The Alumni Newsletter of NYU School of Medicine FALL 2011
Transcription
The Alumni Newsletter of NYU School of Medicine FALL 2011
the grapevine The Alumni Newsletter of NYU School of Medicine F A L L 2 0 1 1 V O L U M E 1 2 , N U M B E R 1 A Lifetime of Giving… and More “When Audrey and I rewrote our estate plan, we kept in mind the three areas we value most beyond our family. They are: our religious beliefs, where we were educated, and where we work. And that’s how we came to make a planned gift to the NYU School of Medicine (SOM). “I am an SOM graduate, and I work here with our students and alumni. I am a lifer! I received an extraordinary education, and I want others to have the opportunity to have a similar experience, which is why my planned gift is dedicated to scholarships. “The planned giving staff, including senior director Marilyn Van Houten, is terrific—they have all kinds of options for you to discuss with your accountant or attorney. And great wealth is not a prerequisite for a planned gift—collectively and as individuals, we all have the chance to make an exceptional impact on our beloved institution. “Audrey and I still make our annual gifts, but it gives us a good Anthony Grieco, MD ’63, Arts ’60, and associate dean for Alumni Relations, with his wife Audrey at an alumni event. feeling to know that we’ve taken that extra step and included NYU School of Medicine in our estate plan.” To learn about making your own planned gift, please contact Marilyn in the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs at 212.404.3653 or at [email protected]. Art and the Heart by Sidney S. Schreiber ’49, ’45GSAS Following are excerpts of an article by Sidney S. Schreiber ’49, ’45GSAS, which appeared in Dialogues in Cardiovascular Medicine, Vol. 15, No. 3, 2010. Dr. Schreiber served in the U.S. Army in the European theater of operation with the 82nd Airborne Division from 1942 to 1945. After discharge from the military, he completed an MS degree in Poppies (2006) experimental embryology and then attended NYU School of Medicine. Dr. Schreiber made a number of contributions concerning the myocardial transport of sodium and potassium, the regulation of myocardial protein synthesis and degradation, and the response of myocardial protein synthesis to stress. Additional investigations were made in the study of alcoholic cardiomyopathy. Research activities by Dr. Schreiber and colleagues resulted in publication of more than 120 research papers. As a charter member of the American College of Nuclear Physicians, Dr. Schreiber participated in the evaluation of radioactive isotopes in thyroid disease, the measurement of blood volume in heart failure, and the evaluation of ischemia in coronary artery disease at NYU School of Medicine and the Veterans Administration Hospital of New York. More recently, Dr. Schreiber was appointed scientific advisor to the American Macular Degeneration Foundation. CARDIOLOGIST I n 1942, while teaching physics and, at the same time, in the gentle arms of academia as a PhD student in embryology at New York University, I entered the army to serve in a parachute-glider division. There, I was a medic, not a medical doctor, and greatly impressed by the chest surgeons who performed miraculous lifesaving procedures under combat conditions. Hearts had entered my field of vision in a powerful way. Returning home after three years, I became a medical student at New York University School of Medicine. In 1946, I was treated to a memorable guest lecturer and a basic researcher, Otto Loewi. He exposed two beating frog hearts and stimulated the vagus nerve in the first heart, producing bradycardia. He then aspirated some pericardial solution from the first heart and introduced this on the second frog’s heart, which also demonstrated bradycardia. With a shrug, he said, simply and humbly, “I put the vagus stuff from here to here and for this they gave me a Nobel prize!” First lesson in humility. I received clinical and medical training from 1947 to 1948 at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. At this time, four services were shared by New York, Cornell, and Columbia Universities. An important part of this training was learning of the thennew techniques of cardiac catheterization from Richard Bing (continued on next page) The Alumni Newsletter of NYU School of Medicine | 3 is published by the Office of Alumni Relations New York University Martin Lipton, Esq., Chairman, Board of Trustees John Sexton, President David W. McLaughlin, PhD, Provost Robert Berne, PhD (Hon. ‘07), Executive Vice President for Health Debra A. LaMorte, Senior Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations NYU Langone Medical Center Kenneth G. Langone, Chairman, Board of Trustees Pond with Autumn Leaves (1962) Robert I. Grossman, MD (Hon. ‘08), The Saul J. Farber Dean and CEO Lisa J. Silverman, Vice President for Development and Alumni Affairs The Grapevine is published by the Office of Alumni Relations. Anthony J. Grieco ’63, ’60ARTS, Associate Dean Rena S. Brand ’83, President 2011–12 Patricia Finerty, Editor Robert M. Danzig, Senior Director of Development, Education and Alumni Giving Allison Flor, Assistant Director of Special Events for Alumni Affairs Special thanks to: Evens Lubin and David Mason, MD Send all correspondence and inquiries to: NYU School of Medicine Office of Alumni Relations 545 First Avenue GBH 5K New York, NY 10016 Phone: (212) 263-5390 Fax: (212) 263-6690 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.med.nyu.edu/alumni Cover photo: (Names listed left-right) Navya Nair ’11, Dianna L. Ng ’11, and Philip Smith ’11. Photo by Jeff Weiner. 4 | FA L L 2 0 1 1 and André Cournand. Then, a rigorous internship at Mt. Sinai Hospital was followed by a cardiology residency at the Bronx Veterans Hospital under the guidance of Arthur de Graff and Clarence de La Chapelle. I was invited to join the laboratory of Drs. Solomon Berson and Rosalyn Yalow, who were to receive together numerous awards. Going alone after Berson’s death, Yalow received the Nobel Prize for their work on radioimmunoassay. Berson and Yalow were well organized, strict, and hardworking, and I learned a great deal about self-discipline and research ethics in their laboratory. In 1952, radioactive labels were available for research. My first cardiac study with potassium 42 showed that potassium left and entered the heart at more than one rate, indicating more than one channel, and refuting earlier reports of single channels. At this time, in the late 1950s, research space was offered to me in the New York University–Veterans Hospital. My interest in cardiac metabolism was stimulated by the newly available amino acids labeled with carbon 14. For the next 30 years, having the good fortune of steady support from the National Institutes of Health and the Veterans Administration, my efforts turned to the effects of stress on cardiac muscle protein turnover, using isolated guinea pig hearts in vitro. A response of ventricular muscle to increased pressure was rapid, and cardiac muscle protein synthesis was increased after two to three hours of this stress. Further studies showed that pressure stress stimulated the formation of mRNA, rRNA, and tRNA, all of which are required for increased protein synthesis. Other researchers found, in studies using the electron microscope, that myocardial nuclei were crumpled in accordion-like fashion during contraction and assumed an elongated oval form in relaxation. Because of this changing configuration, we initiated experiments to study the effects of pulsating pressure on isolated myocardial nuclei. The result was an increase in polymerase activity, which formed mRNA. In all of the above studies, we had examined the effect of pressure on cardiac muscle and now approached the problem of flow-load compared to pressure-load. A perfusion technique was devised in which the right ventricle was subjected to the stress of pressure or flowload with constant coronary perfusion. The results showed a rapid response of protein synthesis in cardiac muscle to pressure overload, but not to flow-load. This suggested the difference in cardiac hypertrophy due to hypertension, in contrast to that due to valve leakage with flow overload. With the available radioactive labels, my major clinical activity turned to the field of nuclear medicine, and I joined the department of nuclear medicine at the New York University–Veterans Administration Hospital. The radioactive-labeled material injected into the patient outlined the coronary circulation of the heart and allowed evaluation of ischemia or myocardial damage. The imaging in sharp colors approached an art form. Looking at the colors alone, it could be abstract art. During the last 40 years, I was active in cardiology care of private patients in addition to research and teaching. ARTIST At the age of 14, I was fortunate to have a gifted teacher of art who encouraged my constant pencil-sketching and introduced me to the technical basics of drawing complicated forms with perspective and dimension. During my college years and, later, my military years in World War II, I worked on pencil sketches of deserts, Italian ruins, Normandy churches, Dutch bridges, and whatever else was present. As a medical intern in the 1950s, I visited a retrospective of the work of Vincent Van Gogh at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Van Gogh’s colors spoke to my emotional core. The colors were mesmerizing and I was stimulated to start painting with oils. I balanced the time in my life to be able to indulge in my two passions—the laboratory and painting. In medicine and in art, the products of one’s efforts are seldom satisfactory to the worker. In the laboratory, new questions arise and must be investigated further. In painting, new ways of expression appear, sometimes involuntarily, which are tempting and need further examination. My painting over the next few years became more impressionistic, such as Pond with Autumn Leaves. My discovery of the palette knife gave me great freedom. The blue color of a huge planting of delphinium in Regent’s Park in London was memorable. Hoping I had memorized the color well after a second and third visit to the park, an attempt was made to