Call from Friday October 31st, featuring Dr. Kelly Mills. As the director of the Johns Hopkins Movement Disorders Division, Dr. Kelly Mills cares for patients who have movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, atypical parkinsonism, dystonia, ataxia, tremor and Huntington's disease. He also evaluates and manages patients needing deep brain stimulation to manage their movement symptoms and provides botulinum toxin treatment for various disorders. In his research, Dr. Mills explores the cognitive dysfunction that can occur in movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease. He is particularly interested in describing the role of the basal ganglia in cognition, especially in the context of various diseases that can affect this structure. His work focuses on clarifying how certain treatments might impact cognitive and psychiatric problems. For instance, Dr. Mills studies how deep brain stimulation, when used to treat movement symptoms, can impact cognitive function such as attention, memory or impulsivity.
Call from Friday October 24th, 2025 featuring Dr. Sheryl Gabram-Mendola. Dr. Gabram-Mendola is an expert in the surgical treatment of breast cancer and management of patients at high risk for breast cancer. She has also engaged in significant efforts to improve community awareness of the earlier detection of breast cancer in underserved minority women, to meet the rehabilitation needs of breast cancer patients, and to conduct analyses on the impact of various quality metrics and algorithms on patient care at Grady Memorial Hospital. She was surgeon-in-chief for the Emory Department of Surgery at Grady Memorial Hospital from 2011-2020; director of the Avon Comprehensive Breast Center at Grady, a model program for providing breast health care services to underserved communities, from 2005-2020; and deputy director of the Georgia Cancer Center for Excellence at Grady (GCEE) from 2009-2020.
Call from Friday October 17th, 2025 featuring Dr. Chase Johnson. Dr. Johnson provides direct patient care and anesthesia consultation for a range of surgical cases. His goal is to work with each patient and their caregivers, ranging from pediatric to geriatric cases, to optimize their anesthesia experience. One key component to his work is educating patients to help them better understand the risks and benefits of anesthesia in the context of their personal medical history. Using an informed and collaborative approach, patients are better able to reach their goals of care and get their surgical needs met. He is also focusing on furthering our understanding and management of geriatric care during the perioperative period, specifically.
Call from Friday October 10th, 2025 featuring Dr. Otis Brawley. Otis Brawley is a globally-recognized expert in cancer prevention and control. He has worked to reduce overscreening of medical conditions, which has revolutionized patient treatment by increasing quality of life and reducing health disparities. Brawley's research focuses on developing cancer screening strategies and ensuring their effectiveness. He has championed efforts to decrease smoking and implement other lifestyle risk reduction programs, as well as to provide critical support to cancer patients and concentrate cancer control efforts in areas where they could be most effective. Brawley currently leads a broad interdisciplinary research effort on cancer health disparities at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, striving to close racial, economic, and social disparities in the prevention, detection, and treatment of cancer in the United States and worldwide. He also directs community outreach programs for underserved populations throughout Maryland. Brawley joined Johns Hopkins University as a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in 2019 from the American Cancer Society and Emory University.
Call from Friday October 3rd, 2025 featuring Dr. Marcie Johnson. Dr. Marcie Johnson, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist, received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Iowa and completed her pre-doctoral internship at the Iowa City VA. She specialized in neuropsychology and is trained in a range of evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapeutic approaches. Dr. Johnson has worked with people across the lifespan, from childhood to older adulthood. She has conducted individual therapy, group therapy, and psychological assessment. Dr. Johnson offers counseling and therapy for a broad spectrum of mental health concerns. She also conducts psychological assessments for individuals who have academic and learning concerns.
Call from Friday September 19th, 2025 featuring Dr. H. Catherine Wilbur. Dr. H. Catherine Wilbur is an Assistant Professor of Oncology, and a Johns Hopkins Physician.
Call from Friday September 19th, 2025 featuring Dr. Erica Johnson. Erica Johnson, M.D., earned an undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia, followed by a medical degree at the University of Maryland. She completed a residency in internal medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, and a fellowship in infectious diseases at Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) in San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Johnson serves as a fellow of the American College of Physicians, and recently completed 11 years as a medical corps officer in the United States Army, where she served as associate program director for the San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium (SAUSHEC) Internal Medicine Residency and Infectious Disease Fellowship Programs at BAMC. She also held an appointment as assistant professor of medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Dr. Johnson has research interests in infections associated with combat trauma and deployment infection control, as well as HIV outcomes, gender-based health issues, and disparities in care.
Call from Friday September 12th, 2025 featuring Dr. Paul O'Rourke. Dr. Paul O'Rourke is an Associate Professor of Medicine and serves as Assistant Dean for Medical Student Affairs at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. O'Rourke co-directs the Johns Hopkins Medical Education Pathway, a longitudinal medical education training program for Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins Bayview internal medicine residents. He directs the Outpatient Medicine Curriculum of the Johns Hopkins Bayview Internal Medicine Residency. He spends the majority of his time teaching and advising medical students and internal medicine residents. He is involved in medical education research with a particular focus on primary care education and advocacy, humanism in medicine, high value care, and health disparities. He is active on the national level through the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) and the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine (APDIM). He currently serves as a national councilor for APDIM.
Call from Friday September 5th, 2025 featuring Dr. Rebecca Stone. Dr. Rebecca Stone is an associate professor in the Johns Hopkins Medicine Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Her area of clinical expertise is gynecologic cancers, including cervical, uterine, vulvar and ovarian cancer, as well as gestational trophoblastic disease. Dr. Stone is a highly skilled surgeon with expertise in laparoscopic and robotic surgery for gynecologic tumors. She also serves as director of the Gynecology Enhanced Recovery after Surgery initiative, an innovative, multidisciplinary program that improves recovery and healing time after major abdominal surgery, as well as minimizes health care costs for patients.
