Brandeis Magazine

Jonathan Lass has retired from New York’s Roslyn Union Free School District after 30 years of teaching.

Miriam Schulman is a palliative-care social worker living in central New Jersey with her husband, Jeff. The couple have five children, two sons-in-law and three grandchildren.

Wendy Shlensky is a strategic analyst and adviser lead for banking, capital markets and insurance at Cognizant, a global technology company.

Artist and writer Esther Sherrow teaches creative-flow courses. “Students are following through on projects they had put on hold for years,” she reports. “It is so very satisfying.”

David Stern is chief executive officer at Kindbody, a national fertility clinic network. He has more than three decades’ experience in the women’s health-care industry.

Joel Waldman writes, “I’m a recovering Fox News national correspondent turned true-crime host of the podcast ‘Surviving the Survivor.’ My 86-year-old mom is my co-host. She’s a Holocaust survivor and licensed therapist. I’ve written a book about her, also called ‘Surviving the Survivor.’ It’ll change the way you see life. Guaranteed.” The Summer 2025 issue of Brandeis Magazine featured a profile of Joel and his mother, Karm.

Julian Zelizer has launched a new Substack, called “The Long View,” which includes a weekly newsletter, and interviews with top policymakers and authors. He is also a regular columnist for Foreign Policy magazine.

Rabbi Beth Naditch, P’25, is director of clinical pastoral education at Hebrew SeniorLife in Boston, where she has worked for more than a decade. Last May, she and husband Barry Freedman ’91, P’25, celebrated the graduation of their oldest child, Yonatan ’25, from Brandeis.

Certified matrimonial-law attorney Amanda Trigg was named to the Chambers High Net Worth 2025 Guide, which ranked top global advisers for international private wealth, including family-law and divorce attorneys. Amanda was one of only 15 New Jersey attorneys recognized.

Anika Chowdhury was a contestant on the PBS show “The Great American Recipe” in summer 2025. PBS invited Anika to join the competition show after discovering her Kitchen Gatherings blog, in which she shares recipes for and stories about Bangladeshi food and global cuisines.

Sam Skura is executive vice president and system chief operating officer at South Shore Health, in Weymouth, Massachusetts.

Jonathan Leiken is chief legal officer at the Danaher Corporation, a global biotechnology company. He is also an adjunct law professor at Ohio State’s and Case Western Reserve’s law schools.

Sara Shapiro-Plevan is the inaugural chief program officer at Elluminate, a Jewish feminist organization. She is working with feminists, advocates and funders from across the Jewish community to create the Elluminate Global Jewish Women’s Leadership Network, and advance gender equity and feminist-oriented social justice.

After 20 years as a congregational rabbi, Jaymee Alpert has developed Neshama Body and Soul, a practice that blends exercise with Jewish prayer, wisdom and self-reflection. She works with groups and private clients. Alexis Skigen Rago ’96 is her business coach.

Warren Bloom has taught for 22 years in the New York City public schools, primarily focusing on elementary general music in Brooklyn schools. In 2025, he marked his 20th summer of teaching musical theater at the Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts, on Long Island. (“My son was in my cast of ‘Beetlejuice,’ which was a trip,” he writes.)

Ian Marinoff is associate general counsel at Boston Medical Center Health System, home to the largest safety-net hospital in New England. He previously worked in the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General.

Yaffa Landis pursues the discipline of rhythmic gymnastics with a unique mission — to raise awareness about southern Nebraska’s native flora. Currently based in Philadelphia, she plans to return to Israel soon. She says she’s reconnected with a few Brandeisians, including Elisheva Rovner.

Libra Forde is executive director at the Women’s Foundation of Oregon.

Arin Prisand is managing director, head of corporate access, at BTIG, a global financial services firm. She and her family live in Port Washington, New York.

Daphna Gerendash works at The Change Reaction, a philanthropic nonprofit that, among other activities, has helped stabilize hundreds of Los Angeles-area families affected by the Palisades and Altadena fires.

Warner Macklin III is vice chairman of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Investment Advisory Board.

Navin Kartik is a professor of economics at Yale University. Previously, he was a faculty member at Columbia University for 17 years.

A. David Lewis is an associate professor of English and health humanities at MCPHS University. His research focuses on graphic medicine (i.e., the intersection of comic books and health care), particularly cancer narratives, the impact of loneliness on well-being, and trans and nonbinary autobiographies.

Jessica (Grubman) Yanow, P’29, reports son Evan ’29 is a Brandeis first-year.