dp7505:*rm 07 spring v7b · 2013-10-24 · in the top ten in national institutes of health funding....

ROCHESTERMEDICINEUNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER • SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND DENTISTRY SPRING/SUMMER 2007

Brain Power Investigating the mysteries and diseases of the nervous system

DP7505:*RM_07_Spring_v7b 5/24/07 12:40 PM Page A

On the cover Human dopaminergic neuronsgenerated from human embryonic stem cells.Photo by Neeta Roy, courtesy of Goldman Laband Nature Medicine.

DP7505:*RM_07_Spring_v7b 5/24/07 12:40 PM Page B

SPRING / SUMMER 2007 1

Bradford C. Berk, M.D., Ph.D. (M’81, PhD’81)CEO, University of Rochester Medical Center;Senior Vice President for Health Sciences

eeping hearts healthy andgetting damaged hearts well again occupies a lot of my time. That’s onereason I am very pleased with the earlysuccess of iCardiac Technologies, Inc.,one of the newly established companiesbased on technology developed at theUniversity of Rochester Medical Center(URMC).

The importance of technologyfor future growth of URMC’s reputationand revenues will become clear in theseveral examples I discuss below.

iCardiac grew out of research at the Medical Center’s Heart ResearchFollow-up Program, a national and inter-national leader in the science of heartarrhythmias. Software developed bybiomedical engineer Jean-PhilippeCouderc, Ph.D., provides a more accurateand reliable method to analyze data from electrocardiograms and other typesof heart monitors to determine whethera drug is toxic to the heart. This helps a pharmaceutical company decide on the fate of drugs in development andalso builds confidence in the safety ofdrugs. Earlier this year, iCardiac enteredinto a multi-year research alliance withPfizer Inc. to develop and validateadvanced ECG-based cardiac safetybiomarkers utilizing iCardiac’s tech-nology known as COMPAS. Pfizer alsobecame an equity investor in iCardiac.

This is good news for the safetyof drugs and protection from heartarrhythmias. But this also is welcomenews for economic development. Thecompany has 20 full-time and contractemployees and expects to add more. Just as significantly, iCardiac enhancesURMC’s and Rochester’s reputation foradvanced analytics in the biopharmaceu-tical industry. VirtualScopics Inc.,another successful company founded on technology developed at the MedicalCenter, helped establish that reputation.

Much of the world by now has

heard about the vaccine against humanpapillomaviruses (HPV). This is moregood news. HPV causes most cases ofcervical cancer and a vaccine will savethousands of lives. Work by a trio ofMedical Center virologists — RobertRose, Ph.D., William Bonnez, M.D., andRichard Reichman, M.D.— was key tothe development of the vaccine. Abouttwo years ago, the University, Merck andCo., GlaxoSmithKline, and several otherparties agreed on a settlement involvingpatents and royalties related to avaccine.

The University will receiveroyalties from the HPV vaccines. TheUniversity owns a stake in iCardiac. As state and federal budgets get eventighter, investments in successful compa-nies become more important for theMedical Center and for the Rochesterarea. In fiscal year 2006, Medical Centerrevenues from licenses rose to an all-time high of $37.7 million, a 34 percentincrease over the previous year. In thesame time period, 10 new patents wereawarded and 101 invention disclosureswere filed. We expect growth willcontinue in both of these areas.

Biomedical research canprovide increased financial resources forthe Medical Center and opportunitiesfor economic development in theRochester area. We have superb physi-cians, scientists and technicians atURMC that can make this happen. TheMedical Center will increase investmentin the Office of Technology Transfer fortwo reasons. First, this will enable us todevelop existing technologies morerapidly and efficiently. Second, whenappropriate, start-up companies will befacilitated in Rochester. Development of technologies for software, drugs anddevices is now as key component of theURMC mission.

K

DP7505:*RM_07_Spring_v7b 5/24/07 12:40 PM Page 1

ROCHESTER MEDICINE2

eurological disease creates aterrible burden and that burden seems to grow each year.

Diseases of the brain andcentral nervous system, includingneurodegenerative conditions, affect one in five Americans with an estimated$400 billion in direct costs and lostproductivity. Alzheimer’s disease alonecosts about $100 billion a year for treat-ment and care in the United States. As the population ages, the human tolland cost will accelerate. By mid-century,for example, Alzheimer’s could becomethe number one cause of death in theUnited States, eclipsing cardiovasculardisease and cancer.

Addressing this growing healthburden is a tremendous challenge. At the School of Medicine andDentistry (SMD) we have an abundanceof nationally recognized talent in

neuromedicine and neuroscience. The Department of Neurology and theDepartment of Neurosurgery are rankedin the top ten in National Institutes ofHealth funding. Berislav Zlokovic, M.D.,Ph.D., professor of neurosurgery andneurology, received a very prestigioushonor earlier this year in Washington —the MetLife Foundation Award forMedical Research in Alzheimer’sDisease. Steven Goldman, M.D., Ph.D.,professor of neurology, and MaikenNedergaard, M.D., Ph.D., professor ofneurosurgery, routinely publish theirbreakthrough findings in the prestigiousjournal Nature Medicine, landing a half-dozen cover articles between them in the past several years. Our Clinical TrialsCoordination Center, directed by KarlKieburtz, M.D., M.P.H., is recognized as a leader around the world.

This issue of Rochester Medicineexamines neuromedicine and neuro-science. Important research in this fieldgoes on in many corners of theUniversity, such as the Center for Agingand Developmental Biology at SMD andthe Department of Brain and CognitiveSciences on the River Campus. Thefeature articles in this issue are just asample of the work in three SMD depart-ments: neurology, neurosurgery andneurobiology and anatomy. Since RobertC. Griggs, M.D., assumed the chair of the Department of Neurology in 1986,the department has expanded from 22full-time faculty members to more than90. The department’s reputation underBerch Griggs has grown as well. Onereason is the Neuromuscular DiseaseCenter, which is directed by RichardMoxley III, M.D., professor of neurology.The center is well known for faculty who are dedicated to patient care andresearch, such as Charles Thornton,M.D., who is closing in on a treatmentthat could reverse myotonic dystrophy.

N The integration of research andclinical treatments, faithfully practicedin the Department of Neurology, is aRochester hallmark. Webster Pilcher,M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Department ofNeurosurgery, has recruited a quartet of neurosurgeons who also are dedicated to patient-oriented research. SMD’sneuroscience resources — and the oppor-tunity to work with Professors Goldman,Nedergaard or Zlokovic — drew thesesurgeons to Rochester.

Neuroscience is very muchabout our ability to get around andcommunicate in the world or, as Gary D.Paige, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Depart -ment of Neurobiology and Anatomy,says, our survival in the world. Scientistsin this department investigate the wayswe recognize faces and voices and main-tain our balance and move and how the brain can restructure itself. It’s easyto see the application of this research toautism, Alzheimer’s and other conditions.

We have much to rely on as we meet the challenge to investigate and develop therapies for neurologicaldiseases — and much to be proud of, as this issue of Rochester Medicine willattest.

David S. Guzick, M.D., Ph.D.Dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry



CONTENTS

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

4 Untangling the Mystery10 Of Two Minds18 Shoulder to Shoulder25 In the World of the Senses

36 Medical Center Rounds42 Alumni News47 Philanthropy50 Match Day 200754 Class Notes66 Medical Literature: A Reason for Being There69 In Memoriam

ROCHESTER MEDICINE

Rochester Medicine is published by: The University of Rochester Medical Center,Department of Public Relations and Communications, in conjunction with the Department of Medical Alumni Relations and Development

Director of Public Relationsand Communications Teri D’Agostino Editor Michael WentzelContributing Writers Lori Barrette, Karin Christensen, Heather Hare,

Mark Michaud, Leslie Orr, Germaine Reinhardt, Tom Rickey, Leslie White and Greg Williams

Art Director Mitchell Christensen Photographers Spiros Kapatos, Vince Sullivan and Will YurmanAlumni Council Liaison Leslie Chambers

For questions or comments, contact: Department of Alumni Relations and Academic Development300 East River Road, Rochester, NY 14627 800–333–4428 585–273–5954 Fax 585–461–2081Comments on this issue, e-mail: [email protected]


By Michael Wentzel

n gUtan glin

Muscle stiffness is a hallmark of myotonic dystrophy. In this photo of mouse muscle cells with myotonicdystrophy, many chloride ion channels are missing. The loss of the chloride channels causes the stiffness.Rochester's Charles Thornton, M.D., and his collaboratorsdiscovered the chloride channel connection.Photo courtesy of the Thornton Lab

For four decades,

Rochester neurologists

have advanced the care

of people with muscular

dystrophy while searching

for the cause and a cure.

the mystery



She routinely loaded bags of seed corn

on the flatbed of a pickup truck to take

into the fields —

For many years,

Carol Harrier proudly

worked the farm

she and her husband,

Don, owned near

Seneca Falls.

—until one day

she could no longer

lift the bags.

She did her share of digging and carrying.

She sometimes drove a tractor to prepare

the land for soybeans and wheat.


ROCHESTER MEDICINE6

That day occurred in 1992, the yearHarrier, now 62, was diagnosed withmyotonic dystrophy.

Harrier was referred to theUniversity of Rochester Medical Centerand to Richard Moxley III, M.D., aprofessor of neurology at the School ofMedicine and Dentistry and director ofits Neuromuscular Disease Center. Hediagnosed her myotonic dystrophy, aninherited disorder, even though Harriercould find no one in her family with thecondition.

Through Moxley, Harrier found a perfect place to help her deal with her disorder, the School of Medicine’sDepartment of Neurology, which has a long tradition of excellence in treat-

ment and research. Department physi-cians and staff members have cared forpatients with different forms of musculardystrophy for more than 40 years,working closely with patients’ familiesand care providers in the community.The department’s commitment toresearch not only has produced funda-mental discoveries in muscular dystrophybut also has provided Harrier and otherpatients access to clinical trials and newtreatments.

“Our infrastructure gives us ourparticular strength,” Moxley said. “Noother department of neurology has thecomponents we have. We are, to a largedegree, unique in this regard,”

That sturdy infrastructure has

many components. The NeuromuscularDisease Center (NDC) maintains theNational Registry of MyotonicDystrophy and FacioscapulohumeralMuscular Dystrophy, which helpsconnect patients with researchers. It alsooversees a Paul D. Wellstone MuscularDystrophy Cooperative Research Center,which supports collaborations betweenscientists around the country. In addi-tion, the NDC leads the Muscle StudyGroup, a consortium of investigators thatpromotes and conducts clinical trials inneuromuscular disorders. The ClinicalTrials Coordination Center, a unit of the department, develops and managesextensive controlled trials with researchersaround the world. Department chairmanRobert Griggs, M.D., heads a group thatinvestigates rare conditions, such as non-dystrophic myotonias and episodicataxias, called neurologic chan-nelopathies. Rochester’s new Clinicaland Translational Science Institute, oneof 12 in the country funded by theNational Institutes of Health, will addsignificantly to the available resources.

“We are eager to do whatever ispossible to advance our research findingsfrom the lab into actual current manage-ment at the bedside,” Moxley said.Patients yearn for that.”

Going on her merry way Since 1992, Harrier’s condition has worsened. She and her husband soldtheir farm. Her hands have weakened,she said, and she falls more often than in the past. She relies on the strongbond she formed with Moxley, whom sherefers to as “a great man” for helping herdeal with many of her symptoms. Hegives her encouragement and she takespart in clinical trials.

“I’ve participated in a lot of trials,”Harrier said. “Some of the trials have notworked for me, but what doesn’t help memight help someone else or help othersin the future. That’s what’s important.”

Moxley recently led a study with40 patients of a drug known as mexile-

It seemed to happen just like that. I could lift the bags and then one day

I couldn’t,” she said. “I couldn’t even unzip the bags.”

“

Richard Moxley III, M.D., examines Carol Harrier.

“



tine, which is often used to treat heartarrhythmia. The drug amelioratedmyotonia in many patients, and they didnot experience any untoward side effects.Moxley plans another study to investi-gate mexiletine’s effect on gait stabilityand muscle mass and its ability to reducepain. Harrier found, however, thatmexiletine did little for her, especiallyfailing to tame pain that often lastedthroughout the day and, for manymonths, became so severe she could onlysleep in a reclining chair.

Last year, Harrier took part inanother trial as Moxley tested a uniqueinsulin-related compound. More than 20years ago, he discovered whole-body andforearm-muscle insulin resistance inmyotonic dystrophy patients. That obser-vation triggered a longtime interest inthe insulin connection in dystrophy.

A decade ago, a trial at a NewYork City hospital of a hormone calledinsulin-like growth factor-1, or IGF-1,showed some benefits in myotonicdystrophy patients, but the hormone alsoproduced significant side effects. Moxleynow has begun an investigation of Iplex,a recombinant protein complex of IGF-1and insulin-like growth factor bindingprotein-3 developed by Insmed Inc., abiopharmaceutical company in Virginia.

“In myotonic dystrophy, there is aloss of leadership in the cell that slowsthe building process and causes it to veeroff the typical blueprint and manufactureinappropriate proteins in various sites,”Moxley said. “It really fouls up the celland the insulin receptor is one thing

that is affected.”Moxley put Iplex through a small

safety and feasibility study with 15 partic-ipants, including Harrier.

“I don’t want to go overboardbecause this was a small study, but thisgrowth factor may be a very effectiveintermediate therapy to keep patientswhere they need to be,” Moxley said. The fact is patients are tolerating thedaily injections. Each one has reportedfeeling more energized. It could be aplacebo effect but it would be a prolongedone. This has been a six-month treat-ment. The patients have reportedimproved mental and gastrointestinalfunction. There have been no side effects.More definitive studies are needed butthere’s no reason to hold back.”

For Harrier, like most of the Iplextrial participants, long-existing painvanished.

“They had tried everything theycould to get rid of the pain, but nothingreally worked before,” Harrier said. “I’mnot someone who is going to spend theday in bed. I keep active. I don’t give up.I didn’t give up from day one. Dr. Moxleytold me I was a good patient with a goodattitude. I didn’t complain about thepain, but it was a big deal getting rid ofit. I don’t know why it went away. But itdid, and I went on my merry way.”

Closing in on a cureIn the same year that Carol Harrier wasdiagnosed with myotonic dystrophy,scientists discovered the cause of thedisorder — a mutation of the DPMK geneon chromosome 19. But in 1992, no onehad figured out how the mutated genecaused trouble. More than a decadepassed before a research team led byCharles Thornton, M.D., professor ofneurology, discovered the culprit — whatThornton calls a toxic messenger RNA.

Normal messenger RNA transmitsgenetic information out of the nucleusand into the main part of the cell, wherethe instructions from the molecular blueprint get carried out. In myotonicdystrophy, the faulty messenger RNAaccumulate in the nuclei of cells anddraw in proteins that then can’t do therequired jobs. Because proteins are defi-cient, other RNAs are not splicedtogether properly and do not functioncorrectly. Thornton believes that at least40 RNAs — and perhaps as many as 150RNAs — are affected and do not functionas they should.

(right) Robert C.Griggs, M.D.

(far right) ChristineQuinn, healthproject coordinator, andRichard Moxley III,M.D., go overdetails from a clinical trial.

“


ROCHESTER MEDICINE8

“We have isolated this RNA. We can see it under the microscope,”Thornton said. “We can literally see thecollections of expanded repeat RNA. We can see what proteins have glommedon to them. We can see which ones hadbeen sucked into the tangles so stronglythey were depleted in other parts of thecells. Those are the ones we now thinkare stuck in the wrong locations. Andthe symptoms can be improved by pryingthem loose.”

In 2000, Thornton’s team devel-oped the first transgenic mouse model of myotonic dystrophy that, along withthe participation of dystrophy patientsthrough the registry or the Wellstonecenter, has enhanced research signifi-cantly.

“The ability to carry out parallellines of research using the transgenicmouse models and people with myotonicdystrophy has been extremely powerful,”Thornton said. “Now we are using themouse models as the main way of testingtreatment effects. This means we can seechanges in the transgenic mouse modelsand instantly look at tissue samples frompeople who have the disease to see if thesame changes take place there. Theprocess also has gone in the other direc-

tion. There have been changes we havefirst observed in people with the diseaseand then have checked to see how thathappens by doing experiments in trans-genic mice. Following these parallelthreads — clinical research, laboratoryresearch — has allowed us to makediscoveries. I did not see this coming. It had not occurred to me there wouldbe this very synergistic interaction ofdoing research in parallel in animalmodels and patients.”

The research team has developed a molecule that pries loose the tangledproteins in mice. When that occurs, the disease goes in reverse, even after itssymptoms are fully developed.

“Clear targets for drug treatmenthave been identified. I believe this willbe a disease that will be unusually treat-able. I think it will be reversible andpreventable,” Thornton said. “Having a treatment is still years away. Peoplewould most like to hear that a cure isjust around the corner. But knowing thatthere is steady progress and that after a period of years of deep puzzlement thatthere has been a break in the logjam isexciting.”

A natural history of muscular dystrophyIn the same way a naturalist gets to know a familiar forest from seeds to fruit,Rochester physicians and researchersexplore myotonic dystrophy and facio -scapulohumeral muscular dystrophy(FSHD), the two most common forms ofadult muscular dystrophy, and Duchennemuscular dystrophy, the most commonchildhood form.

Rabi Tawil, M.D., professor ofneurology (R’91, FLW’93), for example, isconducting genetic studies on FSHD as wellas investigating development of the bloodsupply in muscle tissue and in the eyes ofpeople with FSHD. Efforts by Tawil couldmake Rochester’s Neuromuscular DiseaseCenter the international center for clinicalcare and research for FSHD.

“We would partner with others but we want to make Rochester the largestnational and international repository ofclinical information on disease manifesta-tions of FSHD,” Moxley said.

Griggs, Moxley and other Rochesterresearchers also have been leaders in establishing the efficacy of prednisone as a treatment for Duchenne. TheNeuromuscular Disease Center is takingpart in a study sponsored by the Centers


9

for Disease Control on the prevalenceand patterns of care for Duchenne andanother disease, Becker musculardystrophy. The study will involve mostdystrophy clinics in western New York.The New York data will be comparedwith data from clinics in Iowa, Colorado,Arizona and Georgia.

“We have a deep past history withprednisone. We can bring that togetherwith the new data and ongoing researchto develop a new portrait of Duchenne,”Moxley said.

People with muscular dystrophyfrom across the country come to seeMoxley and other physicians in theNeuromuscular Disease Center. Thepatients often ask Moxley to talk to theirlocal physicians about their condition.Moxley now is looking into using theInternet to distribute the knowledge and deep natural history on muscular

(Left, facing) Charles Thornton, M.D. (below) Kirti Bhati, a technical associate in the Thornton Lab, readies a sample for testing.

Normal musclecells in mice stained to showchloride ion channels.

dystrophy that Rochester has gathered.“We’re focusing on getting what

we know from the bench to the bedside,from the bench to the community,”Moxley said. “We want to take what weknow about care and ways to improvethe standards of care and tell as manypeople as we can what we have learned.”

Meanwhile, Carol Harrier staysactive. She keeps her fingers as nimble as possible working on craft projects. She goes out. She visits with friends. She keeps going while she waits forresearch to untangle her condition.

“I’m not giving in,” Harrier said.


ROCHESTER MEDICINE10


OF TWO

MINDS


G O L D M A N

NEDERGAARD

G O L D M A N

NEDERGAARD

Steve Goldman and Maiken Nedergaard are

raising a family together but independently

they are redefining the roles of brain cells

and devising new ways to treat disease.

By Tom Rickey



Three years ago, Maiken Nedergaard, M.D., Ph.D., was

able to make paralyzed rats walk. Only a handful of

people worldwide have accomplished anything so

stunning with an injury so severe.

While the reaction of patients and scientists around the world hasbeen astonishment, the reception at home — in her household —has been much more muted. Her husband, Steve Goldman, M.D.,Ph.D., might be forgiven if he has a “been there, done that” attitude.

Nedergaard and Goldman lead labs at the University ofRochester Medical Center. But indeed, Goldman has been thereand done that, accomplishing the same feat independently.

Besides their marriage, five children, and a life together, thetwo share a love of science and a determination to affect thehealth of millions of people around the globe through medicaldiscovery. Both are turning heads as they explore the potential of separate groups of cells in the human brain for the treatment ofa broad array of diseases.

Goldman’s realm is stem cells, a phrase that serves as a redflag for many. Nedergaard, on the other hand, has made a name for

herself in the realm of astrocytes, a research area once perceived —until she entered it — as a backwater with little relevance to humanhealth. Nedergaard and Goldman are discovering that the rela-tionship between “her” and “his” cells is increasingly complex, withcells networking together and relying upon each other in ways notthought possible as recently as five years ago.

The research projects led by the husband-and-wife duo offer promise against a Who’s Who of neurological diseases:Alzheimer’s disease, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, spinal cord injury,multiple sclerosis, pediatric leukodystrophies, Parkinson’s disease,brain tumors, Huntington’s disease, stroke and migraines. Name acondition above the neck, and it’s likely that neural stem cells orastrocytes are, or soon will be, implicated as a cause or cited as keyto a new treatment.

Mice are often a necessary stopping point for researchersultimately seeking new treatments for people, and Nedergaardand Goldman have contributed their fair share of advances intreating diseases in animal models. Mice with damaged spinalcords walk and run again. Mice debilitated by Parkinson’s diseaseare cured of symptoms and run freely. Mice normally felled intheir youth by a fatal disease of myelin live a normal lifespan.Those and other projects continue to thrive on the long road tohuman application.

The promising work is recognized in a number of ways.Since uprooting their labs in New York City and moving toRochester with more than 25 of their lab personnel nearly fouryears ago, they’ve brought in more than $25 million in funding toRochester, and their combined staffs of about 50 people arepursuing a dozen separate research projects. Between them,Nedergaard and Goldman have landed a half-dozen articles onthe cover of the prestigious journal Nature Medicine in the pastseveral years and published more than 250 papers, many theproduct of their 20-year collaboration.

The move to Rochester was a monumental decision for twoworld-renowned researchers used to the opportunity a city likeNew York affords. With five children now between ages 7 and 16,the couple found “the city” increasingly hostile to what might betermed a normal lifestyle. Goldman worked in Manhattan,Nedergaard worked north of the city, and their children were inscattered schools across the metropolitan area.

“I was getting used to things that no one should everbecome accustomed to, like spending four hours a day in the carevery day,” said Goldman. “Between research and clinical duties,sometimes I wasn’t seeing my children for days at a time. They were in bed when I left in the morning and in bed when I returned home. The logistics of living were just impossible. We got fed up with the compromises involved.”

So the couple began looking for opportunity beyond NewYork, where Goldman was firmly ensconced as a senior neurologistand professor with an endowed chair at Cornell’s Weill MedicalCollege, and Nedergaard had established a thriving laboratory atNew York Medical College. Including his time as a student atCornell, Goldman had spent nearly 25 years as part of the institu-tion, and was even recognized as one of the top patent holders.

The couple was invited by Howard Federoff, M.D., Ph.D., a neuroscientist and, at the time, the senior associate dean ofMaiken Nedergaard, M.D., Ph.D.



research, to consider Rochester.“I’d never been to Rochester, and I thought Howard was

kidding,” said Goldman. “But on our first visit, we met a bunch ofexpatriate New Yorkers, and we were really charmed. The qualityof schools is superb, the neighborhoods are nice, and everything’squick and convenient. It’s great for raising a large family.”

With some added persuasion by top University executivesand Webster Pilcher, M.D., Ph.D., (M’83, R’89) chair of neuro-surgery, the pair moved to Rochester.

“You could build a whole center around each one of theseoutstanding scientists,” said Pilcher. “Each is attracting so manygreat young scientists that the challenge becomes where to put all these talented people who want to pursue their own careers.They are true colleagues — competitive, yet highly supportive.They maintain their independent status. They are driven to dogood science, and they collaborate very well.”

Creating hope where none existsThe two met at Cornell in 1987, where Nedergaard was a researchfellow and Goldman was chief resident in neurology. It was a fewyears earlier, as a graduate student at Rockefeller University in theearly 1980s, that Goldman began studying the brain’s stem cells —though few people used that term then. He was looking at the

creation of new brain cells in adult birds.“To be good with the ladies, the male canary learns new

songs,” said Goldman, “and every time it does so, it creates newneurons.” His doctoral thesis in 1983 was the first report of neuro-genesis — the production of new brain cells — in the adult brain,and opened the door to the idea of neural stem cells as the source.

Goldman quickly became one of the world’s leadingresearchers on stem and progenitor cells, exploring the basicbiology of the cells as well as their use treating people for a varietyof neurological diseases. Stem cells along with progenitor cells,which can’t renew themselves indefinitely as stem cells can,produce all the brain’s cells, including neurons, astrocytes, andoligodendrocytes.

Goldman hopes diseases involving oligodendrocytes in chil-dren — rare but fatal childhood demyelinating diseases calledpediatric leukodystrophies — will become the focus of the firstsuccessful stem cell therapy in people.

Myelin is a type of natural insulation made of fat that wrapsaround nerve cells and allows them to fire crisply. When the myelinbreaks down, the electrical signals that underlie all brain activitybecome sluggish, and a variety of symptoms result. In diseases suchas Tay-Sachs, Krabbe and Pelizaeus-Merzabacher, young childrenbegin losing myelin, setting off a childhood and young adulthoodthat can include seizures, premature dementia and death.

Three years ago, Goldman’s group was the first to report therestoration of myelin in a widespread area of an animal’s brain,restoring proper nerve function in virtually the entire brain of a mouse. Basically, the team re-wired the brain of a congenitallydemyelinated mouse, by injecting into the mice highly purifiedprogenitor cells, which ultimately evolved into oligodendrocytes,the cells that produce myelin.

