This Spring, UMD School of Public Health (SPH) recognized four outstanding members of the community with its highest honor – the Distinguished Terrapin Award.

The School of Public Health (SPH) Alumni Network awarded the Public Health Emerging and Engaging Leaders (PHEEL) Award to seven outstanding recent graduates in April 2025. Each honoree was selected for their excellence in their career progression, service and leadership. 

From shaping national health policy to running a food company that brings communities together through Filipino cuisine, Christopher Silayan DeVore ’14 is a testament to the versatility of a public health degree. With a passion for legislative advocacy and a deep commitment to cultural connection, DeVore has built a career that integrates policy, public service, and entrepreneurship.

Whether in a hospital or a classroom, these doctors have always been driven by a shared passion for public health, medical research and practice, and mentorship. So when Bradley Boekeloo, Ph.D., retired from a distinguished career at UMD’s School of Public Health (SPH), he and his partner Stanley Drake, M.D., made another big commitment together: they established at SPH the Bradley O. Boekeloo, Ph.D. and Stanley D. Drake, M.D.

Alvin M. Powers is no stranger to hard work. A visionary leader in the healthcare industry, he built a legacy that extended far beyond business success. Powers dedicated his life to improving the lives of others, and with that, came an unwavering belief in the transformative power of education. Upon his passing in November 2023 at age 89, his family and friends established the Alvin M.

A passion for social systems and a drive to create more equitable  health outcomes have defined the career of Katie Howard, MPH ’08. Now serving as senior policy advisor for Quality, Metrics, Surveys, and Evaluations at the Oregon Health Authority, Howard is leveraging data-driven strategies to address health inequities and implement real-world solutions for vulnerable communities.

A love for sports and a passion for helping others were the twin drivers behind alumni Dr. Dillon Balkin’s career.

It’s not just the first hint of fall foliage—the University of Maryland campus is glowing a definite red this week with crimson lights from Memorial Chapel to Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center.

Homecoming 2024 festivities kicked off Sunday night with SEE’s Homecoming Comedy Show, featuring Emmy award-winning comedian John Mulaney, and now, there’s tons of new ways to show off your Maryland pride leading up to the big game.

Vonai Moyo '13 knew her dual passions from the start— as a child she dreamed of becoming a pediatrician and since the first grade she devoted herself to gymnastics.  At UMD’s School of Public Health (SPH) she nurtured these two loves and transformed them into two dynamic careers: working as a physician assistant (PA) and as a rookie member of the renowned New England Patriots

As a kid, Joanne Pérodin ('05 BS, ’09 MPH) loved to take things apart and put them back together again, like her bicycle or keyboard, and thought she might become an engineer. By the time she began her studies in kinesiology in 2001 at UMD’s School of Public Health, she had already lived through the tumult of political violence in her home city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, along with the increasingly disastrous effects of extreme weather events on Haiti’s environment and population.