reproduce it at home. However, lacking delphinium as a model, I superimposed the well-remembered blue color on Digitalis (foxglove), which grow in profusion in my garden, although the painting remains entitled Delphinium. It was the blue I was interested in, and I was satisfied with it on my foxglove blooms. My vision had begun to steadily decline after 1990 owing to macular degeneration. I was declared legally blind in 1998 and I retired from medicine. I had less than 10 percent of total vision with minimal peripheral vision left, and there was an inability to see any detail in faces or objects. N������������������������������ ow, using my mind’s eye, I record less of a picture and more of an emotion. As my vision changes, so does my painting technique. A splash of color, as in Poppies, suffices for a bloom; stems no longer need to connect with the flower and are drawn using a pen; the vase is shaped by a dark brush stripe on one side and Sidney S. Schreiber ’49, ’45GSAS bare white canvas on the other. Being able to see only vague shapes, I am now mainly painting from memory. Still impressionistic, but simple, I feel Poppies is one of my better paintings. The evolution in my painting styles continues, dependent only on my imagination. Delphinium (1964) The Alumni Newsletter of NYU School of Medicine | 5 Medicine as Practice: What Do We Need to Keep, and What Do We Leave Behind? by Richard J. Baron, MD, HS Medicine ’81, MACP Richard J. Baron, MD, HS Medicine ’81, MACP Following are excerpts of the keynote address Dr. Baron gave at the opening ceremony of the April 7, 2011, American College of Physicians meeting in San Diego, California. I believe we are about to encounter stunning changes in medicine. The tectonic convergence of irresistible economic, demographic, technological, and cultural forces will transform what we do in dramatic and unforeseeable ways. We may be about to have one of those “Scientific Revolutions” described by T. S. Kuhn. He’s the one who coined the now hackneyed term “paradigm shift,” an event he argued happened when prevailing science failed to address the important problems of the time. The fact is, at times of seismic change, it becomes critical to connect with our overall purpose, the real goals of medicine, to guide us in deciding what we need to keep and what we need to leave behind. And I believe 6 | FA L L 2 0 1 1 we have been distracted by a scientific model of medicine that has served us well for the last century but may be nearing the end of its useful life. It seems increasingly apparent to me that we are spending more and more time focusing on our scientific model and less on our patients and their needs. Medicine is fundamentally a practical discipline. For all our aspirations to be “scientific,” medicine is NOT astronomy. It is not a pure science about distant objects that are interesting and beautiful in and of themselves, like supernovas or perhaps even genetic proteins. It is a service discipline anchored in helping real people with real problems. Edmund D. Pellegrino and David C. Thomasma define medicine as occurring “at a meeting of at least two personal intentions, one seeking help and the other offering it.” I believe it is through the activity of practice that we most powerfully and directly realize this intention. And it is the way in which we practice that will be ground zero for change. But somehow practice itself has not been thought about, analyzed, and understood “scientifically.” We do not study it the way we study those genetic proteins. You could describe what we have now as a practice of science but not a science of practice. I don’t believe this lack of focus on practice is accidental. One of the core reforms proposed 100 years ago by Abraham Flexner was to make medical education more scientific. Flexner’s influential model for the “modern” medical school was to eliminate practitioners from the faculty. He thought they spent too much time chasing fees and too little time doing laboratory research. He wanted “whole time” clinical professors who would be freed up to do research the way basic science faculty did. He also wanted to move medical education squarely into the hospital, which he thought was the best laboratory for learning pathology. And maybe, by moving a vision of “the ideal” medical education to a world where doctors were rooted in a separate academy or laboratory or hospital, we lost something important. Maybe we became less accountable to patients and society, becoming more accountable to science and research as core organizing medical values. Maybe we left behind something we should have kept. You may be surprised to learn that Flexner’s proposal was deeply controversial at the time. With $1.5 million in 1911 dollars on the table, the Hopkins faculty split down the middle on whether or not to pick it up. The opposing sides appealed to William Osler, who was by then at Oxford. He replied by a privately printed letter to the president and fellows of Johns Hopkins and the dean of the Medical School. He says, in part, “I cannot imagine anything more subversive to the highest ideal of a clinical school than to hand over young men who are to be our best practitioners to a group of teachers who are ex officio out of touch with the conditions under which these young men will live.” Could Osler’s concerns explain why so many practitioners in training centers these days tell me they feel like second-class citizens? Is some of our institutional focus on technology for technology’s sake a legacy of this shift in focus? And here’s a scary question: Could some of the differential valuations embedded in our current payment system derive from these ancestral decisions about where real value lies in the activity of medicine? I suspect most of you have your own private lists of “standard” and “popular” therapies that may not be as powerful as we might think, but my own favorite examples include routine use of stenting for coronary artery disease, routine use of surgery and IMRT for prostate cancer, and, of course, antibiotics for colds. Practice is hard, sometimes overwhelming. You have to find ways to give yourself some room. Relationships matter. Science and technology are the scrolls or the books or the computers, provisional and ever-changing, the available tools that doctors happen to use. But service and relationships are the durable and unchangeable foundation of medicine. We may not be called upon to do house calls by horse and carriage today, but we have pressures of our own: in a study done jointly by the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the American Board of Internal Medicine, 21 percent of internists with an “internal medicine”-only certificate were not practicing clinical medicine 10 years after completing their training. That’s a 21 percent, 10-year professional mortality rate for general internists! The aging population and the decline of those going into general internal medicine means that, over the next 20 years, the ratio of folks over 65 per general internist will go from about 500 today up to 1,242. Are you and your practice ready for that tectonic force? As we think about redesigning our practices, one of the biggest obstacles we face in figuring out what to leave behind is freeing ourselves from a disease afflicting many internists. Let’s call it RVU malignans. You may recognize some of the symptoms: excessive focus on high-revenue, low-value services and spending a lot of your day resenting all the things you have to do for which you don’t get paid. And I think I understand the pathophysiology: it occurs when physicians confuse what we get paid to do with how we contribute value to our patients. For in the current payment system, those are surely different things. When the ACP says “we have a dysfunctional payment system,” they really mean it. Organizing our practices around the payment system is simply not a reliable way to meet either our patients’ needs or our own professional goals. With medical costs rising faster than wages and inflation for the past decade, I can say with confidence that today’s payment system is something we will be leaving behind, crushed by tectonic economic forces from outside of medicine. We can practice better, sometimes dramatically better. At Greenhouse Internists, our standard approach to patients with whom we had discussed and recommended colonoscopy was to print a form letter embedded in the Electronic Health Record addressed to our GI colleagues, hand the patient the letter and suggest they call for an appointment. Once we started communicating with specialists by secure e-mail, we asked patients if we could send their information electronically to a GI group who had agreed to call them. After a year, we looked at the rate of completed colonoscopies: it was 40 percent higher in the group where the GI folks scheduled the appointment than But service and relationships are the durable and unchangeable foundation of medicine. when the patients did. That’s not a new, highly reimbursable imaging technology or laboratory test; it is an inexpensive practice reorganization with major health implications. Just think how many more of those are sitting around your practice right now. I see many wonderful signs of progress, of a reawakening in the profession that brings us closer to our patients and their needs. All of us are heartened by the upswing in medical student interest in internal medicine, reflecting, in my view, their confidence that the future of our specialty is bright. The Residency Review Committee Educational Innovations programs are encouraging: Eric Warm has improved clinical outcomes as well as patient and resident satisfaction in Cincinnati by building the resident training experience around longitudinal relationships rather than acute care. In Iowa, wife-and-husband team Chris and Tom Sinsky have built an outpatient care model with each physician supported by 1.6 nurses, leveraging their considerable clinical skills across a well-trained, highfunctioning care team and achieving remarkable levels of care coordination, financial performance, and clinical quality— not to mention joy in practice. Understanding the science of practice could generate a robust research agenda: how should