Alex M. Azar II ’88, former president of pharmaceutical giant Lilly USA, is the new U.S. secretary of health and human services. Under President George W. Bush, Azar served as the department’s general counsel and its deputy secretary.

Jose Fernandez ’77, the former U.S. assistant secretary of state for economic, energy and business affairs from 2009 to 2013, has been named the director of transition policy committees for New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. Fernandez, a partner in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, was charged with organizing the various committee reports on policy for the new governor. 

The Cincinnati Bengals named former middle linebacker Reggie Williams ’76 to its All-50th Team to mark the team’s 50th anniversary in 2017.

Hope Michelsen ’83 has been elected a fellow of the Optical Society of America for her work studying laser-radiation interactions and the environmental impacts of soot particles. She is a researcher at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which assesses energy technologies for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.

Barbara Krauthamer ’89, graduate school dean and history professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has earned the Association of Black Women Historians’ Lorraine A. Williams Leadership Award for her work as a scholar and mentor.

Fly-fishing photographer, writer and guide Jim Klug ’91 of Bozeman, Montana, has been honored by the American Museum of Fly Fishing with the 2017 Izaak Walton Award for his contributions to the sport. 

Timothy O’Leary ’97 is the new general director of the Washington National Opera. O’Leary, who held the same position for 10 years at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Missouri, will be responsible for all aspects of the company from finances to programming.

Former Dartmouth basketball standout Sherryta Freeman ’01 has been named athletic director of Lafayette College. She most recently served as senior associate athletic director at Penn.

Banjo player Chris Pandolfi ’01 and his five-person band Infamous Stringdusters won the 2018 Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album for Laws of Gravity.