Bios

Frederick L. Brancati, M.D., M.H.S., F.A.C.P.

Executive Medical Director

Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology;
     Joint Appointment in Nursing, Johns Hopkins University
Director, Division of General Internal Medicine

Dr. Brancati is an internationally recognized expert on the epidemiology and prevention of type 2 diabetes and related conditions. He is the author of more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers and is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation. He has won teaching and mentoring awards from medical students, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows at Hopkins. He is a board-certified internist with an active staff appointment at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

As executive medical director, Dr. Brancati represents the faculty perspective and serves as a link to the JHM faculty base. He also provides oversight and direction related to academic elements of business development and manages any potential conflict of interest and conflict of commitment issues of the faculty.

Dr. Brancati received his B.A. from Harvard University in 1981 and his M.D. from Columbia University in 1985. After residency training at the University of Pittsburgh, he came to Johns Hopkins in 1989 for a post-doctoral fellowship in the Division of General Internal Medicine and earned a master's degree in Clinical Epidemiology from the Bloomberg School of Public Health.  He joined the Department of Medicine faculty in 1992 and was named director of the General Internal Medicine Division in 2004.

Bruce Leff, M.D., F.A.C.P., A.G.S.F.

Associate Medical Director

Professor of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University
Joint Appointment in the Department of Health Policy and Management
Director, Center on Aging and Health Program in Geriatric Health Services Research

Dr. Leff is an internationally recognized leader and researcher in the development, evaluation, and dissemination of novel models of care for older adults, including the Hospital at Home, Guided Care, geriatric service line models (http://www.med-ic.org/), and medical house call practices (http://www.iahnow.com/).  In addition, his research interests extend to issues related to multi-morbidity, performance measurement, and case-mix issues. He has a strong interest in health policy issues and is a Health and Aging Policy Fellow of the American Political Science Association. Dr. Leff is an award-winning teacher and mentor and is also involved in directing the basic Medicine Clerkship in the School of Medicine. He currently serves as President of the American Academy of Home Care Physicians as well as a member of the Board of Governors of the American College of Physicians. 

As the associate medical director, Dr. Leff will represent faculty, clinical staff, and researchers at Johns Hopkins and sever as a liaison with the business development team.  In this capacity he will serve as an advisor to the team for any academic issues and considerations in the ongoing development of projects and products. 

Dr. Leff received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1983 and his M.D. from New York University in 1987.  After residency and fellowship training at Johns Hopkins, he served as a medical officer in the US army in Seoul, Korea, before joining the faculty in the Department of Medicine in 1994 

Mark A. Cochran, PhD

Managing Director

Dr. Cochran leads a unique initiative at Hopkins—expanding and managing partnerships with the business world, fostering collaborations among faculty and clinicians to leverage their intellectual assets, and exploring opportunities to share Hopkins-based solutions for population health issues with external markets.

His professional experience spans the spectrum of the global healthcare value chain, including drug discovery, development, research and management, and venture capital initiatives. Dr. Cochran has held leadership positions in organizations such as Bayer Pharmaceuticals, Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute, MDS Capital Corp. and NeuroVentures.

Dr. Cochran holds a doctoral degree in microbiology and immunology from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario; a master’s degree in microbiology from the University of Guelph, Ontario, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, he co-founded MicroGeneSys, Inc., a Connecticut-based vaccine company. Through his early research, he authored a number of scientific papers and holds six patents.

Steve A. Libowitz

Senior Director

Steve has been on the forefront of bringing faculty intellectual property to the commercial marketplace since joining Johns Hopkins Medicine in 1999. First in overseeing a decade-long relationship with the disease management and well-being firm Healthways, and more recently with JHM’s consulting engagement with Wellpoint/Resolution Health. Steve also has led JHM's commercial publishing effort of both consumer and professional health information, including POC-IT Guides.

Known at Hopkins for his communications expertise, Steve served as editor of the university newspaper, The Gazette, and as director of the university’s Office of News and Information for a number of years. His prior experience includes producing and writing film and television programs including patient education materials for Milner/Fenwick, Inc., and non-fiction programming for clients including Miami Public Television.