Since then, the team has seen even more dramatic resultswhile working with a special strain of mice that is born withoutmyelin and generally dies after about four months. By using stemcells to replenish the oligodendrocytes, such mice in Goldman’slab routinely live beyond a year, more than four times theexpected life span, and many seem cured.

“Scientifically and medically, we are ready to go to a humanclinical trial, but there are other barriers,” he said, most notably a manufacturing facility to prepare the cells.

While Goldman tackles the scientific issues one by one,patiently pushing in all directions to bring what he views as apromising treatment to people, others have a more forthrightview. Recently he was approached at a national meeting by otherscientists who questioned the ethics of not moving forward morerapidly with what already seems a likely treatment for a fataldisease for which there is currently none.

“It’s extremely exciting to think about not only treating butactually curing a disease, particularly an awful disease that affectschildren,” said Goldman. “Unfortunately, right now, we can donothing but tell parents to prepare for their kids to die.”

Goldman’s research holds out hope for several diseases for which little hope currently exists. In Huntington’s disease, forinstance, there is no way to slow the inexorable decline thedisease brings. And no treatment in people has come close toreversing the consequences of a spinal cord injury. Goldman’s lab

Steven Goldman,M.D., Ph.D.



Nedergaard has discovered what might be called the

secret lives of astrocytes. She has made a series of

startling discoveries: astrocytes send signals to the

neurons and the neurons respond; neurons and astro-

cytes talk back and forth, indicating that astrocytes

are full partners in the basic working of the brain; and

astrocytes are central to conditions like stroke,

Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, and spinal cord injury.

ASTROCYTES

In this confocal microscope image of human brain cells, the green cellsare astrocytes and the red are neurons. The astrocytes are stainedagainst glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), neurons against microtubuliassociated protein 1 (MAP1), and nuclei with DAPI.

Courtesy of Nedergaard lab.



has developed stem cell-based approaches for treating both condi-tions that have proven successful in animal models. People withthese conditions who hear about his work and are anxious forhuman tests frequently contact Goldman. But three years ago,when rats with spinal cord injuries began walking and thenrunning in his laboratory, Goldman declined publicity for fear ofraising the hopes of paralyzed patients prematurely.

“Good science takes time,” he said. “The worst thing thatcould happen would be to try something in patients before it’sbeen completely vetted. That would not only be dangerous for thepatient, but if things went poorly, it could bring a premature endto research that might otherwise be successful.”

Research with stem cells is under intense scrutiny evenunder the best of circumstances. Last year, using human stemcells, Goldman was able to nearly cure rats of Parkinson’s symp-toms, but the rats also grew brain tumors as a result of thetreatment. The work, reported by media around the world, waslatched upon by both proponents and opponents of stem cellresearch. Opponents heralded the “failure” of the experiment,while Goldman instead felt optimistic.

“This is the way medical discoveries move forward: one stepat a time,” said Goldman, professor of neurology and neurosurgeryand chief of the division of cell and gene therapy. “Currentlywe’re working on the next problem, achieving the same benefitwithout creating tumors. We expect to be able to solve thisproblem within the next year or two.”

He has not been as aggressive a political voice as some,preferring to let his work speak for itself. He makes the most of thestem cells lines approved by the federal government, though henotes their shortcomings and explores private funding for possiblyworking on other lines some day. The federal ban restricting theuse of certain cell lines likely contributed to the tumor problem inhis Parkinson’s work, Goldman said, and is limiting application ofthe technology in human patients.

In spite of stem cell controversy, Goldman’s work remainsenormously popular with funding groups. The National Institutesof Health is supporting five separate large projects. More than 20organizations and corporations, including the National MultipleSclerosis Society, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, Merck andSanofi-Aventis, back other studies.

“More than anyone I’ve ever met, Steve is able to approachthe challenges and tragedies of neurologic disease as viable oppor-tunities for translational research that will lead to a cure,” saidPilcher. “He’s a brilliant thinker and a creative scientist, who shareswith Maiken a sense of urgency for achieving and contributing atthe highest level. Steve’s and Maiken’s timelines move faster thanthe average person’s. The goals they set for themselves are beyondwhat most people expect.”

Making discoveries in uncharted watersWhile Goldman is exploring the science of cells that have beenthrust into the political limelight, Nedergaard has been busy witha type of cell often glossed over even in medical textbooks.

Star-shaped cells known as astrocytes have long beenconsidered passive support cells, a means to hold the rest of thebrain cells together. Medical students might spend a few minutes

thinking about them before moving on to their flashy counter-parts, the neurons that constantly fire, sending electrical signalsthat are crucial to pretty much everything we do. It’s the electricalactivity of neurons that constitutes brain activity, and it’s theneurons that are the target of every currently available drug aimedat brain cells.

Astrocytes generally have been considered importantinsofar as they support the neurons, keeping them nourished andcared for. Astrocytes supply neurons with chemicals needed to dotheir job. They allow neurons to keep their signals crisp by vacu-uming up excess chemicals, recycling neuronal waste into usefulchemicals that are delivered back to neurons, and maintainingprecise balances of ions and chemicals in their environment.

“The main function of astrocytes has been regarded as main-taining a healthy environment for neurons,” said Nedergaard,professor of neurosurgery. “The electrical signaling in the brain isso sophisticated that it’s crucial that the environment be optimal.There’s not much room for error. When the astrocytes start actingabnormally, it’s easy to see how serious disease might result.”

Nedergaard has discovered what might be called the secretlives of astrocytes. She has made a series of startling discoveries:astrocytes send signals to the neurons and the neurons respond;neurons and astrocytes talk back and forth, indicating that astro-

(Above) Goldmansays good sciencetakes time.

(Right, facing)Nedergaard andher team havetargeted manydiseases.



cytes are full partners in the basic working of the brain; and astro-cytes are central to conditions like stroke, Alzheimer’s, epilepsy,and spinal cord injury.

Pilcher, a neurosurgeon who has spent a lifetime studying andhealing the brain, said of Nedergaard: “She’s like Magellan, takingher ship into uncharted waters. Everything she sees is brand new. It’s likely that many new therapies against several diseases will bedirected at glial cells such as astrocytes, thanks to her work.”

Epilepsy has long been considered a disease of neurons,Pilcher said. But Nedergaard has found that astrocytes play a role,actually setting off seizures by sending out glutamate, causingbrain cells to fire out of control.

“When neurosurgeons would see a scar made of glial cells likeastrocytes, we would see a scar that has nothing to do with epilepsy,”said Pilcher. “Maiken has shown that astrocytes can actually begin aseizure. That’s a complete departure from everything that has beenknown or even considered before. We’ve been ignoring this veryimportant cell type in epilepsy and other diseases.”

So much of a departure, Nedergaard said, that when hercolleague, Guo-Feng Tian, did the initial experiments, he spentseveral months thinking he had done something wrong becausethe results were counter to much of what is known about epilepsy.

How have scientists missed all this activity all these years?

The tools widely used to measure brain activity focus on the elec-trical firing of cells, what neurons, not astrocytes, do. It turns outthat astrocytes have their own way of communicating, not capturedby conventional technology. Rather than realizing their tools wereincomplete, scientists assumed that astrocytes were silent.

“It’s like having two communication networks usingdifferent languages,” said Nedergaard. “You have a highly sophis-ticated electrical network embodied in the neurons, which sendsignals instantaneously. And then you have a much slowernetwork whose signals are 10,000 times slower.”

Nedergaard first started thinking about astrocytes in depthas a physician doing research on stroke in Copenhagen. Stroke isa condition long thought of mainly as a disease of neurons.Limited oxygen to the brain’s neurons causes brain damage. But she felt it likely that astrocytes were central to stroke damage,explaining that the way in which stroke damage occurs in thebrain often follows the general manner in which astrocytes, notneurons, are connected.

At Cornell, she devised a new way to “listen” for astrocyteactivity, developing a sophisticated laser system to look at theiractivity by measuring the amount of calcium inside the cells. Her team uses a fluorescent calcium-sensitive dye to look at astro-cytes, using one laser to activate the calcium, and another laser to monitor how astrocytes process the chemical. It’s called two-photon imaging, and it allows her team to look at astrocytes inliving animals, a crucial step beyond the laboratory studies thatlong have dominated astrocyte studies.

“For a long time, astrocytes were thought of simply as thehousekeepers of the brain, feeding the neurons and regulatingtheir environment,” said Nedergaard. “But astrocytes are muchmore active than we have thought. It appears that astrocytes evengive out the instructions telling neurons what to do. It’s verylikely they play an important role in many human diseases.”

Now that she has cracked the language of astrocytes,Nedergaard has found them active in nearly every condition shehas studied. It turns out they play a key role in cerebral palsy,producing a compound that makes the brain especially vulnerablein an infant born prematurely. In Alzheimer’s, it’s long been recog-nized that sick, bloated astrocytes are the first sign that somethingis amiss. And in the spine, tweaking the astrocytes may present a new way to try to alter the damage from spinal cord injury.

It’s fertile new territory not only for Nedergaard but also forpharmaceutical firms whose research efforts in the brain havebeen devoted almost exclusively to neurons, not astrocytes.

Nedergaard notes that the human brain has about 10 timesas many astrocytes as neurons, and that they are more complex.While our neurons are much like those found in a mouse, humanastrocytes are three times as large, with 10 times as many connec-tions to other cells.

“It may be that humans have a much higher capacity inlarge part because our astrocytes are much more sophisticated orcomplex,” said Nedergaard. “These cells are part of our highercognitive functioning that defines who we are as humans.

“We have a feeling that we’re just scratching the surface oftheir importance of astrocytes. In my opinion, a decade from now,the astrocyte will be as hot as stem cells are now.”


sto

shoulder

Jake Miller with therapistJenny Reed.



Jason H. Huang, M.D., had not evenserved a week on the University of Rochester

School of Medicine and Dentistry neurosurgery facultywhen he encountered Jake Miller, a 13-year-old who had beenstruck by a car as he rode his skateboard.

When Jake arrived at Strong Memorial Hospital that Sundayin July 2006, he was comatose with a bilateral skull fracture. Hismother, Lisa Miller, remembered: “Dr. Huang examined Jake for afew minutes and said he had to operate right away or Jake would die.I said go do it — do what you can to save my child.”

The tradition in cases like Jake’s is to monitor and managemedically, Huang said.

“If you ask 10 neurosurgeons what to do in this case, ninewould say to wait rather than operate. I believe you have to beaggressive with surgery to protect thebrain,” he said.

Huang removed Jake’s left skullbone flap, then, a day later, he took offthe right side. It was a dramatic beginningto Jake’s road to recovery.

Huang’s skills and confidence inaggressive neurosurgery interested WebsterPilcher, M.D., Ph.D. (M’83, R’89), chair of the School of Medicine’s Departmentof Neurosurgery, who recruited him to Rochester. Since he was appointedchair and Frank P. Smith Professor in2002, Pilcher has worked persistently toreplenish the department and to broadenthe department’s vision. Now, with a

department clinical faculty of 12, hehas more than doubled its size.

“Neuromedicine is where cardiology was in the1980s, when clinical and basic research started to impact the clin-ical arena,” Pilcher said. “In the next 10 to 20 years, translationalneuroscience research will contribute many new and importanttherapies. I want our department to be in a leadership position todevelop and introduce those new therapies.”

Huang, a graduate of the Johns Hopkins School ofMedicine, came to Rochester from the Hospital of the Universityof Pennsylvania, where he did his residency and had a fellowship.The other new recruits include: Jason M. Schwalb, M.D., G. Edward Vates, M.D., Ph.D., and Kevin A. Walter, M.D. Eachbrings research interests as well as clinical strengths. Huang inves-tigates nerve repair. Schwalb looks at new targets for deep brainstimulation. Vates studies the causes of stroke and newapproaches to prevention. Walter researches the genetic make-upof brain tumor blood vessels for new methods of treatment.

“I recruited young faculty with a vision for how translationalresearch in neuromedicine will shape the future of clinical neuro-surgery. They can help us make a national contribution with new

therapies and techniques that will trans-form the field,” Pilcher said. “We areplacing clinical care and research shoulderto shoulder. We want clinical care andresearch supporting each other.”

Growing axons,

repairing nerves

Jason Huang, with Pilcher’s support, isworking to establish a neurosurgicalintensive care unit at the Medical Center.He also plans to help develop aggressiveprotocols, modeled on what he learned atthe University of Pennsylvania, for thetreatment of traumatic brain injury andother nervous system injuries.

shoulder

or

Pilcher’s recruits broaden neurosurgical care,

expand research and point to a future of leadership

By Michael Wentzel

Jake Miller



“Traumatic brain injuries are thenumber one cause of death of people ageone to 40 in the United States. It’s notcoronary artery disease or cancer. It isaccidents, shootings and other trauma,”Huang said. “We want to have a majoreffort to develop our own program.”

That program would involvesurgery as well as research in spinal cordand peripheral nerve injuries and theirrepair. Huang, for example, treats injuriesto the brachial plexus, the network ofnerves that conduct signals from thespine to the shoulder, arm and hand.Patients from the Rochester region withthese injuries routinely have beenreferred to the Mayo Clinic or theUniversity of Pittsburgh Medical Centerfor surgery. They now can receive treatment at Rochester’sMedical Center.

Huang continues his research work with University ofPennsylvania scientists and engineers on in vitro growth ofbundles of neurons — some as long as 10 centimeters — that couldbe used to repair injuries. In one project, the newly grown axoncould be connected to an electrical array that would act as aninterface between nerves.

“The concept is that eventually we will be able to trans-plant the nerve and the array interface into a patient who has lostuse of an arm and the interface can restore function,” Huang said.There is a lot of preliminary data showing that it is a viableoption. It is in the concept stage and there is a long way to go, butI can see it being a reality in five to 10 years.”

Huang also has started a collaboration with Roman Giger,Ph.D., an associate professor of neurology in the School ofMedicine’s Department of Biomedical Genetics. They are investi-gating the molecular mechanisms of neural development as a pathto the regeneration of damaged spinal cords or severed nerves.

The primary reason he came to Rochester, Huang said, wasto work with scientists like Giger and Maiken Nedergaard, M.D.,Ph.D., professor of neurosurgery. “You want to collaborate with

these people. The research here is as goodas at any institution,” he said. “Thesecond reason I’m here is clinical oppor-tunity. A city like Boston or Philadelphiais somewhat saturated. You only get to doso much as a young surgeon. I’ve donemore than 150 cases in my first six monthshere. That’s very busy. But I like oper-ating. I enjoy being in the operatingroom.”

Finding new targets

in the brain

Jason Schwalb investigates new targetsfor deep brain stimulation beyondParkinson’s disease, dystonia and essentialtremor. He helps develop better maps andmodels of the human brain altered by

disease. He also conducts research, but he prefers to collect hisdata in the operating room rather than at the lab bench.

“A neurosurgeon can collect data in the operating roomthat no one else can,” he said. “I can learn things about humanbrain function during operations that cannot be studied in amouse brain or even a rhesus monkey’s.”

In deep brain stimulation (DBS), Schwalb inserts a tinyelectrode about 60 microns (0.0024 inches) in diameter through anopening in the skull about the size of a nickel. Scans and otherimaging techniques already have marked the target and designedanatomical coordinates. As he threads the electrode deeper intothe brain, the electrode, connected to an amplifier, picks up thefiring of neurons. Schwalb feels his way by the sound of the firing.

“You move the electrode down slowly into the brain, less thana millimeter at a time, but you can collect a lot of data on whathappens when a patient’s brain is firing,” Schwalb said. “I can seehow a neuron responds to a patient doing a task — to a patientmoving an arm passively or reaching volitionally for a target.”

Robert Bakos, M.D. (R’77), associate professor of neuro-surgery, built the DBS program in Rochester. Schwalb, a YaleUniversity School of Medicine graduate who did his residency atthe University of Pennsylvania and fellowship training at theUniversity of Toronto, sees DBS as the field in neurosurgery withthe most potential for expansion.

“People with Parkinson’s disease do pretty well withmedications for about 10 years, but then many patients do quitepoorly,” Schwalb said. “They have large fluctuations in activityrelated to their medication dosing. They go from being frozen,where they can’t move — which is very painful — to having allsorts of extra movements that they can’t control. DBS does levelthat out. It may not cure the disease. It does not make you betterthan the best conditions on medication, but it does level peopleout. It really does improve quality of life.”

The department’s DBS program has become a regionalcenter for treatment of Parkinson’s disease and especiallydystonia. Schwalb expects DBS to someday play a major role intreating many diseases and conditions. He is working withrenowned neurobiologist Suzanne Haber, Ph.D. The goal is to

Webster Pilcher, M.D., Ph.D.

Jason H. Huang, M.D.

“



utilize Haber’s expertise in primate brain research to supportMedical Center efforts in defining new therapeutic targets fortreatment of depression, Tourette’s Syndrome, Parkinson’s, obses-sive compulsive disorder and other maladies.

“The scientific leadership in systems and cognitive neuro-science spanning both the River Campus and the Medical Centerwill be essential to developing new DBS therapies and to evalu-ating the outcome of our interventions,” Pilcher said. “By linkingscientists across the University, this program will define the ‘brain-machine interface’ as a focus of new treatments for many disablingneurological conditions.”

As a fellow in Toronto, Schwalb participated in a trial thatshowed promise for a new DBS target for treatment resistantdepression. He hopes a new trial of DBS at this target will startthis year with Rochester as one of the centers.

With support from the Schmitt Foundation, Schwalb andMartha Gdowski, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurobiology andanatomy, are investigating learning deficits in Parkinson’spatients. The goal of the project is to collect data on behavior andsensory integration from people with Parkinson’s and controlsubjects performing certain tasks and compare the data withneuronal responses in animals doing similar tasks.

“There are some indications that Parkinson’s is more than

just difficulty moving, that there are learning components,” he said. “Take a person with Parkinson’s disease and set off ametronome. They can integrate that sensory information andwalk better. If you put cutouts of feet along a path, they can walkbetter. But people with Parkinson’s often get stuck in doorways.How do you explain that well-known phenomenon if Parkinson’sdisease affects only the motor system?”

Schwalb also works closely with Rochester area physicians tobuild a group approach for managing complex pain patients withspinal cord stimulation. He joins Huang in treating brachial plexusinjuries, performs minimally invasive spine surgery and also offersfive procedures for trigeminal neuralgia. In his 18 months in thedepartment, he has handled more than 300 cases.

“The neuroscience infrastructure here is really spectacular.It’s like a Disneyworld for a functional neurosurgeon,” Schwalbsaid. “There are an incredible amount of resources already here andnew faculty members like me bring things that have not been here.”

Unmasking the astrocyte

Edward Vates finds as much reward in the research laboratory ashe does in the operating room. The work and skills of neurosci-entist Maiken Nedergaard attracted him to Rochester. He evenuses one of Nedergaard’s two-photon laser scanning microscopes.

In the normal brain of a mouse (below left) orderly rows of blood cells flow

through the capillaries and astrocytes do not interfere. But in a mouse that

has had an experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage (below right), swollen astrocytes

appear to compress the capillaries, possibly preventing the cells from delivering

oxygen to the brain.



But when he studies minute networks of blood vessels and theirneighboring astrocytes, he has not forgotten the people he treats.

“I am motivated to do my science by what I see happeningto my patients and what I see happening to them informs thequestions I want to address in the laboratory,” Vates said. “Thetwo are intimately braided. I’m always thinking about the otherwhen I’m doing one. It would be easy as a scientist to burrowdown the rabbit hole and not think about the implications or lackof implications for human disease and the problems patients face.But really we’re here trying to figure out better ways to fix brokenbrains and provide new therapies that will translate into betteroutcomes for patients.”

Vates recently joined with Laura M. Calvi, M.D., an endo -crinologist and assistant professor of medicine, to establish

a clinic, the first of its kind in upstate New York, to address pitu-itary gland tumors. In his research and clinical work, he focuseson aneurysms and vascular malformations in the brain and he isespecially interested in the consequences of bleeding into thebrain and spinal fluid.

The most fearsome consequence of bleeding from a brainaneurysm is vasospasm. Blood from an aneurysm irritates themuscle in an artery. As a consequence, the muscle contracts, theartery shrinks and blood flow is choked off. More than a third ofpatients who have bleeding from an aneurysm will go on to haveproblems with vasospasm. Many will have strokes and otherpermanent problems.

“Tests can detect large-vessel vasospasm, but we can’t seespasms in the small vessels that deliver oxygen and nutrients to

Tests can detect large-vessel vasospasm,

but we can’t see spasms in the small vessels

that deliver oxygen and nutrients to the brain.

G. Edward Vates, M.D.



the brain,” Vates said. “If we see an artery suddenly narrow down,we can inject chemicals into the artery and relax the vessels. In the same way as we do in a heart, we can advance a smallballoon to the point and force the artery open. It’s a delicate andrisky procedure. It’s not something you enter into lightly. We needto develop better tests to detect spasm in smaller arteries.”

Vates, a graduate of Weill Cornell University MedicalCollege and Rockefeller University, did his residency at theUniversity of California at San Francisco. In his research, whichis supported by the National Institutes of Health and theAmerican Association of Neurological Surgeons, he studies bloodvessels and blood flow in the brain in real time in animals thathave bleeding into their spinal fluid. He manipulates the astro-cytes to cause them to relax or constrict the blood vessel.

“Astrocyctes regulate how big a blood vessel is in the brainand clearly regulate blood flow. They are not the only regulators,but they are important,” Vates said. “We now know that astro-cytes are affected by subarachnoid hemorrhage. What is the effectand is that why we see reduced blood flow in some instances?We’ve been able to show that blood flow is decreased aftersubarachnoid hemorrhage in our mouse model. We are beginningexperiments to look at what it is about astrocytes that contributeto decreased flow. Astrocytes are an unrecognized participant. Our goal is to pull the mask off and show that astrocytes are oneof the culprits that lead to decreased blood flow and stroke.”

Vates also plans to investigate the chemical compoundsastrocytes use to regulate their internal machinery or to commu-nicate with the other cells that help regulate blood flow.

“If those chemical signals are being thrown off, that pointsto a particular point in the cascade of events where we might beable to intervene and cause the blood vessels to operate properly,”

he said. “Our inadequate understandinghas left us unable to treat the conse-quences of subarachnoid hemorrhage andvasospasm. People lose the ability tomove, talk, see and understand. We see itall too commonly. Until we understandwhat is going on we’re not going to beable to do better for our patients who facedevastating consequences.”

Tracking tumor vessel’s code

After Kevin Walter removes a tumor fromthe brain or spinal cord of a patient, hestudies that tumor in his laboratory,investigating the genes active in thetumor’s blood vessels. He is trying to findwhat makes blood vessels in brain tumorsdifferent from normal blood vessels, andalready has identified several indicators.

“When we find those genes, and thosetargets, we can use them for a variety ofpurposes. If we have something that isseen only in brain tumor blood vessels,then we can develop a drug that wouldtarget or inhibit it and, we hope, block

the development of those abnormal blood vessels,” said Walter,former director of the adult neurosurgical oncology at theUniversity of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Walter graduated fromHopkins School of Medicine and did his residency and fellowshiptraining there.

“We also hope that we will be able to identify ways toprevent the swelling in the brain that occurs as a result of braintumors. We can try to reverse a lot of the side effects that go alongwith brain tumor growth — the headaches, the seizures — soeven if we can’t kill the tumor by our approach, then we can alleviate a lot of the suffering,” Walter said.

The genes also could provide a diagnostic tool. When apotential target is present, that would indicate a tumor or anabnormal blood vessel process forming in the brain.

“If we can extend that and look at the molecules theseabnormal vessels produce and shed in the bloodstream, we candevelop blood tests that can detect brain tumors earlier — partic-ularly, we could detect tumors for patients who have lung canceror breast cancer and detect when those tumors have spread to thebrain,” he said.

Walter also envisions blood vessels as an imaging target.The vessels could be treated with agents that would be visible onan MRI, scan or other device so they could be spotted as they areforming before standard imaging technology would reveal that apatient has a tumor. In his research, Walter works with his wife,molecular biologist Eleanor Carson Walter, Ph.D., who managestheir lab. He started his tumor work five years ago at Hopkins andcontinued it at Pittsburgh. He collaborated with Genzyme Corp.on the initial molecular analysis. He also works with groups inFinland to look at the expression of the molecules in a largepatient population base, using a Scandinavian tumor registry.

Kevin A. Walter, M.D.



“Finland has an extensive database of patients with braintumors and they have specimens. They know what has happenedto these patients,” Walter said. “We can quickly look at our targetmolecules over a very large population of patients to see howcommon it is and what potentially its application would be.”

Berislav Zlokovic, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neurosurgery andthe department’s vice chair for research, is internationally recog-nized for his work with brain blood vessels in Alzheimer’s diseaseand stroke. His leadership in this arena has led to new therapeuticapproaches that are currently under investigation in humans, andwas a major drawing card for Walter in his decision to move toRochester. Walter sees similarities between his studies of humanbrain tumors and Zlokovic’s investigations of vascular endothelialbiology in other diseases, and says that Zlokovic’s research willhelp move his tumor research forward.

The main goal in the surgical removal of brain tumorscontinues to be development of safer, less invasive approacheswith reduced potential of injury to the surrounding brain.

“In the long term, progress in surgery might come from whatwe put in tumors rather than in taking them out,” said Walter,who is investigating biodegradable polymers and other potentialimplants. “We use surgery as a way to deliver drugs to braintumors. We place small micro catheters in a tumor, and then usea pump to deliver biologically targeted therapies against thetumor. A drug is pumped through the brain at a very slow rate soit doesn’t injure the brain. But this allows a drug to get into thebrain and into the tumor at a much higher concentration thanwould be possible through the standard intravenous route.”