advanced primary care practices be staffed? What are the best strategies for patient engagement? What are the core elements of an effective, safe EHR implementation? Each of you innovating in practice is a hero, helping all of us see the path to change. For too long, our gaze as physicians has been directed to our science, and it has become diverted from the people and the society whom we serve. We place stents in blocked coronary arteries because of our mental model that open arteries are better than closed ones, even when we have evidence for large categories of patients that this neither extends life nor prevents heart attacks. We do MRIs of injured joints or sore backs to see what it looks like inside, even when we know most patients will recover with watchful waiting and physical therapy. Our country and our patients are under enormous financial pressure, much of it driven by the costs we are generating in health care. At a time when we have so much power to help our patients, let’s use it to create medical organizations that reliably, safely, and effectively keep our patients healthy and improve their lot when ill. Of course, we will be uncomfortable with change, struggling to decide whether to keep the scrolls or move to the computer. If we are guided by our patients’ predicaments and our intention to address them, we will know what to keep and what to leave behind. The Alumni Newsletter of NYU School of Medicine | 7 Mr. Kramer, in the April 23, 2011, edition of Cape Cod Times, said Linda J. Laubenstein ’73 was the inspiration for a pivotal of her, “Dr. Linda Laubenstein was a great, great person, a supremely character in Larry Kramer’s 1985 play, The Normal Heart, about the early days of the AIDS epidemic. While Dr. Laubenstein never saw the gifted physician who was devoted to her patients, all of whom adored her. At one point, she was taking care of more AIDS patients than any work, a recent Tony Award-winning Broadway revival is a reminder doctor in the entire world, which took a great toll on her health but of the gutsy determination she brought to researching the disease and did not stop her for a second. She invented or developed the original caring for those stricken by it. combination of chemotherapies that are still used to this day. She was This year’s production garnered the 2011 Tony Awards for best beyond brilliant and beyond courageous. I have never known anyone revival of a play; best performance by an actress (Ellen Barkin) in like her and I hope that my play does her the honor she deserves.” a featured role in a play; and best performance by an actor (John Dr. Laubenstein was on staff at NYU from July 1974 until her Benjamin Hickey) in a featured role in a play. Ms. Barkin played Dr. unexpected passing of heart failure in August 1992, at age 45. She Emma Brookner, who was modeled after Dr. Laubenstein. served as a clinical assistant professor of medicine. Dr. Laubenstein co-wrote the first paper related to the AIDS epidemic and co-organized the first medical conference on the disease. She helped to found, with NYU colleague Jeffrey B. Greene ’76, MTS – Mobilizing Talents and Skills. Dr. Greene, currently section chief of the division of infectious diseases at NYU Langone Medical Center and clinical professor of medicine at our School, told us that MTS, a nonprofit organization that sold office services to other businesses and employed AIDS patients as the workers, “was begun when she and I took care of a young patient with AIDS who was fired from his job while still a patient in NYU Langone Medical Center; he quickly went downhill and died. Linda and I believed that employment, and having a place to go in the morning, would benefit patients with devastating disease, and the company was designed to advocate for them in the workplace. Linda certainly used her work to overcome her very formidable physical challenges [use of a wheelchair due to childhood polio], and she led MTS with great passion and ability. The motto, (Left-Right) Priscilla Laubenstein, mother of the late Linda J. Laubenstein ’73, ‘Employment – a treatment that works,’ was a call to all who were Ellen Barkin, and Larry Kramer. afflicted with AIDS to lead as normal a life as possible.” 8 | FA L L 2 0 1 1 PHOTO COURTESY OF BROADWAY.COM The Normal Heart Is there a doctor in the house? 172 new ones! T he NYU School of Medicine graduation ceremony took place on Thursday, May 19, 2011, at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center. Nobel Laureate Ada E. Yonath, PhD, ScD, NYU Hon. ’11, the Martin S. and Helen Kimmel Professor of Structural Biology and director of the Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular Structure and Assembly at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, delivered the keynote address. Saul J. Farber Dean and CEO Robert I. Grossman, MD (Hon. ’08), spoke to the class of 2011 about leadership. “Leadership is an extremely important matter for doctors to think about. Whether the setting is an underserved rural area, an international humanitarian relief organization, or an academic medical center, a physician serves—or at least should serve—as a guide for other people. . . . Leadership is not about Helping others shine is one of the surest hallmarks of greatness. power. . . . If you try to coerce people, you’ll get resistance, but if you manage to connect with their own aspirations, they’ll respond because they want to. . . . Leadership is not about seeking the limelight. Leaders do find themselves in the limelight from time to time, but that’s a byproduct of circumstance, not a destination. . . . ‘Gloryseekers’ (and others who—consciously or not—seek prominence to prove something to themselves or someone else) typically make the worst leaders imaginable. . . . It’s no coincidence that eminent movie directors rarely feature themselves on the screen, except in cameo roles, or that the most distinguished scientists are, almost without exception, the most generous of mentors. Helping others shine is one of the surest hallmarks of greatness. “For a physician, I think [leadership is about] respect for others. Respect gets transmitted in dozens of small but unmistakable ways. Like how long you keep people waiting. Whether or not you look them in the eye and really listen. Doctors who are dismissive—no matter how competent they may be otherwise— typically leave patients feeling less attended to. . . . For me, respect is not just about attitude; it’s also about action. For instance, you can use authority in disrespectful ways—like putting what matters to you personally at the top of the list; or you can apply that same authority to the greater good, expediting things that others need to have done. . . . For building true bonds with other human beings, and showing them that they matter to you, there’s no substitute for being there. “The second key attribute I think your patients need from you is courage. . . . When you think about what it really means to put the patient first, you see that right away. It takes courage to fight for them. It takes courage to deliver bad news—and especially to call forth their strength without trivializing what they face. And it takes courage to admit when you don’t know what the answer is. . . . “The third leadership attribute I’d like to explore with you in fact permeates everything else: authenticity. . . . I’d say authenticity is essentially about being who you are and allowing others to be who they are. . . . “Whatever your own recipe, I hope you’ll make a lifelong commitment to exercising leadership, remembering that it isn’t about ‘starring’ in anything; it’s about offering the best that is in you to those who need your help.” Robert I. Grossman, MD (Hon. ’08) The Alumni Newsletter of NYU School of Medicine | 9 Class president Rishi Vohra ’11 gave the valediction. “My parents said that I could be anything I wanted to be—a doctor, lawyer, or engineer, but of the three it (medicine) was my choice! I chose medicine for the same reason you all did; there’s something inside us that is greatly affected by the condition of human illness, and growing up, we aspired to ease suffering and find cures. . . . Med school started with anatomy with Dr. Bogart, Mel, Vicky, and of course Maly. We all thought that learning the upper limb was the most difficult thing we had done. That of course was true, until we got to the thorax, and then head and neck . . . no one in our class fainted! We cannot forget everything we learned in Schwartz F and E, or from the comfort of your bed while streaming the lectures on 1.5x speed on iTunes so that our professors sounded like hopped up chipmunks. We spent the entire first year in Alumni Hall C or the library trying to figure out how every aspect of the human body worked, and then, second year, we spent every waking moment learning how the human body gets screwed up. “And then—third year. . . . I will paint a picture of what it’s like to be on the general surgery service at Bellevue. Depending on how far away from campus you live, which for some of us can be as far away as Brooklyn or New Jersey, you are waking Rishi Vohra ’11 1 0 | FA L L 2 0 1 1 When the faculty is not teaching, they are advising, helping us focus on our futures and building the tracks to get there. up between 4:45 a.m. and 5:15 a.m. to get to the hospital at 5:30 a.m. so that you can preround on all of your patients on that service, which requires that you find this elusive piece of paper that has all of the patient’s In’s and Out’s . . . . It might be at the foot of the bed, it might be in the patient’s chart, it might be with the nurse, or it could have been eaten by the “Bellevue Monster,” which happens far too often. So at 5:59, you’re racing back to the call room where all of the other medical students already are and the residents are sitting in the center of the room like the Knights at the Round Table and staring at numbers and graphs and lab values that have next to no meaning to you. You then round on the patients again, nervously blurting out words and numbers to the residents, most of which already have the information that your are presenting. “The next thing you know, a pager goes off and in the blink of an eye you’re scrubbed up and ready to go and just as the first incision is made, the resident asks you to adjust the light which looks like a mini spaceship coming out of the ceiling of which only 4mm of it are sterile AND you accidentally unsterilize your gloves. The nurses see this and call you out (as they should, obviously) . . . and you’re off to rescrub. So four hours of retractor holding, getting asked questions that you only know half the answers to, and being asked to help ‘close,’ which means that you put stitches in that take you twice as long and half as pretty as the residents. You get out of your case and think ‘My God, who would want to do this for the rest of his or her life?’ but then you go with your resident to see how the patient is doing, and you have the pleasure of being there when the resident says, ‘Your mother’s surgery went wonderfully and we expect a full recovery.’ And as soon as you get those words of gratitude or a hug or whatever it is that signifies how thankful the patient and his or her family are, you think ‘Okay, maybe I can do this for the rest of my life.’ “What I think makes NYU stand out among the rest of the medical schools out there is the amazing opportunities NYU affords you. From day one, if you Anthony J. Grieco ’63, ’60ARTS, MACP donned your baby blue scrubs and put your ID on, you could walk into almost any OR and watch a surgery, or e-mail a cardiologist and ask if you could shadow for a day or a week, or go and look at some cool pathology slides with Dr. Zagzag. The faculty and staff here at NYU put the teach in teaching hospital, both inside and outside of the classroom. From day one, we were speaking to patients, not only learning about disease progression and treatment, but also about compassion and how to take care of the patient as a person and not as a constellation of diseases. While other medical students in other I encourage you to reaffirm the principle you witnessed in action at Bellevue: that all people have a fundamental right to equal access to health care. schools were reading about malaria and Dengue fever, we were seeing it walk in from First Avenue. We were interacting with patients from hundreds of different countries, speaking hundreds of different languages from Spanish to Fu-Zaonese, spanning all genders, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and ages. The only downside to having this diversity at our fingertips is that nothing really shocks an NYU medical student anymore. “When the faculty is not teaching, they are advising, helping us focus on our futures and building the tracks to get there. They were not only our mentors, but they were our friends, and they really took care of us. “Hundreds of medical students every year get the opportunity to practice medicine and discover a new culture at the same time abroad. . . . So many of us have spent time abroad this year or between first and second year doing research in countries such as India, Thailand, Nepal, China, Ecuador, New Zealand, Peru, and Spain. Thanks to the International Health Program, our campus has expanded from Murray Hill to the entire globe. “And what makes it even better is that we were never competing with each other for a second. We were the wind on each other’s backs, whether it was group studying or asking a friend for help. . . . To my fellow medical students, I couldn’t have done any of this without you guys. You’ve been my friends, my playmates in this crazy city of ours, my soul mates. We’ve studied together, laughed together, gotten yelled at together, and have cried together. My fellow student council members, past and present—nothing would have been accomplished without your hard work and dedication to this school for the past four years. There is one particular student I have to thank for being my right-hand man, mentor, and amazing friend—Bobby Mocharla ’11; student council would crumble without your guidance, and I would have been lost at so many turns over the past four years without you being there whenever I needed your help. And to all of you—I am a better person for knowing you. Congratulations, good luck, and thank you. WE DID IT!” Anthony J. Grieco ’63, ’60ARTS, MACP, associate dean of alumni relations and academic events, welcomed the class of 2011 into the ranks of NYU medical alumni. “From today onward, you will be treated with enormous respect based on the understanding that you are committed to improving the lives of others. I suggest that you use that respect—no matter what your specialty—to speak up appropriately on major health issues. For example, over time you could have an impact in reducing alcohol, tobacco, and drug dependency; domestic violence; child abuse; in improving occupational safety and gun control; or any other matters that you see as important for the public well-being. “In addition, I encourage you to reaffirm the principle you witnessed in action at Bellevue: that all people have a fundamental right to equal access to health care. I ask you to remember these lessons you have learned and to acknowledge social justice as your personal duty. Specifically, I urge you to follow our NYU tradition to not only treat those who can afford our services, but to accept forever the moral obligation to fulfill the health care needs of the poor and vulnerable. “On a personal note, please maintain contact with our School and the alumni office. Keep us informed of your accomplishments. Continue to make us proud. Congratulations, doctors!” The Alumni Newsletter of NYU School of Medicine | 1 1 NYU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE GRADUATION CEREMONY THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2011 AVERY FISHER HALL, LINCOLN CENTER, NEW YORK CITY 1. 3. 6. 1 2 | FA L L 2 0 1 1 Photographer: Jeff Weiner 2. 4. 5. 7. 8. 10. 9. All names listed left-right 1. Saul J. Farber Dean and CEO Robert I. Grossman, MD (Hon. ’08); NYU Executive Vice President for Health Robert Berne, PhD (Hon. ’07); Vice Dean for Education, Faculty, and Academic Affairs Steven B. Abramson, MD, HS ’78; NYU Board of Trustees Chairman Martin Lipton, Esq. (Hon. ’00); keynote speaker and Nobel Laureate in chemistry Ada E. Yonath, PhD, ScD (NYU Hon. ’11); and chair of the NYU Langone Medical Center, Kenneth G. Langone (Hon. ’01). 3. Irene Isabel Lim ’11 and Christian D. Valenzuela ’11. 8. Julia S. Valente-Szerda ’11 and her 18-weekold daughter, Sienna Elle Szerda. 4. Abraham D. Knoll ’11; his wife, Miriam A. Knoll ’11; and their children, three-year-old Mendy and 18-month-old Benjamin. 9. Allen S. Hauptman ’78 and his daughters, Marissa Hauptman ’11 and Nicole Hauptman Siegel ’07. 5. Bradley C. Y. Ching ’11. 2. James L. Crawford ’11 and his fiancée, Michelle C. Mergenthal ’10. 7. Jim Agrusa; his son, Christopher J. Agrusa ’09; daughter, Jennifer E. Agrusa’11; and wife, Paula Agrusa. 10. Dean Grossman; Emily D. Slater ’11; her mother, Veronica M. Catanese ’79, and father, William R. Slater, MD, associate professor and codirector of cardiology consulting service. 6. Zeinab M. Abdi ’11 and her father, Mohamed A. Aden Iskerse. The Alumni Newsletter of NYU School of Medicine | 1 3 RECEPTION AND DINNER DANCE IN HONOR OF THE CLASS OF 2011 TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2011 GOTHAM HALL, NEW YORK CITY 1. 2. 5. 6. 8. 9. Photographer: Jeff Weiner 3. 2. 4. 7. 10. All names listed left-right 1. Student Life Awardee Elizabeth Maxwell, Class of 2011 President Rishi Vohra, Student Life Awardees Janet Montero and Sue Kaelin Romulo. 2. Susan Liu and her fiancée, David S. Wei ’11. 3. Megan C. Bowers ’11, PhD ’09GSAS; Serre-Yu Wong ’11, PhD ’09GSAS; Santosha A. Vardhana ’11, PhD ’09GSAS; Arlene Kohler, program manager of the Medical Student Training Program; Ijeoma L. Ejigiri ’11, PhD ’09GSAS; and Kseniya Petrova ’11, PhD ’09GSAS. 1 4 | FA L L 2 0 1 1 4. Valentina Rodriguez, MD and David Alevi ’11. 7. Michael B. S. Tyler ’11 and his wife, Erika Tyler. 5. Gregory M. Katz ’12, Sam M. Serouya ’11, Daniel L. Feldman ’11, and Robert M. Mocharla ’11. 8. Davida A. Kornreich ’11 and David Krupnick. 6. Back row: John Sneddon, Corrina H. Wood ’11, Crystal R. Lee ’11, Claritsa Santos-Malavé ’11, Zeinab M. Abdi ’11, Elisa Cavalcanti, Alexander W. M. Chan ’11, Phyllis A. R. Caces ’11, and Guilio Quarta. Front row: Rishi Vohra ’11, Marian G. Acevedo Alvarez ’11, and Navya Nair ’11. 9. Jennifer E. Agrusa ’11, Claritsa Santos-Malavé ’11, Mariana R. Brewer ’11, Sana S. Shah ’11, Suzanne P. MacFarland ’11, Daniel J. Corwin ’11, and Marissa Hauptman ’11. 10. Daniel Cole, Jessica E. Eisenberg ’11, Christina Peay, Adeolu L. Olasunkanmi ’11, Laura O’Connor, and Chika C. Obele ’11. Have You Heard? 1950s Ira J. Gelb ’51, ’48WSC, clinical professor, assistant dean for prebaccalaurate programs, and director emeritus of cardiology of the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University, received the President’s Medallion for Distinguished Service to Florida Atlantic University and community at their August 9, 2011, commencement ceremony. David T. Nash ’53, ’50WSC, clinical professor of medicine at Upstate Medical University, SUNY Syracuse, shares, “I have been actively working in medicine since 1949-1950, when as a freshman, I heard about the Thursday night cardiac clinic. It was run by an elderly physician trained in Europe who combined a foreign accent with a gentle voice and a remarkable grasp of the complexities of cardiac care and diagnosis; our technology was limited to chest x-rays, a fluoroscopy device, and an electrocardiographic machine. Most of what I do today was not invented when I graduated med school. More recently, I published my 246th medical article and am working on the drafts of several others, so I should (with luck) reach the nice round number of 250. “While after 62 years of active efforts, I no longer treat acutely ill patients and don’t drive through Syracuse’s classic snow storms (accumulating 178 inches last season), I am lucky enough to work literally every day. I also take time to smell the roses. I have had the privilege of being asked to review scientific articles submitted to JAMA, NEJM, AJC, Archives of Internal Medicine, and several others. I received and completed two additional reviews this week: one for JACC and another for JAMA. These are thankless, unpaid