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Clayton Ajello, DrPH '83

Director, Programs Committee, Vitamin Angels 

Global Achievement Award

Clayton Ajello, DrPH ’83 is an epidemiologist, a global health and nutrition advocate, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who has worked collaboratively in 60+ low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) guiding governments, foundations, and service agencies toward adopting and scaling-up evidence-based health, nutrition, and social protection interventions and programs.  

Dr. Ajello is known throughout the nutrition and health philanthropic world as a crisp-thinking, knowledgeable, capable entrepreneur, and diplomat, able to bring foundations, academia, and other technical agencies around the table to commit, collaborate, donate and achieve. Throughout his career Dr. Ajello has focused on assisting a range of stakeholder organizations in LMICs to implement innovative, sustainable, high-impact, evidence-based public health interventions by catalyzing efforts to move research into everyday practice. He has also worked to help these same organizations adopt more entrepreneurial approaches to their operations; and has successfully engaged the manufacturing sector to produce low-cost, high-quality products required for many public health and nutrition initiatives. He also found time to spin off a for-profit, health technology company from the Johns Hopkins University in 1997 as a licensee of the University.  

His successes stem from working effectively across the academic, non-governmental, governmental, bi- and multi-lateral, and private sectors. His most recent global success has been his role in guiding the strategic philanthropic decisions of Kirk Humanitarian for the past five years affecting the allocation of $150m of investments in public health nutrition. With the Vitamin Angel Alliance, he has for nearly 17 years, provided guidance to advance its strategic growth and public health programming – helping it leverage its resources to introduce, strengthen and/or expand the reach of sustainable, evidence-based health and nutrition interventions through more than 1,200 government and non-government program partners in over 60 countries.  

Before that, Dr. Ajello had a 14-year career with JHPIEGO, an affiliate of the Johns Hopkins University where he was vice president for programs. His career efforts have advanced large-scale deployment of many of the most important public health and nutrition interventions including oral rehydration therapy, family planning methods, urgent obstetrical care, preventive vitamin A supplementation and deworming therapies for children, and most recently UN-endorsed multiple micronutrient supplementation for pregnant women in underserved, nutritionally vulnerable populations. His efforts over just the past decade have been key in connecting important public health and nutrition interventions with more than 70 million women and children annually. 
 

Cybele Bjorklund, MHS '95

Vice President of Federal Strategy and Executive Director of the Hopkins Bloomberg Center

Distinguished Alumna Award

Cybele Bjorklund, MHS ‘95, is a veteran of Capital Hill and the healthcare industry and has been navigating complex and politically challenging health issues for over two decades. She has been instrumental in creating federal healthcare policy and ensuring the research of Johns Hopkins University experts is considered in policy decisions on the national stage.  

Ms. Bjorklund spent 20 years in senior professional policy roles for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. During this time, Cybele helped shape and write numerous laws affecting private health insurance and key federal health programs, working with numerous stakeholders and across the political divide to accomplish her work. She contributed significantly to Medicare changes, writing the Affordable Care Act, and many other programs that have provided United States residents with increased access to more affordable, preventive and potentially lifesaving healthcare.  

As Vice President of Federal Strategy for Johns Hopkins University & Medicine from 2019-2021, Ms. Bjorklund was instrumental in developing the comprehensive strategy to maximize opportunities with the newly acquired landmark property at 555 Pennsylvania Avenue, now the Hopkins Bloomberg Center. She developed and deployed proactive and reactive federal advocacy and engagement agenda across the Johns Hopkins enterprise, ensuring the groundbreaking work accomplished at Johns Hopkins had an impact in shaping policies being made in Washington, DC.  

From 2021-2023, Ms. Bjorklund led Vitra Health as Senior Vice President, Policy and Government Strategy and served on the executive team while building out an inaugural policy and multi-stakeholder engagement strategy. In this work, she focused on raising awareness of type 2 diabetes and prediabetes reversal and increasing access to Vitra's transformative approach in public programs, including among Veterans and other key populations.  

