medicine People v e r m o n t the

vermont
medicine
U N I V E R S I T Y
O F
V E R M O N T
C O L L E G E
O F
M E D I C I N E
the
People
behind
Clinical Trials
S U M M E R
2007
vermont
medicine
U V M
Thank you.
C O L L E G E
O F
M E D I C I N E
S U M M E R
FROM THE DEAN
2
COLLEGE NEWS
3
A new gift funds loans for Vermont
Medical students, the College climbs
in national rankings, Commencement 2007
coverage, and more.
HALL A
PRESIDENT ’ S CORNER
CLASS NOTES
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
OBITUARIES
2 0 0 7
10
THE BEST DEFENSE
With a new multi-million dollar grant,
a UVM group studies infectious agents
that impact the health of millions.
by jennifer nachbur
16
27
28
29
31
38
THE PEOPLE BEHIND
CLINICAL TRIALS
Data drives new improvements in
medications, devices, and therapies; but
the data of clinical trials comes from the
many people — from study participants
to administrators — who make the
system work.
by edward neuert
A great university, and a great medical school, is a community of outstanding scholars and students supported
by the alumni and friends of the institution. This support has been shown concretely by the tremendous success of the Campaign for the University of Vermont — only the second campaign in UVM history — which
this year exceeded its goals for both the University and the College of Medicine. The more than $83 million
raised by the campaign at the College will greatly strengthen scholarship and faculty support, and has helped
create new 21st Century facilities in which to educate the next generation of physicians and scientists. To
everyone who helped the College surpass this important goal, we offer our deep and heartfelt thanks.
University of Vermont College of Medicine
Medical Development and Alumni Relations Office
(802) 656-4014 [email protected]
www.med.uvm.edu/giving
M A G A Z I N E
22
THE SURGEON WRITER
For years, Professor of Surgery Frank
Ittleman, M.D., has shared his thoughts on
the doctoring life, and life in general, with
his fellow surgeons.
on the cover:
Photograph of clinical trail study participant Leon Strader by Raj Chawla.
MARIO MORGADO
vermont
medicine
FROM THE DEAN
S U M M E R
2 0 0 7
EDITOR
edward neuert
As this issue of Vermont Medicine is going to press,
the College of Medicine and, indeed, the whole
UVM campus, are abuzz with the activity of
Commencement 2007. As we prepare to graduate
97 new physicians and 14 new Ph.D.’s, I’m also
mindful that, in a few short weeks, the members
of past classes will arrive back on campus to celebrate Reunion ’07.
It is an interesting physical juxtaposition: to
see the graduating class head out to the beginning of their careers and
then, so soon, to see earlier classes return to campus as a respite from
their busy lives. Many of those who return are, of course, familiar
faces. And many are returning for the first time after long, successful
careers in medicine. Those who have been away a long time marvel
at the changes that have taken place throughout the medical campus.
But it seems to us that returning alumni are most interested, not in
the buildings, but in an experience. More than anything else, they
seem to want to know the answer to this question: what is it like to
be a medical student today? They realize as well as anyone the
changes medicine has undergone since they graduated, and understand first-hand the reasons behind many of the important changes —
like our integrated curriculum — that have been instituted to address
the needs of the next generation of physicians. Having just graduated
the first class of students to fully experience the Vermont Integrated
Curriculum, we are committed to insuring that our students are fully
prepared for those challenges.
Both the members of the on-campus community and our community at large recognize the importance of the continuing innovation
that goes on at our campus from day to day. The clinical trial study
participants who appear in this issue are both patients of ours, and
active agents in the search for new treatments and therapies that will
make better outcomes for not only themselves, but for the patients of
the future. And the many researchers in our laboratories and clinics,
just a few of whom are seen in the article about our latest Center for
Biomedical Research Excellence, focus their lives on the finding of
new knowledge that will translate into better care at the bedside.
That spirit of constant improvement, committment to excellence,
and the continuing discovery of new pathways, are the things one
always feels on this campus. It forges a community and creates a feeling of new beginnings that lasts far beyond graduation.
2
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
RAJ CHAWLA
COLLEGE NEWS
ASSISTANT DEAN
FOR COMMUNICATIONS & PLANNING
carole whitaker
WRITER
jennifer nachbur
ART DIRECTOR
elise whittemore-hill
DESIGN INTERN
jessica anderson
UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT
COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
INTERIM DEAN
john p. fogarty, m.d.
EDITORIAL ADVISORS
rick blount
ASSISTANT DEAN FOR
DEVELOPMENT & ALUMNI RELATIONS
marilyn j. cipolla, ph.d.’ 97
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
OF NEUROLOGY
christopher s. francklyn,
ph.d.
PROFESSOR OF BIOCHEMISTRY
$6.8 Million Gift Funds Vermont Medical Student Loans
Rebecca Brakeley, a third-year UVM
A generous estate gift from Burlington,
medical student from Middlebury.
Vt. native Elinor Bergeron Tourville
“This loan fund will help alleviate the
Bennett will establish a perpetual nofinancial stress medical students typicalfee, no-interest loan fund for Vermont
ly face after graduation and allow us to
students at the College of Medicine.
continue focusing on providing excelThe Elinor Tourville Bennett
lent care to our patients.”
Charitable Trust will continuously proMrs. Bennett was born in Burlington
vide annual income to the College of
on May 6, 1920, the daughter of the
Medicine that will be made available
owners of a Cadillac dealership on
specifically to Vermont residents
Elinor Tourville Bennett
North Avenue. A 1938 graduate of Burenrolled as students at the College as
loans with a minimum payback period of ten years after lington High School, she worked for years as a dental
assistant in the Burlington area. In 1960, she married
the student has completed residency training.
“This loan fund — made possible by the extraordi- Wilfred Tourville, who passed away in 1969. Then in
nary generosity and foresight of Elinor Bennett — will 1976, she married Thomas Bennett, who died in 1979.
impact the education of Vermont medical students in Her family had a camp on Appletree Point, which
perpetuity,” said Interim Dean John P. Fogarty, M.D., became her main Vermont residence in later years. She
when the gift was publicly announced in May. “This retained a strong affinity for Burlington and considwill allow students to more easily manage the burden ered Vermont her home. Mrs. Bennett endured severof educational debt during their earlier years as physi- al serious health issues during the 20 years before her
cians.” According to the Association of American death on June 25, 2006. The positive experiences and
Medical Colleges, the average 2006 graduate indebted- relationships she developed with the physicians who
ness at the College of Medicine is $134,306.
cared for her during that time inspired her to bequeath
“Mrs. Bennett’s gift is truly remarkable,” said most of her estate to the College of Medicine.
james c. hebert, m.d.’ 77
ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR GRADUATE
MEDICAL EDUCATION
russell tracy, ph.d.
SENIOR ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR RESEARCH
& ACADEMIC AFFAIRS
vermont medicine is published three times a
year by the University of Vermont College of Medicine.
Articles may be reprinted with permission of the editor.
Please send address changes, alumni class notes, letters
to the editor, and other correspondence to
University of Vermont College of Medicine Alumni
Office, Given Building, 89 Beaumont Ave., Burlington,
VT 05405. telephone: (802) 656-4014
Letters specifically to the editor may be e-mailed to:
[email protected]
College Climbs to 7th for Primary
Care in 2008 U.S. News & World Report
Graduate School Guide
The University of Vermont College of
Medicine ranked seventh for primary care among the nation’s 125
medical schools according to the
U.S. News & World Report 2008
“America’s Best Graduate Schools,”
which was published in early April.
The College moved up from fourteenth last year, and has consistently ranked in the top 15% of all medical schools in primary care.
“We’re proud to be recognized as
providing top-quality medical education and training for primary care
physicians,” said Interim Dean John
P. Fogarty, M.D. “Primary care is an
integral part of the health care sys-
BOTTOM : RAJ CHAWLA
tem in our state and across the
nation, and our curriculum provides
wonderful opportunities for medical students to understand the critical role of the primary care physician as well as gain experience in a
range of clinical settings.”
Each year, U.S. News ranks professional-school programs in business, education, engineering, law,
and medicine. These rankings are
based on two types of data: peer
ranking data from medical and
osteopathic school leadership and
residency program directors about
program quality; and statistical
indicators that measure the quality
of a school’s faculty, students and
research activity.
The College of Medicine received
nearly 5500 applications for the 107
students in the Class of 2010 that
entered in fall 2006, and has 425 total
medical students in its four classes.
S U M M E R
2007
3
COLLEGE NEWS
Sanders Earns
Fulbright Scholarship
&
AWARDS
Recent graduate Justin Sanders, M.D.’07 has been
awarded a Fulbright grant to study in the United
Kingdom. A native of Utah, Sanders will be going to
University College London in England to conduct
research on cultural barriers to the utilization of palliative care services and complete a master’s degree in
medical anthropology.
Established in 1946, the Fulbright Program is the
largest United States international education exchange
program. As a Fulbrighter, Sanders joins the ranks of
more than 279,000 alumni of the program, many of
whom have become heads of state, judges, ambassadors, CEOs, journalists and professors and 36 of whom
have received Nobel Prizes. He will work to fulfill the
principal purpose of the program: to increase mutual
understanding between the people of the United States
and those of more than 155 countries currently participating in the Fulbright Program. Notable recipients
of the Fulbright include the actor John Lithgow, composer Philip Glass, opera singer Renee Fleming and
economist Joseph Stiglitz.
“By winning this grant, Justin places himself in a
Fulbright scholar Justin Sanders, M.D.’07.
very elite group,” said Abu Rizvi, associate dean of the
Honors College, associate professor of economics and
Sanders’ advisor during the Fulbright application
process. “The United Kingdom is the most challenging country in which to win a Fulbright, and this year’s
success rate is barely two percent. Justin will bring with
him a passion for inquiry and service to the United
Kingdom and bring back an understanding of palliative
care in a multicultural context that will enrich his residency experience in the U.S.”
After completing his master’s degree, Sanders plans
to serve a family medicine residency and go on to specialize in palliative care.
STUDENTS PRESENT SCHOLARLY PROJECTS
Suezie Kim, M.D.’07
presents her
research on snowboarding and ski
injuries.
4
V E R M O N T
With just weeks to go before officially earning their medical
degrees, fourth-year students at
the College of Medicine were
looking forward to the beginning
of their professional careers in
residency programs across the
nation. Many members of the
Class of 2007 finished medical
school with substantive scholarly
research as a part of their accomplishments; these students presented their work to the academic health center community on
May 3. Throughout that morning
ten senior surgery majors presented on a range of topics in
Given’s Hall A — from the relation
between peptic ulcer disease and
M E D I C I N E
coronary bypass survival to the
epidemiology of snowboarding
and skiing injuries. The Surgery
Senior Major Scientific Program is
now in its 37th consecutive year,
with the goal “to provide students
with the opportunity, through
library search, patient chart
review and/or laboratory investigation, to complete a scholarly
project, assemble and prepare
data in the form of a scientific
article acceptable for publication
in a professional journal and
present this research at a scientific seminar.”
The Vermont Integrated
Curriculum Scholarly Project was
conceived “to encourage the
development of students as
physician-scholars by gaining an
understanding of the processes
and methods involved in scientific inquiry.” Scholarly projects polish inquiry, analytical, and communication skills, and solidify the
foundation for lifelong learning
by providing a background
against which critical evaluation
of data can be carried out.
Fourth-year students performing
a research project may focus on
either the basic or clinical sciences. This year, six students presented projects in the Reardon
Classroom, followed by a poster
presentation in the Medical
Education Center Pavilion.
RAJ CHAWLA ( 3 )
RECOGNITION
UVM College of Medicine Faculty Among
2007-2008 University Scholars
Three faculty members with appointments in the
College of Medicine have been chosen as 2007-2008
University Scholars, including Charles Irvin, Ph.D.,
professor of medicine and molecular physiology and
biophysics; Martin LeWinter, M.D., professor of medicine and molecular physiology and biophysics; and
Stephanie McConaughy, Ph.D., research professor
of psychiatry and psychology. An awards
ceremony and reception was held on May 15
in Memorial Lounge in honor of the new
Scholars. The University Scholars program
recognizes distinguished UVM faculty members for sustained excellence in research and
scholarly activities. The Scholars are selected
by a faculty panel based upon nominations
submitted by UVM colleagues.
tion’s 2007 Miller-Sarkin Mentoring Award at the
Pediatric Academic Societies’ Annual Meeting in
Toronto May 6th. According to the Ambulatory
Pediatric Association, the Miller-Sarkin Award recognizes the contributions of an individual who has
provided outstanding mentorship to learners or
colleagues, both locally and nationally, and serves
as a model to others who aspire to mentor others as
they mature.
Community Rounds
Johnson Receives Academic
participants speak
Medicine Executive Leadership Fellowship
with Research
Julia Johnson, M.D., professor of obstetrics
Technician Sandra May.
and gynecology and vice chair of gynecology
at the College of Medicine/ Fletcher Allen
Health Care, has been accepted as a member of the Community Rounds Honored by AAMC
2007-08 class of Fellows in the Hedwig van Community Rounds, a special program of the
Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic College of Medicine and Fletcher Allen Health Care,
Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women. ELAM, a pro- has won a 2007 Award of Distinction from the
gram of the Institute for Women’s Health and Association of American Medical Colleges Group on
Leadership at Drexel University College of Medicine Institutional Advancement. Four times each year,
in Philadelphia, is an intensive one-year leadership Community Rounds brings a small group of commutraining program with extensive coaching, network- nity leaders to the academic medical center for two
ing, and mentoring opportunities. The program’s days where they witness such activities as openaim is to expand the national pool of qualified heart surgery, neurology clinic, medical team
women candidates for leadership in academic med- dynamics, doctor-patient communication and cuticine. Approximately 45 candidates are chosen each ting-edge medical research. Participants — called
year through a competitive selection process; appli- “interns” — wear white coats and official-looking ID
cations for the 2007-08 class were more than double badges and participate in different clinical rotations
throughout the medical campus and off-site. They
the number of available spaces.
also tour facilities and listen to presentations that
UVM/Fletcher Allen Pediatrics Chief Wins
provide them with grounding in medical and nursing
Prestigious National Mentoring Award
education and research. Since 1993, more than two
The College of Medicine and Vermont Children’s hundred people have participated. Originally held on
Hospital at Fletcher Allen Health Care have an annual or semi-annual basis, the program has
announced that Chief of Pediatrics Lewis First, grown so successful it is now held quarterly and
M.D., received the Ambulatory Pediatric Associa- includes an annual alumni dinner.
