medicine Looking ahead v e r m o n t

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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
Looking
ahead
Dean John Evans
shares his vision for
the College of Medicine
F A L L
2004
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FROM THE DEAN
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10
THE BIRTH
OF NEW IDEAS
COLLEGE NEWS
3
UVM OB/GYNs help
deliver new babies, and
the next generation of care.
A beloved dean
retires, a former
candidate Dean
speaks, and more.
by rachael moeller
gorman
10
16
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WHAT I DID ON MY
SUMMER VACATION
8
HALL A
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M A G A Z I N E
on the cover:
College of Medicine Dean John N. Evans
Photograph by Michael Sipe
28
29
30
35
38
40
For many medical students,
summer “break” was a time
for service and education through
experience.
photography by adam riesner
22
16
LEADING BY EXAMPLE
Dean John Evans sketches out his
view of where the school has come
from, and where it is going in the
years ahead.
vermont
medicine
FROM THE DEAN
F A L L
EDITOR
edward neuert
MICHAEL SIPE
Once again, with the beginning of the fall
semester here at the College of Medicine, the
halls are filled with students new and old shuttling between classes, laboratory meetings, or
clinical sessions. These are scenes that are
familiar to everyone at the school. Though
they may be familiar, it’s also important to recognize how unique this beginning is. There
are, of course, new faces involved — new medical and graduate students from all over the country and the globe.
But there is also a subtle but important newness to what those
students are doing. Last year’s entering class was the first group to
experience the new fully-implemented Vermont Integrated
Curriculum (VIC) and they are continuing on to pioneer the second-year curriculum this fall. The latest group of entering medical
students — the Class of 2008 — is the first group to experience
their first-year curriculum too, since the VIC is designed to be a
continuously-improving curriculum that undergoes constant
updating to reflect improvements in medical knowledge. Perhaps
without even being aware of it, these students will be learning the
art and science of medicine in a slightly different way from their
predecessors, a process that will be true for every new class from
now on under the VIC. That fact reflects our College’s commitment to the never-ending effort to improve and enhance the quality of what we do in education, patient care, research, and community involvement.
This issue of Vermont Medicine contains much more detail on
our plans for all the areas of our mission in a conversation I had
with the magazine’s editor after presenting my vision for the
College to a meeting of the faculty in late June. I was heartened by
the enthusiastic response to the presentation from the faculty, and
am glad to be able to share the outlines of that plan to a broader
audience of students, staff, alumni, and friends through this magazine, along with the latest news of all the exciting work being done
both on and off our campus. I look forward to hearing from all of
the members of our community as we move ahead in our important work at Vermont’s academic health center.
2
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
COLLEGE NEWS
2 0 0 4
MEDICAL COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR
carole whitaker
ASSISTANT
andrea rathje
Marga Sproul Retires,
Waterman Named
New Associate Dean
WRITER
jennifer nachbur
ART DIRECTOR
elise whittemore-hill
UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT
COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
DEAN
john n. evans, ph.d.
EDITORIAL ADVISORS
rick blount
ASSISTANT DEAN FOR
DEVELOPMENT & ALUMNI RELATIONS
marilyn j. cipolla, ph.d.’ 97
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
OF NEUROLOGY
christopher s. francklyn,
ph.d.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
OF BIOCHEMISTRY
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, Farrell Hall, 210 Colchester Ave, Burlington,
VT 05405. telephone: (802) 656-4014
Letters to the editor specifically may be e-mailed to:
[email protected]
Since the 1980s, medical students have looked forward
to “Marga moments,” their private term for meetings
with Associate Dean for Student Affairs Marga Sproul,
M.D.’76. This summer, the last of those moments
came when Sproul met with each of the fourth-year
students to tell them of her decision to retire from the
College of Medicine. G. Scott Waterman, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry, has been named to
replace her.
After becoming the first woman to go through the
family practice residency in Burlington, she joined the
College’s faculty in 1980. “At the time, I was the only
woman doing family practice in Chittenden County,”
she notes. Sproul took over the student affairs deanship
gradually from her predecessor, David Tormey, M.D.,
over the course of four years in the late 1980s and early
90s. For several years she also served concurrently as
associate dean for admissions.
At a reception in early July, friends and colleagues
lauded Sproul’s many years of dedicated service to students, and to her patients. “Most of us can’t imagine
what medical school would be like without Marga,”
said Matt Coates, an M.D.-Ph.D. student who emceed
the reception.
“We’re glad to know that you will still be caring for
patients at Colchester Family Practice,” said Dean
John N. Evans, who also spoke at the reception.
Waterman, who began his new administrative position on August 9, earned an A.B. from Harvard and an
M.D. from the University of Michigan, completing a
psychiatry residency at Harvard and a fellowship in
child psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. He
joined the College of Medicine as visiting assistant
professor of psychiatry in 1994, was named assistant
professor in 1996, and was promoted to associate professor in 1998. He has been director of psychopharmacology at Fletcher Allen Health Care since 1997, and
since 2000 has served as director of medical student
education in the Department of Psychiatry. He also
currently serves on both the College of Medicine
admissions and advancement committees. A two-time
recipient of the Psychiatry Residents’ Award for
ADAM RIESNER
Excellence in Clinical Teaching,
Waterman also received national
recognition with a 2002
Profile of Courage Award from
the American Psychiatric Association and was named an Exemplary Psychiatrist by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Vermont.
“We are excited to have a teacher, mentor, clinician
and researcher like Dr. Waterman providing leadership
and guidance to our students,” said Evans. “He has
been a strong advocate for medical education, while
maintaining an active research presence and providing
clinical leadership at Fletcher Allen. He will be an
excellent role model.”
“I look forward to the opportunity to serve the
College of Medicine and its students in this new role,”
said Waterman. “My predecessor is legendary for her
commitment to the education and well-being of our students. With the help of an outstanding Office of Student
Affairs staff, I am determined to continue that legacy.”
“Scott has worked with students at all levels,” says
Sproul. “He’s been a director of the second pathology
course, the psychiatry clerkship, he’s done advising of
students in the senior selective program, and helped
them with their choices of residency, so he has a really
broad range of experience in the curriculum and can
understand all the things the students are going
through. He’s genuinely concerned about students,
and cares about them. I think he’s going to have fun in
the job.”
Marga Sproul,
M.D.’76, and G. Scott
Waterman, M.D.,
who became associate dean for student
affairs on August 9.
F A L L
2004
3
COLLEGE NEWS
RESEARCH MILESTONES
Frymoyer Scholars Focus on Elders
RESEARCH FINDS PROMISE
IN NEW DIABETES DRUG
Two individuals have been selected as the latest
Frymoyer Scholars. Terry Rabinowitz, M.D., associate
professor of psychiatry, was chosen for his proposal on
“Development and Implementation of a Telepsychiatry Consultation Teaching Program.” Suzanne
Goetschius, R.N., was selected for her proposal on
“Building Nursing Expertise in Geriatrics: An
Acute Care Clinical Model.” Both proposals address
the many and often complex needs of the geriatric
population.
Named for former Dean John W. and Nan P.
Frymoyer, the Frymoyer Scholars Program supports
clinicians who are actively engaged in teaching medical
and nursing students and promotes teaching that
emphasizes the art of patient care. Frymoyer scholars
are awarded up to $25,000 a year for two years to
develop innovative, educational products or programs
and to improve their teaching skills. The Frymoyer
Scholars program was instituted in 2001.
Rabinowitz’s proposal focuses on the use of telepsychiatry to diagnose and treat psychiatric disorders in
nursing home residents. Telepsychiatry is the use of
telemedicine technology for psychiatric consultation
and treatment. For patients who live far away from a
medical center, making this kind of access to treatment
possible can increase the likelihood that a patient will
receive the treatment he or she needs and improve outcomes. In his proposal, Rabinowitz suggests that
Vermont is an ideal setting in which to introduce the
concept and practice of telepsychiatry consultation to
rural nursing homes, and to medical and nursing students and residents-in-training. He plans to use the
Frymoyer Scholars award to
develop a telepsychiatry conWENDY L . KING APPOINTED SENIOR ASSOCIATE
sultation teaching curricuDEAN FOR FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION
lum and program for use
Wendy L. King has been appointed senior associate dean for
in the UVM College of
finance and administration at the College of Medicine. King
Medicine and the College
replaces Ted Winfield, who is now UVM associate vice presiof Nursing and Health
dent for budget and resource management.
Sciences.
“With over 25 years of experience in the management,
Gerontological Clinical
financing and administration of academic health centers,
Nurse Specialist Goetschius
Wendy will be an asset to our team and the College,” said
is the first nurse to be named
Dean John N. Evans. “We look forward to leveraging her
a Frymoyer Scholar. Her
strengths in facilities, operations and strategic planning as
proposal aims to provide
we capitalize on the opportunities and meet the challenges
nurses with specialized eduthat lie ahead.”
cation in successful aging, as
Since 1998, King has been working as a consultant to
well as common health
facility and operations management in areas such as archiproblems and syndromes
tectural and construction firm selection, project scheduling, and financial
experienced by elders. The
feasibility studies. She served as financing and project consultant for several
goal of the proposal, says
University of Vermont building projects, including the Health Science
Goetschius, is to help R.N.s
Research Facility, as well the Fletcher Allen expansion.
respond more accurately and
Prior to starting her consulting business, King was at Georgetown
quickly to various health care
University Medical Center from 1978 to 1998. From 1992 to 1998 she was execscenarios, such as being able
utive director, Medical Center Facilities. Prior to Georgetown, King began her
to recognize and develop a
career as an academic department administrator at Stanford University
care plan for managing delirMedical Center.
ium. With their new knowlKing holds a Masters Degree in Health Care Administration from The
edge, she explains, they can
George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and earned a B.A. in
train their peers and nursing
Health Services at the University of California at Santa Cruz.
students to better care for
older adults.
—Eleanor Osborne
4
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
ADAM RIESNER
At the American Diabetes Association meeting in
Orlando, Fla., this June, findings regarding several
new diabetes treatments, including an investigational drug studied by UVM Professor of Medicine
Richard Pratley, M.D., suggest that better treatments are on the horizon. At the ADA meeting,
Pratley presented data on a Phase II study on a drug
called LAF237.
“In this study, HbA1c levels — the primary longterm measure of blood sugar control — decreased
significantly when LAF237 was added to a patient’s
course of therapy, and this benefit was maintained
for one year,” says Pratley. “Bringing patients to an
ideal HbA1c level early in the disease process and
maintaining those levels for as long as possible is
critical to the management of type 2 diabetes, making these findings very encouraging.”
Based on the strength of findings from Phase II
studies, the pharmaceutical company Novartis,
which funds the LAF237 research, launched a full
phase III clinical trial program for LAF237 earlier
this year.
TESTING A NEXT- GENERATION VACCINE
The College of Medicine is one of just a dozen sites
nationwide participating in a Phase II clinical trial
to evaluate a new vaccine against anthrax. The
study, initiated by VaxGen, Inc., as part of a contract from the National Institutes of Health, is evaluating the safety and immune response at varying
doses of the vaccine rPA 102, as well as an aluminum hydroxide adjuvant, or additive, which is
designed to enhance the immune response. The
injectable rPA 102 vaccine is protein-based and
contains no bacteria, so it cannot cause anthrax disease.
The rPA vaccine has been previously tested in
100 healthy volunteers, where it was found to be safe
and had comparable immune results to the currently licensed anthrax vaccine. The current Phase II
study involves 480 healthy adult volunteers nationally, with 45 to 50 enrolled at the Vermont site.
“Development of a next-generation vaccine
against anthrax is a priority of the United States
federal government,” said principal investigator
ADAM RIESNER
Beth Kirkpatrick, M.D., assistant
professor of medicine and a
Fletcher Allen infectious disease
specialist who is supervising the
study. “Having a solid clinical trials
infrastructure and a track record of
success in vaccine studies helped to
bring this important study to our
site, and we are excited to be a part
of the development of this new
anthrax vaccine.”
The initiative to develop a UVM will enroll
new anthrax vaccine is based on 45 to 50 vaccine
concerns over the side effects and volunteers.
dosing schedule of the currently
licensed anthrax vaccine (Biothrax), as well as the
older technology used in its development. The U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services plans
to purchase 25 million doses of a new anthrax vaccine within two years.
