Local historian Chuck Langerman has highlighted the current professional statuses of three Cheltenham alumni:

Dr. Elana Fertig (above left)

Dr. Fertig, PhD, FAIMBE, a 1999 graduate, was named on Wednesday as the new Director of the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Institute for Genome Sciences.

She is currently a Professor of Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University with dual appointments in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics and the Department of Biomedical Engineering. She also serves as the co-director of the Single Cell Consortium at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, as well as the co-director of the Convergence Institute and the Associate Director of Quantitative Sciences at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins.

Dr. Fertig is internationally recognized for her work in integrating spatial multi-omics technologies with mathematical models to develop a new predictive medicine paradigm in cancer. Spatial technologies allow researchers to learn about any cell type inside of natural tissue, including gene activity and cell interactions.

The Elkins Park native earned her undergraduate degree from Brandeis University in Mathematics and Physics and her master’s and PhD degrees from the University of Maryland in Applied Mathematics. At Cheltenham, she participated in the science fair and was involved in the Animal Rights Club.

Kenny Cooper (above middle)

Cooper, a 2016 graduate and Philadelphia’s WHYY multiplatform reporter, was named to Current’s 2024 class of public media “Rising Stars.” Current is an American trade journal that covers public broadcasting in the United States.

This spring, Cooper won several regional Edward R. Murrow awards for coverage as an individual and part of a team. The Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association awarded him first place awards for reporter/anchor, investigative reporting, enterprise reporting, and podcast.

A former Cheltenham High basketball player, he graduated in 2020 from Temple University with a BA in journalism and political science.

Dr. Jeff Henstenburg (above right)

Dr. Henstenburg, a 2010 graduate, is a Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon in the Madison, Wisconsin area. Dr. Henstenburg earned his medical degree at Thomas Jefferson University and recently completed a Clinical Fellowship at Harvard Medical School.  

During his Wyncote days, he was a three-year starter and senior captain on the Panther soccer team.

The Glenside native also played in the jazz band, two concert bands, a percussion ensemble and the marching band. He had a 3.78 GPA and a 23rd ranking in the Class of 2010.  

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