda has worked in a psychiatry and therapy practice, and co-authored an article on the side effects of antidepressants in the Archives of Women's Mental Health .
George Hulley graduated in 2005 from Pomona College with a degree in Mathematics and a minor in Computer Science. He played lacrosse for his first three years at Pomona , and turned to guitar as his main extracurricular activity during his fourth. George has spent his summers working as a research assistant for both a doctor at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and a professor of Computer Science at Pomona . Since graduation, he has been developing a computer simulator to help Pomona Valley Hospital find new strategies for the efficient use of their operating rooms.
Khalda Ibrahim majored in Classics and graduated with cum laude honors from Harvard College in 2004. She was the recipient of a John Harvard Scholarship for Academic Distinction. While at Harvard she designed stage costumes, participated in community service programs such as coordinating a Habitat for Humanity project, and did independent research on death and disease in the Roman world. During a leave of absence, she travelled to New Zealand and worked on organic farms. After graduation, she worked as a counselor at a wilderness therapy school for girls in rural Virginia .
Paul Jabour graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University in 2005 with a BE in Civil Engineering. Paul was involved with various organizations such as the undergraduate Honor Council, Gamma Beta Phi, Chi Epsilon, Tau Beta Pi, and served as the student representative for the School of Engineering Curriculum Committee . Paul also devoted time to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) on Vanderbilt's award winning concrete canoe team. Paul worked on various research projects ranging from sputtered catalysts' effects on carbon nanotube growth and utilizing numerical models to predict the effects of multiple degradation mechanisms in concrete. In addition to his academic involvement, Paul served as Co-President of the Vanderbilt ice hockey and was a member for all four years. He studied abroad for a semester in Perth , Western Australia where he became a certified SCUBA diver. In the summer of 2005 Paul biked 4,400 miles across the United States as a part of the Habitat Bicycle Challenge- a Habitat for Humanity fundraiser.
Andy Kolker graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 2003 with a B.A. in English. He was on the varsity tennis team and, after graduating, played on the pro circuit for two years. For his tutorial, he is currently shadowing retinal surgeon Dr. Julia Haller at the Wilmer Eye Institute of Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Rebekah Land graduated cum laude from The Pennsylvania State University in May 2001, with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in International Studies. While at Penn State, she was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Psi Chi honor societies and worked as a research and teaching assistant, focusing in Developmental Psychology. Her junior year was spent in Rome , Italy studying art history and classical literature. Upon graduation, she began work at the Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic, a part of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Initially, she worked as an intake clinician/counselor in the psychiatric ER. Later she became a clinical psychiatric interviewer for a longitudinal study of the familial and genetic components of Bipolar Disorder. Rebekah has gained volunteer experience primarily through her work at The Children's Home in Pittsburgh , PA. The home is a small independent hospital aimed at helping to transition premature infants from a neonatal intensive care unit to being prepared to go home with their families.
Jill Larson graduated with honors from Washington University in St. Louis in May 2004 with a B.S degree in Business Administration. While at Wash U, Jill double majored in Finance and International Business, received a minor Art, worked abroad for six months in London , England and was active in her leadership honorary on campus. Despite her business background, Jill found her calling to medicine during her senior year while volunteering in the Barnes Jewish Hospital Emergency Department through a Wash U program called EM-STAR. During the summer after graduation, Jill was hired to coordinate the EMSTAR program in the Emergency Department while she also wrote an abstract on the underutilization of epinephrine in the treatment of anaphylaxis, which later led to a poster presentation at the SAEM Regional Conference. In the fall of 2004, Jill accepted a position at Mercer Human Resource Consulting in Chicago where she worked as an executive compensation consultant until joining the Johns Hopkins Post-Baccalaureate Premedical program in the summer of 2005.