In her current role as Executive Director of the Hopkins Bloomberg Center and Vice President of Federal Strategy, Ms. Bjorklund utilizes her experience and brings Hopkins' expertise and research to the forefront of policymaking. She oversees the development and implementation of programming that draws upon and complements the work of the university's divisions through high-profile partnerships, programming, and engagement opportunities that augment the presence of JHU's divisions and programs in the nation's capital.  

Ms. Bjorklund’s professional career has been spent working across divides to positively impact federal healthcare policy and strengthen the foundations of healthcare infrastructure. Her leadership on the Affordable Care Act, Medicare changes, and with the Johns Hopkins enterprise has positively and permanently shifted the ways research and policy impact the lives of individuals and communities across nation. She is also an Aspen Health Innovators Fellow and a scholar with the O’Neill Institute at Georgetown Law. 

Molly Cook, MSN/MPH '18, RN

Texas State Senator, District 15

Outstanding Recent Graduate Award

Molly Cook, MSN, MPH, RN, exemplifies the ideal candidate for the Outstanding Recent Graduate Award through her extraordinary achievements as a health care professional, grassroots organizer, and now a trailblazing state legislator. Molly has consistently leveraged her education to serve her community in innovative and impactful ways.  

As an emergency room nurse, Molly has dedicated herself to providing compassionate care to patients during some of their most vulnerable moments. Her work in the ER exposed her to the broader social determinants of health, which inspired her to pursue public health advocacy and grassroots organizing. Molly’s leadership was instrumental in passing a citizen-driven amendment to the Houston City Charter, and she was recognized by the Houston Chronicle as one of the city’s transportation leaders for her efforts to challenge the expansion of Interstate 45—an initiative aimed at protecting communities from displacement and environmental harm.  

Molly’s commitment to public service reached new heights when she transitioned into politics. She recently became the first openly bisexual member of the Texas Senate, representing Senate District 15, a position previously held by a single individual for four decades. Her victory in a highly competitive special election was a testament to her grassroots organizing skills and ability to connect with constituents. Throughout her campaign, Molly championed progressive policies, including Medicaid expansion, environmental justice, gun safety, and LGBTQ+ rights.  

Molly’s leadership extends beyond her professional achievements. She has inspired countless individuals through her advocacy for health equity, reproductive rights, and community-driven solutions. Her ability to bridge her experiences as a nurse and public health expert with her role as a legislator exemplifies the impact Johns Hopkins alumni can have on their communities and beyond. In every endeavor, Molly embodies the values of compassion, resilience, and leadership that define the spirit of Johns Hopkins. 

Park Dietz, MD ‘75 (SOM), PhD ‘84 (SOM), MPH ‘75 

Founder and President, Park Dietz & Associates, Inc. 

Distinguished Alumnus Award

Dr. Park Dietz is one of the country’s most prominent and accomplished forensic psychiatrists who has testified and consulted in all 50 states. He has consulted or testified in notable criminal cases including the assassination attempts on President Reagan and on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the cases of Jeffrey Dahmer and more than 25 other serial killers, and more than a dozen other mass murderers, such as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (Boston Marathon Bombing), the Menendez brothers (retrial), the Unabomber, the school shootings at Columbine and more.  

He is also widely sought after as a consultant in civil litigation arising from criminal behavior and is a forensic psychiatrist for both the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit and the New York State Police Forensic Sciences Unit. Educated at Cornell and Johns Hopkins, Dr. Dietz simultaneously earned an M.D., a master’s degree in public health, and a Ph.D. in sociology. He was a psychiatry resident at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and chief fellow in forensic psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. He has served as an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School and professor of law and professor of behavioral medicine and psychiatry at the University of Virginia.  

He is now a clinical professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. Dr. Dietz is a past president of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and a fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. 

