To honor the significant accomplishments of men and women who spent part of their careers at Johns Hopkins, the Society of Scholars was created by the board of trustees in May 1967 on the recommendation of university president Milton S. Eisenhower.

The society--the first of its kind in the nation--inducts former postdoctoral fellows and junior or visiting faculty at Johns Hopkins who have gained marked distinction in their fields of physical, biological, medical, social or engineering sciences or in the humanities and for whom at least five years have elapsed since their last Hopkins affiliation.

The Committee of the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars, whose members are equally distributed among the academic divisions, elects the scholars from the candidates nominated by the academic divisions that have programs for postdoctoral fellows. There are currently 385 members in the Hopkins Society of Scholars.

The 15 scholars elected in 2000 will be invested at an induction ceremony hosted by Provost Steven Knapp at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, May 24, at Evergreen House. At that time they will be presented with a diploma and a medallion on a black and gold ribbon to be worn with their academic robe. The induction will be followed by a dinner hosted by President William R. Brody. The new Society of Scholars will be recognized at Commencement on May 25.

The following listing gives the names of the inductees, their current affiliation, their Hopkins affiliation, the name of their nominator and a short description of their field of interest.

James G. Brasseur, professor of mechanical engineering and bioengineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University.
At Hopkins: postdoctoral fellow, Department of Chemical Engineering, 1983-85. Nominated by Daniel Q. Naiman.

As a professor of engineering and bioengineering, James Brasseur has achieved an international reputation for excellence in two disparate areas of research: turbulence physics and the physiology and mechanics of the gastrointestinal tract. His work on turbulence has been recognized by many, including the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences at Cambridge University. He is an engineer whose research into the motility of the pharynx, upper sphincter, esophagus and stomach is well-known in the medical community.

Tom R. Ryan DeMeester, professor of general and cardiothoracic surgery and chairman of the Department of Surgery, University of Southern California School of Medicine.
At Hopkins: Postdoctoral research fellow in transplantation biology, 1967-68. Nominated by John L. Cameron.

Tom DeMeester has made more contributions to the understanding of the pathophysiology of esophageal disease and the diagnosis and treatment of both benign and malignant esophageal diseases than any other surgeon in the world. An expert on gastroesophageal reflux disease, Barrett's esophagus and Barrett's adenocarcinoma, DeMeester has been in the forefront of a small group of individuals who have contributed both clinical and laboratory information concerning the evolution of Barrett's esophagus and Barrett's adenocarcinoma.

Malcolm Paul Weston Godfrey, retired chairman of the United Medical and Dental Schools Council, Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospitals and Medical Schools (now Wing's College), London.
At Hopkins: Fellow in medicine, 1957-59. Nominated by Richard S. Ross.

Malcolm Paul Weston Godfrey has had a distinguished career in the United Kingdom, serving in a number of high-level positions administering health care and research. He served as dean of the Royal Postgraduate Medical School at the University of London and also became chair of the Council of Governors of United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospitals. Throughout his career he has been interested in the development of the National Health Service and the partnership between service and medical and dental teaching and research, and he has contributed to the evolution of the Health Service and to the integration of academic medicine with that organization.

David Karzon, emeritus professor of pediatrics, microbiology and immunology, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
At Hopkins: Postdoctoral fellow in virology, Department of Medicine, 1948-50. Nominated by Noel R. Rose.

David Karzon achieved widespread fame for his seminal studies on the Newcastle disease virus in chickens and the canine distemper virus. He worked on safely introducing the polio vaccine and was one of the first to identify so-called orphan viruses known as the ECHO group. He remains a national authority on viral immunology and vaccinology and is often consulted on issues of vaccine safety.

David W. Kennedy, professor and chairman, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center.
At Hopkins: Assistant resident in surgery, assistant resident in otolaryngology and chief resident in otolaryngology, 1973-78. Nominated by Charles W. Cummings.

David Kennedy is regarded as the premiere rhinologist in the United States today. His surgical talents are internationally recognized and, as head of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, he has led that department to the top echelon of academic medical centers.

Wolfgang Kollmann, professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Davis.
At Hopkins: Fellow in the Department of Mechanics and Materials Science, 1973-75. Nominated by Marc Parlange and Charles Meneveau.

Recognized as a world leader in the study of turbulence, turbulent combustion and numerical simulation of turbulent flows, Wolfgang Kollmann has over the past 25 years advanced the state of the art in the solution of important engineering problems associated with complex flows. His work is used by leading government and private laboratories and is taught today in advanced graduate courses in universities worldwide.

Louis Lasagna, dean of the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences; dean for scientific affairs, School of Medicine; professor of psychiatry (clinical pharmacology); professor of pharmacology; chairman of the board and adjunct scholar, Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, Tufts University.
At Hopkins: Assistant and instructor in the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, School of Medicine, 1950-52. Nominated by Reubin Andres.

