Alumni in the News: April 11, 2022

Ai-jen Poo ’96 was featured in The Cut column “How I Get It Done” on April 4. Poo is the executive director and co-founder of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, which advocates for the rights of caregivers, housecleaners and other domestic workers.

Also featured in The Cut was Alana Mayo ’06, the subject of the March 28 article, “It’s Fine to Cry in Meetings With Alana Mayo.” Mayo is the president of Orion Pictures.

A March 25 New York Times article, “Cases Are Rising in Schools. So Why Are Masks Off?” included Annie Tan ’11, a special-education teacher in Brooklyn. Tan posted a picture of herself on Twitter lugging her own air purifier to school in the name of helping her charges remain safe.

Zila Acosta-Grimes ’11, LAW’15 received a Top Lawyer Under 40 Award by the Hispanic National Bar Association at a reception on March 25. Acosta-Grimes is an associate at Debevoise & Plimpton.

President Biden appointed Dr. Ashish K. Jha ’92 as White House Covid-19 response coordinator on March 17. Jha will take leave as the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health to fulfill his new role.

Also on March 17, Dov S. Zakheim ’70, former under secretary of defense, was nominated by Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) to the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology. The 12-member group will review advances in emerging biotechnology and associated areas to make recommendations for military missions and activities.

Jean H. Lee ’92, JRN’95 wrote the March 14 New York Times guest essay “Kim Jong-un Is Just Getting Started.” Lee is the former Korea Bureau chief for the Associated Press; she is now a co-host of the Lazarus Heist podcast from the BBC World Service and a senior fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.

Daniel Alarcón ’99 wrote the March 7 New Yorker article “A Pandemic Tragedy in Guayaquil” about how Ecuador’s largest city endured one of the world’s most lethal outbreaks of Covid-19.

Chef, restaurateur and author Anita Lo ’88 was presented the Torch Award at the International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York, held March 6–8. The award honors talented chefs and/or restaurateurs for the brilliance of their careers and the impact they have had on the industry and their surrounding community.

An article co-authored by Dr. Paul Rosen ’70, “Diagnostic challenges in primary care: Identifying and avoiding cognitive bias,” appeared in the April 2022 Journal of Family Practice. The article aims is to prevent misdiagnosis, now the third leading cause of mortality in the United States behind heart disease and cancer.

Antonia Georgieva ’18 and Kosta Karakashyan ’19 are collaborators on a dance-theater performance piece, The Last Sunset, that touches on the social and environmental issues around burning fossil fuels. The performance will premiere on May 18 in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, at the 25th Gabrovo Biennial of Humor and Satire.