Laura Herrera Scott, MPH '05

Former Secretary of Health, Maryland Department of Health

Public Service Award

Dr. Laura Herrera Scott is a national leader in healthcare delivery and financing reform, integrating value-based care philosophy with clinical and population health strategies. She has a a diverse background of public and private sector experiences from direct care, to public health, to payer and health care delivery transformation. Her work has focused on the creation of progressive programs that optimize patient outcomes, improve the quality of care, and advance health equity. Most recently she served Maryland under Governor Moore and Lieutenant Governor Miller as the Secretary of Health. In that role, she worked to ensure that the state built an equitable, world class health care delivery system that improved the health of all Marylanders.  

Prior to her appointment as Secretary of Health, Dr. Herrera Scott drove population health outcomes through improved data analytics and reporting in clinical care as the Executive Vice President of Population Health at Summit Health. As Vice President of Clinical Strategy and Population Health at Elevance (formerly Anthem), she helped shape enterprise-wide strategies and large-scale Medicaid initiatives that improved health outcomes, fostered operational excellence, and advanced sustainable health care solutions. She also previously served as the Deputy Secretary for Public Health and the Chief Medical Officer for the Department under the O’Malley/Brown Administration.  

Dr. Herrera Scott is a Veteran of the United States Army Reserves having served in 2004 and 2005 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and in 2008 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She received her Master’s Degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University where she also practiced, caring for individuals living with HIV. She received her Doctor of Medicine from SUNY Health Science Center in Brooklyn, New York. 

Ajit Isaac, MPH '96

Maryland Deputy Director of the Office of Preparedness and Response, Retired

Distinguished Alumnus Award

Dr. Ajit Isaac retired from State service in 2015 after over 12 years of dedicated to the State of Maryland as the Deputy Director of the Office of Preparedness and Response. (OP&R). During his tenure with the State of Maryland, Dr. Ajit led the efforts to dramatically improve the Strategic National Stockpile program, perform statewide pandemic influenza exercises, and enhance disease surveillance across the state.  

Dr. Ajit was a committed public health servant who exemplified leadership, service and commitment to improving the lives of Marylanders. The groundwork that Dr. Ajit laid at OP&R was the foundation of the agency’s response efforts throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Ajit directed and supervised the novel process of procuring a statewide medical and public health volunteer database registration system with a Health Alert Network (HAN) system. This innovative approach allowed all 24 counties in Maryland to connect to a single state system, like a fire hydrant model of connection saving the state over $20 million. By only paying for one statewide system license (instead of $1 million per county license), the state enabled all counties to access the system without incurring additional costs. When implemented in 2013, Maryland was the only state in the country to adopt such a process, ensuring compliance for all federal preparedness grant recipients, including county-level Local Health Departments (LHDs), to continue receiving federal public health emergency preparedness funds.  

Wesley Jamison, MPH '24

Director, MissionFit

Community Champion Award

Wesley Jamison, MPH ‘24, is a catalyst for health, health education, and community building in Baltimore. As the Director at MissionFit, a nonprofit devoted to creating a supportive community centered around fitness, Mr. Jamison uses movement and coaching to develop young leaders with the capacity to be health leaders.  

Mr. Jamison and his team at MissionFit recognize that many young people in Baltimore do not have access to fitness services or infrastructure such as gyms in schools, healthy food, or mentors to guide them. Since 2019, Mr. Jamison has worked with MissionFit and directly with community members and other youth-serving organizations to create summer and year round programs that teach young people to “take ownership over their health” and bring those skills to their communities.  

He developed the Coach Development program that allows young coach participants from local universities to work alongside MissionFit Coaches and earn certifications. This collaboration-based program creates more impact and allows the team to offer more free youth fitness classes to students ages 11-24 that teach the foundations of fitness along with life skills of communication, public speaking, goal setting, and accountability. It creates multiple layers of membership and allows young people to support each other.  

Along with supporting the health and wellness of Baltimore’s youth, Mr. Jamison has also built powerful community bonds between MissionFit and other local businesses, including Johns Hopkins University and SOURCE, a community engagement and service-learning center for the University’s health professional schools. As a SOURCE partnering community-based organization, Mr. Jamison has served as a preceptor for multiple graduate students through practice, service-learning courses, and field placements. He supports the development of future health professionals, while simultaneously supporting local youth.  

