FACES

From Yale to Africa, an alumna finds her niche
A pediatrician who treated not just the children, but the whole family
Tap dancing through medicine, from surgeon to song-and-dance man

ALUMNI

Reunion 2005
Reunion reports

NOTES

Alumni notes

Reunion Reports

Click here for reunion photos.

Although time and tide and the vagaries of advancing years have diminished the numbers and vigor of this class, we had a splendid turnout, attracting more attendees than some classes junior to us.

Making the trip to New Haven were John and Betty Anlyan (basking in the glory of the greatest gift ever to the School of Medicine), Dick and Verne Breck (appropriately enjoying the reunion they orchestrated), Sandy Cockerell (with son Dr. Charles and lovely history professor daughter-in-law Karen), Dick Dyer (white-haired but otherwise unchanged since his glory days), Sid Feuerstein (looking tanned and terrific), Ray and Pat Gagliardi (still the prettiest girl who found her husband in the air raid shelter in the library), Bill and Marj Jenney (he is the dignified and impressive doctor type), Lee and Barbara Jones (no one had a more gorgeous caregiver than Barb), Mike and Geri Lau (upbeat and optimistic and just plain fun), Charlie and Laura McLean (with daughter Patti, who has inherited the best from both—Charlie introduced me to my lifelong addiction to golf). Our best surprise was Gove Hambidge, who was attending his first-ever reunion and had a great time. Gove still practices psychiatry full time in Golden Valley, Minn.

We shared the spectacular clambake dinner and sherry lunch; we toured the magnificent Anlyan Center and felt vicariously the pleasure that the donor was one of us; we took a tour of historic New Haven and heard some really informative lectures. Possibly the best was hearing from the new dean. He seems to be the right man in the right job at the right time. The city, the university and the medical school campus have made tremendous strides since last reunion. The future looks great.

Far and away the best of all, however, was the warm camaraderie of our group. It was almost as if it was June 1942, and we were young again. Our next reunion will be in 2010 and Gove has already committed to come. I hope the rest will do the same.

Ray Gagliardi



1955
50th reunion

There are by our last count 60 living members of our class. A total of 30 were able to attend the reunion for at least one day, and most for three days. Leo Cardillo, who is still in practice, was able to come for only a short time on Friday, but his presence brought our total attendance to 50 percent. Alan Stone was only able to come for Saturday, but also was a welcome face. (He still looks like he did 50 years ago.)

The committee had made a number of phone calls to members who had not responded to the initial letters. It was really nice to talk to them, but unfortunately the reasons for not coming were usually because of illness of the classmate or spouse. Some were quite ill, but as physicians, we would expect this in a group of people in their 70s. What was encouraging was the general overall health of our group. Almost everyone is retired and finding many interesting and productive pursuits to keep them busy.

The week after the reunion, I went to Atlanta for another event, and was able to have lunch with Roger Lester, who could not come to the reunion because of another commitment. He is doing some scholarly work in history and philosophy, and was giving some lectures the weekend of the reunion. He will be at the 55th.

Again, one of our classmates was honored; Shep Nuland received the Distinguished Alumni Service Award. As usual, he was gracious and articulate in his acceptance speech.

We were fortunate in having our oldest classmate, Pat Costa, attending as well as our youngest, Guy McKhann. Harry Kendall and Sandy Zuckerbraun traveled from distant California with Wanda and Ruth to attend. Sandy is still in practice and because he sees many Mexican-Americans, he has become fluent in Spanish. You see, you can teach an old horse new tricks.

Frank Johnson is retired, but still lives in the vast outreaches of Montana. Milt Corn was in from Bethesda, Md., where he is active in what seems like an important but somewhat confusing project at the NIH. I’m sure with his involvement it is important.

Jim Garlington is now working on a project to collect digital pictures from the reunion and also some from people who could not attend. He is going to put them on a CD and send it to all class members. I thought it was a great idea, and he is to be congratulated for this work. See you at the 55th.

Jack Landau



1960
45th reunion

Our 45th reunion was a source of great pride for the Class of 1960, because the keynote speaker for the entire alumni body was our own Jerry Post. Jerry, a distinguished professor of psychiatry and political science at George Washington University, has written six well-received books on subjects ranging from the psychopathology of political leaders to the origin and perpetuation of terrorism. Many of us had already been familiar with his thinking not only from his books, but also from his numerous appearances on cable TV.

