Each year, the College of Arts and Sciences recognizes outstanding alumni for their contributions to their fields and to the lives of others. The winners of the 2024 Distinguished Alumni Awards will be honored during the 2024 CWRU Homecoming and Reunion Weekend, Nov. 14-17.
Distinguished Undergraduate Alumni Award
Richard A. Bloom, MD (WRC ’74, MED ’79), served as president of the Class of 1974 and has since been a dedicated and passionate member of the CWRU community for more than 50 years. He is a double alumnus, graduating with his BA in biology in 1974 and earned his doctorate of medicine in 1979. Bloom completed his internship and residency in Pediatrics at The Children’s Memorial Hospital of Chicago, a division of Northwestern University School of Graduate Medical Education. Bloom joined Fairport Pediatrics, LLP in 1985 and served the Rochester community for more than 30 years, retiring in 2019. He was a member of the University of Rochester Department of Pediatrics clinical faculty and was named Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in 2017. He served as President of the Rochester Pediatric Society and continues to mentor physicians and support community health projects through the Hoekelman Center for Health Beyond Medicine and as co-leader of the Office of Community Practice.
He continues to be active in alumni affairs serving on reunion committees, championing class gifts and actively recruiting students. A strong advocate for a comprehensive educational foundation, he created the Richard A. Bloom, M.D. Award for Distinguished Teaching in the Seminar Approach to General Education and Scholarship (SAGES) Program to honor distinguished teaching in the previous SAGES program, now the Unified General Education Requirements (UGER).
Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award
Thomas P. Leff (ADL ’72; GRS ’75, theatre) received his BA in 1972 and his MFA in 1975. Following a 17-year career in academia as a professor of English and drama at Swarthmore College, University of Notre Dame, and Colgate University, he attended the University of Maryland Thurgood Marshall School of Law, receiving his JD in 1995. Before going into private practice, Leff clerked for the Honorable Susan C. Del Pesco, Delaware Supreme Court. As a trial attorney, Thomas argued cases before the Delaware Supreme Court and in the US Court of Appeals. Leff retired in 2020 after a 22-year career at Casarino Christman Shalk Ransom & Doss, P.A.. He is an American Board of Trial Advocates inductee.
He is the author of Pattern Jury Instructions for Civil Practice in the Superior Court for the State of Delaware, as well as scholarly articles published in the University of Maryland Law Review and the American University Law Review.
While teaching in academia, Mr. Leff received grants from the NEA and the NEH. He has published peer-reviewed articles in Theatre Journal and The New England Theatre Journal. Mr. Leff serves on the Board of Directors of the Delaware Institute for the Arts in Education. He is a Patron’s Council member at the Baltimore Museum of Art.
Thomas has published scholarly and peer-reviewed articles in both theater and law and has made a significant impact in both fields. He is a passionate and active supporter of the Theatre program in the college, creating The Thomas Leff and Melanie DeMent Endowment for Theater Studies.
Distinguished Professional Achievement Award
Shaomeng Wang, PhD (GRS ’93, chemistry) received his PhD in Chemistry from Case Western Reserve University in 1992 after earning his B.S. in Chemistry at Peking University. He went on to complete his postdoctoral training in drug design at the National Cancer Institute and began his teaching career as an Assistant Professor at Georgetown University. Wang is currently the Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis Professor in Medicine at the University of Michigan and a former Co-Editor-in-Chief at the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. He was elected Fellow at the National Academy of Inventors in 2014. Wang was named to the AAAS Fellows Section on Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2019 and is the recipient of the Division of Medicinal Chemistry Award 2020 American Chemical Society. In addition to his academic roles and many achievements, Wang is a co-founder of Ascenta Therapeutics and Ascentage Pharma. He has advanced 10 novel anticancer drugs into phase 1-3 clinical development.
He is a strong supporter of the Department of Chemistry, providing graduate student support and the Frontiers in Chemistry Lecture Series. Shamomeng is also a recipient of the CWRU Department of Chemistry Outstanding Alumnus Award winner.
Distinguished Service Award
Dieter Moeller (CIT ’88) graduated from Case Institute of Technology in 1988, earning BS degrees in Physics and Computer Engineering. In 1996, he earned an MBA with a concentration in Finance from the University of Cincinnati.
Moeller has over 29 years of experience in tech companies which include several successful roles with National Cash Register Corporation (NCR) in its Personal Computer Division and then at NCR’s Human Interface Technology Center at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Moeller joined Rhinestahl in 1990 as General Manager. In 2006, he became President and CEO and quickly led Rhinestahl to be the world’s largest supplier of GE turbine engine tooling.
For the past six years, He has served on the college’s visiting committee which is composed of many of the college’s most devoted alumni and friends. He has worked to advance the Department of Physics in several ways, including serving as chair of the Physics Strategic Advisory Group for four years and he currently sits on the Bicentennial Legacy Cabinet for the university. In his role, he has provided unique insights, critical support and guidance.
Distinguished Young Alumni Award
Amanda R. Merner, PhD (GRS ’20, ’22, psychology) received her masters in Psychology in 2020 and her doctorate in Psychology, with a specialization in affective neuroscience in 2022. She is currently faculty Research Scientist in the Department of Neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and Instructor of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School.
During her graduate training, she conducted research in the Center for Neurological Restoration at Cleveland Clinic, where she examined cognitive and affective changes in patients who underwent deep brain stimulation surgery to treat neuropsychiatric conditions. Merner went on to complete her postdoctoral research fellowship in neuroethics in the Brain Bioethics Lab, where she integrated her training experiences in psychology, neuroscience, and neuromodulation to inform her research in neuroethics. Merner’s current work is centered around the ethical, legal, social, and clinical implications of emerging genomic and neural technologies in psychiatry. Utilizing her extensive research experience, Merner is also a Research Consultant with healthcare tech companies on the development and optimization of their apps, ensuring an ethical approach and evaluating the impact of these technologies on health outcomes.
While at CWRU, Amanda was awarded the Eva L. Pancoast Fellowship (to present ethical work on psychiatrics genetics at World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics in 2022), the Ruth Barber Moon Award, the Jane Kessler Award for Commitment to Scholarship in the Field of Disabilities and was a two-time winner of the Joseph F. Fagan, III Award for Research Excellence.
Distinguished Young Alumni Award
Zachary E. Rubin, MD (CWR ’11, MED ’15) graduated from Case Western Reserve medical school in 2015 and completed his residency at the University of Illinois in 2018 and a fellowship at Washington University in 2020. Rubin is a double-board-certified pediatrician specializing in allergy treatment and immunology. He took to TikTok in 2020 to teach the public about the field of allergy and debunk misinformation in an approachable manner; he now has 1.3M followers. He has since been featured in several news outlets, including the Washington Post, New York Times, NBC News, The Today Show, USA Today, and The Atlantic. He serves on the social media subcommittee for the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology and has spoken at regional and national professional meetings about using social media to educate the public on health issues.
Rubin’s focus on outreach began soon after completing his undergraduate degree when he worked with the Joan C. Edwards Charitable Foundation to help create educational programs for high school students at the Cleveland School of Science and Medicine. His work created a program to connect these students with CWRU college and medical students.