Mr. Jamison is a champion of building knowledge-sharing capacity and strengthening community partnerships all with the goal of supporting Baltimore’s young people. 

Kathryn Koval, MPH '11

Assistant Professor in Emergency Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina, and Director of Global Emergency Medicine Fellowship at MUSC 

Global Achievement Award

Dr. Kathryn Koval is an assistant professor in Emergency Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina. She serves as the director of Global Emergency Medicine Fellowship at MUSC. Following her emergency medicine training at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, she completed a fellowship in Global Emergency Medicine at Stanford University.  

Since then, she has assiduously pursued her passion for strengthening emergency medicine systems in low- and middle-income countries. She is a dedicated educator and compassionate clinician whose impact has been great. Dr. Koval’s endeavors in global medicine and capacity building have most recently taken her to Uganda, where she has rapidly improved emergency medicine skills and services in regional hospitals where emergency medicine protocols were previously lacking.  

With extreme cultural competence, a deep concern for her fellow human beings, and a strong belief in public health partnerships, she has made major contributions to the well-being of underserved patients with emergency needs around the world through clinician training, program development, and resource procurement. Even as a young faculty member, Dr. Koval has excelled in her global health work, creating change that has impacted patients rapidly, in settings where change is normally slow.  

She has expertly combined her medical and public health training to create real change in places that need it most. Her work and her example are subsequently impacting not only the patients who are the beneficiaries of improved care and health system function, but the next generation of learners, including the medical students, emergency medicine residents, and global medicine fellows whom Dr. Koval tirelessly mentors and supports. 

Nai-Wen Kuo, PhD '98

Dean, College of Management at Taipei Medical University

Distinguished Alumnus Award

Dr. Kuo received his PhD in 1998 from the Department of Health Policy and Management, Bloomberg School of Public Health. After returning to Taiwan, he joined Taipei Medical University (TMU), where he held numerous leadership positions. Currently, he serves as the Dean of the College of Management. Earlier, Dr. Kuo served as Vice Superintendent of the TMU Hospital (2000-2002) and as Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Taipei City Hospital (2004-2005), a 4,200-bed, nine-hospital system, where he managed daily operations, quality improvement projects, and financial analyses.  

In 2016, he was appointed Dean of the TMU College of Public Health. Under his leadership, the College became a critical "think tank" for the Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) and partnered with many international universities, including the Johns ��ѻ��ý. Since 2018, with grant support from the Taiwan MOHW, he has been dedicated to improving healthcare accessibility for Taiwan's disabled population.

To address the needs of physically disabled patients, he invited architects and representatives from nonprofit organizations to collaborate on enhancing the barrier-free environments of clinics, especially those in old buildings, through the concept of "reasonable accommodation." For patients with hearing impairments and other disabilities, Dr. Kuo and his team have worked with experts to establish guidelines and standard operating procedures for hospitals and clinics. Through Dr. Kuo's leadership and Joint Commission Taiwan (JCT) 's efforts, 1,670 clinics have been certified by the JCT as "disability friendly."  

His efforts in promoting human rights and improving healthcare accessibility for disabled patients have earned him praise from physician associations and many nonprofit organizations. Dr. Kuo has also significantly contributed to the Taiwan Center for Disease Control (CDC) by expanding its international cooperation network, including collaborations with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. He has also supported the Taiwan CDC in the TB Control and Prevention Project in Quang-Ninh Province, Vietnam. By forming a multidisciplinary team from the TMU Healthcare System, he helped the province combat and control multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Dr. Kuo's research interests include healthcare quality, clinical pathways, patient safety, and healthcare facility design.  

He has authored over 100 publications, including journal articles, conference papers, and technical reports. He also serves on the board of directors of several important societies, including the Taiwan College of Healthcare Executives and the Taiwan Johns Hopkins Alumni Association. 

