Johns Hopkins Alumni Association Awards Series: Advancing a Common Cause

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• Celebrating Johns Hopkins' Sesquicentennial; presented by Hopkins at Home and the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association
• Featuring C. Nicholas Cuneo, MD (Med ’15), Mary Cwik, PhD (A&S ’99, Med ’07), Nancy Glass, PhD, MPH, RN (Nurs ’94, ’96), and Karen Schneider, MD (BSPH ’08); moderated by Judy Keen, MS, PhD (A&S '98, BSPH '02, Med '04)

What inspires people to dedicate their careers to improving the lives of others? How can knowledge, compassion, and sustained commitment create meaningful change for communities facing profound challenges?

Join us for an inspiring conversation with four Johns Hopkins alumni whose work demonstrates the power of advancing a common cause. Across medicine, public health, research, advocacy, and humanitarian service, these leaders have devoted their careers to expanding access to care, strengthening communities, and improving health and well-being for people around the world.

From supporting refugees and asylum seekers and preventing youth suicide in Indigenous communities to addressing violence against women and delivering medical care in underserved regions across the globe, our panelists show how leadership rooted in service can take many forms. They will reflect on the experiences that drew them to this work, the relationships and communities that have shaped their approach, and the challenges and rewards of turning expertise into lasting impact.

Featured panelists include:

  • C. Nicholas Cuneo, MD (Med ’15), co-founder and Medical Director of Maryland’s first pro bono asylum clinic, supporting immigrant survivors of trauma through the HEAL Refugee Health and Asylum Collaborative; recipient of the 2023 Community Champion Award
  • Mary Cwik, PhD (A&S ’99, Med ’07), Senior Scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Associate Director at the Center for Indigenous Health, leading public health efforts to prevent youth suicide in American Indian and Alaska Native communities; recipient of the 2024 Distinguished Alumna Award
  • Nancy Glass, PhD, MPH, RN (Nurs ’94, ’96), global public health leader whose work addresses violence against women and girls, intimate partner violence, economic empowerment, and health equity in communities around the world; recipient of the 2017 Distinguished Alumna Award
  • Karen Schneider, MD (BSPH ’08), Sister of Mercy and pediatric emergency physician who has led more than 80 medical missions serving underserved communities in Haiti, Guyana, Nigeria, Kenya, and beyond; recipient of the 2021 Global Achievement Award

Our conversation will be moderated by Judy Keen, MS, PhD (A&S '98, BSPH '02, Med '04), President of the Johns Hopkins Alumni Council and Chief Executive Officer of The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR).

 

Johns Hopkins’ Sesquicentennial will celebrate where we have been, where we are today, and where we are going — always looking toward the future. It is a journey shaped by resilience, driven by vision and innovation, and fueled by the unyielding belief that progress is always possible. This is not just a reflection, but a roadmap — one that honors the past, embraces the present, and reaches boldly toward the discoveries of tomorrow. 

For 150 years, Johns Hopkins has been a pioneer in innovation and discovery – pushing boundaries, advancing knowledge. Now, it’s time to celebrate that inspiring legacy!

 

Disclaimer: The perspectives and opinions expressed by the speaker(s) during this program are those of the speaker(s) and not, necessarily, those of Johns Hopkins University and the scheduling of any speaker at an alumni event or program does not constitute the University’s endorsement of the speaker’s perspectives and opinions.
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ABOUT Dr. C. Nicholas Cuneo, Med '15 (MD)
Co-Founder and Executive Director, HEAL Refugee Health & Asylum Collaborative; Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at the JHU School of Medicine

2023 Recipient of the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association Community Champion Award

C. Nicholas Cuneo, MD, MPH is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, with an appointment at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He practices as an academic hospitalist for both children and adults and is affiliated with the Center for Humanitarian Health and the Center for Public Health and Human Rights.

Cuneo is the founding Executive Director of the HEAL Refugee Health & Asylum Collaborative, which provides trauma-informed health care and supportive services to immigrant survivors of torture and trauma. Its programs include Baltimore’s first comprehensive pro bono asylum clinic and the RISE Program for survivors of torture, for which he serves as Medical Director. He also co-leads the national Asylum Medicine Training Initiative.

Cuneo earned his MD from Johns Hopkins, his MPH from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and his bachelor’s degree from Duke University.

ABOUT Dr. Mary Cwik, A&S '99, Med '07
Associate Director and Senior Scientist, Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health

2024 Recipient of the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association Distinguished Alumna Award

Mary Cwik, PhD, is a licensed psychologist and Associate Director and Senior Scientist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health, with a joint appointment in Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her research focuses on preventing suicide, substance use, trauma, and related mental health disparities among American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

For nearly two decades, Cwik has worked in close partnership with the White Mountain Apache Tribe to identify risk and protective factors affecting youth mental health and to develop culturally grounded approaches to suicide prevention. This community-based work has helped illuminate the importance of cultural identity and other protective factors and has contributed to promising interventions associated with reductions in the Apache suicide rate.

Cwik earned her BA in Psychology and Philosophy from Johns Hopkins University and her PhD in Child Clinical Psychology from Southern Illinois University. She completed postdoctoral training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

ABOUT Dr. Nancy Glass, Nurs '94 (BS), '96 (MS/MPH)
Associate Director, Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health; Independence Foundation Chair in Nursing Education

2017 Recipient of the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association Distinguished Alumna Award

Nancy Glass, PhD, MPH, MS, RN, FAAN, is a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Associate Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health, and the Independence Chair in Nursing Education. Her research focuses on improving safety, health, and economic security for women, families, and communities affected by violence, displacement, and gender inequity.

For more than two decades, Glass has led multidisciplinary research projects in the United States and around the world, developing and evaluating interventions to prevent violence against women and strengthen health systems’ responses to gender-based violence. Her work has included partnerships in Somalia, South Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Colombia, with a particular focus on humanitarian and refugee settings. She has also pioneered the use of mobile health technologies to deliver programs, collect secure data, and connect health and social service providers with tools and resources.

Glass is deeply committed to community partnership and mentorship, collaborating with local organizations, researchers, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students to develop practical, sustainable approaches that improve health, safety, and economic stability.

ABOUT Dr. Karen Schneider, BSPH '08 (MPH)
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

2021 Recipient of the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association Global Achievement Award

Karen Schneider, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, specializing in pediatric emergency medicine and tropical medicine. She joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2002 and also directs a tropical medicine elective that provides medical students and residents with clinical experience in countries including Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, and Nigeria.

A member of the Sisters of Mercy, Schneider has devoted much of her career to serving children and families in underserved communities around the world. She is particularly known for her post-disaster medical work in Haiti and has contributed to international conversations on children’s health, humanitarian medicine, and disaster response, including presentations at the United Nations and UNICEF.

Schneider earned her medical degree from SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn, completed her pediatric residency at Yale Children’s Hospital and fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine at Johns Hopkins, and later earned an MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her work has been recognized with numerous honors for humanitarian service and community engagement.

 Event Date
Thursday, November 12, 2026
Start Time: 12:00pm EST
End Time: 1:00pm EST

 Location
Virtual Livestream

Hopkins at Home
Baltimore 21218
Livestream

 Contact
Office of Alumni Relations
Joe Letourneau
Lifelong Learning
(800) JHU-JHU1
HopkinsatHome@jhu.edu

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