Hadley Long graduated cum laude from Yale University in 2004 with distinction in Latin American Studies. She spent her junior year of college at the University of Sevilla , studying historical perspectives of Latin America in the Spanish public school system. During the summer of 2003, she worked in the laboratory of a hematologist-oncologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , researching the effects of a protein-inhibitor on conventional treatments for multiple myeloma. In 2004, Hadley was awarded the Mellon Grant, which funded her travel to Cuba to research methods of disease control, focusing on yellow fever and HIV, for her senior thesis. After graduation, Hadley spent nine weeks riding her bicycle from New Haven , CT to San Francisco , CA as a part of the Habitat Bicycle Challenge, a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity. She then moved to Baltimore in the fall of 2004 to work for the Franciscan Youth Center , a non-profit youth development center operating in an underserved community.
Ben Lucas-Roberts graduated magna cum laude from Pepperdine University with a B.S. in Business Administration in 2002. As an undergraduate, he assumed various leadership roles in the business program. During the summer before his senior year, he was employed as an administrative intern at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle . This afforded him opportunities to shadow physicians and other clinical professionals as well as conduct benchmarking research in cardiothoracic surgery and ophthalmology for the Surgery Section. Following graduation, Ben spent two years working as a financial analyst for The Everett Clinic, a large, physician-owned, multi-specialty group practice in Washington . During that time, he volunteered in the emergency room, cancer ward, child-life department, and other inpatient units at Seattle Children's Hospital. Ben also served as a volunteer for Side-by-Side, a program providing support to families with children suffering from cancer.
Heather Lueck-Wied graduated summa cum laude from the University of California , Los Angeles with a degree in Psychology and minor in Neuroscience. As an undergraduate, she studied directly under autism pioneer, O. Ivar Lovaas, Ph.D., completing her departmental honors thesis on discrimination learning. After graduation, she continued to work as a senior behavioral instructor to children with autism and as Dr. Lovaas' teaching assistant. In related studies on learning and memory, she contributed to hippocampal research conducted in the lab of Michael Fanselow, Ph.D. and volunteered as a psychobiology tutor. An alumni scholar, Heather was selected as the candidates' speaker for UCLA's College of Letters and Sciences 2003 commencement, has been profiled in UCLA Magazine, and received the University's highest student honor, the Charles and Sue Young Award, in recognition of academic distinction and service to the university. She plans to pursue an M.D.-Ph.D. in neuroscience, with an emphasis on neurodevelopmental disabilities in children. Heather is an accomplished actor as well, and has appeared in numerous stage productions in her home-city of San Francisco . She also holds a world record for long-distance tap dancing.
John Nolan graduated cum laude from Cornell University in 2001 with a B.A. in Physics and History. As an undergraduate John was an active member of the Cornell community and participated in various extracurricular programs ranging from the Society of Physics Students to the Cornell Academic Quiz Organization. During his senior year he served a term as a student-elected representative to the Cornell Educational Policy Committee and as an Executive Officer of IMUNA, Inc., a not-for-profit, volunteer organization holding NGO status with the United Nations that is dedicated to furthering global issues education at the secondary-school level. Since graduation, John has worked as a Research Coordinator in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the New York University School of Medicine. At the NYU SOM, his research initiatives have examined the natural history of hepatitis B infection in children with a focus on viral dynamics and hepatitis B e-antigen clearance. More recently, John has examined the prevalence of GBV-C virus in the HIV-infected population and its effect on the vertical transmission rate of HIV. He is the primary author or co-author of several manuscripts on each of these subjects. John is also a primary author of the Asian American Hepatitis B Program, a multi-million dollar community-based initiative funded by the New York City Council for the purposes of reducing the burden of hepatitis B infection through increased awareness, outreach, education, screening, vaccination and treatment in addition to a R34 clinical trials planning grant sponsored by the NICHD that examines the use of lamivudine in neonatal hepatitis B prophylaxis..