As part of a planned regional brain tumor center, Walterand others at the Medical Center are setting up an extensivepatient database that will allow them to routinely track patients.

This is more than a standard follow-up,” he said. “How long didthe patient live? How large is the tumor? How is it responding totreatment? Those are important questions and will be tracked.But just as important for brain tumor patients are quality of lifeissues. How long can we keep people cognitively intact? Can weavoid depression? Can we keep people living independently?We’re setting up a network to collect data to see how they aredoing as people, not just as tumors or survival statistics. We wantto see how treatments we are developing are affecting them.”

Getting back to the kid he was

Medical Center neurosurgeons help many patients every day. JakeMiller is only one, but he shows the department’s prowess.

Jake was an active, athletic boy before he was hit by a car.He remained in a coma for more than three weeks after the initialsurgery. Jason Huang restored his skull after three months andJake’s recovery quickened. Learning to hold up his head became a victory, the first of many. Lisa Miller, Jake’s mother, ordered awheelchair for him, but by the time it arrived, Jake could walkand was kicking a soccer ball in his backyard. In spite of hisinjuries, he looks like a regular kid. Six months after he was hit bythe car, Jake began to speak again. He returned to his middleschool for some classes. He took tests by typing his answers on a computer — and he passed.

“Intellectually, Jake is fine,” Lisa Miller said. “He has prob-lems with his right side. His arm is weak. He walks with a slightlimp. And his right eye is not aligned. He’s getting stronger. He has some social problems but he is getting back to the kid hewas. Jake is still here. If Dr. Huang did not do what he did, Jakeprobably would not be here.”

Jason M. Schwalb, M.D., right, and Jeffrey Tomlin, M.D.

“


FALL / WINTER 2006 25

In the world of thesensesScientists probe neurons and study responses-·

to learn how the brain navigates, balances, recognizes,-·

adjusts and recovers.· By Michael Wentzel



Understanding the underlying principles and neural functions..

that support the ability to navigate through the environment and to communicate..

with others has clear connnections to public health and clinical care...



Walk to an intersection busy with passing cars and trucks. When a car horn sounds, check each direction. Quickly, pickout the honking vehicle. Walk fast on a curb’s edge and try tomaintain balance like a tightrope walker high above the ground.When someone calls out loudly from a crowd, determine if thatis a known voice. Walk home on unfamiliar streets. Rememberthe route.

Scientists at the University of Rochester School ofMedicine and Dentistry study these experiences and distortedversions of such tasks to understand how the senses work withthe brain to get us going and keep us going safely and correctly.

“This kind of work seems esoteric and eclectic because it doesn’t meet the preconceived notions of biological research.But it has everything to do with daily life from the time youwake up to the time you go to sleep,” said Gary D. Paige, M.D.,Ph.D., chair of the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy.Fancy organisms that we are, we have just six senses. The sensesare present in some form throughout the animal kingdom andhave existed for at least 600 million years. They are part of howwe evolved and they help us survive. Selective advantage haseverything to do with knowing what’s out there, what’s comingat you and where you need to go. Those abilities are required tosimply make it through the day.”

Understanding the underlying principles and neural functions that support the ability to navigate through the envi-ronment and to communicate with others has clear connectionsto public health and clinical care.

“Most patient complaints are generated by sensorydysfunction,” Paige said. “Patients do not say that their body

Gary D. Paige, M.D., Ph.D., prepares aneye and head tracker for an experiment.

Glasses withprisms shift thefield of vision forsensory studies.

“



is expressing the wrong protein. Tumors occur but no one knowsuntil they generate a dysfunction or sensory disturbance. Theysay there is pain or weakness or double vision. A patient says hecan’t do something as well as he used to. Just getting old entailsa deterioration of the senses, and motor control. This is a majorpublic health concern. Falling down when you are over the ageof 70 is a very serious matter that can be fatal.”

Paige’s department is on the front line of research into thesensory and motor elements of navigation and communication.Insights on the ability of the brain to integrate sounds andimages and to adaptively revise itself, new targets for treatmentor prosthetic devices for brain disorders and a test forAlzheimer’s disease are just some of the potential outcomes ofthe department’s research.

“We’re putting the pieces together,” Paige said. “Once youhave information about what functions and processes arehappening in the brain — down to sub-units of neurons — thenyou can begin to know where to intervene in order to adjusthow the brain responds to solve problems or recover from loss.”

The rocket gyro and whiplash controlReturn to the honking car. Locating that car among other vehicles requires information from multiple senses.

“It requires orienting, looking around and seeking cues,”Paige said. “The entire world shifts relative to your head everytime you move so you had better know that you, in fact, movedyour head and that it was not the visual world that moved. Theintegration of vestibular and neck inputs relative to self-motion,along with visual and auditory cues about the outside world,must all be in register. How does spatial orientation and integra-tion actually take place? How do the senses get together?”

Paige calls the vestibular system a sense, the sixth sense,and the “rocket gyro” of the nervous system that operates 24 hours a day seven days a week to register self-motion andorientation — to maintain balance.

“The vestibular system is the least famous but most ubiquitous of senses,” he said. “All the spatial senses are unique,complete with their own sensory organs, pathways and processesin the brain, and neural representations. And yet, given acommon meaning, such as space or communication, they mustcombine forces to unify a single reality. It’s just one of many carshonking, after all—better get it right.”

The brain and the senses create spatial maps throughexperience. No one could correctly locate the honking carwithout a combination of inputs from the senses. No one couldmove out of the way quickly without a well-connected

Greg T. Gdowski, Ph.D.



The brain and the senses create spatial maps through experience. No one could correctly–

locate the honking car without a combination of inputs from the senses. No one could–

move out of the way quickly without a well-connected vestibular and motor system..

vestibular and motor system. What would happen if one of thesenses — such as the vestibular system — were absent?

“Life would look like bad home movies made by walkingaround with a hand-held camera,” Paige said. “All the neuronsfrom the labyrinth enter the brain to convey movement. Ten degrees of head movement produces 10 degrees of eye move-ment in the opposite direction to stabilize the visual image.That precision must be calibrated and the system achieves thecalibration during natural activities throughout life.”

Greg T. Gdowski, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurobiologyand anatomy, focuses on control of reflexive head movement —what protects the head and the neck from injury during thatsearch for the honking car. The vestibular organ senses themovement and alerts the brain, which tells muscles in the neck to react to the movement.

“Essentially, the muscles contract to protect the neck frominjury,” Gdowski said. “If you didn’t have this reaction, the headwould snap backwards. You’d have whiplash all the time, evenwhen just you’re walking down a hallway.”

In his postdoctoral research, Gdowski discovered thevestibular system is exquisitely set up to distinguish betweenvoluntary and involuntary movement. It’s critically importantthat the system know when to generate a reflex. The musclesshould contract to protect during a run or in the event of a collision. But if the muscles tighten at the wrong time —during a quick turn to react to a warning sound, forexample — the honking car can’t be located.

“You don’t want a reflex reaction when you are voluntarilyturning your head,” Gdowski said. “The system decides thedifference quickly. The first neuron that receives input fromvestibular organ responds like crazy when you are being turnedaround involuntarily. It does not respond at all when you turnyour head voluntarily. We’re trying to tease out some of themechanisms of how the brain does that.”

Gdowski, who receives funding from the National Institutefor Deafness and Communication Disorders and the NationalInstitute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, recently beganinvestigating how this system adapts to different situations. The system has to fine tune the muscle reactions in the neck as aperson develops, accounting for increases in the mass of the headfrom infant to adult, for example. In one project, he is looking atfootball players and their adaptation to the weight of helmets andthe context of movement on the field.

“A player might get tackled while standing or hit whilemoving. You could be hit when you can see it coming or whenyou can’t. You can be hit while you are tracking a receiver andthere’ll be head movement. Are the reflexes generated the same

for all these circumstances?” Gdowski asked. “Whiplash occursmore often in rear-end accidents than front end. Does visualinput play a role? We’re looking at the ability to forecast howthe body will move and change the way a reflex is generated.

“We’re trying to understand the system and its limits.When we do subject our body to movements that are hazardous,when is it critical to protect the body? How do you protect thebody? This is where neuroscience comes to grips with physics.”

Fire truck or red FerrariDuring waking hours at least, the brain brings together informa-tion about what is seen and what is heard — the image of the carand the sound of its horn, for example, or a call from a person ina crowd.

Lizabeth M. Romanski, Ph.D., associate professor of neurobiology and anatomy, examines the role of cells in thefrontal lobe of the brain in this vital process. She studies how we identify people we know and people we don’t know, how we understand things that are being said, how what we say iscombined with facial gestures when we say it. She records livebrain cells as they fire in response to a complex sound or ahuman word.

“We have found an area in the prefrontal lobe wheresingle neurons are not only responding to sounds but also tofaces that match the sounds,” said Romanski, whose research issupported by the National Institutes of Health and Cure AutismNow. “The cells identify the subject but also extract additionalmeaning. These cells are integrating face and voice information.We don’t know just yet for what particular task. We’re trying to find out if this area is taking information and integrating it to


Integration of sound and image is critical for learning to speak.·

Children with autism, for example, have many problems,·

including language communication difficulties.·


FALL / WINTER 2006 31

On Aug.1, Bradford C. Berk, M.D., Ph.D.,

determine who someone is or to perform another task. In whatcontext do the cells integrate this information?”

Romanski records brain neuronal activity while a subjectis shown photographs or videos of another subject vocalizing incombination with sounds that match the image and others thatdo not match.

“We think it is very important that sounds match withimages and that the brain is integrating something meaningfulrather than responding to any two auditory and visual eventsthat happen,” Romanski said. “There are big implications forthis area of the brain being involved in communicationprocessing. This is not just the simple happenstance of a soundoccurring along with a visual event. Faces and vocalizationsparticularly activate this area of the brain. Our recordings showthe cells have a bigger response—they are turned on by thecombination.”

Integration of sound and image is critical for learning tospeak. Children with autism, for example, have many problems,including language communication difficulties.

“In language, watching something and imitating it is veryimportant. When a child views her mother’s face, it is importantthat she gets the happy look as her mother coos and talks. Ifthose elements are not integrated, you might really lack the will

to speak,” Romanski said. “Integrating sound with the appro-priate visual counterpart figures prominently in everything —identifying who is speaking or knowing a fire truck is goingdown the street and not a red Ferrari. Integrating differentsensory cues is so critical to what we do.”

As Romanski records neuronal responses, she also maps theconnections the cells make in other areas of the brain where thecells send information. It’s a lot like putting together a schematicof the software and hardware connections of a computer.

“If you are able to map anatomically how things shouldwork, you should be able to detect changes when, say in autism,things do not work,” Romanski said. “It might be that a proteinis lacking and that lack is not allowing a particular progressionto take place. If it is a circuitry issue, you might be able to applycurrent in the right place to relieve some of the symptoms.Autism is so far-reaching in the systems it affects that I don’tthink we will find a single cause.”

When Romanski discovered that single neurons increasedactivity when the audio and the visual matched—and behaveddifferently when they didn’t match—she had to reexamine herprevious findings.

“The brain is far more complex than you could everimagine,” she said.

Lizabeth M. Romanski, Ph.D.



Shape-shifting and disappearing synapsesHow do networks of neurons get established in sensory areas ofthe brain to help us understand a busy intersection or the rest ofthe world around us? How does the sensory world impinge ondevelopment? How does the nervous system remodel itself so wecan learn and adapt?

To try to answer these questions, Ania K. Majewska, Ph.D.,assistant professor of neurobiology and anatomy, uses a laser-scanning two-photon microscope to investigate dendritic spines,the postsynaptic elements of the majority of excitatory synapsesin the cortex of the brain. This method provides detailed imagesand volumes of information not available as recently as 10 yearsago. Majewska focuses on the visual system, which, she says, has a well-understood and beautiful structure.

“Synapses are all about creating networks and communica-tion between cells. For a long time, people thought dendriticspine structures became static after they initially set up connec-tions between neurons, and that all the changes afterward werefunctional,” Majewska said. “When you learned something, thatmeant you got more receptors at this synapse rather than thatone. But we are finding that the structure of the synapse is veryplastic. Synapses are constantly changing their shapes. Theydon’t adopt a certain shape and stay that way forever. If you

deprive the subject of vision in one eye during late develop-ment, for example, the dendritic spines start moving andchanging more over time. It’s a way for a synapse to say: I’m not getting enough input. Let me see if I can change myfunctionality by changing my shape. Maybe I can find a differentpresynaptic partner by moving around in space and form a better

Ania K. Majewska, Ph.D.

‘


Synapses are constantly changing their shapes. They don’t adopt a certain shape and·

stay that way forever. If you deprive the subject of vision in one eye during late development,·

for example, the dendritic spines start moving and changing more over time.·

Pyramidal neurons in asomatosensory cortex of a mouse (courtesy of Ania Majewska)



connection that can be more useful.’ In this case, vision has ahuge impact on structural dynamics of the system and presum-ably on its function.”

In addition to moving and changing shape, dendriticspines, after short periods of deprivation, actually can dismantlecompletely so new connections can be made to serve a new use,new circuit and new system, Majewska said.

“The system ignores the stuff that isn’t useful and getsneurons to do something completely different. When one eye is closed, it uses information from the other eye to get around inthe world and it needs synapses to remodel structurally to createnew circuits to extract useful information from the open eye,”Majewska said. “Changes in the shape of dendritic spines canhappen so fast in early development that we can’t keep up.Seconds are long in those time scales. The fast remodeling ofsynaptic structure is a very new idea. It still amazes me that thishappens.”

The brain probably adapts on a daily basis, changing toaccommodate mood as well as the environment.

“The brain’s plasticity, the ability of connections to beconstantly tweaking themselves to act at optimal level, allows usto be productive,” Majewska said. “The process of plasticity canbe hijacked though. Look at aging or neurodegenerative and

developmental diseases where there is a lot of change, a lot ofgain and loss of synapses. Presumably, the system becomes desta-bilized and that is not good.”

Majewska is beginning to study developmental diseases,such as Fragile X Syndrome and Rett Syndrome. “These diseaseshave major changes at the synaptic level, but there is very littleknown about the dynamics of these changes. If we can under-stand what’s going on and how synapses are changing in thesediseases — with the added arsenal of understanding molecularpathways that govern normal synaptic function and develop-ment — maybe we can create custom treatments. There is hugepotential for a cure by focusing on synaptic change,” she said.

Tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, is an enzyme thatbreaks up clots and is used in the treatment of strokes and heartattacks. Majewska has found that tPA also influences the func-tion of neurons and the remodeling of dendritic spines. She isinvestigating ways tPA might be used to help neurons recoverafter injury and disease and also to alter neuronal activity toblock cancer growth in the brain.

“We’re learning more and more and we have so muchinformation that it is difficult to put together,” Majewska said.That’s because we have not figured out the code yet — but we’regetting there and we will figure it out.”

Charles J. Duffy, M.D., Ph.D.

“


Lost in the optic flow fieldA walk on unfamiliar streets can be fun or even a challengingway to learn a neighborhood. But for some, it is disorienting andthey need help to find their way. Others can get lost on thestreet where they live.

Charles J. Duffy, M.D., Ph.D., director of cognitive andbehavioral neurology, studies the intersection of navigation and disease. He investigates neural mechanisms and spatialprocessing in different parts of the brain.

“How do these different parts of the brain communicateand interact to create abilities and how might they contribute to our personal identity: who we are, and what we are capableof, what we see and don’t see and what we do and don’t do?”Duffy asked. “That’s the crux of cognitive and behavioralneurology. It is about people, their abilities, and, in the case of aging and Alzheimer’s disease, their disabilities.”

In one approach, he observes the electrical activity ofsingle neurons of the brains of subjects trained to play incomputer generated virtual environments. Duffy wants to under-stand how the neuron computes and encodes information aboutthe environment. He engages subjects in different behaviors tosee how those behaviors influence the processing of information.

A driver of a car has a variety of sources of information,including what Duffy calls the optic flow field, or the pattern ofvisual motion.

“It tells you about your self-movement and the structure of environment. You also are aware of discrete objects — anothercar, a truck, a tree — that tell you about your movement relativeto those objects,” Duffy said. “Trees don’t move, so you knowthe visual movement of a tree through the field reflects yourown movement. Trucks do move, so you know that their visualmovement is ambiguous as to whether it reflects the truck’smovement or your own. So you must integrate multiple sensorycues to disambiguate the visual movement you see as you move.”

Duffy records the firing of neurons when an object violatesthe optic flow field, as if a truck pulled in front of a car. Assubjects change focus from moving to fixed objects, he studieshow the choice affects the activity of neurons. Steering throughthe field appears to involve one set of neuronal processors whilepointing to a fixed object involves another. This research hasoverlapped and melded into research on Alzheimer’s disease.

“Our Alzheimer’s research started with the understandingthat the critical disabling characteristic of early Alzheimer’s isthe loss of independence because of an inability to find yourway,” Duffy said. “That inability reflects an impaired capacity to

process the visual cues about self-movement that guide us in ourdaily activities. This feeds into a higher order process of buildingan internalized representation of your environment that youneed to find your way in familiar environments.”

That “higher order process” is cognitive mapping. Park acar and the brain should construct a map of the path taken tothe car and the path taken away.

“You take information from the optic flow field, from land-marks, from namable cues and non-namable cues — all sorts ofthings from the environment,” Duffy said. “These give you asense of direction of self-movement. You know about turns,objects, orientation, the effort made in walking. All combine.Neurons fire, record and feed into a network for navigation. The network builds a cognitive map. When you go back to thecar, you call up that map. Each cue triggers the next cue.”

Duffy also records brain waves to quantify the mappingprocess and to characterize and understand the impairments in that process that come with aging and Alzheimer’s.

“We developed a new way of visually stimulating brainwaves to record the responses to optic flow and determinewhether subjects can distinguish optic-flow patterns representingdifferent direction of self-movement,” he said. “We then showedthat these brain-wave patterns can help us predict who will have

navigational difficulties in a real world environment.”Specifically, Duffy has found that both normal aging and

Alzheimer’s cause impairments in the ability to navigate throughthe environment. The critical factor is a type of motion blindness,an inability to process the patterned visual motion of optic flow.

“Optic flow accompanies observer movement and providesinformation about the direction, speed, and extent of thatmovement as well as the 3D layout of the environment. The lossof access to that information may impede the development andutilization of cognitive maps of our environment and our under-standing of where we are and how we should move,” he said.

Duffy’s method of recording reactions to optic flowprovides a test for Alzheimer’s and for the aging brain.

“This will allow the earliest detection of brain disorders,” Duffy said. “It will help us monitor the efficacy of therapeuticinterventions and will promote the development of new thera-pies to cure or prevent mental disorders.”


A walk on unfamiliar streets can be fun or even a challenging way to learn a neighborhood..·

But for some, it is disorienting and they need help to find their way..·

Others can get lost on the street where they live..·


Concentrating clinical and translationalinvestigators and an extensive research infra-structure in one building will create a magnetfor government, industry and foundationgrants and a significant local resource forpublic health policymakers, advocates andgrassroots organizations.

The new building will bring together

senior leadership for clinical research, humansubject protection, research contract adminis-tration, technology transfer and regulatorycompliance as well as professionals in biosta-tistics, informatics, epidemiology, outcomesresearch, clinical pharmacology and healtheconomics.

The Clinical Trials Coordination Center,the Neuromuscular Disease Center, theNational Center for Deaf Health Research, theHeart Research Follow-up Program and otherswill get new homes in the building, as willthe Center for Community Health and otheroutreach activities. Low-risk clinical studieswill be conducted there. Education and

medical center rounds

The University of Rochester School ofMedicine and Dentistry’s Clinical andTranslational Science Institute will bring keypersonnel, resources and programs under oneroof in a new facility.

The University will construct a 150,000-square-foot building for the Institute. Theproposed site is adjacent to the School ofNursing’s Helen Wood Hall. The project’s esti-mated cost is $56 million and constructioncould begin in 2008. The new building is partof a six-year $430 million initiative to cementthe University’s role as a national leader intranslational science.

Last year, the National Institutes ofHealth selected the School of Medicine asone of 12 institutions to receive a prestigiousClinical and Translation Science Award (CTSA).The School will receive $40 million from NIHover five years to produce innovative tech-nology and methods that more efficiently andmore quickly advance treatments to patients.The CTSA is the largest grant ever from NIH tothe University.

David S. Guzick, M.D., Ph.D., dean of theSchool, is principal investigator of the CTSA.Thomas Pearson, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., senior asso-ciate dean for clinical research, is co-principalinvestigator. Sixteen of the School’s mostaccomplished scientists lead the 11 compo-nents of the award. More than 80 facultymembers played an important role in the grant.

University to build home for clinical and translational science

ROCHESTER MEDICINE

training programs funded by the NIH awardwill be based in the new building.

The new building will allow the Schoolto increase the number of clinical and transla-tional investigators through promotion andrecruitment. Approximately 30 to 50 newresearch positions could be created over thenext several years.

Relocation of the Department ofBiostatistics and Computation Biology andclinical cardiovascular research programs tothe new facility will open up the ground floorof the MRBX, the research building adjacent to the Kornberg Medical Research Building.Renovation will create a 20,000 square feet of state-of-the-art basic science laboratoryspace, which could accommodate 12 newprincipal investigators and their supportstaffs.

Faculty and staff from the Departmentof Community and Preventive Medicine nowlocated in Helen Wood Hall will move to thenew building. This will allow the School ofNursing to expand its research and educationactivities. The General Clinical ResearchCenter will move from Strong MemorialHospital to a site close to the new building.This will increase accessibility for studyparticipants and allow expanded services.The vacated space will be converted to much-needed patient rooms.

36

The new building is part of a

six-year $430 million initiative


Stephen Dewhurst, Ph.D., Dean’s Professorof Microbiology and Immunology, has beennamed senior associate dean for basicresearch at the University of RochesterSchool of Medicine and Dentistry.

The senior associate dean for basicresearch is charged with fostering aresearch environment that drives scientific

breakthroughs,supports multidisci-plinarycollaboration andtranslates basicscience into newtreatments formajor diseases.

David S.Guzick, M.D., Ph.D.,dean of the Schoolof Medicine andDentistry, describedDewhurst as anexremely accom-plished researcherand award-winning

educator who is highly respected by hispeers.

Dewhurst earned his Ph.D. from theUniversity of Nebraska Medical Center in1987, followed by postdoctoral training atColumbia University and the HarvardSchool of Public Health. His doctoral andpostdoctoral work focused on the mecha-nisms by which HIV and related virusescause disease. He joined the faculty in1990, became Dean’s Professor ofMicrobiology and Immunology in 2002, andassociate chair of that department in 2005.

He has more than 20 years experi-ence as a molecular virologist, developingnovel methods for the delivery of experi-mental HIV and herpes vaccines. He alsomade key discoveries as part of a teamthat in October 2006 received a $7 milliongrant from the National Institutes of Healthto develop experimental drugs againstneuroAIDS.

step the body’s safeguards and enter thebrain, and he has discovered the moleculesthat falter when the toxic protein accumu-lates in the brain. He has also demonstratedseveral strategies for preventing or loweringamyloid beta accumulation in the brain.

In research at the University’s Frank P.Smith Laboratory for Neuroscience andNeurosurgery Research, which Zlokovicdirects, he is working on ways to increase the action of molecules that haul amyloidbeta away and lessen the activity of mole-cules that escort the toxic protein into thebrain. Partly as a result of Zlokovic’s work,new drugs that target these molecules arebeing tested in people in a completely neweffort to prevent or slow the progression ofAlzheimer’s. Such drugs would complementother current medications that doctors use to treat patients with the disease.

Recently, Zlokovic’s team identified alink between decreased activity of a vasculargene and dysfunction in the blood vessels ofAlzheimer’s patients. When scientistsrestored the effects of the MEOX-2 gene at theblood-brain barrier, they noticed growth ofnew blood vessels, reduction in the death ofcells and improved clearance of amyloid betaout of the brain.

Zlokovic also is known internationallyfor his work on stroke. A decade of hisresearch stands behind a new approach totreat acute stroke that is now being tested inRochester and in three other cities around thenation. The experimental treatment is a formof a medication, Activated Protein C, whichdoctors now use to treat sepsis. Zlokovic hasshown that the compound offers promise forstroke patients as well.

Zlokovic also is the founder ofSocratech, a Rochester biotech companysearching for new treatments for Alzheimer’sand stroke.


Research deannamed at SMD

Stephen DewhurstPh.D.

By Tom RickeyA University of Rochester School of Medicineand Dentistry researcher who is pioneering a new approach to Alzheimer’s disease hasreceived a major national research award.

Berislav Zlokovic, M.D., Ph.D., professorof neurosurgery and neurology, received the MetLife Foundation Award for MedicalResearch inAlzheimer’s disease in February inWashington, D.C. He received theaward along withDavid M. Holtzman,M.D., of theWashingtonUniversity School ofMedicine in St. Louis.Each received $50,000.A $200,000 researchaward also waspresented to theirinstitutions.

Zlokovic wasrecognized for a string of scientific accom-plishments that have put physicians andscientists back in touch with the vascularroots of the disease and opened up newavenues to counter the devastating effects of Alzheimer’s. Zlokovic is looking not only at the damage to brain cells but also at theunderlying difficulties in the vascular system,and at the crucial role of the blood-brainbarrier in the disease process.