On Friday afternoon Jerry spoke eloquently and unsettlingly about the rapid propagation and intensification of terrorism. His talk, subtitled “When Hatred Is Bred Into the Bone,” highlighted the bitter irony that our political leaders are confidently adopting bellicose policies that are only making the phenomenon worse. The fact that there are no panaceas and that terrorism will be with us for generations to come was deeply troubling to the audience; this struck us as the mark of a highly successful talk.

The festivities continued into the evening. During the clambake, which seems to get more delicious each time, we began to unwind and renew our old friendships. There was general agreement that the finalists for the Obscenely Young Forever category were Gerald Cimmino, Neil Cooper and Sue Kleeman. By virtue of his continued stature as basketball star, Lanny Ames was charitably awarded honorable mention. Moreover, Cooper had lost so much weight that no one recognized him. We suspected they were all plants from the Class of 1990. However, the rest of us all looked so fit and terrific that no one really envied them, except for Kleeman. The Most Eloquent Award went to Bob Wallach, whose brave and moving reminiscences brought many of us to tears.

On Saturday we were all pleased by Dean Alpern’s talk. It seemed engaged, thoughtful, serious and leaderly. We were persuaded that our school is in very good hands and will retain its outstanding rank for years to come.

But the pièce de résistance was, as always, the Saturday evening dinner at the Lawn Club. The tone was set by class agent Tom Kugelman, who reported that our class had contributed more than any other reunion class to the Annual Fund. This was due in large measure to one extremely large gift from Eric Kindwall, who spoke movingly of what Yale had meant to him.

And so did the rest of us. We all got up in turn and gave accounts of ourselves and our lives. One common thread was that in many different ways, even for those of us who felt we had not thrived within the Yale System and had not been happy here, the Yale experience had somehow defined us—or more accurately, had helped us define ourselves—and helped us become what we are today. We discovered that on our first day of school each of us had been convinced that Yale had made a mistake in admitting us, and that each of us was convinced that he or she was the only one who felt that way. And over time we discovered that each of us had been wrong. That’s quite a tribute to Art Ebbert and the late Tom Forbes—not to mention all the rest of our splendid faculty.

Jerry led us in observing a brief silence in honor of our deceased classmates: Ormond Brody, Tom Carson, Stan Chung, Dave Dunn, Mal Golden, Irv Guttenberg, Arthur Martin, Kent Morest, Mike Moynihan, Ross Snyder, John St. Andre and Brian Welch.

Present at this extraordinary occasion were Vic and Laura Altshul, Lanny Ames, Neil and Teresa Cooper, Jon and Carol Courtney, Jim and Kitty Eustermann, Gene Gaenslen, Jim Gilman, Bill Kaden, Eric Kindwall, Sue Kleeman, Tom and Alice Kugelman, Tom Lau, Bob Marcus and friend Vie Simons, Al and Barbara Newcomb, Tom and Danielle Okin, Fred and Ruth Palace, Jerry and Carolyn Post, Nancy and Bill Powell, Buzz Robinson, Al Ross and friend Jane Semmons, Dan and Lina Rubin, John and Suzanne Schrogie, Bob and Judy Wallach, May and George Wang, and Ron Yankee. Present in spirit was Malin Dollinger, who had intended to come before his wife, Lenore’s, sudden illness and who sent a warm and moving account of his recent life.

Victor A. Altshul



1965
40th reunion

The Class of ’65 had a wonderful 40th reunion in early June. We enjoyed the traditional shore dinner under the tent at Harkness, and a lovely dinner at the Quinnipiack Club on Saturday. Twenty classmates made it back and enjoyed catching up—some have been regulars at reunions, others first-timers. Attendees included Amy and Tom Aoki, John Coyle, Greg Culley, Mike and Susan Cummings, Carl and Emi Ellenberger, Chris Gates, Frank and Donna Grady, Gary Gross and Betsy Shure, Bob and Donna Gryboski, Reed and Ellie Heffner, Dave Hill, Edgar and Ellen Hull, Carl Hunt and Joyce Shoemaker, Ron Karpick, Mohandas and Joanne Kini, Larry and Linda Ossias, Bob and Mary Pickens, and John and Greta Seashore. Five of us have retired and some have switched career paths, but most are still practicing medicine actively. Just can’t keep this group down. There was considerable sentiment for having the occasional mini-reunion more frequently, especially for those of us who live relatively near each other. Perhaps we Northeasterners could gather at Carl Ellenbergers’ Mt. Gretna (Pa.) music festival next summer. If anyone is interested, let me know (john.seashore@yale.edu). Is anyone on the West Coast up for organizing something out that way? We hope to see even more people next time around.