Steve holds a bachelor’s degree from Florida Atlantic University and a master’s degree from Towson (State) University.

Diana L. Schulin

Assistant Director

Diana's passion and communications expertise is evident in her oversight of the Consumer Health Information Program within Solutions. In collaboration with faculty and clinicians throughout Johns Hopkins, she creates and disseminates health information for external clients such as Yahoo! Health and WalkStyles, Inc. In addition, she actively facilitates Solutions products, programs and protocols, working closely with both Hopkins experts and Mx.com to offer these products to the outside world.    

Previously with the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering (WSE), she held the posts of director of marketing and communications for the Engineering Programs for Professionals and as manager of communications for WSE.

Diana holds a bachelor's degree in Journalism from the University of Maryland and a master's degree in Science Writing from the Johns Hopkins University. A published science writer, she has received a number of professional awards for her work.

Nicole R. Sokol

Project Manager

As a technology maven, Nicole manages several high-tech projects within Solutions. In this role, she facilitates medical guide development for the Point-of-Care Information Technology (POC-IT) Guides across platforms—web, mobile, and print. Nicole has helped the POC-IT Center grow from a small initiative within the School of Medicine’s Division of Infectious Diseases into an institution-wide project.

With enthusiasm, Nicole works with physicians to tailor their content for the POC-IT model. She also markets the Guides internally and externally through promotion, public relations and exhibiting at medical conferences. Her projects have required her to travel abroad to locations such as Zambia and Trinidad for in-person feasibly testing and training. 

Nicole earned a bachelor's degree from Towson University and a master's degree in Instructional Technology from the Johns Hopkins University. 

Megan E. Brown

Project Manager

Megan brings her business savvy to the newly-established Walgreens relationship. This exciting project will enable both organizations to create mutually beneficial training programs, explore research opportunities and develop new models for delivering health care specifically related to chronic disease. In facilitating this, Megan will work across several units throughout Johns Hopkins Medicine and serve as a catalyst for new ideas and opportunities with Walgreens.

Prior to joining the Solutions team, Megan worked at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Graduate Medical Education. She managed the Pediatric Residency program, which included collaboration with combined programs across the institution. With over 80 trainees, Megan focused on recruitment, on-boarding, and the administrative aspects of trainee development. Her role expanded to include managing the Pediatric Medical Student Clerkship within the School of Medicine.

Megan has a bachelor's degree from Towson University and a master's degree in Business Administration with a specialization in Organization Development from the Johns Hopkins University.

Danielle M. Meinsler

Project Analyst

With a keen ability to multitask, Danielle is responsible for financial facilitation, project research and meeting coordination for the Solutions team.

Danielle is a reputed problem solver, with responsibilities that include supporting the Johns Hopkins POC-IT Center and editorial maintenance of the ABX and HIV Guides. She also coordinates the Center’s Continuing Medical Education initiative. At Hopkins since 2006, Danielle assisted with new Guide development including the Zambia HIV Guide, the Trinidad and Tobago Diabetes Guide and the Spanish HIV Guide. She played an integral role with faculty training, contract management, content integration, budget analysis and financial transactions. 

Her previous experience includes positions as a residential treatment counselor, psychiatric rehabilitation specialist, program coordinator for the ARC and a home/hospital teacher. Danielle holds a bachelor’s degree from Towson University. 

Rod D. Graham

Editor

Known for both his poetic license and semicolon mongering, Rod is in charge of editorial services for Solutions projects, focused mainly on the Consumer Health Information Program.

Working with faculty and clinicians throughout Hopkins, Rod tackles editing jobs that range from Yahoo Health bloggers to a recent 90-page memory book for the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Rod's contributions in writing and editing at Hopkins are most recently as a science writer, copy editor, and proofreader, first at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and then at Johns Hopkins Medicine International. He began his Hopkins career in the School of Medicine’s Department of Neurology. Rod went on to become a medical editor there, polishing the manuscripts of a team of clinician-scientists for publication.

Rod's holds a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College in English Literature and a master's degree from the Johns Hopkins University in Writing.