Gabrielle Paci graduated magna cum laude from New York University in 2003 with a focus in International Politics and Development and Anthropology. Her studies concentrated on Caribbean nations. A pianist from the age of 5 and a drummer from the age of 11, she took time off of her studies to tour the U.S. and Europe as a musician. While at NYU, she worked as a real-estate salesperson. After graduating, she left the real-estate world to pursue a career as a triathlete. In the past two years, she has completed four marathons in qualifying time as well as dozens of triathlons and duathlons. She has gained regional ranking as a triathlete and has placed top-10 both overall and in her age-group in numerous races. Though a rarer breed, her true love is racing off-road. Along with her other passions, Gabrielle's heart lies in development work and she has experience working abroad in the Dominican Republic , Peru and Ecuador . She has worked in both the Chemotherapy Infusions Unit and in Clinical Chemistry in the Pathology Department at Massachusetts General Hospital
Courtney Pendleton graduated with magna cum laude honors from New York University in 2004 with a degree in Studio Art and English Literature. She's worked with individuals with special needs for eight years, focusing on children with genetic disorders. Before enrolling in the Hopkins Post-Bac Program she volunteered at the University of Connecticut 's migrant farmworker clinic, and ran a camp program for children with special needs.
In May 2005, Sarah Russell graduated with distinction from the University of Virginia , receiving a BA in Psychology. While there, she participated in a number of volunteer activities, including working in the UVA Operating Room and the Charlottesville Free Clinic. Sarah also worked for a year and a half as a research assistant in a social psychology lab at UVA, studying prejudice and stereotypes. Her senior year, she interned at the UVA Cancer Center , working with the Education Coordinator on cancer patient education. The summer after graduation, Sarah spent time volunteering in medical clinics and hospitals in Mexico , focusing on tropical diseases, specifically malaria, while working on her Spanish.
Alex Sokohl graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University with a B.S. in Spanish and an International Business Certificate. After graduation, Alex worked as a Paralegal Specialist in the United States Department of Justice, Office of International Affairs, where he assisted with all international mutual legal assistance requests and extraditions. While working, he continued to pursue his love of languages and took several Spanish and Portuguese classes at the Foreign Language Institute in Washington D.C. He also traveled throughout Latin America and met with officials from several foreign governments to discuss extradition and mutual legal assistance treaties. Currently, in addition to attending the Johns Hopkins Post-Bac program, Alex is a Portuguese and Spanish translator for a U.S. government contractor. He is currently volunteering with a neurosurgeon and also in a local hospital as a translator for the hispanic population and hopes to pursue a career in neurology.
Tristan Stani graduated from St. John's College in Annapolis , Maryland in May 2004, earning a degree in the Liberal Arts. During his time at St. John's he served as a laboratory assistant for the school's biology program, and spent summers working in a marine biology lab at the University of Delaware and in the ER at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan . Upon graduating from St. John's College , Tristan pursued a burgeoning interest in the cognitive and neurological sciences as a laboratory technician in a neuroscience laboratory at the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda , Maryland , joining the Post-Bac Program. During this time he also worked as a volunteer in the post-operative surgery department of Georgetown University Hospital in Washington , DC . His work at the Naval Medical Center focused on the research of the neuronal cell's dynamic regulation of the receptors and associated molecular components implicated in long-term memory, as well as many neurological diseases.
Jacob Taylor graduated magna cum laude from Yale University in 2003, with a B.A. in Cognitive Science. While at Yale he became certified as an EMT, and participated in research with Dr. Hal Blumenfeld on how different types of seizures effect consciousness. After graduating, Jacob worked as an intern for the World Health Organization, helping them prepare materials on developing community level mental health services and protecting the human rights of people with mental disorders. He returned to the states to work as a Field Organizer for presidential candidate Howard Dean in Iowa and then for Sen. Russ Feingold in Wisconsin . After the 2004 election, he left the country again and returned to working for the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse at the WHO in Geneva .
Jenny Werthman graduated from Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in science and nursing. During her time at Johns Hopkins she participated in various clinical activities which furthered her interest in medicine including a teaching project of Healthy Sexual Decision making for the Tilghman Middle School in Baltimore City . Prior to graduation Jenny was a teaching assistant at the School of Nursing as well as clinical nursing intern on a medical surgical unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Jenny received the Dorothy S. Hoehl scholarship award in 2004 from the Presbyterian University Hospital Nursing Alumni Association for senior nursing students and was inducted into Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. She has spent time interning at Johns Hopkins Community Physicians, and volunteering with the Huntington's Disease Society of America.