John Seashore



1970
35th reunion

Our class reunion dinner was held in the library of the Quinnipiack Club on Saturday evening and attended by 15 members as well as their spouses and guests. Following numerous photo shoots to accommodate late-arriving members, we enjoyed an excellent dinner and had a nice time catching up on the personal and professional lives of what was truly an eclectic class. The attendees included Elissa and Dan Arons, John Blanton and Beth Balschi, Paul and Judy Braun, Romney and Mary Sue Burke, Anne Curtis, Jonathan and Rosanne Ecker, Rick and Ruth Edelson, Harvey Fernbach and Ann Birk, Tom Gouge, Paul and Patricia Hessler, Gerry Kennealey, Mark and Susan Korsten, Bob and Joan Rosa, Joellen Werne, and Karl and Diane Wustrack, as well as special guest Rose Papac. Rose, one of the outstanding educators and clinicians from the classical era of Yale medical school, announced that she will be retiring this July and plans to concentrate her efforts on writing, including a book. All of her many grateful students wish her well. I will be sending out a composite of e-mails I have received that provides specific information about many members of our class. If you do not receive this communication and wish to obtain it, please contact me (rrosa@northwestern.edu).

Bob Rosa



1975
30th reunion

Once again, it was quality, not quantity in attendance, that had us all having a good time at new New Haven restaurant L’Orcio for our Saturday dinner. Liz Gawron and Paul Johnson came all the way from California. Paul is an expert diver and scuba instructor as well as an underwater photographer. Brendan Clifford, too, came in from the California beaches, noting he has retired from his surgical career—he will be spending some time this fall with his wife in Massachusetts. Dawn Hassinger came up from Atlanta. Dawn spends her time doing medical writing these days. Vivian Reznik spent several days visiting with me. Besides doing academic pediatrics at the University of California-San Diego, she is researching a book on the beginnings of coeducation at Yale. Vivian and I were especially upset that Barbara Stoll, who has just been named chair of peds at Emory, didn’t make it up for the event—we were hoping we could cause just as much trouble as we used to. The more local contingent was Mark and Sharon Ruchman, coming down from Washington, Conn. Mark is a very active ophthalmologist in Waterbury. And Frank Watkins, who is an orthopaedic surgeon, came up from New Rochelle, and even though his lovely wife is a lawyer, we all had a good time. I have just recently given up obstetrics, only because of the malpractice insurance—and I spend the time I should be delivering babies harassing as many politicians as I possibly can.

We did receive some “regrets” with information. Hymie Milstein is still happily practicing internal medicine at Kaiser in LA—one suggestion is that we should hold a reunion out there, with so many classmates there. Kathy Shepard is taking time off from pediatrics to spend the year in Italy with her husband, the newly retired dean of the Law School at Duquesne University. And George Noble was busy at many family graduations around central Iowa, where he is busy doing peds surgery. Sid Spiesel’s peds practice in New Haven is still very busy, but he couldn’t come to the reunion because his family held a 65th birthday party for him that evening.

However, what I found most gratifying at the reunion was seeing our professors—folks like Dr. Braverman and Dr. Kushlan—having a good time, still practicing and teaching and reassuring me that we all have a lot of time left to have fun. And Vivian and I have a mission for the next reunion—to raise a bundle of money for the reunion fund—more on that in subsequent mailings!

Mary Jane Minkin



1980
25th reunion

Our 25th reunion was graced by good weather and a good crowd. Twenty-one classmates came, many with their spouses, and some with children. We enjoyed the traditional clambake Friday night, the sherry lunch Saturday and a wonderful class dinner at the Quinnipiack Club. The dinner was made special as each classmate shared memories and updated the group on the events of their life over the last 25 years—it barely seems possible as most people looked very much the same.