5
COLLEGE NEWS
Residency Matches for the College of Medicine Class of 2007
ANESTHESIOLOGY
Olga Goldobine
Karla Greco
Thomas Harris
Mark Hoeft
Nathan Orgain
NEUROSURGERY
Dartmouth Hitchcock Med Center
Maine Medical Center
Ohio State Univ. Med Center
Massachusetts General Hospital
Univ. of Utah Affil. Hosp (PGY1 – UVM/FAHC)
EMERGENCY MEDICINE
Jack Chan
Audrey Collins
Gabrielle Jacquet
Alexander Lo
Scot Millay
Joshua Parker
Ryan Paterson
Stephen Phan
Eric Rosenthal
Matthew Schreiber
MATCH DAY 2007
Just after noon on March 15, senior medical students at the College of
Medicine had the answer to a burning question that had been looming for weeks. At 11:55 a.m., Associate Dean for Student Affairs G. Scott
Waterman, M.D., delivered the Match envelopes to the College of
Medicine post office, where, with Interim Dean John P. Fogarty assisting, they were quickly stuffed into the mailboxes before the clock
struck noon. Then, the envelope-ripping began, followed by shouts,
cheers, and relief. The national Match Day event is facilitated annually by a computerized matching system designed to optimize the
rank ordered choices of medical students and residency program
directors at the institutions where students interviewed. Run by the National Residency
Match Program, the Match includes more than 15,000 U.S. medical school seniors.
Ninety-four College of Medicine students received match envelopes on March 15; three
students in the military received early notice of their residency assignments in January.
FAMILY MEDICINE
Benjamin Huerth
Brad MacKinnon
Anjali Mahoney
Jeff Newsom
Sara Pope
Amanjit Sekhon
Inderjeet Uppal
Giselle Sholler, M.D.
giving the opening
remarks at the
Neuroblastoma
Symposium.
6
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
Eastern Maine Medical Center
Tacoma Family Medicine
Ventura County Med Center
Maine Medical Center
Naval Hospital – Bremerton, Wash.
UC Davis Med Center
O’Connor Hospital – San Jose
GENERAL SURGERY
Talia Ben-Jacob
Kelly Huynh
Sarah McPartland
Rosiane Alfinito Roeder
Jennifer Williams
UMDNJ – RW Johnson
UC Irvine
Tufts-New England Med Center
Jackson Mem. Medical Center (Fla.)
Brown/Rhode Island Hospital
INTERNAL MEDICINE
VCC SYMPOSIUM HIGHLIGHTS NEUROBLASTOMA RESEARCH
The Vermont Cancer Center (VCC) hosted a
conference on March 16 titled “Developments in
Neuroblastoma Research Symposium” in the
College of Medicine’s Medical Education Center.
Chaired by pediatric oncologist Giselle Sholler,
M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics, the event
attracted over 100 attendees, including scientists,
physicians, students and family members of neuroblastoma patients. Symposium presenters
included investigators from UVM and the
Vermont Cancer Center, as well as physicianscientists from University of Pennsylvania/
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Brown
Medical School, Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center and the University of California at
San Francisco.
The symposium also offered insight into the
patient family perspective. During the program’s
opening remarks, Neil Hutchison, the father of a
Sparrow Hospital (Mich.)
Hennepin County Med Center (Minn.)
Denver Health Med Center
Univ. of Michigan
Baystate Med Center
Univ. of Nevada at Las Vegas
Denver Health Med Center
Univ. of Nevada at Las Vegas
Hennepin County Med Center (Minn.)
Baystate Med Center
neuroblastoma patient, expressed his appreciation
for the generosity of physicians and scientists
working to identify treatments for children with
neuroblastoma. Parent/author Syd Birrell provided closing remarks.
Approximately 650 children, most of whom are
less than 5 years of age, are diagnosed each year
with neuroblastoma. Hutchison and his wife
Margot, along with parents John and Catherine
London, have established The Penelope & Sam
Fund for Neuroblastoma Research at the VCC.
Despite the current treatment of chemotherapy,
surgery, autologous bone marrow transplant and
radiation, survival remains below 30 percent for
aggressive forms of neuroblastoma. Sholler and
several colleagues at the VCC are currently conducting basic science studies, as well as a Phase 1
clinical trial, to identify new treatments for children with the most aggressive form of the disease.
RAJ CHAWLA (4)
John Chapin
Matthew Coates
Maria Dunn
David Fishbaugher
Lisa Glass
Nadezhda Horchner
Joe Huang
Arooj Hyat
Sahir Kalim
Kevin Keet
Meghan McInerney
Chad Mitchell
Runna Moussa-Pervane
Minh Nguyen
Jordan Smith
Christina Trillis
MEDICINE
– PRELIMINARY
Ramin Raven
Eric Suess
MEDICINE
Einstein/Montefiore Med Center
UVM/Fletcher Allen
St. Vincent Hospital (Mass.)
Univ. of Iowa Hospital and Clinics
Univ. of Michigan Health System
UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside
Univ. of Washington
Boston Univ. Med Center
Mount Sinai Hospital (N.Y.)
UC San Francisco
Maine Medical Center
UVM/Fletcher Allen
New England Med Center
Cedars Sinai Med Center (Calif.)
Naval Medical Center – San Diego
Case Western Reserve
Henry Ford Hospital (Mich.)
Maine Medical Center
– PRIMARY
Benjamin Chan
Mia Hockett
Cristine Maloney
Dartmouth Hitchcock Med Center
UVM/Fletcher Allen
Yale/New Haven Hospital
NEUROLOGY
Sharon Yegiaian
Adam Polifka
OBSTETRICS
University of Maryland
& GYNECOLOGY
Elizabeth Beaton
Maria Carracino
Lara Kingston
Katie Lackritz
Ellen Solomon
Kathleen Valenton
SUNY Upstate Medical Univ.
UVM/Fletcher Allen
New England Med Ctr
LIJ/North Shore Univ. Hospital
Case Western/MetroHealth
Cedars-Sinai Med Center (Calif.)
OPHTHALMOLOGY
Kurt Kelley
University of Michigan (PGY1UVM/Fletcher Allen)
ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY
Suezie Kim
Brett Lewellyn
NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases
Orlando Regional Healthcare System
PATHOLOGY
Mika Fujiwara
Uyen Phuong Le
Maria Vergara
Stanford Univ. Med Center
UVM/Fletcher Allen
UC San Francisco
PEDIATRICS
Sandra Cetl
Catherine Cho
Anne Coates
Gregory Connolly
Leah Costello
Heather Devlin
Rebecca Dixon
Heather Fremgen
David Gordon
Stephanie Joy
Monica Kwan
Meredith Mowitz
Charmaine Patel
Payal Patel
Renée Rickard
Keith Robinson
Erin Ryan
Jennifer Soares
Aimée Velasco
Katherine Weingartner
Kelly Weirather
Leslie Young
Julia Davis Hoover
PHYSICAL MEDICINE
Raiel Barlow
Univ. of Nevada School of Medicine
Georgetown Univ. Hospital
Univ. of Massachusetts Med School
Maine Medical Center
Univ. of Utah Aff. Hospitals
UNM Children’s Hospital
Univ. of Massachusetts Med School
Univ. of Utah Aff. Hospital
UC San Francisco
Maine Medical Center
UC San Francisco
Univ. of Florida-Shands Hospital
VCU Dept of Pediatrics
Children’s Hospital at Montefiore
Connecticut Children’s Med Center
UVM/Fletcher Allen
Oregon Health & Science Univ.
UVM/Fletcher Allen
Baystate Children’s Hospital
Yale-New Haven Med Center
UVM/Fletcher Allen
UVM/Fletcher Allen
Geisinger Health System
& REHABILITATION
Boston Univ. Med Center
PSYCHIATRY
James Rustad
S.E. Specter
Lari Young
Jackson Memorial Hospital – Miami
UCLA/San Fernando Valley
UVM/Fletcher Allen
RADIOLOGY
Ryan Crete
Peter Assaad
Sonya Edwards
Jennifer Gillis
Samuel Braff
Tripler Army Medical Center
SUNY Upstate Med Univ.
Bridgeport Hospital (PGY1 –
Einstein/Montefiore)
Univ. of Virginia Health System
UVM/Fletcher Allen
University of Arizona
S U M M E R
2007
7
COLLEGE NEWS
RESEARCH MILESTONES
Commencement
2007
Interim Dean John P. Fogarty,
M.D., officiated during the
College’s commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 20, in Ira Allen
Chapel. Ninety-seven members of
the Class of 2007 received their
medical degrees, and 14 people
received their Ph.D. in areas
including Anatomy and Neurobiology, Biochemistry, Cell and
Molecular Biology, Pharmacology
and Microbiology and Molecular
Genetics. Lori Arviso Alvord,
M.D., associate dean for student
and multicultural affairs and assistant professor of surgery at Dartmouth Medical School, delivered
the commencement address.
8
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
A member of the Navajo Tribe,
Dr. Alvord is the first Navajo
woman to become a surgeon. She is
the author of The Scalpel and the
Silver Bear, an autobiography that
details her journey from a Navajo
reservation to becoming a surgeon
and her work to combine Navajo
philosophies of healing with western medicine. Her commencement
presentation, titled “Healing:
Wisdom from the Native American
World,” focused on what it means
to heal, from a Native American
perspective, and how Native
American ceremonies and culture
provide a powerful vision of how to
be a healer.
Among the graduates was
Matthew Coates, (middle, right)
who became the first graduate of
the UVM M.D.-Ph.D. program,
the physician-scientist training program that now accepts four students
per year. A native of Montpelier,
Vt., Coates is the third child of
Washington County, Vt., physician
John Coates, M.D., to attend the
UVM College of Medicine. He and
MIDDLE RIGHT: RAJ CHAWLA ; ALL ELSE : ANDY DUBACK
his sister Anne both received UVM
medical degrees this year. The ceremony also saw an M.D. degree
awarded to Mia Hockett of
Burlington, a fourth-generation
physician and the first female doctor in her family.
UVM to Examine Potential New Parkinson’s Disease
Treatment as Part of National Study
UVM will participate in a large-scale national clinical trial
to learn if the nutritional supplement creatine can slow the
progression of Parkinson’s disease (PD). While creatine is
not an approved therapy for PD or any other condition, it is
widely thought to improve exercise performance.
The trial is the first large study in a series of NIH-sponsored clinical trials called NET-PD (NIH Exploratory Trials in
Parkinson’s Disease). UVM has been affiliated with the program since 2002.
According to UVM primary investigator Robert Hamill,
M.D., professor and chair of neurology, “The team involved
in our movement disorder program is very committed to
bringing new and novel therapies to citizens of Vermont and upstate New York
who have Parkinson’s disease and being
part of this NIH consortium is an important step forward in this regard.” In addition to Hamill, the UVM-based project
team also includes James Boyd, M.D.,
assistant professor of neurology and
study co-investigator; Shannon Lenox,
clinical
research coordinator in neuroloRobert Hamill,
gy;
and
Jeanette Baker, R.N., movement
M.D.
disorder nurse in neurology.
OB/GYN Researcher Receives
March of Dimes Grant to Study Prematurity
Roughly half a million babies in the United States are born
prematurely each year and 50 percent of those premature
births have no known cause. With the percentage of premature births up nearly 30 percent since 1983, the need for
treatments to prevent prematurity is at a critical level.
Thanks to a nearly $400,000 grant from the March of
Dimes, Elizabeth Bonney, M.D., associate professor of
obstetrics and gynecology at the College of Medicine, will
have the opportunity to investigate what factors may play
a role in causing premature births.
Three known risk factors, including multifetal pregnancies, a past history of preterm delivery and uterine and/or
cervical abnormalities, are believed to have a role in premature births. In addition, chronic health conditions such
as diabetes, high blood pressure and clotting disorders, as
well as infections and smoking and substance abuse are
considered possible risk factors. Funded by this three-year
grant, Bonney’s research will focus on how infection or
inflammation can cause premature births.
Bonney is interested in examining which specific cells,
either in the immune system or in the placenta or uterus,
RIGHT: RAJ CHAWLA
are critically involved in the process leading to premature
birth. She will be looking at how two key participants in
inflammatory processes — called macrophages and T cells
— might interact to produce or suppress preterm birth.
Bonney and her team hope the results of this research will
lead to a better understanding of preterm birth, help identify possible ways to treat patients who experience premature labor, and increase understanding of how the immune
system works in general.
Understanding Intracellular Genetic Communication
Recent research published in the journal Molecular Cell by
UVM biochemistry graduate student Ethan Guth and
Christopher Francklyn, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry
and microbiology and molecular genetics, sheds light on
how the accuracy is ensured in genetic events in which cells
copy their DNA information into short-lived RNA messages,
and then translate those messages into proteins. The focus
of the UVM team’s research was transfer RNA (tRNA), a special adaptor molecule that must be matched to each amino
acid in the protein manufacturing process. The matching
reaction is performed by one of a set of some 20 enzymes,
each of which is specialized for an individual amino acid
and a limited set of specific tRNA adaptors. Following the
matching reaction, the tRNA adaptor with its amino acid in
tow “decodes” the RNA message with the help of a complex
molecular machine called the ribosome, using the chemical rules of the universal genetic code. The accuracy of protein synthesis depends on the accuracy of the matching
reaction, and on the decoding process performed by the
ribosome. The paper by Francklyn & Guth addresses the
fundamental problem of how the tRNA adaptors are selected by the matching enzymes.
Modelling Intracranial Pressure
UVM faculty members Paul
Penar, M.D., professor of surgery in the division of neurosurgery, and William Lakin,
Ph.D., professor of mathematics and statistics, along with
Scott Stevens, Ph.D., a UVM
graduate alumnus and assistant professor at the Behrend
College at Penn State Erie, Paul Penar, M.D.
were issued a U.S. patent on
February 27, 2007 for a “Whole-Body Mathematical Model
for Simulating Intracranial Pressure Dynamics.” Penar and
his colleagues began developing their method of mathematically modeling the pressure dynamics of the human
body’s intracranial system in the 1990s.
the
With a new multi-
million dollar grant,
a UVM group studies
best
infectious agents that
impact the health of
millions of people
worldwide.
by JENNIFER NACHBUR
defense
In the dimness of an early 1900s laboratory, an immunologist peering into the lens
photography by MARIO MORGADO
10
Ralph Budd, M.D.,
Professor of Medicine and
Director of the Center for
Biomedical Research
excellence in immunology
and infectious diseases.
of a microscope might be looking at a tuberculosis specimen squirming on the slide. Identified as
the leading cause of death prior to the development of antibiotics, TB, as well as other outbreaks during the industrialization era including
typhoid fever and dysentery, was closely linked
to cramped living conditions and poor sanitation
and hygiene. The Centers for Disease Control
credits public health initiatives and modern miracles such as penicillin, chlorinated water,
sewage disposal, and vaccinations, for bringing
these diseases under control.