“Dr. Zlokovic’s research is a greatexample of how insights gained in the labora-tory can bring new hope around the globe for patients with Alzheimer’s disease andtheir families,” said David Guzick, M.D., Ph.D.,dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Zlokovic has shown that the brain’svascular system and the activity at the body’sblood-brain barrier play a key role in riddingthe brain of the toxic amyloid beta thatspeckles the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.His team has identified much of the molecularmachinery that allows amyloid beta to side-

Berislav Zlokovic,M.D., Ph.D.

Rochester scientist wins majorAlzheimers’s research award

Continued on page 72


Donald R. Bordley,M.D. (R’80), associatechair of medicine anddirector of theCategorical InternalMedicine Residencyprogram at theUniversity ofRochester School ofMedicine andDentistry, has beenchosen to lead aninternational organiza-tion dedicated toimproving andsupporting the grad-uate education ofdoctors in internal medicine.

Over the next three years, Bordley willserve as president-elect, president, and thenpast-president of the Association of ProgramDirectors in Internal Medicine (APDIM). With a membership of over 1,900 individuals from377 medical schools and teaching hospitals,APDIM represents nearly all of the accreditedinternal medicine residency programs in theUnited States, Puerto Rico, and Canada. Theannouncement was made at the APDIM SpringMeeting in San Diego, Calif., in April.An undergraduate of Yale University, Bordleyreceived his medical degree from JohnsHopkins University before serving his resi-

dency and fellowship in general internalmedicine at Strong Memorial Hospital. He is currently the University of Rochester’sWilliam L. Morgan Professor of Medicine.

Bordley has headed residencyprograms at Rochester General Hospital andthe University of Rochester Medical Centersince 1981. He is the recipient of numerousteaching awards, including the AmericanCollege of Physicians’ Laureate Award, theUniversity of Rochester Alumni Gold MedalAward for Teaching Excellence, and has wonboth the Keith Miner Ford Award forExcellence in Teaching and the Harry L. SegalPrize for Excellence in Third Year Teachingtwo times.

“We are fortunate to have Dr. Bordleyheading our internal medicine residencyprograms,” said Paul Levy, M.D., who wasacting chair of medicine at the School ofMedicine and Dentistry. “His superb teachingand mentoring skills have positively influ-enced the careers of hundreds of physiciansin training. He has also developed innovativeteaching strategies to enhance learning intoday’s challenging health care environment.”

“It is not surprising that APDIM lookedto Don Bordley for national leadership insetting current standards for graduatemedical education in internal medicine, and creating a vision for its future,” saidDavid S. Guzick, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the Schoolof Medicine and Dentistry. “Dr. Bordley hastaken Rochester to the forefront of contempo-rary training in internal medicine, crafting a residency experience that attends to therealities of both inpatient and outpatientpractice, and both generalist and specialistcare.”

As a member of APDIM since 1981,Bordley has served on its leadership Counciland Accreditation Committee, co-chaired itsResidents as Teachers Task Force, and repre-sented APDIM on the Educational InnovationsProject subcommittee of the ResidencyReview Committee for Internal Medicine.Bordley is the first William L. MorganProfessor in Medicine.



By Mark Michaud The number of individuals with Parkinson’sdisease in 15 of the world’s largest nationswill double over the next generation,according to a study published in the journalNeurology. The study highlights the signifi-cant challenge facing countries with rapidlygrowing economies, particularly in Asia, manyof which are ill prepared to meet thisimpending public health threat.

While infectious diseases haveattracted the greatest attention from interna-tional donors, it is non-communicable chronicdiseases, such as Parkinson’s, that representa far greater burden in terms of economic andsocial cost to developing nations.

University of Rochester neurologist Ray Dorsey, M.D., and a team of researchersexamined the projected population growth inthe five largest countries in Western Europe(France, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdomand Italy) and the 10 most populous nationsworldwide (China, India, Indonesia, the

WorldwideParkinson’s diseasewill double in 25 years

Donald R. Bordley,M.D.

We are fortnuate to have

Dr. Bordley … his superb

teaching and mentoring skills

have positively influenced

the careers of hundreds of

physicians in training.

University physician to lead national residency organization


Taubman joined the University ofRochester from Mount Sinai School ofMedicine and is credited with significantlyadvancing that school’s M.D.– Ph.D. program.Since Taubman took over leadership of cardi-ology, overall funding for research in the unithas increased by 11.8 percent to $9.5 millionby the end of 2006.

He also has been the guiding forcebehind the expansion of cardiac patient careservices, strengthening treatments for thosewith heart arrhythmias and heart failure,adding new preventive cardiology programssuch as the women’s heart program, andforging strong regional services.

Taubman is a graduate of the NewYork University School of Medicine whointerned at Peter Bent Brigham Hospitalbefore completing his medicine residency andcardiology fellowship training at the Brigham& Women’s Hospital. He has held academicappointments at Harvard Medical School,Boston’s Children’s Hospital Medical Center,and Mt. Sinai.

“Mark hasclearly earned the respect of hiscolleagues withinthe Department of Medicine andacross the country.He is a brilliantscientist, skilledadministrator andan accomplished

clinician and teacher,” Berk said. “He is theideal person to lead the department and helpthe Medical Center take full advantage of theopportunities that lie ahead.”

Taubman also recently was namededitor-in-chief of the journal Arteriosclerosis,Thrombosis and Vascular Biology (ATVB), oneof five medical journals produced by theAmerican Heart Association (AHA). In conjunc-tion with the appointment, the journal officeswill move to the University.

After a nationalsearch, MarkTaubman, M.D., has been appointedchairman of theDepartment ofMedicine at theUniversity ofRochester School of Medicine andDentistry.

Taubman, whohas been chief ofcardiology since 2003,becomes the CharlesE. Dewey Professor ofMedicine, overseeingthe single largest department within theSchool of Medicine. He will continue servingas director of the Cardiovascular ResearchInstitute. According to Jeffrey H. Peters, M.D.,the Department of Surgery chair who led thesearch, Taubman’s selection was a naturalchoice.

“After nearlynine months ofeffort, in the end the searchcommittee feltstrongly and unani-mously that wehad the right mixof leadership, skill, talent andhumanism in one ofour own — Dr. Mark Taubman,” Peters said.

As chair of medicine, Taubmansucceeds Bradford C. Berk, M.D., Ph.D., whobecame senior vice president for healthsciences and CEO of the Medical Center andStrong Health last August.

“Mark is an accomplished researcher,clinician, and educator, nationally recognizedin all three areas,” said David S. Guzick, M.D.,Ph.D., School of Medicine dean. “He has theknowledge, experience, personality, drive,and depth of commitment to be a stellar chairof medicine.”

Mark Taubman, M.D.


United States, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh,Nigeria, Japan and Russia). They thenprojected the prevalence of the disease byage group in each country. Their researchestimates that the number of individuals withParkinson’s disease in these 15 countries willgrow from 4.1 to 8.7 million by the year 2030.While the number of individuals with thedisease will nearly double in the UnitedStates to 610,000, the greatest growth willoccur in developing countries in Asia. By 2030,an estimated 5 million people in China willhave the disease.

“The bulk of the growth in Parkinson’sdisease in the next 25 years will not be in theUnited States and Europe but in other places,namely China, where Parkinson’s may not beviewed as a major public health problem,”said Dorsey. “This growth will occur in societies where there is very limited infra-structure in place to diagnose individuals,much less address their medical needs or the societal impact.”

Many individuals in the developingworld do not receive appropriate care andmay not even be aware of their diagnosis.Dorsey and his colleagues noted that in door-to-door surveys in Bolivia, for example, noneof the individuals that were found to haveParkinson’s disease had ever seen a physicianfor their problem.

In terms of the rise in chronic diseases,the key factor is not overall populationgrowth but rather the number of people overage 65 and thus at risk of developingParkinson’s and other chronic conditions.

Taubman named chairman ofDepartment of Medicine

… we had the right mix of

leadership, skill, talent and

humanism in one of our own."




The University of Rochester Medical Centerwill continue to play a leading role in thenation’s efforts fighting AIDS, with more than$20 million to be directed to Rochester doctorsand researchers.

The funding comes from the NationalInstitute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,which selected the University as one of 60U.S. and international institutions to be fundedfor the next seven years as HIV/AIDS ClinicalTrials Units.

School of Medicine and Dentistryresearchers are international leaders insearching for a vaccine and testing new treat-ments, thanks largely to the participation ofmore than 3,000 Rochester-area residents

who have taken part in treatment and vaccinestudies. The School is the only institution inthe nation to be part of both efforts since theirinception by the federal government.

Nearly every one of the more than 20 drugs now available to treat AIDS has beentested in Rochester, which is the site of one of the original 11 AIDS treatments units estab-lished by the National Institutes of Health in1986. Currently more than 900 patients with HIVare cared for by doctors at the University’s AIDSclinic at Strong Memorial Hospital.

“It’s absolutely critical to develop avaccine to effectively control this epidemic,”said Richard Reichman, M.D., professor ofmedicine, microbiology and immunology,

and chief of the infectious diseases division,who heads the University’s AIDS research and treatment efforts. “The number of peoplewho are becoming infected continues toincrease dramatically. Many people are underthe mistaken impression that the problem hasbeen solved. That’s just not true.”

Rochester’s HIV vaccine efforts are ledby Michael Keefer, M.D., professor of medicineand director of the University’s HIV vaccinetrials unit. Keefer also serves as associatedirector of scientific administration for theinternational HIV Vaccine Trial Network.

“The vaccine program is unique in thefight against AIDS, as the vast majority of ourparticipants are normal healthy people fromeveryday walks of life, who do not have HIV,and in fact are not even at risk for acquiringthe infection. It is truly a community collabora-tion and is something the entire communitycan be proud of,” said Keefer.

More than 900 people in the Rochesterarea have taken part in HIV vaccine studies,making Rochester one of the top cities in theworld for participation. Currently, the unit isinvolved in 14 studies.

Rochester scientists are also leaders instudying the phenomenon of resistance to anti-viral medications in patients. Research on thatfront is one reason why today’s medicationsare so much more successful compared todrugs available a decade ago.

The funding announced by NIAID marks a major reorganization of the nation’s researcheffort aimed at AIDS. The reorganization meansa major expansion of the international portionof AIDS research funded by NIAID, and it bringstogether under one umbrella six different AIDSresearch networks. Rochester is involved intwo, the search for a vaccine and the evalua-tion of new treatments through clinical trials.

$20 million in NIAID funding boosts AIDS Treatment, vaccine research in Rochester



Each new center will focus on basicresearch, surveillance studies or both. Teamswill elucidate the molecular and environ-mental factors that influence the transmissionand evolution of flu viruses and further studythe immune system’s reaction to them. Otherswill seek to identify strains with pandemicpotential, to create new vaccine candidatesor to bolster pandemic preparedness.

“The current strategy of relying onvaccines that match each year’s particularstrain imposes severe limitations on ourability to prepare for a pandemic,” saidTreanor (M’79). “Our goal is to transform ourunderstanding of influenza through intensiveand synergistic exploration of the virus, the human host, and the immune system. We hope that this will lead to more effectivecontrol of the viruses through a single vaccinethat can be effective against many strains.”

David Topham, Ph.D., associateprofessor of microbiology and immunology at the School, is co-director.

The NYICE projects include:

By Greg WilliamsThe National Instituteof Allergy andInfectious Diseases(NIAID) has awarded$26 million to aresearch team at theUniversity ofRochester MedicalCenter to establish theNew York InfluenzaCenter of Excellence(NYICE).

The goal of thenew center is to makefuture influenzapandemics less deadly. John J. Treanor, M.D.,professor of medicine and of microbiologyand immunology at the School of Medicineand Dentistry, is the principal investigator forthe NYICE. The School of Medicine is one ofonly six institutions nationally that togetherwill receive approximately $138 million in newflu research funding over seven years.

David Topham, Ph.D.

• Study how T cells and B cells recognizequalities shared by many different influenzastrains on the way to designing a vaccine thatwould confer permanent immunity. • Determine the specific proteins withinthe virus that turn on “helper” T cells, causingthem to attack infected cells and result inbetter antibody responses to infection orvaccination.• Understand how immune cells commu-nicate with one another in response toinfection and vaccination.• Explore how the viral protein, hemag-glutinin, changes as avian viruses geneticallyjump from birds to mammals. The protein isinvolved in the ability of the virus to stick to mammalian cells, a first step in invasion.This project will be led by scientists atCornell University.• Study the properties of viral poly-merase, the enzyme used by the virus to copyits genetic material, and learn how itbecomes better at promoting viral reproduc-tion in mammalian cells.

“We aim to better understand thehuman immune response to vaccination andinfection so that we can improve vaccinesagainst emerging influenza viruses, like thebird flu, that pose the risk of causing apandemic,” Topham said.

Researchers will follow collegestudents, healthy adults and 150 families with young children in the Rochester area for seven years, monitoring them for exposureto flu and responses to vaccination.

“We are tremendously excited aboutthe new center as a powerful example ofcutting-edge translational science at ourmedical school,” said David S. Guzick, M.D.,Ph.D., dean of the University of RochesterSchool of Medicine and Dentistry.

For more information, see the dean’snewsletter online at:www.urmc.rochester.edu/smd/about/newsletterArchive/newsletter04112007.cfm.

NIH grant establishes new flu center to improve vaccines

John Treanor, M.D.


What happens during a typical day for you as a doctor and as a medical director?Today, for example, I got up at 6 a.m. whenmy son came in to ask me for money forsomething or other. I had been planning ongoing to Gondar today (my clinic there follows7,500 people), but last night one of my kidsdeveloped a fever of 39.5 and shaking chills,so I canceled the trip so that I could observehim. He has titanium rods in his back and I wanted to make sure that he was OK. I check e-mails on my slow dial-up connectionas the kids are getting ready for school. ThenI drove off to pick up lab results I had orderedyesterday: a chest x-ray and bloodwork on a 21-year-old with metastatic osteosarcoma,and the uric acid level on a 5-year-old withnon-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Then I stopped at Mother Teresa’s Mission to discuss thisweek’s chemotherapy with the nuns. I recently started a small cancer center there,and right now we’re treating a 10-year-oldwith desmoid tumor of the mandible, a 10-year-old with Wilm’s tumor, three kids withosteosarcoma, and a 6-year-old withHodgkin’s disease getting a complicatedregimen called Stanford-5.

I have developed an interest in spinedisease. We see a lot of severe scoliosis andalso TB spondylitis. I get a new TB spinealmost every week. I am able to treat them

ROCHESTER MEDICINE

Rick Hodes treats, heals, adopts

and finds a home in Ethiopia

As medical director for Ethiopia for theAmerican Jewish Joint DistributionCommittee, Rick Hodes, M.D. (M’82), is respon-sible for the medical care of the Falash Mura,Ethiopians who want to immigrate to Israel.He also is the medical advisor to MotherTeresa’s Mission for Sick and DyingDestitutes in Addis Ababa. Hodes often takessick children from the mission to his home inAddis Ababa to care for them and sometimessends them to Ghana or the United States fortreatment. He also has adopted several boyshe first encountered at the mission, includingtwo with tubercular spondylitis and one withgrowth hormone deficiency. Hodes, a reli-giously observant Jew, does not impose hisreligion on the children, who are mostlyEthiopian Orthodox Christians. Hodes tooktime out from his remarkable work for an e-mail conversation.

Describe the living conditions and health status of the Falash Mura.Let me back up a bit. I’ve been a doctor herefor nearly 20 years. I came in 1985 to teach at the medical school as a Fulbright lecturer. Did that for 21/2 years, then left. I came backin 1990 to be in charge of the health care ofthe Ethiopian immigrants to Israel. I havebeen the doctor for about one percent ofIsrael before they became Israelis. At varioustimes I have been in charge of up to 25,000Ethiopian immigrants to Israel, 50,000Rwandan refugees in Zaire, 25,000 Kosovorefugees in Albania, and now about 10,000potential immigrants to Israel.

Back in the early 1990s, TB was a majorproblem. We started a 6-month, 62-dose DOT(directly observed therapy) regimen, whichworked well. We see a lot of very commonstuff: colds, diarrhea, intestinal parasites, and some hypertension. Rheumatic heartdisease is not uncommon. The death rate inthe population I care for is far lower than thedeath rate in Ethiopia.

and often these days can get surgery for themin the States or in Ghana. So today, I gave myEthiopian assistant a list of four patients whoneed spine work-ups (x-rays, bloodwork, PFTs,EKG, and MRI) so that they can be sent forsurgery overseas. Most of the TB spines haveat least 90-degree angles in their backs; somehave well over 120 degree angles. As I typethis, I have an 18-year-old orphan girl sleepingon my couch who just had major spinesurgery in Ghana by the FOCOS team there.(FOCUS is The Foundation of Orthopaedics andComplex Spine founded by Oheneba Boachie-Adjei, M.D.) She had some neurologicaldamage, and I wanted to keep her here so Icould see her every day and also so she couldeat better and get stronger.

All day long I get “missed calls” frompoor patients who are phoning me, and I callthem back. A one-armed priest (who had hisarm amputated for chondrosarcoma) phonedme from Gondar to tell me that his son has a terrible problem: he’s accused of killingsomeone’s horse, and he needs $100 to payhis fine. I had my assistant transfer themoney to him. A young man with endocardialcushion defect phoned to see if I had anynews on his care.

I went to the U.S. embassy and usedtheir Internet to order cancer meds fromIndia. It costs $700 to cure Hodgkin’s diseasewith ABVD imported from India. And I corre-sponded with osteosarcoma experts to see if anyone had any ideas about my patientswith metastatic disease. I sent an e-mail out about which bisphosphonate might bebest to try for metastatic disease to peoplewho are working in this field. Then I met withan Ethiopian doctor from Washington, D.C., met with my head nurse about our difficultpatients, and did office work for an hour. I saw a patient with an abnormal EKG. Shehas fixed-splitting of one of her heart sounds,so I suspect that she has an atrial septaldefect. I sent her for an echo. We have aprogram to assist Gondar Medical College,and I have two Gondar doctors going to Israelfor training and needed to deal with their visaissues. I sent a memo to my office about mymeeting yesterday at the med school in AddisAbaba about expanding our cancer programthere. We have been funding free treatmentof Hodgkin’s disease, and now want to addtesticular cancer, Wilm’s tumor, and chorio-carcinoma, all largely curable malignancies

42

alumni news

An alumnus in Addis Ababa

Hodes in traditional Ethiopiandress at Easter.


— but we need to come up with funding todo that.

I answered e-mails from a group ofGeorge Washington University med studentscoming in March about the security situationhere. I got an e-mail from a med student inVirginia who wants to volunteer here, and an e-mail from a cardiologist saying that histeenage sons are giving him a hard time sohe’s not going to be visiting this month. Now I have to look for a volunteer cardiologist tocome here to teach. I came home for dinnerand checked my son (whom I had spoken toby phone several times today to make surethat his fever had not returned) then nappedbefore writing this. Normally I swim at least a kilometer, but have not made it today. I’ll gotomorrow morning before starting work.

What drew you to this work? Why have you stayed with it so long? What keeps you going?Well, I had planned on coming to Africa for a year after residency in 1985. It’s now beennearly 19 years. Everything is more difficulthere. I chose my son’s growth hormone prepa-ration not by ease of use but by level ofstability if there is no electricity. What keepsme going is seeing the results of my efforts— lowering the death rate of the immigrantsto Israel, sending kids for spine surgery, and

treating kids with cancer then funding theireducation.

You also put in many hours at Mother Teresa’sMission in Addis Ababa and you often pay outof your pocket for medical care for people fromthe mission at private hospitals. Why do youtake on this additional work?Over a decade ago, I was following a kid withrheumatic heart disease who was dischargedfrom the hospital to Mother Teresa’s Mission.I started volunteering there. Then I took someof the patients into my home so I could followthem easier. It took off from that. People askme if I have a private practice. I joke that I do, but it costs memoney. Anyway, I likehelping these people,and there’s nobody else who seems inter-ested in the patients or disease that I’mfocusing on.

Did any part of yourRochester medicaleducation play a role in your decision towork in Ethiopia or the mission?Well, I really appre-


ciate my Rochester education. It was veryintense, very well thought out. We got a lotof individual attention. I knew that I wasinterested in international health when I entered med school. Twice Rochester gaveme funding for this, so I spent the summerafter my first year in med school inBangladesh, and the winter of my senior yearin southern India. I really appreciate that, andnow when I give my meager contributions tothe University, I allocate them to medstudents going overseas. If I win the lottery,Rochester students will benefit!

How often do you take breaks? Well, I fly a lot. I go to Gondar, where I have a clinic. I bring sick immigrants to Israel a fewtimes a year, and I fly back to the States todeal with donors. This year I have flown about100,000 miles. Last year it was more. I don’thave a lot of time for breaks, but I do try to geta couple of quiet weekends in and occasionallyhang out on the Kenyan Coast or in London. I teach in Israel and in San Antonio. In thesummer, we try to hang out with family inColorado. But I’m usually in Ethiopia. That’s myhome and that’s where my family is.

What do you want to say to your Rochestermedical school classmates?What to say? Perhaps that they can come andvolunteer to teach here if they like. It’s adifferent world medically. I am not a Luddite,but you can do a lot without a lot of technology.

Rick Hodes can be e-mailed [email protected]

Zewdie with TB spine

Hodes with Zewdie and hisfather after Zewdie’s surgery.



Katherine Blumoff, Kimberly Corbin, JessicaFelt, Waseem Khan, Joy Knopf, BenjaminMcClintic, Catherine Moore, Alexis Mottl,Sarah Peterson, Anthony Petraglia, GretchenRickards, Andrew Sauer, John Scherer, andKarolina Zareba.

James Cox, M.D., Class of 1965, wasthe alumni inductee. He is professor of radia-tion oncology and director of the division ofradiation oncology at M.D. Anderson CancerCenter. John Bisognano, M.D., associateprofessor of medicine, and Garrett Riggs,M.D., assistant professor of neurology, werethe faculty inductees. The resident inducteeswere Chris Burke, M.D., Tran La, M.D., andRyan Nelson, M.D.

alumni news

Honors for students and a fatherAlicia Zysman Cromwell experienced asingular honor twice in one night.She was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha,the national medical honor society, and,during the same ceremony in February,presented the chapter’s award honoring a clinical volunteer faculty member to herfather, Jules Zysman, M.D. (R’80). The honoreeis selected by the graduating class.

“I was nervous but I was very happythat he was getting recognition for what hehas worked so hard for,” Zysman Cromwellsaid. “He loves medical students and he’scommitted to their education.”

Jules Zysman, a family physician, practices in Honeoye Falls, N.Y., with his wife,Nadette Jacob, M.D. (R’80). He has beenteaching Rochester medical students andresidents for the past 26 years. He volunteersto have 1st and 2nd year ambulatory clerkshipstudents at the same time as 3rd and 4thyears on their clinical electives. His studentreviews have consistently been so glowingthat he recently was asked to lead a class on how to be a better preceptor.

“Amazingly, after 26 years leading the hectic, and often underappreciated, life of a small town family doctor, Jules Zysman,is still energized, idealistic, and loves hispatients,” his daughter said. “A striking testa-ment to his passion and belief in primary care is that just about every member of ourgraduating class who is planning on pursuingprimary care has rotated with him at somepoint in their four years.”

She closed her remarks by saying: Dad, as a physician, father and human being,you are truly inspirational to me and so many of my classmates.”

Receiving the award from his daughterwas a “surprise and a thrill,” he said. Zysmanwas inducted in Alpha Omega Alpha as amedical student at Rutgers University.

“She’s taken a little from me and hermother but her real role model is her mother,”he said.

Fifteen members of the Class of 2007were inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha. In addition to Zysman Cromwell, they are:

A doctor at Fort DefianceA sense of community in

an isolated world

Margaret Talley Bartholomew, M.D., graduated from the School of Medicine and Dentistry in 2000. She did a pediatricinternship at Yale New Haven Hospital andcompleted her residency at DartmouthHitchcock Medical Center, where she metMichael Bartholomew, who is now herhusband. After residency, they moved toMadison, Wisc., where her husband did his pediatric training. While in Madison,Margaret worked as a pediatric hospitalistfor three years. Michael is a Kiowa Nativewho received an Indian Health Service scholarship to Dartmouth Medical School. His scholarship requires a year-for-yearpayback by serving a federally recognizedtribe. In July 2006, Margaret and Michaelbegan working at Fort Defiance IndianHospital on a Navajo Reservation in Arizona.They expect to practice there for four years.Their first child, a daughter named Isla TalleyBartholomew, was born Feb. 14. Margaretanswered a few questions about work andlife at Fort Defiance.

Why did you choose Fort Defiance IndianHospital? We looked at several different areas, includingurban and rural Indian Health Service sites aswell as tribal health facilities in the Midwestand Southwest. Over the last several years, we have met a number of people who hadworked as pediatricians at various rural IHSservice units on the Navajo Indian Reservation.Everyone that we spoke with had positiveexperiences living and working on the NavajoReservation. At most Navajo IHS facilities,pediatricians work in the clinic, do inpatientcare, and take care of newborns. Pediatriciansalso have opportunities to get involved inpublic health projects and take leadershiproles. I think that I have learned more in sixmonths here than I did working as a pediatrichospitalist for three years.

What has surprised you about Fort Defianceand practicing on a reservation?The most surprising thing to me is that thereare people in this country in 2007 who areliving under such impoverished conditions.The Navajo Nation is approximately the sizeof West Virginia and has roughly 225,000people, more than half of whom are livingbelow the poverty level. Most families lackplumbing, do not have telephone service andheat exclusively with wood. As you mightexpect, there are a lot of social problems onthe reservation that go hand in hand withpoverty. There are higher rates of drug andalcohol abuse, suicide, violence, SIDS, infec-tious disease and accidents on thereservation.

