CURRENT FELLOWS

Armani Hawes, MD
Medical School: University of Michigan
Residency: Osler Program at Johns Hopkins

Armani grew up in southeast Michigan in a musical Armenian-American family. She studied public policy at the University of Michigan and briefly worked in policy and research before attending medical school at the University of Michigan. She completed internal medicine residency at Johns Hopkins and is excited to be continuing her training at Hopkins in Infectious Diseases. Outside of medicine, you can find her hiking, reading a good book, or eating Taharka Brothers ice cream.

Benjamin C. Johnson, MD
Medical School: Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Residency: Osler Program at Johns Hopkins

Ben grew up outside of Boston before moving to Washington, D.C. for college. Prior to medical school he spent five years at the State Department and CDC, where he worked on global HIV treatment & prevention programs through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). During medical school and residency he explored his overlapping interests in global health, public policy, and international affairs by working on refugee health programs in Jordan, global COVID-19 policy initiatives, and a One Health multi-hazard risk assessment in Uganda’s West Nile Region. Outside of medicine he enjoys woodworking, detective novels, and spending time with his family.

Zachary Lorenz, MD
Medical School: Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
Residency: Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center

Zach is originally from Indiana but moved to Delaware as a teenager. He was recruited to play football at Johns Hopkins University and completed a degree in Public Health Studies, where he realized his passion for medicine in the form of patient centered care and service to marginalized people. He received his medical degree from the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University and subsequently completed his internship and residency at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in their primary care track. He was also selected to participate in the JHM medical education pathway, where he was mentored by several ID-trained clinician educators and realized his passion for ID. After residency, he served as an Assistant Chief of Service for the Bayview residency program. In addition to being passionate about coaching within medical education, Zach undertook several clinical research projects in residency pertaining to Treponema pallidum and is hoping to expand upon this work during fellowship. Outside of medicine, Zach enjoys woodworking as well as hiking with his wife and their golden retriever.

Gitanjali Narayanan, MD
Medical School: Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine
Residency: Osler Program at Johns Hopkins

Gitanjali was raised in Pennsylvania and completed her BS/MS in Biochemistry at Penn State University. She earned her MD and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Oregon Health and Science University, where she studied the recognition of tuberculosis by the lung immune system. She then completed her internal medicine training at JHH and is thrilled to be staying at Hopkins for fellowship. She hopes to continue to blend her interests in human immunity and recognition of microbial infection in her fellowship training. Outside of the hospital/lab, Gitanjali enjoys reading, restaurant-hopping, and spending time with her family and friends.

Emily Hoff, MD
Medical School: Yale School of Medicine
Residency: University of Texas Southwestern

Emily is originally from Ann Arbor, MI. She completed her undergraduate studies at Middlebury College and medical school at Yale School of Medicine. She then went to University of Texas Southwestern for residency and stayed for a chief resident year. Her interests are in the overlap of infectious diseases and addiction with a focus on justice-involved populations and women’s health. Long term, Emily plans to be a clinical investigator, implementing patient-centered care for people experiencing infectious complications of substance use. Outside of medicine, Emily enjoys spending her free time going on adventures, from discovering the next best restaurant to the best hiking path, with her family: her husband, a Med-Peds Hematology fellow; her son; and Alle, her fur baby.

Ruth Howe, MD
Medical School: Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Residency: University of Washington, Seattle

Ruth grew up in the Appalachian Mountains and entered the research world via plant genetic engineering with the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute. She majored in molecular biology and biochemistry at Washington University in St. Louis, where she worked in the theater, a gene therapy lab, and as a medical ESL instructor with Virginia Tech. She stayed at WashU to study the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum with Dr. Audrey Odom and fell in love with infectious disease research. Ruth then moved to the MSTP program at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, where she completed her MD and a PhD working in oncology. Eager to return to infectious disease research, she then did an ABIM fast track residency at University of Washington in Seattle prior to entering fellowship at Hopkins. Along the way, she had many odd jobs, including working with ex-racehorses, playing in Celtic and mariachi bands, and doing anatomical illustration for research journals. Outside of medicine, Ruth enjoys rock climbing, sword fighting, the great outdoors, painting, making music, and playing collaborative board games.