11
Though many major infectious agents were
controlled by the 1950s, a cascade of new
challenges have emerged over the past 20
years, among them bioterrorism, antibiotic
resistance to microorganisms, and an increase
in the incidence of certain autoimmune diseases.
Research teams like a new interdisciplinary group
led by Ralph Budd, M.D., professor of medicine
and director of immunobiology, seek to address
these crises and gain a better understanding of several Centers for Disease Control-designated “priority pathogens” and their related immune responses.
In recognition of their well-established expertise in
basic immunology and medically significant infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses and parasites,
Budd and his colleagues recently received an $11.4
million National Institutes of Health Center of
Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) award
to fund the Vermont Center for Immunology and
Infectious Diseases at the University of Vermont.
Beth Kirkpatrick,
M.D., and Ralph
Budd, M.D.
4
Ten years ago the UVM immunobiology group
needed a National Institutes of Health Program
Project grant in order to really grow; but in NIH
terms, they lacked the critical mass required to qualify for these larger grants. Determined to get funding, Budd made a creatively bold move. He initiated
collaborations with the Trudeau Institute in Saranac
Lake, N.Y., a world-renowned center with expertise
in mouse models of basic immune mechanisms and
infectious diseases. The new alliance clinched the
deal; in 1999, the group applied for a program proj-
12
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
(At left) Mariana Matrajt, Ph.D., Mercedes Rincon, Ph.D., and COBRE Co-Director Gary Ward,
Ph.D. (Above) Elizabeth Bonney, M.D., Jonathan Boyson, Ph.D., and Sally Huber, Ph.D.
ect grant and received it on the first try.
In explaining his program’s collaborative
approach, Budd says “We’ve done our best to
recruit other immunologists here. They haven’t
always been in our department, but we’ve always
included them in the Immunobiology Program.
That’s why it’s a program, not a division or a department.”
Over the past five years, faculty members with
immunology expertise were recruited to the departments of medicine, surgery, and obstetrics and
gynecology. All immunobiology researchers,
regardless of department, were invited to join the
weekly lab meeting. The lab meeting, Budd says, is
a collaborative and fun exchange. “It works well,
because I’m not everyone’s boss; faculty come
because they want to.” The more the group met,
the more they realized that they could now bring
their research to the next level, so they teamed up
with clinical and basic science infectious disease
specialists and applied for a COBRE award.
“COBRE grants are hard to get,” admits Budd.
“But we thought we could be competitive, because
we had a very strong theme.” Though the group didn’t succeed on their first try, they garnered strong
support from UVM and College of Medicine administrators and their second application was successful.
Led by Budd and co-principle investigator Gary
Ward, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and molec-
ular genetics, the COBRE grant funds the research
of several junior faculty members chosen for their
competitive expertise in immunology and infectious
diseases. Each is mentored by two or more senior
faculty members. In total, the grant involves faculty
from six separate departments and four colleges at
UVM and supports technology expansion in two of
UVM’s core facilities — proteomics, which allows
for high-level protein analysis, and microarray,
which allows researchers to look at as many as
15,000 genes simultaneously and zero in on those
genes that are critical to the disease process. The
research projects concentrate on four infectious
agents and the body’s immune response to them.
The COBRE research will focus on how the two
types of immune systems that humans possess function during different infections. Though they use
different strategies, both systems are critical to
combating infection. The innate immune system is
the evolutionarily older one, and is the one that
responds quicker. It is also the type of immune system found in other life forms, including insects and
plants. It functions using a limited number of receptors that recognize a discrete repertoire of foreign
material in microorganisms. The innate system is
fast to respond, albeit rather limited in its scope.
The second category of immune response,
known as adaptive immunity, is found only in vertebrate animals. It produces millions of different
receptors that recognize myriad components of
microorganisms. Budd describes the system as
“genetically expensive and wasteful,” but adds that
it ensures that the body has a good armament
against a wide array of pathogens. It is slower to
respond than the innate system, but becomes, over
time, more fine-tuned to a specific infection.
4
Junior investigator Beth Kirkpatrick, M.D., associate professor of medicine, is conducting research on
the body’s innate immune response to Cryptosporidium parvum, a water-borne parasite notably
responsible for a 1993 outbreak in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin that infected over 400,000 people. An
infectious disease clinician who has an NIH Clinical
Scientist Development Award, Kirkpatrick is being
mentored by Budd, an expert in innate immunity,
and Elizabeth Bonney, M.D., associate professor of
obstetrics and gynecology, whose research interests
include innate immunity at the maternal-fetal interface. Cryptosporidium parvum is considered a major
global problem, yet it is poorly understood. It can
trigger massive outbreaks of water-borne disease,
and causes persistent and chronic diarrhea in children and immunocompromised individuals.
Innate immunity is also the focus of research by
Jonathan Boyson, Ph.D., assistant professor of surgery. Boyson is examining T lymphocytes known as
S U M M E R
2007
13
Natural Killer (NK) T cells. NK T cells
play an important role in a variety of
immune responses, including infectious
disease, anti-tumor responses, autoimmunity, and inflammation. In particular, he is
focusing on the molecular activity that
controls NK T cell interactions with CD1d — a molecule expressed on the surface of cells involved in the
activation of NK T cells. Boyson’s mentors on the
project include Budd, Professor of Pathology Huber,
Ph.D., who has expertise in the role of CD1 in
Coxsackie virus infection, and Bonney.
The third leading cause of parasitic death worldwide is Entamoeba histoytica. Through his COBRE
project, Christopher Huston, M.D., hopes to gain a
greater understanding of the mechanisms involved
in infections by this intestinal-based bug. Huston is
an assistant professor of medicine who currently
also holds an NIH Clinical Scientist Development
Award. Common in developing countries,
Entamoeba histoytica likes to reside in macrophages
— tissue cells involved in the engulfment of bacteria and stimulation of the immune response.
Entamoeba possesses a unique ability to kill and
ingest its host epithelial and immune cells. Huston’s
mentors are Professor of Medicine Cory Teuscher,
Ph.D., a leading expert in the genetic basis of the
Cory Teuscher, Ph.D.,
Markus Thali, Ph.D.,
and Christopher
Huston, M.D.
14
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
immune response in rodent models, and Markus
Thali, Ph.D., assistant professor of microbiology
and molecular genetics, whose research examines
the process of HIV fusion to host cells.
Another parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, is the research
project of Mariana Matrajt, Ph.D. This organism
infects approximately one-third of the United States’
population and is the leading cause of neurological
birth defects, affecting about 3000 babies each year.
An assistant professor of microbiology and molecular
genetics, Matrajt’s objective is to elucidate the genetic basis and mechanisms underlying the transition
between the two infectious stages of Toxoplasma
gondii, a dormant phase and an actively replicating
phase. She hopes to define how this parasite interferes with immune response signaling. “We are trying to understand that process so in the future we can
develop drugs against the parasite that would help
manage the patient,” says Matrajt, whose mentors
include Ward, a Toxoplasma gondii expert, and
Associate Professor of Medicine Mercedes Rincon,
Ph.D., who specializes in the specific type of immune
response signaling Matrajt is studying.
4
“This COBRE is designed to launch these junior faculty and also allow us to immediately begin recruit-
ing an additional three or four new faculty,” says
Budd. He also hopes their work will attract other
grants, including another training grant, and also
plans to apply for another Program Project grant.
“My job is to bring all these people together to
talk about their overlapping interests and to get
their creative juices flowing, get us publishing
together and collaborating together,” explains
Budd, who hosted a mini-retreat last fall and another larger retreat in April. The spring meeting featured what Budd refers to as “challenge talks”
— each group member highlighted his or her area
of research and how it overlaps with what others
group members are doing. The goal of the ensuing
discussion was to create a bridge between fields and
then propose experiments. Budd hopes to use
money from the COBRE for start-up grants to fund
these collaborative experiments, which in turn
could develop into Program Project grants.
The next step for Budd, which he describes as a
“work in progress,” is to increase discussion and collaboration between basic research scientists and clinicians. Budd straddles those roles himself. Though he
spends most of his time in the lab, he has rheumatology clinic hours each Thursday afternoon and serves
on call every three months for two weeks at a time.
His vision includes getting access to clinical specimens for research, increasing the number of clini-
cians participating in the immunobiology group lab
meetings, and exposing Ph.D. students and scientists
to clinical aspects of the diseases they are studying.
He looks forward to working more with Christopher
Grace, M.D., professor of medicine and director of
infectious diseases, and Sheldon Cooper, M.D., professor of medicine and director of rheumatology and
clinical immunology, on that effort.
Budd himself is a good case study for this type of
interaction. “I think about things more molecularly
when I’m in the clinic, because of my basic science
research work,” he says. Budd started his post-medical school career with an internal medicine residency followed by a clinical rheumatology fellowship. Frustrated by a lack of clinical explanations for
infectious and autoimmmune diseases and their
treatments, Budd switched to lab work and started
conducting research.
As the list of future COBRE-related goals gets
longer — a seminar series, post-doctoral fellowships
and improving UVM’s position in the field of
bioterrorism research — the momentum for the
Center for Immunology and Infectious Diseases
continues to build. In driving this effort, says Budd,
he’ll rely on the same approach that is central to a
COBRE grant — the spirit of collaboration among
a talented group of scientists, postdoctoral fellows,
VM
students, and technicians.
THE COBRE TRADITION :
Cross-College Research at UVM
UVM’s Immunobiology Center of Biomedical
Research Excellence joins two other COBREs
already in existence on campus that have forged
research alliances among different colleges on
campus. In 2000, the COBRE in neuroscience was
formed with an $11 million grant from the National
Institutes of Health. Under the direction of Rodney
Parsons, Ph.D., chair and professor of anatomy and
neurobiology, and Cynthia Forehand, Ph.D., professor of anatomy and neurobiology, the neuroscience
Rodney Parsons, Ph.D., chair
and professor of anatomy and
neurobiology, and Cynthia
Forehand, Ph.D., professor of
anatomy and neurobiology
THIS PAGE , LEFT: MARIO MORGADO ; RIGHT: FARREL DUNCAN
COBRE has supported the work of junior faculty in several different aspects
of neuroscience research.
Also in 2001, the National Center for
Research Resources awarded $10 million to form a COBRE at UVM focused on Professor of Medicine and
lung biology. The lung biology COBRE, Director of the Vermont
led by Professor of Medicine and Lung Center Charles Irvin,
Director of the Vermont Lung Center Ph.D.
Charles Irvin, Ph.D., has helped foster
the work of junior faculty on topics
relating to asthma, cystic fibrosis, and inflammation
of the epithelial cells that line the body’s airways.
Both these initial COBREs have, since their inception, received significant refunding.
S U M M E R
2007
15
the
People
behind Clinical
Trials
by EDWARD NEUERT
At the core of all scientific discovery is data: hard, factual information that can be reliably used to make well-reasoned conclusions — the
information that, in the realm of medicine, drives the adoption of new
drugs, novel therapies, and improved devices. Much of the data that brings
Leon Strader has traveled
nearly 300 miles to Fletcher
Allen Health Care every
Thursday for the last seven
months to participate in a
clinical trial.
about improvements in health care has its genesis on the laboratory bench;
but it’s a long way from a discovery swirling in a beaker to a treatment
making a difference in patients’ lives. For that crucial step, there’s the
clinical trial, where, every day, the contributions of thousands of people —
patients, providers, and administrators — bring forth new data on the
safety and efficacy of the latest discoveries in medical science.
photograph by RAJ CHAWLA
16
17
on a thursday in mid-april, a little
before dawn, Leon and Pat Strader begin their day
pretty much the way they’ve began every Thursday
since last December, after Leon received his lung
cancer diagnosis. They awake at 5 a.m., quickly get
washed and dressed, then start up the Camry and
begin their long morning’s drive. From their
Hannawa Falls home in New York state, about 30
miles east of the St. Lawrence Seaway, they travel
northeast along Route 11 in a broad arc over the top
of the Adirondack Park. Somewhere along the way,
as the morning light settles in, they stop for breakfast at a roadside diner, and then head back out
toward the bridge at Swanton, and down the interstate to Burlington. By the time they get to their
ultimate destination, Fletcher Allen Health Care,
where Leon will receive his chemotherapy at the
Hematology/Oncology clinic, they have clocked
more than three hours and 150 miles on the road.
As Strader checks in at the counter of the
Hem/Onc clinic at the Vermont Cancer Center at
UVM/Fletcher Allen, he takes on more than just
the role of a patient showing up for weekly chemo.
He is also one of the thousands of patients across
the country who advance the cause of medical science by helping to test new treatments as participants in a clinical trial.
For Strader, the role of clinical trial study participant began with the suggestion of his oncologist,
Professor of Medicine Steven Grunberg, M.D. “I
liked his attitude. He explained that there was a new
drug being tested which might help me, in addition
to the regular chemo,” Strader says. He did not hesitate. “I figured there was no harm in trying, and a
possibility it would give the cancer an extra kick.
And it would help them learn more. Personally, I do
feel sure it did some good.” He gestures with hands
made rough by years of work as the superintendent
of grounds at Clarkson College. Strader’s feeling is,
of course, instinctive. The study he participates in,
like most drug studies, is rigidly “double-blinded”
to prevent any unintentional bias in the administration of the drug — neither patient nor clinician
knows whether they are receiving study medication
or the standard of care.
And the three-hour car ride? “I wouldn’t have it
any other way,” says Strader. “This is where I feel
18
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
I’m getting the most up-to-date care, so this is
where I’m going to come, ride or no ride.”
