Kevin Ricks is the founder and chief executive officer of Lee Lee Kiddz, a nonprofit youth flag football league that engages Baltimore elementary and middle school youths in athletics and physical fitness while empowering them in their educational pursuits.The league’s mission is to provide comprehensive, year-round programs that combine flag football, academic tutoring, mentoring, and leadership development to help young people build life skills, enhance their educational outcomes, and prepare for future success.The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) presented its Community Champion of Equity and Justice Awards at the 2025 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Black History Month Celebration on Feb. 6. Kevin Ricks will receive one of the awards.Learn more about Ricks and Lee Lee Kiddz's work in Baltimore: https://elm.umaryland.edu/elm-stories/2025/Community-Champion-of-Equity-and-Justice-Award-Winner-Kevin-Ricks.php

Physician assistant students at the University of Maryland School of Graduate Studies now use virtual reality to enhance their education. Under the aegis of the University of Maryland Institute for Health Computing, supported by the University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State, the new program allows students to see the virtual examination of a simulated stroke patient from every angle - including inside the body - to fully understand the pathophysiologic mechanisms of disease.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore and Wexford Science & Technology cut the ribbon for 4MLK, the newest addition to the University of Maryland BioPark during a ceremony on Jan. 15, 2025.Located at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and West Baltimore Street, the eight-story, 250,000-square-foot 4MLK was designed to stand as a center of community engagement in addition to research and entrepreneurship.4MLK will serve as the global headquarters for Wexford Science & Technology and includes such tenets as Connect Labs by Wexford, UMB startup Irazú Oncology, the Emerging Technology Center Baltimore, and EPOCH Epigenetics, among others. In addition, the facility’s fourth floor is home to the Edward and Jennifer St. John Center for Translational Engineering and Medicine.

Dr. Conyers is the associate dean for equity, diversity, and inclusion and an assistant professor, teaching excellence tenure track, at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. In this role, Conyers serves as the primary advisor to UMSON’s dean, senior academic leadership team, senior administrative team, and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Council on operational and strategic goals related to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Over the last few decades, Dr. Colloca has conducted studies on the behavioral, neural, and pharmacological mechanisms of pain modulation related to placebo and nocebo effects. Her lab has also developed an interest in virtual reality as a non-pharmacological approach to relieve pain and other symptoms. She has published in top-ranked international journals including Biological Psychiatry, Pain, Nature Neuroscience, JAMA, Lancet Neurology, Science and NEJM. As a result, Dr. Colloca has developed an international reputation as a leading scientist in advancing knowledge of the neurobiological mechanisms of descending pain modulation and placebo and nocebo effects with an integrative approach that includes psychopharmacological, neurobiological, and behavioral approaches.

Professor Kathleen Hoke is director of the Network for Public Health Law, Eastern Region, and the Legal Resource Center for Public Health Policy at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. She teaches the Public Health Law Clinic through which she engages law students in the work of the Network for Public Health Law and the Legal Resource Center for Public Health Policy. She also teaches Public Health and the Law, introducing students to the legal framework within which the public health system operates.The Network for Public Health Law was launched in September 2010 with the goal of providing technical legal assistance to national, state, and local public health professionals, their attorneys, legislators, and advocates working to develop sound public policy to improve public health. The Network for Public Health Law also develops 50-state law surveys, factsheets, issue briefs, webinars, and other useful tools on emerging and persistent public health issues. Under Professor Hoke’s direction, the Network for Public Health Law’s Eastern Region deliverables have focused on environmental health, food safety, and injury prevention. Professor Hoke has conducted research and prepared materials specifically related to hydrofracturing, medical marijuana laws, and health agency access to school health records.Through the Legal Resource Center for Public Health Policy, Professor Hoke provides technical legal assistance to Maryland state and local health officials, legislators, and organizations working in tobacco control. Recent work has focused on the regulation of electronic smoking devices (vapes), prohibition on the sale of flavored tobacco products, raising the age of access to tobacco to 21, and the development of sound policies to create smoke-free multiunit housing.Professor Hoke joined the faculty in 2002 after serving for eight years with the Office of the Attorney General of Maryland. During her tenure as an assistant attorney general, she served in the Civil Litigation Division and the Opinions and Advice Division. As a special assistant attorney general, she worked on a variety of public health initiatives, including tobacco regulation and gun control, and represented the office in multistate cases through the National Association of Attorneys General.Professor Hoke graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1992, having served on the executive board of the Maryland Law Review and as a member of the National Moot Court Team.