Sidney and Helaine Lerner

Sidney Lerner, Posthumous
Helaine Lerner, Founding President, Global Resource Action Center for the Environment, Inc. (GRACE)   

Heritage Award

Sidney (Sid) and Helaine Lerner have provided transformational support of public health across the globe and at the Bloomberg School of Public Health for more than three decades.  

Sparked by their professional expertise and success in communications and advertising, they made their first gift in the mid-1990's to launch the Center for A Livable Future, the world’s first academic center to investigate the interconnections among animal welfare, factory farming, and climate change, and their combined impact on population health and the environment.  

The Lerners subsequently partnered with the Center to create the Meatless Monday campaign, which encourages the public to one day a week, cut out meat for the health of people and the planet. The campaign quickly grew into a global movement promoted in schools, restaurants, hospitals, and communities in over 40 countries. In the past 20 years, the adoption of plant-based diets has surged, especially among younger generations, with 27 percent of Generation Z and Millennials now eating all or mostly plant-based food.  

Through their continued support of the Center for a Livable Future, along with investment in the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing, Helaine and Sid have dedicated themselves to finding innovative solutions for humane, highly accurate alternatives to animal testing of medical and consumer products, as well as protecting human and planetary health from the devastating impact of climate change and the industrial food system.  

They have also championed public health advocacy, establishing the Lerner Center for Public Health Advocacy at the School in 2016, and the Deans Sommer and Klug Professorship of the Practice in Public Health Advocacy in 2018. This Centers work harnesses the Lerners’ passion for public health advocacy through partnerships, teaching, and practice that inspire action on some of our greatest public health challenges. They provide information hubs, action guides and professional development videos and programming, designed to educate, empower, and expand the impact of public health professionals at the School and beyond.  

Sid received an honorary doctoral degree from the University in 2019. “Sid pushed people to move from words to action,” said former Dean Al Sommer, MD. Sid likes new ideas, but unlike most of us, he will do something about his ideas. Helaine remains a close friend and supporter of the School. 

Ellen J. MacKenzie, PhD '79, ScM '75

Bloomberg Distinguished Professor
Dean, Johns ��ѻ��ý  

Heritage Award

Ellen J. MacKenzie’s steady rise from student to Dean of the Bloomberg School is marked by extraordinary accomplishments as a researcher, teacher, and true pioneer and commanding leader in policy and practice of the treatment of trauma. From conducting studies that made far-reaching improvements to trauma care to inspiring leadership of the Bloomberg School through the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, she has made enduring contributions to the Johns Hopkins University and to the field of public health.  

Dean MacKenzie discovered her true passion when she began working with the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, which employs evidence-based methods to keep people safer, and translates that evidence into policy and practice.  Throughout her career, she pursued research focuses on the impact of health services and policies on the short-and long-term consequences of traumatic injury, making major contributions to the evaluation of trauma systems and rehabilitation services. Her research has advanced the knowledge of the economic and social impact of injuries and our understanding of how personal and environmental factors influence recovery and return to work. In 2009, she became the founding director of the Major Extremity Trauma Research Consortium (METRC), which aims to develop guidelines for providing optimal care for both service members and civilians who experienced major extremity trauma. As of January 2025, METRC, which his anchored at the Bloomberg School, has now collaborated with over 80 trauma centers and engaged nearly 25,000 patients in close to three dozen studies.

Dean MacKenzie served as the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 1996-2000, then Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management from 2005 to 2016. In 2017, she was named a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor and became the first woman Dean of the Bloomberg School of Public Health.

As dean, she spearheaded the development and implementation of a five-year strategic plan, focusing the School’s attention and directing its work on the power of education, science, partnerships, people, and advocacy. When COVID-19 took hold, the Bloomberg School moved quickly to share insights of our experts and launch innovative responses to reduce its risks to the public while also making an immediate and unprecedented pivot to online learning. She also established and expanded centers and initiatives that focus on neglected areas critical to improving public health, including lyme and tickborne diseases, hearing, indigenous health, gun violence, global mental health, planetary health, child sexual abuse prevention, and gender equity, among others.  