jobs, but I love the idea of making a contribution where I can. It is more a privilege than a burden. “When I am vacationing in South Florida (the beaches in winter thrill me more than the roses), I provide lectures at the Academy for Continuing Education and the local Palm Beach State College. At home in Syracuse, New York, I serve as a mentor for younger physicians interested in learning about research techniques in dealing with lipid abnormalities, atherosclerosis, aging and cognitive impairment. I keep fairly busy, but make time for regular treadmill efforts, walking on the beach (preferably at low tide), and an active social life with my wife of 55 years. I enjoy my mediocre tennis skills. My legs are the best part of my game, as I can run better than my partners, all of whom have more experience and better drop shots than I do. “We have six grandchildren, the products of our two sons and their spouses. I feel close to all of them, but distances mean we see some more frequently than others. Overall, I believe in the dictum: If you love your work and have a good home life, you are ahead of the game and luckier than most. I do feel lucky and NYU Med has been a large part of the story. I wish as much for my extended NYU family.” Lonnie R. Bristow ’57 received a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the NYU Alumni Association on May 2, 2011. NYU President John Sexton, PhD, JD (Hon. ’03), introduced Dr. Bristow as a longtime advocate for patients and doctors who made history in 1995 when he became the first African American to hold the top position at the American Medical Association. One of the nation’s most respected physicians for over 40 years, Dr. Bristow has played a critical and visionary role in shaping national health policy and making the medical profession ever more responsive to the needs of all Americans. Promoting the highest ethical standards, Dr. Bristow has been called a man who mirrors the needs of his time. He continues to direct his profession’s focus on the diverse health needs of our multicultural population and champions health care access for the most disadvantaged in our society. 1960s John A. Kastor ’62 has published a study of the attempts, during the 1990s, to merge our School of Medicine and Medical Center with the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Medical Center in the December issue of Academic Medicine 2010;85:1823-1827, 1828-1832. 1970s Gervasio A. Lamas ’78 has been appointed chair of medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Florida. He is also chief of their division of cardiology, codirector of the Miami Heart Institute, and professor of medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. The poetry of Serena J. Fox ’79 was featured in the June 6, 2011, issue of The Daily Palette, a University of Iowa online publication. 1980s Julia F. Ragland ’89 tells us, “I currently live and work outside of Boston. I started in primary care and then became a hospitalist 11 years ago. I was chief of the hospitalist service at Newton-Wellesley Hospital for several years, and I am currently the director of our new palliative care service, an interest that has developed out of my hospitalist work.” The Alumni Newsletter of NYU School of Medicine | 1 5 Have You Heard? 1990s Danielle Ofri ’93, PhD ’92GSAS, MS ’90GSAS, recently wrote two moving pieces, which appeared in popular publications. “Freedom from Fear” was published in the May 2011 issue of Readers Digest and describes the life of one of her patients from Cameroon. “Lives Cut Short by Depression” appeared in the June 9, 2011, online Well blog of The New York Times. Dr. Ofri reminisces about her childhood friend who committed suicide and how she tries to screen her patients for depression and suicide risk. Soma J. Mandal ’97, ’93WSC, married Suneel Saigal on April 16, 2011, at Maritime Parc in Liberty State Park, Jersey City, New Jersey. 2000s Peter (Pil S.) Kang ’01 has “served nine years in the U.S. Army after med school, completing my general surgery internship, plus radiology residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and have spent four years after residency in the Army, serving in Alaska as a radiologist and finishing out my career back at Walter Reed. I left the military last year and currently am in private practice in Iowa.” Dimitris G. Placantonakis ’03, PhD ’02GSAS, joined the department of neurosurgery at NYU School of Medicine in July 2010 as assistant professor of neurosurgery and director of the Neurosurgical Laboratory for Stem Cell Research. Dr. Placantonakis trained in the MSTP program at our School and graduated as a member of Alpha Omega Alpha. He then moved to Weill Cornell Medical College and Memorial SloanKettering Cancer Center for his residency training in neurosurgery. Within his residency, Dr. Placantonakis completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in stem cell biology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering. He has received numerous awards for 1 6 | FA L L 2 0 1 1 his research and clinical work. At NYU, Dr. Placantonakis divides his time equally between the clinic and his laboratory. Clinically, he specializes in adult brain tumors. His laboratory studies human embryonic stem cell-derived neurons, as well as stem cells in glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer. In addition, Dr. Placantonakis is collaborating with clinical investigators in an effort to develop induced pluripotent stem cell lines from patients with neuropsychiatric disorders. He is a member of the Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for Stem Cell Biology, the NYU Cancer Institute, and the Stem Cell Biology and Neuroscience and Physiology programs in the Sackler Institute of Graduate Biomedical Sciences. urology resident at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey. He graduated from Wesleyan University, and his mother is Joan Hassel Facelle ’80. Jillian Borman ’09 and Jason Hochfelder ’09, who met at our School, married on April 2, 2011, at the Woodbury Jewish Center in Woodbury, New York, as announced in The New York Times. Dr. Borman is a second-year pediatrics resident Lisa J. Kalik ’04 is an alumna of Manchester High School Central in New Hampshire and was inducted into their Hall of Fame there on May 6, 2011. Dr. Kalik was editor of the national award-winning newspaper, The Little Green, while a student there. Currently a member of the NYU Faculty Group Practice in internal medicine, she takes time to share her experiences with students at her alma mater. at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia Medical Center. She graduated with distinction from Cornell University. The groom is a second-year resident in orthopedic surgery at the Hospital for Joint Diseases of NYU Langone Medical Center. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University. Richard L. Bakst ’07, ’03CAS, married Lynn Bradley on May 20, 2011, at the Central Park Boathouse, as announced in The New York Times. The groom is a chief resident in radiation oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan. The bride is a deputy art director at All You, a monthly women’s magazine in Manhattan that is published by Time, Inc. She graduated from the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland. Luciana Vieira ’11 married Stephen White Grambling on May 29, 2011, at the Evergreen Museum in Baltimore, as announced in The New York Times. The couple met at Johns Hopkins University, from which they graduated. The bride is an intern in obstetrics/gynecology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The groom is an investment research associate at Goldman Sachs in New York. He is a certified financial analyst. Jennifer N. Alt ’09 and Thomas Facelle ’10, who met at our School, married on March 26, 2011, at the Sacred Heart Parish in Suffern, New York, as announced in The New York Times. The bride is a second-year anesthesiology resident at NYU Langone Medical Center. She graduated from Northeastern University. The groom is a first-year The following two poems are by Ruth P. Cohen ’67 The Sweetness I Barely Know You, my dear, say, “I’m dying.” Aren’t we all? Your yellowed face points up. Your eyes meet mine. A couple of days ago you said, “I’m okay,” and smiled. THE ALUMNI BOOKSHELF Saralyn Mark ’88 is the author of the “Her breathing gets better; She can stay off the vents.” The family pleads, they bring pictures of the cats, the neighbors. recently published book, Stellar Medicine: A Journey Through the Universe of Women’s Health. Part memoir, part guidebook on controversial health issues, the book explores the social and Machines beep and buzz. I believe what I hear, that you are kind and good. At age eight you survived Hodgkins; the doctors radiated your chest. That scarred your heart. Now at fifty, after heart surgery the family wants and needs— Women’s political environments that shape our decisions. Dr. Mark weaves in many of her adventures on all the continents and with the space program to illustrate her points. It is lively, entertaining, and meant to generate discussion. It covers the topics of sex/gender-based medicine; menopause; alternative medicine; R STELLA E IN MEDIC Health Health She sat in bed, eating cereal, tracking spoon to mouth, careful not to spill. “It’s interesting. My friends want to understand how it could happen to me. After all, I’m young.” Her blinking eye, her faulty memory, her loveliness, break my helping heart. It’s all about hope and courage. What gets unsaid remains unsaid. , M.D. About My Patient Please excuse my sadness and my sleepiness. I awoke at 6:30 to treat a 39-year-old woman Is she aware— her brain tumor is progressive. iPi the y through A Journe men’s Health of Wo Universe N MARK US $19.95 UK £12.95 s cturebook SARALY anic Cloud. Small Magell NASA/ESA N81 in the France), and atory, ity Ward al Matern (Paris Observ tion: Celesti ri-Malayeri Cover Illustra mad Heyda Credit: Moham faith and healing; pandemics; medical myths; veterans’ health; the benefits of sex, chocolate, wine, and shopping; and many other issues. On April 2, 2011, Dr. Mark received the Lila A. Wallis gist, LYN or to endocrinolo DR. SARA cal Advis Human health. An first Senior Medi