The California contingent included Sittiporn Bencharit and wife Reylina. They have two children. Sittiporn has been happily engaged in a private GI practice for 18 years. He says, “Keep in touch, be here at the 50th and support the medical school.” Cesar Molina, irrepressible as ever, came with wife Linda from Los Altos. He has a satisfying career as a cardiologist and still meditates. He was eager to show photos of his two daughters. Of special note, Cesar has a winery for sale and he provided samples of his award-winning wine at the class dinner. Nancy Todes Taylor is assistant chief of dermatology with the Permanente Medical Group in San Rafael, Calif., where she does mostly laser, skin cancer and cosmetic dermatology. She and husband Graham have two children. She goes to Australia (where her husband comes from) “almost all the time.”

The mid-section of the country was represented by Walter Williams, who is a professor of radiology at University of Arizona Medical School. Walter had the honor of seeing one of his two sons, Steven Williams, M.D. ’98, finish this year as chief resident in plastic surgery at Yale. Walter also reports that he has a serious hobby as an amateur radio operator. Craig Brooks passed through at the class dinner and recounted some of his adventures working as an ER physician for Aramco in Saudi Arabia for the last 12 years. Craig, his wife, Agneta, and their two children are moving to Colorado (someone has to keep those ski slopes busy!).

From Miami came Eddie Alfonso, one of our stalwart class agents, and wife Molly along with one of their children, Eduardo. Eddie is busy as a professor at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. Eddie and Molly have two other children, well into their 20s and engaged now in challenging careers. Patricia Brown, from Bethesda, Md., has experienced a number of transitions this year. “With the death of my father, I’m now a middle-aged orphan.” Another change has been taking on a new position at the FDA reviewing new medicines for dermatology, while at the same time maintaining a toehold in clinical practice.

The Big Apple contingent included Al Siu, who is professor and chair of geriatrics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Al and wife Margaret have two fairly young children. Al proved his devotion to them by wishing them goodnight by cell phone at the Friday clambake. Jonathan Jacobs dropped by for the class dinner. He is professor of general internal medicine at Cornell. He and his wife, Carolyn, have two boys. Jonathan is proud to have been able to start a $75 million aids treatment program in New York City as well as a program in Nigeria. David Goldberg is busy in nearby New Jersey with his skin laser and surgery practice. He and wife Rachel have four children, one of whom wants to be a doctor despite today’s challenges to the profession.

Never having left the comforts of New Haven are Gary and Debbie Dyett Desir. Gary, a nephrologist, is chief of medicine at the Connecticut VA Healthcare System, West Haven campus, and associate chief at Yale. Debbie is a rheumatologist in private practice. Together they have four children. Gary recalled how he met his wife while sharing an anatomy table. Jean Bolognia is professor of dermatology at Yale and her husband, Dennis Cooper, is also on the faculty, in oncology. Inside sources tell us Jean has become well-known within the specialty of dermatology for serving in a number of leadership positions and for having been the co-editor of what is becoming a popular dermatology textbook. Ann (Henderson) Hoeffer, social chair for this reunion and greatly appreciated, continues to be happy in her private pediatric practice. Ann and husband Ben Bradburn have two daughters. Larry Young and wife Lynn Tanoue (M.D. ’82) have three children. Larry is a professor of medicine in cardiology and Lynn is a pulmonologist. Larry states that it is special to be a part of the university community. Barbara Fallon and husband Bennett Bernblum live in nearby Old Lyme, Conn., and have two children. Barbara is in private practice in oncology and an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut. Rose Papac was Barbara’s mentor at Yale.

Marty Silverstein, from Newton, Mass., has a continuing career with the Boston Consulting Group. He helps biotech and biopharm companies improve their product development process. He and wife Andree, a dermatologist, have two children. Mary Hill Wise from Rochester, N.Y., came to the reunion on Friday. She practices holistic medicine and with husband Robert has four children.

The final crew consists of three classmates who graduated in 1981 but maintain ties to the Class of 1980. Phil Lee and his wife, Diane, share a psychiatry practice in New York City and together have two children. Charles Shana is a gastroenterologist in practice for the past 15 years in Newport, R.I., and Fall River, Mass. He and wife Miriam have two sons. Donald Moore, wife Christine and daughters were present at many reunion events. Donald practices internal medicine and is on the faculty at Cornell. Donald also is past president of the Association of Yale Alumni in Medicine and was honored to receive the Distinguished Alumni Service Award.