4
Testing newly discovered therapies in humans is a
critical step to bringing better care to the wider
population. A carefully designed and conducted
trial is the safest and quickest way to identify treatments that really work, and to gauge the level of
their effectiveness; other observational trials allow
medical scientists to address health issues in large
groups of people in natural settings. Today, nearly
50,000 clinical trials are in progress across the country, according to the Center for Information &
Study on Clinical Research Participation. At the
College of Medicine and Fletcher Allen, the work of
scientists and health care providers who are engaged
in approximately 1200 research projects is supported in full range of ways by the College’s Office of
Clinical Trials Research (OCTR).
“We’re here to support the researchers, to help
frame the policies around clinical trials, and to work
with other entities on campus to help make sure our
trials run as smoothly as possible and in full compliance with all the appropriate rules,” says Kimberly
Luebbers, who has directed the office for the past
two years. Luebbers, who is an R.N., has many
years’ clinical experience and originally joined the
OCTR in 2003 as manager. The office itself has
existed for the past six years, but clinical research at
UVM has a decades-long history. For more than
forty years, UVM has been the site for one of the 80
General Clinical Research Centers supported by
the National Institutes of Health.
“We have many, many stakeholders,” says Robert
Shapiro, M.D., Ph.D., the OCTR medical director.
“We serve the public, to make sure studies run correctly, and that the public understands their value.
We help investigators pursue their research ideas.
We help the various sponsors of the studies. And we
help the regulatory agencies, in that we make sure
things are running in compliance with their rules.”
Perhaps the first clinical trial in medical history
took place in the mid-18th century, when James
Lind, a surgeon with the British East India
Company, tested the effect of citrus fruit consumption on the alleviation of scurvy, the dread disease
Lt. Col. Lois Diggs fights
her own private battle
against colon cancer.
She visits the medical
campus about once a
month to participate in
a clinical trial.
caused by vitamin C deficiency, that at the time
caused the deaths of thousands of sailors on long sea
voyages. Though it had been casually noticed that
sailors who ate citrus fruit had less of a chance of
getting scurvy, that knowledge was not widespread.
Lind conducted a very systematic experiment on
several groups of sailors, rigidly controlling their
diets while onboard ship, and proved the effectiveness of a citrus fruit-laden diet.
Today, medical researchers in the U.S. conduct
their research according to the strict guidelines of
the Food and Drug Administration and other government agencies. Most trials are organized by
the phase system, in which treatments are first
tested on a small group for safety and tolerability
(Phase I), then in larger Phase II groups where
clinical efficacy is determined. Phase III trials
involve the largest numbers of participants and
are designed to give a much more definitive judg-
ment on efficacy before a treatment is approved
for general use.
“This is a complicated system, and with good
reason,” says Luebbers. “The OCTR is here to help
researchers and study participants come together
within this safe framework.” For researchers, that
means helping them plan the protocol — the
document that describes the objectives, methods,
and procedures of a study. One of the services the
OCTR provides is to liaison with UVM’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). IRBs have become fixtures on campuses across the nation in the past 30
years. The IRB is a committee of local researchers
and lay people, appointed by the university’s
provost, who volunteer to review all studies in order
to ensure that the welfare and rights of human
study participants are thoroughly protected. For
researchers it works with, the OCTR facilitates IRB
approval and helps turn a plan on a piece of paper
S U M M E R
2007
19
will oversee the administration of
Strader’s therapy, as well as talking to
potential participants for this study and
others she is helping to manage.
“Often a physician who is enrolling
participants in a study will, if a patient
has shown interest in a study, ask me to
come into the examining room and
brief them on the details and review
the consent document.” The consent
document explains to the potential
participant the purpose of the study, the
methods that will be used, and all the
potential risks and side effects that
might occur.
Research nurses coordinate many
aspects of the clinical trial, in addition to
providing the clinical skills for various
procedures — EKG’s, phlebotomies,
patient assessments and gathering of
vital signs — as well as the processing of
blood samples and other lab specimens.
They also help in recruitment efforts by
coordinating advertising. “We’re kind of
a jack-of-all-trades,” says research nurse
Kathy Ferland, R.N. “As a nurse, you
have to know a little bit of everything,
depending on the study. The variety
makes it challenging.”
4
Lois Diggs’s journey to the clinic
involves just a short drive, but it is part
of a long effort to fight the colon cancer
she was diagnosed with five years ago.
Fighting cancer is something this
into an actual scientific clinical study.
William Patten could
Lieutenant Colonel does in her typically
barely
walk
several
quiet, committed way. A veteran of 30
4
years ago. Now, he is
years’ service with the U.S. Air Force,
For Leon Strader, the familiar face helping to test new
Diggs, who lives with her family in
that represents his clinical trial is prob- replacement knee
Jericho, Vt., has been a member of the
ably that of Laurie Chassereau, R.N., joints that may offer
Vermont Air National guard for the past
the clinical research nurse who greets a better solution for
three years, where she is a detachment
him and Pat every Thursday morning patients with his
commander.
after their long ride. “She’s become condition.
“I wanted to do whatever I could to
almost like a sister to me over the past
fight this cancer,” says Diggs. “So this
few months,” says Strader.
trial seemed like the right thing to do. If I can get
Chassereau has been a research nurse for more one more thing to help me, well, then I’m going to
than nine years. On a typical day in the clinic she try it.” If she was not now battling cancer, Diggs
20
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
would probably be fighting a different fight. “Oh,
I’d almost certainly be in Iraq, or have been there,”
she says. Her son Sean is serving in the army in the
Iraqi city of Ramadi.
“It’s been a pleasure and an honor getting to
know Lois,” says Jim Fingar, clinical research coordinator on the study Diggs is enrolled in. Fingar
and his fellow research coordinators play a vital role
in turning the protocol into a working study.
Coordinators help put together the consent document and much of the paperwork needed for IRB
approval. Once the study is open, they work on
patient recruiting, a task that sometimes literally put
them in the “hot seat.”
“That’s our term for the particular work station
in the clinic that the physicians can visit or call with
any research questions they have,” Fingar explains.
“Six research coordinators rotate this duty. This setup allows the doctors to quickly locate assistance to
get a patient enrolled in a trial. The person in the
hot seat can locate any required study related information or forms. Typically we need to check the
patient's eligibility, gather information to help
advise the patient about potential studies, or to
actually allow the patient to be consented for a
study.” If the person in the hot seat is not able to
provide all that is needed, the hot seat person tracks
down the colleague who manages the relevant study.
“The physicians have found this system helpful for
getting patients enrolled,” says Fingar. “After all,
with more than 80 open trials in the Hem/Onc area
alone, the physicians can’t possibly keep all the
details about eligibility in their minds. So it’s really
helpful that they can just come around the corner or
call the hot seat and see a coordinator.”
Fingar, who has been a coordinator for two years,
find the position “very busy, but also very satisfying.
Coordinating the collection of data is a big thing.
You have to get a lot of things right at a lot of different times.”
lungs that can be life-threatening for children who,
like Emma, have cystic fibrosis.
“I was told Emma was a good subject for this
study, because she hadn’t tested positive for
pseudomonas yet,” says Carol Baker, Emma’s mother. When Emma’s doctor (Assistant Professor of
Pediatrics Thomas Lahiri, M.D.) told us about the
trial I said ‘sure, we want to do whatever will help
the research.’”
Study participant William Patten is, at 68, old
enough to have several grandchildren around
Emma’s age. The need to be there for those grandkids is part of what led him into a clinical trial. After
years of intense pain, Patten had knee replacement
surgery two years ago. He volunteered to be part of
a trial that is testing a new type of replacement joint
that will hopefully give recipients more lateral
movement. A few years ago, Patten could barely
walk. Now, he’s regained his range of movement
and actively supervises getting his young grandchildren off to school each weekday in his Vergennes,
Vt. home.
Patten does not know whether he received the
new kind of replacement, or just the standard version. His study is a relatively small one — just 50
participants in all. He returns to the clinic every
two years now for a morning of testing, and a long
questionnaire administered by Kathy Ferland. “We
ask him many questions to determine his quality of
life, in addition to the physical data,” says Ferland,
who has been a research nurse in the OCTR for
more than three years that followed seven years
spent as a nurse in the General Clinical Research
Center. “My research experience is very broad, and
I really feel very connected in this position, a part
of everything that’s going on in a particular study.
That’s very satisfying. And this study points out the
broad nature of what we study. It isn’t just drugs,
it’s also devices, and new techniques.”
4
4
Two other clinical trial study participants are examples of the age range of people who take part in trials. Emma Baker, from Wallingford, Vt., is just 5
years old, and she absolutely hates having her blood
drawn, but her visits every three months help study
whether two medications in combination will help
combat pseudomonas, a bacterial infection of the
Back in the Hem/Onc clinic, as the Thursday afternoon light slants through the windows, Leon and
Pat Strader begin to gather their belongings and
walk out to the parking garage to find their Camry
and begin the long drive home. But first they say a
warm goodbye to Laurie Chassereau. “I just can’t
say enough about these people,” Leon says. “They
VM
really do take things to heart.”
S U M M E R
2007
21
In his nearly three decades at the College of
Medicine, Professor of Surgery Frank Ittleman,
M.D., has treated thousands of patients, and
written many words that describe his experiences,
personal and professional, across the years. Every
W
the
season for the past several years, his essays have
appeared as the “Let’s Close” column in UVM
Surgery, the quarterly newsletter of the Department of Surgery. Ittleman has used his column to
Surgeon
riter
Professor of Surgery Frank Ittleman, M.D.,
temporarily puts down the scalpel
and picks up his pen.
illustrations by lauren
22
simkin berke
explore a range of topics — from a deeply
personal reminiscence of his recently deceased
physician-father-in-law, to comments on the
eternal rivalries of baseball. Most often, he delves
into a small but telling facet of the doctor’s life, as
in the two recent essays featured here.
D
eep
inside, I
always knew that I
would be a doctor.
Knowing connotes a
certain degree of predetermination while
wanting or needing
speaks to a void that demands to be filled.
As a young boy growing up on Long
Island, I doubt that I wanted for much of
anything.
In our youth, my friends and I were
guided into manhood in ever so subtle
ways. Jokingly, the choices were simple. Be
a doctor, a lawyer or an Indian chief.
Medicine, for me, seemed to be a settled
issue, while the law was the domain of
several of my friends whose fathers had
already made inroads into their psyches.
As for Indian chiefs, the job market for
this profession did not seem to be particularly promising on the north shore of Long
Island, circa 1960.
My father was an old-fashioned general
practitioner. Old fashioned by today’s standards, but probably very much up-to-date
50 years ago. When he left our home to
make house calls, which he did every day,
he would be carrying a large, worn leather
bag in his left hand which made him list
ever so slightly to the port side. It had
pockets and compartments galore that held
the secrets of his trade. There was the
standard issue sphygmomanometer and
23
ophthalmoscope, an otoscope to extract the errant
fly from a child’s ear, bandages and tape and, my
favorite, fine glass syringes wrapped in soft cotton
cloth. There were pills, elixirs and salves inside for
anything that might ail you. He dressed as men did
in those days, a starched shirt and tie, a sport coat or
suit, an overcoat depending upon the weather and a
fedora covering his balding pate. In the driveway
was an Oldsmobile 88 equipped with the latest rage,
whitewall tires. At the end of each month he would
sit at the kitchen table tallying the finances. His bills
were handwritten, addressed and stamped by my
mother, and rarely did one exceed $25.00.
He wasn’t an imposing figure. Above average in
height, thick in the chest and waist with slender
My mother was told once that talking to her
motor vehicle accident and was in need of companionship. A flat tire the day of the trip, my negligence
in getting the spare replaced and my blatant lie to
my father that all was well with the car led to my
downfall. As any psychic worthy of a crystal ball
would have predicted, at midnight, in the deepest
recesses of the west side, I suffered a flat tire and
was stranded with my sick friend. A phone call to
my father was met with anger and disappointment
and a plea to stay put, he would be there as soon as
possible. Hours later, the tire was fixed, my father
was asleep, not having stayed up that late in many
years and I was standing in the glare of the kitchen
light facing the rancor of my diminutive mother. I
asked in my most contrite tone, “How bad was it?”,
and she replied, “pretty bad.” It
wasn’t the flat tire, but the fact that I
might have endangered my friend
and the lie, the easy deception, that
hurt my father the most. To ease my
obvious pain, she did let me in on a
little secret. Being the great mediator
that she was, she looked up with her
big, dark Irish eyes, pulled me a bit closer to her
face and in her best conspiratorial tone, whispered
that “before he went to bed, your father said it was
the best time that he has had in years.”
My father loved to read. As I was growing up, it
was rare that there wasn’t a book from the local
lending library sitting on the coffee table waiting to
be picked up between appointments. You see, my
father’s office was in our home and it was very easy
for him to intertwine his two lives. His taste did not
run to the great books, those had probably been
read and discarded well before I came along, but
rather to the latest detective novel whose literary
merit would barely measure on the Richter scale.
Being your fairly typical full of oneself college
freshman home for the holiday, I was not about to
let my father’s poor taste in literature go unnoticed.
As I volleyed my disappointment at him, he accepted my gentle barbs with grace, never arguing that
his Dashiell Hammett wannabes could measure up
to the likes of Faulkner or Hemingway.
Several weeks later, a letter arrived from my
father which consisted of two pages of yellow legalsize paper covered with words that he had gleaned
from his paperback novels. The greeting, in his
beautiful penmanship, was unmistakable in its
thrust. It read, “Dear Frank, see how many of these
you know. Love, Dad.” It was one of the shortest,
yet most poignant letters that I ever received from
my father. Needless to say, I knew very few of those
words. I have long forgotten the list, but not the lesson that he wanted me to learn.
Somewhere in these remembrances, I went from
knowing to wanting. My father loved his work very
much and I thought that I would love mine, as well.
My mother was told once that talking to her husband was like talking to a priest, only better. I would
be foolish to compare the ecstasy of an ecclesiastical
dialogue with that of talking to a general practitioner, but now, after years of practice, I know how
comforting and reassuring just such a conversation
can be.
There they are again, those words, some arcane,
some simple, all with meaning and nuance, the
endless list waiting patiently to be plucked out of
the air.
“Let’s Close” column,
UVM Surgery Newsletter, Fall 2006
husband was like talking to a priest, only better.
legs. He always carried more weight than he wanted, but the postwar years were not ones spent on
physical fitness. Lean body mass and low carb diets
had yet to be invented and cigarettes were ubiquitous even among those who should have known better. To me, he seemed bigger than he was. My measurement was somewhat subjective, my small arms
trying to encircle his bare chest for a hug before bed
always seemed to be a very comforting challenge.