PEDIATRICIAN AUTHORS
AAP REPORT ON TEEN SEXUALITY
A newly revised clinical report titled “Sexual Orientation and Adolescents” appeared in the June issue
of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) journal Pediatrics. The report, co-authored by Barbara
Frankowski, M.D., professor of pediatrics, advises
pediatricians to be attentive to the needs of patients
who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered, or
who may be confused over their sexual orientation.
Not surprisingly, pediatricians are being asked
with increasing frequency about sexual behavior
and sexual orientation by their adolescent patients.
The goal in caring for all youth, including those
who are or think they might be gay, lesbian, or
bisexual, is the same, say the authors of the report:
to promote normal adolescent development, social
and emotional well-being, and physical health.
“Gay, lesbian, and bisexual teens have the same
health needs as heterosexual peers, but often have
extra challenges like harassment at school, anger
from parents, and misunderstanding in their community,” says Frankowski, who serves as chairwoman of the AAP’s Committee on School Health.
“The pediatrician's office should be one safe place
for these youth to come with their concerns.”
F A L L
2004
5
COLLEGE NEWS
Howard Dean Speaks at College of Medicine Event
Speaking to approximately 200 attendees in Carpenter Auditorium on May 10, former Vermont Gov. Howard
Dean lamented the 44 million Americans — one in every seven — who have no health care coverage. First-year
UVM medical students organized the event as part of a nationwide effort to promote awareness and discussion
of the national crisis of uninsured Americans as part of “National Cover the Uninsured Week.”
“Here we are, 50 years after health care became the standard for
people in the industrial world,” said Dean. “We are the only major
industrialized country in the world that does not have health insurance for everyone. We’ve lost the balance between individual
responsibility and collective responsibility,” he continued.
Dean sketched out some of the features of the plan he advocated when he was a presidential candidate earlier this year, and
emphasized his belief that moving toward any workable plan that
can be refined and improved later is preferable to continuing the
present situation. “You have to work with the present system, and
with the present Congress,” he said. “Otherwise, the perfect
becomes the enemy of the good. The victims are the 40 million
people in this country who are uninsured.”
“National Cover the Uninsured Week” was a project of the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation sponsored by more than twenty national organizations covering the health-care spectrum who
are taking the opportunity to collectively recognize the acute problem of the uninsured in our country.
“It is important for us to recognize this national problem on a local scale,” said first-year medical student
Justin Sanders, one of the organizers of the week’s events. “As a physician and as one who has advanced the
national debate on covering the uninsured, Governor Dean is in a good position to inspire us as a group of future
and current health care providers.”
Dean’s appearance was co-sponsored by the UVM chapters of the American Medical Association, the
American Medical Student Association and the Family Medicine Interest Group.
IN IT FOR THE LONG RUN
These members of the College of
Medicine’s Class of 2007 cheered on
their classmates, and the dozens of
other students, faculty, and staff who
ran in the Vermont City Marathon on
May 30. Highlights included pharmacology post-doc Keith Wilkerson,
Ph.D., the first Vermonter to finish
(and the fourth finisher overall);
faculty members David Warshaw,
Ph.D.’78 and Chris Berger, Ph.D. , who
took third place in the men’s masters
relay; and Amy Chekos, M.D.’04, the
ninth woman to finish.
6
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
&
AWARDS
RECOGNITION
• The College of Medicine Class of 2004 announced the
• Paula Fives-Taylor, Ph.D.’73, professor emerita of
following faculty and staff awards at both the Senior
Class Award Ceremony on May 20 and at Commencement May 23: Clinical Department of the Year: Pediatrics
at Fletcher Allen Health Care; Basic Science Department
of the Year: Pathology; Clinical Teacher of the Year: Lewis
First, M.D., professor and chair of pediatrics; Basic
Science Teacher of the Year: Nicholas Hardin, M.D., professor of pathology; American Medical Student
Association Golden Apple Award: Beth Hart, Ph.D., professor emerita of biochemistry; American Medical
Women’s Association Gender Equity Award: Sharon
Mount, M.D., professor of pathology, and Virginia Eddy,
M.D., clinical associate professor of surgery, Maine
Medical Center; Colette Award (inspired by former student affairs staff member Colette Ozarowski for significant contribution to the quality of student life): Nini
Anger, of the office of student affairs; Dignity in
Medicine Award (in recognition of the respect, inclusion, and support for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and
Transgendered students, faculty, staff, and patients):
Marga Sproul, M.D.’76. The class also honored Peter
Cataldo, M.D., associate professor of surgery, with the
Howe Outstanding Teacher of Surgery Prize for 2004.
The award recognizes the senior medical school class’
choice for outstanding teacher of surgery.
• Jan Carney, M.D., associate dean for public health and
research professor of medicine, was recently awarded a
UVM Office of Community-University Partnerships and
Service-Learning Planning & Implementation Grant.
The grant is titled “Public Health Projects in the
Vermont Integrated Curriculum at the College of
Medicine: creating opportunities for students to take on
leadership roles in public health.”
• Charles Irvin, Ph.D., professor of medicine and director
of the Vermont Lung Center and the Asthma Clinical
Research Center, was awarded the Joseph R. Rodarte
Award for Scientific Distinction by the Assembly on
Respiratory Structure and Function of the American
Thoracic Society at the society’s annual meeting in
Orlando on May 24.
• Sharon Mount, M.D., professor of pathology, has been
named the recipient of the Buttles Professorship in
Pathology for 2004-2009. Established in 1984 to honor
Ernest Hiram Buttles, a professor of pathology and bacteriology at the College of Medicine from 1921 to 1946,
the professorship is awarded to a pathology faculty
member to recognize a commitment to and excellence
in the teaching of pathology.
microbiology and molecular genetics, has been elected
to Fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology.
This fellowship honors Fives-Taylor’s important contributions to the field of oral microbiology. New fellows are
elected annually through a highly selective, peerreviewed process, based on their records of scientific
achievement and original contributions that have
advanced microbiology.
• David Maughan, Ph.D., research professor of molecular physiology & biophysics, was honored along with his
brothers Paul and W. Lowell by the Washington State
University Alumni Association May 29 with individual
Alumni Achievement Awards. The brothers were cited
for achievements in engineering, science and medicine,
and for bringing recognition to their professions and
alma mater.
TOP LEFT: ADAM RIESNER ; BOTTOM LEFT: JORDAN SILVERMAN ; RIGHT: ADAM RIESNER
NEW EMERITI HONORED
Two members of the College of Medicine faculty were awarded
emerita standing at the 2004 commencement in May. Beth Hart,
Ph.D., (at right) retired after 34 years teaching at the College. Hart was
recognized for teaching biochemistry to nearly 3,000 medical, undergraduate, and graduate students during her long career. She was also
recognized for her research on the toxic effects of cadmium, and her
many hours of public service. Barbara Tindle, M.D., (at left) joined the
department of pathology in 1977. She was director of the hematopathology clinical service for 27 years, and director of clinical laboratories at Fletcher Allen Health care for eight years. Tindle’s work on
hematological malignancies was recognized for fundamentally
changing the way scientists thought about blood cancers.
F A L L
2004
7
2004 Commencement
Far left, the academic procession nears Ira Allen
Chapel. At left, students await the cermony. Above,
speaker Zail Berry, M.D., addresses the graduation.
Below, a parent shows his support.
needs of my family; balancing the
returning the main ceremony to the Campus Green for the first time in four decades. needs of others with my own needs.
Balancing work and play, activity
Later that day, as the College of Medicine conferred degrees on 90 M.D.s and sixteen
and rest.
Ph.D.s, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine Zail S. Berry, M.D., delivered the
Your choices as physicians will
be critical to not only your own
commencement address excerpted here.
well-being, but also to society’s,
On reflection about what advice I might give, I because your choices, in sum, will shape the future of
think about the many lessons I’ve learned from the medical care. The practice of medicine is in a difficult
patients I’ve cared for as they’ve died.
period, and facing even more difficult times. Our sociA lot of people near the end of their life spend a lot ety is spending huge amounts of resources to achieve
of time thinking about, and sometimes talking about, patient care outcomes that are among the worst in the
their lives — the things they are proud of, the things developed world. The costs of health insurance are
they wish they’d done differently. One thing that reducing the resources available for education and
occurred to me after caring for hospice patients for a other public goods. And over 40 million people in the
number of years was that people on their deathbed United States are uninsured, leading to high costs for
never say that they wish they’d spent more time at the emergency care that could have been prevented by
office. Well, given that we are in professions at very earlier, less expensive, attention.
high risk of spending WAY too much time at the
In this situation, the answer will not come from
office, how do we balance our work with all the rest micro-adjustments that make tiny changes to what we
that life has to offer? How can we create balance in our have now. We need to change our viewpoint and
lives?
reframe the problem. And the framework for the
For me, the problem of balance is my everyday change we need is the viewpoint of the patient. We
issue. Balancing the needs of my patients with the need to find a way to organize and finance health care
On May 23, 2004, the University of Vermont celebrated its 200th commencement by
8
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
ADAM RIESNER
in a way that best serves the interests — and the experiences — of patients themselves.
That need for making the patient’s experience the
central focus of health care is why physicians need to
be involved in solving the health care problem. Most
people who are already patients are, by definition, vulnerable; they are the least able to advocate their point
of view. And people who will be patients in the future
are unlikely to have the knowledge or foresight now
about what the experience of receiving health care will
be like. But health care professionals, taken together,
informed by patient-centered research, do know what
those experiences are like — or rather, we have the
means to know. To do so, we have to open ourselves to
the patient’s experience, to truly widen our perspective, to see what our patients see, experience what our
patients experience. And we have to have the creativity to imagine how it could be better. To
imagine what we want it to be for us, what
we want it to be for the people we love.
We have choices to make, every day
and every year of our careers. Some will
be small choices and affect only one person, but others will affect expenditures,
larger numbers of people, and policy. And
the sum of our choices will determine the
reality of health care. Choices that have
to do with how we provide medical care
will ultimately affect how systems are
organized to provide medical care.
As physicians, we are incredibly lucky,
incredibly privileged. We have a tremen-
dous range of choices about what we do and where we
work. We get up each morning with the opportunity to
touch the lives of other people. The rewards of our
profession are of infinite value.
But in the next year, most of you are likely to have
moments when it will be easy to lose sight of that privilege. The strains of fatigue and overwork of internship are something that I truly wish I could protect you
from. Hold on to who you are and what you believe in,
what you care about. Never mistake your job for your
work.
I hope for each and every one of you a life in medicine that nurtures you as a person, not just as a physician. Be kind to yourself and remember that perfect
balance is not possible. Make choices, big and small,
that honor your values and your quest for balance and
growth and wholeness in your life. Don’t be afraid to
think outside the box, to try
something new, to do it differently, because that is
where real innovation and
growth will come from. The
destination of “perfect balance” is not what’s important.
It is the choices you make to
get closer to balance and
wholeness that will determine your growth, and make
up the journey of your life.
And many years from now,
that is what you will be looking back on.
F A L L
2004
9
the
b oi frn etw h
ideas
UVM obstetricians and gynecologists help deliver new babies, new treatments,
and the next generation of care.
T
he genesis of this science is the genesis of us all: a human egg and sperm meet, bond,
and attach to a mother’s uterus. If all goes well, nine months later a new egg or sperm
donor will be born.
Or not. Sometimes the usual nine months’ stay in the uterus is significantly shortened.
Other times the mother’s blood pressure rises to dangerous levels and the baby must be taken
out of the womb early. Later on in life, cancer can invade the ovary that created the egg, and
the mother may have no idea until it’s too late. Or, after the mother has stopped the monthly
production of those eggs, she goes on hormone replacement therapy and experiences devastating side effects.
The physician-scientists at the College of Medicine’s Department of Obstetrics and
Gynecology search for solutions to problems such as these, using every means available — from
basic research techniques to multi-center clinical trials. Every year, they educate medical students and residents, treat thousands of patients, deliver hundreds of new babies — all while giving birth themselves to new knowledge and potential therapies.
by RACHAEL MOELLER GORMAN
photography by ROSE MCNULTY
10
Professor and Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology Mark Phillippe, M.D.
11
When John Van Sicklen Maeck Professor and
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Chair
Mark Phillippe, M.D., came to the College of
Medicine in 2001, his purpose was clear.
“My main goal when I came was to enhance basic
research,” he says. “The department certainly had
ongoing research, but the idea was to strengthen it,
particularly by bringing in additional physicianscientists to complement the people who were
Each faculty physician in the department spends
an important portion of his or her time in the clinic, performing surgery on cancer patients, treating
women with vulval-vaginal disease, or helping
women deliver babies.