“


used to practicing in an environment wherethere is not subspecialty backup except byphone. The closest tertiary care centers are21/2 hours away in Albuquerque, and six hoursaway in Phoenix. There are subspecialistswho come to the reservation every three tofour months. Another challenge has been theisolation, but as we have met more peoplethat has become less of an issue. We do haveto drive quite a distance to get to the grocerystore or a movie theater.

What do you do for fun? There are all sorts of great hikes right out ourback door. This place seems to attract peoplewho like the outdoors. We are in the high

desert at about 7,000 feet and there is plentyof sunshine. Even in the hottest part of thesummer, it cools down to the 50s or 60s atnight. We do get snow, though it rarely sticksaround for very long. Durango and Tellurideare about 31/2 hours away and many peoplego there to ski, snowshoe and hike. TheGrand Canyon is four or so hours away.

What would surprise your Rochester classmates about the hospital and practicingon a reservation?My classmates would be surprised to learnthat Fort Defiance Indian Hospital is a state-of-the-art hospital. It is about three years old.One of the nice things is that a lot of servicesare housed under one roof. FDIH has adult andpediatric inpatient wards, an emergencydepartment, adult and pediatric clinics, a dental clinic with a pediatric dentist onstaff, physical, occupational and speechtherapy, an eye clinic, ENT, podiatry, socialwork and inpatient and outpatient pharmacyall at one site. They also would be surprisedto learn that we have a traditional NavajoMedicine Man on staff at the hospital. ManyNavajo families are comfortable using tradi-tional medicine in combination with Westernmedicine. We need to learn how to integratetwo very different approaches to illness andhealth. It has been one of the more chal-lenging but rewarding parts of working here.

What is the best thing that has happened so far?I’d say the people. We have met so manyinteresting and wonderful people sincemoving here. A lot of physicians who end uphere have had experiences in internationalmedicine or have done rotations duringmedical school on an Indian reservation. Welive in government housing just minutes fromthe hospital. Everyone who lives in the neigh-borhood works at the hospital. This is asclose to communal living as I have ever expe-rienced. The sense of community is amazing.

What is the biggest challenge?One the biggest challenges has been getting




alumni news

Leon Miller: A man whostill has a lot to doAt the age of 94, Leon Miller, Ph.D., M.D. (M’45),professor emeritus of biochemistry andbiophysics, soon will complete seven decadesat the University of Rochester School ofMedicine and Dentistry — and he has nodesire to stop.

He started at the School of Medicineand Dentistry in January 1938 as a post-doctoral research fellow in the laboratory ofGeorge Hoyt Whipple, the School ofMedicine’s founding dean. Over the manyyears, he has taught pathology, tracer chem-istry (the use of radioisotopes in biomedicalresearch) and biochemistry. He mentoredgraduate students, practiced medicine for a few years before concentrating full time on research, and published frequently citedpapers. He still interviews many applicants to the School of Medicine. Since the incep-tion of the Double Helix curriculum in 1999, he has served as a tutor for a problem-basedlearning class called “Molecules to Cells” forfirst-year medical students.

“The interviews and the class give mea chance to do something useful,” Millersaid. “Doctor means teacher. In the problem-based session, you don’t teach in thetraditional way. You lead them on so they can learn themselves. I ask questions. Theyhave to find the answers. You hope they learnthat if you like medicine and you want to bein medicine, you can’t stop learning. It’s acommitment for perpetual learning.”

Miller attends Department of Medicinegrand rounds,biochemistry and phys-iology seminars andguest lectures.According to Robert A.Bambara, Ph.D.,chairman of theDepartment ofBiochemistry andBiophysics, he is notsomeone just hangingaround.

“He has a lot ofvim and vigor. He’s aparticipant. He listenscarefully and he asks

good, insightful questions,” said Bambara,who noted that Miller often arrives at at theoffice before he does and stays later.

Miller, a Rochester native, is the son of immigrant parents. His father was awrought-iron worker and his mother a seam-stress. During the Depression, he earned hisbachelor’s degree and doctorate at CornellUniversity, relying on scholarships and anaustere $1-a-day budget. After receiving hisPh.D. in 1937, he found his first job with a New Jersey chemical company frustrating.His brother, Mitch Miller, an Eastman Schoolof Music graduate who already had launchedhis notable career, introduced him to a musicaficionado, Hans Clarke, chair of biochemistryat Columbia University College of Physiciansand Surgeons. Clarke had no jobs to offer but soon provided Miller a link to Whipple.Whipple needed a research biochemist tocollaborate in his ongoing studies of hemo-globin and plasma protein production. Miller,appointed by Whipple as the Eli Lilly Fellowin Pathology, found himself working withyoung physicians, learning about medicineand enjoying it. He received permission from Whipple to study medicine while hecontinued the lab’s metabolism studies. Millerworked virtually seven days and eveningsevery week for four years in order to earn hismedical degree in 1945.

He left Rochester briefly, from 1946 to1948, to become an assistant professor ofbiochemistry at Jefferson Medical College inPhiladelphia. He returned to take a positionas associate professor of radiation biologyand to head the tracer chemistry section inthe atomic energy program. He also taught

biochemistry, mentored research studies ofdoctoral students in biochemistry and intensi-fied his studies of the liver’s role in aminoacid and protein metabolism, an interestderived from Whipple.

Between 1949 and 1952, Miller and hiscollaborators developed the isolated perfusedrat liver system, in which a liver was keptalive in a sterile closed environment whileoxygenated blood containing hormones andnutrients circulated through the portal vesselsfor up to 24 hours. With easy controlled addi-tion of metabolites and hormones, the systemyielded 59 published studies.

Miller and his group produced the firstunequivocal demonstration of the direct andantagonistic action of insulin and glucagon onprotein, amino acid and glucose metabolismin the liver. They proved the dominant role of the liver in the biosynthesis of the plasmaproteins with the exception of the gammaglobulins. The article describing these find-ings became a Citation Classic.

Miller’s research “propelled him intothe national and international limelight,” saidGeorge Kimmich, professor emeritus ofbiochemistry and biophysics.

“He was able to sort out a great manyliver functions and understand the variousattributes of the liver,” said Kimmich, whodescribes Miller as a man with a gentle andgenerous nature. “He has not lost ground atall. He still makes people think about whatthey’re doing.”

The National Institutes of Healthsupported Miller’s research for 25 years. He received his last NIH grant in 1985, butMiller, who became professor emeritus in1978, continued his research with private andContinued on page 72



philanthropy

Gift from alumnus toWilmot Cancer Centerwill expand researchBy Leslie WhiteJohn Wallis “Jack” Rowe, M.D. (M’70), formerchairman and chief executive officer of AetnaInc., has donated $5 million to support theJames P. Wilmot Cancer Center’s comprehen-sive campaign to expand cancer care andresearch.

It is the largest single gift from a living alumnus of the School of Medicine and Dentistry and one of the largest privatedonations to a Medical Center program in its86-year history.

“This tremendous gift is a testament to the confidence that our alumni have in thequality clinical and research programs at theMedical Center and Wilmot Cancer Center,”said Joel Seligman, president of theUniversity of Rochester. “Jack Rowe’s giftfurthers the University’s commitment toprovide the highest quality cancer care andresearch. I am most grateful for his inspira-tional gift.”

Rowe said his family, like many others,has experienced the fear and triumph of adiagnosis of cancer.

“Advances in diagnosis and therapyhave made survival with cancer an expecta-tion for many types of cancer. Our gift willenable research in novel areas such as cancerimmunology that hold promise for all cancerpatients,” Rowe said.

The Wilmot Cancer Center is raising$42.5 million to construct a new facility todouble clinical and research space, consoli-date outpatient cancer care and researchlaboratories in a single location, recruit addi-tional scientists and build translationalresearch programs to find cures. Rowe’sdonation brings the five-year campaign totalto $30 million.

The laboratories dedicated to transla-tional research in the new Wilmot CancerCenter facility will be named in recognition ofRowe’s gift.

“Cancer is one of the most prevalentdiseases that we face as individuals andphysicians, and providing outstanding cancercare and cutting-edge research is a top

priority for the Medical Center,” said BradfordC. Berk, M.D., Ph.D. (M’81, PhD’81), CEO of theUniversity of Rochester Medical Center andsenior vice president for health sciences. The Wilmot Cancer Center is key to the futuregrowth of the Medical Center and we arepleased to see Jack Rowe’s gift support ourefforts.”

Rowe was president and CEO of AetnaInc., from 2000 to 2006. Before joining Aetna,he was president and chief executive officerof Mount Sinai New York University Health.Internationally recognized for his researchand health policy efforts for the care of theelderly, Rowe was a founding director ofHarvard Medical School’s Division on Aging.

“It’s exciting to see this level of givingfrom a fellow alum and Jack Rowe’s gift willhelp the Wilmot Cancer Center become anational leader in the field of cancer care andresearch,” said William A. Peck, M.D. (M’60),University trustee and chair of the HealthAffairs Committee.

The Wilmot Cancer Center has adoptedan ambitious plan to capture the National

Cancer Institute designation as one of thecountry’s top cancer centers. Over the pastfour years, more than 20 scientists and clini-cians have been recruited to bolster researchand patient care programs.

A key element of the plan is theconstruction of a new state-of-the-art, four-story, 163,000-square-foot facility at the corner of East Drive and CrittendenBoulevard, which began a year ago. This newbuilding, set to open in spring 2008, wasdesigned with patient comfort at the forefrontand will offer unprecedented levels of privacy,educational opportunities and ease of access.

“Expanding our programs will letpeople of the Finger Lakes region stay closeto home for the very best cancer care,” saidRichard I. Fisher, M.D., director of the WilmotCancer Center and vice president for clinicalservices at the University of RochesterMedical Center. “The new facility will allowus to better serve the growing number ofpatients from outside the region coming toRochester for our expert, multidisciplinarycancer care.”

“



philanthropy

Merit scholarships work as a valuablerecruitment toolEven without an alluring award, SarahSpencer Welsh might have chosen theUniversity of Rochester School of Medicineand Dentistry.

“Certainly, being offered a merit schol-arship pushed forward my decision to attendRochester,” said Welsh, a member of theClass of 2009. “It felt really good to behonored for the work I had done to get tomedical school and the financial assistancewas very enticing. But the University of

Alumnus creates alegacy that will touchmany livesRobert C. Manchester, M.D. (M’32), whobelieved in securing education for futuregenerations of physicians, died Jan. 21at his home in Cupertino, Calif. He was 100.

More than 20 years ago, Dr. Manchester,along with his sister, Winifred Manchester,established a scholarship fund to assiststudents in financial need as a tribute to their father. The Dr. William C. ManchesterMemorial Scholarship Fund has helped 26University of Rochester School of Medicineand Dentistry students. The fund is nowvalued at almost $1 million.

Dr. Manchester made sure the fundwill grow. Through his will and charitabletrusts, the fund will receive at least another$4 million. It will become the largest Schoolof Medicine scholarship fund.

“Robert Manchester’s vision and giftswill allow us to help many medical studentsfor years to come,” said David S. Guzick, M.D.,Ph.D., dean of the School of Medicine. “Thefund honors his father and bears his father’sname. Robert Manchester did not seek to

have his own name remembered, but we willremember him for his generosity and for hisdedication to his medical school.”

Dr. Manchester was born in Alliance,Ohio, where his father was a general practi-tioner for almost 50 years. He graduated fromOhio Wesleyan University and entered theSchool of Medicine in 1927 before the Schoolhad graduated its first class. He spent a yearas a research fellow, graduating in 1932 witha master’s and a medical degree.

After an internship at Strong MemorialHospital, Dr. Manchester did his residency atNew Haven Hospital in Connecticut. From1941 to 1946, he served in the U.S. Naval

Medical Corps, including 18 months on adestroyer, the U.S.S. O’Bannon, which tookpart in the Battle of Guadalcanal and severalother important engagements. After the war,Dr. Manchester practiced internal medicineand cardiology in Seattle. He served as chiefof medicine at Swedish Medical Center there.He retired in his mid-60s.

“He retired after having a stroke,thinking he faced a good chance of dying. But he lived for almost 40 years,” saidRudolph Bumgardner 3rd, Dr. Manchester’snephew. “He was a thoughtful, generousperson. He was dedicated to his professionand I’m sure he was a very considerate andvery knowledgeable physician.”

Dr. Manchester loved the outdoors. He rode horses and hiked. He also loved totravel. He hiked in Nepal when he was 75years old. And in 1995, he and his wife took a trip around the world, flying on theConcorde. He was intellectually sharp andcurious throughout his life and still washandling all his investments and financialaffairs until just a couple weeks before hisdeath, his nephew said.

Dr. Manchester’s first wife, MaryMargaret Bumgardner Manchester, died in 1975. In addition to his nephew, Dr.Manchester is survived by his wife, DorothyManchester, of Cupertino, and a step-daughter, Doree Masters, of Magalia, Calif.He was buried at Bethel Presbyterian Churchin Staunton, Va.

University President Joel Seligman with Robert C. Manchester, M.D.



strength and progress of our medical schooland the excellence of the next generation ofphysicians, investigators and educators.”

At the Whipple Society dinner in 2004,the dean announced a $10 million initiative for medical school scholarships. The increasein scholarship endowment could generate$550,000 a year in new scholarship aid, andwould grow across time with additionalcontributions and with investment returns onthe endowment. Many have responded to thecampaign; cash and pledges have reachedalmost $10 million and, if planned giving isadded, the total comes to $11.3 million.

The money raised through thecampaign will enhance the School ofMedicine’s ability to address financial need.The campaign also has raised funds andpledges that, so far, have established morethan 20 named merit scholarships.

“When these new scholarships mature,they will pay dividends in the students webring to Rochester and in advancing the repu-tation of our School of Medicine,” Guzick said.

Merit scholarships interested DavidBaldwin, M.D. (BA’43, M’45) and his wife, HaleeMorris Baldwin (BA’44), longtime supporters ofthe School of Medicine and the University’sRiver Campus. For 50 years, the Baldwins hada summer house on Fire Island. The mostrecent house, built in 1910, had five smallbedrooms and screened-in porches. TheBaldwins, who raised four sons, have manyfine memories of summer days at the houseand the nearby beaches.

“When we couldn’t actively pursuetennis, biking and hiking on the beach as we

had, the house got to be a chore,” said DavidBaldwin, specialist in kidney disease andchief of nephrology at New York UniversitySchool of Medicine. He’s a professor emeritusnow, but he still teaches.

The Baldwins donated the Fire Islandhouse to the University. The house sold to ayoung doctor and his wife and the proceedsfrom the sale fund a scholarship on the RiverCampus and a merit scholarship at the Schoolof Medicine.

“We usually think of need for scholar-ships. Our merit scholarship will help theschool attract top-tier students,” DavidBaldwin said.

Paul H. Fine, M.D. (BA’57, M’61, R’65), had a similar reason for establishing a meritscholarship.

“Aid to needy students is very impor-tant,” said Fine, professor of clinical medicineat the School of Medicine. “I was the first in my family to go to college. I needed help. I see that merit scholarships are one way wecan get the cream of the crop.”

Welsh, a 1998 graduate of BrownUniversity with a degree in English andAmerican Literature, qualified as a top-of-the-line student. She had taught in a large publichigh school. When she decided on medicineas a career, she took her science courses anddid research at Harvard University. She alsohad a record of community service and an interest in academic medicine. Severalmedical schools accepted Welsh. Her choicesnarrowed to her state medical school, anothermedical school that also offered a scholar-ship, and Rochester.

“Good teaching, thoughtful teaching,with adult learners in mind — that was whatI most wanted out of a medical school,”Welsh said. “That is a priority here. I didn’tfind that anywhere else I interviewed …Dr. Hansen expressed such a clear vision formedical education — one that was builtaround real understanding and practicallearning, not just rote memorization. I reallywanted to come to a place that had its ownidentity and mission, not just churning outdoctor after doctor, but thinking about how to effectively educate us in medicine in fouryears, which is such a Herculean and actuallyimpossible task.”

Rochester was already near the top of my list— the scholarship just made me even moresure.”

In Welsh’s case, the merit scholarshipachieved the goal of tilting the scale inRochester’s favor.

“The best students have multipleacceptances. They have a choice. Sometimesa merit scholarship makes the difference in astudent’s decision to select Rochester,” saidJohn Hansen, Ph.D., the School of Medicine’sassociate dean for admissions. “We want thebest and the brightest for every class, obvi-ously. The very best students pull the classalong. They raise the bar in expectations andperformance.”

The large and growing debt burdenfaced by medical students is a nationalproblem. Tuition alone for this academic year at the School of Medicine is $35,800.More than 90 percent of Rochester medicalstudents receive financial aid. Average debtat graduation exceeds $130,000.

Scholarships to address need are oneissue. Merit scholarships are about another— attracting the best students to the Schoolof Medicine. Most medical schools in compe-tition with Rochester for students havesignificant merit scholarship programs. TheSchool of Medicine has long recognized theneed for financial assistance and has a tradi-tion of generous support for students. Butmerit scholarships have not been a part of theaid arsenal. As recently as a decade ago, theSchool did not offer any merit scholarships.The Dr. Marvin J. and Nancy Yanes HoffmanMedical Scholarship Fund became the firstmerit scholarship five years ago.

Two years ago, David S. Guzick, M.D.,Ph.D., dean of the School of Medicine andDentistry, launched a merit scholarshipprogram for awards to applicants with astrong academic record, demonstratedinterest in research or academic medicine andunique backgrounds and experience. A meritscholarship in this program provides $10,000a year for four years. The dean has awardedfive scholarships each year since the programbegan.

“A merit scholarship is another tool wecan use to convince top applicants that ourSchool of Medicine will provide the besteducation and the best environment,” Guzicksaid. “Merit scholarships help ensure the

Halee and David Baldwin


Match Day 2007


As the clock ticked toward noon on March 15, David Lambert, M.D., the School of Medicine and Dentistry’s associate dean for undergrad-uate medical education, emceed a version of Deal or No Deal to awardseveral gifts and prolong the tension. The true focus of this dramatic

day — the match letters with the decisions on residencies — waited ona table at the front of the Class of ‘62 Auditorium. After the time finallyarrived and students rushed the table, shouts and shrieks of virtuallyunanimous joy filled the auditorium.


On the page at left, clockwise from the upper left, are: Holly AnnRussell and Richard (Scott) Dent; Namrita Malhi and David Lambert;Jacqueline Zayas, Illena Antonetti, M.D., Tearikirangi Elijah Benioni and Briana Southerland. Above, clockwise from upper left, are JenniferCorbelli and Jeremy Kimmel; Gregory Wolff and his wife, Karen Wolff;Frank Akwaa, Joanne Moreau, NanaEfua Baidoo, Karolina Zareba,Charles Denman, Justin Brucker and John Scherer.




Match Day 2007

Enjoying Match Day, clockwise from the upper left, are: Ryan Flanigan;Julie Yee and Barry Fields; John Ok; and Arthur Swann, Trey Swann andShawana Swann.



ILLINOISKimberly Corbin, University of Chicago

Medical Center, radiation oncologyJoanne Moreau, University of Chicago

Medical Center, pediatricsSarah Peterson, Northwestern McGaw,

internal medicineJohn Scherer, Northwestern McGaw,

internal medicineBriana Southerland, University of Chicago

Medical Center, emergency medicineKarolina Zareba, Northwestern McGaw,

internal medicineMAINEThomas Cochran, Maine Medical Center,

emergency medicineAlexis Mottl, Maine Medical Center,

emergency medicineMARYLANDFrank Akwaa, Johns Hopkins/Bayview, internal

medicineCorinne Erickson, University of Maryland Medical

Center, dermatologyJohn Ok, Johns Hopkins Hospital,

anesthesiologyMASSACHUSETTSKatherine Dudley, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical

Center, internal medicineEmily Pilger, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical

Center, neurologyDaniel Reilly, Cambridge Hospital, psychiatryAndrew Sauer, Massachusetts General Hospital,

internal medicineNEW JERSEYBeth-Ann Shanker, Robert Wood Johnson Medical

School, general surgeryNEW MEXICOJeremy Richards, University of New Mexico School

of Medicine, psychiatryNEW YORKGregg Chesney, Long Island Jewish Medical

Center, emergency medicineKuei-Cheng Lim, NYU School of Medicine,

neurologySarah Vanderlinde, St. Luke’s-Roosevelt,

diagnostic radiologyJames Wood, North Shore University Hospital,

internal medicineSvetlana Zhovtis, Mt. Sinai Hospital, neurologyNORTH CAROLINAAmanda Guidon, Duke University Medical Center,

neurologyMichael Katz, Duke University Medical Center,

internal medicine

OHIOKatherine Blumoff, Case Western/University

Hospitals of Cleveland, family medicinePENNSYLVANIAAdeel Abbasi, Hospital of the University of

Pennsylvania, emergency medicineJennifer Corbelli, University of Pittsburgh Medical

Center, internal medicineRichard (Scott) Dent, Lancaster General Hospital,

family medicineSughosh Dhakal, Lehigh Valley Hospital,

transitionalKavita Kadiwar, University of Pittsburgh Medical

Center, psychiatryWaseem Khan, Thomas Jefferson University,

diagnostic radiologyMichael McGrath, University of Pittsburgh Medical

Center, emergency medicineAdaobi Okobi, St. Christopher’s Hospital,

pediatricsRachel Rubin, Temple University Hospital, internal

medicineHolly Ann Russell, Lancaster General Hospital,

family medicineRHODE ISLANDBrian Daly, Brown University, psychiatryVincent Duron, Rhode Island Hospital/

Brown University, general surgeryLindsay MacConaghy, Rhode Island

Hospital/Brown University, emergency medicine

Katharine Price, Rhode Island Hospital/Brown University, primary medicine

SOUTH CAROLINAShawana Swann, Medical University of

South Carolina, obstetrics-gynecologyTEXASAmy Mayhew, Baylor College of Medicine,

psychiatryMarcus Rampton, Brooke Army Medical Center,

anesthesiologyVIRGINIAHadley Herbert, Virginia Commonwealth University

Health System, general surgeryErik Lovria, University of Virginia Health System,

surgeryWASHINGTONJessica Felt, University of Washington Affiliated

Hospitals, anesthesiology

University of Rochester/Strong Memorial HospitalMatthew Bellizzi, neurologyTearikirangi Benioni, emergency medicineCraig Benson, medicine-pediatricsNatalie Bertoia, obstetrics-gynecologySarah Bolduc, medicine-pediatricsMichael Ferrantino, internal medicineRyan Flanigan, orthopaedic surgeryStephanie Giannandrea, psychiatryJoy Knopf, urologyNamrita Malhi, pediatrics, child neurologyBenjamin McClintic, internal medicineKaroline Moon, internal medicineCatherine Moore, internal medicineMeena Moorthy, diagnostic radiologySwapnil Munsaf, internal medicineAndrea Noronha, internal medicineAnthony Petraglia, neurosurgeryLe Keyah Quinn, pediatricsJustin Rymanowski, neurologyJessica St. Cyr, pediatricsM. Kristina Subik, pathologyMarianne Taylor, medicine-pediatricsJared Tomlinson, general surgerySarada Uppuluri, internal medicineMelissa Whitenack, obstetrics-gynecologyAlicia Zysman-Cromwell, family medicineARIZONAJulie Yee, Mayo Graduate School of Medicine,

general surgeryCALIFORNIABrian Curley, UC San Diego Medical Center,

internal medicineCharles Denman, UC Davis Medical Center,

internal medicineRashmi Narayan, UCLA Medical Center,

pediatricsPaul Puri, UC San Diego Medical Center, psychiatryCOLORADOGregory Wolff, University of Colorado School of

Medicine, anesthesiologyCONNECTICUTBarry Fields, Yale-New Haven Hospital, primary

medicineDISTRICT OF COLUMBIASheena Mathew, Washington Hospital Center,

obstetrics-gynecologyMichael Pirri, George Washington University

Hospital, emergency medicineBrooke Shuster, Georgetown University Hospital,

pediatricsHAWAIIGretchen Rickards, Tripler Army Medical Center,

internal medicine



MD AlumniClass of 1931Norma Bloor Bowles Utley (BA ‘26, MS ‘29)celebrated her103rd Birthday onMarch 25, 2007.

Class of 1941Clem Finch writes:“Genia and I areliving in La Jolla,Calif. Our two children are inmedicine. We areretired.”

Class of 194265th reunionSeptember 27–29.

Class of 1944Stuart Finch writes: “Ellen Binkley wrotesome very kind words about Felix Cohen andparticularly in recollection of his many subtlejokes and the fine sense of humor that hedisplayed while we were students. He was a good friend, but one of my more vivid recol-lections of Felix was the difficulty he had inlearning to do a successful venapuncture onme. Perhaps that was one of the early indica-tors as to why he eventually felt morecomfortable going into the field of psychiatry.In a note from Dick Wilson he also empha-sized how sad it was to have lost fouroutstanding classmates in one year.

“Henry and Blanche Clark just cele-brated their 60th wedding anniversary. Henrywrote that, despite some medical problems,he and his wonderful wife remain deeply

If you see any alumni whom you would like to contact, use the Online Directory atwww.alumniconnections.com/URMCto find address information.

Submit your class notes to your class agent or e-mail to:[email protected].

Note: MD Alumni are listed alphabetically by class. Resident and Fellow alumni follow inalphabetical order, and Graduate alumni arelisted separately in alphabetical order.

India: through my eyes

Jonathan Black, who recently completed his second year as an MD/MPH student at the University ofRochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, spent 10 weeks last summer doing research, travelingand hanging out in India. The country, he says, has captured his heart as well as his photographiceye. Jonathan graduated from the University of Rochester in 2003 with degrees in film and mediastudies and economics. His photographs of India were exhibited in the Miner Library this spring.

class notes

Norma Utley



University of North Carolina in the Habitatprogram which has been very successful. The Clarks are now retired and enjoy living at the Carol Woods Retirement Community in Chapel Hill. Their lifelong legacies in medicine will be for their many contributionsto the health and welfare of the disadvan-taged and willingness always to help others.