Health and women’s the rtment of she was the Depa specialist, d Health within US, helpe Women’s . ship in the cine, the and NASA health fellow Academic Medi Services aigns women’s rship in tional camp ed ned the first of Leade ark educa She desig lectur Centers National h and landm universities, has create the in Women’s Healt several at CNN, Good er ing lence of Excel faculty memb outlets includ Centers Mark, a to media National issues. Dr. contributor ent health and l al Post. is a frequ on critica as a medic for world and h and the Washington ues to serve improving health around the Healt she contin ated to America ions, LLC, ies dedic Morning ed Solut ns and agenc ent of SolaM to organizatio or As Presid beyond. policy advis d the globe and scientific men aroun women and CINE R MEDI Aren’t we all dying? You raised two adopted children, became a nurse. The last words you mouth to me are, “Thank you.” STELLA urage e to enco experienc face of science and ness even in the ine ework of tain well to exam offers a fram help main to ask questions, my This book balanced life, to contains es you a This book encourag and you to live le. It also ting in fear. the social troub reac ains re and e to help befo stress and expl it as a guid evidence , and to think evidence d upon scientific mation. Use infor this advice base ronment shaping you as a envi for ical s. know sion polit get the or, and I e good deci you mak me as a doct ask questions and read it to rating for , as you been frust never enough time of this book of your is What has rve. So think in the comfort that there patient, is you need and dese nt, but and patie that as doctor answers in together, pioneer as our time leader and health renowned women’s world and e. a is hom e on MARK geriatrician the Offic ARK, LYN M SARA M.D. Award for Lifetime Achievement in Women’s Health from the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA). This award is given to an individual whose lifetime achievements, accomplishments, motivation, mentorship, energy, and enthusiasm for women’s health, education, and research reflect the trailblazing achievements and influences in women’s health exemplified by Dr. Lila A. Wallis, one of AMWA’s past presidents. Dr. Mark is an endocrinologist, geriatrician, and women’s health specialist and is founder and president of SolaMed Solutions, LLC. She is also adjunct associate professor of medicine and obstetrics and gynecology at Yale and Georgetown University Schools of Medicine and affiliate professor and distinguished senior fellow at the George Mason School of Public Policy. Paranee Y. Sun ’96 is the author of the recently published book, The TRUE Face of Health Care Reform: A Physician and Patient’s Perspective. The book taps into the debate ignited by the Health Care bill and talks about managed care, litigious suits, Medicare, and the patient-physician relationship that is on the hearts and minds of billions. It includes helpful criticism of the shortcomings of our current health care reform and the necessary steps for real reform to happen. The Alumni Newsletter of NYU School of Medicine | 1 7 Passings 1940s Philip M. Greenberg ’43D on June 16, 2011, at the age of 90, as reported by his wife, Joan L. Greenberg. Dr. Greenberg graduated from Columbia University and began a surgical residency at the Hospital for Joint Diseases in New York City and then served as a captain in the Army Medical Corps from 1946 until 1948. After discharge, he took over his father’s general medical practice in Miami Beach and practiced family medicine until taking a residency in psychiatry at Jackson Memorial Hospital. He practiced psychiatry in Miami from 1969 until retiring in 1990. He was appointed clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Miami in 1987. Dr. Greenberg lived above his office on Washington Avenue and responded to calls made from houses and hotels at all hours of the day and night. During the time following the Mariel boat lift, he was a psychiatrist for the City of Miami Beach, screening all applicants for the police academy, and frequently riding at night with patrol units. For 20 years, he volunteered a half day each week running Coping with Cancer, the first support group in Miami for cancer patients, survivors, and their families. He was a Life Fellow of the South Florida Psychiatric Society, the Florida Psychiatric Society, and the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Greenberg had two passions: he was an avid fisherman and an accomplished painter. One day a week 1 8 | FA L L 2 0 1 1 was reserved for being out on the water in his boat. Other available time was spent in his studio, producing wonderful expressionistic oils. After retirement, his life in Jupiter delighted him: growing roses and orchids, painting, and playing bridge several times a week. Dr. Greenberg was a highly intelligent, witty man, knowledgeable about a wealth of subjects, and ready to help anyone in need. He is survived by his loving wife, one son, two stepdaughters, and three stepgrandchildren. Sholom O. Waife ’43D on March 6, 2011, at age 92, as reported in The New York Times. A physician, writer, and researcher, Dr. Waife completed his undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University. He served the war effort in clinical care and research positions in the Northeast. After the war, he was briefly in private practice in Baltimore, and he then joined the staff at Philadelphia General Hospital where he created one of the first continuing medical education programs in the country for hospital staff. He was recruited to join Eli Lilly & Co., in Indianapolis, as a researcher in nutritional medicine. His studies on pyroxidine (Vitamin B6) and diabetes are still seminal references. Called back to the service in 1954 as a lieutenant commander in the Navy, he served as one of the editors of the Armed Services Medical Journal. After returning to Lilly in 1956, he became editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and was national secretary of the American Medical Writers Association. During this period, he also published a column for the Physicians Bulletin entitled “The Doctor Writes,” which was later collected and published in book form. He was also coauthor of The Clinical Evaluation of New Drugs. As director of medical affairs at Lilly, Dr. Waife created a series of educa- tional texts, beautifully printed and illustrated, which were distributed to each graduating medical school student in the U.S. Subsequently he wrote and produced medical education films. In each case, these were innovative initiatives for their time. Dr. Waife was a great lover of music, fishing, and, in later years, golf. A drum player in his youth, his love of music led to board positions with the Indianapolis Symphony and WFYI public radio in Indianapolis, where he hosted weekly radio programs on both jazz and Gilbert and Sullivan. Dr. Waife is survived by his second wife Margaret Waife, his two children, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Stanley H. Bernstein ’48 on April 21, 2011, at age 86, as reported by his daughter, Carol A. Bernstein, MD, associate professor of psychiatry and vice chair for education at our School. Dr. Bernstein was a graduate of the College of William and Mary; he served as a U.S. Navy corpsman during World War II and was recalled to duty as a captain in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. A fellow of both the American College of Physicians and of the American College of Cardiology, Dr. Bernstein was also a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and of the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians. He served as an attending physician at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center and North Shore University Hospital in New York and as a visiting physician at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi and at the Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem. In the late 1960s, Dr. Bernstein pursued his passion for academic medicine by taking a faculty appointment at the new School of Medicine of the University of Connecticut and assuming duties as the chief of medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in Hartford. Returning to private practice some years later, he was also a clinical faculty member of the University of Miami School of Medicine and, for a time, chief of medicine and chief of staff at Humana Hospital Biscayne. He was also a trustee of the Aventura Medical Center. A fine athlete, he played golf exceptionally well, and that gave him much joy. A wonderful physician, an inspiration to his family, and very proud of his education and training at NYU, he was a physician to the end—even diagnosing his illness a year ago. Dr. Bernstein is survived by his cherished wife of 35 years, Daria Bernstein; their four children; and three granddaughters. Donations can be made in his memory to NYU School of Medicine. Albert Altchek ’49, ’45ARTS, on May 2, 2011 at age 85, as reported in The New York Times. Dr. Altchek was a worldrenowned professor and author of textbooks and articles on obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive science. He was a founding father of research in the field and chief of pediatric and adolescent gynecology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, attending there for over 50 years. Teaching medicine was the overwhelming passion of his life. He practiced medicine without regard for monetary reward and often stated that for him the patient’s well-being was sufficient reward for his labors. He published nearly 200 research papers in various medical journals over his 63 years as a practicing physician. For the last 10 years, he served as editor in chief, in collaboration with his dear friend and colleague Dr. Liane Deligdisch, in authoring seven medical text books. Sweden recognized him as a groundbreaking thought leader in advancing the possibility of uterine transplant. Mexico elected him, in recognition of his groundbreaking research, as the honorary president of the Mexican Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He was a true renaissance man with interests that ran the gamut from pre-Colombian art to music and photography. He was a wealth of knowledge in all areas of history, science, and current events, sharing his stories with all his family and friends. Dr. Altchek is survived by two sisters and many nieces and nephews. 