Rich Mendola comes to IT at Johns Hopkins from Emory University, where, since 2005, he served as enterprise chief information officer and senior vice provost at Emory University with joint responsibility for both Emory University and Emory Healthcare. His ability and experience working across the academic and health care domains made him an ideal candidate for our institution.
Because he was trained as a psychologist, Rich’s academic career began as a health sciences faculty member at the University of Connecticut’s Health Science Center, and he also served various academic and administrative roles at the University of Connecticut and the University of Illinois before joining Emory. Rich received his bachelor of science and master of science degrees from the University of Pittsburgh, and earned a PhD in clinical psychology, as well as an MBA, from the University of Connecticut.
Rich’s spouse, Sheryl Gabram-Mendola MD MBA, is a busy surgeon and is currently the Chief Scientific Officer for the Georgia Center for Oncology Research and Education, a non-profit committed to ensuring access to high quality cancer care for all Georgians. She is also Professor Emerita of Surgery for Emory University having retired in 2021 as the Chief of Surgery for Emory at Grady and Director of the Avon Comprehensive Breast Center, where she worked on decreasing disparities of breast cancer care for Black women. Rich and Sheryl have one daughter, Aspen Mendola, who lives in Greenville, SC and works as an information security analyst.
Rich loves finding synergies in large organizations, and building and empowering world-class teams who contribute to advancing the state of higher education and healthcare. His hobbies include photography, golf, and travel.