OK, you laggards out there: you missed a good time (and some really fine wine). The 30th is only five years away, so mark your calendars now. See you all there.

Patricia Brown



1985
20th reunion

Returning members of the Class of 1985 gathered for dinner at the home of pediatrician JoAnne Burger. While the reunion dinner was scheduled for Saturday, Brian Lombardo (ever the eager beaver) got a jump on his classmates by showing up on Friday night. Brian is doing general practice in southern Vermont, having recently returned with his family from an extraordinary sabbatical experience during which he worked at a hospital in Kigali, Rwanda. Saturday’s festivities reunited another dozen or so classmates, including ophthalmologist Kimball Woodward, who is practicing in Middletown, N.Y., and pediatrician Fred Santoro, whose practice is based in East Lyme, Conn. The passage of time has not altered Fred’s trademark laugh. Pediatric endocrinologist Jon Nakamoto has joined Quest Diagnostics. He and his family came in from the West Coast for a week of med school and college reunions. Jonathan Lewin has moved from Cleveland to Baltimore to assume the chairmanship of the Johns Hopkins department of diagnostic imaging, a position only recently vacated by the current director of the NIH. Gail Mattson-Gates is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon in Los Angeles, and she strenuously denies participating in any Hollywood extreme makeovers. Sam Goos is also plying the skin trade as a dermatologist, with a growing multisite practice in the Boston area. The Boston contingent included Guy Fish, who is working in venture capital, and Sue Korrick, who is on the faculty at Harvard and focusing her efforts on occupational medicine and exposure to environmental toxins. Prolific author Bob Klitzman is on the psychiatry and bioethics faculty at Columbia. He has written several books and has participated in television documentaries. Jackie Gutmann, who is a fertility specialist in Philadelphia, blew out of a bar mitzvah before the waiters brought in the flaming desserts and raced to Connecticut in time to join the gathering. JoAnne was very gratified to have her entire anatomy foursome reunited (although the group’s cadaver was otherwise engaged). The group included ent Barb Guillette, who came down from Providence, and rheumatologist Paula Rackoff, who came up from Manhattan. Completing the anatomy quartet was Jeff Lowell, who has acquired a fascinating skill set. In addition to serving on the faculty of Washington University in St. Louis as a liver and kidney transplant surgeon, Jeff has been trained by the St. Louis police as a hostage negotiator and spent time working on disaster planning for the Department of Homeland Security. Harrison Ford has expressed interest in portraying Jeff when filming begins on the movie version of his life. The evening ended with the general agreement that the entire class still looks fabulous, is a lot of fun to be around and should get together more often.

JoAnne Burger



1990
15th Reunion Report

Some people may feel that the 15th reunion wasn’t worth attending, but those of us who made it had a good time. It was my first time seeing my classmates and my first time back to New Haven since graduation, and much has changed. I couldn’t believe that Grand Central had changed to a Walgreen’s and Barnes and Noble bought out the Yale Co-op.

I also had a chance to tour the new Anlyan Center—home to the new anatomy lab and one of the largest buildings on the Yale campus. It is second only to the Payne Whitney gym in size and holds educational space as well as research labs.

Fortunately, none of our classmates have changed much! I caught up with Nancy Angoff and her husband, Ron, early on. As you all know, she is now the associate dean for student affairs for the medical school—but for us, she’s still known as “mom.” Will Andrews made it from Boston with his family. Will still spends time with his private practice, but I believe he spends more time as senior medical director of Sepracor.

Chandler Samy came up from Ocala, Fla., with his family. He is a retinal surgeon in private practice. Jonathan Foster, an ob/gyn in Waterbury, came in with his wife and parents. His father was present for his 50th reunion.

New York was well-represented at our class dinner on Saturday. Sam Colin came in with his wife. He spends much of his time managing a health care investment fund with First Manhattan Co. Ethan Halm also made it. He is the chair of medicine at Mount Sinai. Finally, Julia Schillinger also drove up from New York. She is director of surveillance, epidemiology and research at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Bureau of Sexually Transmitted Disease Control. Her business card is the size of a postcard!

