Notable Alumni

We are proud to count visionary CEOs and scientists; famous conservationists and authors; winners of Oscars, Grammys, Emmys, and Pulitzer Prizes; and a past U.S. president among those with Johns Hopkins degrees.

Our graduates include:

  • Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, novelist
  • Virginia Apgar, developer of Apgar score for newborns
  • John Astin, actor
  • Russell Baker, Pulitzer Prize–winning columnist for The New York Times and former host of PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre
  • Manuel Barrueco, Grammy Award–winning guitarist
  • John Barth, novelist
  • Jeffrey Blitz, writer/director of Spellbound, Rocket Science, and Lucky
  • Wolf Blitzer, journalist
  • Michael R. Bloomberg, former New York City mayor; founder of Bloomberg L.P., Bloomberg News, and Bloomberg Radio
  • Carter Brey, principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic
  • Rachel Carson, biologist, ecologist, and author of Silent Spring
  • Richard Ben Cramer, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist
  • Wes Craven, film director
  • Caleb Deschanel, cinematographer
  • John Dewey, American philosopher, social critic, and educator
  • Louise Erdrich, writer
  • Hallie Jackson, Chief White House correspondent for NBC News
  • John C. Malone, chairman and majority owner of Liberty Media, Liberty Global, and Qurate Retail Group; former CEO of Tele-Communications, Inc.
  • Victor A. McKusick, medical geneticist; author of Mendelian Inheritance in Man, the definitive source of information on human genes and genetic disorders
  • James McPherson, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and author
  • Kweisi Mfume, former president of NAACP and current U.S. representative for Maryland’s 7th congressional district
  • Wes Moore, Governor of Maryland, author and social entrepreneur
  • Walter Murch, Oscar-winning film editor and sound mixer
  • Caryle Murphy, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, longtime international reporter for The Washington Post
  • Tommy Newsom, Emmy winner who was assistant conductor of the Tonight Show band
  • PJ O’Rourke, journalist, author
  • Sam Palmisano, former CEO of IBM
  • Awadagin Pratt, pianist; winner of the Naumburg International Piano Competition, 1992
  • Joanne Silberner, Freelance writer and 18-year veteran of NPR’s science desk
  • Lauren Underwood, Congresswoman representing Illinois’s 14th District
  • John A. Wheeler, physicist
  • Woodrow Wilson, 28th U.S. president
  • Abel Wolman, water treatment expert