My father’s stature was in his character. He was a
gregarious man who made and kept friends easily.
He was smart and inquisitive, an enviable combination that led to eclectic hobbies that never ceased to
surprise me. One month it was the accordion,
another origami, only to be followed by building
antique model cars and sailboats in bottles.
He had fine hands and I only learned years later
that he had planned on being a surgeon until his
mother’s illness brought him home. A sacrifice
willingly made, but one that I am sure brought a
tinge of regret to his life. He did not suffer fools,
but he did put up with my youthful foolishness.
It was late spring and I was home from school to
visit a childhood friend who lived on the upper west
side of New York City. He had just been discharged
from the hospital after suffering facial injuries in a
24
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
O
ver the years, I
have gotten to know the
hospital painters quite
well. Not necessarily by
name, mind you, but
certainly by our mutual
acknowledgements during my daily walks through the hospital.
They can be found almost anywhere and at
any time, clad in their paint splattered
white coveralls, spackling, sanding and
touching up the dents and dings of errant
stretchers and wheelchairs. These vehicles,
crowding the hallways, are maneuvered like
bumper cars at a county fair. The painters
are friendly, always willing to stop their
work and chat, with paint brush suspended
in air, as if the next stroke would finish
their masterpiece. They paint endlessly
without a drop cloth, much like a high-wire
acrobat without a net.
We talk about the chosen color because
it is forever changing and how this one, as
opposed to all the others that came before,
S U M M E R
2007
25
really “brightens up” the venue. If I prod a bit, I
might get a tip on how to repair the two-inch hole
in the sheetrock of our family room that bore the
brunt of my fifteen-year-old son’s pursuit of Henry
Aaron’s home run record.
Ultimately, we conclude with words about layers.
The coats and coats of paint that hide the defects
and imperfections of age and seal in the memories
that have accumulated over decades. It has been said
that the age and quality of a great tree’s life, the
insults that it has had to bear over time, can be
determined by the concentric rings of its trunk; I
dare say that the life of an old hospital room, hallway or surgical suite can be defined, metaphorically
speaking, by the number of coats of paint that cover
its walls.
that stairwell late at night from floor to floor putting my patients to bed. I was the chief resident on
the cardiothoracic service and a few stairs ahead of
me was the medical student on call. I had already
weathered over three years of residency and I was
well versed in the hierarchal chasm that existed
between a senior resident and a junior student. As
he neared the landing, the student turned and said,
“I am going to turn in now, but wake me if anything
really interesting comes in.” Needless to say, I was
taken aback by this sudden reversal in the order of
things. Too stunned to enunciate the appropriate
rejoinder, my feeble reply of acquiescence was lost
in the stairwell. As mad as I was then at this innocently disrespectful request, I am now just as proud
of this student’s accomplishments as a Professor of
Cardiothoracic surgery.
The old operating
rooms on Smith 2 are gone
now, having been reconfigured long ago into office
space. The open heart
room was number seven, if
my memory serves me, and
the walls were a combination of light green tile and pale green paint. One
night, Jim Demeules and I were doing an emergency bypass procedure. I was the faithful Sancho
Panza to his Don Quixote. While Jim was wielding
his scalpel at imaginary windmills, the doors of the
OR suddenly opened and in ran a young woman
wearing nothing but a trench coat (open, of course)
that would have done Humphrey Bogart proud. She
was running, frantically trying to elude her pursuers
who were not far behind. She circled the pump and
the operating room table and our heads swiveled
like owls pursuing a noiseless sound. She exited
from whence she came with Dick Pease, an anesthesiologist, in hot pursuit.
The silence that followed was eerie, as if this surreal moment had never occurred. Jim, with great
aplomb, leaned over and whispered, “If I told her
once I told her a hundred times not to visit me in
the hospital.” The glint in Jim’s eyes was unforgettable. The surgical ICU was adjacent to these operating rooms and the doors that marked the only
entrance received a fresh coat of red paint every
HALL A
P R E S I D E N T
C L A S S
’
S
28
29
31
38
C O R N E R
N O T E S
D E V E L O P M E N T
N E W S
O B I T U A R I E S
In 1905, when the College of Medicine completed its third home at the corner of Prospect and Pearl streets
in Burlington, the main lecture room where students spent so much of their time was named Hall A.
The Hall A magazine section seeks to be a meeting place for all former students of the College of Medicine.
. . . the life of an old hospital room . . . can be defined,
metaphorically speaking, by the number of coats of paint
that cover its walls.
The Baird stairwell is now painted beige. Not a
particularly inviting color, but nowhere is it written
that stairwells need to be hospitable. I was descending that stairwell twenty-five years ago when I was
greeted with music wafting up from the landing
below. The singer was a patient of mine who still
goes by one name (I am not certain if it is his first or
last) and with guitar in hand, he was attempting his
best Dylan imitation with a rendition of “Hey Mr.
Tambourine Man.” His shirt was off, exposing his
fresh incision, his hair was in a ponytail and his IV
pole was precariously balanced on a step. His audience was a bevy of student nurses who obviously
were enjoying the impromptu concert. I retreated
from where I came with a smile and a nod, a
moment of pleasure after a long day. I believe the
walls were light green then.
The Smith stairwell is a bit darker now and far
less traveled than before. The walls are an off-white
or beige, but the chips indicate that coats of paint lie
beneath. The railings are solid oak, smooth and
secure to the touch. A hidden, but appreciated find
amidst the plastic and steel of institutional construction. It was 30 years ago when I was walking up
26
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
continued on page 37
S U M M E R
2007
27
PRESIDENT ’S CORNER
M.D. CLASS NOTES
H A L L A
H A L L A
UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT
COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
DEVELOPMENT &
ALUMNI RELATIONS OFFICE
ASSISTANT DEAN
On a recent visit to our medical school I couldn’t help but
notice many obvious changes that have taken place; but I was
reassured to see that the school’s basic qualities remain the
same as they were 50 years ago when I was a medical student.
One change is that more than well over half of the current
students are women, compared to the two women out of the
50 members of my class. In addition, today’s medical curriculum has been totally and successfully revamped. No
longer are there familiar, distinct courses such as anatomy,
biochemistry, and pathology. Instead, today’s medical student
learns all those factors relating to the body’s normal and pathological functions
as well as their treatments in a series of comprehensive, integrated units.
Physical facilities for teaching, studying, and even for relaxing have been vastly
improved and expanded. You have to see them to appreciate them!
But of course, in spite of these improvements, studying medicine remains a
real challenge for today’s students, much as it was when we were learning our
profession’s fundamentals. I can’t tell you how impressed I was to meet two current medical students, Jesse Hahn ’08 and Justin Stinnett-Donnelly ’10, who
took part in the most recent meeting of the Alumni Executive committee of the
Medical Alumni Association. If they are at all representative of their classmates,
the character, intelligence, dedication, and good humor of Jesse and Justin is
living proof that the College of Medicine has superb people with whom to
work. These students’ sincere enthusiasm for their education at UVM was palpable. It was clear to me that the medical school’s faculty and staff, as always,
are doing something right.
By the time you read this, some of you will have returned this month to
Burlington for your reunion. Those of you who have done so will probably have
rediscovered for yourselves these and other aspects of the school to which we
owe so much. One thing of which I am especially proud is the fact that a full 41
percent of our alumni contributed financially to the school in the past year. This
is a very high level of participation compared to all other medical schools, and it
is a tremendously important factor when major corporate, foundation, and governmental entities decide which medical schools to lend their support to.
I thank all of you who have contributed to the College of Medicine, and I
want to encourage every alumnus to give some financial support, no matter the
amount, to improve our already stellar record of participation. It is an act of
“paying back” that will go far, and I’m certain you will derive genuine satisfaction from it.
Have a wonderful summer!
Marv Nierenberg, M.D.’60
28
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
rick blount
DEVELOPMENT OPERATIONS MANAGER
ginger lubkowitz
DIRECTOR , MAJOR GIFTS
manon o ’ connor
DIRECTOR , MEDICAL ANNUAL GIVING
sarah keblin
DIRECTOR , MEDICAL ALUMNI RELATIONS
cristin gildea
If you have news to share, please contact your class agent
or the alumni office at [email protected] or
(802) 656-4014. If your email address has changed, please
send it to: [email protected].
1941
1946
John S. Poczabut
62 Doral Farm Road
Stamford, CT 06902
(203) 322-3343
J. Bishop McGill
152 Sanborn Road
Stowe, VT 05672
(802) 253-4081
[email protected]
DEVELOPMENT OFFICER
travis morrison
ASSISTANTS
jane aspinall
james gilbert
UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT
MEDICAL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
ALUMNI EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
2006–2007
OFFICERS
TERMS )
PRESIDENT
( TWO -YEAR
marvin a. nierenberg, m.d.’60
(2006-2008)
PRESIDENT- ELECT
ruth a. seeler, m.d.’62
(2006-2008)
TREASURER
paul b. stanilonis, m.d.’65
(2006-2008)
SECRETARY
james c. hebert, m.d.’77
(2006-2008)
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
john tampas, m.d.’54
(ongoing)
MEMBERS - AT- LARGE :
(6-YEAR TERMS )
leslie s. kerzner, m.d.’95
(2002-2008)
frederick mandell, m.d.’64
(2002-2008)
don p. chan, m.d.’76
(2002-2008)
mark allegretta, ph.d.’90
(2003-2010)
mark pasanen, m.d.’92
(2004-2010)
h. james wallace, iii, m.d.’88
(2004-2010)
naomi r. leeds, m.d., ’00 m.p.h.
(2004-2010)
betsy sussman, m.d. ’81
(2007-2012)
carleton r. haines, m.d. ’43
(2006-2012)
jacqueline a. noonan, m.d. ’54
(2006-2012)
1943
Francis Arnold Caccavo
(M.D. Dec. 1943)
51 Thibault Parkway
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 862-3841
Carleton R. Haines
(M.D. Dec. 1943)
88 Mountain View Road
Williston, VT 05495
(802) 878-3115
Harry M. Rowe
(M.D. March 1943)
65 Main Street
P.O. Box 755
Wells River, VT 05081
(802) 757-2325
[email protected]
1944
Wilton W. Covey
357 Weybridge Street
Middlebury, VT 05753
(802) 388-1555
1945
Robert E. O’Brien
414 Thayer Beach Road
Colchester, VT 05446
(802) 862-0394
[email protected]
H. Gordon Page
9 East Terrace
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 864-7086
R E U N I O N
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Celebration of new McKay
Endowment, Health Science
Research Facility – Gallery
Edward W. Jenkins
7460 South Pittsburg Ave.
Tulsa, OK 74136
(918) 492-7960
’ 0 7
George H. Bray
110 Brookside Road
New Britain, CT 06052
(860) 225-3302
Porter H. Dale
5 McKinley Street
Montpelier, VT 05602
(802) 229-9258
1948
S. James Baum
1790 Fairfield Beach Road
Fairfield, CT 06430
(203) 255-1013
[email protected]
1949
James Arthur Bulen
4198 North Longvalley Rd.
Hernando, FL 34442
(352) 746-4513
[email protected]
Joseph C. Foley
32 Fairmount Street
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 862-0040
[email protected]
Edward S. Sherwood
24 Worthley Road
Topsham, VT 05076
(802) 439-5816
[email protected]
UPCOMING EVENTS
Simon Dorfman
8256 Nice Way
Sarasota, FL 34238
(941) 926-8126
1951
1947
Richard E. Pease
P.O. Box 14
Jericho, VT 05465
(802) 899-2543
1950
R E U N I O N
’ 0 7
1952
Brewster Davis Martin
Box 128
362 VT Route 110
Chelsea, VT 05038
(802) 685-4541
1953
Richard N. Fabricius
17 Fairview Road
Old Bennington, VT 05201
(802) 442-4224
[email protected]
1954
John E. Mazuzan, Jr.
366 South Cove Road
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 864-5039
[email protected]
1955
Marshall G. London
102 Summit Street
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 864-4927
[email protected]
1956
June 28, 2007
Inaugural Shackford/Labow
Department of Surgery
Lecture/Reception
Davis Auditorium
October 5 – 7, 2007
Campaign Celebration
UVM Homecoming & Family
Weekend, UVM Campus
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Medical Alumni Executive
Committee (Fall Meeting),
UVM Campus
October 8, 2007
American College of Surgeons
Reception, New Orleans, LA
October 27, 2007
American Academy of Pediatrics
UVM Reception: Saturday,
San Francisco, CA
June 6 – 8, 2008
Medical Reunion 2008
UVM Campus
For updates on events see:
www.med.uvm.edu/medalum
(352) 378-1820
[email protected]
R E U N I O N
’ 0 7
1957
Larry Coletti
34 Gulliver Circle
Norwich, CT 06360
(860) 887-1450
[email protected]
Ira H. Gessner
1306 Northwest 31st Street
Gainesville, FL 32605
S U M M E R
2007
29
M.D. CLASS NOTES
H A L L A
1958
Peter Ames Goodhue
Stamford Gynecology, P.C.
70 Mill River Street
Stamford, CT 06902
(203) 359-3340
1959
Jay E. Selcow
27 Reservoir Road
Bloomfield, CT 06002
(860) 243-1359
[email protected]
1960
Marvin A. Nierenberg
15 West 81st Street
New York, NY 10024
(212) 874-6484
[email protected]
Melvyn H. Wolk
Clinton Street
P.O. Box 772
Waverly, PA 18471
(570) 563-2215
[email protected]
1961
Wilfrid L. Fortin
17 Chapman Street
Nashua, NH 03060
(603) 882-6202
[email protected]
R E U N I O N
’ 0 7
1962
Ruth Andrea Seeler
2431 North Orchard
Chicago, IL 60614
(773) 472-3432
[email protected]
1963
John J. Murray
P.O. Box 607
Colchester, VT 05446
(802) 865-9390
[email protected]
30
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
H. Alan Walker
229 Champlain Drive
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
(518) 561-8991
[email protected]
1964
Anthony P. Belmont
211 Youngs Point Road
Wiscasset, ME 04578
(207) 882-6228
[email protected]
1965
George A. Little
97 Quechee Road
Hartland, VT 05048
(802) 436-2138
george.a.little@
dartmouth.edu
Joseph H. Vargas III
574 US Route 4 East
Rutland Town, VT 05701
(802) 775-4671
[email protected]
Wooly Doane is now semiretired with the ability to
telecommunicate from
Florida during the winter
months so his wife Pat can
be warm. During the rest
of the year they enjoy
being near their children
and grandchildren in
Maine. Dorothy Indick
Eisengart writes: “I am
still practicing pediatrics
in Waterville, Maine and
my husband, Marvin, is
practicing neurology. Our
son, Charles, is a colorectal surgeon practicing in
Trenton, N.J. Our daughter, probably the truly sane
member of the family, is a
film editor in Los
Angeles.”