In Phillippe’s case, though, sometimes preventing a patient from having her baby is as important
as helping her deliver it.
“This morning I was in labor-delivery and did a
C-section on a woman at 30 weeks —
two-and-a-half months premature,” he
says one June afternoon. “She had been
in the hospital for two weeks bleeding
and contracting. We delayed delivery —
she got inhibitors of contractions and
medication to try to accelerate the
baby’s lung maturity. But she began to
have some subtle evidence of infection
and other complications, so finally we
decided it was just time. The risk of
keeping her pregnant was greater than
the risk of delivering the baby prematurely.”
This woman isn’t alone: about 12
percent of all pregnancies in the United
States end in pre-term labor. Phillippe
is trying to find out why this is so. He’s
starting by looking at blood.
When doctors induce delivery, they
sometimes use a natural hormone called
oxytocin that triggers the phosalready here.” Phillippe set out to Ira Bernstein, M.D.’82,
phatidylinositol signaling pathway,
recruit four new physician-scientists, and a subject of his
releases calcium, and causes the muscles
and has already hired two: Associate plasma volume study.
of the uterus to contract and the woman
Professors Edward Chien, M.D., and
to eventually deliver her baby. Since
Elizabeth Bonney, M.D. “We’ve got a good group bleeding in the uterus — usually an indication that
of investigators who can collaborate and cross over the placenta has separated from the uterine wall —
in regard to research interests,” he says.
often leads to early labor, Phillippe wanted to see if
The department maintains cutting-edge clinical there was some substance in blood that worked in
programs such as the Women’s Center for Pelvic the same way as oxytocin. He looked at thrombin,
Health, Fetal Diagnostic Center, and the In Vitro the enzyme that helps blood clot, in a rat model,
Fertilization Program, and funded research span- and hit pay dirt. Thrombin did in fact bind to
ning the areas of General Obstetrics and Gyneco- receptors on uterine muscles and, through the same
logy, Gynecologic Oncology, Maternal-Fetal Medi- pathway as oxytocin, cause them to contract. He
cine, Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, went on to clone and sequence two of the receptors
and Urogynecology. Twenty board-certified aca- that thrombin binds to — G-protein-coupled prodemic physicians and four Ph.D. researchers are tease-activated receptors (PARs) -3 and -4 — in rat
engaged in research, with support from medical uterine smooth muscle.
students, graduate students, nurses, and technicians.
Additionally, doctors know that inflammation
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V E R M O N T
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and infection can force a mother to prematurely
deliver her baby; Phillippe discovered that thrombin again plays an integral role in this. He found
that a gene in rats called fibrinogen-like protein 2
(fgl-2) is activated by inflammatory cytokines and
converts prothrombin to thrombin, resulting in
uterine contractions.
“For a woman to survive her pregnancies, she
needs to be able to have a mechanism to empty the
uterus if major complications, including significant bleeding and/or infection within the
uterus, occur,” he says. “Once we understand
all of the mechanisms, we can design better
interventions.”
plasma volumes before they ever became pregnant.
“My hypothesis was that many of the women
who develop preeclampsia develop it not because of
an abnormality of pregnancy, but because they
entered pregnancy with some different physiology,
or phenotype, that led to a poor adaptation to the
normal changes of pregnancy,” he said.
Studying women who had never been pregnant,
Bernstein set about defining that phenotype. “The
$
In the early morning hours of December 23,
1997, on-call doctor Ira Bernstein, M.D.’82,
professor of OB/GYN, was trying to sleep
after a particularly stressful day in the lab. “I’d
had too much caffeine and holiday chocolate,
I was tossing and turning, running through
data in my head,” he said. But the data eventually solidified into an idea, and the idea
became a hypothesis — a brand new one tackling why preeclampsia — one of the leading
causes of maternal mortality in the world —
occurs. “I got up and wrote it down at about 2
o’clock in the morning,” he said.
Preeclampsia, which affects about 5 percent
of all pregnancies, has been documented for
thousands of years, but no one knows why it
primary risk was, we thought, an
happens, or which pregnant women will Elizabeth Bonney,
intolerance to plasma volume expandevelop it. The condition is characterized by M.D., studies
sion,” he said.
high blood pressure and protein in the urine of maternal immune
Plasma volume expansion occurs
expectant mothers and is found only after the systems.
when, during pregnancy, a woman’s
twentieth week of pregnancy. It can progress
blood supply increases by about 50
into seizures, hemorrhage, and strokes in the
percent to nourish her growing fetus. Bernstein
mother and early delivery for the baby — the only
theorizes that in women with low plasma volume,
cure for the disease. Often the baby is too young to
whose blood vessels constrict to maintain a normal
survive.
blood pressure, this increase in blood supply during
But on that night in 1997, Bernstein was thinkpregnancy leads to high blood pressure and
ing about the fact that many women with
preeclampsia, because their vessels cannot adjust to
preeclampsia also have low plasma volumes —
the higher plasma volume.
blood minus the blood cells — circulating in their
He has already linked low plasma volume to a
bodies. Researchers had previously shown that
higher likelihood of blood vessel constriction, or
women with a certain type of angiotensinogen gene,
high sympathetic tone, as well as blood that is more
which plays a role in fluid balance in the body, are
likely to form clots, and blood with higher numbers
more likely to develop preeclampsia, and Bernstein
of inflammatory substances. In addition to his other
had just found that those women also had lower
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2004
13
work on fetal growth and associated abnormalities,
Bernstein now has a new five-year longitudinal study
he hopes will solidify his preeclampsia findings —
and eventually allow doctors to predict which
women will develop the disorder before it occurs.
$
Associate Professor Elizabeth Bonney, M.D.,
remembers when the question of why a mother’s
immune response, such as the T helper type 2
response, which is not as toxic to cells as T helper
type 1. Because Th2 responses are highly dependent on a substance called IL-4, Bonney tested
whether mother mice that lacked IL-4 mounted an
immune response to an antigen called H-Y, found
on male fetuses, and subsequently delivered fewer
male pups. She found that, when injected with H-Y,
the mothers did mount an immune response, but
they also delivered the same number
of male offspring as the controls.
She did a similar experiment with
IL-10, another Th2 cytokine, and
found the same results.
“This suggests that IL-4 and IL10 in and of themselves may not be
critical for maternal tolerance,” she
said. “Passing genes onto the next
generation is such an important
mechanism that it makes sense for
there to be overlapping mechanisms
to protect the baby from the maternal immune system. My work now
asks: Are the T cells activated?
Where do they get activated? How
do they respond? Do they go to certain places or not?”
$
The
recent
groundbreaking
immune system does not reject its half- Cynthia Sites, M.D., has
Women’s Health Initiative (WHI)
foreign fetus first intrigued her.
study found several severe longstudied the effect of
“I was standing in the middle of hormone replacement
term side effects of hormone
labor-delivery at Brigham and Women’s therapy in women.
replacement therapy (HRT) in postHospital, and there were a huge number
menopausal women, including
of women in labor,” she said. “I said, ‘There’s gotta increased risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke.
be a way to reject these tumors right now.’ And as Associate Professor Cynthia Sites, M.D., now adds
soon as it came out of my mouth I said, ‘huh!’”
diabetes to that list.
For years researchers have been struggling to
In a randomized, placebo-controlled, doubleunderstand why a mother’s immune system, which blind trial of 76 non-obese women, Sites found that
easily recognizes and eliminates dangerous viruses women taking HRT had a 17 percent decrease in
and bacteria, seems to turn a blind eye to the 50 per- insulin sensitivity — a precursor to diabetes — after
cent foreign tissue developing within its own uterus. only six months on the drug. The women, however,
“My question is whether the need to tolerate the never actually developed diabetes and, “Fortunately
fetus has produced an immune system that is differ- these bad changes completely reversed after that
ent during pregnancy,” says Bonney.
time,” she says.
To answer this question, she has been studying
“After the WHI, it was the patients who helped
T cells and their response to foreign agents. point the direction of my research,” she said. “They
Researchers have hypothesized that pregnancy sometimes ask the questions themselves. Other
restricts the mother to only certain classes of times you try to figure out ways to treat patients and
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V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
you realize there isn’t a lot of good data out there to
explain why you want to treat them in a certain way.”
She saw that many patients were trying soy —
which contains a phytoestrogen — to help alleviate
their menopausal symptoms. She recently began a
three-month study looking at the glucose metabolism and insulin secretion of women drinking a soy
shake twice a day that contains both soy protein and
isoflavones.
There are no results yet — the study is
still “blinded” — but she has high hopes.
“I’d always been very suspicious of
complementary or alternative medicine,
but I now believe that there’s really something there,” she says. “I think there’s a
desire by doctors to find out what’s out
there, but it just hasn’t been studied
enough.”
decreased appetite, but many times the complaints
are at first dismissed as hormonal changes.
Wong and colleague Karen Lounsbury, Ph.D.,
assistant professor of pharmacology, decided to test
two proteins found in other cancers — VEGF,
which promotes blood vessel growth, and HIF-1a
— which is a transcription factor that turns on the
VEGF gene — for new blood vessel formation in
ovarian cancer. This process — called angiogenesis
$
“A lot of my patients end up being like
my adopted family because I treat them
for so long,” says Assistant Professor
Cheung Wong, M.D. “I see some of these
people more than I see my own family.”
Wong heads up Fletcher Allen’s gynecologic oncology division, and over 80
percent of the patients he sees are being
treated as part of fourteen open studies
UVM/FAHC runs through the Gynecologic Oncology Group, a nationwide Cheung Wong,
— must occur in order for tumors to
network of clinical studies funded by the M.D. and his
expand. Examining ovaries from women
National Cancer Institute. Patients can colleague Karen
with and without the disease, Wong
choose to be treated under the research Lounsbury, Ph.D.
found that VEGF and HIF-1a were
protocol that best fits their condition, or
expressed more often in cancerous
receive the traditional standard of care. Most
ovaries than in controls. Additionally, later stage
choose the experiment, despite the lack of guarantumors — stage III and IV — had more of the protees.
teins than earlier stages.
Wong, however, hopes his research can generate
In another study of human ovarian cancer cell
more guarantees.
lines, Wong found that a drug called Procrit could
“I think one of the failures we’ve had is that
also decrease HIF-1a in hypoxic situations, which
we’ve been trying to always treat the cancer but not
reduces VEGF, and thus reduces angiogenesis.
really trying to understand what causes it to grow,”
“My ultimate goal is to do translational research
he said. He studies ovarian cancer, the most com— to do experiments in the lab, and then to bring
mon cause of death among all types of gynecologic
those experiments to the patient’s bedside,” he said.
cancers. Previously known as a “silent disease,”
“I think that if we can improve survival with what
most women do not find out they have it until they
we’re doing or give another medication that has
reach the later stages, and at that point the five-year
very little side effects and can decrease tumor
survival rate is only 20 to 40 percent. Symptoms
growth, I think that’s really the big goal.”
range from weight gain, feeling bloated, and
VM
F A L L
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15
MIKA FUJIWARA
what
I did
on my
Summer
vacation
For many medical students, summer “break”
was a time for service and education through experience.
photography by
ADAM RIESNER
16
The summer weeks between the end of exams in June and the beginning of classes in August could be the last quiet time in years for a
future physician. But, not surprisingly, College of Medicine students
tend to make this potential downtime a decidedly busy time.
“A large percentage of our students are gaining some form of
experience this summer that’s related to being a physician,” said
Dean John N. Evans. “They’re performing service to our community, gaining knowledge and experience in research settings and, each
step of the way, demonstrating a commitment to their profession.”
Dozens of students performed research work this summer in communities across Vermont and the nation, and in places as far-flung as
Nepal, Ethiopia, Argentina, and Pakistan. Their efforts were funded
by the College and also supported by such groups as the Medical
Alumni Association and the Freeman Medical Scholars Program
(administered by the College’s Area Health Education Centers). This
July, our photographer caught just a few moments from the busy
summer lives of eight students in the midst of their projects.
’07
Mika Fujiwara spent her summer founding a swimming program for children with special
needs. She had long been interested in working with the members of this population. “I
began working with kids who have special needs in college in Berkeley, California,” she
explains. “They were so full of spirit, I knew I wanted to do a project that served them here.”
