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St. B's Bios for January 6

Panelist, Justine Almada (Chapin ’01)
Justine Almada is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of The HPV and Anal Cancer Foundation. Alongside her brother and sister, Justine founded the organization after their loving and incredible mother died from anal cancer in 2010. Anal cancer is part of a larger group of cancers caused by a skin virus, HPV. Globally, HPV causes 5% of all cancer. Yet, it is preventable with immunization and screening. Justine steers the Foundation’s programs to raise awareness, advocate for prevention, accelerate treatments, and support patients. She is a national speaker at scientific conferences, patient forums, and legislative bodies, focusing on our ability to eradicate these cancers in our lifetime. Justine received the inaugural Biden Cancer Initiative’s Exemplary Leadership (LEAP) Award this year for her transformative impact on the lives of cancer patients. Her background is in public policy, having served as Chief of Staff to New York City Council Member Daniel Garodnick. In this capacity, she led legislative, budget, and community initiatives to improve lives. A lifelong New Yorker, Justine is a graduate of Wesleyan University and a Milken Scholar.


Panelist, Sibyl Anderson, MD, MPH (Chapin ’81)

Sibyl Anderson, MD, MPH, received her Bachelor of Arts in Natural Sciences from Johns Hopkins University School of Arts and Sciences and a Masters of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health (now called the Bloomberg School of Public Health). After serving in the United States Peace Corps, she received her medical degree with honors from New York University School of Medicine. She completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City and a medical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Following her fellowship, Sybil was an attending physician at Memorial Sloan-Kettering for several years in the Developmental Chemotherapy department. While there, she focused her research on gynecologic malignancies, conducted gynecological and sarcoma clinical trials, published several articles on uterine sarcomas, and developed the uterine sarcoma support group. She is the recipient of a 1998 American Association in Cancer Research Minority Scholar Award and a 2000 American Society of Clinical Oncology Merit Award.  Currently, she serves as Director of United States Medical Affairs in the Oncology Division at Bayer Pharmaceuticals, where she is in charge of clinical drug development as well as various national and international oncology clinical trials. She also works with regulatory authorities towards approval of various new cancer drugs. Dr. Anderson is married to Gregory G. Smith, Esq., and her son is a member of the Class of 2020 at St. Bernard’s.


Moderator, Maximo Cubilette (St. Bernard's ’02)
 
Maximo has over eight years of experience in asset management, with expertise in the fixed income, foreign exchange, and futures markets. He is currently working as a consultant for Clockwork, a boutique financial management company. He previously worked for six years at Balyasny Asset Management, a hedge fund, in its macro strategy group. He is also a CFA designation holder. Maximo started his career as a portfolio analyst in the municipal bonds group at Lord Abbett & Co. He attended Trinity School and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in economics from Columbia University.

Panelist, A.J. Houston (St. Bernard's ’03)
 
A.J. works in Global Equity Trading for the Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets. In this role, he services the liquidity/trading needs of United States-based mutual fund and hedge fund clients for Canadian Equity product. Prior to joining RBC CM, he served as an investment analyst for the J.P. Morgan Endowments & Foundations Group within the J.P. Morgan Private Bank, where he helped not-for-profits and charitable organizations achieve their investment objectives. Before entering the workforce, A.J. attended the Taft School and Dartmouth College, where he played football and majored in classical studies with a focus on Latin. A.J. has been a member of the St. Bernard’s Board of Trustees since 2012 and also serves on the St. Bernard’s Old Boys Diversity Council.

Panelist, Judith Ohikuare (Chapin ’07)

Judith Ohikuare is a freelance writer and Development Manager at NY Writers Coalition, a nonprofit organization in Brooklyn that provides creative writing workshops for underserved and marginalized groups in New York City. She has worked on staff as a writer and editor at “Refinery29”, “Cosmopolitan”, and “Inc.” magazines and served as an editorial fellow at “The Atlantic.” Judi received her B.A. in English literature, Spanish language, and creative writing from Washington University in St. Louis (2011). She is a member of Prep for Prep XXII.
 
Panelist, Jonathan Perez (St. Bernard's ’96)
 
Jonathan Perez, founder of the Old Boys Diversity Council at St. Bernard’s, received a law degree from American University Washington College of Law and a master’s degree from the University of Virginia. Following law school, Jonathan worked at both the New York Attorney’s General Office and a private litigation firm. Appointed as an Assistant District Attorney for the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, he has conducted and won trials and hearings and successfully argued before judges on behalf of the People of the State of New York. Jonathan is the recipient of various awards, including the Edward V. Sparer Public Interest Law Fellowship and a Pro Bono Honors award. Additionally, he has presented at international conferences on English literature and multiethnic studies. In a past life, Jonathan taught multicultural studies in English literature as an adjunct professor at the City University of New York. He is a political committee member on a number of organizations, including the New Kings Democrats and the New York City Bar Association’s Policy Committee. In addition, Jonathan is the head of the Diversity Foundry with a policy member of the New York City Mayor’s Office. In his free time, he enjoys poetry, CrossFit, and bird watching. 

ROUNDTABLE OFFERINGS:
Law
Jonathan Perez (St. Bernard’s ’96)
Assistant District Attorney, Kings County District Attorney’s Office
 
Dunia Rkein (Chapin ’04)
Associate, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
 
Real Estate
Mike Allen (St. Bernard’s ’09)
Associate, JLL
 
Education and Technology
Ben Anagnos (St. Bernard’s ’82)
Founder and Creator, Alta Ipsum
 
Rodney Benson (St. Bernard’s ’06)
Teacher, St. Bernard’s School
 
Melanie Narine (Chapin '07)
Senior Product Manager
Grubhub
 
Finance and Insurance
Dwayne Callender (St. Bernard’s ’98)
Account Executive, Traveler’s

Maximo Cubilette (St. Bernard’s ’02)
Consultant, Clockwork
 
AJ Houston (St. Bernard’s ’03)
Global Equity Trader, Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets

Miklos Vasarhelyi (St. Bernard’s ’96)
Research Analyst, Pzena Investment Management
 
Media and Communications
Ayana Harry (Chapin '01)
Reporter, PIX11 News
 
Zack O’Malley Greenburg (St. Bernard’s ’99)
Senior Editor of Media and Entertainment, Forbes
 
Arielle Patrick (Chapin '07) 
Senior Vice President
Edelman
 
Nonprofit
Muriel Isaac (Chapin ’01)
Director of Alumni Affairs
Prep for Prep
 
Healthcare and Medicine
Ta'Tiana Blue (Chapin ’07)
Project Leader, Innovation
New York-Presbyterian Hospital

This page will continue to be updated as more industries are added.  Please e-mail Kate Fiscus with any questions.