Gregory Dale Kirk, MD

An expert in foodborne and intestinal infections, Cynthia Sears is a professor of medicine and oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as well as a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is the microbiome program leader of the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Johns Hopkins and is director of the Johns Hopkins Germ-free Murine Facility.She is an infectious diseases expert who has focused on gut infections including diarrhea, foodborne illnesses Clostridium difficile (C. diff) and Helicobacter pylori during her career. In the laboratory and in clinical settings, she has studied the pathogenesis of enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis (ETBF) over the past 25 years. The current focus of the Sears laboratory is to determine how the microbiota and specific bacteria contribute to colon carcinogenesis. The Sears laboratory integrates studies in humans and mouse models, employing microbiology, bioinformatics and immunologic methods. Dr. Sears has worked abroad in Thailand, Brazil, Haiti, Bangladesh and Malaysia.Dr. Sears served as associate editor of Clinical Infectious Diseases from 2000 to 2016. She has been an active member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) for more than 20 years, serving the society in numerous capacities, and is currently president of the organization. Dr. Sears received her medical degree from Thomas Jefferson Medical College followed by training in internal medicine at The New York Hospital (Cornell Medical School) in New York City. She trained in infectious diseases at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute and the University of Virginia. Dr. Sears joined the faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1988.

Dr Halperin received the B.S degree in physics with highest distinction from Purdue University, the M.A. degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, and the M.D. degree from Louisiana State University, New Orleans, Louisiana. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, an Established Investigator and Fellow of the American Heart Association, and a McClure Fellow of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics laboratory. Dr. Halperin is currently a Professor of Medicine, Radiology and Biomedical Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. He is the co-director of the Cardiovascular Imaging Center of Excellence. He serves on the editorial board of the journal Resuscitation, and is a past chair of the national American Heart Association Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support Subcommittee and a past member of the Emergency Cardiac Care Committee. Ten of his students have received young investigator awards from the American Heart Association and Heart Rhythm Society, and he has ongoing support from the National Institutes of Heath for his research programs. He has over 120 peer-reviewed publications and over 20 patents issued.

Dr. Ann O'Shea Scheimann is an associate professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her areas of clinical expertise include pediatric gastroenterology, nutrition and pediatric liver disease including cholestatic liver disease and fatty liver disease. Dr. Scheimann received her B.S. from the University of Dayton. She earned her M.D. from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and her M.B.A. from Johns Hopkins. She completed her internship and residency in pediatric medicine and a fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology at the Baylor College of Medicine. In 2000, she joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in pediatrics, where her research focuses on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, obesity and Prader-Willi syndrome. Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, Dr. Scheimann was an assistant professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. In 2005, she developed Weigh Smart, a comprehensive pediatric weight management program funded by the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital, and the University of Maryland. She currently serves as the chair of the Pediatric Nutrition Advisory Committee at Johns Hopkins Children's Center. Dr. Scheimann serves on the editorial boards of Pediatrics and Therapeutics, World Journal of Gastroenterology and World Journal of Hepatology. She has received numerous awards and including a grant from the Mt. Washington Pediatric Foundation to start the Weigh Smart program. She has received research support from Agencies including the National Institutes of Health, Foundation for Prader-willi Research and Prader-willi Syndrome Association. She is a member of several professional organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of the Study of Liver Disease, Obesity Society and the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition.