This profile is part of a series that celebrates the individuals who fuel Hopkins.
Donna Sims has spent more than four decades building a career defined by growth, compassion, and service at Johns Hopkins.
She began her journey in 1983, inspired by her grandmother who worked in housekeeping at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Today, Donna is the executive assistant to the dean at the university's Bloomberg School of Public Health, acting as both the face and the force behind one of JHU's busiest offices.
Throughout her time at Hopkins, Donna has embraced new challenges, mentored colleagues, and taken on leadership roles, including her recent promotion to supervisor. She brings warmth, insight, and unwavering dedication to everything she does, from coordinating complex schedules to supporting students in crisis.
"It's not just clinicians, not just researchers, but the staff," she says. "We make up this big happy Hopkins family. Everyone is important, no matter who you are."
Here, Donna reflects on her career growth, personal passions, and what keeps her inspired after 41 years at Johns Hopkins.
You've been with Johns Hopkins for more than four decades. What originally inspired you to work here?
My experience with Hopkins started with my grandmother, who worked as a housekeeper at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She would drive my sister and I down Broadway all the time, and one time I happened to look over and I'm like, "There's a castle!" And my grandmother said, "That's where I work." I said, "But that doesn't look like a hospital. What's that thing on top of the castle?" And she said, "Well, it's called the dome." And I said, "You know what, Grandma? One day I'm going to work at Johns Hopkins." And here I am.
How did you grow into a supervisory role?
I was recruited into the Administrative Development Program, one of the inaugural participants. I learned a lot about myself, and I also had a mentor. I came back to my supervisor and shared with her what my first day was like in the program. And I was a little embarrassed—I said, "I'm a mentee, but I know I can be a mentor." I didn't know she took what I said to heart. My supervisor went back to the dean and said, "OK, we're going to upgrade her." Suddenly I went from administrative assistant to executive assistant to supervisor. I said, "Supervisor? Oh, I don't know how to be anyone's supervisor." But then I found there's a program for new supervisors at Hopkins called the Supervisor Development Program. So I'm taking classes now. It's exciting. It's scary, but I'm excited to be in this position.
What are some of the personal strengths that have helped you thrive in your role?
One of my biggest strengths, I would say, is my interpersonal skills. I'm always the person to go to when a difficult meeting has to be scheduled; someone will say, "Oh, give it to Donna. She can work her magic." And I make it happen because I'm supergirl. I also think I'm a good communicator. I'm intuitive, and I'm very analytical. I'm going to analyze everything first and make sure it makes sense to me. So that's my superpower.
You're also known as a mentor. What kind of guidance do you give others?
I'm very supportive. We all make mistakes, but let's try not to repeat those mistakes. If you have questions about how to execute a task, let's talk it through. Then if you have a better way to do it, because there's always different ways to accomplish what you want to do, go for it! I'm open to new and fresh ideas. I'm not a micromanager. And I have an open-door policy. If you need to sit down and talk to me, just to get my advice, I'm always available to share what my experiences were and how I was able to get to where I needed to be.
What makes you proud of your time here?
That I am such a stickler for excellence, that I'm going to give you my all. If you ask me to do something, I'll set the bar a little higher than what's expected of me.
When you're not working, how do you like to spend your time, and what brings you joy outside the office?
Outside of my work, I'm very active in my church. I have joined the greeters ministry, where first I was just a member. Now guess what? I'm the secretary. I plan and schedule all of our meetings and all of our outings.
Now this drives my husband crazy, but I also love to travel. I traveled to Italy by myself, got lost, but my husband had a tracker or something on me and helped guide me to some of the destinations. Who starts traveling by going abroad alone? But I found out that I can travel by myself! I always thought I was going to wait until retirement to do more travel. But why put off what you can do today? I plan on going to a different location abroad every year!
What's something that stands out as a moment when you knew you made a difference?
There was an international student, very distraught, and she was talking about suicide. I talked to her, I prayed with her and told her, "Just do the best you can. Do not get overwhelmed." We just had an open, very personal conversation. She thanked me. That was a very proud moment for me.
