Winter 2019
’70s
Gurmukh Singh (PhD ’77, Pathology Resident ’78) holds the Walter Shepeard Chair in Clinical Pathology and is vice chair of pathology at Augusta University’s Medical College of Georgia (MCG). Singh’s laboratory investigates methods for diagnosing multiple myeloma, and its recent findings—that both urine and blood tests produce the most reliable results—were featured in the Journal of Clinical Medicine Research. He was honored in 2017 with MCG’s Faculty Recognition Award in celebration of his passion for pathology education. “Pathology,” he says, “is a little more like science than clinical medicine, which is more an art. It’s a good fit for my personality.”
’80s
Elizabeth Jaffee (Internal Medicine Resident ’88) is the Dana and Albert “Cubby” Broccoli Professor of Oncology at Johns Hopkins University, where she also serves as deputy director of Hopkins’s Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her research focuses on developing vaccines to treat cancer, and she’s currently researching a vaccine that “teaches” immune-system T cells to fight pancreatic cancer. “We’re making a lot of progress” on the vaccine, she says—“it’s quite an exciting time.” Jaffee was appointed chair of the National Cancer Advisory Board in 2013 by former President Barack Obama, a position she still holds today.
’90s
After 12 years as chair of emergency medicine at East Carolina University, Theodore Delbridge (Emergency Medicine Resident ’92, Emergency Medicine Fellow ’93) moved to Baltimore in 2018 to serve as executive director of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems. This is a “one-of-a-kind job,” he says; he oversees the state’s emergency medical system—including ground and air transport and related policies—in a comprehensive system unlike that in any other state. Delbridge’s love of EMS stretches back to high school.


’00s
Amy Hartman (PhD ’03) is an assistant professor of infectious diseases and microbiology at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. Her research focuses on emerging viruses at the human-animal interface, particularly the mosquito-transmitted Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV): “a human and animal pathogen,” says Hartman, “that presents a significant disease risk to people and livestock.” RVFV causes serious disease in humans; Hartman works to develop vaccines and therapies to prevent infection; her research findings were published last December by Science Advances. “I find RVFV to be a fascinating virus,” she says, “because of its complex ecology—it has implications for the environment, animals, and people.”



’10s
Juleen Rodakowski (Clinical Research MS ’14) is an assistant professor of occupational therapy at Pitt’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences; she also holds a secondary appointment in Pitt Med’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Her research into quality-of-life enhancements for elder adults with minor cognitive decline was recognized recently with a $3 million grant from the National Institute on Aging. “We have a growing issue here,” says Rodakowski about elder care and rehabilitation. “Our current strategy is watching and waiting—we could be more proactive.” She’s investigating early stage intervention strategies to empower seniors to increase their physical autonomy and agency.