Johns Hopkins University in popular culture

Instances and mentions of Johns Hopkins University in popular culture.

In non-fiction

• The HBO film Something the Lord Made (2004), based on the true story of Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas (an unusual team for the time), depicts their work as pioneers of cardiac surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

• Johns Hopkins University Hospital is the focus of 'Hopkins', an ABC News' six-part series which takes an intimate look at the men and women who call the Johns Hopkins Hospital their home. Began June 26, 2008.^[1]

In fiction

• In the Tom Clancy novels, Jack Ryan's wife, Cathy Ryan, is a doctor at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute. In real life, Clancy created the Tom Clancy Professorship at Wilmer on April 8, 2005.
• In the Babylon 5 universe, JHU was where the gene for human telepathy was discovered.
• In the 1990 novel Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, Dr. Lewis Dodgson of the fictional Biosyn Corporation is said to have been expelled from Johns Hopkins as a graduate student for planning human gene therapy without permission from the Food and Drug Administration.
• In the 1934 novel Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the main character, psychiatrist Richard Diver, is a graduate of Johns Hopkins.
• Dr. Hannibal Lecter from the Lecter Trilogy by Thomas Harris attends the Johns Hopkins University after leaving Europe for America.

In film

• In The Exorcist (1973), Father Damien Karras (played by Jason Miller), the priest/psychiatrist who performs the exorcism of the Linda Blair character, studied at Johns Hopkins.
• In High Anxiety (1977), Dr. Thorndyke (played by the film's director, Mel Brooks) is said to have been first in his class at Johns Hopkins.
• In John Waters' trash film Desperate Living (1977), the lesbian character Mole McHenry enters Johns Hopkins Hospital and forces a surgeon at knifepoint to give her a sex-change operation.
• In Sleepless in Seattle (1993), a relative of Annie Reed is a professor at Johns Hopkins.
• In the movie Getting In (1994), a college graduate ends up sixth on the waiting list for Johns Hopkins University and attempts to "dissuade" six people in front from attending. However, along the way, he discovers that somebody else is attempting to do the same thing by murdering the other applicants.
• In the movie The Rock (1995), Dr. Stanley Goodspeed receives his M.A. and Ph. D from Johns Hopkins.
• In the movie Outbreak (1995), Major Salt, the character played by Cuba Gooding Jr., received his master's degree from the Johns Hopkins University.
• In the movie Casper (1995), Dr. Harvey is shown to be an alumnus of the Johns Hopkins University.
• In the movie Species II (1998), Senator Ross offers to take his son Patrick to Johns Hopkins after he was infected with alien DNA.
• The film The Curve (1998) was filmed at the Homewood campus of the Johns Hopkins University.
• The HBO film Something the Lord Made (2004) was filmed both on the Homewood campus and medical campus.
• In the science fiction movie The Island (2005), the retinal scans of Lincoln Six Echo are sent to Johns Hopkins for analysis.
• The Nicole Kidman film The Invasion (2007) was partly filmed in a laboratory in Mudd Hall on the Homewood campus.^[2][3]
• In the movie The Prince and Me (2007), the character Paige Morgan is accepted into the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
• In the Will Ferrell comedy Step Brothers (2008), Ferrell's character learns that his new stepfather attended Johns Hopkins. Ferrell then claims to know "Johnny Hopkins" personally, stating that he "smoked pot with Johnny Hopkins." His mother then responds with "you don't know anyone called Johnny Hopkins."^[4]
• In the movie Whip It (2009), Bliss Cavendar's friend Pash is accepted into the Johns Hopkins University.
• Nickelodeon is producing a film on a summer gifted institute operated by Johns Hopkins University, the Center for Talented Youth.
• In The A-Team (2010), H.M. Murdock claims to be a "practicing doctor at Johns Hopkins University" as he attempts to escape from Hospital San Vicente de Paulo, where he is a patient.
• The campus scenery of Harvard University in The Social Network (2010) was filmed on the Homewood campus of Johns Hopkins.
• In the movie Shutter Island (2010), Dr. John Cawley, the head psychiatrist at the Ashecliff Hospital for the criminally insane, is said to have graduated "at the top of his class at both Johns Hopkins and Harvard."
• The movie Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (2009) takes place at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine where the world-renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson completed his residency and works.
• In the movie The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), Peter Parker, in an apparent effort to impress an Oxford University representative before Gwen Stacey's admissions interview, lies and says that his name is 'John Hopkins', claiming to be a "professor from Harvard University".

On television

• In the television series The Simpsons, Dr. Julius Hibbert is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
• In the television series Scrubs, Dr. Perry Cox is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
• Dr. Gregory House, portrayed by British actor Hugh Laurie in the television series House, graduated from Johns Hopkins University and was expelled from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine for cheating. Dr. Foreman also attended the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
• In the television series Grey's Anatomy, the character Dr. Preston Burke is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and was first in his class. Dr. Erica Hahn, the cardiac surgeon who performed Denny Duquette's heart transplant, graduated from Hopkins, ranking second only to Dr. Burke. Dr. Arizona Robbins is also a graduate of the medical school.
• In the television series The Twilight Zone (Season 1 Episode 12), the character Andrew L. Gaddis graduates from the Johns Hopkins University, claiming to have done so "without any real difficulty".
• In the television series NCIS, Special Agent Timothy McGee graduated from MIT and has a BS in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, revealed in the Episode 'Sub Rosa'.
• In the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, during the Great American Medicine Show episode, Dr. Eli says he graduated from Johns Hopkins in 1848, even though the university was not founded until 1876.
• In the television series Judging Amy, the character Kyle McCarty had attended the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine before being expelled.
• In the television series South Park episode "Britney's New Look", Butters, mistaken for a talking squirrel, is taken to Johns Hopkins for evaluation.
• In the television series Gilmore Girls, Paris Geller applies to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Doctor that takes care of Logan Huntzberger is a Johns Hopkins Graduate.
• In the season two finale of Nip/Tuck (2003), Christian Troy and Sean McNamara visit Johns Hopkins to find out more about Ava Moore.
• In the American television show Commander in Chief, President Allen asks about the results of a recent "John" Hopkins study in episode 18.
• In an episode of the science-fiction television series Stargate Atlantis, the character Dr. Beckett comments on an applicant to the Atlantis mission as being much more qualified in medicine than he. The applicant was from "John" Hopkins.
• On the HBO drama The Wire, Baltimore Police Major Howard "Bunny" Colvin looks into a retirement job as deputy director of campus security for JHU, an offer that is withdrawn when his "Hamsterdam" experiment of allowing the free trade of drugs in certain areas of his district is exposed.
• In the television series The Game (U.S. TV series), character Melanie Barnett attended the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore before moving to San Diego with her boyfriend Derwin, a pro football player.
• In The West Wing, Eleanor Bartlet attends the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
• In the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation, episode Road Trip, Leslie Knope tries to think of conversation topics to bore her traveling companion. She decides to mention the recent trend of students opting to loft their beds in Wolman and McCoy dorms.
• In Reno 911!, two mental health patients claim to be doctors, one from "John Hodgman University" and one from Johns Hopkins University, until an actual doctor at the hospital finds them.^[5]
• In "Archer", the eponymous protagonist Sterling Archer was offered an athletic scholarship to Johns Hopkins until his lacrosse career was prematurely ended by a gunshot injury.
• In "Modern Family," the episode named "Under Pressure," Alex has a mental breakdown during her sweet 16 birthday party, throwing her hands into her cake and stressing over her upcoming SATs and the 15-year-old genius who is studying a cancer cure at Johns Hopkins while she’s having a party.

References