“George Holton continues to be afaithful correspondent and a bountiful sourceof interesting information about many of ourclassmates. From time to time he also sendsme some wonderful photographs of class-mates which greatly enhance myrecollections of those memorable days whenwe were learning to be doctors with WorldWar II lurking in the background. George andEileen continue to live in a great retirementfacility in Ponte Vedra, Fla., where golf facili-ties are some of the best in the country.George noted in his last letter that it was Bill Weeden and Ivan Gotham in the class of 1945, both of whom are recently deceased,who lured him into starting his practice ofmedicine in Canandaigua, a move that henever regretted.”

Class of 1945Nevin S. Scrimshaw (R ‘47) celebrated his 65th wedding anniversary with his wife, Mary,and their five children and eight grandchildrenin August in the White Mountains of NewHampshire.

Class of 194760th reunion September 27–29.

Class of 1950Helen C. Davies received an Alpha Omega

involved with their 10 lively grandchildren,their church and a variety of other communityactivities. They are especially interested insports at the University of North Carolina.Most of us did not know Henry very well whilewe were medical students, as he joined ourclass late due to three years spent at Trudeau,while a medical student recovering fromtuberculosis. After graduating AOA fromRochester, a fellowship year in pathology at Strong, and a medical internship at Duke, he embarked on an outstanding 40-yearcareer of medical administrative appoint-ments. These included successive two-yearappointments as assistant director anddirector of Strong Memorial and VanderbiltUniversity hospitals, respectively. He thenspent 15 years as vice chancellor for healthaffairs at the University of North Carolina.Other highlights of his career were sevenyears as director of the Connecticut RegionalMedical Program, three years as visitingprofessor at the University of Connecticut and two years as director of Project Hope inJamaica. His career also included a numberof appointments as an advisor or consultant tosuch organizations as the University of PuertoRico, the University of Leiden, the NationalInstitutes of Health and the Tuskegee medicaland academic institutions. He and Blanchehave been very active over the years inHabitat for Humanity in both the OrangeCounty area of North Carolina and in severalcountries outside of the United States. Their personal contributions and fund-raisingefforts have resulted in the construction of many homes for the needy in these areas.Henry and Blanche initiated a program ofundergraduate student involvement at the

Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished TeacherAward in fall 2006. She was recognized by the Association of American Medical Collegesfor her efforts to provide the nation’s nextgeneration of doctors with an exceptionaleducational experience. She is currently aprofessor of microbiology and ombudsman for students at the University of PennsylvaniaSchool of Medicine.


Class of 1953Robert L. Brent (BA’48, PhD ‘55, HNR ‘88) writes:“Lillian (BA’50) and I want to thank RobertPalmer (M’53) for being the first contributor tothe program we initiated to try to reduce thetuition for incoming medical students (ATFP,Alumni Tuition Free Program). As soon as Bob Palmer heard about the program, he wasthe first one to send in $10,000 and his name is already up on the wall in the ForbesMezzanine. We hope to make the medicalschool tuition-free with this program. Fourteenother donors have contributed even beforeactive solicitation has begun.”

In February, Brent received theJefferson College Dean’s Medal, celebratinghis 50 years of service. He recently wasappointed to the executive committee of theSchool of Medicine and Dentistry’s AlumniCouncil. He is also chair of the communica-tions and development committee for thecouncil.

Class of 1954Chloe Alexson (R’57, F’59) writes: “After about35 years teaching microbiology and infectious

On the day they graduated from theSchool of Medicine and Dentistry in 1944,several classmates stood on the steps of Strong Memorial Hospital for a photo-graph. From left to right, they are: Stuart Finch, Hyzer Jones, Benedict Duffy,Willis Weeden, Leonard Smith andChester Haug. All are deceased with theexception of Finch and the photographer,George Holton.



diseases at the U of R, Don Hare retired to beon the National Ski Patrol at a local ski area.His wife, Nancy, continued to work as a pedi-atric nurse practitioner in the offices of NealMcNabb and Jim MacWhinney.

“Ten years of ski patrolling was longenough to be encumbered with schedules, so he retired from that as well. Nancy alsoretired and they have since divided their timebetween Rochester and Martha’s Vineyardwhere he started to run a set of lobster traps,providing them with a constant supply of veryexpensive lobsters!

“Their daughter Kathy works as amolecular biologist and her husband, Rich. is a molecular endocrinologist. Their son,Christopher, is their man of many talents, achemistry major, then crewing coach at MIT,Columbia and, briefly, the U of R. Aftermarrying a lawyer, he went to law school andpractices patent law. For some time, heworked at Abgenics, a biotech firm makingmonoclonal antibodies. He and his secondwife now raise cattle and ‘cutting’ horses inOregon. Jonathan, who developed an interestin fish growing up at the Vineyard, earned aPh.D. at Stony Brook and joined the NationalFisheries, first in Beaufort, N.C., and now inRhode Island.

“Their recent life has been prettymundane. The biggest issue to have arisen is

that he has been diagnosed with a bonemarrow dysplasia, currently being evaluated.‘We’ll see where this goes in the near future.Stay tuned!’ Nancy is also in the final stagesof recovery from a seriously broken leg, withvery little residual disability.”

Chloe Alexson has left the AlumniCouncil. She writes: “One of the pleasures ofbeing on the Council was a chance to work onthe Heritage Trail which brought back manymemories of days not just as a student butalso as a resident. Those memories were justone of the reasons I was eager to go to workevery day for more than 45 years. For ourstudents, I hope they will also wake up everymorning grateful that they knew what theywanted to be when they grew up - and wereright! I’m still trying to get the corners of oneof the stairwells painted white and to get thepaint removed from at least a portion of thewall outside Whipple Auditorium.”

John Castellot writes: “Following grad-uation from Rochester in 1954, I spent the next40 years training in and practicing internalmedicine in the U.S. Army and the VeteransAdministration. Then, in 1994, a myocardialinfarction, followed by two cardiac arrestswhile recovering, brought a prompt end to amost interesting, challenging and rewardinggovernment medical career.

“After implantation of the first of three

defibrillators in my abdomen and a long reha-bilitation, I joined Maria in the two volunteeractivities she had already been engaged in for many years —once a week in the WhiteHouse Correspondence Section and once aweek at the main information desk at WalterReed Army Hospital (currently a verydepressing task). As a career governmentemployee, career political junkie, and careerhusband (60 years this year), these have alsobeen interesting and rewarding activities.

“Age and additional health problemsfor both of us have finally forced us to give upthe White House this year, but we still volun-teer at Walter Reed once a week, the hospitalwhere I spent so many wonderful professionalyears.”

Class of 1955Allan Inglis has left the Alumni Council. Hewrites: “Carpe Diem. Nice to have been askedto serve on the Alumni Council. Indeed, it wasa real privilege to have the opportunity tocontribute to the institution that played suchan import role in my private and professionallife. As a physician and a surgeon, meetingwith my fellow alumni and the current educa-tors and administrative staff was a greatexperience assuring that the medical collegewas in the best of hands.”

Class of 1956In the fall/winter 2006 issue of RochesterMedicine, on page 45, upper right, Cyril Worby(R ‘60) is misidentified as Karl Johnson. Weapologize for this error.


Class of 1959Paul F. Griner has joined the Alumni Council.He lives in Boston, consulting part time withthe Institute for Healthcare Improvement andat the Massachusetts General Hospital asmentor for faculty of the general medicineunit. Griner writes: “My identical twin and I are now back in the same city from wherewe took our separate paths 53 years ago.”

Michael B. Sporn’s paper,“Dichotomies in cancer research: somesuggestions for a new synthesis” waspublished in the July, 2006, Vol. 3, No. 7 editionof Nature Clinical Practice Oncology journal.Sporn is a professor of pharmacology andmedicine at Dartmouth Medical School.

class notes


57SPRING / SUMMER 2007

Class of 1960Roswell Eldridge writes: “I provided the initialfunding for the upcoming PBS AmericanMasters Series documentary, John JamesAudubon: Drawn from Nature. The worldpremiere was held October 21, 2006 in thehamlet of Rensselaerville, N.Y. For more detail,visit www.huyckpreserve.org and click onAudubon. A pivotal moment in the film’s incep-tion occurred in St. Louis, Mo., on the dayafter the dinner sponsored by the medicalcenter to honor my classmate Bill Peck. Bill was a classmate and fellow year-outerwith Lowell Orbison in 1957/58. Bill had anillustrious career as director and CEO ofBarnes Medical Center and I was thankful my wife and I could attend the dinner. I had an exciting 30-year career in clinical neuroge-netics research following graduation from the University of Rochester School ofMedicine. I am grateful for Larry Young andBob Berg among others for introducing me to the new field of medical genetics.” Stanley O. Foster, a leader of the effort toeradicate smallpox, received the BicentennialMedal from Williams College, which honorsmembers of the Williams community fordistinguished achievement in any field ofendeavor. This year’s recipients were chosenbecause of their service to the world. Fosterled the smallpox campaigns in Nigeria,Somalia and Bangladesh, where he identifiedthe last naturally occurring incidence ofsmallpox in the world. He continues to consultwith governments and international organiza-tions and serves as visiting professor in theDepartment of Global Health at EmoryUniversity’s Rollins School of Public Health.

College of Cardiology and in 2006 was namedDistinguished Teacher for ProfessionalSchools of the University of California, Davis.Amsterdam writes: “I am currently associatechief, division of cardiovascular medicine,University of California at Davis School ofMedicine and Medical Center. I edit the journalPreventive Cardiology, which I founded andwhich is listed in Index Medicus. I continue full time with teaching, research and clinicalactivities.”

Ron Bruce has joined the AlumniCouncil. Bruce is on the board of directors of the Charleston Area Senior Citizens, anonprofit which manages Meals on Wheels andother activities for seniors. He also chairs thestewardship committee for the Unitarian Churchof Charleston and belongs to SneeFarm CountryClub, where he plays a lot of golf.

Robert S. Crumrine (R ‘67) received theCrawford W. Long Award at the GeorgiaSociety of Anesthesiologists meeting inJanuary. The award is the highest honorbestowed on a member of the society and isgiven in recognition of physicians who havemade exceptional contributions to the GSA.

Class of 1963Joseph L. “Joel” Andrews writes: “I recentlystarted a primary care medical practice withthe Harbor Medical Group in Marblehead,Mass., which is part of the North ShoreMedical Center and Partners Health Care. In August, I welcomed my first grandchild,Michael Joseph Andrews, who was born tomy son, Joe, and his wife, Lesley, who liveoutside San Francisco.”

Merrill C. Oaks retired from hisophthalmology practice and spent six years

Boston-area alumni from 1963, 1964 and1965 gathered at the Harvard Faculty Clubin Cambridge for a mini-reunion two yearsago and they will get together again thisyear. Robert Ackerman is the contact.Seated in the photo above, from left toright, are: David Harris, Carol Agnello andVincent Agnello. Standing from left toright are: Ingvar Vittands, Allen Lapey,Janet Lapey, Robert Ackerman, EmilyLamont, Elaine Li, Fred Li, Donna Vittands,Tom Lamont, Dotty Bless, EleanorLaRiviere, Sam Dugan, Stuart Bless, GeneLaRiviere, and Diane Dugan.

Class of 1961Daniel E. Clapp was named 2006 CommunityClinician of the Year by the Hampshire DistrictMedical Society of the MassachusettsMedical Society. The award recognizes apracticing physician who stands out in termsof professional accomplishments and commu-nity contributions.

Heshy Tabechian has left the AlumniCouncil. He writes: “My membership on theAlumni Council was one of the most gratifyingassignments. As the chair of the awardscommittee, my most challenging andrewarding experience was to conduct theselection of the honorees for the Gold MedalAward presented to an inspiring teacher withintegrity and devotion to medical students; the Alumni Service Award given to analumnus for furthering the interest of theSchool and the alumni association throughsupport, commitment and service to School;and finally the Distinguished Alumni Awardwhich is given annually in recognition ofoutstanding and widely recognized achieve-ment. The award salutes, in particular, thosewho exemplify the standards and objectivesof the School of Medicine and Dentistrythrough personal conduct, professionalaccomplishments and community service.Distinct preference is given to those alumniwhose achievements create significantimpact to the medical field on a national andglobal scale. I’m pleased to have the privilegeof continuing on the awards committee.”

Class of 196245th reunion September 27–29.Ezra A. Amsterdam (R ‘63) received the 2005 Gifted Teacher Award of the American



as a full-time general officer for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, includingthree years supervising the activities of thechurch in the Philippines. He and his wife of48 years, Jo, enjoy their nine children and 38 grandchildren. They also love traveling.

Albert Wiley, Jr. is currently director ofthe National Nuclear Security Administration’sRadiation Emergency Assistance CenterTraining Site, and director of the World HealthOrganization Collaborating Center at Oak Ridge.He writes: “My work with radiation emergencyresponse and preparedness involves work andcollaboration with International Atomic EnergyAgency and WHO, so I am now quite busy withmuch travel.”

Class of 1965Don Catlin has stepped down as director of the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory,described by USA Today as, “one of theworld’s best sports drug-testing labs.” He willcontinue his research on improving ways todetect drugs.

James D. Cox, professor of radiationoncology and head of the division of radiationoncolaogy at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, is the 2007 alumni inductee to Alpha OmegaAlpha (AOA). The induction ceremony tookplace in February at the Genesee Valley Club.

of Cytopathology in recognition of hisoutstanding service in the field at the annualmeeting of the society in November.

Robert Crapo writes: “I gave theDistinguished Scientist Honor Lecture at theAmerican College of Chest PhysiciansMeeting in October. Also in 2006, I underwentsurgery and chemotherapy for colon cancer.The prognosis is very good.”

Richard Davey recently accepted theposition of director of transfusion medicine at the Methodist Hospital in Houston. Daveypreviously held positions as chief medicalofficer of the American Red Cross and chiefmedical officer of the New York Blood Center.

Mark H. Weinstein (BA ‘65) has left theAlumni Council. He writes: “I have enjoyed my many years on the Alumni Council. Theexperience has become even more mean-ingful to me, since my son-in-law is now asecond-year medical student at the Universityof Rochester. I believe that one of the majorroles of the council is to reach out andconnect with other alumni in order to supportthe present medical students in their careerchoices, and hopefully to help defer the escalating costs of their medical education. I encourage other alums to participate in theactivities of the council.”

Class of 197235th reunion September 27–29. Richard Everson has joined the NeagComprehensive Cancer Center at theUniversity of Connecticut Health Center asdeputy director for cancer control. He will see patients in the cancer center and willcontinue to pursue his research interests inmolecular epidemiology, cancer risk assess-ment and cancer prevention. Everson joinsthe center from the Hudson-Webber CancerResearch Center in Detroit and the KarmanosCancer Institute, where he was a professor of medicine and part of the multidisciplinaryteams for breast cancer and GI oncology.

Glenn A. Lux is president and CEO of aphysician-owned professional service corpo-ration of 66 pediatric practitioners in theGreater Seattle area. He also is clinical asso-ciate professor of pediatrics at the Universityof Washington and adjunct professor ofmanagement at the Albers School of Businessand Economics at Seattle University. Hereceived a master’s degree of businessadministration from Seattle University in June

Class of 1966Frank LoGerfo has left the Alumni Council. He writes: “During my time on the AlumniCouncil, it has been heartwarming to see thecontinued focus on nurturing the humanisticaspects of a medical education. Medical andmedical science alumni who become engagedin the many activities of the Alumni Councilwill find it a rewarding experience.”


Class of 1968Mary E. Costanza is a medical oncologist atthe University of Massachusetts MemorialHealth Center and professor of medicine atthe University of Massachusetts School ofMedicine. She was involved with the BostonWomen’s Health Collective and her writinghas appeared in editions of Our BodiesOurselves. From 1993–2003, she chaired theGender Equity Committee at the University ofMassachusetts Medical School, and is now a member of the Women’s Faculty Committee.She was in the 2006 book Feminists WhoChanged America 1963–1975.

Class of 1969Thomas A. Bonfiglio (R ‘72) received thePresident’s Award of the American Society

class notes


59SPRING / SUMMER 2007

2006. At graduation, he also received the JerryA. Viscione Graduate Scholar Award which ispresented each year to the outstanding grad-uating graduate business student in theAlbers School.

Class of 1973James William Battaglini recently joined themedical staff at Parrish Medical Center inTitusville, Fla., as a cardiothoracic surgeon.

Elizabeth Downing has been nameddirector of student health services at theUniversity of California at Santa Barbara.

Class of 1974John C. Morris received the 2006 Neville GrantAward for Clinical Excellence in November,from the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundationin St. Louis. Morris, the Friedman Professor ofNeurology at Washington University School ofMedicine, was cited for his excellent medicalskills coupled with compassion for patientsand their caregivers and his mentorship ofhouse staff, medical students, and fellows.

Class of 1975Andrew M. Golden (BS ‘71, R ‘78) has beenappointed director of clinician patient commu-nication training and development for the 8,000physicians of the Southern CaliforniaPermanente Medical Group.

Class of 197730th reunion September 27–29.Kathleen Gensheimer has been appointed to the executive committee of the School ofMedicine and Dentistry Alumni Council.

Philip A. Gruppuso is a professor ofpediatrics and research professor of molec-ular biology, cell biology and biochemistry atBrown Medical School, where he has spenthis entire career. He completed his training in pediatric metabolism and endocrinology at Brown and eventually became head ofBrown’s division of pediatric endocrinologyand the director of Brown’s M.D./Ph.D. programuntil last year, when he became associatedean for medical education. He continues to direct a laboratory research program, andis still an active musician, playing keyboardfor an R&B band, The Automatics. His wife,Martha Manno, is an independent publisher(Little Pear Press), and his 27-year-old twindaughters are art school graduates who liveand work in New York City.

Class of 1978David Diamond was awarded first prize inclinical research at the annual meeting of theAcademy of Pediatrics, Section on Urology,for work on adolescent varicocele.

Robert W. Loss, Jr. (R ‘81) writes:“Dermatology Associates opened its thirdoffice in Naples, Fla., in December 2006. Wealso have full-time facilities in Rochester andSyracuse and employ 82 people within ourpractice, spa services and research center.”

Ronald G. Schwartz (BA ‘73) has beenpromoted to the faculty rank of professor of medicine (cardiology) and of imagingsciences at theUniversity ofRochester MedicalCenter, and hasrecently been electedas a fellow of theAmerican Society of Nuclear Cardiology.He serves as attendingin clinical, preventiveand nuclear cardi-ology, the director ofnuclear cardiology,and the director of thecardiac PET programat Science Park.Schwartz’s publishedresearch demonstrates the ability of cardiacimaging to detect preclinical coronary arterydisease in patients with diabetes mellitus, and to monitor the effectiveness of medicaltherapy.

Class of 1979Carl Patow, executive director ofHealthPartners Institute for MedicalEducation, has been appointed director to the board of the Accreditation Council forGraduate Medical Education. He was selectedas a representative of the American HospitalAssociation, a three-year appointment.

Class of 1980Barry J. Goldstein (PhD ‘82, R ‘85) was electedto the Association of American Physicians(AAP) honorary society in 2006.

Wendy S. Harpham was named the 2006Tree of Life Award recipient from the nationaloffice of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.This award honors an individual or organiza-tion that has played a major or lasting role,

with national impact, in improving the qualityof life of patients and their families.

Bruce M. Weinraub was recognized as one of the top 10 percent of primary carephysicians in 2005 through Blue Cross BlueShield of Massachusetts.

Class of 1981Steven B. Levine writes, “I am an otolaryngol-ogist and head and neck surgeon in privatepractice in Fairfield County, Conn., and assis-tant clinical professor of surgery at YaleUniversity. I am legislative chair for the stateENT society and on the legislative committeeof the state medical society. Most recently, I was named for the sixth consecutive year to the Castle Connolly Guide, Top Doctors:New York Metro Area. Married for 16 years,Jamie and I have three children. Our son,Zachary, is 14 years old and our twin daugh-ters, Alexa and Jenna, turned 12 this April.”

Class of 198225th reunion September 27–29.David Liebers was appointed vice presidentof medical affairs at Ellis Hospital inSchenectady, N.Y. He was named vice chief of staff at Ellis in 2004 and is currently chiefmedical officer. Liebers is boarded in infec-tious diseases and continues to practiceclinically. His oldest son, David, 19, is a sopho-more at the University of Rochester, enrolledin a premed curriculum. In addition to hiswork at Ellis, Liebers has been a clinicalassistant professor of medicine at AlbanyMedical Center since 2000. He holds member-ship in numerous medical organizations,including the Schenectady County MedicalSociety, the New York State Medical Society,the American Society of Microbiology, theNew York State Society-Internal Medicine, theInfectious Diseases Society of America andthe American Society of Internal Medicine.

Class of 1983Allan R. Macdonald (R ‘86) writes: “I am nowworking as a full-time faculty member atMcLeod Regional Medical Center’s FamilyPractice Residency Program in Florence, S.C.,where I serve as director of obstetricaleducation. We are a regional tertiary carecommunity-based medical center offering anunopposed 7-7-7 family medicine residency.My duties include private patient care,heading the family medicine obstetrical

Ronald Schwartz



component of our program, and teaching theresidents in all areas of family medicine. I amalso in charge of the pediatrics and newbornnursery portions of our program.”

Thomas Peterson has been namedacting chair of family medicine at theUniversity of Vermont College of Medicine andacting physician leader at Fletcher AllenHealth Care, where he also is an attendingphysician. Peterson is an elected member ofthe finance committee of the Faculty PracticePlan, and serves as chairman of the board ofthe University Health Center.

Class of 1986Ralph A. Lanza is a managing partner at GreatValley Medical Associates, P.C. He is alsodirector of Berwyn/Paoli Little League and amember of the board of trustees for the PaoliHospital Foundation.

Class of 198720th reunion September 27–29.Jean M. Culver has joined the physician staffof Berkshire Occupational Health in GreatBarrington, Mass. She is board-certified inoccupational and environmental medicine.

Sarah Whitman has launched herWebsite and blog: www.howtocopewithpain.org. Both discuss coping with chronicpain, which is her specialty in her psychiatricpractice. The sites help patients with chronic

pain, providing information and support. Theyhave a psychiatric and psychological focus,and also include information from other disci-plines, and interviews with providers,researchers, patients, and families on topicrelated to pain.

Class of 1988Immanuel K. Ho (BS ‘84) was elected governorof the American College of Gastroenterologyfor Eastern Pennsylvania.

Class of 1989Tim Evans (PhD ‘89, R ‘92) writes: “I am here (in Fresno, Calif.) with my wife, Amy Evans(M’88, R ‘91) and my children, Colin (12) andHannah (10). I am the director for critical caremedicine at Community Regional MedicalCenters, affiliated with UCSF-Fresno MedicalEducation Program, and also practicepulmonary medicine. Being close to familyand also to Yosemite National Park is idyllicand I have never looked back! Amy is asso-ciate professor of pediatrics at UCSF-Fresno,works in our medical education program andpractices general academic pediatrics. Inaddition, she is the director for the Center forBreastfeedinig Medicine at CommunityRegional Medical Centers, which is a subspe-cialty in her pediatric department servingmothers and babies and their related medicalconditions.”

Barry J. Wu was promoted to clinicalprofessor of medicine at Yale UniversitySchool of Medicine.

Class of 1990Luke Loveys (R ‘96) has left the AlumniCouncil. He writes: “Participating on theAlumni Council for the past 10 years has beena great opportunity to stay in touch on apersonal level with the School of Medicineand Dentistry while at the same time assistingwith its mission to serve the interests of thealumni. It was truly a rewarding experience. I look forward to staying connected throughcontinued participation with the AlumniAssociation.”

Glenville A. March, Jr., co-founder andCEO of March Vision Care, Inc., announcedthat March Vision Care has received itsCalifornia Knox-Keene license as a visionplan. The Knox-Keene license is California’sHMO license. With the license, March VisionCare can now contract with employer groupsand unions. March Vision Care managesprimary vision care benefits for nearly onemillion people in California, Michigan, NewMexico, Ohio, Utah, and Washington. Thecompany plans to launch its own visionbenefit in 2007.

Class of 1991David M. Hoenig (BS ‘87) has received a

class notes



recent academic promotion to associateprofessor in the Department of Urology atAlbert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center. He is also chief of Weiler Hospital Division and director oflaparoscopy and endourology.


Class of 1995Don Dizon (BA ‘91) is director of medicaloncology of the Program in Women’sOncology at Women & Infants’ Hospital ofRhode Island/Brown Medical School. Dizon iscoauthor of 100 Questions and Answers AboutOvarian Cancer, which was just published inits second edition.

Dwight Heron has joined the AlumniCouncil. He is an associate professor at theUniversity of Pittsburgh School of Medicineand vice chairman of clinical affairs in theDepartment of Radiation Oncology at UPMCCancer Centers. As director of radiation serv-ices for 21 cancer centers in the United Statesand two centers in Europe, he has spear-headed the development of innovative,evidence-based clinical pathways to aid inthe coordination and delivery of quality careto all patients throughout the system. Heron is the primary investigator for NCI grants foraCancer Disparities Research Partnership andfor the Center to Reduce Cancer DisparitiesPatient Navigator Program. His clinical andresearch interests include the integration ofadvanced imaging in oncology, such at PET/CTand 4D CT which are used in modern radiationtreatment planning, and their delivery ascranial and body radiosurgery. Heron, theauthor and co-author of numerous journalarticles, book chapters, monographs andabstracts, continues to teach and mentormedical students and residents in the traditionof the biopsychosocial model.