1950s Yonne D. Varese ’50 on July 12, 2010, at age 86, as reported by her friend Theresa A. Morris. Dr. Varese attended Our Lady of Good Counsel College and was their first graduate ever accepted into medical school. She completed her internal medicine residency at Grady Memorial in Atlanta, Georgia. During World War II, she served in the civilian ambulance corps and as an aircraft spotter. Known as Doc or Dr. Mom to her patients and friends, she dedicated her life to the people of the rural community of Newbern in southwest Virginia. She opened her medical practice there in 1953 after a long search to find a community in need of a doctor. The first female physician in the area, Dr. Varese specialized in internal medicine, but also provided services in obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, orthopedics, and minor surgery. She had a special interest in serving the poor, and nearly 60 percent of her time at the practice was devoted to indigent care. In addition to her clinic, Dr. Varese worked tirelessly at the hospital that grew into the modern-day Pulaski Community Hospital and was the first female chief of staff there, serving two terms. Upon her retirement in 1990, she maintained her medical license and moved to South Carolina. There, she remained in contact with many of her patients from over the years and provided leadership and mentorship to younger medical professionals. Her Catholic faith was an important part of her life and directed her life’s mission in service to others. Dr. Varese was a strong advocate for human rights and had a special interest in women’s rights. She also enjoyed a great love for animals and provided care and shelter to numerous strays over the years. She was an avid supporter of several organizations that protected and cared for abandoned and abused animals. Dr. Varese’s patients enjoyed quality medical care, her friendship, infectious laugh, and almost limitless sense of humor. Herbert Jalens ’51, ’48WSC, as reported by Ira J. Gelb ’51, ’48WSC. John A. Lincoln ’52 in July 2010. Gabrielle Reem, MD, HS Physiology ’52 and HS Medicine Fellowship ’55, on March 20, 2011, as reported by her husband, Herbert J. Kayden ’43D, professor emeritus of medicine at our School. Dr. Reem had a long and distinguished career at NYU School of Medicine, lasting over 45 years. After retiring in 2007, she was appointed professor emerita of pharmacology. After her fellowship here, she joined Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where she served until 1964, before returning to our School to join the faculty in the department of pharmacology, first as research assistant professor and quickly rising to a full professor of pharmacology in 1977. Dr. Reem’s early studies on uric acid metabolism in 1967 led to her important studies on purine metabolism. In particular, she made important con- The Alumni Newsletter of NYU School of Medicine | 1 9 Passings tributions in uncovering the pathways of purine metabolism in mammalian cells, their role in Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, and in adenosine deaminase deficiency leading to immunodeficiency. This led to her interest in studying the role of purine metabolism in lymphocytes and then in clarifying the factors and mechanisms involved in activation of cells of the immune system. In addition to her research, Dr. Reem was involved in the governance of the School of Medicine through her work on many important committees, including the Faculty Council, the Admissions Committee, the Housing Committee, and the Formulary Committee of Bellevue Hospital. Dr. Reem was also a member of the Faculty Senators Council at the University. Along with her husband, Dr. Reem is survived by their two children, David S. Kayden ’80 and Joelle M. Kayden, and two grandchildren. Thomas N. Silverberg ’54 on March 19, 2011, at age 93, as reported by his daughter-in-law, Deborah E. Finkelstein ’98. Dr. Silverberg received his BA and MA degrees in classics from the University of Wisconsin. This World War II veteran practiced medicine for 45 years. His intelligence, wit, and compassion enriched many lives. Dr. Silverberg is survived by his two sons and two grandchildren. Moses H. Nussbaum ’55, ’51WSC, as reported in The New York Times on March 7, 2011. A dedicated surgeon, Dr. Nussbaum spent most of his career at Beth Israel Medical Center educating and training medical students, interns and residents. Over his 56 years there, he held many important positions, most notably chairman of the department of surgery from 1993 to 2000. Additionally, he was a longtime member of the Beth Israel Medical Board and led and served on many of its committees and subcommittees. He also was honored throughout his career 2 0 | FA L L 2 0 1 1 by grateful patients who supported Beth Israel philanthropically in appreciation of the care he provided. In recognition of his life’s work, in 1999 Beth Israel established the Moses Nussbaum, MD, Memorial Lecture, which is given each year by a prominent speaker on an important topic in the field of surgery. He is survived by his beloved wife, Esther Nussbaum ’63GSAS and their three children. N. Ralph Frankel ’57 on March 28, 2011, as reported in The Miami Herald. Dr. Frankel was a graduate of Rutgers University and a boardcertified internist and pulmonologist for over 50 years in the North Miami Beach area. A past president of the Dade County Medical Association, past president of the Dade-Monroe Lung Association, past president and active member of the North Miami Beach and Sunny Isles Kiwanis Club, active volunteer for the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, and a member of the American Medical Association. Dr. Frankel was also an avid diver, skier, and tennis player. He is survived by his beloved wife of 58 years, Diane Pressman, their three children, and five grandchildren. 1960s Warren T. Sherman ’60 on May 6, 2011 at age 76, as reported by his classmate, Michael D. Rabbino ’60. Dr. Sherman attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut and completed internship and residency training at Bellevue Hospital Center where he was also a chief resident. He served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy and practiced internal medicine and cardiology in Danbury, Connecticut, for over 40 years and received the Danbury Hospital Howard Garfinkel, MD Housestaff Teaching Award for 2008-2009. He was assistant clinical professor at Yale University School of Medicine and a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Cardiology. Dr. Sherman is survived by his beloved wife, Lyn Sherman, and their four children and four grandchildren. Sylvain R. C. Fribourg ’66 on April 24, 2011, at age 70, as reported in The Los Angeles Times. Dr. Fribourg received his undergraduate degree at Columbia University and spent his medical career in the obstetrics and gynecology department at Kaiser Hospital in Panorama City, California. A dedicated and caring physician who touched the lives of countless patients, he made quite an impression on all who met him with his singular brand of erudite and anecdotal humor. Following his retirement in 2001, he enjoyed many pursuits, including volunteering as a docent at the L.A. Zoo and Gene Autry Museum, teaching adult literacy, and serving as president of the Kiwanis Club of Warner Center. Dr. Fribourg was also a frequent and well-known contributor to the L.A. Times editorial page. He was an art collector and lover of fine wine. Dr. Fribourg is survived by his longtime companion, Michelle Morales, and his three children and five granddaughters. Joel S. Feigenson ’69 on February 18, 2011, at the age of 67, as reported by his wife of 44 years, Diane H. Feigenson. In his 40-year career as a neurologist, he was instrumental in the development of neurorehabilitation as a medical field. He obtained his undergraduate degree at Columbia University and completed his residency in neurology at NYU Langone Medical Passings Center. As a neurorehabilitationist, he pioneered the discipline, writing articles and chapters on neurorehabilitation eight years before the ANA had a section on rehabilitation. Dr. Feigenson created the stroke unit at the Burke Rehabilitation Center and wrote the first chapters on neurologic rehabilitation in the standard textbooks for neurologic training. After joining Associated Neurologists in Bridgeport, Connecticut, he designed and directed dedicated inpatient rehabilitation units, first at Park City and then at St. Vincent’s Hospitals. Dr. Feigenson was medical director of Rehabilitation Associates since its founding, providing outpatient rehabilitation throughout the area, and was a board member of the Stroke Council and the American Society of Neurorehabilitation, which he founded. He was also a part-time clinical assistant professor of neurology at our Medical Center from 1990-2003. Throughout his career, Dr. Feigenson touched many lives as a healer and teacher. Also a talented photographer, his jazz portraits were most recently exhibited at the Fairfield Public Library, and he maintained a website of his work at ficusphoto.com. Dr. Feigenson is survived by his wife and their two sons. 1970s Harriet Stolmeier Carey ’79 on May 7, 2011, at age 59, as reported by her husband, John A. Carey. Dr. Carey attended Radcliffe College, Harvard University, receiving her AB degree in chemistry and completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at Tufts New England Medical Center. Following a fellowship in emergency medicine at the University of Massachusetts, Worcester, Dr. Carey worked on the life-flight helicopter rescue service at UMass, making more than one hundred flights. She also worked as an attending physician in the emergency rooms at Mt. Auburn, Newton-Wellesley, Boston City (now part of Boston Medical Center), and Brigham and Women’s Hospitals. Dr. Carey left the practice of medicine after the birth of her first daughter in 1986. She helped over the years in a volunteer capacity at several organizations, including Hospice of the Good Shepherd, the New England Conservatory, and St. Andrew’s Church. A pianist, she was a patron of the arts and enjoyed music and literature. Dr. Carey is survived by her husband and their two daughters. 