Founder
Dr. Penno founded the BioTechnical Institute of Maryland in 1998. Dr. Penno’s passion for laboratory investigation began at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as a postdoctoral fellow. After joining the JHU Genetics faculty in 1985, Dr. Penno studied cancer and opened the Genetic Resources Core Facility Biorepository and Cell Center in 1989. Inspired by the success of new hire Jean Smith, a laboratory technician with only a GED, a vision for a laboratory technical training program took root. Early champions of that vision such as the Abell Foundation, J.C. and Kathleen Weiss, Dr. Tim Fawcett, and many others were key to BTI’s success.
In addition to founding BTI and her research career in Baltimore, Dr. Penno worked with JHU’s All Children’s Hospital in Florida and the National Institutes of Health’s H3 Africa Project. Traveling extensively in Africa, she and her husband developed a love for the African people and lived in both Zambia and Nigeria as missionaries.
Dr. Penno retired after 33 years with Johns Hopkins and lives in Colorado with her husband.