1966
Robert George Sellig
31 Overlook Drive
Queensbury, NY 12804
(518) 793-7914
[email protected]
G. Millard Simmons
3165 Grass Marsh Drive
Mount Pleasant, SC 29466
[email protected]
R E U N I O N
’ 0 7
1967
John F. Dick II
P.O. Box 60
Salisbury, VT 05769
(802) 352-6625
Donald P. Goldsmith won
the Joseph Lee Hollander,
M.D. Award, given for
excellence and achievement in the field of
rheumatology. He writes
that “Paul Dumdry and I
recently visited with our
classmate Mike Armstrong
in Anchorage, Alaska. We
were there as part of a trip
to see the Iditarod. It was
a bit of a pre-reunion; all
of us are planning to
attend ‘the 40th’.” Myer
Rosenthal writes: “Well,
this year was time to
become and Emeritus
Professor at Stanford,
although I will continue to
work part-time for a few
years. I still love teaching
students, family is great
and I am looking forward
to our 40th reunion!”
1968
David Jay Keller
4 Deer Run
Mendon, VT 05701
(802) 773-2620
[email protected]
Timothy John Terrien
14 Deerfield Road
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 862-8395
1969
Susan Pitman Lowenthal
200 Kennedy Drive
Torrington, CT 06790
(860) 597-8996
susan_w_pitmanlowen
[email protected]
James M. Betts
715 Harbor Road
Alameda, CA 94502
(510) 523-1920
[email protected]
Philip L. Cohen
483 Lakewood Drive
Winter Park, FL 32789
(407) 628-0221
[email protected]
1974
1970
Raymond Joseph Anton
1521 General Knox Road
Russell, MA 01071
(413) 568-8659
[email protected]
John F. Beamis, Jr.
24 Lorena Road
Winchester, MA 01890
(781) 729-7568
[email protected]
1971
Wayne E. Pasanen
117 Osgood Street
North Andover, MA 01845
(978) 681-9393
wpasanen@lowell
general.org
R E U N I O N
1973
’ 0 7
1972
F. Farrell Collins, Jr.
205 Page Road
Pinehurst, NC 28374
(910) 295-2429
John Bassett received a
renal transplant from his
sister, Elizabeth, on April
18 at the University of
Wisconsin. He hopes to
miss singing only one concert of the Minnesota
Chorale (since 1977) —
aptly to the music of
Blake’s, ‘Songs of
Innocence and Experience.’
Douglas M. Eddy
5 Tanbark Road
Windham, NH 03087
(603) 434-2164
[email protected]
Cajsa Schumacher
78 Euclid Avenue
Albany, NY 12203
[email protected]
1975
Ellen Andrews
195 Midland Road
Pinehurst, NC 28374
(910) 295-6464
[email protected]
Alan Kanter was granted
“Fellow membership status” in the American
College of Phlebology in
recognition of his clinical
and academic contributions to the field. He was
also named an Honorary
Fellow by the Australian
college of Phlebology as
well.
1976
Don P. Chan
Cardiac Associates of
New Hampshire
Suite 103
246 Pleasant Street
Concord, NH 03301
(603) 224-6070
[email protected]
CLASS AGENTS : UVM MEDICAL PHOTOGRAPHY
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
DAVIS LECTURESHIP
FUNDED
Another lectureship in the
Department of Surgery
has been fully funded,
thanks in large part to the
generosity of several
alumni of the College of
Medicine. The John H.
Davis Lectureship in Surgery honors a former chair
of the department. Dr.
Davis was chair of surgery
John H. Davis, M.D.
for nearly 20 years before
his retirement in 1990. The lectureship has been
permanently endowed through the leadership
of James Hebert, M.D.’77, Richard Gamelli,
M.D.’74, and Richard Hubble, M.D.’80. Their
donations have been matched by funds from the
Department of Surgery. The department thanks
the many other donors and continues to seek
additional support. The Davis lecture will be presented starting this September.
CALDWELL FAMILY CREATES
ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP
A noted alumnus from the Class of 1960 and his
family have recently created a future endowed
scholarship at the College. The Richard G.
Caldwell, M.D. Family Endowed Scholarship is a
planned bequest that will establish a needbased scholarship in perpetuity at the medical
school. Dr. Caldwell’s distinguished career
spans more than four decades of service in
medicine. He has served as a clinical instructor
of surgery at the University of Illinois Research
and Education Hospital, and clinical assistant
professor of surgery and associate professor of
surgery at the University of Chicago. Currently
he is director of student surgical education at
Lutheran General Hospital in Chicago. Dr.
Caldwell has deep roots in the Vermont medical
community. He comes from a family of Vermont
physicians, two of who were alumni of the
College of Medicine. His father, George
Caldwell, and uncle Spencer B. Caldwell graduated from the College of Medicine in 1924 and
1921 respectively. Dr. Caldwell and his wife,
Carol, live in Northbrook, Illinois.
MCKAY TO BE HONORED WITH
PEDIATRIC ENDOWMENT
One of the foremost names in pediatrics in
Vermont will be honored with an endowment
named in his behalf by colleagues and friends. A
June 19 reception at the
College of Medicine will
showcase progress on the R.
James McKay Jr., M.D., Green
& Gold Professor. The first
McKay professor will be
announced at the reception.
Dr. McKay came to the University of Vermont in 1950 as
the first full-time pediatric
faculty
member,
and
became the first chair of the
Department of Pediatrics in James McKay, M.D.
1951. In the course of his 33
years as chair, Dr. McKay recruited the core of
the department faculty, and taught, mentored,
and inspired scores of medical students and
pediatric residents, who learned to memorize
his acronym GRUSK, which stood for
“Gentleness, Respect, Understanding, Sympathy, and Kindness.” Still an active member of
the College community, Dr. McKay will celebrate his 90th birthday this October.
Allison Collen and Scott Millay, Class of 2007 agents
NEWEST CLASS AGENTS
At the Class of 2007 Dinner this March the two
newest class agents for medical alumni were
named. Allison Collen and Scott Millay will
help keep their fellow class members connected during the next phase of their careers —
residency, and beyond.
M.D. CLASS NOTES
CONTINUING MEDICAL EDUCATION
H A L L A
Matt Zetumer writes: “I
am still in full time private
practice of adult and adolescent psychiatry in San
Diego. I have a wonderful
wife and watching three
children grown and mature
— Siobhan is a fashion
editor at Allure, Josh is a
screenwriter, and Sam is
Princeton class of ’09. I am
still mountain climbing
with Steve Lampert
M.D.’76.” Lee H. Rome
writes: “After my two-year
tour of duty as Mental
Health Authority and
Director of Psychiatry at
the Wayne County jail in
Detroit, I’m now living the
life of a clinical and program consultant. Currently
I’m consulting at the W.J.
Maxey Boys’ Training
School (Michigan’s main
delinquency treatment
program), Wayne County
Jail and the Michigan
Department of Corrections. If any of my
classmates are so inclined,
I can be reached at my
email address (Lhrome@
comcast.net).” Michael P.
Crandell writes: “I am no
longer in practice. I am
now the medical director
of Sanford Health Plan,
the insurance division of
the State’s largest health
system. The hours are better but the work is just as
hard in its own way.”
R E U N I O N
1977
Mark A. Popovsky
22 Nauset Road
Sharon, MA 02067
(781) 784-8824
mpopovsky@
haemonetics.com
32
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
’ 0 7
Frederic E. Shaw writes:
“After three years at the
Texas Department of
Health, I came back to
CDC in 2001. I worked in
global hepatitis B control
for three years and then
moved to CDC’-s Public
Health Law Program,
where I did research on
the legal aspects of quarantine, immunization, and
injuries. In January 2007, I
became Editor of CDC’s
publication, MMWR: The
Morbidity and Mortality
Weekly Report. Classmates
can find it at www.cdc.gov/
mmwr/. I see Rick Wild,
Class of ’77, regularly.
Rick and his wife live just
a few miles up the road.
Best regards to classmates
and old friends — please
visit if you are in Atlanta.”
(304) 691-1094
[email protected]
1982
Richard Powell writes: “I
hope that classmates are
doing well. I’m keeping
busy in Brandon, Florida,
in a five-doctor pulmonary/critical-care/sleep
medicine practice. Thankfully I have six wonderful
grandchildren.” Jim Jarvis
writes: “I am still here as
director of pediatric
rheumatology at the
University of Oklahoma.
My lab has been a leader
in applying systems biology approaches to rheumatic disease in children. I
work with and for wonderful people but still miss
New England and
Vermont especially.”
1978
Richard Nicholas Hubbell
80 Summit Street
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 862-5551
rich.hubbell@
vtmednet.org
David Wlody is completing
a busy year in which he
served as president of the
Society for Obstetric
Anesthesia and Perinatology, the major specialty
organization devoted to the
anesthetic care of the pregnant woman. “Since 2002 I
have been vice chair for
clinical affairs in the SUNYDownstate Medical Center
Department of Anesthesiology, where I have recently been promoted to the
rank of professor with
tenure. I am looking forward to our 25th reunion
and can’t wait to see old
friends.” Michael N. Pierce
is an internist and director
of HIV Medicine for a
large community-based
multispeciality practice in
New York City. David M.
Maccini is “looking forward
to catching up with everyone at the June reunion!”
Paul McLane Costello
Essex Pediatrics, Ltd.
89 Main Street
Essex Junction, VT 05452
(802) 879-6556
Nancy Collins is still working half-time doing child
and adolescent psychiatry.
She is supervising a clinical
nurse specialist who has a
caseload similar to her. Her
son, Dan will be a freshman
at Marquette University in
Milwaukee; daughter
Meredith will be a senior at
Marquette and Katie will
be a third-year medical student at Loyola Medical
College in Chicago.
1979
Sarah Ann McCarty
1018 Big Bend Road
Barboursville, WV 25504
1980
1981
Craig Wendell Gage
2415 Victoria Gardens
Tampa, FL 33609
CraigGage@
alumni.uvm.edu
Jacques Larochelle writes:
“We had a great time at
our 25th reunion last June
at Bruce and Anne
Leavitt’s home. Looking
forward to the next one.
Very busy as usual with my
practice and helping my
wife, Carolyn. Three sons
in college and three in
high school this coming
year.”
sons continue to grow and
explore the world and
bring joy to our lives.”
1984
Richard C. Shumway
34 Coventry Lane
Avon, CT 06001
(860) 673-6629
rshumway@
stfranciscare.org
1985
Vito D. Imbasciani
1915 North Crescent
Heights Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90069
(323) 656-1316
[email protected]
Darrell Edward White
29123 Lincoln Road
Bay Village, OH 44140
(440) 892-4681
[email protected]
1983
1988
Diane M. Georgeson
2 Ravine Parkway
Oneonta, NY 13820
(607) 433-1620
[email protected]
H. James Wallace III
416 Martel Lane
St. George, VT 05495
(802) 872-8533
james.wallace@
vtmednet.org
Anne Marie Massucco
15 Cedar Ledge Road
West Hartford, CT 06107
(860) 521-6120
[email protected]
Michael Narkewicz writes:
“I have taken on new challenges in the past year.
Director of pediatric G.I.
fellowship and clinical
director of pediatric G.I.
at the University of
Colorado and med staff
president at Childrens.
More importantly, my two
’ 0 7
Lawrence I. Wolk
5724 South Nome Street
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
(303) 771-1289
lawrence.wolk@
cigna.com
1989
Peter M. Nalin
13216 Griffin Run
Carmel, IN 46033
(317) 962-6656
[email protected]
Barbara Angelika Dill
120 Hazel Court
Norwood, NJ 07648
(201) 767-7778
[email protected]
Claudia Goulston writes:
“My husband and I have
returned after a two-year
working sabbatical in New
Zealand, China and
Namibia and we are now
embarking on a return to
academia at the University
of Utah. So many stories
to tell…” Katherine M.
“Trina” Hikel’s first book,
Dr. Trixie’s Prescriptions is
just out this May.
1991
1986
R E U N I O N
2007 CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
1990
John Dewey
15 Eagle Street
Cooperstown, NY 13326
[email protected]
MaryAnn Montemale
LoMonaco writes: “I’m
busy with private practice
in internal medicine.
Enjoying live in “paradise”
in Naples, Florida. I welcome any classmates to
come and visit. I am married to Robert, and hard
to believe, we have a
teenage son, Alexander.
When did we get old?”
R E U N I O N
’ 0 7
1992
Mark Eliot Pasanen
1234 Spear Street
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 865-3281
mark.pasanen@
vtmednet.org
Jennifer Woodson writes:
“We continue to live in
Naples, Italy. I am still a
stay-at-home doctor and
Vermont Summer Pediatric Seminar
June 14–17, 2007, The Equinox, Manchester, Vt.
Advanced Dermatology for The Primary Care Physician
September 6-9, 2007, Samoset Resort, Rockport,
Maine
Dementia & Geriatric Neuropsychiatry Conference
September 14-16, 2007, Stoweflake Resort, Stowe, Vt.
Primary Care Sports Medicine
September 26-28, 2007, Sheraton Hotel, Burlington,
Vt.
21st Annual Imaging Seminar
October 12-14, 2007, Stoweflake Resort, Stowe, Vt.
5th Annual Northern New England Critical Care
Conference
October 18-20, 2007, Stoweflake Resort, Stowe, Vt.
Northern New England Neuroimmunology Symposium
October 26 -28, 2007
Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe, Vt.
College of Medicine alumni receive a special 10% discount
on all UVM Continuing Medical Education conferences.
For information contact:
University of Vermont
Continuing Medical Education
128 Lakeside Avenue Suite 100
Burlington, VT 05405
(802) 656-2292
http://cme.uvm.edu
shuttle four kids around
and am busy learning
Italian and exploring this
diverse and rich country.
Ciao! Buona giornata!” Lucy
and Dave Holmes are both
enjoying their four children, ages 4, 6, 9, 12 and
their work. They are both
on faculty at SUNYBuffalo, Lucy in the
Deptartment of Pediatrics
and Dave in the Department of Family Medicine.