Call from Friday August 29th, 2025 featuring Dr.Martin Steinberg. Dr. Martin Steinberg is an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His areas of clinical expertise include adult psychiatry. Dr. Steinberg earned his M.D. from Wake Forest University. He completed a residency and a fellowship in psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Steinberg's interests include depression, agitation and related behavioral symptoms in Alzheimer's; the relationship between physical exercise and dementia; and dementia in the assisted living and nursing home setting.
Call from Friday August 22nd, 2025 featuring Dr. Annette Anderson and Principal Justin Holbrook. Annette C. Anderson is a native of Baltimore and a graduate of Baltimore City Public Schools, an experience that has left an indelible mark on her career interests in educational equity and adequacy. Besides her research pursuits, she has served in a variety of school-based positions, including classroom teacher, teacher leader, curriculum coordinator, and assistant principal. She served as the chief executive officer and founding principal of Widener Partnership Charter School, the first university-assisted charter school in Pennsylvania. The school quickly became known to state and local education officials as a successful model for university-public school partnerships. As Deputy Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Safe and Healthy Schools, Anderson is frequently quoted in media, internet and education outlets. Justin Holbrook is the current principal at Armistead Gardens Elementary Middle, a 3-year-old to 8th grade school in Baltimore City. Prior to becoming a principal, he served as an assistant principal for three years and trained for one year as a resident principal in BCPSS. As an educator, Holbrook taught all subjects in 1st grade and then transitioned to 4th grade math and science where he was named as the 2017 Baltimore City Schools Teacher of the Year and a finalist for Maryland Teacher of the Year. Most recently, he was named as a 2023 Connected School Leader by the Maryland Association of Elementary School Principals (MAESP). Holbrook is endorsed by the New Leaders Aspiring Principal Program and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education from Goucher College with a minor in Spanish and a Master's Degree in Educational Leadership from Loyola University Maryland.
This week we have a throwback episode while we take a brief Summer break! This call is from October 2024, featuring Dr. Kristina 'Monti' Montemayor. Dr. Kristina Montemayor is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins. She worked as a bedside nurse for five years prior to receiving her medical degree with honors from the University of Texas Medical Branch and then completed her Internal Medicine residency and Pulmonary and Critical Care fellowship training at Johns Hopkins. Her clinical and research areas of expertise include adult cystic fibrosis, sex differences in pulmonary exacerbations, and women's health in cystic fibrosis. Her clinical work also involves caring for critically ill patients in Intensive Care Units.
This week we have a throwback episode while we take a brief Summer break! This call is featuring Dr. Otis Brawley. Dr. Otis Brawley is professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and 39th Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Brawley leads a broad interdisciplinary research effort of cancer health disparities at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, working to close racial, economic and social disparities in the prevention, detection and treatment of cancer in the United States and worldwide.
This week we have a throwback episode while we take a brief Summer break! This call is from August 2024, featuring Dr. Matt McNabney. Dr. Matthew McNabney is a professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His areas of clinical expertise include geriatric medicine. Dr. McNabney serves as the program director of the medical director for the Program for All-Inclusive Care of the Elderly (PACE) and chair of the Mosaic Initiative Workgroup in the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology. Dr. McNabney earned his M.D. from the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Medicine. He completed his residency at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine and performed a fellowship in geriatric medicine and gerontology at the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine
Call from Friday July 25th, 2025 featuring Dr. Victoria DeJaco. The Community Calls is going on a brief summer break! We will be back later in August with new weekly calls, but in the meantime, please return weekly for new episodes pulled from our archive. Have a great summer, and thank you for listening!
Call from Friday July 18th 2025, featuring Dr's. Kelly Mills and Rebecca Khamishon. As the director of the Johns Hopkins Movement Disorders Division, Dr. Kelly Mills cares for patients who have movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, atypical parkinsonism, dystonia, ataxia, tremor and Huntington's disease. He also evaluates and manages patients needing deep brain stimulation to manage their movement symptoms and provides botulinum toxin treatment for various disorders. Dr. Rebecca Khamishon graudtaed from medical school at Virginia Commonwealth University. She has completed 4 years of her neurological training residency, and is now in fellowship to become a Movement Disorder Specialist.
Call from Friday July 11th, 2025 featuring Dr. Alba Azola. Alba Azola, M.D., is a rehabilitation physician helping patients restore function and movement after an injury or illness. Her expertise includes neurorehabilitation and rehabilitation for swallowing disorders. Dr. Azola completed her residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Johns Hopkins Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, where in her final year she was awarded the Frank L. Coulson, Jr. Award for Clinical Excellence. Prior to the residency, she was a post-doctoral fellow at the Swallowing Neurophysiology Laboratory at Johns Hopkins.
Due to the holiday, this episode was pulled from out backlogs, featuring Dr. Otis Brawley! Dr. Otis Brawley is a globally-recognized expert in cancer prevention and control. He has worked to reduce overscreening of medical conditions, which has revolutionized patient treatment by increasing quality of life and reducing health disparities.
Call from Friday June 27th, 2025 featuring Karen Shelton, LMSW.
Call from Friday June 20th, 2025 featuring Dr. Natalie Exum. Dr. Natalie Exum is a water scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering. Her work focuses on linking health with water and sanitation infrastructure. She is currently working on community-engaged approaches to understand how drinking water exposures in Baltimore City are affecting the health of residents.