Michael Wang and Cecilia ChiachehLow Wang write: “We are doing great here inDenver, Colo. We brought our daughter MaiaYienfan Low Wang back from Hubei, China inJuly 2005. She is 2 1/2 now and the light of ourlives. Please e-mail or call us, especially ifyou’re coming through the Rockies!”

Class of 1996Hugh P. Babineau writes: “I am in solo prac-tice in Tyler, Tex. I primarily do bariatric

surgery (gastric bypass and Lap-Band), about300–400 procedures per year. My practice, in conjunction with the East Texas MedicalCenter, was one of the first in Texas to receivea Center of Excellence designation by theAmerican Society for Bariatric Surgery. Mywife Nicole (Wood) Babineau, R.N. (BSN ‘95)and I have five children, age six to 17.”

Timothy Beittel writes: "Early in 2005, I accepted a position as medical director forACT Medical Group. We are a private multi-specialty group providing primary care andpsychiatry and psychology services, as wellas medical directorships, to long-term carefacilities throughout North Carolina. In addi-tion, we operate geriatric specialty teams forseveral counties and provide clinical servicesfor a number of community agencies such asEaster Seals and ARC. We are the largestlong-term care provider in the state and arecontinuing to grow. In addition to day-to-daywork, I am also very involved in organizedmedicine as president of my county medicalsociety, delegate to the state medical society,chair of the state young physicians section,and delegate to the national young physicianssection. These roles have allowed me to get a whole new take on leadership and politicsand other issues. There is just so much moreto caring for people and the profession ofmedicine than doing what you can for indi-vidual patients, although that will alwaysremain at the heart of things. My wife,Rebecca, teaches English at the local commu-nity college and enjoys it, although it's drivingher a little batty trying to juggle being a momand having a full-time career. She's had theopportunity to present at some local confer-ences and is starting to gain some recognitionfor innovative teaching methods along withbeing well-liked and respected at her owninstitution. Our daughter, Elaina, is six andstarted kindergarten this year. Depending onthe day you ask her, she either really likes it orthinks it's the stupidest, most horrible placeever, but there's no denying she likes herteachers, is making a lot of friends, and islearning all kinds of things (starting to readand write and spell, counting and doingsimple arithmetic, etc.). Her sister, Lexi, is twoand starting to talk and count and do similarthings a little earlier than Elaina did, probablybecause she has Elaina as an example. UnlikeElaina, who is a very finicky eater and seemsto survive on a few pieces of candy and chips

every day, Lexi will devour just about anythingwe give her and say 'Yummy.' Now, if wecould just get her potty-trained."


Class of 1998Daniel Saurborn (R ‘99) is a radiologist,working for Virtual Radiologic Corp. as ateleradiologist from his home office in LasVegas, Nev. He may be contacted by class-mates at [email protected].

Kate (Cooley) Weller is currently apartner at Family Medicine of Port Angeles,Wash. The 2007 National Committee for QualityAssurance and the American DiabetesAssociation recognized the high quality ofdiabetes care at Family Medicine, and thegrowing practice is working on building a newclinic in Port Angeles to meet greater needs.

Class of 1999 Heather L. Evans writes: “After eight years ofgeneral surgery residency in Charlottesville,Va., my husband, Chris, son, Nash (3), and Iwill be moving to Seattle this summer. I’vematched in the surgical critical care andtrauma fellowship at Harborview MedicalCenter, University of Washington for the2007–08 year.”

Class of 2000David W. Chen (BS ‘96, BA ‘96) finished hisneurology residency in Boston, did a year ofresearch in neuropathic pain, and has beenworking as an attending at MassachusettsGeneral Hospital.

Jeremy Hogan continues to work as ageneral neurologist for Rees-Stealy medicalgroup in San Diego. He is a clinical instructorat UCSD and has a subspecialty interest inneuromuscular diseases. He was recentlyappointed to the City of Chula Vista’s PlanningCommission. He and his wife, Shannon, havebeen married for six years.

Aaron M. Lewis (R ‘01) is living in SanFrancisco, and works as a neurologist andneuromuscular/EMG specialist at KaiserPermanente San Francisco.

Sage Elisabeth Swayze was born toparents Evan Swayze and Nancy (Schwartz)Swayze (M’99, BS ‘94) and her doting big brother,Orion, on April 11, 2006. Nancy writes: “Evan is inhis first year of an emergency medicine resi-dency at University of Massachusetts and I am


ROCHESTER MEDICINE

doing geriatrics forFallon Clinic. We arethrilled to be in centralMassachusetts wherewe get to see oldRochester friends.”

Ethan Sullivanwas born to parentsIvette Motola andJohn Sullivan onOctober 13, 2006, at 1:30a.m. weighing in at 7lbs. 8 oz. and 20.5inches long. Motolawrites: “He is the lightand new love of our lives!”

Class of 2001Katherine Zopf Landy writes: “I finished myresidency in family medicine in Tacoma,Wash., in 2004, and I am working for anonprofit organization called CommunityHealth Care, also in Tacoma. We are a feder-ally subsidized group of community clinicsdoing full-spectrum family medicine mostly forpatients without any insurance (on a slidingscale) and with Medicaid/ Medicare. I do office medicine for all ages, as well asprenatal care, deliveries, and inpatient adultand pediatric care. I’m working in the officethree days a week. I’m lucky to work with afabulous group of doctors, and I love my job. I got married to John Landy (a social worker)in 2003, and we had our wonderful baby boy,Emmett, on April 4, 2006.”

Aidan Patrick O’Connell was born toDonna O’Connell and her husband, Kenneth,on May 29, 2006. O’Connell writes, “We areliving in Plainville, Mass. I am in private prac-tice as a pediatrician at Pediatric Associatesof Norwood and Franklin.”

Adam Vogel and Tiphanie J. Phillipsof Moreno Valley in Riverside, Calif., weremarried November 1, 2006 at Cook Countycourthouse in Chicago. Vogel is a seniorsurgery resident at the University of Chicago.

Class of 20025th reunion September 27–29. Mathew Empie (BA ‘97, R ‘06) has been hiredas a physician at Long Pond Pediatrics inRochester. He previously served as chief resident in pediatrics at Golisano Children’sHospital at Strong

Greg Lam and his wife, Kristen, are the

proud parents of Benjamin. Lam is a third-yearcardiology fellow at Duke University where heperforms research on the role of vascularprogenitor cells in angiogenesis. He recentlywon second place in an internationalresearch competition sponsored by theInternational Society of EndovascularSpecialists, and was also selected as afinalist for the Northwestern UniversityCardiovascular Research Forum.

David Maine and wife, Rachelle SmithMaine, welcomed their first child, Zachary, onJanuary 15, 2007. David is a fellow in the divi-sion of pain medicine at The Johns HopkinsHospital.

Class of 2003Lissette Lopez writes: “I am happy to say thatI graduated from the UCLA Family MedicineProgram and became board certified! I started my new job at Kaiser Permanente inSan Francisco, and I am enjoying life back innorthern California!”

Class of 2004Jennifer C. Schecter is doing an emergencymedicine residency at SUNY Downstate inBrooklyn.

Class of 2006Constantine Farmakidis has joined the AlumniCouncil. He is completing his preliminary yearof internal medicine training prior to startinghis neurology residency again in July. Hewrites: “My interest in joining the Alumni

Council is to assist with the exciting initiativesalready in place to raise funds for medicalstudent scholarships.”

Class of 2007Craig Benson has left the Alumni Council. He writes, “I will be entering a four-year,combined internal medicine/pediatrics resi-dency in June. After residency, I hope tocombine my background in health informaticswith a clinical practice in an academicsetting. I will be getting married in October toRandi Potter, a Ph.D. student in the toxicologyprogram here at Rochester.”

Graduate Alumniarranged alphabetically

Robert L. Brent (BA ‘48, M ‘53, PhD ‘55, HNR‘88)—See SMD Class of 1953.Patricia L. Carlson (MPH ‘06) received twoawards in 2006: the Bibby Fellowship Awardand the Buonocore Award. Edmund S. Copeland (MS ‘61, PhD ‘64) wasmarried to Candia Sue Hench on December23, 2006, in Crozet, Va.Jeffrey M. Devries (MS ‘89) is a member of theAmerican Academy of Pediatrics and theAmbulatory Pediatric Association. He is activein the community of West Bloomfield, Mich.,and has been honored for his leadership bythe Ambulatory Pediatric Association,Michigan Health & Hospice Association andthe United Way. He has also been named oneof the Best Doctors in America by BestDoctors, Inc. At Oakwood Healthcare Systemin Dearborn Mich., Devries helped developand obtain funding for a three-year, commu-nity-wide childhood asthma initiative,recruited a full-time, comprehensive pediatricneurology and movement disorder service,and created Program for Exceptional Families,a comprehensive, coordinated program forchildren with chronic, complex disorders anddisabilities. Julian M. Earls (MS ‘66) retired in Decemberas director of the NASA Glenn ResearchCenter. He joined the Cleveland StateUniversity’s Nance College of BusinessAdministration as an Executive-in-Residence.Tim Evans (PhD ‘89, R ‘92) — See SMD Class of1989.Barry J. Goldstein (M’80, PhD ‘82, R ‘85)—SeeSMD Class of 1980.

class notes

62

Ethan Sullivan

David Maine



Teresa A. Liberati (MS ‘93, PhD ‘95) has joinedthe faculty at Southern Illinois UniversitySchool of Medicine as director of laboratoryanimal medicine and research assistantprofessor of internal medicine.Guido V. Marinetti (BS ‘50, PhD ‘53) is theauthor of a new book, I Beat Heart Disease,So Can You, published by iUniverse. Marinettiwas a professor of biochemistry for 40 yearsat the University of Rochester School ofMedicine and is emeritus professor ofbiochemistry and biophysics. He did researchon lipid biochemistry and has published 168scientific papers in leading scientific journals.He writes: “I Beat Heart Disease, So Can Youis aimed for the general public, medicalstudents, and practicing physicians. It coverslipid-lowering diets (such as the Willett diet,based on sound science) lipid-lowering drugs,and the benefit of daily exercise. Emphasis isplaced on the health benefits of fish omega-3fatty acids (DHA and EPA), olive oil, and exer-cise, and the harmful health effects ofsaturated and trans fatty acids, refined carbo-hydrates, and overweight. The saying ‘You arewhat you eat’ still holds true. I wrote I BeatHeart Disease, So Can You from my personalexperience with high blood cholesterol andopen-heart coronary artery surgery. For manyyears I taught medical students and prac-ticing physicians the biochemistry of blood

lipids and how to treat persons who are atrisk for coronary artery heart disease.”Helene McMurray (MS ‘00, PhD ‘04) has joinedthe Alumni Council. She writes: “I am a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of HartmutLand in biomedical genetics. I study themechanisms underlying cancer formation, in hopes of identifying better therapeutictargets for cancer treatment. I am a foundingmember of the URMC Post-doctoralAssociation, which came into existence in2006. My husband Jason (MS-Ed. ‘00) and I have a son, Aidan, who has just startedkindergarten this year. In addition to the URMCAlumni Council, we are also involved with theCornell Club of Rochester, keeping up ties toour undergraduate alma mater.”Hongdao Meng, (PhD ‘04), assistant professorin the graduate program in public health,Department of Preventive Medicine, StonyBrook University Medical Center, has receivedthe James G. Zimmer New InvestigatorResearch Award from the GerontologicalHealth Section of the American Public HealthAssociation. The award is for his research onthe cost-effectiveness of community-baseddisease management/health promotion inter-ventions among older adults with chronicconditions. Amy L. Parkhill (MS ‘01, PhD ‘04) writes: “I married James Hilbert on April 22, 2006. I also started as an assistant professor at theWegmans School of Pharmacy at St. JohnFisher College in May.” Robert M. Sutherland (PhD '66) has beennamed vice president for commercializationfor the Ontario Institute for Cancer Researchin Toronto. Sutherland will develop intellectualproperty management, identification of proj-ects for early stage development and theengagement of market receptors and investorgroups. He most recently was president ofVarian Biosynergy, a subsidiary of VarianMedical Systems in Palo Alto, Calif.Norma Bloor Bowles Utley (BA ‘26, MS ‘29, M ‘31) — see SMD Class of 1931.Rhonda A. Wallen (MS ‘94, MBA ‘94) recentlysigned on as CEO of a new biotech companydeveloping innovative medicines for hema-tology/oncology based on receptor tyrosinekinase inhibition. Caveo Therapeutics, basedin Denver, Colo., is conducting its firstfinancing round to prepare for clinical trials in 2008.William Wong (BA ‘74, PhD ‘79) has been

named chief scientific officer at Q-RNA, a New York-based biotechnology companyfocused on protein. Also a vice president forproduct development, Wong is a 20-plus-yearveteran of the pharmaceutical, biotechnology,diagnostics and device industries.

Resident/Fellow Alumni arranged alphabetically

Chloe Alexson (M’54, R ‘57, FLW ‘59) — See SMD Class of 1954.Ezra A. Amsterdam (R ‘63) — See SMD Class of1962.Kristen Andresen (R ‘02) joined Prevea Heart &Vascular Care in Green Bay, Wisc., as a cardi-ologist.Meri Atanas (R ‘88) has been appointed aschief of radiation oncology for RochesterGeneral Hospital’s Lipson Cancer Center. Inaddition to her own practice, she previouslyserved as an associate professor in radiationoncology at the School of Medicine. Atanaslives in Victor, N.Y.Beth Bell (MPH ’89, R ’85) began working forthe Center’s for Disease Control in February asassociate director for epidemiologic science inthe National Center for Immunization andRespiratory Diseases. The center is chargedwith working on vaccine preventable diseases.Bell writes: "It certainly has been a rewardingand eventful time for me to be working in thearea of viral hepatitis epidemiology andprevention. I am looking forward to interestingnew horizons in my new position."Bob Berkow (R ‘59) has been editing a newonline healthcare magazine calledyourhealthnow.com. Thomas A. Bonfiglio (M’69, R ‘72) — See SMDClass of 1969.Roger Boulay (R ‘61) was nominated for the2006 AAMC Humanism in Medicine Award. The award singles out a positive and caringrole model among a school’s entire facultyand physicians whom students would like toemulate. Boulay was nominated by membersof the Organization of Student Rep -resentatives chapter at the Medical Center.Diego Cahn-Hidalgo (R ‘98) won the Universityof Rochester Department of Medicine JamesStewart Award for teaching in June 2006.Anna Chacko (R ‘77) has been named vicechairman of the division of radiology at



class notes

Boston Medical Center and professor of radiology at Boston University School ofMedicine. For the past five years, Chackoserved as chairman of the Department ofRadiology at the Lahey Clinic Medical Centerin Burlington, Mass. She previously served asthe radiology advisor to the Surgeon Generalfor the United States Army.Robert S. Crumrine (M’62, R ‘67) — See SMDClass of 1962.Jonathan D. Dehner (R’70), president and CEOof Scott Radiological Group in St. Louis since1990, has been appointed chairman of itsboard of directors. Joseph Delehanty (R ‘89) associate professorof medicine and director of theCardiovascular Center, was recognized withthe 2006 Board Excellence Award forPhysicians. He is known for his exceptionaldedication to the Medical Center and thepatients he serves, and is considered one ofthe very best critical-care clinicians in theregion, providing expert care and outstandingclinical competency and judgment. Delehantylives in Brighton, N.Y.Robert B. Diasio (BA ‘67, R ‘73) is the director ofMayo Clinic Cancer Center in Rochester,Minn. He also will oversee cancer centeractivities at Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz.,and Jacksonville, Fla. Diasio, who was at theUniversity of Alabama School of Medicine inBirmingham, writes: “This is an incredibleopportunity — to lead one of the top NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers,and I’m excited to enter an organization withsuch a strong track record in discovery and in translating research findings into newtreatments for patients.”Tim Evans (M ‘89, PhD ‘89, R ‘92) — See SMDClass of 1989.Armando R. Filomeno (R ‘71) has written El niño con déficit de atención o hiperac-tividad: cómo pasar del fracaso al éxito (The child with attention deficit and/or hyper-activity: how to turn failure into success),published in Spanish by Universidad PeruanaCayetano Heredia. The foreword was writtenby Robert J. Joynt, M.D., Ph.D., DistinguishedUniversity Professor of Neurology, underwhom the author trained at Strong MemorialHospital. In his introduction, Filomeno saysthe main reason for writing the book is thelack of knowledge and misconceptions aboutthe disorder and its treatment.Jonathan B. Gavras (R ‘88) has been appointed

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida’s vicepresident, medical operations. Gavras heldseveral leadership positions at UnitedHealthGroup, including chief operating officer forSouth Florida, chief medical officer for Floridaand president of the south region forMedicare operations. Most recently, he wasthe national medical director with oversight ofthe health plan clinical operations forUnitedHealthcare.Andrew M. Golden (BS ‘71, M’75, R ‘78) —See SMD Class of 1975.Barry J. Goldstein (M’80, PhD ‘82, R ‘85) —See SMD Class of 1980.Peggy Kelley (R 91) has written three chap-ters, one titled “Painless Tonsillectomy,” inCurrent Opinion in Otolaryngology & Head and Neck Surgery (December 2006), anothertitled “Microtia and Congenital Aural Atresia”in Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America(February 2007), and “Supraglottoplasty” inAtlas of Sleep Apnea and Snoring (anticipatedpublication 2007). Kelley was elected to BestDoctors in America 2005–06, was voted a toplocal doctor in the Denver-area magazine5280 and was voted as a top doctor in 2007 byCore Magazine. Aaron M. Lewis (M’00, R ‘01) — See SMD Classof 2000.Robert W. Loss, Jr. (M’78, R ‘81) — See SMDClass of 1978.Luke Loveys (M’90, R ‘96) — See SMD Class of1990.Matthew H. Lowry (R ‘00) joined CaritasNorwood Hospital as a specialist in lungdiseases. He is board-certified by theAmerican Board of Internal Medicine and itssubspecialty board in pulmonary medicine.Lowry has earned the board’s certificate ofspecial qualification in critical care medicine.Charles MacLean (R ‘88), associate professorof medicine at the University of VermontCollege of Medicine, has been namedresearch director. He will maintain his facultyappointment and continue his activities andresearch within the primary care internalmedicine division. He is co-investigator andproject director of a National Institute ofDiabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease-funded project called the Vermont DiabetesInformation System. Jerry Marty (R ‘82) is director ofcytopathology, medical director of the Schoolof Cytotechnology and head of the FineNeedle Aspiration Clinical Service at the

International/National Reference Laboratory,Quest Diagnostics, Inc., Las Vegas businessunit in Nevada.Allan R. Macdonald (M’83, R ‘86) — See SMDClass of 1983.Barry Poret (R ‘76, FLW ‘79) continues to prac-tice primary care adult internal medicine inwestern Massachusetts, all outpatient, with a subspecialty referral practice and in hisprimary care practice in biopsychosocial relevant health care. His interest is in theinterface between organically categorizeddisease and the psychosocial state of theperson who is having illness behavior, todetermine the organic and psychologicalcontributions to their illness in order to helpthem understand why they are not feelingwell, and guiding them to the appropriatehealing modalities, some of which heprovides. Poret said he feels so blessed tohave trained at Rochester, with its rich tradi-tion of combining excellent teaching in thebiomedical aspects of health care along withthe infusion into medical student training ofthe importance of seeing, feeling, andexploring with the patient the determinants of their illness and feelings about their illness.UR has always been a leader in integrativemedicine in this regard, he says. Eric J. Rashba (R ‘95) has joined the HeartCenter at Stony Brook University Hospital asdirector of electrophysiology.Jerald L. Reisman (R ‘76, FLW ‘77) writes: “I have just completed a life dream ofclimbing Kilimanjaro with my two children. We summitted on Dec. 9, the 45th anniversaryof Tanzania’s independence. I also steppeddown as the chief of emergency services atLawrence Memorial Hospital and am nowworking part time.”Daniel Saurborn (M’98, R ‘99) — See SMD Classof 1998.Stephen C. Scheiber (R’70) completed 20 1/2years as the chief executive officer of theAmerican Board of Psychiatry and Neurologyin June 2006. He maintains academic profes-sorial appointments at NorthwesternUniversity Feinstein School of Medicine andat the Medical College of Wisconsin. TheAmerican College of Psychiatrists has chosenhim to receive the Distinguished PsychiatristService Award in recognition of his contribu-tions to American psychiatry, including hisleadership in gaining recognition for ten newsubspecialties in both disciplines since 1990.


1965Dr. Laurence Jacobs60 La Serena TrlSanta Fe, NM 87506505-982-8666Summer: 3499 Lakeview LaneCanandaigua, NY [email protected]

1966Dr. Donald A. Grover21 Countryside Rd Fairport, NY [email protected]

1967Dr. Bob Tortolani 145 Oak Grove Ave.Brattleboro, VT 05301802-257-1575

1970Dr. Philip A. PizzoStanford UniversitySchool of Medicine300 Pasteur Dr Suite M-121Stanford, CA 94305 [email protected]

1971Dr. Thomas McMeekin300 White Spruce Blvd Rochester, NY [email protected]

1976Dr. Beverly Love 111 Hampton HillsBoulevardCanton, MS [email protected]

1977Dr. Kathleen Gensheimer73 Main StreetYarmouth, ME 04096207-287-5183 (work)[email protected]

1977Dr. James Powers714 Darrow Dr. Pleasant View, TN [email protected]

1939Dr. John Frazer329 Orchard Park Blvd Rochester, NY 14609585-288-4002

1942Dr. Arthur Redmond210 Hollywood Ave. Rochester, NY 14618585-271-2339

1943Dr. Ralph Prince17 Tobey WoodsPittsford, NY 14534585-586-9117

1944 Dr. Stuart Finch 20 Avondale Ave. Haddonfield, NJ [email protected]

1945Dr. William Bergstrom4689 Whetstone RdManlius, New York 13104

1947Dr. Richard “Rip” Collins106 Temple St.Avon, NY 14414(585) 226- [email protected]

1949Dr. Ruth Lawrence1836 Clover St. Rochester, NY [email protected]

1951Dr. George D’Angelo3232 Westwood Estates Dr. Erie, PA [email protected]

1953Dr. Robert Palmer5357 Chipwood LaneIndianapolis, IN [email protected]

1954Dr. Chloe Alexson57 Inglewood Dr. Rochester, NY [email protected]

1955Dr. Saul Milles304 Hotchkiss Rd Orange, CT [email protected]

1956Drs. William and Kathryn Kern109 Breeze Haven Ter. Huddleston, VA [email protected]

1957Dr. Jules Cohen152 Burkedale Cres.Rochester, New [email protected]

1957Dr. C. McCollister EvartsUniv. of Rochester MedCenter601 Elmwood Ave, Box 706Rochester, New [email protected]

1960Dr. I. Donald Stuard1507 Greenhill Rd West Chester, PA [email protected]

1961Dr. Hechmat Tabechian3901 East Ave.Rochester, NY [email protected]

1962Dr. Frederick Parker310 Dewittshire Rd S De Witt, NY [email protected]

1964Dr. Philip P. Bonanni9 Prospect Hill Rd Pittsford, NY [email protected]

1965Dr. John Randall3641 Middle Cheshire RdCanandaigua, New [email protected]

1981Dr. Linda Brodell2660 East Market StreetWarren, OH 44483330-393-4004

1982Dr. Joseph Serletti U Penn Health Services10 Penn Tower 14385Philadelphia, PA 19104 [email protected]

1985Dr. James Haley9 Bordeaux WayFairport, NY 14450 [email protected]

1990Dr. Peter S. Reichard8 Cliffside Way Boonton Township, [email protected]

1995Dwight Heron5150 Centre Ave, #545Pittsburgh, PA 15232 [email protected]

1995Lisa PlotnikReed Dr

Bedford, NH [email protected]

1999Dr. Hans Stohrer530 East 90th St. #2LNew York, NY 10128212-828-4011 [email protected]

2000Dr. Ivette Motola13060 Keystone TerraceNorth Miami, FL [email protected]

2001Dr. Jennifer MattucciSantoro8301 Arlington BoulevardSuite 505Fairfax, VA [email protected]


class agents list

CORRECTIONIn the fall/winter 2006issue of RochesterMedicine, on page 45,upper right, Cyril Worby(M’56, R ‘60) is misidentifiedas Karl Johnson (M’56).We apologize for thiserror.

2002Dr. David Maine2836 Quarry Heights WayBaltimore, MD [email protected]

2003Dr. Shana Katzel1 River Place #626New York, NY [email protected]

2004Grace Chen1446 Butler Ave.Los Angeles, CA [email protected]



medical literature

By Lt. Col. Paul D. Danielson, M.D. (M’92, R’95) In May 2003, Paul D. Danielson, M.D., director of pediatric surgicaloncology at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center,said goodbye to his pregnant wife and eleven-month-old son to deployto Iraq with the U.S. Army Reserve, Medical Corps, 912th ForwardSurgical Team (FST). Danielson and his unit used gallows humor as akind of emotional defense mechanism against the stress of daily reali-ties. His account is excerpted from Operation Homecoming by AndrewCarroll, editor. Copyright (c) 2006 by Southern Arts Federation. Reprintedby arrangement with Random House Publishing Group.

Wakey, wakey, boyzzzz,” Butter purred. “Someone mixed it up with hajjiand we’ve got us some casualties comin’ in.”

Butter was our overtattooed trauma nurse who earned his nick-name on account of the gold second-lieutenant bars he wore. He wasdifferent. Most men who experience a midlife crisis quit a respectablejob and go out and buy a Harley. Butter did it backwards. He woke upwhen he was forty and decided enough with the Jack Daniels andmotorcycle set. He figured he’d join the Army Reserve, and six monthslater he found himself in Mesopotamia.

The casualties turned out to be from an armored cavalry unit.These fellows always earned our respect. After dark they’d mount upand drive through the bad sections of town. They were trying to drawfire so that they could shoot back and put the hurt on the insurgents.Success with this tactic relies upon poor aim by the enemy and superiorfirepower by the Cav troopers. Unfortunately, during this particularmission an IED blew up one of their Humvees.

I batted my way out from under the mosquito netting and slippedon my flip-flops. I had stopped wearing my boots to trauma codes fortwo reasons. First, it got too difficult to wash the blood out of them.Second, it was too damn hot. Our two field operating tables were set upin a glorified closet in one part of the aid station. When you got an ORteam in there and all the lights and equipment going, the temperaturewould be over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Consequently, my uniform forpatient care consisted of shorts, a T-shirt, and a sidearm. We’d addKevlar and flak vests if the war came knocking a little too close. It wentagainst all Army regulations. It was also against common sense as faras avoiding contact with bodily fluids. However, I viewed it as a calcu-lated risk. Two of my co-surgeons were similarly clad, which did little toimprove the reputation of the reservist medical corps in the eyes of theregular Army. Every time a sergeant major from the battalion walkedthrough we had to have the defibrillator ready since he almost had anarrhythmia just looking at us.

The trio of yawning surgeons staggered down the hallway to thetrauma bay. It was an open area in the front corner of the aid stationwith two litter stands in the center. The harsh fluorescent glow of twoBruce lamps strung from the ceiling illuminated the workspace. WhileButter’s staff was spiking bags of IV fluid and opening up packs of dress-ings, the FST’s first sergeant, Cueball, came in wearing his combatboots. We figured he slept in them; no one could lace up a set that fast.Cueball loved his docs and his enlisted, and all of us respected him. He was in his familiar role of playing bouncer in the trauma bay. He was

A Reason forBeing There

“



giving the heave-ho to various wallflowers and rubberneckers whohoped to see some blood and guts. I never knew how all these traumagroupies got to the aid station so quickly. Of course, I’m being unfair inlabeling them. They showed up to pitch in, and their assistance inmoving patients, guarding EPWs, or just being “gofers” was indispen-sable. The medical service corps lieutenant came over to meet us.

“Morning, El Tee,” Warthog, my partner in general-surgery crime,grinned. “What are you doing up so early?”

“Sir?” the youngster replied, still no more certain on how to inter-pret us than the day we first met him in Kuwait. “I just came over fromthe TOC. I can report three or four definites coming, maybe more.”

Warthog was about to ask him how many “definites” three orfour actually meant, but decided it was too early to tease the youngofficer. Our banter was interrupted as the walls rattled from the roar ofa low-flying helicopter. There was a mass movement of people to therear of the aid station. I glanced over at Warthog, who looked positivelymeditative as we waited.

“The last moment of tranquility, huh?” I observed. His mind was on other thoughts. “I hope I covered up my pillow,”

he said, referring to the fine layer of silt that coated everything in the aidstation after a helicopter landing. Any sense of calm was gone a momentlater as the first of the four-man litter teams burst through the door.

“I was worried he wouldn’t make it to the CSH,” the flight medicreported as he followed behind the second litter. “Two urgent surgicals.The first is an Iraqi interpreter with shrapnel all over. The second is a Cav officer with a near-amputation of his right upper extremity.”

We followed the teams into the heart of the aid station, takingcare not to slip on the blood trail. We exploded into the light and open-ness of the trauma bay, and then, just as a hush follows the roar of awave crashing onto a beach, a soft hum filled the room to replace theclamor of our arrival. I headed toward the second litter: white male,mid-30s, 80 kilos, awake but looking “shocky.” His uniform had alreadybeen cut away by the time I reached him. A new IV was being startedand vital-sign monitors were being slapped onto his pale skin. My quickprimary survey revealed that his right forearm was nearly amputatedand his left foot had caught a sizable piece of shrapnel.

“We are going to take good care of you, Major,” I said to thewounded officer. “But you’re going to need an operation on your armand foot.”

“OK, sir,” he said simply. I was impressed by his calm. If mysevered arm was hanging by a sinew, I would have been screaming myhead off and crying like a baby. Not him. No tears in his eyes, and only a grunt here and there as we adjusted his tourniquet. He was 100 percentwarrior. Pooh, the orthopedic surgeon, appeared at the foot of the litter.As big as a bear and as gentle as the A. A. Milne character, he had lefthis lucrative sports-medicine private practice to come over to Iraq.

“He needs your magic, Pooh,” I said. “Nerves intact?” He was already trying to decide whether to try to salvage the

upper extremity or just amputate. I frowned. “We’ll see.” Pooh shrugged and shuffled off toward the OR

to get ready. Warthog and I turned away from our patients to confer in the narrow aisle between the litters.

“Mine’s stable,” he said. “But needs lots of debridement. He keeps asking about your guy.”

It turned out that the Iraqi national was an interpreter. He hadbeen studying to be a doctor until Saddam closed all the medicalschools. When the U.S. Army arrived, the young man decided to put hisEnglish skills to work. On this particular evening, it was his knowledgeof first aid in controlling hemorrhage that kept the major alive longenough to reach us. I walked a few steps down the corridor to theadjoining makeshift operating room. Looking in, I found the OR techsopening pans of instruments, and the nurse anesthetists drawing uptheir induction medications.

“We’re all ready for you,” Mookie greeted. “It’s Pooh’s show tonight,” I replied.

I felt a bit disappointed. First, I was thinking about the major whowas about to lose his arm. Second, I was depressed by the prospect ofbeing idle. Pooh would be doing the amputation, and Warthog would becleaning up the Iraqi interpreter’s wounds. I could kill a little time doingsome paperwork, coordinating the post-op evacuation of the casualties,and communicating with the CSH to give them a heads-up. After that,however, I would be back to thinking about home. Half an hour later I wasself-medicating my self-pity by eating an MRE. I had saved the peanutbutter tube from one meal and the bag of shelled and salted peanuts fromanother. Now, I could mix the two together, add them to the standardchow mein packet and season it with Tabasco. It gave the entree a little

I was worried he wouldn’t make it

to the CSH,” the flight medic reported

as he followed behind the second litter.

Two urgent surgicals. The first is an

Iraqi interpreter with shrapnel all over.

The second is a Cav officer with a near-

amputation of his right upper extremity.”

“

“


ROCHESTER MEDICINE68 ROCHESTER MEDICINE68

Thai flare. It was perfect comfort food at two in the morning. Cueball came round the corner.

“You’ve got to have some,” I offered, desperate to talk to anyoneas a distraction.

“No thanks, sir,” he grimaced. “But I was sent to find you. Theywant you to poke your head into the OR.”

My mood immediately improved. I left the doctored MRE andthoughts of my family behind and headed to the OR. Pooh looked upfrom the major’s arm.

“His elbow is blown away,” he said. “I think the only thing holdinghis forearm on is a bridge of skin and his median and ulnar nerves. I can’t find his radial. And I think that this is his transected brachialartery.”

I peered over at the sterile field. There was a huge gaping holewhere the elbow joint should have been. The sharp, fractured ends ofthe bones of his arm and forearm protruded menacingly into the woundarea. The stump of his brachial artery was in spasm. It stood up on endthrobbing with each pulse. It was a sticky situation. It is often possibleto restore blood flow to an amputated limb. However, the efforts areuseless unless the nerves will work. The nerves carry the messages tothe muscles to make them move. They also carry sensory informationback to the brain. There is little use in saving an extremity that won’twork or that will constantly be getting injured without the owner’sawareness. Moreover, the technology of prosthetic limbs had advancedso much that many patients have a better long-term outcome by havinga mangled extremity amputated.

“Think we should try?” Pooh asked. With two out of the three nerves identified and intact, I thought it

was worth a shot. If it didn’t work out, they could always just take theforearm off back at Landstuhl or Walter Reed.

“I’ll scrub,” I replied. Once gowned and gloved, I started dissecting through the mess of

damaged muscle and tendons to find the ends of the brachial artery. Aportion of the vessel had been destroyed from the blast. In addition, thedistal segment in the forearm had retracted several centimeters. It wasapparent that the two ends would not reach one another. I needed a graftto bridge the gap. Warthog showed up, having finished with his patient.

“I could use your help. You want to get to work on this guy’s groin?”

“I beg your pardon,” he said indignantly. “He hasn’t even boughtme dinner yet. Let me also remind you that I wear Army green and notNavy white. I will not be a part of any of those ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ activi-ties no matter how …“ His words trailed off as he went out for a quickscrub. A few minutes later, Warthog was flaying open the patient’s thighto harvest a piece of the saphenous vein. We would use it to replace themissing segment of artery. I continued to clean up the elbow area and tieoff some bleeders. The game was on and everything else was secondary. I became focused on the operation and lost touch with much of what wasgoing on around me. I remember Cueball coming in asking for updates sothat he could plan the timing of the medevac chopper. The anesthesiateam asked about blood loss a few times. I sewed in the bypass andremoved the clamps. The patient’s hand immediately pinked up, and thedistal side of the wound started to ooze blood.

I rested the pad of my gloved index finger on the shiny segmentof vein and felt the thrill of blood coursing through the vessel. The graftwas open. The repair was working. It was a moment to savor. My silentcelebration was interrupted by Mookie slapping, rather painfully, a loaded needle driver into my other hand. It was his not-so-subtle wayof drawing me back to reality.

“Four-O nylon, sir,” he announced, as he handed me the suture I would need for closing the skin. “Screw you, Mookie,” I shot back.This is the closest thing I’ve had to sex in four months. Don’t ruin themoment.”

We finished quickly and dressed the wounds as Pooh put thefinishing touches on the external fixation device. I then broke scrub asthe recovery-room team came in to help package the patient for trans-port to the CSH. I sat down on a medical chest in the corridor betweenthe trauma bay and the operating room. After draining my CamelBak of tepid water, I leaned back against the wall and sighed. I am certainthat I smelled to high heaven. I didn’t notice, and it didn’t really matter.By that point in the war everyone reeked.

Over the next few days we tried to figure out what happened tothe major and his arm. Unfortunately, because casualties were evacu-ated out of the country so rapidly, the answer eluded us. In some ways,it was better not to know. Everyone was willing to assume that the armwas saved. Morale was so high that to consider the other possibilitywould have been too depressing, especially since that night was such a powerful justification for our being there. Several months after gettinghome I was back at my civilian hospital sitting in my comfortable officewhen Pooh telephoned.

“Did you happen to see Oprah yesterday?” he asked. “No, I missed it,” I replied, worried that he had some psycholog-

ical scars left over from the war that were driving him to watch daytimetelevision. “Pooh, why in God’s name were you watching Oprah?”

“No, no, I wasn’t,” he clarified. “But someone told me that shedid a feature on some of the wounded U.S. soldiers being treated atBAMC in San Antonio. She interviewed a major who had had his armsaved. I pulled the transcript off the Internet, and I’ll e-mail it to you.The name and dates seem to correspond. I think it’s our guy, and it lookslike his limb was salvaged!”

I swelled with professional pride that our operation hadsucceeded. However, it was what this officer said during the televisionContinued on page 72

Paul D. Danielson, M.D.

“


6969

Albert V. Cutter, M.D.Albert V. Cutter, M.D. (M’40), a child psychia-trist who also led a medical educationbusiness, died Dec. 3 in East Amherst, N.Y.He was 92.

Dr. Cutter, a native of Lawrence, Mass.,graduated from the University of NewHampshire in 1936 with a bachelor’s degree inbacteriology and zoology. On the day he grad-uated from the University of Rochester Schoolof Medicine and Dentistry — June 17, 1940 —he married Janet Gracey West of Rochester,who had graduated from Wellesley Collegewith a bachelor’s degree in zoology.

Dr. Cutter served in the U.S. Navyduring World War II, spending four yearsaboard destroyers as a medical officer. He had special memories of his time on theU.S.S. Tripp.

Dr. Cutter initially planned to follow his father into a career as a surgeon, but hebecame interested in psychiatry during thewar. In 1946, after receiving his initial trainingthrough the Navy, he began a three-year resi-dency at the Menninger Foundation School of Psychiatry in Topeka, Kan. He then becamea fellow in child psychiatry at the LouisvilleMental Hygiene Clinic in Louisville.

In 1951, he became medical director ofthe Psychiatric Clinic in Buffalo, N.Y., a posi-tion he held until 1962, when he took over apsychiatry and neurology medical education

SPRING / SUMMER 2007

business that also was based in Buffalo. The business, which he called Albert V.Cutter, M.D., Inc., helped physicians preparefor board certification exams in psychiatry andneurology. He researched and wrote a quar-terly publication for the business. Dr. Cuttermaintained the medical education business,along with his private practice, until 1980. He continued his private practice until 1998.

Dr. Cutter co-wrote many clinical articles and often consulted for Buffalo-areaeducational institutions.

Dr. Cutter’s wife died in 1993. In 1997,he married Linda M. J. Barnett, a longtimefriend and a psychiatric nurse practitioner. In addition to his wife, he is survived by hisdaughters, Ann C. Sist of Lake Jackson,Texas, and Susan Cutter of Brooklyn, N.Y.; asister, Ruth Sander, of Port Orange, Fla.; twograndchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Christopher E. Desch,M.D.Christopher E. Desch, M.D., a cancer specialistwho was chief resident of internal medicineat the University of Rochester Medical Centerfrom 1984 to 1985, died Dec. 10 when thesingle-engine plane he was flying crashednear the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport inVirginia.

Dr. Desch, 51, was national medicaldirector of the National ComprehensiveCancer Network. He also was an adjunctprofessor at Virginia CommonwealthUniversity’s Massey Cancer Center. He livedin the Richmond, Va., area with his wife,Roxanne Cherry, and son, John Tobias.

Dr. Desch was an internal medicineresident at the Medical Center from 1981to 1984 before becoming chief resident.

“His death is such a tragic loss. Overhis career he was always a leader and mademany wonderful contributions. He was asuperb clinician, a great patient advocate. We have lost one of our best,” said Paul Levy,M.D., acting chairman of the Department ofMedicine.

The National Comprehensive CancerNetwork (NCCN), a not-for-profit alliance of

20 of the world’s leading cancer centers, is dedicated to improving the quality andeffectiveness of care provided to patientswith cancer. Dr. Desch was the clinical leader of several of the organization’sprograms, including the NCCN Clinical PracticeGuidelines in Oncology.

Dr. Desch received his medical degreefrom the Ohio State University College ofMedicine. His postgraduate training includedfellowships in hematology and oncology atthe University of Washington. He served asthe research director for the Virginia CancerInstitute and as associate director of theMassey Cancer Center. He was chairman the Health Services Committee at the

American Society of Clinical Oncology andhad been a member of a variety of other societies, including the American College of Physicians and the American Society ofHematology.

Dr. Desch wrote and co-authored arti-cles and book chapters on cost-effectivenessand oncology resource utilization, and servedas principal investigator on several clinicalresearch studies. He was recognized nation-ally for his outstanding work in the areas ofhealth services research and policy.

According to the Times-Dispatch news-paper in Richmond, Dr. Desch had his pilot’slicense and had been a member of a flyingclub for three years. He was flying one of the club’s planes when the accident occurred. He radioed the flight tower at Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport near Earlysville for landinginstructions. A few moments later, he radioedagain, saying the engine was cutting out. The plane crashed into a large tree.

Memorials can be sent to the EvansScholars Foundation, 1 Briar Road, Golf, Ill.,60029. The memorials will endow theChristopher E. Desch Room at the newScholarship House being built at Ohio StateUniversity. Without the support from thisnational scholarship organization, Dr. Desch’seducation would not have been possible, hisfamily said.

in memoriam



in memoriam

Lyman C. Wynne, M.D.,Ph.D.Lyman C. Wynne, M.D., Ph.D., a founder offamily therapy and an influential researcherwho helped transform the treatment of schiz-ophrenia, died Jan. 17 of cancer in Bethesda,Md. He was 83.

Dr. Wynne chaired the University ofRochester School of Medicine and Dentistry’sDepartment of Psychiatry from 1971 to 1977,and then served as professor of psychiatryuntil his retirement to emeritus status in 1998.During the 1950s and 1960s, as a researcherand an official at the National Institute ofMental Health (NIMH), Dr. Wynne pioneerednew approaches to mental illness, especiallyschizophrenia.

“His rigorous communications researchwas essential to debunking the blamingnotion that a child’s early family environment,particularly the mother, caused schizo-phrenia,” said Eric Caine, M.D., chair of theDepartment of Psychiatry. “It had a tangiblepositive impact on how families regardedtheir affected children or siblings. This workserved to liberate families and to directlyfoster the emergence of the family-orientedcommunity support and advocacy groups thatwe value so highly. Put simply, Lyman wascentral to bringing the family burdens associ-ated with schizophrenia ‘out of the closet’and promoting a guilt-free discussion about

how best to deal with the complex challengesthat confront everyone involved.”

For 30 years, Dr. Wynne conducted alongitudinal study in Finland, studying theinteraction of genes and environment in thedevelopment of schizophrenia. His landmarkwork with his collaborators, Pekka Tienari and Karl-Erik Wahlberg, shows that familyenvironment can influence a genetic suscepti-bility to the schizophrenia.

Dr. Wynne also was an active familypsychiatrist, frequently seeing challengingcases with his favorite co-therapist, his wife,Adele Wynne, who died in 2003. In 1997, thecouple gave an endowment to the Universityof Rochester to start the Wynne Center forFamily Research. Since its founding, theWynne Center has conducted importantstudies on foster parenting, partner violence,women with pain, and depression.Lyman and Adele had the extraordinary visionto endow a Family Research Center to movethe field along and to make sure that researchwould continue into the future to betterunderstand how to strengthen and supportfamilies in their struggles with medical andmental illness, as well as other life chal-lenges,” said Susan H. McDaniel, Ph.D., thecenter’s first director.

Dr. Wynne was well known as agenerous mentor.

“Despite his international prominenceas a researcher and scholar, Dr. Wynne wasalways humble, patient and kind,” said J.Steven Lamberti, M.D., associate chair ofpsychiatry who studied under Dr. Wynne. A gifted writer, he encouraged generations ofstudents to find new and better ways toassist patients and their families. Despite anoften hectic schedule, Dr. Wynne’s door wasalways open to families, faculty members andstudents alike. He embodied the very bestthat the university has to offer.”

Dr. Wynne was born in Lake Benton,Minn. At age 11, with his mother dying ofcancer, he decided to become a medicalresearcher. He attended Harvard College on afull scholarship. During World War II, he wasassigned by the U.S. Army to attend HarvardMedical School. He received his medicaldegree in 1947.

At Harvard Medical School, Dr. Wynnebecame a protégé of Erich Lindemann, M.D., a significant figure in social psychology and

community health. His work with Lindemannchanged his decision on a career from cancerresearcher to psychiatrist.

“At a time when families of patientswith schizophrenia were neglected bymedical professionals, Dr. Wynne devoted hiscareer to understanding them. He knew firsthand about the devastating impact of mentalillness upon families, losing a beloved sisterto suicide early in his career,” Lamberti said.

During the 1952 call-up of doctors forthe Korean War, Dr. Wynne was sent by thePublic Health Service to take part in begin-ning a new research program at NIMH. Amongother positions, he was chief of the adultpsychiatry branch of NIMH from 1961 to 1971.From 1965 to 1969, he also served as a specialconsultant to the director general of theWorld Health Organization in Geneva,Switzerland. Dr. Wynne published numerousarticles. His studies of communicationdeviance and schizophrenia were firstpublished in a series of articles with hiscolleague, Margaret T. Singer, in the Archivesof General Psychiatry in 1963 to 1965. He co-edited The Nature of Schizophrenia.

Dr. Wynne is survived by five children,Christine Wynne of Oswego Lake, Ore.,Randall Wynne of Tampa, Fla., Sara Wynne ofOakland, Calif., Barry Wind of Bethesda, andJonathan Wynne of Brooklyn, N.Y., and fivegrandchildren.

Contributions can be made to theWynne Center for Family Research at theUniversity of Rochester Medical Center, 300East River Road, P.O. Box 278996, Rochester,N.Y. 14627.“

“



IN MEMORIAMBlack, James, M.D. (R ‘39)Bonner, John, (MS ‘40, PhD ‘48)Browne, James, M.D. (M ‘48)Cutter, Albert, M.D. (M ‘40)Dibble, Robert, M.D. (M ‘57)Diehl, Kenneth, M.D. (R ‘47)Forman, Richard, M.D. (M ‘40)Frank, Donald, M.D. (BA ‘48, MS ‘51, M ‘55, R ‘60)Freeman, Donald, M.D. (M ‘61)Glaser, Gerald, M.D. (M ‘52)Gruebel, Barbara, M.D. (R ‘77)Hoefer, Jean, (MS ‘48)Kaufman, Janice, M.D. (R ‘55)Keller, Guy, M.D. (R ‘52)Kolb, Lawrence, M.D. (R ‘36)Lipphardt, Edith, M.D., (M ‘42, R ‘45)Lux, James, M.D. (M ‘52, F ‘55)Manchester, Robert, M.D. (MS ‘30, MD ‘32)Nixon, Samuel, M.D. (M ‘40)O’Grady, Joseph, M.D. (M ‘41)Pearson, Raymond, M.D. (R ‘43, R ‘48, F ‘50)Pinsky, Harry, M.D. (BA ‘47, M ‘51, R ‘59)Pizzarelli, Anthony, M.D. (M ‘47) Rendall, Edward, M.D. (M ‘46)Rimer, David, M.D. (R ‘53)Sadd, John, M.D. (M ‘59)Saraf, Pradeep, M.D. (R ‘79, R ‘84)Savlov, Edwin, M.D. (BA ‘46, M ‘48)Sherman, Signe, (BA ‘35, MS ‘37)Sottong, Philipp, M.D. (M ‘45, R ‘51)Spence, George, M.D. (M ‘69)Tenney, Lillian, M.D. (M ‘49, R ‘52)Totah, Victor, M.D. (BA ‘42, M ‘44)Warner, Robert, M.D. (R ‘51)Watts, Russell, M.D. (M ‘51)Wert, Alvin, M.D. (M ‘41)Zugibe, Frederick, M.D. (F ‘81, F ‘83)



Continued from page 46

Leon MillerContinued from page 68

Being thereDewhurstContinued from page 37

Dewhurst is a member of the NIHRecombinant Advisory Committee, whichoversees all gene therapy studies in humans,and is chair of the University of RochesterInstitutional Biosafety Committee. He also is an accomplished mentor, receiving theGraduate Student Society Faculty TeachingAward in 1996 and the Graduate AlumniAward for Excellence in Graduate Educationin 2001. He serves as director of theUniversity’s Post-Baccalaureate Research andEducation Program, which provides training in microbiology and immunology for underrep-resented minority students, and is the currentprincipal investigator of a NIH-funded pre-doctoral training program in HIV-1 research.

Dewhurst replaces Howard J. Federoff,M.D., Ph.D., who left the post to become exec-utive dean of the School of Medicine atGeorgetown University.

turtlequillFounded in the fall of 2006, turtlequill is the University of Rochester School ofMedicine and Dentistry’s Journal of the Literary Arts. The journal is run, organized, and edited entirely by medical students. Publication consideration in this journal is open to all medical students, graduate students, residents, faculty, staff and alumni of the School of Medicine. For more information about turtlequill or to subscribe, go tohttp://turtlequilljournal.googlepages.com/

foundation support until 2000. He criticizes the tightening financial support for researchand worries that young scientists are notreceiving the funds they need.

Miller is the father of six children,three of whom graduated from the School of Medicine — Michael Miller, M.D. (M’76),Ellen Miller, M.D. (M’77) and John RhodesMiller, M.D. (M’90). To honor his contributionsto science, Miller’s family and friends estab-lished a fellowship in his name that isawarded annually to a student entering thePh.D. program in biophysics and biochemistry.

Miller endorses exercise as one path to healthy old age. When he was younger, he played tennis and squash and liked to ski.Today, for exercise, he walks the hallwaysand stairwells of the Medical Center, trav-eling far from his small, fifth-floor office.

“I pass places where people I knewonce worked — people I know are gone. It’shard to contemplate sometimes,” Miller said.I go to the Miner Library almost every day,where I read to keep up in medicine andscience. So much is fascinating I don’t needto read Time or Playboy. There’s still a heck of a lot to learn and a heck of a lot to do.”

interview that moved me. When I got homethat night, I helped my wife put our two sonsto bed before sharing the transcript with her.She sat down at the kitchen table to read. It was only a couple of pages of text, but in it the officer described lying on the battlefieldafter being wounded. He was staring up atthe Iraqi nighttime sky bargaining with Godfor the chance to see his daughter again.Then, later in the transcript, the major wenton to share his feelings of joy once he madeit home safely and wrapped both of his armsaround his family.

My wife looked up and dabbed hercheeks with the back of her hand. She hadnever complained to me about my mobiliza-tion although I knew how hard it had been onher. She had managed all the challenges:child care, work, pregnancy — you name it.She is a strong and optimistic individual, buteven at that moment I knew she wasdreading the day when I would be called for a second tour.

“You know,” she said trying to smile. I hated every minute of that deployment.”

“I know,” I said. “But it was worth it, wasn’t it?”

“

“


University of RochesterSchool of Medicine and Dentistry601 Elmwood Avenue, Box 643Rochester, NY 14642

Change Service Requested

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE

PAIDUNIVERSITY OFROCHESTER


dp7505:*rm 07 spring v7b · 2013-10-24 · in the top ten in national institutes of health funding....

Documents