During her leadership 2017-2024, the School experienced a 50% growth in applications, a 20% increase in enrollment, and a 54% growth in non-tenure track faculty. In fact, one-third of Bloomberg School alumni today graduated under Dean MacKenzie.

Dean MacKenzie has devoted her career to public health and has proven herself time and again to be a responsive and innovative leader in research, education, and public health policy and practice. She has led the #1 School of Public Health with enthusiasm and deep commitment its people.  

Aneri Pattani, MPH '24

Senior Correspondent, KFF Health News

Outstanding Recent Graduate Award

Aneri Pattani is an experienced journalist who shines a light on health care and health policy issues in the everyday lives of people across the United States.  

As a Bloomberg American Health Initiative Fellow, she was able to bring public health knowledge and practices to her work, expanding the impact of her journalism. Ms. Pattani worked closely with Johns Hopkins University faculty members to develop a massive open online course focused on responsible suicide reporting for journalists, which has been instrumental in shaping the way her organization, KFF Health News, reports on mental health issues.  

Her work also earned national recognition, with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Journalism Ethics hosting her in 2023 as their journalist-in-residence, where she presented to multiple classes and hosted a training open to the public about responsible reporting on suicide. Ms. Pattani has received multiple awards for her reporting, including a 2021 award from the Institute for Nonprofit News for reporting on the flawed oversight of addiction treatment facilities in Pennsylvania. She was also part of a team that received the News Leaders Association’s 2021 Batten Medal for Coverage of the Coronavirus Pandemic. She was a 2019 recipient of the Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism.  

In addition to this outstanding work, Ms. Pattani has spent the last two years covering the roughly $50 billion that is being allotted to states from opioid settlement dollars and reporting on how states use, or misuse, this funding. In nearly 30 articles published with KFF Health News and partners such as NPR, she has brought attention to political decisions that might otherwise remain hidden from public view.  

Her reporting has increased transparency around the second largest public payout in United States history and is critical to the health and wellness of individuals and communities. The impact of her work will be recognized long after the final settlement money is distributed.

Marni Sommer, MSN/MPH '01, BS (SON)

Professor of Sociomedial Sciences, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Outstanding Recent Graduate Award

Dr. Marni Sommer exemplifies the highest standards of excellence and humanitarian service, demonstrating an extraordinary commitment to global health, education, and gender equity. Her impactful work has brought significant recognition to Johns Hopkins University and advanced the well-being of countless adolescents worldwide. 

Dr. Sommer earned a Master’s in Public Health and Nursing from Johns Hopkins University in 2001, followed by a Doctorate in Public Health from Columbia University in 2008. These accomplishments reflect her commitment to addressing global disparities in health and education. Her career spans groundbreaking participatory research, innovative program development, and tireless advocacy for adolescents’ healthy transitions to adulthood. Dr. Sommer’s formative experiences in the Peace Corps, where she taught English in rural Eritrea, revealed how a lack of menstrual hygiene and puberty education forces many girls out of school. Witnessing this systemic challenge inspired her to focus on addressing the intersection of public health, education, and gender equity. 

Her doctoral research in Tanzania explored how menstruation and puberty disrupt girls’ academic performance and transition into adulthood, laying the foundation for her lifelong mission: to ensure all adolescents have the information and resources they need to thrive. This work led to the creation of the Girls' Puberty Book Project, a culturally tailored, illustrated guide that has since expanded into the Grow and Know program, which she founded in 2010. Through Grow and Know, Dr. Sommer has designed and distributed over two million copies of puberty books tailored to diverse cultural contexts across seven countries in Africa, Asia, and the United States. Each book incorporates insights from local girls, parents, teachers, and healthcare workers, ensuring the content is culturally relevant and empowering. Her work has received global recognition, supported by partnerships with organizations like UNICEF, the Nike Foundation, and the United Nations Population Fund. 