Robin Hornung probably wins the award for the longest trek to be with us. She came from Seattle by herself—but brought plenty of pictures of her son and husband. She is the head of pediatric dermatology at the University of Washington. Ercem Atillasoy (he’ll always be known as Tilly to us) came from Philadelphia. Tilly is a dermatologist and the director of internal medicine, dermatology and tissue engineering at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. We also had a chance to catch up with Jennifer Mark, who came in for the dinner. She’s been busy in an ER in New England (I can’t remember just where—a good reason for me to make it to the 20th).

Finally, I came in by myself from Concord, N. C. There, I am an electrophysiologist with a group of eight other cardiologists at a moderate sized community hospital. I am married to Jane Rasmussen (Class of ’89) and have twin 9-year-old daughters!

Overall, all had fun, but the evening did have a bit of a sad note. Dan Stryer passed away from a brain tumor this spring. He really had wanted to make the reunion, which filled us all with a certain sadness. We all decided that we wanted to do something meaningful in his name. I believe Nancy and Tilly are going to come up with some ideas. We need to move on this to make it really meaningful. Stay tuned for more information about this later.

Well, that’s it. I hope to see more of you at the 20th reunion!

Tom Christopher



1995
10th reunion

I am glad to report a strong turnout for the Class of 1995. It was wonderful, considering how busy we all are with our careers and families. Chris Lykins traveled from his busy otolaryngology practice in Phoenix to share memories with his friends. Chris has found a great spot for all of us to visit in Arizona and invites us all to visit him at Burning Man next year. Chris Wahl traveled from the University of Washington in Seattle. It was really an expedition, since his five-month-old triplets accompanied him. His wife, Rebecca, deserves most of that praise. Although we are sad that Chris has left the Yale community, we are happy to see that he is practicing sports medicine at the very institution that he once passed on. Emily (Rosenberg) Roth (pediatrics) and Jake Roth (psychiatry) were able to join us at the clambake. They and their two children spent the past few years at Harvard. No degrees for the children thus far. They have all recently headed for warmer weather near Todd Alamin and Artis Montague in California. David Morales, his wife, Mary, and their two children traveled from Houston, where Dave is a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon, after nine years of training. Nick Schwartz and his wife, Loretta, traveled from Seattle for the occasion. Nick is truly remarkable for being our only alumnus to have completed two residencies. However, most of us do believe that he is best suited for psychiatry. While he did not stay at the President’s mansion we understand that his quarters in New Haven were comfortable. Jeff Algazy and his lovely wife, Abbey, came up from New Jersey for the event. Jeff has been doing consulting for a number of years and is happy spending time with his daughter. Brian Adams, Jilda Vargus and their daughter came back to Yale from Cincinnati. Brian is practicing dermatology and Jilda is practicing psychiatry. Brian and Jilda both exemplify the spirit of our class. Their assistance with fund-raising was appreciated by all of us. Tim Kinkead and his wife, Lisa, drove in from Cape Cod, where Tim is practicing orthopaedics. Tim now has a look-alike son, who fortunately has his mother’s temperament. Christine Brozowski came 3,000 miles, from Berkeley. Her knowledge of wine makes her a very useful contact when traveling to Napa. My neighbor Jon Driscoll came with his wife, Jenna, and their 4-month-old twins. Jon has a great orthopaedic practice in Connecticut. He is even operating on fellow alumni! It was great to see Margi Rosenthal in attendance. Although difficult events brought her back to New Haven, we are glad to see her practicing pediatrics at Yale. Chip Skowron and his wife, Cheryl, came in from Greenwich to catch up with old friends. Chip is happily running a successful hedge fund, and has three children. As for myself, I am living on a farm with my wife, Holly, and our two children. I also practice pediatrics on the side.

It was really wonderful seeing everyone back at Yale. It was inspiring to see how far people traveled—particularly with kids! I am looking forward to seeing more of us back in the coming years. Barbara Garcia, Alice Chang, Ben LeBlanc, Erin LeBlanc, Eric Hughes, Larry Solomon, Tim Hong, Dorothy Novick and Eric Gomes all regret not being able to make it this time. We certainly have an exceptional class. I look forward to many memorable reunions to come.

