From exploring how AI shapes the way people think to deploying it in real-world healthcare environments, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School’s three newest faculty members bring global experience and reflect the curiosity and creativity that drive Carey forward.
Rafael Batista is a postdoctoral research fellow at Carey. His research examines how AI shapes the way people think about and experience the world, influencing the beliefs they form and the decisions they make. He also studies financial decision-making, particularly the psychology behind how people spend, save, and borrow.
Q: What’s your best piece of advice for graduate students?
A: Passing on advice I received early on: you'll have the rest of your life to learn new things, but grad school may be one of the last times when you will be taught. Where someone takes the time to teach you things. Adopt a beginner's mind and embrace the identity of being a student and apprentice.
Q: How do you like to relax, recharge, or reward yourself?
A: Ice cream. Desserts in general. My wife and I have this tradition we both started while in grad school––every time one of us submitted something to an academic journal, we'd go out for dessert. If it got rejected, also dessert. There's never really a break in this work, and everyone is working so hard, running their own race. Celebrations are few and far between. We've chosen to celebrate the things in our control and rejections, because those are always hard no matter who you are.
Q: Do you have a favorite quote or saying? What do you like about it?
A: Maya Angelou said, “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” Psychology happens to back this up. You can look up a wonderful paper titled "The creative cliff illusion" by Brian Lucas and Loren Nordgren. Creative ideas sometimes feel sacred because we think them scarce. Sometimes that holds us back from sharing the ideas we have or trying to come up with more. As a rule of thumb, it is better to lean into our creativity.
Andrew Burton-Jones is a research professor of information systems at Carey Business School. After earning his undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of Queensland, he worked for several years for one of the Big-4 consulting firms in IT risk management before completing his PhD at Georgia State University. After serving on the faculty of the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, where he obtained tenure and promotion, he returned to his alma mater in 2012.
Q: What’s something that excites you about Carey right now?
A: Johns Hopkins is synonymous with healthcare, and Carey is synonymous with the business of health. I'm dedicated to advancing the ability of healthcare workers and organizations to harness technology to improve health services in the interests of patients, and I can't imagine anywhere on the planet better for this work than Carey.
Q: What’s a professional accomplishment or moment that has meant a lot to you?
A: I've loved my service roles - serving as editor of one of my field's main journals, MIS Quarterly, and as president of my field's academic association, the Association for Information Systems. I look forward to future ways to serve.
Q: What’s something you’d love to do, see, or experience someday?
A: A slow food trip through Italy with lots of trails and lots of pasta.
Q: What’s one experience—at work or outside of work—that has stuck with you?
A: Maybe this is a reflection of my stage of life, but I'd say this is a tie between my father passing and seeing my eldest child leave for college. We must cherish every moment we have.
Christopher You is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. His research sits at the intersection of conversational AI, human-AI collaboration, and real-world healthcare deployment, with a focus on building and rigorously evaluating AI systems that meaningfully improve mental health and clinical care.
Q: What’s something that excites you about Carey right now?
A: I come from a computer science background, so it's exciting to be at a business school that's plugged into all of Hopkins. I get to bring my technical lens to business problems that address real-world concerns with the medical and public health side of the university. That combination is pretty rare.
Q: How do you like to relax, recharge, or reward yourself?
A: I'm a big sports fan. Any chance I get to spend time with friends and family playing basketball, pickleball, golf, or just watching a game together, I'll take it. It's a great way for me to reset my brain after a long week.
Q: What’s something about you that might surprise your colleagues?
A: I come from a graduating high school class of just two students! Yes - I was the valedictorian.
Q: What’s a meal/food you could happily eat again and again?
A: Anything made by my mother — particularly her galbi (Korean-styled marinated ribs) and sundubu-jjigae (spicy tofu stew).
