An Eye for the Future
Truman Scholar. USA Today Academic First Team Member. Published author. Kurt Herzer is not a household name. Not yet anyway. But the Krieger School graduate from New York is well on his way to a distinguished career in, well, whatever he puts his mind to.
Born with a genetic retinal condition that left him legally blind, Herzer learned early on to harness his prodigious intellect and to create his own opportunities. This drive was evident in the litany of accomplishments he claimed while still an undergraduate. It is also evident in the research that he has pursued as a Wilson Fellow.
Wilson Research Fellows work closely with faculty mentors on independent research projects and receive yearly stipends for research needs, including support for travel and equipment. Founded with a gift from Trustee J. Barclay Knapp and supported through the years by alumni like Trustee Howie Mandel, MD, the program honors America’s only president to hold a PhD, Woodrow Wilson, an 1886 Johns Hopkins graduate.
“Hopkins brings students together with world-class faculty to partner in research and scholarly publication,” says Mandel. “Those of us blessed with resources have the responsibility to support these students as they create knowledge for the world.”
The emphasis on independent undergraduate research is in keeping with Johns Hopkins’ role as America’s first research university. It is also a powerful draw for bright young scholars like Herzer, a public health major.
Since receiving the fellowship, Herzer has worked with School of Medicine faculty - including his mentor, Peter J. Pronovost, MD, PhD, medical director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Innovation in Quality Patient Care - to explore issues of health care quality and patient safety here and abroad. His research led to work in the United Kingdom and an opportunity to assist in the analysis of the UK’s medical error data as part of a joint World Health Organization/Johns Hopkins project, and he recently completed a national assessment of a prominent health care quality standard in nearly 1,000 U.S. hospitals. He spent the summer before his senior year living in Geneva and working at the World Health Organization and, the next fall, was invited to deliver a talk at Mexico’s inaugural medical congress on health care quality. “Hopkins is perhaps the only university where you can walk in as a freshman and find yourself doing graduate-level research that can change the world,” says Herzer. "Research offers the thrills of discovery and innovation — the chance to improve public health and bring about social change."
After graduation in May 2009, Kurt returned to the UK for study in policy and health intervention at Oxford as a Marshall Scholar. Then, he’ll return to Johns Hopkins to study at the School of Medicine and the Bloomberg School of Public Health in a joint MD/PhD program. And from there? Stay tuned…