Steven Craig



2000
5th reunion

The Class of 2000 turned out in good numbers for our first reunion, with slightly under 20 percent of the class in attendance. While most attendees were from the Northeast, we had a few long-distance travelers as well. Not too bad considering many are still in training. The weekend offered fine weather for the traditional New England clambake on Harkness Lawn, and a spectacular dinner hosted by the 50th reunion class at the Graduate Club. Our class has embarked on a wide range of paths since leaving Yale five years ago.

Jen Dorosz was on an East Coast swing, having finished her first year of cardiology fellowship at the University of Michigan. She spent an extra year in Seattle as chief resident at the University of Washington. Arvind Venkat is now an emergency medicine attending at the University of Pittsburgh. He was accompanied by his wife, Veena, who is finishing a pediatric GI fellowship, and their 6-month-old daughter. Jonathan Erulkar was recently married to Dierdre Carrol (YSN ’00) and is now completing his orthopaedic training. Next year he will join the Boston crowd as he pursues a spine fellowship at New England Baptist.

The New Haven residents were well-represented. Oscar Colegio has finished a preliminary year in internal medicine at YNHH and will go on to train in dermatology at Yale next year. He is married to Stephanie Colegio-Eisenbarth, who will be going on to a residency in laboratory medicine. Dan Negoianu has completed his chief residency year at YNHH and will leave the Elm City for a nephrology fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. Michelle Mak and her husband came to the clambake with their beautiful baby; Michelle is practicing dermatology in Bridgeport. Andrew White is finishing his orthopaedic training, with plans to start a spine fellowship in July. John Mahoney braved the weekend with his wife and their infant son Jack, all before driving across the country to start a hand surgery fellowship in California.

Joanna Sheinfeld and her husband, Mark Paltrowitz, are the proud parents of Leila. Joanna just finished her geriatrics fellowship at Yale and will be returning to Mt. Sinai, where she was chief resident along with Dan Jacoby. Dan and his wife, Stephanie, live in New York, where Dan is pursuing fellowship training in cardiology at Columbia. Joanna will be practicing alongside Jon Ripp as part of Mt. Sinai’s Visiting Doctors Program, which cares for homebound elderly in New York City. Jon and his wife, Melissa, spent a year practicing in Alaska before returning to New York.

Other New York attendees included Keri Adelson and David Grodberg; Keri is juggling a fellowship in hematology and oncology at Columbia with taking care of Paley, an adorable toddler. Maya Salameh, having also finished a chief residency year at YNHH, will be moving to New York to practice vascular medicine at Columbia. Jodi and Elie Levine have three daughters; Jodi is completing training in dermatology and Elie is finishing his residency in plastic surgery.

Members of the Boston contingent were distressed that they had to come to New Haven to meet up. Amy Nuernberg, another YNHH chief resident, is completing a fellowship in occupational health at the Harvard School of Public Health, and will go on to a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care. John Abraham is finishing up his residency in orthopaedic surgery, and will go on to specialize in orthopaedic oncology. Karin Andersson is finishing up her clinical year in a GI fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH); she is married to Brett Cohen, who was also in New Haven for his 10th college reunion. Deborah Wexler is finishing up her chief residency year at MGH before continuing her fellowship in endocrinology. Her husband, David Friedman, is very happy to be back in the lab after finishing his training in nephrology. Carl Seashore is practicing primary care pediatrics and working in the pediatric hospitalist program at MassGeneral Hospital for Children. His son, Luke, enjoyed the time with his grandparents as well as all the festivities.

There were day trips, mountain bike rides, scenic tours and even lectures spread over the weekend for all to enjoy. It was truly wonderful to catch up with so many old friends, and see how we, as well as New Haven, have all changed in five short years. We hope to see more of you at the 10th.

Deborah Wexler
Carl Seashore



PA Program

In June alumni of Yale’s Physician Associate (PA) Program held their first reunion, bringing together graduates from the program’s 35 years. The reunion is expected to become an annual event, said Mary L. Warner, PA-C, M.M.Sc., program director and assistant dean. “Every year we will have a dinner and invite our graduates to participate in activities throughout the medical school.”

About 50 graduates renewed friendships and made new ones at the Graduate Club. Warner also described the state of the program: its accreditation was renewed last year, and thanks to a change in school policy, PA faculty now have the standing of clinician-educator track faculty. And, Warner said, an alumni outreach program is in the planning and development stages.