Working with Assistant Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry Alan Rubin, M.D., and Tad
Hoehl of the Burlington Y.M.C.A., and with the assistance of Parent to Parent of Vermont
and the Visiting Nurse Association, she crafted SKIP — the Special Kids Inspired Program
— that provided four weeks of water activities for children with autism, cerebral palsy, and
chromosomal-related conditions. Fujiwara was assisted by fellow medical students Mark
Hoeft, Monica Kwan, and Jack Chan, physical therapy students Joanne Cong, Melissa
Greeley (shown below, right) and nursing student Carol Koerner (below left). She plans a
poster presentation at the College this fall to explain her work in detail.
david curley ’07
M.D.-Ph.D. student David Curley spent this summer on the third floor of the Health
Science Research Facility, working in the laboratory of Assistant Professor of Pathology
Marcus Bosenberg, M.D., Ph.D. “One major goal of Dr. Bosenberg’s lab is trying to better understand the way in which cancer spreads,” Curley says. “We are trying to develop
mouse models of metastatic melanoma. We are also looking at the genetic differences
between normal melanocytes and melanoma using several cell lines derived from human
melanomas.” This summer, Curley has assisted in the characterization of a new mouse
model, and also worked to understand the differences in signaling between normal
melanocytes and melanoma cell lines, all in the hope of someday developing more precisely targeted chemotherapeutic agents for cancer patients.
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V E R M O N T
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SCOT MILLAY
’07 &
REBECCA MOULTROUP
’07
Students Scot Millay and Rebecca Moultroup spent a large part
of their time this summer in the small town of Plainfield, in central Vermont, investigating a disturbing occurrence of one of the
most dreaded diseases. Four years ago, Melanie Lawrence,
M.D.’00 followed up on a comment from a local physician to
begin a study of a notably high incidence in the Plainfield community of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also know as Lou
Gehrig’s disease. Lawrence found a disturbing concentration of
ALS cases in the small farming town — a more than ten times
higher rate than the national average. Working under the direction of Lawrence and Clinical Assistant Professor of Family
Medicine John Matthew, M.D., Moultroup and Millay logged in
200 hours each this summer surveying and interviewing area residents, and planning soil and water testing to see if environmental conditions could be contributing to these occurrences.
maria dunn ’07
amylynne frankel ’07
For a total of four weeks this summer, Amylynne Frankel grabbed her clipboard and
pen in the morning and set off in search of kids enjoying their summer vacations. “I
go down to the skate park [on Burlington’s waterfront] or cruise Church Street.
Basically, I go wherever I think I can find kids who will talk to me,” she said. Frankel
was in search of adolescent kids to survey and interview for her project studying the
possible link between marijuana and tobacco smoking in Vermont teens. Working
with Assistant Professor of Medicine Paul Turner, Ph.D., she also explored the concept of tobacco as a “gateway” drug.
20
V E R M O N T
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Maria Dunn first met Dorothy Fisher,
M.D.’98, a Fletcher Allen physician interested in geriatrics, when Dunn worked with
her at Aesculapius Medical Center in South
Burlington. Now Dunn is a second-year
medical student with a keen interest in geriatric care. This summer, Dunn conducted
focus groups at Wake Robin, a life care
retirement community in Shelburne,
Vermont. “There is not a lot of literature on
what influences people in this type of community to chose on-site care versus other
alternatives, and how this impacts their
health care,” explains Dunn. “These focus
groups can hopefully guide us to the best
questions to ask to learn what is driving the
choices these patients make.”
keith robinson ’07
Second-year students Keith Robinson and Benjamin Huerth spent their
summer minding their p’s and q’s — concentrating on physicians and
quality. For 200 hours this July, they shadowed physicians at Fletcher
Allen Health Care and carefully observed doctor-patient encounters to
learn more about the ways in which physicians and patients interact.
“They work within a framework called Quality Assurance and Quality
Improvement (QAQI),” explains Henry and Carleen Tufo Professor of
Medicine Benjamin Littenberg, M.D., (pictured above behind
Robinson) one of the faculty members working with the two students.
“It’s a process that points out consistent, incremental pathways to
improved care for patients.”
“I’ve learned more about the many ways physicians and patients can
interact through this project, and how to gauge quality improvement,”
says Robinson. His interest in this subject was honed by his experience
with QAQI in the ten years of emergency medical technician work he
performed before coming to medical school. “It’s all about how you can
constantly improve what you do,” he says.
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21
Leading
by
example
a
lthough there are a handful of faculty
who have been at the College of
Medicine as long as Dean John N. Evans, few have had the chance to be as intimately involved in the growth of the school as he has. Evans came to the
College as a post-doctoral fellow in 1976, was executive dean through most of
the 1990s, and was named the College’s sixteenth dean in January of this year.
A few days after he presented his vision for the College of Medicine to a special meeting of the faculty in June, Evans sat down with Vermont Medicine to
sketch out his view of where the school has come from, and where it is going
in the years ahead.
photography by MICHAEL SIPE
23
“ I like to borrow a phrase
hockey players use ...
skating to where
the puck will be,
we are
rather than skating to
where the puck is now.”
Vermont Medicine: What is the most important thing
to consider to get an accurate image of the College?
John Evans: A good view of things starts when you
know the mission of the College. Simply put, the
core mission of the College of Medicine is the education of the physicians and scientists of the future.
Other missions that are integral to our ability to
educate are to be active participants and leaders in
patient care, and to be a faculty that is innovative
and creative about patient care and seen as the leaders in their community. At the same time we need to
be a faculty whose research activities range from
basic biomedical research through clinical research
and translation of discovery into new therapies for
patients. It’s in that milieu that we educate students
to have the right foundations, whether they are
going to be physicians or scientists.
That’s the traditional three-legged stool of education, research, and patient care that everyone
speaks of when it comes to a medical school. I have
shared most recently with the faculty my view that
it is really a four-legged stool we’re metaphorically
talking about — the fourth leg is the involvement
and engagement that we have with our community.
We do that in multiple ways from direct care for our
population in terms of patient care, to our outreach
to encourage youngsters to think about careers in
medicine and science, to working with policy makers in our state to create a better health system for
the citizens of Vermont and, hopefully, the nation.
We are integral members of this community. You
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V E R M O N T
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could carry on a lot of what we do without going
outside the walls, so to speak. That’s not the choice
that we’ve made.
VM: What are the most notable accomplishments
the school has made recently?
JE: We have spent the last several years evolving a
curriculum that is responsive to the changes in scientific knowledge, and responsive to the need to
continue to educate our students to be caring, compassionate members of society. The faculty worked
hard to put this together and launched the Vermont
Integrated Curriculum (VIC) last fall. The students
have responded well. It has created an environment
where there is a better appreciation of how the basic
sciences integrate with clinical medicine. It’s easier
for students to capture the basic science if they
understand how it impacts what they will be doing
throughout their careers. And already this fall, a
class will enter and experience a first-year curriculum that is already in some way remodeled. We now
have an ongoing process where our faculty are constantly changing the curriculum to be responsive to
the needs of our students and the changing health
care environment.
VM: How long have you been teaching students at
the College?
JE: The first time I stood before a large group of
medical students was, oh, probably in the spring of
1977. At that time I was involved in a project that
focused on problem-solving in pulmonary physiology, which did some interesting things using computer models and other tools to test whether you can
teach problem solving, and predict those who will be
good at it. That experience may be the root of my
interest in curricular reform. So I began my teaching
experience at the college in ’77, and have been teaching ever since. I love to teach. I still get nervous every
time I prepare to go into a classroom. But as a mentor of mine once told me: “the day you aren’t nervous
is the day you should stop — because it’s a sign you’re
not caring enough.” Your students deserve that.
VM: What are some of the other accomplishments
you’re proud of?
JE: We have had great success in research. Our faculty and students publish papers in the best journals.
The quality of our faculty is reflected in their service as editors of journals and by their service on
NIH study sections. There has been an
absolute growth and a movement upward in
our position in terms of NIH funding relative
to our peers. We’ve moved up roughly 8 percent in where we stand among medical schools
on that measure.
VM: Will the expected decrease in federal
research funding impact the College?
JE: Sure. We know that the availability of federal research funding is at best probably going to
be level for the immediate future. So, at a time
when we have an institution that’s highly
dependent upon extramural funding, to have the
amount of that funding reduced has to be considered a challenge. However, I believe we are
up to that challenge. We have recruited and
retained outstanding faculty, and have made —
and will continue to make — strategic investments to assure our success. And, very importantly, we have a shared vision among the senior
leadership of the university and our colleagues at
Fletcher Allen and the Maine Medical Center — a
leadership that’s prepared to make strategic investments for the long run.
What’s very important is that we have an ongoing strategic planning process that will help us to
position ourselves properly for whatever twists and
turns come our way. I like to borrow a phrase hockey players use to describe what they do: we are skating to where the puck will be, rather than skating to
where the puck is now. Because that’s the way you
score goals.
VM: When you presented your vision of the school
to the faculty recently, you focused in part on current successes…
JE: With good reason. We are doing an outstanding
job in all of our missions. Our graduates are some of
the most sought-after residency candidates nationwide. We attract strong residents to our program as
well. We are doing an outstanding job of research as
evidenced by our move ten positions up in the ranking of NIH funding among the 125 U.S. medical
schools. We are also fully engaged in our community, through programs like Area Health Education
Centers and the Vermont Child Health Improvement Program. Our faculty practice is providing the
best care, and seeing over 1.1 million patients last
year. We have a great faculty. There is a culture of
collaboration in our faculty that you won’t find
everywhere. Our faculty is very willing to work with
each other, to work across Colleges, to partner with
outside organizations.
VM: You mentioned you started teaching in 1977.
When did your relationship with the College start?
How did you enter the field of medical science?
JE: You’re talking about a lot of years there. I’ll deal
with the second part of your question first. I’d
always been interested in science. I was a biology
major in college, and and decided to go to graduate
school after I graduated. My partner-to-be, Ellen,
was from Florida and I had learned about an excellent graduate program in physiology at the
University of Florida College of Medicine. Off we
went, less than two weeks after our marriage. I
completed my studies in pulmonary physiology
with Professor Marc Jaeger in 1976. (Interestingly,
Marc’s son, Dominic, joined our faculty years later
in Primary Care Internal Medicine.) When I was
nearly finished in Florida, Ellen and I decided we
would like to return to New England. As good fortune would have it, the Chair at Florida, Arthur
Otis, knew the Chair of physiology at Vermont,
Norm Alpert, and the next thing you know I was
here for an interview in the summer of 1975. I visited again at Christmas and wrote a Vermont Heart
Association grant that was funded. I started working
in April of 1976. I’ve lectured about the lung since
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25
1976, and plan to do so for many
more years. So, in a sense, I guess I
am here because of my interest in
science, and a love affair that lasted
28 years, until Ellen’s death in
1998.
VM: The College is now in the
process of being accredited by the
Liaison Committee on Medical
Education. Are we a very different
place now than when the accreditors were last here?
JE: We have an entirely different
curriculum than when they were
here eight years ago. Our research
activity has gone up at least threefold. But there are some things that haven’t changed.
We continue to have high-quality students, and a
high-quality faculty. Relative to our physical plant,
the accreditors will see exciting new facilities. Our
new medical library and education center will be
almost completed. I believe this demonstrates the
institutional commitment to excellence that we have
here at the medical school.
VM: What are some of the main areas that you
expect the strategic planning process to focus on?
JE: The first phase of our new strategic planning
process will validate and test our areas of research
focus and emphasis. Historically, they have been
cardiovascular, cancer, neuroscience, and lung,
among others, but those have been our four principle areas. The Planning Task Force will study if
these are the right areas for the future. Just because
they were the right ones for the past doesn’t mean
they are the right ones for the future — this is
another instance of where we’re trying to skate to
where the puck is going to be. But we have great
strength in those areas, and I think that in all likelihood they will remain key; even though we could
see some shifts over the next few years. I have proposed to the faculty three areas that I think are
worth considering as part of the strategic planning
process, and that includes looking at imaging in a
more rigorous way. This is an era of technology that
is moving rapidly. We can now, with MRI and CAT
scanners, look at biological events in human subjects in a way that we never could before. For instance, one can study what cells of the brain are
26
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
active in a healthy normal individual versus someone who might have Alzheimer’s disease, and start
to get insights about how that disease is impacting
the brain. So, I proposed to the faculty that we
should create a human imaging center, that we
should engage in recruiting people who are experts
— ranging from physicians to basic scientists to
MRI physicists to computational scientists — creating a culture and an environment where imaging
will allow us to do more translational research than
we’ve ever done before.
