Class Notes

David Straker, LA94, was listed as a Top Psychiatrist in Super Doctors for the fourth consecutive year. He also was tapped by the American Psychiatric Association as a Distinguished Fellow and appointed Psychiatry Clerkship Director for third-year medical students at Nova Southeastern University Allopathic School of Medicine. Straker continues to maintain a private practice.

Evan Sotiriou, EN94, LW97, joined Tucker Ellis LLP as counsel in the firm’s intellectual property department. A registered U.S. patent attorney, Sotiriou has focused on patent preparation and prosecution for more than two decades.

Joe Daniels, LA94, was named president and CEO of America250, the nationwide commemoration of America’s 250th anniversary in 2026 led by the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission. Previously, Daniels led the National Medal of Honor Museum and was the president and CEO of the 9/11 Museum and Memorial in New York City.

Ben Blount, FA94, shares that his letterpress poster installation, “Eyes Wide Shut,” was displayed on the windows of the Minnesota Center for Book Arts from Jan. 11–March 28, 2021. His display, he writes, “is an examination of our relationship to white supremacy in the United States. It’s ubiquitous, yet unseen. Both monumental and myth. Are we safe or are we surrounded?” From July 2021–January 2022, a collection of Blount’s posters was on display at The Met Fifth Avenue as part of an exhibition on revolution, resistance and activism.

Kristin Burns, LA92, on behalf of her two children, advocates for children’s rights overall and within the legal system. She also works for the rights and protections of victims and witnesses of crimes. Her article, “Our real, local, national, and global needs,” which discusses issues facing the country and the world, appeared in the Fairfax Times.

Gretchen Cowman, EN91, is a captain in the U.S. Public Health Service and manages the laboratory renovation and construction program at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md. Early during the COVID-19 pandemic, she deployed to the Navajo Nation to expand access to safe water and sanitation and to San Antonio, Texas, to support the influx of unaccompanied migrant children. Cowman is active in three hiking clubs in the Washington, D.C., area.

Brian Siegel, SI90, writes with pride that his daughters are students at WashU.

David W. Braswell, UC90, UC92, was elected chairman of Armstrong Teasdale. Braswell was instrumental in the firm’s growth, adding offices in New York; Salt Lake City; Philadelphia; Boston; Princeton, N.J.; Wilmington, Del.; Edwardsville, Ill.; and London, England. While actively practicing, Braswell was involved in high-profile mergers and acquisitions, providing guidance on transactional and compliance issues.

Dean VonDras, GR89, GR93, a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, co-wrote Music, Wellness, and Aging: Defining, Directing, and Celebrating Life (Cambridge University Press, October 2021). The book discusses the intersection between music, wellness and aging, and explores deeper aspects of human nature and later life.

K. Sean Kimbro, LA87, a professor in the Department of Biomedical and Biological Sciences at North Carolina Central University, is a principal investigator on a National Institutes of Health grant that supports highly innovative and broadly impactful biomedical or behavioral research through the Common Fund’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program. The university’s research focuses on establishing new paradigms to address the functional consequences of health disparities in drug development.