Barbara Townsend Cromwell is a teacher and philanthropist who has championed many causes and charitable institutions, particularly those focused on education, medicine, and history. She was born in Philadelphia and moved to Pocomoke City, Maryland, where she was raised and graduated from Pocomoke High School as class valedictorian and recipient of the Old Home Prize, given to the best all-around student. She attended Washington College where she studied history and graduated with honors. Her love of education led her to a career in teaching elementary school in Anne Arundel County. Many of her initial students still remain in contact with her to this day. She also served on the board and helped to establish the kindergarten school at Saint Martin’s-in-the-Field Episcopal Church.
Ms. Cromwell’s love of education has also led to her philanthropy. She has been a lifelong supporter of Washington College where she served on the Board of Visitors and Governors. In 2016, the Barbara and George Cromwell Hall opened at Washington College. This academic facility houses the departments of anthropology and environmental science and studies. It is also home to the Barbara and George Cromwell Center for Teaching and Learning, which supports faculty innovations through talks, workshops, and grants. At Severn School, her late husband’s alma mater, she funded the Barbara and George ’49 Cromwell Centennial Rotunda.
Ms. Cromwell’s generous support of research at Johns Hopkins has included gifts to neonatal care and the Lyme Disease Research Center in the Division of Rheumatology. Her gifts supported research in the Lyme Center at a critical time in its early development. Most recently she has made possible the endowment of the Barbara Townsend Cromwell Professor in Lyme Disease and Tickborne Illness.
Held by John N. Aucott
Dr. JOHN N. AUCOTT received his undergraduate degree in molecular biology from the University of California at Berkeley and his MD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He trained at the University Hospitals of Cleveland and is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine with board certification in Infectious Diseases.
He assumed the position of Director of the Johns Hopkins Rheumatology Lyme Disease Research Center in April 2015 and is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He has been involved in the care of patients and research in Lyme disease since joining the Johns Hopkins faculty in 1996.
Dr. Aucott’s research is focused on improved diagnostic testing and health-related outcomes in Lyme disease. He is widely recognized as an international expert in post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome. He is currently the Principal Investigator for the SLICE studies, examining the impact of Lyme disease on health outcomes and the human immune system. The biorepository of blood samples from the SLICE studies is a nationally recognized resource that has formed the basis of numerous collaborations studying the microbiology and immune pathophysiology of Lyme disease. The SLICE biorepository has been instrumental in the development of several new candidate diagnostic tests for Lyme disease.
Under Dr. Aucott’s leadership, the Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Research Center has instituted the Lyme Disease Annual Physician CME Course and numerous education tools to help patients and physicians in the fight against the Lyme disease epidemic (hopkinslyme.org).
Dr. Aucott lectures widely on the accurate diagnosis of Lyme disease and the understanding of chronic illness associated with post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome. He has numerous peer-reviewed publications on Lyme disease and has served on panels sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the American Academy for the Advancement of Science. In 2017-2019 Dr. Aucott served as Chairman of the Health and Human Services Tick-Borne Working Group. The Working Group sent a report to Congress in December 2018 conveying gaps in disease prevention, treatment, and research and recommendations for the federal response.