They recently returned
from a medical mission
trip to the Dominican
Republic. “We took all our
children with us, which
was a great experience for
them as well as us.”
Kirsten Wolff writes:
“Well, we are getting
ready for another big
adventure in our lives.
Peter, our son Alden and I
are leaving Seattle after
my nine years of
OB/GYN practice and we
are moving aboard our
recently purchased sailboat, now in Newport,
R.I., to set off on a year or
two of cruising! We think
S U M M E R
2007
33
M.D. CLASS NOTES
2 0 0 7 M E D I C A L A LU M N I A S S O C I AT I O N AWA R D S
At this year’s Medical Reunion, eight physicians will be honored for their
service to their community and academic achievement.
A. BRADLEY SOULE AWARD
Ruth A. Seeler, M.D. ’62
Dr. Seeler is Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Illinois
College of Medicine at Chicago,
and a pediatric hematologist/
oncologist at the University of
Illinois Medical Center. Since her
introduction to the UVM College of
Medicine as the only woman in the class
of 1962, Dr. Seeler’s dedication to the
College and its mission has never waned.
She has been a longtime class agent, and
has served multiple terms on the Alumni
Executive Committee, currently as its
President-Elect. She has been a generous
philanthropic supporter of the College
and its students, establishing the first
endowed Medical Alumni Association
Challenge Scholarship, naming a room in
the new Medical Education Center, and
becoming a member of the Wilbur
Society. In addition to her direct support
of the College, Dr. Seeler has led by example as an accomplished physician who
has contributed greatly to her local and
professional communities. In 1998, she
was awarded the MAA Service to Medicine & Community Award for her role in
founding Camp Warren Jyrch, one of the
first summer camps in the nation for boys
with hemophilia.
AWARD FOR DISTINGUISHED
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
Mark Popovsky, M.D. ’77
Dr. Popovsky is a pathologist in
the Boston area who has focused
his career on improving transfusion medicine and blood banking. He is a leading expert on the
transfusion reaction known as TRALI
(transfusion-associated acute lung
injury), the most common life-threatening complication of transfusion therapy.
He is former CEO and Chief Medical
Officer of the American Red Cross, New
England Region, and has also served as
Director of Transfusion & Intravenous
Services of the Mayo Clinic. In recognition of his contributions to medicine and
blood banking, he was awarded the 2005
Elmer DeGowan Lectureship at the
University of Iowa. Dr. Popovsky sits on
the editorial boards of several journals of
transfusion medicine, and has published
extensively in that field. Dr. Popovsky is
an Associate Clinical Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School and an
Adjunct Clinical Professor of Pathology at
Boston University School of Medicine, as
well as Medical Director and Vice
President of Haemonetics Corporation.
Aryeh Shander, M.D. ’77
Dr. Shander is an anesthesiologist in Englewood, NJ, and an expert
in the field of “bloodless”
medicine and surgery—
the practice of minimizing patient blood loss during medical
procedures in an effort to eliminate or
reduce the likelihood of the patient needing a blood transfusion. Dr. Shander is
Executive Medical Director of the New
Jersey Institute for the Advancement of
Bloodless Medicine and Surgery, which is
recognized as one of the nation’s leading
providers of bloodless surgical services.
For his pioneering work in this area, Time
magazine featured Dr. Shander as one of
their “Heroes of Medicine” in 1997. He has
lectured extensively, nationally and
internationally, on topics related to blood
conservation and surgical blood management, and has written numerous articles and book chapters on these subjects.
Dr. Shander is the Chief of the departments of Anesthesiology, Critical Care
Medicine, and Pain Management and
Hyperbaric Medicine at Englewood Hos-
pital and Medical Center, and Clinical
Professor of Anesthesiology and Medicine at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.
AWARD FOR SERVICE TO
MEDICINE AND COMMUNITY
John F. Dick II, M.D. ’67
Dr. Dick is a physician with
certifications in internal
and critical care medicine.
Following in the tradition
of his physician father and grandfather,
Dr. Dick practices in his hometown of
Brandon, Vt., and for the last 35 years has
been an integral member of the Rutlandarea medical community. At Rutland
Regional Medical Center he has served on
numerous committees and held positions including Chair of Medicine,
Director of the Intensive Care Unit, and
member of the board of directors. In
2006, in recognition of his contributions
to the health and well-being of the community, RRMC honored Dr. Dick with their
“Physician of the Year” Perkins Community Health Award. Dr. Dick served for
two decades as a consultant to the former Brandon Training School for the
Mentally Retarded, and he is currently in
his 21st year as the Medical Director of
Haven Health Care Center nursing home
of Rutland. He continues to be a Clinical
Instructor of the UVM College of Medicine, a role in which he utilizes house
calls to educate students on the proper
care of patients.
George W. Weightman,
M.D. ’82
Dr. Weightman is certified
in family medicine. He
achieved the rank of Major
General in the U.S. Army,
and has earned numerous
honors for his lifetime of service to country and medicine, including the
Distinguished Service Medal; Legion of
Merit; Bronze Star Medal; Meritorious
Service Medal; Expert Field Medical
Badge; and membership in the Order
of Military Merit. He most recently
served as Commanding General of the
North Atlantic Regional Medical
Command, where he oversaw the
largest region in the U.S. Army Medical
System, encompassing over 15 medical
treatment facilities in a 21-state area.
In 1989 he became the 82nd Airborne
Division surgeon and served with them
during Operations Just Cause and
Desert Shield/Storm, and more recently oversaw medical care in a combat
zone as Commanding General of the
3rd Medical Command (Forward) and
as Coalition Forces Land Component
Command Surgeon for Operation Iraqi
Freedom. Dr. Weightman’s military
service has also included tours in
Panama, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.
RECENT ALUMNI AWARD
L. Lucy Boulanger, M.D.’92
Dr. Boulanger is trained in
internal medicine, infectious
diseases, and epidemiology,
and practices in Santa Fe,
N.M. She was inspired to
become involved in renewable- and clean-energy issues after
serving as a clinician on a Navajo reservation, where she observed negative
health effects in the population attributable to the local history of uranium
mining and contamination. Dr.
Boulanger and her husband, physician
Dr. John D. Fogarty, are both board
members of Physicians for Social
Responsibility, and are co-directors of
New Energy Economy, a renewable/
clean energy advocacy organization.
Dr. Boulanger has also served as a
member of Governor Bill Richardson’s
New Mexico Climate Change Advisory
Group.
Matthew A. Conway,
M.D. ’92
Dr. Conway is a general surgeon in Rutland,
Vt. As a Major in the
U.S. Army Medical
Reserve and a member
of the 947th Forward Surgical Team he
has twice in recent years been called
away from home and practice to serve:
to Afghanistan in 2002, where he
earned a Combat Medic Badge; and to
Baghdad in 2003-2004, where he
earned an Army Commendation
Medal. Closer to home, Dr. Conway is a
member of the board of directors of
the New England Division of the
American Cancer Society; member of
the board of directors of Rutland
Regional Medical Center; has served as
Vermont state chair/liaison to the
American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer; and is a member of
the Barstow Elementary and Rutland
Northeast Supervisory Union school
boards.
David M. Holmes,
M.D. ’92
Dr. Holmes is a family
physician in Buffalo,
NY. He played a major
role in establishing
Good
Neighbors
Health Center, a clinic in inner city
Buffalo that provides free medical care
to an underprivileged population. He
currently serves as the organization’s
medical director. Dr. Holmes has won
awards for student mentoring and
humanism in medicine from SUNY
Buffalo School of Medicine, where he is
a Clinical Assistant Professor of Family
Medicine and Director of Family
Medicine Clerkship and Electives. In
June 2007 he will receive the Family
Physician of the Year award from the
New York State Chapter of the
American Academy of Family
Physicians.
of you all often and hope
to catch up with some of
you while the East coast
this summer.”
1993
Joanne Taplin Romeyn
22 Patterson Lane
Durham, CT 06422
(860) 349-6941
1994
Holliday Kane Rayfield
P.O. Box 819
Waitsfield, VT 05673
(802) 496-5667
[email protected]
1995
Allyson Miller Bolduc
252 Autumn Hill Road
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 863-4902
allyson.bolduc@
vtmednet.org
Brian Levine’s handbook,
Antibiotic use in the
Emergency Department was
published in November by
the Emergency Medicine
Residents Association and
is distributed to all emergency residents nationwide.
1996
Anne Marie Valente
66 Winchester St., Apt. 503
Brookline, MA 02446
anne.valente@cardio.
chboston.org
Patricia Ann King, M.D., Ph.D.
832 South Prospect Street
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 862-7705
patricia.king@
vtmednet.org
Cassandra Garcia and Vu
Tran are doing well in
S U M M E R
2007
35
M.D. CLASS NOTES
the surgeon writer
H A L L A
Santa Rosa, California. Vu
is practicing Pulmonary
Critical Care and Sleep
Medicine. Cassandra is in
private practice in Family
Medicine. Their five year
old son, Zachary is enjoying kindergarten.
R E U N I O N
’ 0 7
1997
Julie Clifford Smail
10 Proctor Street
Manchester-by-the-Sea,
MA 01944
(360) 240-8693
jsmail@
fidalgomedical.com
1998
Halleh Akbarnia
4700 Bromley Lane
Richmond, VA 23226
(804) 204-2595
[email protected]
Scott Musicant writes: “I
finally finished training
after eight years in Oregon.
I am now in San Diego
practicing vascular surgery
with my father. Carrie and
I are expecting our first
child in February. Life is
good. Let us know if you
are ever visiting San Diego
(semusicant@ yahoo.com).”
Erika T. Fellinger is living in
Somerville, Mass., with her
husband Eric and 17month-old son, Zachary.
She is doing general and
laparoscopic surgery at
Cambridge Heath Alliance,
caring for the underserved
of Northern Boston region
and teaching Harvard
Medical students and residents. “We are enjoying
life in the big city.”
36
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
1999
Everett Jonathan Lamm
11 Autumn Lane
Stratham, NH 03885
(603) 929-7555
[email protected]
Deanne Dixon Haag
4215 Pond Road
Sheldon, VT 05483
(802) 524-7528
2000
Jay Edmond Allard
USNH Yokosuka
PSC 475 Box 1757
FPO, AP 96350
[email protected]
Michael Jim Lee
71 Essex Lane
Irvine, CA 92620
michael_j_lee1681@
yahoo.com
Monica Fiorenza married
Greg McCormick (Class of
’01) in June of 2006.
Monica is enjoying pediatrics at Timber Lane
Pediatrics in S. Burlington. Greg has joined Dr.
Tom Carin and is staying
busy with ophthalmology,
corneal and refractive surgery. “We love being back
in Vermont!” Christine
Waasdorp writes: “After
four years in S. Korea I
eagerly head to Denver,
Colorado to start my peds.
G.I. fellowship at Denver
Childrens. After traveling
much of Asia we look forward to being near family
and friends in the U.S.”
2001
Ladan Farhoomand
1481 Regatta Road
Carlsbad, CA 92009
(626) 201-1998
[email protected]
Joel W. Keenan
Greenwich Hospital
Five Perryridge Road
Greenwich, CT 06830
[email protected]
JoAn Louise Monaco
Suite 6-F, 5E
4618 Warwick Blvd.
Kansas City, MO 64112
(816) 753-2410
[email protected]
Heather M.P. Smith’s
twins, Kathryn and
Mackenzie just turned 3.
Heather became board
certified in the Fall of
2006, and is in her 3rd
year as a hospitalist at
Rutland Regional Medical
Center in Vt. JoAn Monaco
gathered news from her
classmates, and sends this
report: “Greetings to the
Class of 2001! Time has
flown since graduation but
I’m glad that many of us
are still in touch. Here’s
the latest from our class….
Karine Ekmekji Mouradian
is keeping busy with her
husband Ara and their two
beautiful boys, Alek and
Ayk. Karine is enjoying
her work as a pediatrician
in sunny Los Angeles.
Jenny and Loren Majersik
and their handsome son
Max are living in
Michigan where Jenny is
in her second year of a
stroke fellowship at the
University of Michigan.
Jenny recently returned
from a trip to Japan presenting her research as a
neurotoxin expert after
seeing some interesting
stuff walk through the ER
doors at U of M. Nice
work!! Steve Simensky is
doing well in Columbus,
Ohio where he joined a
three-person neurology
practice and is keeping
busy with resident teaching, inpatient consults and
outpatient electrophysiology studies among other
things. His wife is a neuropsychologist at the Ohio
State University Rehabiltation Hospital and is
enjoying her work on the
TBI inpatient team.
Steve’s daughter just
turned 5 and he is working
hard at making her as
goofy as he is. Adam and
Jodi Kanter and their kids
have safely returned from
a year away in New
Zealand and are in the
process of finishing up
neurosurgery at UVA.
Adam will start a spine fellowship at UCSF in July
of 2007 and then plans on
moving the Kanter clan to
Pittsburgh for a position
as Director of the Minimally Invasive Spine
Center at the University
of Pittsburgh. Jodi is currently pregnant with twins
and all are excited about
expanding their bunch of
three to FIVE kiddies.
Actually, Adam wrote
“God help us!” when
describing the arrival to
two more little ones! We
know Adam and Jodi can
handle anything. Good
luck to all of the Kanters!
Ladan Farhoomand is
enjoying life in southern
California where she is
working for a private anesthesia group in gorgeous
San Diego. She sends an
open invitation to anyone
in southern California to
visit. Ladan is doing great!
Emily June Ryan and her
husband Tim are having
fun in sunny Venice,
Florida. They are keeping
busy with their beautiful
daughter June Anne and
are making frequent trips
to Disney when possible.
Emily enjoys being a
“baby” in Venice where
the mean population age is
68 and her FP practice is
keeping her very busy. She
evens runs into the occasional Vermont snowbird
and enjoys hearing updates
on life in Vermont. Good
luck to the Ryan family!
As for myself, JoAn
Monaco, I will be heading
home to NYC this June
after completing a plastics
residency in Kansas City.
I’m looking forward to
starting an aesthetic fellowship in the city and
hopefully finding a job on
the east coast somewhere.
Life is great on my end!
Thanks very much for
your emails and glad to
hear that everyone is
doing well. All the best to
the class of 2001
and…until next time!