The second area that I proposed for consideration is the science of quality.
VM: How do you define that term? Everybody seems
to have their own idea of what “quality” means.
JE: Well, it’s an idea that needs to evolve through
the strategic planning process. Of course we need to
be a quality organization. Every healthcare organization, every company has that as a goal. What
we’re talking about is being an organization that
develops a culture where everyone — including faculty, staff and students — knows how to measure it,
how to improve it. Integrating the science of quality into the curriculum for our medical students is an
integral part of their education. When our graduates are out there as practicing physicians or scientists, they will understand the science of quality, and
will be advocates for how to best measure it, and
implement processes to improve it.
The third area is an opportunity that, in a sense,
is an extension of imaging. Science today is very
dependent upon technology, and engineering is an
area where technologies
often are developed. We
have proposed to the president and the provost a significant strengthening of the biomedical engineering efforts here on campus. One of the charges I
have made to the strategic planning group of the
college is to develop a plan for how the College of
Engineering and the College of Medicine can collaborate to create on this campus a strong biomedical engineering program with shared faculty,
shared space, and shared resources. There are
already collaborative projects underway and there
seems to be a lot of interest in developing a more
formalized initiative.
Dean Evans explains
lung elasticity in a
physiology class.
VM: What is your involvement in current fundraising for the College?
JE: The University, as you know, has a $250 million
capital campaign underway. Within that, the
College of Medicine is responsible for raising $60
million. We have the good fortune of having great
support from our alumni, from our faculty, staff,
and friends, and we’re well ahead of target at this
point in the campaign. I believe it’s time for us to
raise the bar and, rather than trying to raise $60
million during this capital campaign, to aim for $80
million. I’m confident we can achieve a higher goal.
We have exciting things to talk about to inspire
donors, and we have good people who are working
on outreach. The capital campaign is extraordinarily important to us because it helps support scholar-
ships for our students and will give resources to the
College to make the strategic investments we need
to make to stay competitive in the research arena.
So, this is a place where I plan to spend a fair
amount of my time over the next couple of years.
VM: To close this conversation — another new
school year will soon be upon us, with another new
class of students filling our halls. What do you think
about when you see those new faces coming
through the doors?
JE: Mostly, it makes me think about the great promise we have. How something new is happening here
every day. I often say to students: don’t ever think
that ten years from today you’re going to be doing
what you now think you’ll be doing. My own life
has been an example of this. My advice — and it
comes out of that spirit of promise — is to be broadbased in what you choose to learn. Realize that
learning is not about content, it’s about how to
think, how to solve problems, how to build relationships, how to work in a team. If you have those
skills, you can be at the bench, you can be in the
classroom, you can be in the private sector, you can
be in the administrative side of things — as long as
you’re open-minded about it. My advice to new students is to never rigidly characterize yourself and
say “I’m going to be a person who does X, and I’m
going to do that for the next 40 years.” That could
be the case, but always keep in mind all the unexpected things that can happen to you, all the opportunities that can open new paths.
F A L L
2004
27
HALL A
P R E S I D E N T
C L A S S
’
S
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
29
30
31
38
PRESIDENT ’S CORNER
UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT
COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
DEVELOPMENT &
ALUMNI RELATIONS OFFICE
ASSISTANT DEAN
rick blount
DIRECTOR , MEDICAL ANNUAL GIVING
ginger lubkowitz
DIRECTOR , MEDICAL ALUMNI RELATIONS
kelli shonter
DEVELOPMENT OFFICER
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.
That tradition continued with the naming of the current Hall A in the Given medical complex.
The Hall A magazine section seeks to be a meeting place for all former students of the College of Medicine.
Even though I live and practice medicine in New Jersey,
UVM, and especially the College of Medicine, is never far
from my thoughts. Anytime my thoughts turn to UVM, I
erin douglas
am always reminded of my first trip across Vermont on
ASSISTANT
Route 12 in my sister’s Corvair in 1964, back before
jane aspinall
Interstate 89 was built. That fateful trip, though it took place 40 years
ago, seems so much more recent. Before setting out in the Corvair, I
UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT
MEDICAL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
had rarely been outside the Boston area. The beauty of the Vermont
ALUMNI EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
countryside beckoned to me around every curve in the road. That first
2004–2005
OFFICERS
TERMS )
( TWO -YEAR
PRESIDENT
charles b. howard, m.d. ’ 69
(2004-2006)
PRESIDENT- ELECT
marvin a. nierenberg, m.d. ’60
(2004-2006)
TREASURER
day, even before I got to Burlington, I knew that, if accepted, I would
attend the UVM College of Medicine.
While life’s choices have kept me living elsewhere, Vermont, and the
College of Medicine, will always merit special affection in the hearts
and lives of the Howard family. All four of our children have earned
patricia fenn, m.d. ’65
degrees at UVM — two of them from the College of Medicine. The
(2004-2006)
SECRETARY
last graduated this past May. Thanks to the thoughtfulness of Ray
(2004-2006)
Anton, I enjoyed the honor and privilege of being allowed on stage
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
with the faculty to share her joy in receiving her diploma. Just before
ruth a. seeler, m.d. ’62
john tampas, m.d. ’54
( ONGOING )
MEMBERS - AT- LARGE
( SIX-YEAR TERMS )
mark pasanen, m.d. ’92
(1998-2004)
james c. hebert, m.d. ’77
(2000-2006)
carleton r. haines, m.d.’43
(2004-2006)
the ceremony began, Dean Evans told me that if I was sad about no
longer having a child in school at UVM, he would delay her graduation. I declined his kind offer — writing tuition checks has never been
much fun. Thus the last of our children graduated.
For many years, I have watched UVM grow in many positive ways.
paul b. stanilonis, m.d. ’65
(2000-2006)
The Alumni Executive Committee has been part of that growth,
don p. chan, m.d. ’76
(2002-2008)
thanks to the able and gifted leadership of Ray Anton and his prede-
leslie s. kerzner, m.d. ’95
cessors. As I begin my tenure as president of the committee, I look for-
frederick mandell, m.d. ’64
ward to the opportunity both to follow the course set by them and,
h. james wallace iii, m.d. ’88
when appropriate, to suggest change.
(2002-2008)
(2002-2008)
(2003-2004)
mark allegretta, ph.d. ’90
(2003-2009)
Charles Howard, M.D.’69
naomi l. rice, m.d.’00
(2004-2010)
28
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
F A L L
2004
29
M.D. CLASS NOTES
H A L L A
Class agents are listed at the beginning of each
year’s notes. If you have news to share, please
contact your class agent or the alumni office at
medalumni.relations@ uvm.edu or (802) 656-4014.
1941
1946
John S. Poczabut
62 Doral Farm Road
Stamford, CT 06902
(203) 322-3343
Frederick C. Barrett
Crossroads Place, Apt. 238
1 Beechwood Drive
Waterford, CT 06385
(860) 326-2156
1943
J. Bishop McGill
152 Sanborn Road
Stowe, VT 05672
(802) 253-4081
[email protected]
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
1945
’ 0 5
H. Gordon Page
9 East Terrace
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 864-7086
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
George H. Bray
110 Brookside Road
New Britain, CT 06052
(860) 225-3302
1948
Robert E. O’Brien
414 Thayer Beach Road
Colchester, VT 05446
(802) 862-0394
[email protected]
30
1947
Porter H. Dale
5 McKinley Street
Montpelier, VT 05602
(802) 229-9258
Wilton W. Covey
357 Weybridge Street
Middlebury, VT 05753
(802) 388-1555
R E U N I O N
Howard MacDougall
writes: “Still kicking and
fighting the unfriendly
masters that come with
age. Hi to my old classmates. I miss my old
roommate Pat Izzo.”
S. James Baum
1790 Fairfield Beach Road
Fairfield, CT 06430
(203) 255-1013
[email protected]
1949
James Arthur Bulen
P.O. Box 640339
Beverly Hills, FL 34464
(352) 746-4513
[email protected]
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
1954
Joseph C. Foley
32 Fairmount Street
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 862-0040
[email protected]
John E. Mazuzan, Jr.
366 South Cove Road
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 864-5039
[email protected]
Richard E. Pease
P.O. Box 14
Jericho, VT 05465
(802) 899-2543
Edward S. Sherwood
24 Worthley Road
Topsham, VT 05076
(802) 439-5816
[email protected]
R E U N I O N
1950
’ 0 5
Simon Dorfman
8256 Nice Way
Sarasota, FL 34238
(941) 926-8126
1951
Edward Jenkins tells us
that he “has continued to
practice medicine (not
cardiothoracic, now
general medicine) on short
term missionary trips —
Kazakhstan, Uganda,
Peru, etc. Spouse Mary
Jane (Durfee) usually travels with me.”
1952
Brewster Davis Martin
Box 128
362 VT RT 110
Chelsea, VT 05038
(802) 685-4541
1953
Richard N. Fabricius
17 Fairview Road
Old Bennington, VT 05201
(802) 442-4224
[email protected]
Peter Palmisano tells us:
“After a very satisfying
career, my wife Joan and I
have found a most enriching retirement with very
much to do with our community, our Texas children, grandchildren, and
friends. I wish my fellow
classmates a great 50th
celebration and regret that
I am unable to be with you
all in Burlington.”
R E U N I O N
1955
’ 0 5
Stanley L. Burns
27 Colonial Square
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 862-6205
[email protected]
1956
Ira H. Gessner
1306 Northwest 31st Street
Gainesville, FL 32605
(352) 378-1820
[email protected]
1957
Larry Coletti
34 Gulliver Circle
Norwich, CT 06360
(860) 887-1450
[email protected]
Jack Farnham reports:
“Now retired as Professor
of Medicine (University of
Texas at Tyler) and serving
on foundation board of
directors at Florida Hos-
REUNION SPURS NEW PHILANTHROPY
This year’s medical reunion, as always, served to rally
classes from across the past decades to increase their
charitable giving to their alma mater. But 2004 topped
most people’s expectations. In total, reunion giving
brought over $900,000 to the College for use in helping
today’s medical students.
THE FABULOUS FIFTIES
A key focus of any reunion is the fiftieth anniversary
class. This year, the Class of 1954, spurred on by class
members John Tampas, M.D., and John Mazuzan, M.D.,
raised $709,000 for the College. More than 81% of the
class members participated in the drive. Dr. Tampas and
his wife Katherine established a Green & Gold
Professorship. A Green & Gold Professorship provides
additional funding for
a faculty member who
is particularly deserving of a reward for
teaching and research,
or to a younger faculty
member of promise to
facilitate career development. Dr. Mazuzan
and his wife Carol
made a $50,000 gift in
Dean John Evans and Dr. Maeck,
honor of the fiftieth
M.D.’54
reunion.
Benjamin H. Maeck,
M.D.’54 celebrated his fiftieth reunion by documenting
a $300,000 estate provision for the John Van Sicklen
Maeck Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology, named in
ADAM RIESNER
honor of his late brother, a longtime chair of
Class of ’54
at Reunion
the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the College of Medicine. The Maeck
Chair was established in 2000, and is currently held by
Mark Phillippe, M.D., Chair and Professor of Obstetrics
and Gynecology, who is the second person to hold the
chair. Benjamin Maeck is a retired orthopaedic surgeon
who resides in San Francisco, California.
CROSSING THE WIRE
The spring issue of Vermont
Medicine noted that Tony Belmont,
M.D.’64 had put together his surname, and his desire to encourage
his class to increase their fortieth
reunion giving, and come up with
the Belmont Stakes challenge.
Simply put: if the rest of his class
members could reach the 60% participation level, Dr. Belmont would
add a $7,500 gift to the total. Smarty Tony Belmont,
Jones may have had a disappoint- M.D.’64
ing finish in this year’s Belmont, but
the Class of ’64 sailed right across the wire. They topped
60% participation, and contributed a total of $29,000.
PASSING IT ON
Cajsa and Jeff Schumacher (both M.D.’74 graduates) celebrated their thirtieth reunion in a personal way, by
sponsoring one of the many sturdy oak student lockers
that now line the hall on the second floor of Given. The
Schumachers donated $2,500 to sponsor a locker in
honor of their daughter Erika, who is entering the
College as a medical student this fall.
F A L L
2004
31
M.D. CLASS NOTES
H A L L A
pital – Waterman with
classmate Walt Miner.