Dr. Sommer’s impact is not limited to girls; she has expanded her initiatives to include puberty education for boys, recognizing the importance of fostering healthy transitions for all adolescents. Her efforts now reach schools in the U.S. as well as underserved communities globally. Her contributions extend beyond publication. Dr. Sommer leads the Gender, Adolescent Transitions, and Environment (GATE) Program at Columbia University, where she develops adolescent-focused interventions, integrates menstrual hygiene management into humanitarian response, and mentor’s future leaders in public health. 

Dr. Sommer’s innovative research and practical solutions address critical needs in emergency contexts, including developing a menstrual hygiene management toolkit for disaster and conflict settings. This toolkit has informed humanitarian teams worldwide, ensuring that the most vulnerable populations have access to basic hygiene and dignity.

Tiffany Tate, MHS '96

CEO, VAULT Technologies

Distinguished Alumna Award

Tiffany Tate, MHS ‘96, has built a distinguished career marked by a decades-long dedication to public health, particularly in the realm of innovation and technology.   Recognized across the industry for her groundbreaking contributions, Ms. Tate founded VAULT Technology, a company committed to delivering public health software solutions worldwide. Her work has been widely celebrated, earning recognition from The New York Times, Success Magazine, USA Today, and The Baltimore Sun, where she was named one of the "25 Black Marylanders to Watch" in 2024.  She also was listed as #6 on TechRound’s international 2025 award for Black and Minority Entrepreneurs (BAME).

Ms. Tate was the visionary behind PrepMod, a revolutionary vaccine management software that played a critical role in the U.S. COVID-19 response, with over 25 states using the platform to schedule vaccine appointments. Additionally, she donated PrepMod to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to enable them to participate in the pandemic response.  Still the market leader, PrepMod--and other programs that came behind it--contributed to nearly 70% of eligible U.S. residents receiving the COVID-19 vaccine within the first six months of 2021, significantly altering the pandemic’s trajectory.

Since PrepMod, VAULT has expanded its products to include systems that automate routine public health services and infrastructure, including interoperability, billing, reporting, and forecasting. Ms. Tate leads production of systems and processes that can connect public health and emergency preparedness worldwide.

Ms. Tate is committed to advocating for groups that are underrepresented in the technology space.  She is building a global network of Public Health Technologists, a term she coined to describe the growing community of professionals working at the intersection of technology and public health.  She accomplishes this through paid internship programs that target women, people of color, and individuals from the LGBTQ+ community, providing them with real-world experience in technology.  In 2023, VAULT launched a free software developer training program in Ghana, providing young men with instruction, a stipend, and a computer.  This year, the program was expanded to young women in Jamaica.  Next year, it will be brought to the state of Maryland through a partnership.

In an era of waning trust in public health systems, VAULT Technologies, under Ms. Tate’s leadership, stands as a beacon of hope, bringing automation and innovation to help bridge the gap between public health organizations and the communities they serve. 
 

David Ugai, MPH '16

Country Director for Guinea, Mercy Ships

Global Achievement Award

David Ugai, DDS, MPH ‘16, MBA, has spent the past seven years in Guinea, where he is training dental students and collaboratively building medical education infrastructure, including state-of-the-art medical and dental training facilities.  

In 2012, Dr. Ugai first began working as a dentist with the global nonprofit Mercy Ships, an organization that uses hospital ships and volunteer professionals to deliver free specialized surgical care and medical training to build the local healthcare systems with partner nations, focusing on Africa. During his first year with Mercy Ships he recognized the significant need for dentists in Guinea, where it is estimated there are only 3.3 dentists per 100,000 people, a figure one tenth of the global ratio. Dr. Ugai recognized the most pressing issue is addressing this health workforce gap.  

He returned to Mercy Ships, in 2016, where he served as the lead dentist and in 2018 became the Mercy Ships Country Director Guinea and Dental Specialty Consultant. In 2018, Mercy Ships and Dr. Ugai began a formal partnership with Guinea’s only public dental school, Université Gamal Abdel Nasser de Conakry (UGANC), where all dentists in the country are trained. The goal of this partnership is to strengthen medical education through investments in the development of health professions education programs. Prior to the partnership, dental training at the university was often theoretical, with students not receiving practical training until after graduation.  