1980s Mary Bezkor ’80 on January 31, 2011, at age 56, as reported by Steven Flanagan, MD, chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center. Dr. Bezkor completed her residency training in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Rusk in 1983. She joined our faculty immediately afterward and rose to the rank of clinical associate professor. She was an active and productive member of our faculty who made substantial contributions to our clinical and medical education programs. Although her interests in physical medicine and rehabilitation were broad, she was a recognized expert in the rehabilitation of people with multiple sclerosis and on the benefits of alternative and complementary medicine. Dr. Bezkor’s considerable clinical and academic accomplishments are very noteworthy on their own, but she will also be remembered as a selfless, devoted, and compassionate physician who cared deeply for her patients. She was also a passionate educator who regularly contributed to our residency training program throughout her career. Dr. Bezkor was recognized by our faculty and staff on several occasions for her dedication to teaching and received a departmental award for her authorship on numerous topics including pain management, multiple sclerosis, and integrative medicine. A memorial service was held for her at the Medical Center on March 24, 2011. Daniel W. Lee ’82, ’78WSC on August 26, 2011 at age 53, as reported in the Albany Times Union. Dr. Lee completed his internal medicine residency at Albany Medical Center in 1985 where he discovered his passion for endocrinology. He completed a fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism at Albany Medical Center in 1988. Dr. Lee co-authored numerous papers in the field of diabetes. From 2002 to 2010, he was the associate director of the Fellowship Program in Endocrinology at Albany Medical Center, and most recently was the associate director of the Internal Medicine Clerkship. For the past 15 years he was an associate professor of medicine in the Department of Medicine and Division of Endocrinology there. He recently was a coinvestigator in the development of an oral anti-diabetes/ anti-obesity drug candidate related to leptin. Dr. Lee found great satisfaction in his work as a physician, seeing patients, teaching medical students, residents, and fellows, and working with his endocrinology colleagues whom he considered extended family. Dr. Lee lived life to the fullest and enjoyed travelling with his family, was a great N.Y. Yankees fan, loved managing the Bezoars softball team, and cherished his friendships with his teammates. Dr. Lee is survived by his wife of 26 happy years, Josephine Lee, and their two daughters. The Alumni Newsletter of NYU School of Medicine | 2 1 Joel N. Rosenbaum ’88 on October 14, 2010, as reported by his wife, Ruth K. Rosenbaum. He is survived by his wife and their three children. Dianna L. Rynkiewicz ’89 on March 18, 2010, at age 47, as reported by her classmate and friend Julia F. Ragland ’89. Dr. Rynkiewicz graduated from Dartmouth College in 1984 and completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She followed this with a fellowship in infectious disease at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the University of Arizona Medical Center Program. While on active duty with the U.S. Air Force at DavisMonthan AFB, Tucson, Arizona, Dr. Rynkiewicz met her husband, James Lindemuth, DDS. They married in 1995 and lived in Tucson, Arizona; San Antonio, Texas; and northern California. Most recently, Dr. Rynkiewicz was employed at Kaiser-Permanente in Vallejo, California, as an infectious disease physician. Although she had many academic accomplishments, her forte, and passion, was always patient care. She was the doctor that you wanted to have because she cared deeply about each patient and left no stone unturned when it came to a mysterious case. Dr. Rynkiewicz had a zest for life that few could rival. She loved family trips, running, time spent with friends, and outdoor adventures; however, her greatest pride and joy were her daughters, Julia and Emma. In addition to her husband and daughters, Dr. Rynkiewicz is survived by her three stepchildren. Faculty Passing Mathew H. M. Lee, MD, on March 11, 2011, as reported by Dean and CEO Robert I. Grossman, MD (Hon. ’08). Former chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and medical 2 2 | FA L L 2 0 1 1 director of the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, Dr. Lee served the Rusk Institute for more than 45 years, creating a rich legacy of humanism in medicine and making important advances in the treatment and research of chronic pain, thermography, acupuncture, and music therapy. Dr. Lee was one of four children; his parents raised their family in a one-bedroom wooden house on a pineapple plantation in Hawaii, where they were employed. All four children went to college. After Dr. Lee attended Johns Hopkins University on a scholarship, he earned his medical degree from the University of Maryland, where he was selected by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis for a summer fellowship in infectious diseases. He earned his Master of Public Health degree with honors from the University of California, Berkeley. At the age of 26, Dr. Lee enlisted in the U.S. Navy, caring for sailors on eight destroyers, a submarine, and a mother ship. After discharge from the service, he joined the U.S. Public Health Service, where he rose to the rank of full commander. During this time he met Dr. Howard Rusk, the father of comprehensive rehabilitation medicine, with whom he traveled to China to open the first rehabilitation center in Peking. In 1962, Dr. Lee came to the Medical Center for his residency, becoming the first physician in the country to be trained in both prevention medicine and rehabilitation medicine. The author and editor of eight books and 115 scientific papers, Dr. Lee received numerous awards and honors, including the Distinguished Clinician Award from the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the prestigious 2006 Honor Award and Gold Key to the University of Maryland for his outstanding contributions to medicine and distinguished service to humanity, the Help Us Give (HUG) Award, Music Has Power Award, Spirit of Hope Award from the World Rehabilitation Fund, and The Howard A. Rusk Award for his outstanding contributions in the field of rehabilitation medicine. Dr. Lee presided over the treatment of tens of thousands of patients annually at NYU Langone Medical Center and our affiliates. Under his leadership, Rusk ranked number one in its field in the New York metropolitan area for 18 consecutive years and trained 23 departmental chairs in the United States, six others abroad, and more than 2,000 rehabilitation specialists worldwide. Dr. Lee served as acting chair of the department from 1989 to 1997 and then as chair until 2008. In 1997 he was awarded the Howard A. Rusk Endowed Professorship in recognition of his achievements. Dr. Lee’s memorial service was held at our Medical Center on June 16, 2011. (Image courtesy of United States Postal Service.) Severo Ochoa, MD, put his stamp on science, and so, fittingly, the United States Postal Service issued a “Forever” stamp in his honor on June 16, 2011. Dr. Ochoa (1905-1993), a biochemist, was chair of the pharmacology and biochemistry departments and served for 44 years at our institution. He was the first scientist to synthesize ribonucleic acid (RNA) and competed in the race to decipher the genetic code. He and Arthur Kornberg, MD, shared the 1959 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. The stamp, a collage, shows Dr. Ochoa in his laboratory in 1959, along with elements representing some of his work on protein synthesis. FACT: 80 percent of NYU School of Medicine’s Class of 2010 graduated with debt. FACT: You can lessen the financial burdens of medical education by supporting scholarships— so our students can focus on becoming the best doctors they can be. Today’s brilliant minds will make discoveries that save lives tomorrow—the future of medical progress is in your hands. Find out how you can support our School’s greatest resource—a diverse student body. Contact Rob Danzig, our Senior Director of Development for Education and Alumni Giving, at 212.404.3576, or visit www.med.nyu.edu/alumni. Non-Profit Org. U.S. POSTAGE PAID Permit NO. 103 New Britain, CT Office of Alumni Relations NYU School of Medicine 550 First Avenue, GBH 5K New York, NY 10016 ALUMNI ACTIVITIES & PROGRAMS 2011-2012 For information on the following events please e-mail [email protected] or call 212-404-3693 OCTOBER 2011 20/Thursday Scholarship Appreciation Event in honor of Joseph H. Press ’41, ’37WSC 6:00-8:00 p.m., Marchi’s, New York City FEBRUARY 2012 12/Sunday Florida Alumni Brunch honoring Joan C. Gluck ’72 and Paul A. Gluck ‘72 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m., Boca Raton, Florida SEPTEMBER 2012 30/Sunday Massachusetts/Rhode Island Alumni Brunch Boston, Massachusetts NOVEMBER 2011 16/Wednesday Alumni Thanksgiving Reception honoring David K. Bloomgarden ’77 and George E. Reed ’51 6:30-8:30 p.m., The Penthouse at Washington Square, New York City MARCH 2012 4/Sunday Phoenix Alumni Brunch Phoenix, Arizona OCTOBER 2012 13/Saturday Northern California Alumni Brunch San Francisco, California APRIL 2012 19/Thursday ACP Reception New Orleans, Louisiana 14/Sunday Southern California Alumni Brunch Los Angeles, California DECEMBER 2011 11/Sunday Dean’s Holiday Brunch NYU School of Medicine By invitation only JANUARY 2012 11/Wednesday Board of Governors Meeting 6:00-8:00 p.m., NYU School of Medicine 27/Friday Berson Award Dinner 7:00 p.m., 21 Club, New York City 28/Saturday Medical Alumni Day 8:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m., NYU School of Medicine Alumni Reunion Ball 7:00 p.m., The Ritz-Carlton, Battery Park, New York City TO OUR READERS NYU Physician is available as an App that you can download free from iTunes.
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