Leadership

Program Director

Miriam Alexander, MD, MPH, currently serves as the program director for the residency program, a position she has held since 1996. In this capacity, she has taught and mentored more than 100 practicing preventive medicine residents.

Dr. Alexander also serves as the director of the Mid-Atlantic Public Health Training Center. In her role with the Mid-Atlantic Public Health Training Center, she serves as an instructor providing training to practicing members of the public health workforce in the Mid-Atlantic region. Dr. Alexander actively teaches and precepts medical students in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and is the primary instructor of the “Introduction to Public Health” course on the undergraduate campus.

Dr. Alexander joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins University in 1995 and served as director of the Master of Public Health program from 1997 to July 2002.

In addition to her many activities within the university, Dr. Alexander also serves as corporate medical director at McCormick and Company where she provides direct patient care and physician consultative services to all their occupational health programs.

Dr. Alexander is also actively involved in preventive medicine on a national level. She is the president of the American College of Preventive Medicine and serves on the Residency Review Committee for Preventive Medicine of the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education. She recently completed a 9-year term on the American Board of Preventive Medicine.

Prior to 1995, Dr. Alexander was the medical director at Bethlehem Steel from 1991 until 1995 which provided her a unique perspective in both occupational and preventive medicine.

Dr. Alexander completed her residency training at Johns Hopkins University and is board certified in general preventive medicine. She received her medical and bachelor’s degrees from Cornell University in New York.

Assistant Program Director

Clarence Lam, MD, MPH, currently serves as assistant program director for the residency program. He was chief resident for the residency program during the 2011-12 academic year. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Case Western Reserve University where he completed his Bachelor of Arts in political science and biology. He earned his medical degree from the University of Maryland and his Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.

While in medical school, Dr. Lam was elected as the student body president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and he served on the health affairs staff of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the U.S. House of Representatives where he conducted oversight investigations on drug safety policy. He also worked as an analyst at the Center for Biosecurity where he authored several publications on biodefense policy and public health preparedness. During residency, he was a representative to his institution’s Graduate Medical Education Committee and Residency Advisory Committee. He was also elected as the Vice President of Membership and Recruitment for the American College of Preventive Medicine’s Resident Physicians Section. In the past, he served two AmeriCorps terms in health education and advocacy in Cleveland, Ohio.

In 2010, Dr. Lam successfully ran for elected office to serve on the Howard County Democratic Central Committee. He also serves as an elected member of the Maryland Democratic State Central Committee and as an Executive Director of the Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Leadership Council of the Maryland Democratic Party.

In addition to his responsibilities as chief resident, he currently serves as a consultant to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on drug shortages, is on the legislative staff of the only physician in the Maryland General Assembly, and serves on the boards of several community organizations, including as Vice Chair of the Howard County Community Action Council and also of Healthy Howard, an award-winning program whose mission is to ensure that access to medical and preventive care is available to all residents in Howard County, Maryland.

Chief Resident

Elizabeth Salisbury-Afshar, MD, MPH, currently serves as the chief resident of the residency program. She completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Nutrition with a minor in chemistry at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. She earned her medical degree from Rush University College of Medicine and her Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

In 2004, Dr. Salisbury-Afshar took a year away from medical school to work as a regional coordinator for an Illinois state-based public health initiative working to reduce maternal-infant HIV transmission. As a regional coordinator for this initiative, she oversaw implementation of state-based HIV testing mandate in nineteen hospitals in Illinois, facilitated development of each hospital's procedures and ensured compliance with the mandate, and trained hospital staff to counsel, administer, and give results of rapid HIV test in labor and delivery setting. While in medical school, Dr. Salisbury-Afshar was the national Community and Public Health Action Committee Chair for the American Medical Student Association, was actively involved with Physicians for Human Rights at the national level, and served as a Chicago Albert Schweitzer Fellow.

Prior to pursuing perventive medicine training, Dr. Salisbury-Afshar completed a residency in family medicine at UIC-Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. As a family medicine resident, she served as the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians Resident President-Elect and later as Resident-President. She continued to work with the Chicago Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Program, served as a mentor for fellows, and was asked to sit on the inaugural Chicago Fellows For Life Steering Committee.

As a preventive medicine resident, Dr. Salisbury-Afshar's academic work focused on public health programs for vulnerable populations- both in the United States and globally. Her practicum rotations included working with an intergovernmental agency in Geneva, Switzerland, with USAID/MCHIP (Maternal and Child Health Integrated Programs) in Washington, DC, with the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene during the legislative session, and with the Baltimore City Department of Health Maternal and Child Health Division. As a resident, she served as a resident representative on the Residency Advisory Committee. She was elected as the American College of Preventive Medicine Resident Physician Section Vice President of Membership and Recruitment (2011-2012) and the President (2012-2013). Throughout residency, Dr. Salisbury-Afshar continued to work clinically in a federally qualified community health center as a family physician.

In addition to her responsibilities as chief resident, Dr. Salisbury-Afshar works as a family physician in a federally qualified community health center and serves as a Board Member of the Baltimore Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Program.