Class Notes

David Silver, GL18, founded Medical Industries of the Americas, locating it in an old manufacturing plant that he revived in Eufaula, Ala. The company — which produces health, safety, medical, and personal protective equipment and supplies — brought 300 jobs to the city, intent on offering workers up to $16 an hour. In addition to helping out his community through business, Silver enjoys mentoring as well as helping feed the homeless.

James Petersen, SW17, is a clinical social worker at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Tony Nuber, GB17, completed a research fellowship at the RAND Arroyo Center in Santa Monica, Calif., and now leads an integration team at the U.S. Army Pacific headquarters.

Janay (Sanders) Woodruff, UC16, curated, produced and performed in an all-Black showcase at an empty State Theatre in Portland, Maine, to celebrate Juneteenth and raise funds for local organizations that empower the Black community. During the show, she released “Feared,” an uplifting pop/rock song about conquering fears. The performance raised more than $10,000 for Indigo Arts Alliance (indigoartsalliance.me) and Black Owned Maine (blackownedmaine.com), which promote and support the state’s Black artists and Black-owned businesses and nonprofits.

Maxwell Wang, EN16, was a 2020 recipient of a Hertz Fellowship. The fellowship is awarded annually to graduate students in science and technology with the greatest potential to create transformative solutions to the world’s most urgent challenges. A doctoral student in neuroscience and machine learning at Carnegie Mellon University, Wang is conducting research aimed at understanding how brain networks change during neuro-interventions.

Jordan Mendoza, LA16, is a senior community engagement associate at NowPow, a health-care technology company in Chicago.

Nicole McAmis, EN16, a fourth-year medical student at Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University graduating in May 2021, joined with the university’s women’s basketball team to help raise awareness of Rett syndrome during the Bobcats’ game against Fairfield University. Rett syndrome, which McAmis researched while at WashU, is a rare, noninherited genetic postnatal neurological disorder that occurs primarily in girls. Recently, she also wrote articles on human trafficking in emergency medicine magazines Common Sense and EM Resident. 

Shyam Kiran Akula, LA16, was selected to receive a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. The $90,000 graduate school fellowship is awarded to outstanding immigrants and children of immigrants in the United States. After graduating from WashU, Akula joined the Harvard-MIT MD/PhD program to train as a physician and scientist. He is currently conducting his PhD research on rare genetic diseases of cortical malformation to understand how specific genes influence normal human brain development.

Orchideh Abar, LA16, is a resident physician in obstetrics and gynecology at Abington-Jefferson Health in Abington, Pa.

Xinyuan Zhang, LA15, is a resident physician in urology at the University of Washington.