In September 2024, Dr. Ugai and his team celebrated the grand opening of a state-of-the-art dental training facility at UGANC, which more than doubles the capacity for dental students to learn, practice, and treat patients while addressing the critical gap in access to dental care. Dr. Ugai played a major role in the growth and development of this dental school, with the implementation of simulation and clinical training. This partnership has expanded to support the development of surgical, obstetric and anesthesia (SOA) specialty education programs. This increased capacity in medical education infrastructure is the result of a strong collaboration between Mercy Ships and multiple stakeholders in Guinea. This training facility not only serves dental students from Guinea but also other African nations such as Benin, Madagascar, Guinea-Bissau, and Sierra Leone, further displaying the impact Dr. Ugai and his team have had across the Africa continent.  

Over the past 7 years, Dr. Ugai and his team have strengthened existing relationships and continued to build trust within the communities they support in Guinea, and they have helped train approximately 1,200 professionals and conducted or overseen 41,000 dental procedures. These partnerships, the necessary trust, and dedication have resulted in an incredible growth in the medical education infrastructure which will continue to serve students and communities for years in the future. 
 

Carlos Dawayne Williams, MPH/MBA '09

National Security and Strategy, The United States Army War College

Public Service Award

Carlos Williams, MD, MPH/MBA ‘09, is an exceptional leader and change agent with a demonstrated history of consensus building, innovation, organizational transformation, and both global and domestic development. He has worked across the global health care industry in emergency management and disaster response, intelligence, and policy and international relations.  

Dr. Williams has had an impressive career in the United States military, serving the US Navy in various capacities, the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE), and most recently the United States Army War College. Throughout his career, Dr. Williams has worked on several high priority clinical and public health initiatives including pandemic response work, vaccine trials, and responding to non-communicable disease threats.  

From 2012-2015, Dr. Williams served as the U.S. Health Affairs Attaché to the Pacific Islands where he coordinated the Regional U.S. Health Team serving the U.S. Missions in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Suva, Fiji, and Oceania at-large. As the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) point of contact for PNG, he led his team to a significant resource and personnel increase and was pivotal in gaining increased funding from the Global Fund to combat the drug-resistant tuberculosis, deemed a national emergency.  In 2015 he was part of the inaugural Presidential Leadership Scholars, which brings together bold and principled leaders who are committed to facing critical challenges, both at home and around the world. From 2018 - 2020 he was a Health Policy Fellow with the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation and National Academy of Medicine. In this role he served as a fellow advisor to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee through the office of Senator  Edward J. Markey (MA), directly supporting legislation to reform US Global Health Assistance and coordination. 

Beginning in October 2020 and continuing through November 2024, Dr. Williams served as the Director of National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE), a Department of Defense organization, and was the senior member of Defense Intrepid Network for Traumatic Brain Injury and Brain Health. In this role, Dr. Williams led the programs to diagnose, treat, and rehabilitate service members with traumatic brain injuries (TBI), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other mental health conditions. While in this role, he regularly reviewed the programs and conducted stakeholder analysis to review strengths and weaknesses of the programs and resources available, ensuring this Center was working across sectors to treat some of the most vulnerable service members.  Regular program reviews resulted in his successful efforts to establish the Defense Intrepid Network for TBI and Brain Health, which includes 13 centers across the Military Health System, and was instrumental in getting key legislation passed to support military brain health in the Nation Defense Authorization Act of 2025.

Dr. Williams has also worked extensively in global health, including as the principal agent for the hallmark U.S. Agency for International Development and U.S. Africa Command-funded Pandemic Response Program (PRP), which focused on crisis response to public  health emergencies. Here, Dr. Williams designed and implemented his Unified Strategic Implementation and Planning Process, which mobilized stakeholders across the community to ensure inclusiveness while working in coordination with U.S. government departments, United Nations agencies, and international and national non-governmental organizations to improve partner nations’ disaster-response capability. As a result, more than 14 nations developed their own pandemic-response plans.