Moved to Florida in 2001,
but still have summer
home in New Hampshire.”
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]
Stanley Stein is “Still practicing pediatrics. My four
daughters have now provided us with 13 grandchildren.” Stephen
Weinstein reports:
“Currently Marlene and I
are living in Sudbury,
Vermont. Happily retired
from an active career in
research/teaching/nephrology, I am making up for
lost time away from all my
other interests and motivations.”
R E U N I O N
1960
32
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
Wilfrid L. Fortin
17 Chapman Street
Nashua, NH 03060
(603) 882-6202
[email protected]
John Mesch writes: “Still
enjoying part time practice
in pulmonary medicine.
Looking forward to the
45th class reunion.” Alan
Mackay retired from ophthalmology solo practice
in July 2002. He visits
Vermont a number of
times a year to see his
daughter, grandchildren,
sisters, cousins and aunt.
1962
Ruth Andrea Seeler
2431 North Orchard
Chicago, IL 60614
(773) 472-3432
1963
John J. Murray
P.O. Box 607
Colchester, VT 05446
(802) 865-9390
[email protected]
H. Alan Walker
229 Champlain Drive
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
(518) 561-8991
’ 0 5
Marvin A. Nierenberg
6 West 77th 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
1964
Anthony P. Belmont
211 Youngs Point Road
Wiscasset, ME 04578
(207) 882-6228
[email protected]
R E U N I O N
1965
George A. Little
97 Quechee Road
Hartland, VT 05048
’ 0 5
(802) 436-2138
george.a.little@
dartmouth.edu
dancing, and three grandchildren fill our days.”
Joseph H. Vargas, III
574 US RT 4 East
Rutland Town, VT 05701
(802) 775-4671
[email protected]
1967
1966
Robert George Sellig
31 Overlook Drive
Queensbury, NY 12804
(518) 793-7914
[email protected]
G. Millard Simmons
2101 Calusa Lakes Blvd.
Nokomis, FL 34275
(941) 484-6418
[email protected]
Richard Falk is a reproductive endocrinologist and
retired in January 2004.
He is “still consulting,
some lecturing, but mainly
boating on the Chesapeake
and spending time with
my wife Carole and three
(almost four) grandchildren. Son Andrew (delivered by Dr. Durfee at the
Mary Fletcher) is now a
corporate attorney with
two children. Daughter
Hayley is an art teacher
with a one year old,
Parker. Son Bradley is finishing his residency at the
University of Pennsylvania
in emergency medicine
and is expecting a baby
with wife Lynn imminently.” Fred Fagelman
reports: “I retired from my
neurosurgery practice in
Glens Falls, New York, in
January 2004. Nancy and I
still live in Queensbury
and are busier than ever.
Outdoor activities, pottery,
Morgan cars, ballroom
John F. Dick, II
P.O. Box 60
Salisbury, VT 05769
(802) 352-6625
1971
1968
Wayne E. Pasanen
117 Osgood Street
North Andover, MA 01845
(978) 681-9393
wpasanen@lowell
general.org
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
William French is currently a Professor of Medicine
at the UCLA School of
Medicine.
1969
Charles B. Howard
256 Bridgepoint Road
Belle Mead, NJ 08502
(908) 359-6161
[email protected]
Susan Pitman Lowenthal
75 Blue Swamp Road
Litchfield, CT 06759
(860) 597-8996
susan_w_pitmanlowen
[email protected]
R E U N I O N
1970
have a new grandson! John
Bernard Hunt ( J.B.) born
on St. Patrick’s Day 2004.
John Hunt III, M.D., and
Claudia Hunt are great
parents and we are
thrilled!”
’ 0 5
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]
John Hunt writes: “We
Charles Belisle reports that
he is a grandfather of four.
Three of his children are
alumni of the College of
Medicine as well: Lisa
Belisle, M.D.’96 practices
in Yarmouth, Maine; Amy
Belisle, M.D.’99 is a pediatrician at the Yokato Air
Base in Japan; and Adelle
Belisle, M.D.’01 is an
orthopedic resident at the
University of Connecticut.
1972
F. Farrell Collins, Jr.
205 Page Road
Pinehurst, NC 28374
(910) 295-2429
Richard Teixeira writes:
“Natalie and I are expecting our first grandchildren
this year, one from our
daughter Jane and one
from our son Todd, who
was born at Mary Fletcher
during our years at UVM.
In January 2004, I participated in a church mission
trip to Guatemala and
headed a pediatric clinic in
that impoverished country.
It was a humbling experience.”
1973
Suite 103
246 Pleasant Street
Concord, NH 03301
(603) 224-6070
[email protected]
James M. Betts
715 Harbor Road
Alameda, CA 94502
(510) 523-1920
[email protected]
1977
UPCOMING EVENTS
2004-2005
September 23
George Schumacher
Symposium
UVM College of Medicine
Philip L. Cohen
483 Lakewood Drive
Winter Park, FL 32789
(407) 628-0221
[email protected]
Mark A. Popovsky
22 Nauset Road
Sharon, MA 02067
(781) 784-8824
mpopovsky@
haemonetics.com
1974
Mark Novotny reports: “I
am continuing to enjoy
work as hospitalist at
Southwestern Vermont
Health Care in Bennington, and have several medical staff leadership roles
including medical director
of hospitalists and PHO
and president of medical
staff. With three kids in
high school and one in
college, life (and tuitions)
are busy!”
Saturday, October 2
Alumni Executive
Committee Meeting
Given Building
1978
January 14, 2005
White Coat Ceremony
Carpenter Auditorium
Douglas M. Eddy
5 Tanbark Road
Windham, NH 03087
(603) 434-2164
[email protected]
Cajsa Schumacher
441 Church Hill Road
Morrisville, VT 05661
(802) 888-1799
[email protected]
Fred Perkins writes: “Sorry
I missed the Reunion. Our
son was in the New
England track meet representing New Hampshire
in shot put and discus. We
like the Hanover area, and
my position as chief of
anesthesia at the V.A. is
both stimulating and
pleasant.”
R E U N I O N
1975
’ 0 5
Ellen Andrews
195 Midland Road
Pinehurst, NC 28374
(910) 295-6464
[email protected]
1976
Don P. Chan
Cardiac Associates of
New Hampshire
Paul McLane Costello
Essex Pediatrics, Ltd.
89 Main Street
Essex Junction, VT 05452
(802) 879-6556
Anita Henderson tells us:
“After twenty-two years in
private practice in Greensboro, North Carolina, I
left to work in a walk-in
clinic in the summer of
2003. This year my husband and I are moving to
Blowing Rock, N.C. —
near the Blue Ridge
Parkway, which I first saw
with classmate Jim Murray
in 1978 when we were
interviewing for residencies! Our son is graduating
from the university of
October 1-3
UVM Homecoming
Saturday, October 9
Parents Weekend
November 28-December 3
Alumni Reception at the
Radiological Society
of North America 2004
Scientific Assembly and
Annual Meeting
McCormick Place, Chicago
February 22, 2005
Third-Year Student Dinner
March 7, 2005
Golf Outing with Dinner
& Guest Speaker
Pelicans Nest Golf Club,
Bonita Springs, Fla.
For updates on events see:
www.med.uvm.edu/
medalum
F A L L
2004
33
M.D. CLASS NOTES
H A L L A
North Carolina–Chapel
Hill and entering a seminary near Philadelphia,
Penn. My husband, a
product liability attorney,
continues his ADR work I
will be looking for family
practice positions in the
Blowing Rock-Boone area
of N.C.” Anne Ehrlich
writes: “Our daughter
Hazel graduates from high
school this year as salutatorian. She is headed to
Stony Brook University to
study biology. She has
some interest in medicine,
much to our surprise. Our
son Harry is a sophomore
in high school. To our
total surprise he added
musical comedy to his
many talents, playing Mr.
Magix in “My One and
Only.” Linda Schroth
reports: “I remain in the
same family medicine private practice I have been
in since graduating from
my residency. But I now
have an empty nest — our
oldest, Alison, is a second
year medical student at
Penn State, and is now in
Uganda for the next six
weeks, teaching villagers
about HIV prevention and
hygiene. Jon just graduated from art school and will
soon be doing computer
animation for the movie
“Ice Age 2.” Brian is following in Dick’s footsteps
and studying software
engineering at RIT. And,
Dick and I will soon be
celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary by taking
a three-week trip to
China.”
34
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
1979
Sarah Ann McCarty
1018 Big Bend Road
Barboursville, WV 25504
(304) 691-1094
[email protected]
James Jarvis reports that he
was appointed chief of the
Pediatric Rheumatology
Section of the University
of Oklahoma in 1997. He
is particularly interested in
the high prevalence rate
and familial occurrence of
rheumatic disease in
indigenous Americans and
currently serves on the
American Academy of
Pediatrics’ Committee on
Native American Child
Health (CONACH). He is
also involved in using
genomic approaches to
understanding the pathogenesis of rheumatic diseases and serves on the
AAP’s Section on Rheumatology Executive
Committee. James also
tells us: “I am deeply
indebted to the elders who
guided me throughout my
academic career, including
Drs. Jerold Lucey and Jim
McKay at UVM. I feel
deeply blessed to be a
physician. UVM gave me
just the right start in my
career, and I am grateful to
the College and its faculty
for starting me on this
journey. Thank you, too,
UVM classmates, who provided support, camaraderie,
and challenge during those
four years.” Courtland
Lewis reports: “In 2001,
after fifteen years as a fulltime faculty member at the
University of Connecticut,
I joined a private practice
of 20 orthopods in
Hartford (as junior partner
of a number of former residents). Am a Clinical
Professor (read volunteer)
and interestingly, more
academically active than
I’ve been for years! Barbara
and I have two kids in college and a 13 year-old to
keep us going strong.”
R E U N I O N
1980
’ 0 5
Richard Nicholas Hubbell
80 Summit Street
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 862-5551
rich.hubbell@
vtmednet.org
Kathryn Moyer writes:
“Looking forward to seeing you all at our 25th
reunion in 2005! Hard to
believe!”
1981
Craig Wendell Gage
5823 Interbay Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33611
CraigGage@
alumni.uvm.edu
Jacques Larochelle tells us:
“I am still a full-time
Emergency Physician at
EMMC in Bangor, Maine,
with some teaching and
administrative responsibilities. Carolyn and I are
still very busy raising our
six boys. Our oldest,
Matthieu, is presently a
freshman at Bowdoin
College with twins
Michael and Nicholas
joining him there next fall.
With the household
becoming smaller, we
hope to make the next
reunion.” Andrew Weber
writes: “This year we look
forward to my son Marc’s
thirteenth birthday and a
big party. I’m still in solo
practice in pulmonary
medicine working much
too hard. All is well with
Laury and the boys, Marc
and Harris, who have no
plans to be a doctor.” Jim
Worthington reports that
his middle son, Chris, is
now enrolled at UVM as a
freshman in the College of
Natural Resources.
1982
Linda Hood
4 Cobbler Lane
Bedford, NH 03110
(603) 471-2536
[email protected]
1983
Diane M. Georgeson
2 Ravine Parkway
Oneonta, NY 13820
(607) 433-1620
[email protected]
Anne Marie Massucco
15 Cedar Ledge Road
West Hartford, CT 06107
(860) 521-6120
1984
Richard C. Shumway
34 Coventry Lane
Avon, CT 06001
(860) 673-6629
rshumway@
stfranciscare.org
Thomas Munger writes: “I
would have very much
liked to attend Reunion,
but alas I could not this
year. My two oldest of
four children graduated
high school on June 12th
and I had to leave with my
youngest daughter on the
13th for Paris for the
European EP meetings the
following week. I send my
warmest regards to all my
classmates from UVM
1984, and hope they are
doing well. Hopefully, I’ll
get to the 25th.” Gordon
Wood tells us: “I was sorry
to miss our 20th Reunion
this year. Practicing pediatrics in Chicago suburbs
and busy coaching soccer
and camping with Boy
Scouts. Hospital and office
converted to all-electronic
medical records in
October — what a mess!”
R E U N I O N
1985
’ 0 5
Vito D. Imbasciani
1915 North Crescent
Heights Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90069
(323) 656-1316
[email protected]
Bruce Rothschild “ran the
N.Y.C. Marathon in
November and beat P.
