10-15-2023 Women to Watch - Flipbook - Page 30
WHAT’S
NEW
Checking in with previous Women to Watch
Angel Reese, 2021
Mary McNamara Koch, 2014
Maria Harris Tildon, 2019
NCAA women’s basketball champion
and NIL queen
Helping lead LSU women’s basketball to its first
NCAA Division I championship in April has opened
many doors for Angel Reese. In May, she appeared
in Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue. In July, Reese
helped the U.S. capture the silver medal at the FIBA
AmeriCup, won the ESPY award for Best Breakthrough Athlete, announced the creation of the
Angel C. Reese Foundation committed to empowering women, attended a basketball court dedication in
her honor in Randallstown, and threw the first pitch
before an Orioles game at Camden Yards. In August,
she and her foundation distributed backpacks filled
with school supplies during its first “Back 2 School
Give Away Block Party” at St. Frances Academy, her
former high school. “There’s a lot going on and this
summer was one for the books,” she said. “But I feel
blessed to be able to use my platform and pushing to
continue to grow the game.”
— Edward Lee
Partner, Wais, Vogelstein, Forman, Koch
& Norman
In an ideal world, Mary McNamara Koch knows,
the medical malpractice issues she sees every day
would trigger systemic changes — like better training
or triaging when mistakes are made. But with no end
in sight, the Baltimore-based attorney has expanded
her reach, taking on cases across the country where
patients deserve what she calls “life-changing money”
to cover what is often constant care. Her representation in a birth injury case against Johns Hopkins
Bayview Medical Center in 2019 led to a record-breaking $229 million verdict that was later overturned on
appeal; the final outcome still bothers Koch. She even
spent time in Annapolis fighting against legislation
spurred by the case, and supported by Johns Hopkins,
that would have altered how such awards are handled.
“It really is sometimes a David and Goliath,” she said.
“A little disabled girl versus a huge hospital system.”
— Sam Janesch
Vice president, state and local affairs at
the Johns Hopkins University and Johns
Hopkins Medicine
In Maria Harris Tildon’s words, she “thrive[s] on
being a little bit overwhelmed.” And when your territory includes a broad array of policy issues impacting both the Johns Hopkins University and Johns
Hopkins Hospital, that can sometimes be the case.
“I’m a little bit of a policy geek,” she said. “So I delight
in every opportunity to learn about a new issue.” Since
joining Hopkins last year, from her previous post as
marketing director at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, Tildon, herself born at Hopkins hospital, said
she has also focused on the needs of the communities
that surround the Hopkins campus and hospital, and
ensuring employment opportunities are offered there.
— Christine Condon
30 | 2023 | WOMEN TO WATCH