Jillian Peters, MD
Medical School: The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Residency: Johns Hopkins

Jillian grew up in New Hampshire, where she learned to love the outdoors. She graduated from Harvard University with a degree in neurobiology, while also pursuing her interest in bioethics. After college, she worked as a healthcare consultant for Clarion Healthcare. She then attended medical school at Brown University, where she also studied global health. Jillian is passionate about emerging and zoonotic pathogens, and much of her research has been on Ebola virus disease. She completed internal medicine residency at Johns Hopkins and is excited to be continuing her training at Hopkins in Infectious Diseases.

Sima Sharara, MD
Medical School: American University of Beirut Faculty of Medicine, Lebanon
Residency: Johns Hopkins

Sima grew up in Beirut, Lebanon. She completed her undergraduate studies at UNC Chapel Hill before returning to Lebanon for medical school at the American University of Beirut. She completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in antibiotic stewardship and HEIC at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and has never left since! She completed her internal medicine residency training at JHH and is excited to be staying at Hopkins for ID fellowship. Outside of medicine, Sima enjoys playing volleyball, trying new restaurants and coffee shops, and traveling.

Caitlin Visek, MD
Medical School: The Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University
Residency: Northwestern University

Caitlin grew up in the Chicago area. She headed to the East Coast for college in Boston, then worked in healthcare consulting in Washington, DC before returning to Chicago for medical school and residency at Northwestern. During her medical training, she was involved in viral respiratory disease research, quality improvement, and global health. She also pursued her interest in public health through experiences at the CDC in Atlanta during medical school and later with the Chicago Department of Public Health. Outside of medicine, Caitlin enjoys cooking, exploring the Baltimore restaurant scene, and running along the waterfront and through Patterson Park.

Mentors: Emily Kendall, MD, PhD, and Kelly Gebo, MD, MPH

Lucy Li, MD, PhD
Medical School: Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
Residency: Johns Hopkins

Lucy attended graduate and medical school in St. Louis at WashU. There, she discovered an interest in fungal pathogens and conducted research on virulence factors in Cryptococcus neoformans. She then moved to Baltimore for internal medicine residency at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Outside of medicine, Lucy enjoys hiking, baking, and exploring museums.

Mentors: Robin Avery, MD; Nate Permpalung, MD, MPH; Christine Durand, MD; and Sean Zhang, MD, PhD

Sean Anderson, MD
Medical School: Medical College of Wisconsin
Residency: University of Chicago

Sean grew up in the Milwaukee area and stayed in the Midwest for most of his training, including undergraduate at the University of Michigan, medical school at Medical College of Wisconsin, and residency at the University of Chicago. He majored in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at Michigan, where his interest in host/pathogen relationships started. He researched viral oncogenesis under Dr. Vera Tarakanova at MCW and HIV diagnostic disparities at UChicago with Dr. Moira McNulty. His career goals are to balance ID clinical care with research in clinical microbiome science. Outside of medicine, Sean plays basketball and baseball (his #6 was retired by the Windy City Red Sox).

Mentor: Cindy Sears, MD

Seth Judson, MD
Medical School: University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine
Residency: University of Washington

Seth grew up in Arizona and Southern California, where he developed a passion for the intersection of our health and the environment. As an undergraduate at Stanford, he studied disease ecology and bat-borne pathogens in Latin America, leading him to an NIH fellowship to research the spillover and transmission of ebolaviruses. He received his MD at UCLA where he collaborated with policymakers in Cameroon to improve predictions of zoonotic viruses and investigated emerging arboviruses with the CDC. During residency at the University of Washington, he assessed SARS-CoV-2 transmission as well as COVID-19 regional risk and data reporting in Africa. His clinical and research interests are at the interface of emerging zoonoses, vector-borne diseases, and pandemic preparedness. Outside of medicine, Seth enjoys creating art and exploring nature with his wife.

Mentor: David Dowdy, MD, PhD, MSc, ScM