Louis Lasagna is generally acknowledged as the father of clinical pharmacology. His 1954 paper on the placebo response was selected by the editors of The Lancet as one of the landmark papers of the 20th-century in the canon of Western medicine. Another paper written early in his career, on the controlled clinical trial, also has become a classic. His remarkable career has delved deeply into areas of clinical trial methodology, analgesics and hypnotics as well as the placebo effect, and his work has made major contributions to medical education.

Bennie I. Osburn, dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis.
At Hopkins: Special research fellow in ophthalmology, 1968-70. Nominated by Arthur M. Silverstein.

With the publication of more than 260 scientific publications since his time at Hopkins, Bennie Osburn has made many significant contributions to both veterinary and human pathology and medicine, especially in the pathogenesis of viral diseases, in the comparative pathology in infection and the immune response. His work on veterinary pathology and veterinary immunology has earned him an international reputation. He also has had a distinguished career in administration, serving as dean of the Davis School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California since 1996.

Hanna Reisler, professor of chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California.
At Hopkins: IAEA research fellow, Chemistry Department, 1972-74. Nominated by Paul J. Dagdigian.

Hanna Reisler's seminal contributions are in the area of photo-initiated reaction dynamics of small molecules in the gas phase. Her approach of devising novel and incisive experiments to examine fundamental concepts that can be modeled by high-level theoretical treatments has had a major impact on the field of molecular photodissociation dynamics. Her work on quantum state resolved unimolecular decomposition dynamics has provided data for rigorous tests of statistical theories under conditions where the initial state and excess energy are well-defined. In influential work, she has tied together molecular quantum fluctuation phenomena and statistical theories by establishing the fundamental relationship between molecular interferences and the random fluctuations observed in nuclear reactions.

Harry Schachter, professor, Department of Biochemistry, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.
At Hopkins: Postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biology, 1966-68. Nominated by Saul Roseman.

Harry Schachter has made trail-blazing contributions in the field of glycobiology, one of the most difficult fields of modern biochemistry and cell biology. His work looks at the complex relationships of the carbohydrates and proteins that coat cell surfaces and allow living cells to recognize and communicate with one another.

Zohair Ahmed Sebai, chairman, Arab Development Institute, Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia.
At Hopkins: Doctorate, School of Public Health, 1969. Nominated by Haroutune K. Armenian.

Zohair Ahmed Sebai has made extraordinary contributions to the development of modern, effective public health programs in Saudi Arabia. His efforts were critical to the establishment of departments of community medicine and to adoption of nontraditional approaches to medical education. As a leading public health official, he effectively used the mass media to educate the public on public health issues, and he has helped shape public health policy at the highest levels of his government.

Craig Robert Smith, president and chief executive officer of Guilford Pharmaceuticals, Baltimore.
At Hopkins: Fellow in internal medicine, 1972-75. Nominated by Michael J. Klag.

After completing his medical training at Hopkins, Craig Smith served as assistant chief of the Osler Medical Service and subsequently was chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine. As co-founder and director of Guilford Pharmaceuticals, Smith has helped guide the company in researching and developing a number of important new medical treatments for life-threatening diseases, advancing medical science and building Guilford Pharmaceuticals into a 200-employee business with $300 million in market capitalization.

Ronald E. Smith, Warren Professor and director of the Estelle Doheny Eye Institute and Department of Ophthalmology, University of Southern California School of Medicine.
At Hopkins: Intern, School of Medicine; resident and chief resident, Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute, 1967-73. Nominated by Morton F. Goldberg.

Ronald Smith's numerous contributions to our understanding of ocular inflammation have made him a clinician and scientist of international repute in the field of ophthalmology. His expertise extends to the medical and surgical management of corneal and external diseases of the eyes. He has been an important educator and proven leader in American ophthalmology, having served as president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and chairman of the American Board of Ophthalmology.

Hiroshi Tomoda, director of the Institute for Biological Function, the Kitasato Institute, Tokyo.
At Hopkins: Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Biology and the Kennedy Institute, 1987-89. Nominated by Yuan C. Lee.

Hiroshi Tomoda's lifelong passion for isolating biomedically useful microbial products has led him to discover compounds that promise to open new horizons in solving problems of arteriosclerosis and even HIV infection, as well as compounds that are effective in lowering cholesterol levels. Holder of more than 20 patents on compounds, Tomoda not only has produced practical products but provided insights into understanding enzyme mechanisms.

Sharon Anne Whelan Weiss, professor and vice chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University Hospital.
At Hopkins: Intern, resident and chief resident, 1971-75. Nominated by Fred Sanfilippo.

Sharon Anne Whelan Weiss is a leading authority in the field of surgical pathology. As an investigator and diagnostic pathologist, she has helped define the pathologic characteristics of numerous diseases, especially soft tissue tumors, and is widely sought for her diagnostic expertise. Weiss also is a noted educator and academic leader, having served on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Surgical Pathology and the Journal of Clinical Pathology and as president of the U.S.-Canadian Academy of Pathology.