Diddy!” Linda Walker
writes: “Greetings to all
from Georgia. I’m still a
transplanted Yankee, now
an acclimatized Southern
Belle. Don’t know if this is
a class ‘record’, but I felt
prematurely aged after
having an acute MI last
fall. After thrombolysis
and a cath, I have one of
those fancy new drugeluting stents in my LAD
(99% stenosis).” Vito
Imbasciani’s latest activites
in the Medical Corps in
Iraq can be read at
www.yovito.com.
1986
Darrell Edward White
29123 Lincoln Road
Bay Village, OH 44140
(440) 892-4681
[email protected]
Howard Pride reports that
this summer will mark the
tenth year of offering a
summer camp for children
with skin disease at Camp
Horizon in Millville, Penn.
He still practices dermatology at Geisinger Medical
Center in Danville, Penn.,
where he completed both
his med-pediatrics and
dermatology residencies.
Sons Chris (22) and Matt
(19) are students at Susquehanna University and
Ithaca College. He and his
wife, Kathy, also have
daughters Tianna (7) and
Nicole (5). Dora Anne Mills
writes: “I am entering my
ninth year as Maine’s
Public Health Director.
With the emergence of
SARS, obesity, and post9/11 issues, my job is
always exciting and challenging. Life is also fabulous and full with my two
children (ages 2 and 5) and
husband, Michael Fiori.”
1988
H. James Wallace, III
416 Martel Lane
St. George, VT 05495
(802) 872-8533
james.wallace@
vtmednet.org
Lawrence I. Wolk
5724 South Nome Street
Greenwood Village, CO
80111
(303) 771-1289
lawrence.wolk@
cigna.com
David Couillard tells us:
“We now have three children following the birth of
my second daughter
Michelle last August. Both
my wife Patricia and I are
urologists in Roseville,
Calif. and are doing fine.”
1989
Congratulations to Peter
Nalin. On June 2, 2004,
the Association of Family
Practice Residency Directors (AFPRD) welcomed
Dr. Nalin as President for
2004-2005. He currently
leads the Indiana
University Family Practice
Residency at Indianapolis.
1990
Mark Eliot Pasanen
1234 Spear Street
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 865-3281
mark.pasanen@
vtmednet.org
1993
Joanne Taplin Romeyn
22 Patterson Lane
Durham, CT 06422
(860) 349-6941
Peter M. Nalin
13216 Griffin Run
Carmel, IN 46033
(317) 962-6656
[email protected]
R E U N I O N
1992
’ 0 5
Barbara Angelika Dill
120 Hazel Court
Norwood, NJ 07648
(201) 767-7778
barbrichanddillon@earth
link.net
1991
John Dewey
15 Eagle Street
Cooperstown, NY 13326
[email protected]
Catherine Welch Dinauer
tells us: “I’m a pediatric
endocrinologist practicing
very part-time right now
in the Washington, D.C.,
area. I’m enjoying being
home with my three kids:
Kate (6); Claire (4); and
Will (3).”
Veronica Mueller Rooks
writes: “One more move
for Bob and Roni with
Lexi (age 11), Tori (age 8),
and Liza (age 4) back to
Hawaii!” Scott Jaynes
reports that he is the
newly-elected Medical
Staff President of Monadnock Community
Hospital, Antrim, N.H.
1994
Holliday Kane Rayfield
P.O. Box 819
Waitsfield, VT 05673
(802) 496-5667
[email protected]
Carol Saunders tells us:
“Since finishing my training in pathology in
Rochester, N.Y., I have
had two jobs at two different hospitals in central
Maine. I am (finally!) a
partner at Maine General
Hospital where I work
with four other pathologists in Augusta and
Waterville. Most of my
free time is spent with my
two terrific kiddos: Jacob
(6) and Katherine (2).
Doug and I are enjoying
life in Maine and living in
a small town.” Deborah
Bowers reports: “What a
great 40th year! I made
F A L L
2004
35
M.D. CLASS NOTES
H A L L A
CONTINUING MEDICAL EDUCATION
NEWEST CLASS AGENTS
ARE NAMED
The beginning of Fall 2004 will
find the members of the College
of Medicine’s Class of 2005 farflung across New England the
nation and the world as they
perform rotations and prepare
for their coming years of residency. Just before leaving this summer, two members of the class
were confirmed as the latest
class agents. Julie
Alosi and Richard
Parent join the
more than 70 alumni agents who help
maintain connections between their
class members and
their medical alma
mater.
partner in my practice —
seven docs and seven midwives doing more than
1000 deliveries a year. I
have two budding ballerinas who are very proficient at hospital rounds
and I recently reconnected
with Beth Foley and
Lauren Archer — Tim
Waite, where are you?”
Lauren Archer writes:
“Completed five years of
active duty in the U.S.
Navy after graduation.
Completing year four of
six of a combined general
surgery/plastic surgery
residency. Living and
working in Cincinnati,
Ohio, but looking forward
to heading back to the
East Coast soon.”
R E U N I O N
36
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
’ 0 5
1995
Allyson Miller Bolduc
252 Autumn Hill Road
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 863-4902
allyson.bolduc@
vtmednet.org
Kendra Hutchinson tells us:
“Nick (Kenyon ’94) and I are
living in Davis, California. I
am working part-time as a
hematologist/oncologist at
Kaiser. Nick is an assistant
professor in pulmonary/
critical care at UC Davis.
Our daughters Anna (3)
and Elyse (1) keep us busy,
humbled and constantly
laughing!” Brian Levine
writes: “Been busy at
Christiana Care in
Delaware — enjoying suburban life, lecturing, and
serving as president of the
Delaware chapter of the
American College of
Emergency Physicians.”
Aaron Stern reports:
“Working in Queens at
Elmhurst Hospital as Staff
Nephrologist. Recently
promoted to Assistant
Professor at Mt. Sinai.
Zina working on her next
musical; Rachel just turned
five and Adam just turned
three.” Mitchell Wolfe
reports: “We are moving
to Hanoi, Vietnam this
summer for two years to
work with the Centers for
Disease Control and the
Vietnamese government
on HIV/AIDS.”
1996
Anne Marie Valente
4616 Dolwick Drive
Durham, NC 27713
(919) 806-8110
Patricia Ann King, M.D.,
Ph.D.
832 South Prospect Street
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 862-7705
patricia.king@
vtmednet.org
Brian and Neelima Chu
invite their classmates to
“come and visit us in San
Diego.” Danette Colella is:
“Enjoying private practice
south of Boston. Spending
all my free time with my
husband David Berowitz,
M.D. and our two children Jacob (4) and Delia
(2). Hoping to see everyone at our tenth reunion!”
Bonny Whalen reports that
she is now the Newborn
Nursery Attending for the
University of Wisconsin
Hospital, pediatric residency. She is loving her
new position and enjoying
more time with Emily,
who just turned twelve,
and Paul. Anders Holm
writes: “Andrea and I are
doing well in Vermont.
We are keeping busy during the week in private
practice in Middlebury.
On the weekends, we are
busy enjoying outdoor
activities in the Green
Mountains and on Lake
Champlain. We also enjoy
taking care of our gardens
and orchard with our children Sara (age 4) and
Jakob (age 1).”
1997
Julie Clifford Smail
3094 Mt. Baker Circle
Oak Harbor, WA 98277
(360) 240-8693
jsmail@
fidalgomedical.com
Jason Lyman reports: “I
am currently an assistant
professor in the Health
Evaluation Sciences
Department at the University of Virginia. My
wife, Kristen Atkins ’96
and I welcomed our son,
Cole Atticus Lyman, into
the world in January
2004.” Matt Danigelis
writes: “My girlfriend
Donna and I are living in
the town of Florence on
the Oregon coast. We are
having a good time but
miss good friends.”
Cherise Rowan tells us:
“Paul and I move to New
York this summer. I start a
fellowship in Pediatric
Cardiology at the brand
new Children’s Hospital at
Columbia-Cornell, and
Paul is finishing his search
for a new parish.” Lucien
Ouellette and Amy
Ouellette’99 recently welcomed Laura Malia as the
newest addition to their
family.
1998
Halleh Akbarnia
4700 Bromley Lane
Richmond, VA 23226
(804) 204-2595
[email protected]
1999
Everett Jonathan Lamm
18 Roberts Drive
Hampton, NH 03842
(603) 929-7555
[email protected]
Deanne Dixon Haag
4215 Pond Road
Sheldon, VT 05483
(802) 524-7528
Linda McMorrow Ries tells
us she is a hematology
oncology fellow (PGY 5)
at Brown University in
Providence and will be
doing a rotation in Boston
at Beth Israel to gain more
experience in bone marrow transplant. She married in September 2002,
having met her husband
while in Seattle for an
“away” selective. They
plan to move to the northwest next year. Ian
Greenwald writes:
“Moving to Atlanta summer 2004 for a staff job
with the Department of
Emergency Medicine at
Emory University/Grady
Healthcare System.”
R E U N I O N
2000
Jay Edmond Allard
215 Redland Blvd.
Rockville, MD 20850
’ 0 5
(301) 926-8959
[email protected]
2004-2005 CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
Michael Jim Lee
Apt. 413
2300 Overlook Road
Cleveland Heights, OH
44106
(216) 229-7799
michael_j_lee1681@
yahoo.com
The 2nd Annual Northern New England Critical Care
Conference
September 23-25, 2004, Stoweflake Resort, Stowe, Vt.
Naomi Leeds Rice, M.P.H.
Apt. 5, 38 Grove Street
Boston, MA 02114
(617) 771-8060
[email protected]
Maya Jerath writes: “I am
about to complete my
internal medicine residency at Duke and plan to do
a fellowship in oncology.
My husband and I have a
one-year old daughter
named Noor.”
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, The Sophian
Plaza
4618 Warwick Blvd.
Kansas City, MO 64112
(816) 753-2410
[email protected]
Michelle Cassara was one
of five resident physicians
at the University of North
Carolina Hospital to be
honored with the 2004
House Officer Award,
which recognizes outstanding performance and
compassion to patients and
their families. Dr. Cassara
is a member of the
16th Annual Eastern Winter Dermatology Conference
January 21-24, 2005, Topnotch Resort, Stowe, Vt.
Current Concepts & Controversies in Surgery
February 3-5, 2005, Stoweflake Resort, Stowe, Vt.
Emergency Medicine Update
February 2-5, 2005, Stoweflake Resort, Stowe, Vt.
10th Annual Vermont Perspectives in Anesthesia
February 28-March 4, 2005, Stoweflake Resort,
Stowe, Vt.
The Stowe Conference on Digestive Diseases
March 3-5, 2005, Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe, Vt.
College of Medicine alumni receive a special 10% discount
on all UVM Continuing Medical Education conferences.
For more information contact:
Continuing Medical Education
75 University Heights
Burlington, VT 05405-1736
(802) 656-2292
http://cme.uvm.edu
General Medicine and
Clinical Epidemiology
Departments at UNC.
2002
Jonathan Vinh Mai
15 Meadow Lane
Danville, PA 17821
(570) 275-4681
[email protected]
April and Ronald
Hirschberg report: “We
are finishing up our second year of residency in
Massachusetts. Ron is at
Spaulding Hospital and I
am at both Mass General
and McLean Hospitals.
We have a condo in
Belmont and would love
to hear from classmates
when you are in the
Boston area.”
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
scott.goodrich@
vtmednet.org
F A L L
2004
37
OBITUARIES
H A L L A
HAYDON ROCHESTER, M.D.’38
Dr. Rochester, of Orange County,
Calif., died April 18, 2004, at Gifford
Medical Center in Randolph, Vt.,
following a stroke. He was born Dec.
16, 1912, in Los Angeles, Calif., the
son of Dr. Haydon Rochester and
Margaret Matthias Rochester. Dr.
Rochester graduated from Woodrow
Wilson High School in Long Beach,
and the University of California–
Berkeley in 1934. He received his
M.D. degree from the University of
Vermont College of Medicine in
1938. He served in the U.S. Navy
Medical Corps from 1939 through
1948, and in the Pacific Theater during World War II. After the war he
continued to serve in the U.S. Naval
Reserve. In 1940 he married Hazel
Jeanette Hall in Norfolk, Va. His wife
predeceased him in 1988. Dr.
Rochester practiced adult psychiatric
medicine in Long Beach from 1952
until the late 1980s. He served as
chairman of the psychiatric department and interim director of Long
Beach Memorial Hospital in California. During his retirement he
obtained a real estate broker’s license
in California, and became principal
of Best Realty International of
Rolling Hills Estates.
of fifty-eight years, Claire A.
Murdock, who was a student nurse.
