New Members Inducted Into Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars

Ten women and men who spent formative parts of their illustrious careers at Johns Hopkins were formally inducted into the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars on Monday night in a ceremony at the George Peabody Library.

Nominated by JHU faculty, the inductees were presented with the Society of Scholars medallion and an official certificate of membership. The event was hosted by JHU President Ronald J. Daniels and Provost Sunil Kumar.

“Throughout your lives and careers, the new ideas you have offered to the world have expanded not just the boundaries of your respective fields, but the horizon of our collective life,” Daniels said. “Taken together, your contributions have ensured that human knowledge shall never shrink back to its former dimensions.”

Of the 13 individuals selected to join the Society of Scholars this year, eight were in attendance at Monday’s event. A ninth—Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, president of Afghanistan—was represented by Hamdullah Mohib, Afghan ambassador to the United States. Hynd Bouhai, among 16 individuals selected for induction in 2017, was also in attendance Monday and was among those formally honored.

The Society of Scholars was created on the recommendation of then university President Milton S. Eisenhower and approved by the board of trustees on May 1, 1967. The society—the first of its kind in the nation—inducts former postdoctoral fellows, postdoctoral degree recipients, house staff, and junior or visiting faculty who have served at least a year at Johns Hopkins and thereafter gained marked distinction elsewhere 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 Johns Hopkins affiliation.

This year’s cohort features scholars from around the world, including Afghanistan, France, and Mexico. They are renowned astronomers and public health professionals; leaders of museums and universities; cancer and Alzheimer’s researchers; public intellectuals, advisors to U.S. presidents, and foreign heads of state.

The new members for 2018 with ties to Johns Hopkins Engineering include:

Tomás R. Guilarte, PhD

Miami, Florida | Read bio

Tomás R. Guilarte is dean of the Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work at Florida International University, where he is also a professor. His research explores the impact of environmental pollutants on neurological and mental health. Using behavioral, cellular, and molecular approaches, his studies range from the primary culture of brain cells to the application of brain-imaging technologies. He is renowned for revealing the effects of low-level lead exposure on the central nervous system during brain development, a discovery that led to strategies for mitigating neurological damage.

Dr. Guilarte’s research team has also played an important role in the validation and application of translocator protein 18 kDa (TSPO) as a biomarker for brain injury and inflammation that is used clinically around the world. He has made seminal discoveries on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of manganese-induced parkinsonism, a disorder that causes neurological symptoms closely resembling Parkinson’s disease. He has served in many national and international study sections, including as a member of the advisory council for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Among the many honors Dr. Guilarte has received is the Hispanic Organization of Toxicologists’ Distinguished Toxicologist Award. He was a student in the inaugural class, in 1976, of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences (now Environmental Health and Engineering) at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. He received his PhD from that department in 1980 and spent three decades there as a professor and researcher. He went on to serve as the inaugural Leon Hess Endowed Professor and chairman of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

Elias Zerhouni, MD

Paris, France | Read bio

Elias Zerhouni is president of global research and development and a member of the executive committee at Sanofi, a global biopharmaceutical company. His academic career was spent at Johns Hopkins, beginning in 1975 with his residency in diagnostic radiology. He rose 
to the rank of full professor of radiology in 1992 and of biomedical engineering in 1995 before being named chair of the Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences in 1996. During the following years, he rose rapidly within Johns Hopkins, assuming additional duties as vice dean for research, and executive vice dean of the School of Medicine from 1996 to 2002, before his tenure, from 2002 to 2008, as director of the National Institutes of Health. In that position, Dr. Zerhouni oversaw the NIH’s 27 institutes and centers with more than 18,000 employees and a budget of $29.5 billion. In April 2009, Dr. Zerhouni returned to Johns Hopkins to serve as senior adviser for Johns Hopkins Medicine. Then in November 2009, President Obama appointed him one of the first presidential U.S. science envoys. Dr. Zerhouni has founded or co-founded five startup companies, authored more than 200 publications, and holds eight patents. He has a number of prominent positions on advisory boards, including most recently, the board of the Lasker Foundation. Among his many honors are membership in both the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Engineering, recipient of a prestigious Legion of Honor medal from the French National Order, election in 2010 to the French Academy of Medicine, and appointment as chair of innovation at the Collège de France in 2011.

Visit The Hub for the full list of 2018 Society of Scholars inductees.