Hopkins School

Gilbert A. Sanford, a retired sociologist and researcher at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, died Aug. 12 at Bon Secours Hospital of complications after surgery. He was 82.A memorial service for Mr. Sanford, who lived at the Charlestown Retirement Community, will be conducted at 11 a.m. today at the Towson Unitarian Universalist Church, 1710 Dulaney Valley Road.He retired in 1978 after about five years at the Hopkins school.Moving to the Baltimore area in 1956, he worked briefly as a technical writer for what is now the Martin-Marietta Corp.

Dr. Lawrence Richardson Wharton Jr., a retired gynecologist and former faculty member at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, died of congestive heart failure Thursday at his Ruxton home. He was 80. Born in Baltimore and raised in Roland Park, Dr. Wharton was the great-great-grandson of William Wallace Spence, a Baltimore coffee and sugar merchant who donated the "Divine Healer" statue of Christ that stands in the Johns Hopkins Hospital's entry rotunda. He was a 1941 graduate of Gilman School, where he played on the football, baseball and wrestling teams.

The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health has && been ranked the best graduate school of its kind in a nationwide survey published this week in U.S. News & World Report.The rating was based on a survey of 50 deans, top administrators and senior faculty members at accredited schools public health across the country. It was conducted by Market Facts Inc., a private research company."We're delighted to be so highly recognized by our colleagues," said Dr. Alfred Sommer, dean of the Hopkins graduate school.

Sam Shapiro, the retired Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health professor whose pioneering research demonstrated that mammograms can reduce women's mortality from breast cancer, died yesterday of cancer at his North Baltimore home. He was 85."He was a giant in the field of public health," said Dr. Alfred Sommer, dean of the Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. "He had a broad steel-trap mind that he used to teach his students how to think."He was a modest, deliberate-speaking man. You could always hear the answer to a question clicking in his head," Dr. Sommer said.

Dr. Harry C. Dietz III of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine will be honored this month with a Hero with a Heart Award at the National Marfan Foundation's annual benefit, Heartworks: The Marfan Gala. Marfan syndrome is a disorder involving the connective tissue of the heart, blood vessels, eyes, joints, bones and lungs. It affects the aorta, which carries blood away from the heart. Dietz work includes being part of a team that identified the gene for the syndrome in 1991 and researching a medication for treatment.

Curiosity kills children.It is a painful lesson learned by millions of parents each year, doctors at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health have discovered. So to prevent preschoolers' playful ventures from causing them physical harm, physicians at Hopkins opened the nation's first Children's Safety Center yesterday."Our goal is to make it easier for parents to get the safety supplies they need," said Dr. George Dover, pediatrician-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Children's Center. "If we can get parents to walk into the center, maybe they won't have to walk into our emergency room with an injured child.

Some years ago I was involved in persuading the Maryland General Assembly to pass a law requiring that all women admitted to a hospital be offered a Pap test to screen for cervical cancer. We thought we had made a significant contribution to cervical cancer prevention. But the number of cervical cancer deaths in Maryland is still high. Of the 4,000 women in the United States who will die of cervical cancer this year, about 77 will be from Maryland. Ann Klassen, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and Dr. Neil Rosenshein, associate professor of gynecology and obstetrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, have been looking at this problem, and I recently asked them about it.Q: Who is at risk for cervical cancer?

On Tuesday, January 27, 2009 MICHAEL A. KOENIG, PhD, age 56. Michael was a professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University. He was the beloved husband of Gillian (nee Foo) Hwei-Chuan, PhD; devoted father of Matthew Y. Koenig and Leah R. Koenig; loving son of Deborah (nee Dubinsky) Koenig and Harry Koenig, M.D. of Ishpeming, MI; brother of Steven B. Koenig, M.D. and Karen L. Zwecker. Also survived by two nieces and two nephews. A memorial service is being planned at Johns Hopkins for a future date.

There was a lot of fancy footwork at the Maryland Athletic Club recently, and we're not talking aerobics class.With a rock band set up on the basketball court, dancing was just one way folks could move at the Sweats & Sneakers Gala. Another was to hoof it through the parts of the club decorated to represent certain big cities; the gala's theme was "Dancing in the Streets." In "Miami," for example, guests could tour the new Johns Hopkins School of Medicine's cardiac rehab suite.Among the evening's "tourists": Julianne Carroll, event chair; Pat Cohen, Ray Daue, Susan Goodell, Bob Connelly, Laura Rubino, Chris Radebaugh and Kay Senft, event committee members; Phil Wendel, Liz and Tim Rhode, MAC co-owners; Dr. Ken Baughman, Johns Hopkins' chief of cardiology; Ernest Burke, former Baltimore Elite Giants player; and Jay Pivec, Pivec Advertising VP.The jamboree raised $10,000 for the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

A memorial service for Dr. Ronald G. Michels, a Baltimore ophthalmologist, will be held at noon April 25 in Turner Auditorium, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine where he taught and practiced for a number of years.Dr. Michels died Jan. 15 while awaiting a heart transplant.Personal friends are invited to write about their relationship with Dr. Michels for inclusion in a book for his survivors, his wife, Alice, and their two children, Randy and Allison. The deadline is April 15.The writings should be faxed to Dr. Walter J. Stark at (301)