They were married after Claire's
graduation on June 26, 1943, shortly
before Dr. Wakefield entered the
armed forces as a medical doctor. He
served three years in the Army, both
Air Corps and ground forces and was
discharged in 1946 with the rank of
Major. After military service, he
underwent four years of residency
training in pathology in hospitals in
and around Boston, including one
year at the Harvard Medical College.
He became assistant pathologist at
the Central Maine General Hospital
in Lewiston, Maine in 1950 and was
named the Chief Pathologist at the
Holyoke Hospital in Massachusetts
in 1953. During that time he was also
Director of the School of Medical
Technology as well as pathologist to
the Holyoke Soldier’s Home and the
Mary Lane Hospital in Ware, Massachusetts. While at Holyoke, he also
became certified by the board of
Nuclear Medicine and started this
department in the hospital, which is
named after him. Dr. Wakefield
retired from the Holyoke Hospital in
1983. The Wakefields retired to
Vermont, where they remained until
1997. They then returned to live in
Massachusetts.
H. PAUL WAKEFIELD, M.D.’42
Dr. Wakefield died April 16, 2004.
He was born in 1917 and was raised
in Burlington, Vermont. He attended
local schools, worked on boats crossing Lake Champlain, and played
trombone in his own dance band.
After graduating from high school,
he enrolled as a student at the
University of Vermont, where he
earned both an undergraduate and a
medical degree. Upon graduation, he
served as a medical intern at St.
Francis Hospital in Hartford,
Connecticut, where he met his wife
38
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
ROBERT WILLIAM AGAN, M.D.’44
Dr. Agan died in his sleep on
Saturday, April 17, 2004 at his home
in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. He was 84.
He was born a twin in Bennington,
Vt. on Feb. 13, 1920. Dr. Agan was
predeceased by his twin brother, Dr.
Lawrence Martin Agan of Topeka,
Kan. A graduate of the University of
Vermont and the UVM College of
Medicine, Dr. Agan continued his
medical training at Stamford (Conn.)
Hospital and St. Luke’s Hospital in
New York City. Dr. Agan was a U.S.
Navy veteran. He served aboard ships
in the Pacific in the last year of World
War II. He continued as an officer in
the U.S. Naval Reserve for 20 years
and retired as a lieutenant commander. In 1949, he and his family came to
Maine. He practiced at the Maine
General Hospital in Portland until
the Navy recalled him during the
Korean War. He then served at the
Portsmouth Naval Hospital. Dr.
Agan practiced anesthesiology at
Mercy Hospital in Portland for more
than 30 years, retiring in 1985.
HAROLD MOSKOVITZ, M.D.’44
Dr. Moskovitz died December 10,
2003 from Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease (COPD). A nonsmoker, he suffered from asthma.
Dr. Moskovitz was born in 1919
in Boston to Rose and Morris
Moskovitz, immigrants from eastern
Europe, who believed strongly in
education. The family moved to
Burlington, Vt. where their son graduated from high school at age 16. He
earned his Ph.D. in social sciences
in 1940 from the University of
Vermont, where he was elected to Phi
Beta Kappa. He followed his older
brother, Abraham, into the study of
medicine. In 1944, he graduated
from the College of Medicine, and
interned at Queens General Hospital, Long Island, N.Y. from 1944-45.
He was drafted into the Army in 1945
and was stationed in the Philippines
as a division surgeon in the medical
corps. In 1947, he moved to Cincinnati where he served a four-year residency in surgery at Jewish Hospital.
There he met student nurse Helene
“Tootsie” Schwartz, whom he married in 1951. Dr. Moskovitz was
called back to active duty for the
Korean war in 1953 and served as
assistant chief of surgery at the U.S.
Army Hospital, Aberdeen, Md. He
returned to Cincinnati in 1954 and
began his surgical practice. He was
chief of surgery 1956-77 and trained
surgical residents at the former
Longview State Hospital. He was in
private practice from 1951-94.
ROBERT D. GITTLER, M.D.’49
Dr. Gittler died on April 29, 2004 in
New York. During a distinguished
career, he practiced medicine for four
decades. He was a physician who
found great pleasure in his work and
his patients, many of whom count
themselves among his lifelong
friends. He served as the Deputy
Chief Police Surgeon to the City of
New York and taught at two hospitals
and one medical school in the metropolitan area.
WILLIAM H. THURLOW IV, M.D.’69
Dr. Thurlow died suddenly on February 14, 2004, at his home in
Halifax, N.S. He was born in
Baltimore, Md., and was a graduate
of the University of Maine before
earning his medical degree at the
College of Medicine. He interned in
St. John’s, Newfoundland, where he
began his residency in General
Surgery. He continued his residency
in Hamilton, Ont., qualifying for his
Fellowship in 1975. He practiced in
Gander, Newfoundland, Digby, and
Summerside, P.E.I. He was a member
of the Royal College of Surgeons
(Canada) and he served on the board
of the American College of Surgeons.
Dr. Thurlow loved the outdoors in all
aspects, but he reserved a special love
for astronomy. He was an active
member of the Halifax Centre of the
Royal Astronomical Society of
Canada for many years.
ALBERT MILLER M.D.’72
Dr. Miller died May 10, 2004, at his
home in Bensalem, Penn. Born in
Cambridge, Mass., he was formerly
of Barre, Vt. and Burlington, Vt. He
received his medical degree from the
University of Vermont and he served
his internship at Maine Medical
Center and his residency at the
Medical Center Hospital of Vermont.
He had a fellowship in infectious diseases at the University of Vermont
and was in an internal medical practice with Dr. Jeffrey Rubin at
Fletcher Allen Health Care in
Burlington. Dr. Miller also dedicated
his time as a physician in the Indian
Health Service in Nevada and was a
member of the American Medical
Association and Vermont Medical
Society.
GEOFFREY KELAFANT, M.D.’85
born in Geneva. N.Y., and was a
graduate of Hamilton College,
Clinton, N.Y, before receiving his
medical degree from the College of
Medicine. He served his internal
medicine internship at the Bethesda
Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Md. In
1986, he studied at the Naval
Undersea Medical Institute in New
London, Conn., and Panama City,
Fla. From 1987 to 1989, he was a
Senior Diving and Submarine
Medical Officer in the U.S. Navy,
Submarine Group 6, in Charleston,
S.C. He earned his Master’s Degree
in public health from the University
of Kentucky, and completed his
Occupational Medicine Residency, at
the University of Kentucky College
of Medicine in 1991. Dr. Kelafant
served as medical director for the
Center for Occupational Health and
the Center for Work Performance at
Union Hospital in Terre Haute, Ind.,
from 1993 to 1997. He then became
medical director for Sarah Bush
Lincoln Health Center, Occupational
Health Department, where he served
until 2003 when he became medical
director for the McLeod Regional
Medical Center Occupational Health
and Employee Health in Florence,
S.C.
Dr. Kelafant died March 16, 2004, in
Tulum, Mexico. He was 45. He was
F A L L
2004
39
reunion 2004
Vermonters are used to dealing with “serious weather,” but that doesn’t stop anyone from hoping for the
best when an event the size of Medical Reunion is concerned. This year, it looked like all the rabbit-foot rubbing in the world would not keep the skies over
Burlington from clouding up and continuing some of the
rainiest spring weather in years. Then, as June 11
dawned, all those worries drifted away. This year’s
Reunion attendees were treated to three crystal-clear
summer-like days in the sun. More than 350 College of
Medicine graduates and guests returned to their medical
alma mater this year to catch up with old friends and see
the latest changes to their school. They gathered together at class dinners, at a reunion picnic at the local Quarry
Hill Club, and at the gala “Legends & Leaders” ceremony honoring members of the fiftieth reunion class and
this year’s Medical Alumni Association Award winners.
40
vermont
medicine
fall
2004
41
re u n i o n 2 0 0 4
Reunion is a fun time for all the family, as
the children of alumni found out this year
when they checked out the very intelligent
“dummy” used to help train medical students
in the Student Assessment Center in the
Given Building, or worked off their excess
energy in the bouncing room at the family
picnic. As always, alumni from across the past
60 years joined together during Nostalgia
Hour to share their funniest stories of the
sometimes harrowing, and often humorous
process of becoming a physician. This year,
longtime nostalgia emcee John Tampas’ service was noted with a special photographic collage presented by Dean John N. Evans.
42
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
Tribute to a
Lifetime of Caring
saturday, may 8, 2004
1:30 p.m.
Dozens of girls from across Vermont gathered at the College of Medicine
for Girls’ Science Discovery Day, where this group of middle schoolers
in the Health Science Research Facility learned about the physics of light.
Jacqueline Noonan’s intense desire to help
children began when she was a child herself. She knew
she wanted to be a doctor when she was five; by the
time she was seven, she was sure she would become a
pediatrician. For a poor girl in Hartford, Connecticut, who would become the first in her family to
go to college, medical school seemed a very remote
possibility.
“I would have been in great difficulty if I hadn’t
been accepted by Vermont. I was very nervous. My
mother’s friends kept telling her that they hoped that
I didn’t get my hopes up because I would never get
in,” Noonan remembers.
She did find a place in the class of 1954, and she
thrived. Less than five years after graduating from the
College, Noonan had completed a pediatric cardiology fellowship at the Boston Children’s Hospital and
joined the faculty of the University of Iowa. Two years
later, she became a founding faculty member at the
University of Kentucky. She spent 37 years there as
chief of pediatric cardiology, 18 of those while simultaneously holding the chair in pediatrics.
She has a permanent place in medical references as
the first to describe Noonan’s Syndrome, a genetic
multiple malformation syndrome that affects one in
1,500 infants.
Dr. Noonan is proud of these accomplishments,
but she believes a truer measure of her career is in the
quality of her relationships with her patients. Parent
by parent, child by child, decade by decade, Noonan
has worried over and cared for her young charges and
their families with a devotion that remains steadfast
even today, several years after her retirement.
“From childhood on I have been in touch with the
mythology of this profession and after all these years
my belief in it has not been shattered,” Noonan says.
“Although medicine has changed…the doctor-patient
relationship is an awesome and precious thing.”
Recently, Dr. Noonan showed her deep commitment to her medical alma mater — and its future students — by documenting a major estate provision for
the College of Medicine’s Dean’s Discretionary Fund.
The flexibility inherent in unrestricted giving was an
important factor for her. “I plan on living a long
time,” says Dr. Noonan, with a smile. “But when I go,
I want to know that I’m helping the College react to
whatever needs its dean thinks are most important at
that time.”
Do you need assistance in finding the best way to
include the College of Medicine in your estate? Our
charitable giving professionals can assist you whenever you are ready to make these important plans.
photograph by Adam Riesner
(802)656-4014 [email protected] www.med.uvm.edu/giving
44
V E R M O N T
M E D I C I N E
THE MEDICAL IRA ALLEN SOCIETY
honoring a
FOUNDER’S
legacy
T
hough he last walked across the UVM Campus
Green in the early 19th Century, Ira Allen is to
this day an unforgettable presence at the university he
helped found, and is memorialized by a statue, a chapel,
and a growing society of generous individuals.
Originally from Cornwall, Connecticut, Ira Allen was
actively interested in the affairs of Vermont, where he
received large grants of land and was a member of the
Green Mountain Boys, commanded by his brother
Ethan. A prominent figure in the development of the
state constitution, Ira Allen was also elected a member of
the Governor’s Council and first treasurer of the
Republic of Vermont. In addition, Allen was the author
of the Vermont Bill of Rights and Declaration of
Independence.
Allen also had great interest in establishing a university in Burlington, Vermont. In 1789 he pledged £4,000
and donated land for such a purpose. He became one of
the university’s trustees in 1791.
Allen’s memory was long neglected until James B.
Wilbur donated funds to erect a statue of Ira Allen that
now stands on the Campus Green. Wilbur also provided
the funds to build the Ira Allen Chapel, erected in 1927
in honor of the founder of the University of Vermont.
The commitment to excellence in education at the University of Vermont and its College of Medicine is a tradition
made possible by alumni, parents, and friends who share the vision of its founder. Since 1964, that vision has been
recognized for donors by annual membership in the Ira Allen Society. Today, the Medical Ira Allen Society has nearly 400 members who make generous leadership contributions each year.
Help strengthen this cornerstone of individual support to the College by joing the 2005 Medical Ira Allen Society.
Contact us at:
medical development and alumni relations office
(802)656-4014 [email protected] www.med.uvm.edu/giving
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