Alinafe Mpanda, MD

Dr. Michael Cole is a distinguished graduate of the US Air Force Academy (2006), and as an Alberta Bart Holaday Scholar went on to complete his Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry (2010) at University of Oxford under the direction of Prof Paul Wentworth Jr. and Prof Bob Sim. He focused his research on peptide chemistry and acyl group reactivity in thioester-containing proteins such as complement proteins, C3 and C4. He fulfilled his Air Force commitment as a chemist and Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the US Air Force Academy. He came to Johns Hopkins University for medical school in 2014. Since that time, he has stayed at Johns Hopkins completing his medical degree (2018), internal medicine residency training (2021), and hematology fellowship (2024). In 2024, he joined the Division of Hematology as an Instructor.

Dr. Laeben C. Lester is an assistant professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Lester’s clinical expertise is adult cardiothoracic anesthesiology. Dr. Lester earned his M.D. at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. He completed an emergency medicine residency at the University of New Mexico Health Science Center and an anesthesiology and critical care medicine residency at Johns Hopkins, where he served as chief resident. He also performed a cardiac anesthesiology fellowship at Johns Hopkins.

Dr. Lauren Berninger is an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and associate program director for the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program. Dr. Berninger received her undergraduate degree in political science from Bucknell University and her medical degree from the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine. She completed internal medicine residency training at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, where she also served as chief resident. Dr. Berninger is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Training Program. Dr. Berninger's professional interests lie at the intersection of palliative medicine and clinical ethics. She holds a master's degree in bioethics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health and is an active member of the Johns Hopkins Hospital ethics committee. Dr. Berninger is committed to medical education with a focus on advanced communication skills and complex-symptom management for patients with serious and life-limiting illnesses. She co-directs the medical school's TIME Palliative Care and End-of-Life Course and is dedicated to the clinical teaching of learners at all levels of training. Dr. Berninger embraces a humanistic, patient, and family-centered approach to care and is the recipient of the 2023 Clinical Excellence Award for best consulting physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital.