Brian Garibaldi, MD (MEHP ’19), director of the Johns Hopkins Biocontainment Unit, will receive the university’s Distinguished Alumnus Award. The award honors alumni who have typified the Johns Hopkins tradition of excellence and brought credit to the university by their personal accomplishment, professional achievement, or humanitarian service. Garibaldi, a specialist in pulmonary diseases, critical care, and internal medicine, designed a specialized ward at The Johns Hopkins Hospital to treat the sickest, most contagious patients. The Biocontainment Unit opened in response to the Ebola virus outbreak in 2014 and served as a model for more units rushed into use during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to treating and advising on the care of COVID-19 patients, Garibaldi has been researching the disease. A prediction model he developed to anticipate whose condition was likely to worsen was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Garibaldi also served as a consultant to the White House and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, when former U.S. President Donald Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19.