R E U N I O N
’ 0 7
2002
Jonathan Vinh Mai
15 Meadow Lane
Danville, PA 17821
(570) 275-4681
[email protected]
Kerry Lee Landry
(919)732-9876
[email protected]
Mary O’Leary Ready
[email protected]
Maureen Crosby Sarle
(248)549-1238
Pearl Riney writes: “I
joined a private practice in
Cambridge, Mass., in
August, and I love it! Our
son Penn is a 2-year-old
wild man and another
Riney is on the way! We
look forward to seeing
everyone in June!”
Jonathan and Laura Dunn
Goldberg welcomed a baby
girl, Sophia Rhea
Goldberg, born February
9, 2007.
2003
Omar Khan
33 Clearwater Circle
Shelburne, VT 05482
(802) 985-1131
[email protected]
Scott Goodrich
13 Mountain View Blvd.
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 864-7787
[email protected]
2004
Jillian S. Geider
jillian.geider@
vtmednet.org
Emily A. Hannon
emily.hannon@
hsc.utah.edu
continued from page 28
year. Recently, I turned to face Patrick 2
and they, too, were nowhere to be found.
The new ambulatory care center is
shrouded in glass and full of sunlight. At
night, it brightens like a lightbulb. When
you drive up to the front entrance, you
might, in a moment of fantasy, expect your
bags to be checked for a midnight flight to
Paris. In fact, the walls are all painted an
institutional beige and, if you look closely,
you can tell that they are adorned with just
one coat. In some hallways, another is
already needed. The dents and scrapes are
multiplying and my friends are spackling,
sanding and painting. The walls have little
or no memory. Absent are the bumps and
ripples and coats and coats of paint that lock
in the collective images of an institution.
They lack the patina, the variegated burnish
that only comes with the passage of time
and the dutiful work of the hospital
painters. Like the Velveteen Rabbit, only
when your fur is rubbed off, can you know
VM
that you are really loved.
“Let’s Close” column,
UVM Surgery Newsletter,
Spring 2006
Steven D. Lefebvre
fabulous5lefebvre@
hotmail.com
2005
Julie A. Alosi
[email protected]
Richard J. Parent
[email protected]
2006
William C. Eward
[email protected]
Professor of Surgery
Frank Ittleman, M.D.
Deborah Rabinowitz
debbie.rabinowitz@
uvm.edu
S U M M E R
2007
37
OBITUARIES
H A L L A
FACULTY
RAYMOND C . DENSMORE , M . D.’39
Dr. Densmore died in Copley
Hospital in Morrisville, Vt., on Nov.
27, 2006, at the age of 92. He was
born in Burlington on June 14, 1914.
After grammar school, he attended
Burlington High School, graduating
in 1932. He received his bachelor of
science degree at the University of
Vermont, where he became a member of Delta Psi, in 1936, and his
medical degree cum laude in 1939.
His internship was spent at Stamford
Hospital in Stamford, Conn., after
which he opened a practice in 1941 in
Hardwick. On June 2, 1942, he married Sarah Peck of Hardwick, and on
Aug. 18, joined the Army Medical
Corps with the 36th Division, serving
in Naples, Foggia, Rome, Arno, the
Northern Appennines and Southern
France. He was later assigned to hospitals in Italy, France and North
Africa. He received the EAME ribbon with four battle stars, the bronze
arrowhead, the victory ribbon and
the combat medic badge. He
returned to Hardwick on Feb. 6,
1946 and for the next 35 years made
house calls throughout the area, visiting nearly every home in the nearby
towns. For several years he was a
regional medical examiner for the
state of Vermont.
AVERY P. KING , M . D.’42
Dr. King, a native of St. Albans, Vt.,
died Jan. 4, 2007, at his home in
Roswell, Georgia. He was born May
28, 1919, the son of James Samuel
King, M.D., and Harriet C. (Hill)
King. He married Mary Agnes Burke
of Winooski, in 1942. A veteran of
World War II, Dr. King served in the
U.S. Army from 1942 to 1956 including the Monte Cassino and Anzio
Beachhead battles with duty in a forward surgical field hospital, one of
the first MASH units. In 1956, Dr.
King retired from the military as a
lieutenant colonel and opened his
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M E D I C I N E
urology practice in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Because of his surgical skills and wartime experience, Dr. King was often
surgeon of last resort for serious
injuries in the Oak Ridge Hospital
emergency room. When he retired in
1995, he had charts on 26,000
patients and had performed an estimated 10,000 surgical procedures
over his career. An aviator his entire
adult life, Dr. King was rated a commercial instrument multi-engine
pilot with some 3,000 hours of flight
time. He would use his small, private
airplane to fly to the more remote
parts of East Tennessee to provide
medical services to those in need.
JOSEPH CABANZO, M . D.’43
Dr. Cabanzo passed away at his
Florida home on January 4, 2007. He
was the son of Jose N. Cabanzo and
Amelia Laborde, who came to this
country from Santander, Spain, a city
where his paternal grandfather built
the famed Banco De Santander. Born
in Montpelier, Vt., he graduated
from Spaulding High School and
attended the University of Vermont
for both his undergraduate and medical degrees. While at school, he was
a member of the Lambda Iota Society
which was founded in 1836. He
served his country as a captain in the
U.S. Army in World War II and, after
the war, while stationed in South
Florida, became the personal surgeon
for Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. As a
surgeon in Tampa, he had privileges
at Centro Asturiano and St. Joseph’s
Hospital. While at St. Joseph’s, he
was chief of staff, chief of surgery and
the credentials committee. Dr.
Cabanzo envisioned the tremendous
growth the city of Tampa would
undergo, and he served as the liaison
between the Sisters at St. Joseph’s and
the acquisition of the land where the
present hospital is situated. During
those years, he developed the first
medical condominium in the area.
After retiring from surgery, he
became the first medical director of
St. Joseph’s emergency room.
ROBERT K . WARD, M . D.
’51
Dr. Ward died February 24, 2007 on
his 82nd birthday, in Greenwich,
Conn. Born in St. Albans, Vt., Dr.
Ward was a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Vermont and
a member of Phi Bet Kappa before
receiving his medical degree in 1951.
Dr. Ward served in the U.S. Army as
a Japanese interpreter during World
War II with the Armed Forces Radio.
He then practiced medicine in Rye,
N.Y. for many years and was recently
honored as a 50 year Distinguished
Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.
BENJAMIN H . MAECK JR ., M . D.’54
Dr. Maeck was born in Shelburne,
Vt., on January 6, 1927, the son of
Benjamin Harris and Hannah
Edgerton Tracy Maeck. He died
peacefully in his San Francisco home
with his family on January 22, 2007.
Dr. Maeck was a graduate of Northwood School, Lake Placid, and
Dartmouth College, before earning
his medical degree at the College of
Medicine. He interned in surgery at
St. Luke’s Hospital, New York, and
completed his orthopaedic surgery
residency at New York Orthopaedic
Hospital, Columbia Presbyterian
Medical Center, New York, followed
by a fellowship at the Royal National
Orthopaedic Hospital, London. He
served as a medical corpsman in the
United States Navy during WWII.
In 1960, Dr. Maeck began his
orthopaedic surgery practice at
Franklin Hospital, now Davies Medical Center in San Francisco. He is
remembered as a caring and dedicated physician, for his warm, ready
smile and his quick Vermont wit.
JACK E . FARNHAM , M . D.’57
JOHN H . BLAND, M . D.
Dr. Farnham died on Wednesday,
Jan. 3, 2007 in Mt. Dora, Fla. He was
born on Sept. 26, 1931, in Rutland,
Vt., and spent his youth in Bennington. He graduated from Bennington
High School in 1949. Dr. He
received a B.A. from the University
of Vermont in 1953 and an M.D. in
1957. Dr. Farnham served his internship and residency at Henry Ford
Hospital in Detroit, Mich. His internal medicine fellowships were completed at Lahey Clinic in Boston,
Mass., and at the University of
Vermont. He was a captain in the
U.S. Air Force Medical Corps from
1957 to 1962. He was the Chief of
Medicine at the USAF Hospital from
1960 to 1963. Dr. Farnham practiced
internal medicine at Chelmsford
Medical Associates in Massachusetts
from 1963 to 1969. He founded
Allergy Immunology Associates in
1969 in Chelmsford. In 1990, Dr.
Farnham retired from practice to
attend the Harvard School of Public
Health, specializing in occupational
medicine. In 1992, he earned a master’s of public health from Harvard
University where he was named Class
Orator. In 1994, he accepted a position at the University of Texas Health
Center in Tyler, where he cared for
patients and taught medical students
and residents. Dr. Farnham retired
from the university in 2000.
Dr. Bland, who was an emeritus professor of medicine, died
March 15, 2007, in Cambridge, Vt. Dr. Bland had lived in
Cambridge since 1970. He was born on Nov. 7, 1917, in
Globe, Ariz. He graduated from Earlham College and
Jefferson Medical College. He served as a captain in the U.S.
Army from 1946 to 1948 in Fort Hood, Texas. Dr. Bland’s
career elevated him to world recognition in rheumatology; he lectured in 17
countries and was published in every major medical journal. In 1958-59, he
was an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Manchester in England.
He was awarded several National Institutes of Health grants for his research in
the 1960s. In 1989 he was named a Master of Rheumatology by the American
College of Rheumatology, and was also a Fulbright Visiting Senior Scholar in
Sydney, Australia. Dr. Bland wrote 14 books, many of which were medical
textbooks. His popular Live Long, Die Fast was a best seller.
HARVEY RUBIN , M . D.’58
Dr. Rubin died Jan. 19, 2007, at
Treasure Coast Hospices in Stuart,
Fla. He was 74. He was born in
Waterbury, Conn., and, after earning
his medical degree, served in the U.S.
Navy as a surgeon, holding the rank
of lieutenant commander. Before
retirement he was a thoracic surgeon
at Stamford Hospital in Stamford,
Conn.
KENNETH R . CUTRONEO, PH . D.
Dr. Cutroneo passed away unexpectedly in his Burlington
home on April 11, 2007. He was born in Providence, R.I., on
Oct. 9, 1943. Dr. Cutroneo received his undergraduate degree
from Providence College. He received his master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Rhode Island. Dr.
Cutroneo was a member of the faculty of the Department of
Biochemistry for the past 31 years and was posthumously made an emeritus
professor of biochemistry. According to his family, Dr. Cutroneo would often
be seen driving around town in his convertible, listening to his favorite artist,
Bruce Springsteen. Dr. Cutroneo spent many hours researching and developing a new therapy to prevent inappropriate deposition of connective tissue.
JOSEPH B . PATLAK , PH . D.
Dr. Patlak died on May 10, 2007 at his home in Underhill,
Vermont. He earned his Ph.D. from UCLA in 1977, and then
did his postdoctorate with Nobel Laureate Erwin Neher. He
published numerous articles on the molecular basis of membrane electrical activity and pioneered some of the most innovative technologies for measuring and analyzing data from
single ion channels in both muscle and nerve. He was an
emeritus professor of molecular physiology and biophysics,
and had been a member of the faculty since 1980. He was made an honorary
member of the class of 2007 at commencement. Dr. Patlak believed that every
student was special and deserved the best, and he was known for his informal
classroom style. He led the charge in bringing the Internet to the College of
Medicine. As his friend and colleague, Professor and Chair of Molecular
Physiology and Biophysics David Warshaw, Ph.D. recalls, “Over the last several years, Joe taught us how to embrace and manage a fatal disease such as
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Although the outcome of this disease was certain, Joe constantly informed us of its progression. He described its toll from
a scientific viewpoint, as only a physiologist could, while infusing his lighthearted persona.” Dr. Patlak is survived by his wife, Elke Pinn, M.D.’89, and
sons Johanne and David.
S U M M E R
2007
39
P r o f i l e s in g i v i n g
Doing what must be done
may 2, 2007
12:45 p.m.
Medical students in the hallway of the Student Assessment Center prepare
for their next session with standardized patients in the center’s examining rooms.
When Bellows Falls native Patricia A. Fenn, M.D.’65
arrived to study for her undergraduate degree at UVM in
the mid-1950s, the path to earning an M.D. was anything
but easy. As she recalled years later, she had wrestled with
the question of whether the struggle to gain one of the few
seats available to a female medical student was really worth
the extreme effort. Finally, a good friend spelled it all out
for her: “Pat,” she said, “You know you don’t really have a
choice. You have to be a doctor. You just have to do this.”
Dr. Fenn publicly recounted that exchange more than
40 years later, when she was the recipient of the A. Bradley
Soule Award, the highest alumni honor bestowed by the
College of Medicine’s alumni association. By then, the
thousands of patients she had helped over the course of
four decades’ practice in rheumatology could also attest to
Dr. Fenn’s deep personal qualities as a healer.
When she passed away this winter, Dr. Fenn left
behind a substantial estate bequest to the College. Her
undesignated bequest will allow the College the freedom
to support the most pressing needs — the things that
must be done. It was a gift, and a way of giving, that was
so typical of this generous, caring physician.
photograph by Mario Morgado
medical development and alumni relations office
(802)656-4014 [email protected] www.med.uvm.edu/giving
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V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
MICHAEL SIPE
Caring for the future
For decades, David M. Babbott, M.D., served as a role model
for students and residents he taught as a faculty member at the
College of Medicine, before retiring in 1993. Dr. Babbott was
known throughout the medical community for his deep commitment to listening to and connecting with each patient as an
individual, and for his desire to teach that kind of approach to
every student and resident with whom he came in contact.
In 2003, Meredith Babbott established the David M. Babbott
Caring and Seeing Award to honor the career of her husband,
through a generous gift that was matched by the Medical
Alumni Association. Since then, every spring, a fourth-year student who, during their clinical education, has demonstrated a
deep commitment to seeing the patient as a whole human being
receives scholarship support from the Babbott fund.
Cristine Maloney is this year’s Caring and Seeing award
winner. A native of Bristol, Vermont, Cristine showed her
VERMONT MEDICINE
89 Beaumont Ave.
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affinity for people throughout her clinical rotations. As one of
her faculty evaluators wrote, Cristine “understands the importance of staying connected with both patients and colleagues
through sensitive and empathetic interaction.”
Your gift to the College of Medicine can, as the Babbotts’
has, shape medical careers in positive ways for years to come.
Donors have two new options for creating a named scholarship at the College — either a currently-funded or an
endowed scholarship that leverages matching dollars provided
by the Medical Alumni Association.
For more information on scholarship support, contact:
university of vermont college of medicine
medical development and alumni relations office
(802) 656-4014 [email protected]
www.med.uvm.edu/giving
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